Self Preservation

First I want to thank all of you for your support of my business. 

There have been a great deal of changes on Etsy that has me concerned about the future of my shop.  The latest one has me the most concerned.

Recently Etsy announced that Mass manufactured goods will be allowed on the site.  There has been many stores claiming that their

items are handmade, and drop shipping sales straight from manufacturers.

What this means for Sweet & Savory Trinkets

In the last month and a half, I have been emailed from manufacturers in China asking if they can produce my products for me.  I have also had some of my photos stolen and used on other sites.  

Since some manufacturers have already taken notice of my Etsy items, I will continue to sell them there for the time being. 

However all my new designs will be in my shop on Zibbet .  I am trying to make it harder for large manufacturing companies to find my items and copy them. 

 My promise to you! 
Every miniature food you buy from me, is hand made by me!  I am not going to mass produce my products.  When you are contacting me, calling me, or buying from me, I am the person that will be writing you back, making your items, packing your items, and shipping them to you. 

Your can find my items in my shop on Zibbet, and at least through the Holidays on Etsy.  My new designs will no longer be on Etsy though.

I will also be doing local fairs, and I am in a few retail locations.  Blossom Beauty Lounge  , Emerging Thoughts,  Two Elephants, There are two other locations that carried a limited selection of my work, once I have permission to link them here I will update the blog with live links. 

Things here have slowed down a great deal with the new changes on Etsy, so I have been unable to continue donating the 2.5% of sales to disaster relief at this time.  I am now putting it back into supplies for creating new items. 

Thank you again for your past support.  I do hope you will stop by my Zibbet shop, I am currently trying out a couple other handmade sites too to see what I think of them. 

Heather

Store Info

I just made a new batch of ice cream sandwiches.    I will be updating the blog later this week.










I making my way into retail stores, and will be updating this page soon

Two Elephants in Granada Hills

Marbling 1 Tutorial

Hello everyone :)

I just opened a secondary shop on etsy called Sweet & Savory Tutorials .  After many requests I decided to start offering tutorials.  They are made in document form with lots of photos.  Right now there are only a couple tutorials there, and I will add more as I am creating new batches of my miniatures.  I am starting with the easy ones.

Here on the blog I will occasionally have links to free tutorials on specific techniques I use.  The first one is Marbling 1 .  It is a very fun, and easy technique that I use all the time.

I tend to have cold hands, and it takes a long time for me to condition clay.  I use this technique to condition the clay for all my projects, I use it conditioning single colors, to mix colors until they are combined completely, and I use it to get a marbled or striped look.

 It is very subtle in my tea cups, but if you click on the image to enlarge it you can see the stripes in my cups and saucers.  I do marble them. :)

If you play with polymer clay, and don't marble yet, give it a try.  I hope you have fun with it!
Heather

Ready For Spring

I hope you are all having a wonderful New Year! 

A contagious bout of pneumonia hit the household.  All my items are cured at 275 degrees , and I managed not to get sick but pneumonia is not something to mess with and I did not want to take a chance I would be shipping any germs. 

I did not get to all the Valentines Day items I wanted to.  Your suggestions are still good, and I will be making more items.  The heart shaped sugar cookie was the first winning suggestion.

 




**** Two new contest themes****  
Since I am so behind in creating I wanted to announce the next two contest themes.  You can make suggestions for both now.  The first is Tea Party, and the second is Fair Food.  These two themes will be running till May.  I will announce winners at least once a month till then.

So far I have made a cup of tea, Battenburg cake, and sugar cubes.  I am making at least three more tea party foods, and for the fairs foods make I will be making a lot.


P.S.  peek at my store from time to time.  I post new items as I make them.  If you see I already made your suggestion, convo me :)  I can ship you your prize before I announce the winning suggestions here on the blog.

The last few donations I made have been going to disaster relief from Hurricane Sandy.  So far 688.00 from sales have been donated to disaster relief.  You can see the different disasters that we have donated to so far here .  

