It is time for a giveaway!

I told you this week would be full of surprises! This is the first one: 

I am hosting a giveaway (and sharing a cool tutorial) at one of my all time favorite blogs: Crafty Nest. Crafty Nest is an inspirational, do-it-yourself home decorating blog, featuring one new craft each week. Monica offers step-by-step tutorials for pretty and practical crafts on a budget.

I met Monica through a mutual friend, at Sportivo Coffee Bar (yes, the same place that carries my sleeves :) Monica is a super talented and creative crafter and an amazing human being. I can't even begin to explain how excited (and extremely flattered) I am to have been asked to prepare a tutorial for her blog.

And to share the excitement, I am giving away this beautiful upcycled leather coffee sleeve:

To enter to win, visit Monica's blog and leave a comment. The deadline is in one week—Monday, July 4, 2011. 

And if you are visiting for the first time, a warm welcome to you! I hope you come back often. 

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Have a wonderful day!

Remember I mentioned a local coffee shop had agreed to carry my coffee sleeves? I am proud to say that you can find Ooh Leela's leather sleeves at Sportivo Coffee Bar in Redwood City, CA.

Here is a sneak peek at what you can get:

Because of the philosophy behind these sleeves, instead of buying new materials, I decided to upcycle leather scraps and use eco-friendly felt.

This one is my favorite: red leather with a tan circle...

I like these too :)

I also designed some labels.....

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have you been working on any interesting projects lately?

PS: I know this is not what this blog is about, but the accountant in me can't help it... Tomorrow is March 15th, the deadline to submit your tax returns if you own a corporation, or s-corp. Remember, you can always file an extension (leave a comment in case you need the form numbers). An extension allows you to file your corp/s-corp returns by Sept 15th instead. But please remember, that you must make a payment by tomorrow, even if you file an extension.

Business tip: Picnik

Selling online and on Etsy is fairly new to me. It feels so good (and it makes me feel so alive) to be able to learn something totally new everyday. But excitement aside, I am not going to lie: it has been quite a challenge, so I thought it would be helpful if I shared some of my struggles and tips from time to time.

Taking quality, professional looking pictures has been a big stumbling block to me. I took a photography course in college, but back then all I was interested in was taking pictures of my puppies while having fun. Never did I think that I would actually be using such a skill in my life.

I don't currently own a fancy camera. In fact my point and shoot camera is about 8 years old. I am just making do until I can put some money aside to buy a more appropriate (and expensive - yikes) DSLR camera. Which means I have had to rely on photo imaging software to come up with (somewhat) decent looking photos. BUT, photo imaging software is a foreign concept to me.

Yesterday however I came across picnik.com. Picnik enables you to edit your photos online, at the click of a button (or 2). It is super user friendly and intuitive, unlike Adobe Photoshop. And best of all it is free (and I always say if it is free is is for me).

Here is what my picture looked liked before I used picnik.com:

 And here is the after:

Better, yes? If you have any tips you would like to share, I would love to hear from you! Have a great week!