Blog spotlight: Nutmeg Cottage crochet

 I'd like to spotlight a fellow Etsy seller, Nutmeg Cottage. She makes absolutely beautiful crochet creations ranging from doilies, to bookmarks, to decor. Here's an excerpt from her shop:

"I love to crochet and hope you will enjoy my crocheted creations, some of which are my own designs. For over 40 years, I have been crocheting with yarn and thread, finding that thread crochet is one of the best ways to bring beauty into a home. I use high quality materials and offer you a high level of workmanship. Inspired by my Mom’s beautiful hand crocheted pineapple doilies that I treasure, I love to work with new patterns, as well as some of my favorites. Doilies and other crocheted creations can be passed down from generation to generation and enjoyed for years to come."

Below is a highlight of her work from Etsy







Here are some other honorable mentions of other Etsy sellers

allurebyu

somewearintyme

BeansThings

frayedfuzzies

BurningMoon

tmeddie04

sweetgrassprints

Costume Party Pics

I attended a costume party with some friends last night and decided to post some pictures of my make up:

Wearing Rave, Killing Moon, & Frost

Since I'm not artistically inclined, I did the designs with some home made stencils. If anyone would like to know how I made the stencils, or read a tutorial on how to make them, & do the look, please comment and I'll make that my next post. I want to hear what you have to say!

Inspiration for our Halloween contest: Dangerously Dolly

Slumped with ideas for our Halloween contest? Try Dangerously Dolly! Here's an excerpt from her site:

"Dangerously Dolly is an internationally published portrait photographer that currently resides in Atlanta, GA often visiting her hometown in Miami, FL, and is available to travel for work.

With years of experience in creative retouching, digital arts, art direction, and photography, at age twenty-three she is focusing on spending most of her creative energy towards her clients and her personal projects.DD has a love for taking conceptual and vivid portraits, usually leaning on alternative and pin-up fashion, however she is always expanding and taking onto different fields of photography while implementing her twist.
DD has been a source of inspiration for other traditional artists, photographers, or even models, and absolutely loves receiving art from those who were influenced by her work."

Sweet

 

Sassy

Sophisticated

Spooky

All images in this post are copyright of http://dangerouslydolly.com. If you're in her area and would like a good photographer I'd personally suggest Janelle. You can visit her site for more ideas.

Halloween Contest Details

Mardi Gras

Jes & Ame wearing Nymph, Crash Love, & Charmed

 
Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love the excuse to dress up in crazy costumes and make up. It's the one day out of the year that you can be anything you want. A beautiful faerie princess or a gruesome ghoul. The only limit is your imagination and that includes your make up.

Faerie

Megan wearing Siren's Song, Surrender, & Rave

I encourage you all to put on your prettiest pout and your spookiest shadows so you can win some free goodies from DHD! I'll be giving away two full size shadows of your choice and one new Lip Slick gloss to the winner. The rules are simple. Use our shadows to create a look for Halloween and submit it to us. The deadline for all submissions is November 5th by 5:00 pm est. Don't have any DHD shadows? Problem solved! Message me at tina [at] darkheartdesigns.com with your address and the colors you'd like to try for free samples. Take a photo of your completed look and email it, post it on our facebook page, or upload it and link us. The entries will be judged and announced by November, 7th.

Vamp

Me wearing In The Dark, Shudder, & Vampire Heart

If I have enough entries I'll be adding other runner up goodie packs. I hope you'll all take the time to participate and win some free things from us. Some photos have the possibility of making it into our promotional materials. Please notify us if you don't want your photos used in brochures or flyers. Thanks for reading!

Good Witch

Kari wearing Starstruck, Paparazzi, Siren's Song, & Twisted Metal

Until next time...
-DHD

25% off for our Hallowed Hues sale!

Trying to find bright eye shadow colors for your Faerie costume? Looking for those haunted hues to vamp up your Halloween look? Need the perfect gift at a lower price? All shadows at Dark Heart Designs are on sale from now until midnight on All Hallow's Eve.

Not sure what you want? Request up to 10 free samples by emailing us at tina [at] darkheartdesigns.com or purchase a sample pack of all 34 DHD colors here. Remember to get your items soon in time for Halloween. We'll also be running a contest so put on your best costume face using DHD shadows and win some free goodies!

 Charmed & Pink Nights

You can purchase any of our products from our Esty store at www.etsy.com/shop/darkheartdesign and get a 25% discount.

How do you make your own make up?

Image Credit: istockphoto.com

I'm often asked how I make my own make up. The answer is simple. It's like making cookies or a cake from scratch. You purchase the ingredients, you formulate a recipe, you make it, and you try it out. Then you tweak it god knows how many times, and finally come up with a finished product that you're satisfied with. That's just the very basics. Add into that hours upon hours of research, testing different ingredients, and the failures when it doesn't go right. Then you have to find containers, make labels, open a shop, make promotional materials, and hit the streets and the social networks with it. I'm currently in the stage of getting my product out there and to do that I've sent out tons of free samples. In all it's probably cost me about $500 out of my own pocket to get started. Now the metaphorical ball is just barely starting to roll and my business is picking up.

I have no problem giving out information on how I make the products. I do, however, have a problem with giving out my supplier information and detailed descriptions of how I make my products. I have spent countless hours reading information on formulating, running a business, selling products, blogging, and tons of other things in an attempt to learn myself. With all the time and money I've invested in my business, I think it a rite of passage for anyone who wants to start their own. I do understand I will have competition no matter what I do. I just don't want to give out information that could put someone in direct competition with my business. It has taken a lot for me to get where I am and I would appreciate it if people would, respectfully, not as me those questions as I can't answer them.

There's still more to hand making cosmetics. You need a sanitary location, (I have a room specifically for my business), lots of gloves, and the intelligence to realize you're making something that people will use on their bodies and it needs to be free from any contamination. I take great pride in my work and I sincerely enjoy my customers. I hope that will show as my business continues to grow.