AND THE WINNER IS....

Well, a week has passed and a winner has been picked. Over the past week I received 28 comments and 21 new followers! Thank you everyone for following and promoting the giveaway! Since I received less than 50 new followers, the prize is a chicken egg in any color with a floral design!

A winner has been selected my random.org... the winner of a floral chicken egg in a color of her choice is....

DRUM ROLL.....

AULANI PHOTOGRAPHY!!

A new follower and a great blogger! Congratulations to Aulani!!! I will be contacting you through your blog. If you see this you may also email me at teener1416@hotmail.com (subject line EGG WINNER)

Thank you everyone for participating!!! Keep checking out my blog for new giveaways, promotions, Shop features, and more!!

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!!

Spring Giveaway Challenge!!

It's time for a Spring Giveaway!!! I will be giving the lucky winner a scratched egg from my shop! The egg will be floral, and the color will be chosen by the winner. The winner will receive a gift box and wooden stand for the prize egg!

How to gain entries:
** You can enter in an unlimited amount of times!!! **
Here's your options:

1. If you are not yet following my blog, follow my and comment on this post that you are a new follower.
2. Post this blog post on your facebook and put in a separate comment in the post with the link.
3. Tweet this blog post on your Twitter and put in a separate comment in the post with the tweet link.
4. ALSO if you send someone who follows the blog and they put in their comment your name that you sent them, you will get an additional entry.

LET'S MAKE THIS INTERESTING!!

If I get over 50 followers, I will upgrade the egg to a goose egg with flowers all over it.... in sugar plum!

Let the games begin!!!!

This giveaway will last one week! I will post the winner after the week is up.

I Made it Market - April 2 Show - Glass Lofts

The show went pretty well!!! As promised I took some photos of the show. I did not have the opportunity to take pictures of everything, but I will try to take more next week at the next craft show.

Yesterday went well! I got my display up quickly and I think it looked pretty good if I do say so myself. I invested in a couple new bird displays. I like how the colors and heights are all different but still compliment each other nicely. My next goal is to find some nice bowls to sell sets of eggs together in.

There was diverse artists with some WONDERFUL items! From weaving newspaper plastic bags into rugs, to leather work, woodwork, and wonderful jewelry, I enjoyed being among these wonderful crafters!

The crafter next to me had some fantastic reworked jewelry with a Gothic and vintage feel. Her displays were wonderful! I had fun talking with her during the day and eying her items for something to buy myself as a prize next week.

Not only were her items lovely, but I had the pleasure of seeing a fantastic crafter's loom! Sher takes the plastic bags your newspapers come in and weaves them into rugs! She can even point out every newspaper with it's proper bag based on the bag's color. I find that amazing. She receives donations from individuals from out of state as well as local donations! It's great that she is part of a movement to recycle and reuse materials that so often are trashed, creating excessive pollution. She will be at another festival at the end of April for crafters who reuse and recycle in their craft! I hope to attend in order to see all the wonderful crafts as well as shop for some items of my own!

Another girl makes hair clips out of keys from old computer keyboards. Items too old for current use, but without an easy recycling process, such equipment lands in good wills or dumpsters. She takes this unwanted materials and makes a cute and useful accessory any trend setting person would love to own!

I need to grow out my hair in order to buy one of these! It's a goal :)


Some wonderful fabric artists were also at this event. I found a great array of fabric purses, great for the Spring hanging and ready for purchase! I wish I had a partner in crime at the show so I would of had time to run around and purchase items with the money I made at the show. Sadly, I was on my own. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise, because I wanted so many items. Even I items I did not have a chance to photograph.


Here are a few other photos of great items and displays from the show:

Crazy Busy!! Craft Show #1 Tomorrow

Most of you know already, but in case you didn't, tomorrow is my first of three craft shows this month! Each show will get larger and larger. Tomorrow's craft show has 20 vendors. Next week's has 30 and the final week's show has over 50 vendors selling crafts!

All these shows will be Spring themed. I hope my eggs will be well received at each show. I worry about being prepared and making enough sales to not be disappointed with the time I put in on preparation.

