• Mailing Labels
• Packaging Labels
• Identification Labels
• Nametags
• Food Storage Labels
• Grandma’s Apple Jelly

Okay, so maybe your grandma doesn’t make apple jelly but mine does and it rocks. She could totally use these. Although, it might be a wiser move for her to buy a few rolls of stickers from this outdoor sticker printing company so she never runs out. I know more than a few of my online friends and/or readers have their own Etsy shop; you could use UPrinting for your labels and save your own printer ink!

Giveaway Rules:

• Mandatory: Leave a comment on this post, explaining what you’d put on your stickers and how you’d use them.
• Retweet this post on Twitter: Join @anaesthetic’s UPrinting giveaway to win 250 stickers courtesy of UPrinting.com! RT or click for info: http://bit.ly/dbTJaC
• UPrinting ships only to the United States; residents 18 or older are encouraged to enter.
• This will be a shorter contest. I’ll wrap it up Monday (August 30 2010) morning and choose a winner then.

Have fun entering!

Like all contests and sponsored reviews, I have received no monetary compensation and have provided you with an unbiased review or opinion on the product. Read more about sponsorship of this blog, on the following page.

First up – KatieDidItGlass has been a wonderful and understanding seller. I bought one of her amazing candle flowers, in amber and I loved it. Unfortunately, the cats love to chase eachother under the decorator table it was on and knocked it over a few too many times. It basically became flat as the candle holder is not meant to be cat-handled like that. I contacted her about a new one and agreed to send the pieces back for her to fix at a discounted price. The candle flower as arrived and is still in its box, unopened until I clear out Halloween decorations. I see no reason to subject it to abuse just yet. I cannot recommend KatieDidItGlass any higher! The glass art is beautiful (right now she has candle flowers, ornaments, earrings and more all made of gorgeous stained glass) and functional and, as a seller, I am highly impressed!

I also purchased some Vanilla Almond Amaretto – Fluffy Whipped Body Frosting from Etsy seller ScentedLuxuries. I had gotten some whipped body lotion from another company but it was kind of lame smelling. It did make me realize that I love whipped lotions so I hopped on to Etsy. I wanted something Cherry/Almond scented and settled on the Vanilla Almond Amaretto. It’s super fluffy and whipped and actually a bit thinner than I expected. The stuff I had been using was almost hard. OF course, this light formula is not greasy at all and the smell is not quite what I expected but good nonetheless. It’s a bit heavy on vanilla with undertones of Almond and Amaretto. I would probably use a bit less vanilla so the smell is a bit more balanced. ScentedLuxuries carries many more items that are scented like body mists, candles, essential oils, lip gloss and body wash, just to name a few!.

Both of these Etsy sellers have a lot of unique offerings and I would buy from them again.

I absolutely love your FiddleFoots designs but have to admit they vaguely remind me of something? What was your inspiration for these critters?

I wanted something new in my shop and started with a simple puff ball of fur….too simple and a dime a dozen! I then added a smaller version of feet from the Bonta Kun custom order I had done for a customer. I then would sit and let each plushie inspire me on what “they” wanted to become.

Everyone who has volunteered questions has asked why you named them FiddleFoots, so why did you?

It actually started with an old expression my mother used to say….it always started “Quit your fiddley-fartin’ around….”. One day I said it to my kids out of the blue, which made them roar with laughter! In looking up the origin of that expression, I came across other words, one of which was fiddlefoot. It was then decided that I would use that as the base name, and of course I would make FiddleFarts as part of the family :)

What was your first FiddleFoot like? Why did you make it? (And if you have a picture, I’d love to post it) Do you still have it?

The first FiddleFoot was a standing version in pink and orange. It had beans in its feet. I felt it was too clumsy and immediately changed the design to a sitting version. I do still have it (I will get a picture later and send it if I can find where it is stored). Why did I make it? Sometimes I just need to create something new and will grab whatever material I am working with at the time. Occasionally something such as a TV program will spark an idea (I recently watched a program on box Jellyfish, which inspired my newest line of plush, coming hopefully soon!)