Thank you so much for continuing to tune in.
Here are some fun food holidays there are in February.  If you enjoy knowing about the food holidays let me know, and I will post them every month for you.    
February
14th: National Creme Filled Chocolates Day, 20th National Cherry Pie Day, 27th National Strawberry Day, 28th National Chocolate Soufle Day.  
There are many food holidays each month.  I can list them all each month if you would like.  Just let me know in the comment area if this is something you would like to see. :)

Thanks again,
Heather

Contest Announcements, and Holiday Food Winners

Hello everybody! 
This post will be posting the last contest winning foods, announcing the new contest theme, and providing a link to a holiday contest I am a sponser of.  It has been so hard deciding which foods to do, I loved all your suggestions!  It just came down to limited time.. 

The first winning food is hot chocolate with marshmallows.  This suggestion was made by Kaylee91

The second winning food is a plate with milk and cookies. This was inspired by PrettyBows.

Pretty bows, please see my etsy shop, and choose the type you like best, I also have the plate of cookies on a white plate.

The third holiday food is Peppermint bark, inspired by Katherine.

Those of you who made the food suggestions email me your name and address at sweetandsavorytrinkets@yahoo.com


New contest theme!!!!!
Valentines Day
This is not limited to sweets, you can be creative as you like, even your appetizers and main courses.

The red velvet cake pop earrings, and matching charm, are a prize for a contest I am a sponsor of. 

The host of this contest is cake pop gallery
It is a photo contest, so it is great for all of you that love to cook :)

I did make Novembers sales donation to Hurricane Sandy disaster relief.  Donations to disaster relief since we have started making donations have totaled 575.00!   http://www.globalgiving.org/dy/fundraiser/prevfund/gg.html?regid=4918

Gobble Gobble

Happy November!  

I hope that you are all safe and warm.  As Thanksgiving approaches, I am saddened to think about all the people that are being affected by Hurricane Sandy.  It was a completely devastating storm that will take years to recover from.  There are families that lost loved ones, and that is heartbreaking.  I spent days glued to the weather channel day and night.  Needless to say, the next several months, my monthly donation  from sales will be going to Hurricane Sandy relief projects through Global Giving.  

For those of you that are newer to the blog, I decided after the big Japan quake / tsunami that I wanted to give back to those in need from my sales.  I donate 2.5% of my revenue to disaster relief charities.  I also wanted to make sure that you have a way to see my contributions.  So far we have donated to 4 natural disasters.  The New Zealand quake, the Japan quake / tsunami, the mid west tornadoes, and now to hurricane sandy.  Today I donated 55.00 for my September sales.  So far since I have started this, I have donated 532.00 cumulatively to disaster relief with your help.  Here is the link to see past donations  http://www.globalgiving.org/dy/fundraiser/prevfund/gg.html?regid=4918

I just wanted to say Thank you all for your support, and allowing my little business to grow.  I just wanted to give you all this update and let you know just how much we have contributed so far. 

The photos show the Thanksgiving foods I have completed so far.  There is one left and then I will be working on the Winter Holiday foods.  All the suggestions made so far are good, and I will be making some of them.  I am still taking Holiday food suggestions for the contest, you can add Valentines Day too. :)

Heather 

Happy Halloween

Hello There !

Hello everyone :)  As usual I just can't seem to catch up : ( .  If you have been keeping an eye on my store though you will notice the Holiday themed foods already popping up in the store.

The first Winner this time around is Alison, with the suggestion of different types of pumpkin : )

I am definitely going to make more of your suggestions, and this theme is continuing until New Years, so keep those suggestions coming.  I will update the blog with new winners as I continue to make the holiday foods.

 
Natural Disaster Update:  I made my September contribution to global giving. So far we have donated over $470.00 to natural disaster relief.  http://www.globalgiving.org/dy/fundraiser/prevfund/gg.html?regid=4918

I know it isn't a huge amount but I am quite happy with the progress.
:)

P.S.  The suggestions you made from the last post are still in the contest :)


Here is the fall leaf cupcake collection.  I love the colors!

Here is a Halloween themed lollipop.  If I find the time there will be a couple more Halloween items sneaking in this weekend :)

Happy Halloween!