I’m hosting a super giveaway at a sweet sweet blog called Sammy In Wonderland. Win this super cute owl sleep mask and other adorable forest inspired masks from my shop at Le Neko Noir

Just visit Sammy at www.samyinwonderland.blogspot.com/2010/05/le-neko-noir-review-choice-of-sleep.html.
It’s really easy to enter the contest. And I mail your mask out to you for FREE……..No strings attached

For all you kids out there who aren’t really into hallmark.

I think I may have a dark side to me. I rather like things that are classic or vintage in nature but I’m not really satisfied unless their is some twist to it. A subtle fusion of styles. Any mix just to make it different and not have that mass produced feel.

Take for instance hallmark. I’m not really a hallmark kind of girl. Don’t get me wrong, I always appreciated getting a card. it’s thoughtful and all that stuff. I’m just not going out of my way to buy one for you.

Here’s something different. I came across a website called “Blue barnhouse” And it seems they make wonderful letterpress cards. I love anything letterpress. It gives the paper a depth and feel that ads character to almost anything. These cards are inspired by vintage magazines and literature with one little twist. Each has a lovely snarky little message. Check it out for yourself.

My 2 favorites are the Happy Colonoscopy And This is a straight up booty call.

Blue Barnhouse Happy Colonoscopy Card at Velocity Art And Design.

I’m always on the lookout for unique, interesting, and sometimes odd things that people are making or  re-purposing who then turn around and actually sell their crafty creations.  Recently while trolling Etsy, one of my favorite places to shop, I found this rather odd and demented macabre doll head. It looks like some kind of demented midget child who’s face was smashed against an ice pick. I mean this thing is scary looking. People are buying them though and not just for Halloween. Wow, what a niche market. You have to see if for your self. I think the maker finds old dolls that other people throw in the trash and re-makes them into the WTF I don’t know what to call them. Into these weird scary looking things that make me want to run away.  Let me know if you buy one. And what the heck you do with it.

Win one of these or other super cute handmade sleep mask from the Le Neko Noir Shop. Designed for sophisticated adults who like cute things. But enter Quick. Contest ends on sunday April 18t 2010 at midnight. Follow this link for Dang Gina for details on how to enter. Good luck.

Make a Commercial that is funny and it instantly becomes viral.

The internet is great. It allows everyone and anyone to get their word out about everything and nothing. That’s great. But all that noise makes it really hard to stand out from the crowd if you’re trying to get your small business noticed like so many fellow independent designers out there selling their handmade artisan objects on Etsy.com or elsewhere. So how do you stand out? Use humor to make a funny video and hope it goes viral.

The Kotex company has found a really funny way to stand out and get their brand viral by making this commercial. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s kind of cool in an off beat way. Straight out of a Saturday Night Live skit, this commercial advertising Kotex Tampons pokes fun of other tampon commercials. I think it totally works. Creativity and ingenuity really is necessary to marketing. And now I’m inspired to make my own viral commercial to post on youtube. Any takers to star in my commercial about woodland inspired sleeping masks? Anyone Anyone? Hello? You laugh now but just you wait.

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Annie Andre, self taught Indie Designer, crafter small business owner.  Specializing in cute & quirky handmade gifts, from snarky earth friendly lunch bags to funny animal inspired sleep masks. Her designs are inspired by dark fairy tales, woodland forest creatures and wanderlust travel. Visit the Shop : www.lenekonoir.com. Read her Blog: www.lenekonoir.com/blog Become friends and a fan www.facebook.com/lenekonoir

The Ultimate Gift For Geeky DIY Guitar Players

This is just too cool. Maker Shed is offering these great DIY Electric Guitar Kits. It comes with everything you need plus instruction.  The Kits come unfinished  but they are ready for you’re personal touches whether it be flames, staining or painting. Go crazy.

They also have a really cool Mandolin kit if your into something a little different. Maybe they’ll have banjos soon too?

Prices range from $149 all the way up to $249.