Have you made any improvements/major changes to the FiddleFoots since then?

I am always looking to improve my items. The only real change I made from the original “first” FiddleFoot was to make it able to sit with its feet out in front of it. I am thinking it would be nice to add an applique to the bottom of one or both feet eventually, but haven’t tried it yet.

How many have you made in total?

I have made about 60 FiddleFoot Family friends in total. Sometimes just the color will change, but other times they will be completely different.

What spurred the decision to make each FiddleFoot unique?

I get bored making the same items over and over. I would break up the monotony by creating a new FiddleFoot in between orders for Grumbelly Monsters! It was just the ticket to “reboot my system”.

What is the process, from design to completion, for each FiddleFoot and how long does it take? (If you had a pic of the process, it’d be great)

I tend to work on my items in stacks. I cut out all of the pieces in many colors first. Then I machine sew the parts I can and get them trimmed, turned right-side out, and stuffed. Once I have a box of bodies and a box of feet I start the final assembly. The finishing touches are all done by hand.

Out of all your projects (FiddleFoots, characters, Grumbelly Monsters, etc), is there any which is dearer to your heart?

The Grumbelly Monsters will always be dearest to my heart because I created them for my sons when they were very young. They loved monsters and the stores didn’t seem to have any available back then. I loosely based it on the one from the Bugs Bunny cartoons

Is there anyone who helps you with ideas, making your projects or coming up with descriptions?

My family is always great to bounce ideas off of! When I get particularly busy my kids will help trim, turn and stuff my items, but all of the detail work is done by me alone.

Who do you think is the perfect owner for a FiddleFoot?

I think there is a FiddleFoot Friend to suit just about anyone! The world has such a beautiful variety of people, personalities and styles. I have made FiddleFoots based on school mascots, nationality, color variety, animals….you name it! The FiddleFarts seem to be the favorite of children, though….what child doesn’t think a fart is the funniest and best sound ever?! LOL!

Thank you, once more, for participating in this interview!

Since my original giveaway post, Ann has added more FiddleFoots and Jellyfishes to her Etsy shop. Check them out; there’s a purple bat perfect for Halloween! Check back fora review of one Ferris FiddleFoot in the coming days as well.

So I went on Etsy, which I’ve been loving lately and posted a call for sponsor and I had two really awesome sellers contact me. I’m thrilled to announce torik2009 and Petite Paperie will each be providing some awesome wares for this contest.

First up, torik2009 offered a Halloween themed banner for your Etsy shop (or blog). If you swing by Tori’s place, you’ll see a sample of her work as well as links to Etsy user’s currently using it (She also offers accessories like earrings). Her banners typically run for $6 but, if you hurry, you can snag a Halloween banner at $5. All banners are fully customizable, and include a free avatar. What better way to show off your Halloween spirit? If you’re a fan of Tori’s work, follow her on Twitter!

But that’s not all!

Petite Paperie answered my call and is offering not 1 but 4 sheets of Halloween themed seals/stickers. These sheets include crows, black cats, skulls and a Halloween mix. These are great for all sorts of things from putting them on gift tags, Halloween crafts, decorating snail mail and, of course, sticking to the cat (parental discretion advised). Aside from these seals, you can find other paper products like notecards, gift tags and labels plus digital collages by Petite Paperie.

But, wait! There’s more.

Nothing says Halloween more than a fuzzy, stuffed monster, right? Which is why I’m so excited to be giving away one of AMP Design’s FiddleFoot Family members. The FiddleFoots are adorable, plush alien-type monsters great for you, me and everyone in between. Each FiddleFoot has its own design and unique personality, or so I imagine. Lots of attention was giving to the creation of these plushies and while they’re crazy enough to be called monsters, they’re not scary in the least.

