"I work for teeth"

Similar to a man holding a sign "I work for food" I work for teeth these days...to pay my dentist to be correct. Good and healthy teeth is one of my priorities about looks, more than clothes or the bling, so, I am in a major dental overhaul these months. Crown, new fillings, gum treatment, ahhh, for someone coming from Europe with their health insurance system it was a major sticker shock at first, but I am getting used to pay enormous sums of money for health care out of our own pocket. Makes you decide what is really important in life, and I guess dental and health care is important to me. Anyway, I have a lot of products listed on Ebay these days at great prices, some allow best offers, lots of cool books, 2nd hand clothing in India style and of course my handmade hats. You may get a good deal...:)
My Ebay Listings

New custom color/size Hippie Snood Tam Hats available

Beret and long sock style with mandala motif. I offer a variety of unisex colors, ecru, browns, black, grey, tan, burgundy, blue and white.
Check out my Ebay listings, Etsy and website for a custom listing.
You can also send me an email for further inquiry. Stay tuned, I am busy, busy and even more busy to bring some new styles.

The days are getting shorter

Autumn, Fall, Herbst, L'autumne.............
all words for the 3rd season of the year. It has already sent its messengers...early sun sets, the leaves change their color and fall prematurely to the ground. Brisk cool air in the morning. Nature slows down, a reminder about aging and change.
It is my favorite time of the year, a season for reflection, nest-building and melancholy.
Our giant tree (with rope and some boards of a former treehouse) will shower us with leaves, even though still carrying the weight of infinite green leaves it has already covered the ground underneath with brittle brown leaves. Giving shade during the hot summer months it now turns everything into darkness with its huge trunk and crown.
Even though I still enjoy the warmth of September afternoons I am looking forward to autumn.
It's like poetry...

Brainfood -- How to use American keyboard to type German

Never a day without a challenge.
I tried to list on German DaWanda yesterday and ran into the problem of not being able to use some German letters which were essential to have my products found on the German site as well. (It's possible to operate in German/English/French) and asked a question on the forum. This morning I had a great response, with lots of details how to solve the problem.
So, if you happen to be a German reader, maybe this could be helpful to you, too.
(I copied and pasted from the answer I received).
Hint: I just did a lot of editing in my listings at DaWanda and found that the copying of
ü, ö, ä
is really the easiest way to get the job done. Once you have a listing up you can also use it as a template and then you already have those letters included. Ahhhhhhhh, smart.
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hallo angelika,

ich sehe drei moeglichkeiten:

zum einen kann man normalerweise bei windows-pcs die tastatur-einstellung aendern auf ein gewuenschtes land einstellen. du hast dann zwar optisch die amerikanische tastatur, aber wenn du auf die tasten drueckst, kommen die deutschen zeichen. das sieht dann z.B. so aus, dass du auf "z" drueckst, aber ein "y" getippt wird. das ist allerdings, finde ich, nur die gute option fuer leute, die blindtippen beherrschen. trotzdem hier mal, wie du das umstellen kannst:

Bei XP gehts über die
>Systemsteuerung
>>Regions- und Sprachoptionen
>>>Sprachen
>>>>Details
>>>>>Standard Eingabegebietsschema auf DE einstellen

normalerweise siehst du dann auch unten in der taskleiste ein kleines symbol, wo du das ganz fix hin-und herschalten kannst.

wenn du auf deinem rechner keine option fuer DE angezeigt bekommst, muesstest du dir das irgenwo runterladen koennen.

falls du einen mac oder linux nutzt, weiss ich allerdings nicht, wie man die tastatursprache umstellen kann.

zweite option: unabhaengig vom betriebssystem kann man auf jeder tastatur die sonderzeichen der jeweiligen sprachen über den sogenannten ASCII-code darstellen. dazu muss man die alt-taste festhalten und eine bestimmte nummernfolge auf dem nummernblock tippen.

beispiel: ein ä (ae) geht so: halte [alt] fest und tippe die ziffern [2][2][8]. dann muesste ein ä auf deinem bildschirm erscheinen!

eine tabelle mit allen ascii-codes findest du z.b. hier:
http://www.torsten-horn.de/techdocs/ascii.htm
immer den dreistelligen zahlencode nehmen!

dritte option: bei windows gibt's eine zeichentabelle, aus der man alles rauskopieren kann.
>alle programm
>> zubehoer
>>> systemprogramme
>>>> zeichentabelle

dort dann oben als schriftart 'system' auswaehlen - zeigt dir alle zeichen an, du kannst die dann ueber auswaehlen und kopieren mitnehmen in andere anwendungen und dort mit [strg]+[v] einfuegen.

so, noch zwei abers:
wenn du ein laptop nutzt, dann hast du keinen nummernblock auf der tastatur, und mit den zahlen in der oberen reihe des buchstabenblocks funktioniert der ascii-trick nicht. normalerweise kann man über die FN-taste eine nummernblock-belegung herstellen, bei mir sind so blaue zeichen auf die tasten gedruckt, die werden ueber gedrueckthalten der fn-taste aktiviert. allerdings kommen bei mir nicht die sonderzeichen, die lt. ascii-tabelle eigentlich kommen sollten. keine ahnung warum. probier's bei dir einfach mal aus.

das zweite aber ist, ob dein rechner (und browser) diese sonderzeichen dann auch darstellen kann. auch dazu muesstest du ein deutsches sprachschema installiert haben.

so, ich hoffe, ich hab dich jetzt nicht verwirrt! wenn du noch fragen dazu hast, mail mir bitte an libri at tulibri de, weil ich hier immer nur sporadisch reinschaue.

