@cfdesignz

Wow ... that's really all I can say ... I joined Twitter the other night and I'm truly amazed ... I never realized how helpful it would be to market my items and shop and goodies! I've been on twitter for 3 days now ... and I have almost 100 followers! That is so cool! and I have noticed that if i post an item on etsy .. I'll be lucky to get a couple hits on the listing ... if I post it on Twitter .. OMG ... at least 20 more hits on the item! WOW ... I wish I started Twitter a long time ago! But now I'm learning the ropes and connecting with so many more people!

So ... are you on twitter? Comment on this post and I'll follow you :)

Thanks all for reading!

Oh yeah .. don't forget to read the post below and enter into my blog giveaway!!!

Creative Fly Designz - 2nd Blog Giveaway!!!!!

It's here! It's Here! (hehe)... Creative Fly Designz 2nd Blog Giveaway is now live!!! (Yes I know it's Saturday night, but I wanted to get it posted tonite, since I wont be home till after 5pm eastern standard time tommorrow)



So here we have it! A new collection I am adding to all my creative things I offer on Etsy .... AROMIGURUMIS!!!! ... I know .. you're thinking, Aromigu what? Well .. Thanks to a fabulous blog giveaway I participated in over at lushlee.com (an adorable cute inspired website) I won a book called Creature Crochet with patterns to learn how to crochet Amigurumi creatures. Well, (while waiting for the book in the mail) I decided to use the internet and found some free basic patterns online, I started playing with stitches and created my own creatures. Then .. I decided to put my own spin on things (as usual!) :) .... So .. after creating a couple, I decided that instead of giving it a "toy" feel, I wanted them to be more a novelty, a cute desk decoration, or maybe a cute addition to someone's vehicle rear view mirror ... so ... I added scented aroma beads to the middle of my creatures, stuffed the bottom a bit with polyfil - and there we have it, Aromigurumis were born!



I'm very excited to be launching these little buddies - and as a special thanks to all my blog followers, I'm giving you all a first look at my creatures with an opportunity to win one for yourself! Based on the poll that has been running on my blog here, Clean Cotton and Vanilla were the top two scents of choice. So, the winner of this blog giveaway will be able to choose either the Vanilla or Clean Cotton creature as you see in the photo :). These little guys are hand crocheted with Lion Brand Suede style yarn and have plastic saftey eyes :) - they are about 3 inches high, and their bottoms are squishable if you need them to "sit" a different way :)



Now ... are you wondering what you have to do to win an Aromigurumi???



It's easy - Just go to my Etsy Shop, Creative Fly Designz on Etsy and post a comment in this post with a link to your favorite item in my shop and a comment about why you like it! A winner will be chosen at random on Saturday evening, October 10th, 2009.



Good Luck and have fun!!! Thanks for reading my blog and have fun!

Blog revamp :)

So ... while reading some other blogs I've decided I really want to do more with mine ... One of my plans is to include other shops from etsy along the side columns to feature people on a weekly basis ... I figure as more people follow my blog, I can then help fellow etsians with promoting their shops too :) So, in order to even think of doing that my blog needed a little makeover .. I found this awesome tutorial on how to change the 2 column minimalista templete to a 3 column one ...

3 column blog - you can click that link and see all what I'm talking about

Also ... I do think the 3 columns help even out all the goodies along the sides, without having to scroll down forever ... I like things staring back at me, If I can't find something on a website within 15 seconds (if that) I get bored and move to something else ... and I know I'm not the only one like that :)

So as for now I have the 3 columns, a new "message of the day" section, a new graphic on the right - that image is of a bracelet I made (of course) :) and wear all the time, as a sample item to things in my etsy shop ... I get inspired all the time, do you?

I still have the poll going, I think those are great, what an awesome way to find out what your readers are into :) ... I'm also considering compiling a little survey too, probably by the end of the month for holiday shopping ideas, and maybe I'll use that as a catalyst for my next blog giveaway :)

Ohh, yeah :) my next blog giveaway - Woohoo, Posting that Sunday!!

