Soul Mind Taste

Fabric Flowers for the Hair

2010-05-08T18:18:00.007+03:00

I have been making fabric flowers using different kind of fabrics some of which looks more natural while some is more elegant. I couldn't wait to turn them into head bands and took some pictures.

I wish I had a live model and a good camera. No need to a photographer; I believe I can take some pretty good photos..:)

It's been a strong wish since some time; you know the times when you just want to throw the camera into the wall when you're trying to shoot your items. And it makes a huge difference when you display them on a model and if you do it with a good camera and a good light..What more could you want?

Maybe when I put them in the shop I can give the alternative to turn them into a headband, hair clip or a brooch..

Still I am looking for ways to improve them..Can I add something to them, like leaves, feathers? Or should I add a smaller one near the big one? Or maybe they are just fine the way they are.

If you re also interested in making fabric flowers I have a "how to make a lotus flower" recipe which I am going to write here in another post.

Celebrate Originality

2010-05-06T14:54:00.008+03:00

These sure speak for themselves.

I took the photos in Eminonu.

There are more to come..soon.

By the way, Adibos seems like the copy of Adinos..:)))

Designing a Business Card- Kartvizit Tasarımı

2009-12-08T19:06:00.011+02:00

I have designed a business card for me and my mom's shop matching with the color and font of the shop's banner. And I put photos of some items from my shop on the back of the card.

So I had an image of how I would like it. I wanted the original logo of the website to be on the left corner-that way I thought it would look more professional- like the name of the company :-)Under it writes my shop's name- see the lemon among? it is for the letter "o". Because it means lemon green :-)) I would like to thank my dear friend Melih for this cutest idea.

In the middle writes our names, and website address. And above writes our motto.

You can freely use the same format to design yours!

Annem ve benim dükkanımız için bir kartvizit tasarladım. Kartın renk olarak ismimizle uyumlu şekilde limon yeşili renginde olmasını ve font olarak da yine bannerdaki fonttan olmasını özellikle istedim. Bu arada bannerımızı hazırlayan arkadaşım Melih'e buradan tekrar teşekkür ediyorum. Çok içime sinen ve çok sevimli bir banner yaptı benim için. "Limon"daki o harfi yerine limon koymuş olmasına ise diyecek söz bulamıyorum :-)) Daha şirin olamazdı. Tabi ben bunları aynen kartvizitte de kullanmak istedim.

Sol üstte sitenin orijinal logosunu koydum. Sanki böyle daha profesyonel görünüyor-şirket ismi gibi :-)

Ortada annem ve benim isimlerimiz, altta ise dükkan sloganımız (bannerımızda da aynı şekilde yazıyor)

Kartın arkasına ise bazı ürünlerin fotoğraflarını koydum.

Kadıköy'de 100 tanesini 40 TL'ya bastılar. Biraz tuzlu mu oldu bilmiyorum?! :) Araştırılarak daha ucuzu bulunabilir belki. Ama ben sonuçtan çok memnunum. Özellikle ürün fotoğraflarının kalitesinde hiçbir bozulma yok-ki en çok ondan endişe ediyordum.

And this is the back. I picked my favorite items of both of us! :)

Bu da kartın arka yüzü. Annemin ve benim en sevdiğim işlerimizden seçtim. :)

Pasajcılar Feriköy Pazarı'ndaydı

2009-12-06T19:47:00.018+02:00

Şişli Belediyesi ve Yerel Gündem 21 derneginin katkılarıyla organize edilen "ikinci el ve el işi" ürünlerin satılacagı pazar Feriköy'de 06 Aralık 2009 tarihinde açıldı. Organizatörlerin Pasaj.com Forum'da bir başlık açarak bizleri bu konuda bilgilendirmeleri üzerine, 5 Pasaj sahibi Pazar'da yerlerini aldılar. Ben de bu haftaki pazara ziyaretçi olarak katıldım ve tezgahlarını yanyana seçmiş olan pasaj sahiplerinden takim, resimcerceve, ahir ve blacktea ile sohbet ettim. Hepsini çok sevdim, hepsine bol ve hayırlı kazançlar diliyorum!