I have three different kinds of eggs for this show. First, I have the traditional scratched eggs you have seen on here countless times. Also, I have wax "drop and pull" eggs made by my mother. Finally, I have a new technique. Eggs dyed with a plant or flower pressed against the shell. The effect is that on a pressed look with surrounding color. I will post photos of them soon. In addition, I have cards and earrings to sell.

The cards I hope to make a big hit with. I have 24 now, maybe 30 before the day is over. Earrings did not do so well last show, but I am confident I will have some interested buyers tomorrow. Rob made several pairs of earrings, and he does a much better job than me. :)

My main concern about the craft show is not having enough items, but rather, having everything I need. For example, I do not have my containers organized yet. As a result I do not have all my price signs together. The ribbon and scissors are missing and the wire for making cards into ornaments is not where it should be.

It is all a matter of gathering together. I am a good gatherer, but I also want to craft a few last minute items tonight. Looks like I will have to "hire" Rob to do some gathering work for me. I'll have to pay him in quiche... though he made all the quiche :P

Wish me luck tomorrow! I'll be sure to update! Hopefully with pictures! Oh... better remember the camera!

Welcome to Egg Central Station

Welcome to Egg Central Station! Above you will see the numerous eggs, most dyed and ready fro action, with several also etched and waiting for a home. Here at Egg Central eggs are continually emptied and dyed. The goal is to have as many colors available as possible to etch. All sizes and kinds of eggs are made available in the egg purchasing process.

During this tour of the Egg Central Station area, I will explain some exciting information of the egg process. First, eggs must be purchased. The grocery store is a great place to start. For more exotic eggs, local farmers as well as the internet can provide additional resources. However, the most purchased etched egg is the traditional chicken egg.

As a result, when a sale on eggs occurs, Egg Central Station launches its egg procurement forces...

The state of the refrigerator is one of egg domination! Though several dozens have already been emptied and consumed, there will be many more quiche to go before returning to a non-egg dominated diet.

As eggs are emptied and consumed (we try our best NOT to throw away eggs needlessly)
new colors are added to the egg army at Egg Central.


All eggs stay together in order to keep in mind what color is running out and what color would next go best with the current tenants of the egg cartons.

Though Egg Central is a small station, production stays at a steady 3-4 eggs nightly. However, when the Card Making Factory, a sister company to Egg Central, is in full swing, some production decrease can occur.

Efforts have been made with the head organizer of Egg Central to boost the reach of Egg Central's products. Craft shows in Pittsburgh as well as North East Pennsylvania has made this production shift into overload. In the next 4 weeks or so, Egg Central will be cranking (hopefully not CRACKING) out eggs for over 5 shows!
Speaking of cranking out eggs, Easter is soon coming, making this the most important time of year for Egg Central! The Easter Bunny will soon need eggs for decoration, gifts, fun, and more! To stay with the spirit of the season, Egg Central has its own MASCOT!

Not quite the Easter Bunny, but excited for the work, Sir Didymus is the symbol of fluffy fun here at Egg Central! She hops all over the place, excited to be a part of the egg production. She sometimes forgets her floppy ears at home, but we are glad to have her as a part of the Egg Central Family.

As time moves closer to Easter, the eggs will continue to move from the food stage to colored to the final etched stage!

**Most packaging materials are packed away daily in order to keep the residual munching from Sir Didymus to a minimum.

Thank you for visiting Egg Central Station and We hope you had a lovely tour!

Eggs Eggs Eggs!!

I have been using ever minute of spare time scratching eggs! Some new designs and some old! In the next two weeks I will have 2 craft shows here as well as 2 to 3 in my home town. In other words I will have to mail half my inventory home to my mother who will be selling for me there as well.

This is exciting, because Etsy is a little slow right now. I hope to make some great Easter sales instead at the shows. However, I am behind... I have over 50 eggs created, but I have a sneaky feeling that dividing that in two and over 5 shows will not be enough.