I think these would make great gifts for a father and son or daughter to do together or for that geeky Person who loves music too.
Here’s a link to the maker shed page with all the kits.  Enjoy and good luck on that garage band
Electric Guitar Kit

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Annie Andre©, self taught Indie Designer, crafter, small business owner. Specializing in cute but quirky handmade gifts, Snarky Earth friendly lunch bags and Funny Sleep Masks. Her designs are inspired by dark fairy tales, Woddland forest creatures and wanderlust travel. Visit the Shop : www.lenekonoir.com. Read her Blog: www.lenekonoir.com/blog Become friends and a fan www.facebook.com/lenekonoir

Need some new ideas and ways to promote your small handmade shop?

If you make and sell handmade goods then chances are you’re probably spending a lot more time than you thought on marketing your small business. How else will people find you. Between banner ads, blogging, maintaining several stores filled with your products like Etsy and ArtFire in addition to your main store, attending craft shows, google adwords, facebook fanpages, tweeting, writing articles, bookmarking, networking and maybe even trying to raise the family, it can seem like a never ending job. It’s annoying but it’s a necessity. Youtube is yet another way you can promote your handmade goods and hopefully make your stuff go viral. It costs next to nothing and only takes a few minutes of your time.

How you ask? The way I did it was easy and fun. All you need is to make a sideshow using photos of your products and add a little music. If you don’t know how to or don’t think you have the time you can easily crate one in less than 15 minutes by using an online service that lets you mix your videos and photos with music with special effects. Take a look at the video Below. It literally only took me 15 minutes to do. Most of the time i spent uploading my music and photos. The effects were part of a premade montage which I selected from the many montages that OneTrueMedia has available.

Sleep Mask For Night Owls (640×480).mp4

The online service I used is called OneTrueMedia. It’s free to try and if you like it you can purchase a month membership for around less than $4.00 and make as many as you want or pay for a year’s membership for $39.00.  The paid version allows you to download your video to your computer. The best part about it is that you can post directly to your youtube account, facebook account, twitter or blogger page. Email if to your family or clients too.  Keep it on your iphone to show people you meet or potential boutiques your visiting. If you are dead set against paying consider the amount of time you save because of the ease of use. When marketing your business, you never know which one of your efforts are going to pan out. Give it a try and let me know how your video’s turn out. If you don’t like OneTrueMedia than give
Kizoa a try. It’s not as Robust as OneTrueMedia but the Interface is easier and simpler to work with. I don’t think it has the capability to connect to your youtube or facebook account but you can download your creations and manually upload to youtube which is just as easy. And then from within youtube, you could connect to your twitter and facebook accounts.

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Annie André is a self taught Indie designer, crafter, owner and creator of Le Neko Noir: a quirky online Boutique filled with her cute & cheeky handmade designs. She also writes a funny Indie Field Guide Blog about unusual handmade things people are making and selling. Read her Blog: www.lenekonoir.com/blog Visit the Shop:www.lenekonoir.com. Become Facebook Friends: www.facebook.com/lenekonoir

If you’re into fashion, shopping, Project Runway and you like to coordinate outfits than you’re going to love Polyvore.com.

It’s a really neat fashion / shopping 2.0 website. Polyvore let’s you Mix and match products from your favorite stores to create fashion sets. Just by dragging and dropping photos you find around the web and adding them to your sets. I came across this site by accident. But you can check it out below. There’s a really neat social feature too which lets you share your fashion sets with others. Case and point. Check out sweet dreams set below. Look closely at the picture. It has a really cute owl sleep mask made by yours truly. You should check them out.  www.polyvore.com

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Annie André is a self taught Indie designer, crafter, owner and creator of Le Neko Noir: a quirky online Boutique filled with her cute & cheeky handmade designs. She also writes a funny Indie Field Guide Blog about unusual handmade things people are making and selling. Read her Blog: www.lenekonoir.com/blog Visit the Shop:www.lenekonoir.com. Become Facebook Friends: www.facebook.com/lenekonoir

When You Need More Than Flowers

Recently my entire family had a terrible stomach flu. I was inspired to search for gifts that would commemorate our week long hell of puke and diarrhea. I scoured the web and found some unusual vomit themed gifts.  The perfect get well gift for recovering sick people with a sense of humor.

1- E.T. Puking: original art painting on wood panel 3×5 For the hungover artist?