Onlar, sonraki haftalarda Pazar'da yer almak isteyenler için Pasaj Forum'da deneyimlerini paylaşacaklardır. Ben de buradan kendi gördüklerimi anlatayım..Pazar özellikle kitap, porselen, tabak, çanak, biblo, oyuncak, kıyafet, çanta, ayakkabı, güneş gözlüğü, plak, CD, mektup, fotoğraf, müzik aleti, el feneri ve aklınıza gelmeyen bilimum ıvır zıvır da dahil olmak üzere birçok eski ve ikinci el eşyayı bulabileceğiniz bir pazar. Bununla beraber kendi yaptıkları yani yeni takı ve aksesuarları (örgü, buzdolabı süsü, maske, yastık, patchwork...) satan tezgahlar da bulunmaktaydı. Ancak pazara bu hafta daha çok takı ve örgüden ziyade ikinci el ve vintage tarzı ürünlerle ilgilenenler gelmiş gibiydi. İkinci el eski çanta, kıyafet satanlar sanırım daha iyi iş yaptılar bu hafta. Siz de istiyorsanız elişleri yerine evdeki kitap, kıyafet, aksesuar, biblo gibi şeyleri getirerek satmayı deneyebilirsiniz. Elinizde özellikle orijinal parçalar, vintage çantalar..vs varsa bence denenebilir.

Pasaj.com'dan "resimcerceve" nin tezgahı.

İkinci konu da bir takı satıcısı olan sevgili "blacktea" tezgahtaki çok fazla takının gözü yorduğunu, daha az parçanın daha ilgi çekici olacağını söyledi. Ben de ona katılıyorum. Yine bir takı satıcısı olan "ahir" de takıların en güzel siyah örtü üzerinde göründüğünü bu yüzden siyah örtü üzerinde sergilemek gerektiğini söyledi. Ya da beyaz da olabilir! Ayrıca imkanınız varsa takıları tezgaha sermek yerine kolyeler için boyunluk, küpeler için de ayaklı bir aparat getirmek ve o şekilde sergilemek gerçekten büyük fark yaratıyor. Hatta bana göre, ne satıyorsanız ondan mutlaka kendiniz de takmalısınız! Bu arada, yanınızda müşteriler için ayna götürmeyi unutmayın ;)

Bir sonraki hafta ben de katılacaktım ama bugünkü soğuğu gördükten sonra maalesef vazgeçmek zorunda kaldım! Bugün yine de öyle çok soğuk yoktu aslında, ama bundan sonraki haftaları ve hareketsiz oturacağımı düşündükçe, çabuk hastalanan biri olarak vazgeçmek zorunda kaldım. Ama önümüzdeki hafta yine ziyaretçi olarak gideceğim tabi :) Pazar alanının yan tarafında bir çayocağı var yanına da şirin bir yer yapmışlar oturmak için, bence haftaya ziyaretçi olarak birkaç Pasajcı daha gelirse, orada kahvelerimizi hüpleterek hem tanışmış hem de bilgilerimizi paylaşmış oluruz diye düşünüyorum. Bugünkü ayaküstü sohbetten bile çok keyif aldım ben! :) -Güzel haber: Türk kahvesi de yapıyorlar :)

Aklıma gelen birkaç not:
-Yanınızda gelirken elektrikli soba getirebilirsiniz, pazarda elektrik imkanı var.

-Bere, eldiven, ve bacaklarınıza örtmek için şal/battaniye getirmenizi öneririm.

-Termosa çay koyarsanız çok rahat edersiniz ;)

-Tezgahların tahmin ettiğimden oldukça geniş olduğunu gördüm. O yüzden özellikle takı satanlar, yukarıda bahsettiğim sebepten, bir tezgahı 2 kişi paylaşabilirler. Hatta 3 bile olabilir

-İçerisi aydınlatmalı ama biraz loş sayılır, masa lambası getirebilirsiniz yanınızda.

-Pazarda satıcı olarak bulunacaklara mutlaka pazarı gezmelerini ve tezgah sahipleriyle sohbet etmelerini, varsa kartlarını vermelerini öneririm. Bu arada, sattığınız ürünlerle birlikte ya da gelenlere ve oradakilere vermek için de üzerinde dükkan isminizin, dükkanınızın web adresinin, kendi isminizin, varsa blogunuzun..vs'nin yazdığı küçük kart boyutunda kağıtların çıktısını alabilirsiniz.