... This time it will be slightly different, I'd like people to now go into my etsy shop and comment here on my blog on their favorite piece ... so as a blog follower, (thanks again for following me) start thinking about that now :), winners will still be chosen at random, I count the comments and then ask my husband a number between what and what - and viola - we will have a winner :) . I'm really excited, I'll be introducing something completely new for Creative Fly Designz, and I hope you all enjoy it too!

As always thanks for reading! till next time :)

Busy Week :) - working up to Sunday's Blog Giveaway !!

So I'm really excited about my next blog giveaway! I hope everyone is too :)

Here's a hint if you havent figured it out .. or suspected ... it will have something to do with scents and "smelliness" :) .... oh and total cuteness :) - hence the poll :)

Sunday I will launch the Blog Giveaway ... and then during the week I will launch a couple pieces of the collection on Etsy .. so blog followers will get a sneak peek :) - yippee :) (AND a chance to win a free item!)

So .. I just wanted to pop on here and touch base ... I'll post again tomorrow :)

Alrighty .. back to creating as usual .. I hope you all had a good week :) and thank you for reading!

woot! 60!

Wow! I'm now at 60 followers already! (And there is always room for more!)

Thank you so much for following me and my creative brain :)

I ordered my final project pieces last night ... Hope to post the new giveaway item by this coming Sunday - September 27th, 2009 :)

So please stay tuned! Be sure to vote in my poll - and tell all your friends - hehe - I love comments and any input on how I can make Creative Fly Designz a better more creative venue for all :)

Thank you again for following me and sharing your thoughts :)

What do you do to improve your shop without relisting or adding new items?

I've decided to re shoot some of my items ... with different backgrounds and using a detailed shot as my first photo than the whole item on some of them ... I'm trying to see what catches someone's eye to get them to see what I'm all about ...

When I first started on Etsy i just shot my items on a white cardboard display ... then I went to the blue fabric - which I really like .. but some items the blue gets over bearing ... so I went and looked in my fabric surplus and found the pinkish fabric and switched out some photos .. please take a look and let me know what you think :)

Creative Fly Designz on Etsy

What do you do to improve your shop's appearance without relisting and adding new items??

What a great day!

I woke up to an etsy order of 4 items! Woot! ... and got payment already!!!

and .. then that made me able to order that last bit of what I needed for my newest project and collection to Creative Fly Designz! ..

I'm quite excited!

... oh yeah ... my next blog giveaway will be a piece from this new collection I've been hinting about ... just want to get to about 60 followers for it :)


OH - be sure to vote in my poll - I'd love to know your opinion!!!

thanks all for reading and following me!!!

Please vote for Zombie Chow on Furbabies!!!

Zombie Chow on Furbabies

Please check out her cuteness and leave a comment and vote for her :) -

- Voting will be from September 21, 2009 through September 27, 2009 at noon EST.

"The winner will receive a free PetsJubilee sampler box and the winning pet will send a photo to be the team store avatar for the month of October. If the winning contestant has an Etsy store, we'll also post a link to your shop with a write-up from our blog."

thanks everyone!

I was just notified from an etsian that I made their treasury!!! The first one that I know of :)

I'm so excited!!!

Moonlight Waters

Special thanks to HeartshapedCreations for letting me know about her beautiful treasury!

This treasury will be posted until Wednesday, Sept 23rd, 2009 - check it out!

Congratulations to Hannah!!! First blog giveaway winner!

Congratulations goes to Hannah! (Loveubabe)
She is the first winner of my blog giveaways!!!
Hannah has won this bracelet



As an added bonus - I would like to also give you the opportunity to check out her Etsy shop! She has beautiful items!




I will be posting a new giveaway once I hit 60 followers! Hopefully within the next two weeks.

My first Treasury on Etsy

Well I watched and waiting for the que to go to 333 .. then I jumped into the Treasury head first :) and got my first one posted! In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month coming in October

For the Gals

Let me know whatcha think ... it will only be up for 48 hours

Eco-Friendly crocheting!

So .. a while back I discovered the concept of plarn ... I played with it a little bit, and thought it was kinda silly, but unique in the same manner. Well today I went into Plarn overload - hehe ... I grabbed all the grocery bags we had in the house and cut them into the loops and then connected them and made this ....