As described on the product page:

The FiddleFoots are a family of furry folk that fell to earth from the galaxy of Farsiris four or five hundred years ago. They were recently discovered flocking in foliage forts in the forests of Fatu Hiva where they had formed a fellowship. They are friendly, fuzzy and faithful friends famous for their fidelity. They most enjoy french fries and farm fresh fruits!
In the FiddleFoot family tree you will find fascinating fraternities…the FiddleFoots, FiddleFlirts, FiddleFreaks, and FiddleFarts.

You can view all the FiddleFoots here and check back frequently at AMP Designs for other plushes; more Grumbelly monsters are coming soon and they are just as awesome as the Fiddlefoots! There isn’t a single item in this shop that I don’t adore. It’s nearly impossible to pick just one .

Because I’m so impressed with this shop, I’ve asked the seller to participate in an interview, right here on Reviews by Cole. You can, hopefully, look forward to seeing that in the next week or so because I know you’re dying to know “Just what kind of person makes these awesome fuzzy things?”

In the meantime, please see the giveaway rules below and get to earning your entries!

• Mandatory: You can earn one point by commenting on this giveaway post. Make sure to leave your e-mail address in the comment field so I can contact you. (It will be private.)
• You can earn 1 point each, up to 5 times, by leaving relevant and thoughtful comments on any other post in this blog.
• You can earn 1 point each, up to 5 times, by Tweeting about this contest between now and the ending date. “Join @anaesthetic’s Halloween giveaway to win awesome things from Etsy! RT or click for info: http://bit.ly/28eWMT #HalloweenbyCole”
• You can earn 5 points by blogging about this contest, making sure to link back to this contest post as well as each of the Etsy sellers: AMP Designs, torik2009 and Petite Paperie. Please leave a comment on this post if you blog about the giveaway.
• And, last but not least, you can earn 15 points by purchasing any 1 item from this giveaway’s Etsy sponsors. If you make a purchase, please inform the Etsy seller that you are doing so to earn extra entries into my giveaway.

That is a total of 31 points you can earn for this giveaway! Winners will be chosen using Random.Org.

This giveaway will run until October 26th and is only open to American and Canadian citizens (sorry!) as I’d like to try to have the prize delivered by Halloween! You must be willing to supply me your postal address. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be picked.

For instance, I bought an amber coloured, lotus shaped candle holder, which is now sitting atop my mantle shelf, from katiediditglass. (I do need to move some of the pictures so it’s not to crowded). It looks great with a tealight in it and I can’t wait to burn it (with some very careful kitty supervision). Okay, I just lit it up because, why not?

It doesn’t feel (or look) cheap quality or DIY at all. The flame through the glass petals look great and the reflection on the walls around it is also gorgeous. It definitely looks “bigger” all lit up and can even be used two ways. Mine is with the petals pointing up.

I’m still waiting on a pair of potholders (which may be in the mailbox, actually) from Etsy user AlternativeSewing. They feature rather Day of the Dead-esque skulls and red roses. I even figured out a way to display them, rather than leaving them stuffed in a drawer which I haven’t done with anything in my kitchen thus far. Depending on how much I like them and how Ryan feels, I may opt in for the table runner, too, and eventually make my own place mats to match.

I will definitely be spending more time on Etsy for household things but there’s also a host of vintage items. Vintage isn’t really my thing but if you’re into ye olde fashion, it’s worth checking out. if you’re more crafty than I am (yet), you can browse a host of supplies. Fabric, yarn, canvas, buttons and beads, patterns and even wood are all waiting for you to buy them.

In fact, I picked up some absolutely gorgeous red floral brocade fabric for a bedroom project. (Why haven’t I finished that yet?!). It’s actually reversible with black flowers on red on one side and the opposite on the other side. I was floored by how pretty it was when I got the package. Picture did not do it any justice. Unfortunately, it catches Phantom’s eye too, so I’ve had to tuck it away.

I’ll probably make another purchase or two before I’m done. I’ve really become quite the fan of Etsy.