Bu arada önümüzdeki haftadan itibaren tezgah fiyatları 30 TL olacakmış, bir de bir satıcı haftaya pazara Şişli Belediye Başkanı Mustafa Sarıgül'ün geleceğini söyledi :)

:)))

Ribbon Embroidery

2009-12-04T19:37:00.014+02:00

Here are some ribbon embroidery samples my mother did for me to hang up on my wall when I get married! That means it is part of my "çeyiz". I think I'm going to give a little bit of information on this later. But now, here are the ribbon embroideries witing to be framed :)

There are 3 more in different designs which she considers to sell in her Etsy shop but we have a crisis deciding on what we should transfer them into. Pillows, frame, wall hang..or what? We should also consider in which way it can be sold best..as a pillow or wall hang?

Who Wouldn't Like a Canon?

2009-11-15T11:29:00.009+02:00

Furkan is a Turkish artist who is "wandering with a lot of compositions in his mind" as he describes, but could never afford a Canon to fit them in an image. Then he started to think if he can't collect the money, he could collect the people who wanted the same thing to make his wish come true. So he is taking pictures of portraits of Istanbul, with his message in their hands: "Canon see him!"

He started his journey to take 2010 photos for a Canon and has taken 1500 portraits so far. You can see his journey in his blog here. By the way, I'll e-mail him to let him know about my blogpost and to ask where he is planning to take shoots through this week!!

Edit: He answered my e-mail superfast and told me he works in Mecidiyeköy and that it would be a pleasure for him to take a shoot if I can be around there on weekdays.

Cr8tivity- A New and Great Etsy Tool

2009-09-08T11:47:00.009+03:00

Thanks to Twitter, I learned about a great Etsy tool that has been developed recently by an Etsian. Twitter has given me many bonuses and extras that I wasn't expecting at all before I signed up. But this is another topic..I want to talk about this new tool which I think you will find very handy and useful. Besides being unique features, they are also very easy and fast to use.

http://cr8tivity.com/ provides some unique features along with tools that some other sites already have and Etsians are using.

I am going to mention the unique features here.

"Item Hearts" Section

Here you have the opportunity to Facebook or Twitter any of your items.

"Statistics" Section

You can see the distribution of your item sections, view distribution per section, user as a seller feedback and user as a buyer feedback distribution on a pie chart.

(About hearts, you can find a detailed display on Hearts here in the recent feature of Craftcult)

"Helpers" Section

This is where cr8tivity offers the really handy and useful features.

1. Flyers with One Product or Multi Product

-There is a recent addition to this feature: "Price Override" option

2. Excel file download of your current listings with columns containing Listing Id, State, Title, Creation Date, Number of Views, Price, Expiration Date, Quantity, Section Title, Sold?, Listing Fee, Selling Fee, Shipping Fee, and Date Sold.

"Cr8twitty" Section

You can tweet on this section and it creates a tinyurl of your shop with your tweet.

Coming Features:

Simple Invoice Maker
A Microsoft Word version of the product and multi product flyer that you can edit.

You can follow them on twitter.

*********************************************

And the BONUS:

Cr8tivity.com Free Advertising Giveaway

You can reach the details about it here.

Please leave comments, I will be happy to read them!

DIY Gift Box Tutorial

2009-09-07T20:15:00.019+03:00

I came across to a DIY Gift Box Tutorial here and I tried it. It was an easy tutorial and it came out beautiful. You can see the result here in my previous post. But while I was doing it I realized I didn't have to bother this much fold-open moves and came up with an easier one. Here is the tutorial- with tones of pictures in place of words which might be deficient due to my English.