ps: noch ein tipp:

falls du dich fuer die kopier-varianten entscheidest, ist es ziemlich muehsam, immer die einzelnen sonderzeichen wo rauszuholen und an anderer stelle wieder einzufuegen.

ich nutze fuer solche sachen viel den simplen windows-editor, aufrufen ueber
> alle programme
>> zubehoer
>>> editor

den rufe ich auf, kopiere alle woerter hinein, die ich oft brauche (in deinem fall z.B. 'muetze'), dann kann man beim tippen ueber
> [alt]+[tab] schnell auf den editor switchen,
> mit doppelclick das gewuenschte wort markieren,
> mit [strg]+[c] kopieren
> wieder zurueck zum eigentlichen text
> mit [strg]+[v] an gewuenschter stelle einfuegen

I finally did it...http://purplesagedesignz.dawanda.com

I finally registered with DaWanda.
This site for handmade items is located in Germany and can be operated in German, English and French. The currency is Euros. I love the neat clear interface and the fresh look. It is new and not very popular yet, but I see great potential for the future. And listings are free.
Now I just need to upload my products and get familiar with etiquette, forums, marketing and European tastes (reconnecting to European style).
My DaWanda Shop

Curing the forum addiction

Since I sell on Etsy I discovered that forums (or fora...still wonder which one is the right plural in English) can be addictive. I also sell on Ebay and got sucked into discussion boards or groups before, but Etsy forums have really intrigued me for quite some time. Beyond reasonable time.
I have decided it's time to focus on my business again and spend the time on my crafts.
Etsy is supposed to be your place to shop handmade (supplies and vintage is allowed though), but clearly is misused by some sellers for vending commercial items or items not made by the seller. Reselling and misrepresentation. For example mass-produced clothing which is declared as handmade but can be found on other websites as wholesale merchandise. It also happens in the jewelry, bags, pottery category just to name a few. This can be very upsetting and is one of the topics which is repeatedly addressed in the forums and of course concerns me as a handcrafting one-woman business.
Even though it is good and healthy to state your opinion it can become quite bothersome after a while when things don't change and you feel that nobody (other Etsy members or the Etsy Administration) sees things eye to eye with yourself.
Remedy? Concentrate on your craft. Create, sell and network outside of forums.
I don't ever want to work for a corporation again (unless for my own, but so far I am only Sole Owner) and need to remind myself about it every day. Ebay, Etsy, Dawanda eg are only venues with their rules and decisions based on their business model. The real freedom lies in your own website.

Monday is going to be the new Sunday

Monday will be my new day off! Seems like there is a pattern of working and creating all weekend and leisurely taking off on Mondays for me, with the exception of last week when we just had returned from Vegas.
I created 6 tams and 1 bag, took pictures, cleaned the house, listed, updated my website...
I didn't feel like weekend at all. I will reward myself with a trip to the thriftstore, reading online forums, hanging out on the patio with Oscar, drinking cappuccino and just recharge those batteries.
Did I tell you how good life is to me? Looking forward to Mondays...
Here are my snoods...2 have already sold, so there are 4 left to view.

My sister and my mum crochet, too

And here is their shop on Dawanda....about time to promote them, LOL
BTW, my grandpa was a taylor (someone who actually went through apprenticeship and knew how to handsew and then later machine sew men's suits) and my grandmother was a seamstress who made dresses and skirts for the farmer wives in trade for eggs and meat during the post WW2 years. My mother was very skilled in knitting and still does crochet work and embroidery. My dad was a shoemaker (leather shoes made from scratch) until this craft was not profitable anymore with shoe factories selling for less. And then there are my sister Andrea and I, well we do a bit of everything. But crochet is still our #1 passion.
Belvederos on Dawanda

It's good to be back home...

Back from the Vegas trip.
Well, it was what I had expected it to be, busy, loud, blinking, superficial, expensive.....
I don't plan to go back (soon...never say never...smile). I don't know how life in Las Vegas is away from the hotel and stip miles, but 4 days sure were enough for me playing a tourist.
On a good note, I did a lot of walking, I got a sun tan at the pool, the buffets were excellent and the Toby Keith concert was great.
It was a super busy day at home, but finally I am getting all my business under control again and I just love how the pictures of this simple and versatile black tam hat turned out. Did I tell you it was raining at home? So cool and refreshing, just makes the colors pop.

A short vacation

will come up this week. My husband will attend a seminar at photoshop world in Las Vegas and we will use it as a short vacation trip, probably our last chance to get away for a few days this year.
Oh my, when I first learnt about it, I thought, Las Vegas, I don't really want to go there again, but I changed my expectations during the last few days thinking about the wonderful chance I will have to walk and stroll again. Something that I hardly can do in rural Oklahoma, leave the car behind, get out on the sidewalks and just do some window shopping, have a latte at some corner cafe and visit a few interesting places. Too bad that we couldn't find a good rock concert during our stay, but maybe we'll find a few nice entertaining events off the billboards. I don't care to gamble or drink, so, I just got to be open minded about this trip, sounds superficial, but good to travel again. Before the christmas business will take over my life and I will be back in the routine of crocheting, sewing, packing, emailing.
Talking about walking, it's not exactly comparable, but on the left picture is the Marktplatz, Bremen, Germany. This is where I used to walk. Picture right: The Luxor Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

Woolblend Hippie Dreadlock Tam Hats are coming now

Time to crank out the nice warm winter materials, but it's actually never too early for a beautiful wool blend...I have this yarn in many, many luscious colors, check out my Etsy shop for more to come.