I planned for this however. If you have been reading, you'd know I bought about 25 to 30 dozen eggs when they were on sale! Here is round 2 on that buying frenzy:

I also have 5 dyes going at once right now, red, blue, lilac, golden wheat, and patina.
I hope to star a mushroom soon. Last night, Rob (boyfriend) and I bought 3 more pairs of tongs to hold the eggs in the dye. Hopefully that will make the dying process go a little faster.

Right now my fridge is filled with eggs. We ate 4 quiche so far, and will be making another round of them in order to get me some shells without wasting the egg. I should take a photo of my fridge so you can see what I am talking about.

My goal is to get 4 eggs done a night in addition to card making and homework. I lucked out and a paper draft that would have been due tomorrow has been extended until next Tuesday. Thank God!

I hope to be able to send 3 dozen to my mom and still have at least 3 dozen for myself as well.



Also I have cards to make. I wonder if people would rather see Spring themed cards or more Birthdays and thank you cards. I never know how to gauge themes of cards people may want.

I will also be working on ideas for advertising online as well as in Pittsburgh. I currently am toying with the idea of advertising on facebook with a paid ad. Has anyone ever tried it? If so, what are your thoughts? Anyone advertising online somewhere? Any thoughts?

Wish me luck on the egg crafting adventure! I'll post more as I get more done. For now, Here is a new egg design or two I did this weekend and love! All are for sale on my Etsy Shop!

Thanks for looking! Have a great day! And as always, comments are appreciated!

coupon code TNKS25 for 25% off as a thank you for reading my blog!

Versatile Blog Award!

I've been given the Versatile Blogger Award by Inessa from Prittyfy Handmade Jewelry, unique handmade jeweler from ETSY as well as an active and valued member of the Promotional Frenzy Team. Inessae is a talented crafter and her listings are always a pleasure to see!
I am truly honored Inessa gave me this award and my deepest thanks goes out to her!

HERE ARE THE RULES:

*Thank the person who awarded you and link back to them in your post.
*Tell 7 Random facts about yourself.
*Pass the award on to 15 new found bloggers.
*Contact each blogger you want to pass the award on to and let them know you've done so, and let the giver of your award know you accept it.

RANDOM Facts About Me
1. I love Pride and Prejudice so much I read it over 5 times and own over a dozen (one from the late 1800s)
2. I am a sucker for old tv shows like Three's Company and Bewitched
3. I have an entire closet door dedicated to coffee. I love coffee to the point of using it as decor in my apartment.
4. I own every song Billie Holiday ever sang
5. I playe violin, saxophone, and clarinet - and years ago I thought I would be a professional musician
6. I am addicted to scrapbook materials - especially flower embellishments and stamps! (this is why I opened my other shop Allthingseclectic
7. I currently have over 20 dozen egg sin my fridge to blow out to make more etched eggs for this Easter... wish me luck!!

To spread this wonderful Versatile Blogger award, below are 15 blogs I find amazing and will be passing this award onto. Please check them out!! THANKS
1. Pieces of Home Designs - http://www.piecesofhomedesigns.blogspot.com/
2. Linda B. - http://linorstorecom.blogspot.com/
3. 42things - http://42-things.blogspot.com/
4. The Clever Kitty - http://thekittypad.blogspot.com/
5. PulpSushi - http://pulpsushi.typepad.com/
6. Little Eye - http://littleeyedesigns.wordpress.com/
7. AnnaSkates - http://annamichellecards.wordpress.com/
8. Creative Corner Designs - http://wwwmycreativecorner.blogspot.com/
9. Art of Amy - http://www.artofamy.blogspot.com/
10. ElfRenee - http://elfrenee.blogspot.com/
11. Miss Meghan Elizabeth - http://missmeghanelizabeth.blogspot.com/
12. Marcenz - http://marcenz.blogspot.com/
13. Petite Hermine - http://petitehermine.blogspot.com/
14. Biji Bijoux - http://bijibijoux.blogspot.com/
15. YarningAbout - www.yarningabout.blogspot.com

Please check out these awesome blogs and shops for a great experience! Who knows, you may find something you can't live without!!!

New Day and New Eggs

I found that if I blog more often, I think I will feel better about my progress in my Etsy shop regardless of a drop in expected sales. I more designs I come up with the happier I am. I no longer am just repeating the 3 dozen or so designs I have been doing for years, but now in addition I am trying new styles to scratch.