I am giving the measurements that I tried but you can change them for a box in different dimensions and sorry to explain it in metric standards but you know, it's not important at all! Just follow the instructions. (In case you need: 1 cm: 0.39 inch 1inch: 2.54 cm)
Here are the materials: Cardboard (thicker comes out better), scissors, glue, ruler, pencil, a piece of paper, embellishments

1. You will cut two different sizes of square cardboards for the box and its cover.

2. The perfect the squares are, the perfect the result is.

3. Cut a square cardboard measuring 20.5*20.5 cm (This is for the box)

4. Draw a square right on the middle of the cardboard measuring 8.5*8.5 cm as in the picture below. (means 6 cm inside from all the edges.) I hope the black lines are visible enough!

5. Cut another square cardboard for the cover measuring 19*19 cm (it is smaller than the one for the box because that way the cover will come out shorter than the box and will be easy to take of while opening- experience speaking! :)

6. Draw a square right on the middle of the cardboard measuring 9*9 cm (means 5 cm inside from all edges)
7. It is the same both for the box and cover after here.
8. Cut until the edge of the square inside- where the end of the scissors is as seen in the picture below)

9. Fold it clearly like this, following the lines.

10. Cut on the line near it as seen in the picture below.

11. Fold on the lines as below.

12. Cut and fold across them just the same. You can see below.

13. Now fold the right and left following the edges of the square inside as seen below.

14. Here is what it looks like when you all gather them.

15. Glue the ears (this is how I call them) inside. Put a piece of white paper under them while gluing so that you can glue the edges better without dirt around it. See below.

16. Paste them as in the previous picture where all of the "ears" are gathered.

17. Embellish :)

Just before I wrote this post I saw a thread in Etsy Forum asking whether anyone does DIY gift boxes and I think I need opinions on this one. I got a cardboard in this color because my Etsy shop is called "Derin Mavi" which means deep blue in English. So I wanted it to be matching. And I thought evil eye beads were suitable for embelishments because they are also blue and something from Turkish culture. Do you think it came out nice to send package to a customer? Or would you be turned off when you saw it? Should I add or change something?

Recently on my Online Business

2009-08-22T21:15:00.013+03:00

I have another shop in Dawanda I opened a couple of months ago. I am trying to promote as much as I can to make a sale there as well. (Haven't made the first one yet!) While I was browsing on Internet at 2 a.m on a sleepless night, I was shocked to see one of my necklaces on front page when I opened the homepage of Dawanda. So I saved the screen, here it is :-) The second on top left:

Oh, there was an Etsian who asked for wholesale prices for two of my earrings in June to sell in her own handmade items website that she set up recently and was trying to develope. I have just got a message from her telling they sold both of them and asking whether they were one of a kind or not to place an order for more! First of all of course I am glad they did sell but not because it means an upcoming order for me, because they were both my own designs. I mean, I am not a designer (professionally). I don't have a degree on design at university. But I am designing since I can remember, I love colors, materials, esthetic. This is obviously because of my mother because yes, she IS a professional designer :-) It's the genes obviously :-))

And these are the two earrings she sold on her website: (I liked how she called them there!)

"Silk Road Earrings"

"Grappa Earrings"

You should check her website. Full of all handmade, original and adorable items. You can reach here.

Improving My Shop

2009-08-16T19:46:00.011+03:00

I wrote about the importance of good packaging in my previous post. So I was off to buy some lovely supplies for a beautiful package after I wrote it. I got lemon green wrapping paper and a big bunch of raffia for only 3 Dollars. And I made a cute package using a tutorial I came across on internet. I am going to give that tutorial and the easier way I came up with while I was doing it in the coming post. Today it's just the result.

Oh by the way, I have just learned about a really cool promoting tool on Etsy Forum. It is a 30 second-video you make with images and a song you like in the background. (You can make a longer version as well, it's up to you!) If you own a shop and would like to feature your items, you pick 12-15 images, you choose the song and bam! there's your fun to watch video consisting of your items. CLUE: You know it is the music which creates or stregthen the feeling, so make sure it is matching with your items or your style. I picked a latin song called "Havana Rules" and I think it came out perfect! Here it is:
http://animoto.com/play/4s5MZvMxjlVpF1gqDMzX7w

I would love to hear your comments. You can leave there (under the video) as well!

I made a trade with an Etsy seller AddieDesigns to have a banner in exchange of one of my earrings. The banner came out great and now I know a great Etsy seller whom I can advise to others. She reminded me the importance of good treat to customers. You can see this is the way she works looking at the feedbacks left for her. You can see the new banner here.

