Quick FFS Lottery on Hyena Cart!

I decided not to play too many tricks this year on April Fool's Day, but I did want to have a little fun. I just listed a FFS (Free for Shipping) lottery on Hyena Cart. Enter to win a free soaker (you pick size and you can specify gender), and I get to send you a SURPRISE soaker! You just pay shipping if you win. Please enter, spread the word, and good luck! (Lottery ends tomorrow night!)

Cloth Diaper Foundation donation from my wonderful customers!

I always have a listing for my customers to purchase a soaker for donation to the Cloth Diaper Foundation (formerly Miracle Diapers) in their name. I take the money they send me to put towards materials, shipping, and Paypal fees and then donate my time to create fleece soakers to donate. This quarter, I have 5 to send in! 

 THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

You can also donate cash or gently used diapers and accessories to the Cloth Diaper Foundation (tax deductible!). I am slowly but surely donating away my personal stash as my youngest is almost completely done with diapers. Turning a slightly sad moment for me into a positive for someone else in need always makes it better :) 

Fleece wear and tear photos

Piggy backing on the previous post, I thought I'd show you how a fleece soaker will wear over a bazillion washes. The soaker my son was wearing was worn probably every two weeks for 2 years. Fleece really can take a beating. I washed them with diapers (hot wash/hot dryer), as well as with clothing.

You can see that after 2 years of heavy washing they are still very cute and  functional, and held up very well.  Here are some photos to show it will look about the same after so many washes, whether anti-pill or not.

This soaker was made from blizzard fleece


This soaker was made from anti-pill fleece

There are different quality fleece fabrics available, but I know from my own experience that the fleece I use will wear well over time. Also, I get quite a few questions regarding the difference between anti-pill and blizzard fleece. I honestly feel that they will wear the same in the end, so I offer both types (mostly because I can get different prints and colors in blizzard fleece). Blizzard will start to pill faster, but in the end, I don't feel like there's much of a difference, especially with regard to function. Hope the photos will help those of you with questions!

A look THEN and NOW...

I thought it would be fun to share a then and now photo of my son in the very FIRST fleece soaker I'd ever made (long before Winkydinks evolved). This goes to show that fleece can last a LONG time...some people even say their soakers work better the older and more pilly they are!

Age 1

Age 3

It's a good example of how every baby is different size-wise. He wore this Med/Long cover from the time he was about 9 months old, and still when he was 2! After he was out of diapers, I used it over his underwear to protect his pants from those little "piddles" that reminded him it was time to go. It still fits TODAY at age 3 over his underwear - and I put it on him to help take up room in his pants to keep them from falling down! Now, most babies do not fit this size range very long....he's always been skinny, and doesn't have much rump to cover!

Friday Favorite: Love and Laughter celebration banner

This week, I thought I would share this great banner I got from Love and Laughter on Etsy. We are using it for birthday party decorations and I'm sure I'll come up with other fun ways to use it. What a great idea! Re-usable, bright, festive, and cute! I like that it is something we can use as a tradition. Here it is at my son's party - can't you just feel the fun? :)

Made wikiHow's front page!

The article I started - tutorial on how to make a reusable coffee filter - has made the front page of wikiHow! It has over 20,000 views after one day. Now THAT'S exciting! :) Several other authors have added content, making it even better. Give a reusable coffee filter a try!

Friday Favorite: Etsy seller tools

As an Etsy seller, there are some things you need that Etsy doesn't quite do yet (granted, they're busy running the site...not a lot of time for enhancements). Some clever folks have found workarounds or "hacks" that get the job done. Some of them are AWESOME! And all FREE!!!

• Check out #!Etsy Hacks - there are some tools on here where I think "how did I get by without this??" I've just started using them today, but so far, zero complaints. My favorites so far:
•  sold orders plus (I can view orders by customer now rather than searching through sold orders or entering them on an Excel sheet).
•  bulk image uploader (upload more than one photo at a time to your listing)
• Next to try:
  -copy listing - how much time will this save??!!!
  -fast tagger - making going through my list of tags much faster!

• Another great one is Heartomatic go there to see your total shop hearts, new shop hearts, and ITEM HEARTS (can't see that all in one place on Etsy). Also if you have been featured on the Etsy front page recently. So awesome.

• Also, Craftopolis - find out if one of your items is currently featured in a treasury, or when a treasury is expected to open up.

I'm a little obsessive about stats, so I check these daily along with google analytics.

Etsy Treasuries!

Winkydinks is lucky enough to be featured in TWO current treasuries. Please check them out! The more clicks and comments a treasury gets, the more likely it is to be featured on the front page of Etsy.

Featuring items from the Etsy Cloth Diaper team

A fun BNR(buy and replace), where if you purchase from something featured, an item from your shop takes its place in the treasury (and gets carried over to future BNRs by the curator)

Also, do you have an Etsy shop? Check out Craftopolis and check to see if you're featured in a treasury at any given time! Unless the curator tells you you're included or you search, you'll never know! :)

Waste not, want not

In trying to be environmentally responsible in our lives, I try to apply that to my business as well. I print my shipping labels from home, which means I don't have to drive to the post office several times a week. I've experimented with several different ways to do my packaging and labels, and found one that works well.

I print labels on self-adhesive sheets which means I don't have to use tape to get the printed USPS label onto my package. I chose to re-use the backing paper to print my care instructions that go out with new customer orders. The paper is a little shiny and may feel strange in your hands while reading it, but I figured why just throw out that paper (which is not recyclable since its waxed), I'll re-use it! So, if you're wondering why I chose the paper I did...it's all in the name of GREEN!

Hyena Cart store up and running!

I've got some custom slots listed on the new Hyena Cart store. Come and visit! I feel like the customization is easier to purchase custom items. Let me know what you think!

Some of you may already be familiar with this site, as it focuses on children and natural products. I've found lots of diapering goodies here! Also Spots Corner which is a buy/sell forum for used diapering items. Great deals!

A new adventure...

After much pondering, I've decided to set up a shop on Hyena Cart - an online shopping venue offering a variety of earth-, child-, and family-friendly items. As a cloth diapering mama, I've purchased many things from WAHM shops on Hyena Cart, but when I set up my shop, felt Etsy's structure worked better for me. Now that I've been on Etsy over a YEAR (wow!), I am going to give HC a shot as well. No change to my current structure, just an additional channel.

I think it will be good for a few reasons:

• Lots of diapering families are already familiar with HC
• Offers (what I think will be) an easier checkout method for custom items
• Has many child specific items, whereas Etsy has all sorts of crafts
• An additional channel will be an additional source of new visitors!
• You don't need an account to shop

The challenge will be to make sure they are both updated, current, and filled with fluffy goodness. I may start with just custom fleece on HC, and leave all of my wool on Etsy so its in one place for now.


I'll be sure to post when its up and running! Any of my shopper friends/readers out there have any comments, advice, or thoughts on this new adventure? Please share!

Pile-o-wool

Granted, it may look like my usual pile of laundry, but this one is different! It's all WOOL! I went a little crazy grabbing sweaters at the local thrift shop, and now have this lovely pile-o-wool ready to be turned into repurposed soakers and longies. Now to be cleaned, felted, inspected, designed, cut, and sewn! Watch for new goodies to come this month in the shop...
(Now, no oogling over anything you see in the pile...please remember I can't take custom orders for wool since until they're done, I just don't know what I'll get after cutting around holes, what sizes I can make, etc.)