Chocolate Dog Studio

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Welcome to the New Year!

18 Jan

I guess I should have been on here much earlier than Jan. 18! Life has been very busy and my blog has fallen by the wayside. We had family in after Christmas and the busyness of Pre-Christmas sales kept me hopping before Christmas! I almost reached some goals I had set last year at this time and when I look back at the year I can see God’s hand in all of it. I am not going to bore you with all the details. I feel very blessed and definitely well cared for.

My newest venture is to sell books on Amazon.com. It is incredibly easy and we are pulling books from our shelves that we haven’t touched in years or everyone has read. Then we are also getting rid of books that we used in college. It is good to get rid of things and see the pile of books getting smaller every week. The kids wanted to list some wii games that they have outgrown or played through so those were listed in an adventurous moment. I think they are already planning what to do with any money that they get from the games.

My other new venture is my second Etsy shop called….The Paper Train. You can find it at http://www.thepapertrain.etsy.com. What does it sell? Well, all the paper items that I have had too much of in my other shop. They are both streamlined now and seem less cluttered. I wish I had created the second shop earlier.

I am creating some new items for ChocolateDogStudio and can’t wait to post them in the shop but it will be Feb. before they are ready.

I keep looking back on the year and seeing the frustrations and then the blessings. We still have a house for sale and it has not had many lookers but the housing market is down and there are many people in the same boat. We have had a child announce an engagement so we will get to celebrate a wedding within 18 months! I was sure that time would never fly this fast and it seems to have picked up speed once he graduated from high school.

What is going on in your future?

Thanks for listening to me ramble,

Karen

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New Cup Cozies

29 Nov

After getting together with my photographer over the Thanksgiving Weekend I have new listings in the Http://www.chocolatedogstudio.etsy.com shop. Woohoo, I am excited and made up a bunch of new ones that I think appeal more to the guys in your life. So here they are!

Which one do you like best?

Talk to you later,

Karen

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A little of the New!

10 Nov

Here are some photos of items in process and then some finished goodies.

Here is the almost finished product.

Glass and glitter makes for a hard photo to shoot!

Some new cozy fabric:

Some new coasters:

I have a whole bunch of new Christmas gift tags, but they are already packaged up and ready to go. Don’t let me forget the vintage tea towel aprons that are hanging up! My greatest fear is that I will forget something vital like the tins full of gift tags and Christmas paper flowers for gift wrapping or the post it note holders…

See you later,

Karen

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Countdown to the Craft show!

10 Nov

I am counting down to the craft show on Saturday here in the Des Moines area. It is my first Christmas season craft show. I am nervous and have no idea what to expect. My online etsy buddies keep telling me that it will be fine. I am working like crazy and I have so much I need to do and what feels like so little time!

…..

I wrote this a few days ago and I am still on edge. Say a prayer for me that I can pull this off.

Thanks, Karen

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Chocolate Dog Studio items 50% off at CraftyAttic

28 Oct

I am doing another voucher sale similar to Heartsy.me at CraftyAttic!

Here: http://www.craftyattic.com/index.php/welcome/deal/187

All of my Chocolate Dog Studio items are now 50% off! The coupons are good

for two months. So get your Christmas shopping done early, or at least the paying part!

Then shop to your hearts content! New items coming in November!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/70013918/cup-sleeve-coffee-cup-sleeve-coffee-cup

http://www.etsy.com/listing/82113439/post-it-note-holdersset-of-twohttp://www.etsy.com/listing/61153048/gift-tag-mitten-floral-yellow-upcycled

Thanks for stopping by!

I will talk to you later!

Thanks,

Karen Stewart

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Oklahoma State Cowboys day!

24 Oct

In Honor of the OSU Cowboys doing so well this season I am offering my cowboy cup cozies for sale $6 off. This offer is only available on my Facebook pages. So take a look and order. There are only five available.

https://www.facebook.com/Chocolatedogstudio

Oh, I also have these if you want one of these for the same price. I also have five of these!

https://www.facebook.com/Chocolatedogstudio

Remember check out the facebook page to order these. They are also $6 ea.

GO POKES!

talk to you later!

Karen

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Christmas Gift Tags; Pre-order sale!