I've been working on hair accessories for a little while, but the thing is I am desperately looking for a model to display them. (and the necklaces I have made before) I couldn't find yet and I think I won't so I guess it will be me in the end. Hope mom can take photos good enough! (She has no talent or experience taking photos at all!!)

And finally, we opened a second shop where there are only the works of my mother, meaning we seperated Derin Mavi. Her shop is called deiledesign. There are patchwork and cross stitch pillows, Turkish slippers and patchwork quilts for now. There's so much more to come.

Stay tuned :-)

"Packaging Says Something About You"

2009-07-29T13:12:00.009+03:00

For those who are selling their handmade items online: I have just read this great article in "Etsy Storque" about "Packaging and Shipping" and got angry with myself having made the same mistake of undarvaluing something. If you also want to fix your mistake like I did, here's the article: Service Tips for Sellers: Packaging and Shipping

The package belongs to celestefrittata's shop.

Tips for Selling Crafts Online

2009-07-29T12:12:00.006+03:00

This is a brief article @ e-commerceguide.com giving tips about selling crafts online. You can reach from here

"13 Things You Couldn't Pay Me to Buy"

2009-07-28T20:21:00.005+03:00

Here's an article I found here

13 Things You Couldn't Pay Me to Buy
Easy money-saving tips that will get you thinking thrifty…while still having fun.

Go ahead. Just try me. Send me a blank check (made payable to "Jeff Yeager, The Green Cheapskate") and see if I succumb to the social pressures to buy any of the following:

1. "Green" household cleaners - Do you know about baking soda and vinegar?

2. A suit that costs more than $200 - As Warren Buffett said, "I buy expensive suits. They just look cheap on me." And at a thrift store, $200 will buy you a closet full of suits.

3. A cell phone - Pay to ruin the quality of my life?

4. Bottled water - News Flash: Bottled water may be unsafe, and definitely a waste of money and resources. Hate to say it, but I told you so.

5. A riding lawn mower - The only thing wider than the expanse of your grass, is the expanse of your ... If you're going to have a lawn at all, at least mow it with a push mower.

6. A Hummer - The new definition of "so un-cool."

7. A gym membership - Buy a used bicycle at the thrift store and pedal it on over to cancel your gym membership. Then ride it to work and on local errands.

8. Any pet that's not adopted - Adopt a stray from your local animal shelter, and be sure to have your dogs and cats spayed or neutered.

9. A powerboat or Jet Ski - I'll take my canoe or kayak, and the peace and quiet of being out on the water, any day.

10. A bottle of wine that costs more than $8 - A study showed that if you serve most people cheap wine and tell them it's expensive, they say they like it much better. So lie.

11. A tanning bed - I'll get my skin cancer the old fashioned way (or not) by spending time outside, in the sun. At least it's free.

12. A GPS - Another expensive device to let us use our brains less. Map reading and orienteering are important life skills...and what fun would life be if you don't sometimes get lost along the way?

13. Any piece of clothing that displays the name of the designer/brand - If you want to advertise on my body, you'll have to pay me, not the other way around.

So, how did I do? Send your comments (on the backside of a blank check) to "Jeff Yeager, The Green Cheapskate." Or comment below.

Jeff Yeager is the author of the book The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches. His Website is http://www.ultimatecheapskate.com/.

Well, I guess most of the people will say that all 13 topics depend on your conditions. It's true. Cell phone is definitely necessary especially if you have kids or a GPS helps you save gas when you are looking for an address. But, this article definitely makes us think about our habits, the conception of "need", the phenemonen of "modern life" and its effects on us.

I Should Have Thought of That!

2009-07-28T14:58:00.012+03:00

"Bad Table" link

When I see a design I like, I always think about the process of how it was created, especially when it's a simple "but" adorable idea. Do you also think like "It's so simple, nothing complicated about it, but why couldn't I think of that..?" Yeah, but somebody did and it came out awesome!!

"Falling Bookend" link

I remember reading somewhere that "bringing things together that look like they have nothing to do with each other" is what fires the creativity.

I love sharing "cool designs" so there's always more to come in this blog!