Recently I scratched this cute blue bird about to fly off a branch. I was so pleased with him, I am now trying to find new bird designs I can use to attempt to place on an egg.

I have so far five colors ready to dye. It's Red, True Blue, Patina, Lilac, and Golden Wheat. I hope to do a Mushroom or something else as well in the near future!

Good news! I have over 30 dozen eggs in my possession! I bought about 35 dozen in the grocery store this week because of a wonderful sale they were having! Now, We are at quiche count 4 and will be making more this weekend I hope.

I will have to post again with some quiche recipes were have been using and pictures of the quiche we made. It's a yummy perk to egg scratching!

Successful I Made it Market! Weekend!!!!

I want to thank the I Made it Market! people for allowing me to be a part of their two events on February 11 and February 12!! Both craft shows were a great success and not only did I have fun and make some sales, I met some wonderful crafters from around Pittsburgh.

I Made it! Original on February 11, 2011 at Pittsburgh University had a great crowd of crafters as well as a wonderful student turn out! I myself broke down and bought wonderful coconut bath bombs and vegan citrus lipbalm.

I Made it! Mine on February 12, 2011 was a different event in an open house of a new apartment building complex. I was positioned in an apartment's living room with a silk screen artist as well as a jeweler. Tim (artist) and Florence (Jeweler) were the best room buddies I could have asked for. I hope to feature both on my blog in the near future!

Tonight is my final show for a while. It is for the Love of Friends Pittsburgh and will be held at the Space Gallery in downtown Pittsburgh from &pm to 10pm. I hope to see some familiar faces as well a sell some eggs!

Wish me luck!!

New Photo Layout - Spring Brights!

Now that its time to work on Spring listings I decided to work on my photos for eggs. I needed something lighter than my past pictures that have a lot of black and white in them. Instead, I though it would be great to incorporate the Shabby Chic element of a dusty white. I used white birds and a glass jar of different eggs:

What do you think? I tried my best not to lose the egg in the busier background. Any suggestions to make this better?

The Key to BRIGHT Photos:

I realize how difficult it is to not only change up your current photo style for Etsy listings, but also to change it in a way that benefits you most for the current season. Take my attempts to brighten my photos for Spring... Now that the dark reds and rich greens of Christmas are slowing ceasing, it is time to embrace the lighter more pastel colors of Spring.

One way to do this is to all white and light to your photos. I added shabby chic birds and the light colors of eggs to my photos. I also took the photos only when a lot of light is shining through my window. In addition, I used a sprig og berries to add some dimension, color contrast, and a feel of Spring to the layout.

It took me several tries but I was satisfied with this final product. Even darker eggs pop well with this bright surrounding theme:


In the end, I think this is an effective theme, that is versatile for many shops.

In the end:

Keep it light
Keep it bright
Keep it simple!

Thought of the Week #1

And it's time once again to get moving with something. Spring seems far away, but it right around the corner in the salesman's head.

Now that 2011 has come, snowflakes and icicles are a thing of the past even though it is still freezing outside. The thought of little chicks, pastel, bunnies, and the beginning of new life floods my head.

Today's Thought of the Week

1. Start earlier than you think.

Now is the time to start posting for Valentine's Day and Easter! People want to look at items and mull over ideas in their head before purchasing. You will lose business thinking it is okay to post in a couple weeks. People have a hard time making quick decisions when it comes to internet purchases. They think, "Do I really like it? Or am I buying it just to buy something?" "Will I receive it in time?" "Maybe I'd like it more if I could customize it a little."

All these issues cause shoppers to second guess and you... lose the sale! Posting items now allow people to think about your item, question you, ask for a small change, or even ask you to make more if you have only one of an item and someone needs more. I found early postings allow for parents who want one for each child to contact me in time to make that request.

The sooner you list the better chances you have! Also if items sell you have the opportunity to relist them. Who knows, you may have the next best thing in your shop and EVERYONE wants it! Wouldn't it be great to have it out on the market longer?