I had to laugh when I found the Joann's bag .. and set it up .. I thought it was so fitting!

So then after making my little pouch from the grocery bags, and the blue is from best buy - hehe .. It was time to find some more ... so I grabbed a couple more bags and actually made a cute little pouch and that is my latest listing on etsy!!!

Eco-Friendly Plarn Pouch on Etsy

Let me know whatcha think :)

Yellowish or Pinkish photos on Etsy? Here's a way to fix it ...

I personally use Photoshop to adjust and resize my photos for what ever reason on the net ... I know some people have some difficulty finding that happy medium to have bright, crisp, clear, photos .. Well here is one way of adjusting your photograph if you are finding your camera giving you that yellowing or pinkish tint.

Color Balance is your friend, If you take a few minutes and move the slider bars either way you will see that it will adjust your photograph, and you can choose your Tone Balance, whether it's Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights. Most cases you should only have to adjust the MIDTONES section, and typically, to get reid of the yellowing, you decrease the amount of Cyan and increase the amount of Blue. And normally those numbers will be the same amount, but the Cyan will be negative.

See my photo below .. if you have any questions feel free to ask or comment :)






Hope this helps :) - Oh, be sure to click the image to get a larger view

.... Thats not yours .. it doesn't have your name on it ... or does it?

My husband and I got a gift card for Williams Sonoma and We saw the coolest thing and had to get it! It's a grill branded .. We got our initials on it and you are able to heat it up and brand your steaks and what not with it. Well, it's been raining in the evening alot here - Welcome to Summer in Florida - so we got a little creative and branded our lunch - hehe Grilled Cheese sandwiches :)
We can't wait to use it on the grill on our steaks and chicken when we have company over :)

2 Cents on Scents :)

Please be sure to share your "two cents" on SCENTS in my poll to the right - You're participation will decide what scent I will be using for my next project within Creative Fly Designz!!!!!!

Creative Fly Designz First Ever Blog Giveaway!!!!

I would like to first say "THANK YOU" to all of you who have chosen to follow me and my blog .. I really appreciate it, and I hope you are enjoying your stay :)

As a way to show my gratitude, I would like to initiate my first ever Blog Giveaway!!! I have created a bracelet just for this occassion! :)

This bracelet is approx. 8 inches in length, and due to the nature of the wire crochet, it is easily adjustable by squishing and or stretching the wire loops gently. This bracelet does have ribbon, and wire crocheted through, as well as metal silver beads and tiny glass seed beads in a clear white. The lobster clasp is a dark grey metal and the ends of the bracelet are securely cinched and wrapped onto the clasp.

Now you are probably wondering what to do to win this item - (valued at $15!!!) .. well that's the easy part! Just post a comment on this blog entry on why you should win this item!!! It's easy as that!!! I will keep the comments open for 7 days - returning back to this post on September 19th, 2009 to pick a winner!!!! Oh yeah ... the winner will be picked at random - so have fun with this!!!!

I hope to do a giveaway at least once a month!!! Maybe more! All depends on the participation!!!

Here you can see more photos of different angles of this wonderful handmade, unique piece!




Thanks for reading!

Where were you 8 years ago today?

I can still remember it clearly .. I was getting ready for work, I had to be in at 1130am .. the television was on, but I wasnt really paying attention to it, it was just on for noise ... until the playback of the 2nd plane ... It was so surreal, was this really happening?

As I drove down I-4 in Orlando, the road was bare, I felt like a zombie, the radio was broadcasting what was going on up north. I just kept thinking ... really? How could this be!

When I got to the call center .. that was a whole new experience ... you see, I used to work for WDW and book reservations. - The happiest place on earth ... well not this day, not this time, The phones were quiet, all my cubicle neighbors looking at news feeds ... we knew from that point on, Life here in the USA would not be the same.

I just wanted to take today to remember all of the inncoent fallen, give thoughts and prayers out to their families, and take today to reflect that, anything can happen, and do not take any day for granted.

9/11/2001 - 9/11/2009 - We will NEVER Forget!!!