"Tealight Pendant Light" link

"Someone's Cup" link

There's even better:

"Dirty Mug" link

Delicate Beauty: Needlelace (Oya)

2009-07-27T16:50:00.022+03:00

I am a big fan of needlelace- and traditional clothing in general. I will make posts of needlelace samples I come across around or online from time to time. Needlelace is a traditional Turkish handcraft made to decorate cloths. I will start with some of them I saw two weeks ago in the "Mobile Turkish Culture House" built in Taksim Park where the "European Capital of Culture Istanbul Gathering of World Cultures and Youth" organization was held with guests from 20 countries for one week.

The woman I talked with in the "house" showed me needlelace decorated scarves and brooches which she collected from all over Anatolia. All of them were at least 30 years old and there were even 80 year-old ones. This pink&yellow flowered one on top is a bride's crown and 50 years old. Isn't it just beautiful?

Sea Gulls on my Sweater

2009-07-26T21:40:00.022+03:00

I liked this idea I saw on a blog so much and decided that moment to do it. It came out just how I wanted. Here's how I did for those who want to try:

-I drew the birds myself since I didn't have a pattern sample.

-A plain white or white fabric with little patterns on (like flowered) results better on a dark colored cloth. First I cut the birds out of a flowered red fabric but it didn't have that effect. I guess they look like sea gulls that way so white looks better.

-I made them smallest to biggest, and stitched the smallest begining from the shoulder, that way the birds look like they are coming from distant creating a perspective.

-There are three birds on the original one but I made four, you can increase it if you like!

-First I tried to stitch them on the sweater directly but the threads on the edges came off as the pieces are very small. So I fixed an interfacing. You can find interfacing in fabric stores. It is a supply which is fixed in the back of the fabric by ironing and keeps the fabric stable.
(First I drew the birds on the fabric, cut them out and then placed them on the interfacing)

Place the pieces face up on the shiny face of the interfacing and iron it. Warning:put a fabric under the interface while ironing, or it sticks to the surface you are ironing on.

-After ironing, remove the fabric you had put under. The interfacing sticked to the reverse side of the birds.

- Cut the birds out again.

-If you don't fix the birds with a pin while stitching them on the sweater, they slip and change direction unnoticed.

-Please send the results if you try, I will be happy to post here!

-Good luck! :)

START

2009-07-26T12:35:00.010+03:00

Starting blogging has been a hard attempt for me. It was like the endless decisions abandoned after a short while when you decided to give up smoking or start a diet. Maybe the deepest reason was, "Why would anyone like to read my s***? " Then there was the phase I realised why I was reading others' and began to think about what attracted me in them.

I decided to write in English- I wanted to use this advantage to reach the "world" and besides I own non-Turkish online shops where I sell handmade accessories and jewelry- I have to write in English to reach them.

I have two online dictionaries and my Oxford Dictionary open. I can communicate with people troubleless but when it comes to expressing yourself written, you want it to be in the best way. Chances are I will, but I hope I don't create "Turklish scenes" :) Turklish means Turkish+English; they are the broken English phrases or words created by Turkish speaking people while trying to translate from Turkish to English. Here's one of the most famous ones: (Well, why don't we start our blog with some funny "Turklish" examples? )

Ok, a restaurant owner had a sign written on a sheet. It means "Chicken Spinning On Coal" in English. Well, why did he translate this phrase as "chicken translate" to English? Spinning-rotating meat in an oven or on a source of heat is a way to cook it and the word is also used for..guess what, "translating" :) He probably just looked up in the dictionary for the word spinning and he used the first thing he saw- which is translate..This is because Turkish is a language rich of idioms, metaphors and comprehensive words and when you make word to word translation, it results ridiculous.

(!Warning: Even the word "spinning" can be Turklish here, I don't know how I should call the action of turning them over on the grill!)

I would like to call such examples as "chicken translate" in general and I would like to add a hilarious article of a famious Turkish actor for Turkish speaking people- which is impossible to understand unless you know the daily idiom-metaphor rich speeches :)

Well, that's all for today and for the start. I can't make a list of what's exactly going to be in here in coming days and months, just what's going on in soul, mind and taste.