The perfect Get well gift for the art collector who loves E.T and hates flowers? I wonder if the artist had a similar experience and felt compelled to have life imitate art.  For $80.00 you can buy this lovely original oil on wood panel of E.T. puking up bits of candy into a dead Geranium. Click the photo or the link below to get it now.
LegendaryTigerHero at Etsy

2- Set of three 8×10 Prints of Jaba the Hut, Batman puking and King Kong on the toilet.

From the same seller as E.T. Puking is this lovely set of 3 8×10 posters of, of, of well bathroom mishaps.  Perfect for the friend who’s feeling under the weather all of the time and wants to hang some posers in his room to announce his morbid depression. For only $45.00 you can get all three posters.
LegendaryTigerHero at Etsy

3- Morning Chicness Bags: Morning sickness bag for the chic expectant mother.

These are awesome. Get this for your pregnant wives or pregnant friends for their morning sickness. Now they can look chic while vomiting no matter where they are.  There’s nothing that will scream more class than these vomit bags reminiscent of airline vomit bag only much better because they’re also lovely different designs to suit each woman’s style. I like the bags with bubbles. They’re only $7.50 for a pack of 10. If you know someone who has really bag morning sickness you could pick them up a pack of 50 for only $27.50. I pity the husband who’s wife needs a 50 pack.  Get yours here  http://www.morningchicnessbags.com/index.html

4- Ralph The Crazy Puke Kid: Making puke cool again

Palph The Crazy Puke Kid

The perfect get well gift for the nerdy doll collector? Designed by Fernando Berger, these are hand cast and hand painted. I mean look at the detail. Neon green puke.  Only $15.00
http://overkillcreations.bigcartel.com/product/raalph-the-crazy-puke-kid

5- Puke Pillows: For the sweet person (no longer available. Darn!)

The perfect get well soon gift for that Martha Stewart type person. Actually, I would by this for me. Alas, the seller is no longer making this. so now we can only pine over these.

6- Kitten Puking Rainbow Journal: For the sick journalist in your life.

Get well my literary friend. That’s what this little Black notebook with a Rainbow spitting Cat scream. Wow! You’ll hit all the stops here with this 3.5″ x 5.5″ notebook. 64 pages to document all of your sick thoughts, I mean pleasant thoughts. Only $15.00 too.  Get yours quick.
Nowvember on Etsy

7- Whimsical Girl Puking: 8×10 poster: For a hungover girlfriend perhaps?

I think all your

Cupie doll hating friends will love to get this as a get well gift. Pinkytoast designs and sells these original 8×10 posters at Etsy for only $14.00.
PinkyToast on Etsy.com

8- Kitty Puke Button: For the friend who’s cat is sick and puked everywhere

This pin button meant to pin to your bag or lapel will defenitely cheer up that friend who has a sick vomiting cat. Or maybe it will depress them more. It’s only $2.00 plus shipping so you can’t go wrong. Pick yours up from this seller on etsy. roundwords on Etsy.com

8- Baby Onesie: “Come Closer So I can Spit Up On You”.  For the friend who has a puky baby.

Baby’s are so cute. Until they puke on your shoulder. Have a friend with a baby who won’t stop puking? Cheer them up by giving them this awesome baby oneseie sure to lift their spirits. Only $12.00 from mammamonkey on etsy.

mamamonkey on Etsy.com

9- Puke Green, Hand Knit Arm warmers

Not into the direct approach? Still want something funny for your puky friend? Give her this lovely chunky puke colored hand knit arm warmer to remind her that she’s loved. she’ll be thanking you the next time she has the chills.And can you believe it’s only $20.00? Seriously. This would take me a month to make. What a deal steal. Get it from Lucy’s Post Car Quilts on Etsy.com LucysPostCardQuilts on Etsy

9- Puking Mermaid T-shirt

The perfect get well soon gift for the friend who’s into t-shirt art. This original design of a puking mermaid blowing her martini everywhere is just too much. i think this would be a great t-shirt for a gang of girls to wear before they hit the town for drinks. Kind of like foreshadowing. Just $27.00 Tsaifi on Etsy

That’s all for 10 sick but funny handmade get well soon gifts for people who puke. Let me know if you find any crazy weird handmade things by posting them in the comments below.

