Back to School 2012

Here we are one full year later.  Grandkids went back to school today.  They are very excited to meet their teachers and hope to see friends from last year.  Grandma Cat hopes to get back on track.  Haven't 'blogged' for a full year because the connection from the Captive Illusions domain name wouldn't connect to the blog, which made the blog next to impossible to find.  My daughter, De'Anna, visited from Colorado a couple of weeks ago and straightened everything out for me.  Let's hear it for daughters...Hip Hip Hooray!

I've been helping said daughter, De'Anna, build inventory for a craft fair she will be doing in October in Colorado.  I used Simplicity pattern 1957 (shown below) to make these sweet miniature aprons.  I intended to make them for decorative purposes like it shows on the pattern below; however, the aprons fit Barbie dolls perfectly.



I've made 36 of the full aprons and intend to make a dozen or so out of Christmas fabric.  If I do not run out of time, I'll make a couple dozen or so of the 1/2 aprons as well.  These are fun and quick.  The first apron took about 30 minutes, but after tweaking the pattern a bit, I can now make them in 10 minutes.  They are fully lined and didn't cost a thing as I've got drawers of scrap fabric that I've saved for quilting.

Time to get this blog posted, get shipping done, finish the laundry, make some zucchini bread before the grandkids get home from school, get some accounting done, make a grocery list.....and so on and so forth!
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!
              
   Captive Illusions            Captive Embroidery
              &                                  &
Grandma Cat's Attic            Crafty Family

40,000th eBay item sold . . .

Just sold our 40,000th item on eBay!

 Tiny frog decals!

The same customer also purchased these frogs:

De'Anna signed us as eBay sellers in September 2006 under the ID dream77catcher.  We started off selling fabric as fat quarters for quilters and machine embroidered items such as personalized Christmas stockings and baby blankets.

 



Later we added fabric by the yard, sewing patterns, more machine embroidered items, and ceramic decals.

Last summer De'Anna and her family moved from California to Colorado.  She took Amy (our professional Amaya embroidery machine) with her at which time we split up the business into two entities:  Captive Illusions and Captive Embroidery.

The price of fabric has skyrocketed over the past couple of years making it impossible to sell it on eBay and make a profit so we dropped the fabric line a couple of months ago.

We had so many requests for decals for fused glass art, that earlier this year we started designing our own line of fused glass decals.  My nephew, Greg Jr., a graphic artist, created dragons, bugs, trees, sea life, mythological creatures and lots of other wonderful designs.  Jr. also created our website Captive Decals.  De'Anna created Fashion Ladies, Flower Fairies, Celtic Knots, and Dragonflies designs.  My contribution was Paw Prints, Butterflies and His 'N Her designs.   We've done a printing of 18 themes and have hundreds more designs in the works.

Our goal is to have cards not only in the black enamel that we've started with, but in white enamel, gold and silver.  And eventually branch out into our own line of colored decals . . . beginning with fairies and tattoo art.  Here's a sneak preview of fused glass designs (these are not available for sale yet):

Over time we've branched out from eBay and listed on Etsy.com for awhile, and also on Artfire.com.  We've done the craft fair and boutique circuit.  We are trying to find our niche in the crafting world.

To all the friends and family that have helped us over the years, consider this a huge shout out THANK YOU! to each and every one of you.

To all the customers that represent the 40,000 items sold; please know that we wouldn't be anywhere without you.  We will continue to do our best to provide products and services that meet (and hopefully exceed) your expectations.  We are always available to answer questions or work with you on special or custom projects.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!
              
   Captive Illusions            Captive Embroidery
              &                                  &
     Captive Decals                Crafty Family

Breast Cancer Awareness Canvas Tote Giveaway

Breast Cancer Awareness Canvas Tote

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month we are giving away this canvas tote with a Breast Cancer Awareness tree. This 12" x 12" x 4" box bottom canvas tote features a lovely tree with an awareness ribbon for the trunk and hearts and circles for leaves. Tote is fully lined and includes two large pockets inside.

A beautiful way to show your support. Whether you are a survivor, close to a victim, or just care for this cause, this bag will say it loud and proud. The photos above show some of the different ribbon styles, they can be done in any color(s) to go with your cause. If you don't see the ribbon style for your cause, just let me know what it should be so we can add it to the collection.

Tote is cotton canvas with a matching handle, reinforced where the handle meets the bag for stability. The lining is 100% cotton, actual lining fabric will vary, may be a pattern or a solid, and will color coordinate with the color(s) chosen for the awareness tree. Design will be embroidered in polyester thread for color fastness, and long lasting durability. Finished design size is approximately 6".

Easy to win, do the Mandatory Entry, and any of the Additional Entries you like, add a separate comment for each. If your email is not in your Blogger profile, be sure to leave it on each entry comment.

Mandatory Entry

You must do this before any of the additional entries

~ Look around our ArtFire store, and tell us your favorite item. Be sure to visit the growing awareness section of our ArtFire store for items that will benefit the Charity of the Month

Additional Entries

Post a separate entry for each

~ Visit us on eBay and find a fabric that would make a fun tote lining.

~ "Like" Captive Illusions on Facebook

~ Follow CraftGals on Twitter

~ Tweet about this giveaway (only 1 Tweet per giveaway)

~ Add a post to your Blog about the giveaway, link to this post

~ Follow us with Google Friend Connect
~ Join our Passionately Pink for the Cure team
~ Tell us something you are doing this month to raise money or awareness for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

This drawing ends at midnight on October 31th (MST, -7:00 GMT). Winner will be chosen from all eligible entries using random.org on November 1st. Winner will be notified via email and will have 3 business days to claim prize (by providing shipping information) or a new winner will be selected from the remaining entries.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!
De'Anna

ArtFire Member Curated Collection

I'm very excited to be featured in an ArtFire collection. My Free Standing Lace Awareness Earrings (middle top), were selected by another ArtFire member to be included in this collection. It's an honor to be selected for a collection, as these are put together by buyers and sellers on ArtFire of products they like.

FreeStanding Lace

Curated By: customizedjus...

ArtFire.com

Handmade Gifts

Until next time, Happy Crafting!
De'Anna

Captive Embroidery

Have you noticed the lack of embroidery in our eBay store? Well, there is a good reason for it. 1/2 of Captive Illusions has now become Captive Embroidery. Cathy will continue to run the eBay store as Captive Illusions, and De'Anna will be taking the embroidery. We will still be working in conjunction but will be 2 separate businesses. To keep the business separate, we have taken all the embroidery off eBay and are moving it to ArtFire. It's a site for homemade and art products and supplies and I'll be slowly transitioning all our embroidery there.

In the coming weeks, you will see out Christmas stockings going up. Some old favorites and some new fun styles. I'm also working on some fun new baby items which will go up as soon as I have them perfected. In addition to anything you see listed, we do a lot of custom work so don't be afraid to ask for something special.

Captive Illusions (dream77catcher on eBay) will still be there and offering the cotton fabric, ceramic decals, sewing patterns, AccuQuilt GO! and accessories, along with anything else that catches Cathy's eye. Through this transition, and past it, both companies will continue to be dedicated to customer service and satisfaction.

We look forward to seeing you here and reading your comments.