18 Oct

I am offering these cute gift tags for sale in a Christmas

Season pre-order sale. I will custom make these tags and

send them on their way to your house by the 28th of

October! I create these out of  up-cycled and

recycled paper. Each tag set is individual and completely

based on the papers in my scrap basket. I loathe

throwing paper away until it is punched to the smallest

pieces possible. This means that occasionally I have an

incredible overstock of certain punched paper parts. These tags

make use of some of my overstocks. This means a great

savings for you! I have limited the amount of these tags to

10 sets. That means 120 tags. lol It is a good thing that

I love making these tags!

Pre-order for 50% off! Remember these are up-cycled so each set is individual!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/61155185/gift-tags-snowflake-round-gift-tags

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Heartsy.me Feature

15 Oct

http://www.etsy.com/listing/83901315/cup-sleeve-coffee-cup-sleeve-coffee-cup

ChocolateDogStudio is featured on Heartsy.me with an incredible 68% savings. Come on by and shop for Christmas, birthdays or just any reason at all! I have never priced my items this low before! http://heartsy.me/shops/6433-chocolate-dog-studio

http://www.etsy.com/listing/83900594/coffee-cup-sleeve-cup-cozy-cup-blue-and

http://www.etsy.com/listing/60082074/cup-cozy-or-sleeve-birds-in-cages-brown

Some new just listed and one re-listed cup cozy design.

Talk to you later!

Karen

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Heartsy.me?

12 Oct

Heartsy.me is a handmade sales site. Everyday they offer new deals on different shops from around the internet.

Here is a bit from their website:

For Sellers

Heartsy strives to be a champion for independent sellers by providing a platform in which our community of buyers helps us choose which artisans to feature. Learn more about selling on Heartsy here.

Fun Facts

Heartsy was born (appropriately) on Valentine’s Day in 2011.
The most vouchers ever sold by a single deal on Heartsy is 427.
Heartsy has driven 1069 sellers more than 76k voucher sales and $947k+ to date.

~~~~~~~~~

Sounds great you say, but how does it work.

First you sign up for a membership, which is super easy and free. Then you can surf around on their site and see what the current deals are. A deal is a special voucher system (rather like coupons) that you can purchase. You then plug the your specialized voucher number into the shops check out system to get the special Heartsy deal. Most Heartsy deals are at least 50% off regular pricing. Sometimes the discount is much more. As a seller it is a good deal because you get almost instant cash into your paypal. You reach a larger audience and get some advertising for your shop along with sales and feedback. Customers have a month to use the voucher before it expires.

There are a couple of things that you need to know about Heartsy. You submit your deal to Heartsy and have to be approved and not everyone that is approved will reach the final stage. The deals are driven by other heartsy members that vote on your submitted deal. Your “deal” is for sale for VIP customers for a full 24 hours before your deal becomes open to all Heartsy members. So you may have two days of sales. Also you have to consider carefully your pricing and shipping. It is your responsibility to make sure that your profits will cover your costs and not leave you in the red. As a vendor you choose how many vouchers are available and what your “Deal” will be.

My heartsy.me deal will run on Saturday and I will report back and let you know how it turned out. I sat down with a numbers person who then ran some numbers for me to make sure that I am not going to be out more money than I will be making. I am assuming that the larger your profit margin the easier it is to make some profit through Heartsy.me.

Talk to you later,

Karen

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Owls on Etsy!

10 Oct

http://www.etsy.com/listing/82827350/little-owl-decorative-pillow

http://www.etsy.com/listing/82315475/card-set-owls-mini-gift-cards-chocolate

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68390195/owls-etched-glass-bowl

http://www.etsy.com/listing/61152300/aceo-what-a-hoot-ooak

http://www.etsy.com/listing/59615291/custom-round-seals-labels-for-your-shop

Just a few owls for your day! I am thinking about the great new fabrics I got this weekend and the wonderful new items I will

get to add to my shop! Can you guess what one of the fabrics might have on it?

I am getting ready to open a new shop and divide up the paper part and the fabric parts of my Chocolate Dog Studio, any ideas on names? I am wanting to stay with the same theme. I think a contest with a giveaway should be a part of this name suggestion.

Here are the rules.

1. Suggest a name and comment here on my web site as many different names as you want.

2. Suggest a different name and comment on my facebook site as many different names as you want.

3. I will narrow down my name choices to three and have a grand drawing. The winner will get…..? It is a surprise!

4. October 31st I will pick the new shop name and open the new shop!

Thanks so much,

Have a great day, may God bless you and keep you!

Karen