Inspiration .. Where does yours come from?

So .. to give my fingers a little break from crocheting wire .. (my left pointer finger is a bit raw and starting to form a callus - eew )... I've decided to give Amigurumi a try ... considering Rooty was an attempt with no pattern or what not .. I figured it was time to really learn it ... it's fun .. and so rewarding!

I found a really awesome website/blog with free patterns including a really cute and easy alien thingy head ... http://www.roxycraft.com/crochet_gabu.htm

Gabu is so cute! at the end of this post you will see my attempt .. overall pretty good (I love varigated yarn :) ... but I did notice I missed one row in the middle - so he's not at tall as he should be, but the pattern was so easy to follow - I can't wait to make another one!

http://tamiesnow.typepad.com/ - The woman behind Roxycraft is so very talented! In her blog includes even you tube tutorials on different techniques to make this style of crochet even more enjoyable! (Thank goodness she shows how to make a circle with the 2-chain - I too can not figure out that silly magic circle!)

I just wanted to say thank you to Tamie of Roxycraft, while we have never spoken, or know each other, You have made reading patterns very easy, and your creatures are so amazing! You've inspired me to continue my adventures in Amigurumi.

I suggest anyone who is interested in Amigarumi to check out your talent and blog and wonderful projects!

SO .. here's my first attempt to a Gabu .. reading a pattern, using a marker and actually counting! Haha .. it all pays off! :)

Rooty is done :)

Have you ever seen an object or a photo or an image and thought to yourself, "I can make that" ... Even when you have never made anything like it before?

Well I encountered that this past weekend, as posted before with my little project called "Rooty". I have never done Amigurumi style of crochet before .. but ever since I learned how to crochet from my grandma over 10 years ago, I've noticed, that I can better look at a photo and figure it out than read patterns. So after looking at some photos of Amigurumi creatures and playing around with some stitches, I attmpted to make a Rooty ... I think for a first attempt he didnt come out too bad :) (Oh I know the legs should be the same color as everything else, but I ran out of yarn, and to keep the consistancy of the cotton yarn, it was either hot pink - lol .. or the varigated brown ... )



I would love to hear from all of you, have you ever completed a little project not knowing a pattern, or kinda winging it and happy with the results? Please feel free to post a comment :)

Have a great Tuesday! Thanks for reading!

CFDesignz on Etsy

I rearranged my Etsy shop a bit ... Changed my featured products an such ...

Whatcha think?



A Special thanks to Bellacustomblends for being my first order/sale :)

Rooty update - lol

so .. being silly this morning I decided Rooty needed to have a body and some arms ... I had limited amount of this colored yarn left .. so I figured the top of him can be this light color .. and his legs can be a different color brown ... so here's an updated photo ... oh btw .. I've never done this ind of project ... so I'm really just winging it .. no pattern, barely counting - no markers - LOL .. just being silly and having fun :)



thanks for reading :)

Happy Labor Day!!!! or Happy Monday!

Well this is kinda a side note .. but to be able to learn a little more about me ... I'm a gamer ... and with the new game Aion out with an open beta - we've been checking it out and it's alot of fun! Now you are probably thinking .. what does this have to do with crochet and art? Well .. throughout the server restarts and lag times, I started a little side project. There is a little NPC called Rooty in the game .. a cute (yet ugly) ginger root in the game - and squeaks when it dies - sad i know :( ... But anyways ... I took some screenshots of this little guy, and thought, I can make one! Below is a photo of my monitor with the whole guy there, and then, here's the head I made ... I will be working on the body this week .. and will post more as I go ... silly I know .. but it's all about staying creative!



Have a great Monday and Holiday! Thanks for reading!

Craftgawker.com

Soft & Fuzzy Crochet Bracelet via Craftgawker


http://craftgawker.com/post/2009/09/05/4629/

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Welcome to Creative Fly Designz!!

Please visit my Etsy shop for all unique, one-of-a-kind handmade accessories and jewelry!

http://cfdesignz.etsy.com



You can also find me on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/cfdesignz

Stay posted for more information and new items from Creative Fly Designz!!