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Annie André is a self taught Indie designer, crafter, owner and creator of Le Neko Noir: a quirky online Boutique filled with her cute & cheeky handmade designs. She also writes a funny Indie Field Guide Blog about unusual handmade things people are making and selling. Read her Blog: www.lenekonoir.com/blog Visit the Shop:www.lenekonoir.com. Become Facebook Friends: www.facebook.com/lenekonoir

This weeks quirky gift ideas are all about hat’s and masks that are not only unique and offbeat but also handmade.  So if you’ve been looking for a quirky gift for a skier or snowboarder, or a night owl who needs a new sleep mask, take a look at what I found. Warning: If you’re looking for out of the box L.L. Bean, Banana Republic or the gap style stuff then this may not be what you need.

Quirky Hats For the Slopes

Fleece Gas Mask Hat and Ski Mask

$80

I can’t decide if this fleece gas mask hat and ski mask is cute or disturbing. It’s definitely clever and much more interesting than the  dread lock hats  I have seen some folks wearing while snowboarding or skiing on the slopes. A seller on Etsy.com is making these to order.  For$80 dollars you can give this quirky mask as a gift too.

Knitted Bearded lumberjack hat

This is another one for the skier or snowboarder friend who likes quirky one of kind gifts. It’s a little hard to describe It but i’ll try anyways. It’s a hand knitted hat with a crocheted beard attached to it. Um, ok, you just have to see it.  Still, it’s pretty clever and quirky.  Cool if your a guy, but I’m not sure a woman would want to be seen wearing this.  It’s not exactly the most feminine thing I’ve seen around. On second thought, maybe you have a female friend who lives in a bad part of town.  She could wear this for the night she’s unaccompanied.  Maybe no one  would mess with her because she looks like she’s  some big scary bearded lumberjack guy.
You can pick one of these made to order hat beards from a seller on Etsy for $39.  click on the picture to be taken to the store.

Knitted Cat Ski hat pattern

$5

Ok, this one does disturb me a lot!  I think it might be the mannequin and not the actual knitted hat.
The seller is only selling the pattern in PDF format for this hat and not the actual knitted cat hat itself. Great if you know how to knit. Awful if you really really want this and don’t know how to knot. Maybe you can ask grandma or your great aunt to knit it for you.  Pretty funny though.

Perfect for the Mardi Gras or Costume Party

DIY owl mask kit

Price Unkown

It’s an owl mask kit that comes with everything you’ll need to make it including the patter, fabricl and embroidery thread. I’m a little bummed that the seller has no more of these left. She’s on etsy though. Maybe she’s in the process of putting some more kits together. Let’s hope so, after all Mardi Gras is right around the corner.

Sleep Masks: For cat and owl lovers

Blue Night Owl Sleep Mask

From the Le Neko Noir Shop
$19.95

I love owls. I’ve loved owls even before I knew that I loved owls. Here’s is a super soft and super comfortable owl mask from my own shop Le Neko Noir.  I hand sew these on my Pfaff sewing machine and then hand embroider the eyes with White embroidery Floss. These Adorable Quirky owl masks are the perfect gift for the night owl who needs some rest. Also makes a great travel gift for the person who travels alot.  Either way, it’s the cutest thing you’ll ever wear to bed. Besides your birthday suit.

Knocked Out Cat Sleep Mask

Get more than a cat nap with this adorable sleep mask. You’ll be knocked out. From the Le Neko Noir Shop

$19.95

You will be purrfectly rested with this soft fleece sleep mask. Here’s another quirky sleep mask from my shop.  Complete with pointy ears and hand embroidered X’s for eyes. Get them while you can. I’m not sure how much longer i’ll be making these for.

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Annie André is an emerging indie designer who runs a charming and quirky boutique called Le Neko Noir. It’s filled with unique gifts & unusual handmade lifestyle products inspired by dark fairy tales, forest creatures and wanderlust fashion. She designs and makes everything herself in California. You can visit her shop at www.lenekonoir.com. Read her Blog at www.lenekonoir.com/blog And become friends on Facebook www.facebook.com/lenekonoir