So today's moral is to list earlier than you think. You have to think about the way you and the majority of people shop online, and time os of the essence!

Easter is Coming!!! New Poll!!

The eggnog drunk, presents ripped open, and Christmas cookies reaching their end, it is time to focus on the next big season.... SPRING!

While the weather thinks about warming up, I am getting ready to thaw out my egg shop, making it brighter and greener! With new pictures, new colors, and new designs, Etched Easter eggs will be ready for people to buy to give to loved ones as Spring takes the limelight.

New colors for the shop will be Raspberry, Plum, Dark Forest, Pink, Patina, and so much more.

What colors would you like to see in my shop?? What egg colors would be more interesting for you?

I hope to have more pastel colors in the shop as well as a lighter, whiter background combination. Feedback from followers would be greatly appreciated!

HOW TO BLOW OUT AN EGG!

HELLO!

I know I haven't updated in a long time. I started school and will be even more busy than I already am! However, based on the fact I am part of a craft show this Sunday in Pittsburgh, I wanted to write a little bit about egg etching in general.

I thought I would use this entry to give the basics of how to start the process of etching an egg. Where best to begin than to explain how to blow out an egg!?!

In your arsenal you will need:
- A straight pin
- a round file
- an egg pump (this is optional and I will explain both how to blow out an egg with and without the pump)
** there are several types of pumps - for these directions I'll will be using THIS
- a chicken egg without bumps or cracks
- bowl

Blowing out an egg WITHOUT a pump:

1. Alright, now that you have your egg and your supplies, take the egg in your hand. Using the pin poke a hole at the tip of the egg and well as the bottom so you have holes directly above one one another. Be first but DO NOT have a death hold on your egg!

2. Once you have these two holes you will want to make them larger, that's where the round file come in. Line up the tip of the file with the pinhole. Rub the file back and forth between your fingers to file the hole larger until it is the size of the file's width.

3. Repeat this process with the other hole.

4. Now make sure you cleaned your egg so you won't get sick with this step! put your lips on the egg and blow hard (EYES CLOSED) and get the contents out! You may save the contents to make scrambled eggs or bake.cook with immediately if you desire.

5. Run some water (trickling from the faucet) into the egg... shake... and blow out to clean out remaining yolk.

6. Let your egg dry before moving on to using your egg in crafts!

BLOWING OUT WITH A PUMP:

1. You will repeat steps 1-3 from the above directions!

4. using the pump place the circular rubber on the egg with the hoel lined up with your filed hole.Insert the metal pin of the pump into the hole.

5. Holding pump firmly against the egg and holding the egg firmly in palm of hand, pump the handle of the egg pump to empty the contents.
** NOTE ** Sometime the yolk is harder to pump out. Be patient and keep pumping!

6. Run some water (trickling from the faucet) into the egg... shake... and blow out to clean out remaining yolk.

7. Let your egg dry before moving on to using your egg in crafts!

If you have any questions or comments about this process please comment!!!

Selling on Etsy

HELLO!!

Im a law student in Pittsburgh PA... while studying and surviving law school I also work on Lithuanian eggs that I sell on ETSY!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/teener1416

please check out my store... im trying to promote the crafts my family and I do.

Selling Eastern European (Lithuanian) scratched eggs, and other crafts.

Look at my items, I hope you enjoy them.
I hand select, empty, dye, freehand draw, and scratch these eggs.
Egg types range from small bantam chicken eggs up to goose eggs.

YES! every egg is real and hollow!
These are not wooden eggs.
They have been dyed then etched with a blade.
The technique is very old and a part of my Lithuanian heritage.

My family and I are extremely connected to our roots and engage in many of the traditions and crafts connected with our culture.
Not only do I etch eggs, but I learned how to make Lithuanian straw ornaments and my sister and mother make them on a regular basis to sell as well.

I hope you enjoy looking and shopping on my site and will contact me with any question you have about this almost lost art!

I ALSO DO CUSTOM ORDERS... JUST CONTACT ME WITH YOUR REQUEST AND IDEAS!!

Have a great day!

My email is teener1416@hotmail.com