Have you discovered Etsy? It is an online shopping site for handmade items. I just opened a shop there to sell the pillows that are the latest offshoot of my line of banners, pennants and flags. All are the result of an effort to bring color into the garden, even on the grayest days.
Palm
Confetti
Budrise
Rosy
I would like to invite you to visit my shop to see more photos of each item. Tell me what you think. I always value the kudos, brickbats and/or suggestions of this close-knit community of bloggers. Thanks!
Hi Ricki – Wow, those are spiffy! I hope you sell tons. I especially like the purple one with wavy lines. I had to ban myself from that site, was buying way too much stuff. It’s so cool! Hm, maybe I can un-ban for holiday shopping…
Very smart move! Have you been selling other items on Etsy for a while? Or is this your first foray? Good luck!
Karen: It’s a dangerous site, for sure. I’ve been finding great gifts there, though, and figure that parking, gas, etc. more than makes up for any shipping costs.
Loree: First foray. Keeping my fingers crossed.
I really like what you’re doing here, Ricki. I gravitate to the unexpected color combo and abstract quality of “palm’, since I’m not so much of a pink and plum, representational kind of person.
I hope you get a good response to these. How about marketing your smaller pennants and wind items there, too? Seems like the perfect forum for non-local buyers.
Hi Ricki, I love your pillows, especially because they’re made for outdoors. I’ve got a wood chaise lounge I bought at a junks store a few years ago. Last summer during the hottest part of the day, I’d park myself on it, in the shade, under the guise of reading. Well, before long my eyelids would droop and I’d be thinking, crap, why didn’t I bring a pillow? Beautiful and functional are a great combination. My favorite: it’s a toss up between “Confetti” and “Budrise.” I’ll have to check out your site, maybe drop a few hints to the hubby. 🙂
Jane: Good idea about adding small flags to the mix. I’m looking at adding things gradually, so that photos keep appearing close to the top and the shop builds little by little. Thanks for your input. It helps.
Grace: I’m entranced by the image of you dozing in the sun with one of my pillows beneath your head.
congrats on your etsy store! These pillows are beautiful. I love the patterns, colors, and fabric. I love the somewhat abstract design. I’d definitley (if I had just spend tons of money on outdoor pillows at Target) buy the palm, budrise, or rosy. Or maybe even all of them. Beautiful!
Wendy: Thanks for the kind words. I’ll still be here after your Target pillow wear out.
Hi Ricki, what wonderful products you are offering on ETSY. We registered there with our name, just in case we ever decided to try it out, and to keep others from using that name too. Are your pillows waterproof? If they can be outside all the time, do you make cushions for benches by any chance?
I wanted to let you know that I will be posting tomorrow for your Honest Scrap award. It is also my second blogaversary, so I combined the two, breaking some of the rules of course. Thanks again for honoring me. 🙂
Frances
Frances: I like the way you handled the Honest Scrap post by bending rules and making it your own.
I did make cushions for a bench on our front porch…plainish, to act as background for the colorful throw pillows. Seems like that might be a custom order to make sure the fit is perfect.
Outdoor throw cushions, what a mind-blowingly simple and brilliant idea! I love the colors. This seems like something the California market, where people have outdoor rooms year-round, is ripe for.
Thanks, Hillary. Now all I have to do is figure out a way to kep the cats from jumping on them with their muddy paws (maybe in CA muddy paws are not such a problem.
More cushion questions, and thanks for the scrap award. It was well received and fun to do. Do your make cushions with covers that can be removed for washing, after reading about muddy cat paws! They get dirty from being outside anyway. I will measure the bench, it has a curved back and I have not been able to find the four inch padding that can be outside to make it myself. The bench is metal and hurts your rear end to sit on it. Maybe I can make a pattern and send it to you.
Frances
I have been stuffing the pillows with polyfill, then sewing them closed by hand. The aerospace protectant has made it easy to spot clean with just a toothbrush and warm water. It would certainly be possible to include a zipper or velcro on the outside pillow, but then there would need to be an inside pillow made to size…assuming that the design of your bench does not conform to existing pillow forms. This is a little more complicated than the decorative throw pillows that I have done so far, but then that’s what makes life interesting, no?
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