New features for Etsy sellers

Etsy has recently announced some exciting new features for sellers: Etsy gift cards and Listing Variations, which will allow customers to pick customization options on an item if available, such as colour or size.

Too bad neither feature is available to sellers outside the U.S. Considering 95% of my customers are Americans, I'm eagerly awaiting for these features to be rolled out to international sellers.

Holiday Shopping Deadlines

Yes, it's time to start thinking about Christmas. Canada Post has posted their suggested mailing deadlines for online shopping. Here's a summary, for regular air:
Canada: Dec. 10
USA: Dec. 10
All other regions: Nov. 30

Shop local! New items recently stocked at Wisedaughters and Jinks Art Factory. I also take requests for custom orders.

My Fabricland is closing!

Most of the time I purchase my fabric and sewing supplies from stores along Queen Street West, the "Fashion District" of Toronto. But sometimes I go to the Fabricland at Yonge and Bay, where I popped into last night. As soon as I entered, I realized something was wrong: the place looked empty of inventory, it was very busy, and there were Closing Sale signs everywhere. Closing ... no! A salesperson I spoke to said they're trying to find a new location. A lot of fabric was gone, but I stocked up on batting, and bought a lot of patterns (buy one, get two free!). Sorry to the staff who are losing their jobs.

Shop updates

Saturday's Movies and Makers show went really well, I'm almost sold out of my small zippered pouches, which I debuted at this show. Both of my Etsy stores have been updated with new items, and some items have been reduced. I'm going to start putting together gift card sets, such as this one here, available in my Karen's Creations Etsy store:



It's not too late to place online orders for Christmas gifts. If you're in the Toronto area, I would also be happy to arrange for local pick-up.

Annual trip to the Aberfoyle Antique Market

Every year, I visit the Aberfoyle Antique Market, located just outside of Guelph. This is a huge outside antique market, and I love spending the day looking for treasures. I like this market because the quality of the items is high, and the dealers must sell antiques, so it's not just second-hand junk. It's a great place to find collectibles and unique items - sometimes very unique items, like this truly ugly crab dish (pardon the photos, I didn't want to carry a camera so I used my cell phone); take a guess at the price ...

I recommend visiting either at the beginning (May) or end (September) of the season, as not only is it not as crowded, but not as hot. There is a restaurant and ice cream booth on site (yum!), and places to picnic.

Sometimes I have something in mind to look for, otherwise I just browse. Here's a selection of interesting things I saw (I'll leave it up to you to determine if I thought it was cool or not):





















One of my favourite items was this cabinet - I would love to have a house big enough for this!:



I did manage to score a great deal on this set of melamine dishes, which look like they've been sitting in a cottage and hardly used (they happen to go great with our Formica table, which we rescued from the garbage):



We also picked up a fantastic orange stool for our cats, who are 18 and have some trouble getting up onto the couch. Here is Hank, trying out the new stool (this is his chair):

















There is always a good selection of dishes, glassware, silverware, art, musical instruments, books, toys, cameras, tools, purses, jewellery, knick knacks and small furniture. I was hoping to pick up some vintage fabric this year but didn't find any. Can't wait until next year!