Fresh Fruit

I love trying new colors but then I never know what to name them. Often, what they look like in person is much different than what I can portray in the photos, so I hope the names help give a clue to overall feel of the true colors.

My latest, Fruit Tart, looks lovely on my desk here, but the pictures leave out the subtle blends between colors. If you keep red berries with sliced bananas or apples, the red bleeds into the other fruit pieces. When I finished this set of items, I thought of a cream cheese tart with blueberries, strawberries and kiwi layered on top. This is gorgeous and I'll be sure to pick up some more on my next supply run.

In Global News...

Ollie's Boutique is rapidly becoming the place to shop for eco-consious consumers. The 100% cotton Swiffer cover found a three week slot in the Environmentally Friendly Gift Guide in October 2009, and two Etsy Finds email features in two weeks. Consumers are enjoying the many benefits of this reusable alternative to the usual disposable covers. They are saving money on refills and feeling good about reducing household waste. Everyone loves their Swiffer sweepers, but some of us want a "greener" way to use them. Ollie's covers are currently being used in the United States, Canada, Malaysia and Italy.

The crocheted covers are reversible and washable. Thanks to high volumes of communication with shoppers and window-shoppers alike, Ollie's Boutique is currently working to expand color options and sizes. New XL size covers are available by special order for the Swiffer Max for $12.50 each plus shipping.

Another hot, eco-friendly item is the cup cozy. Cup cozies are meant to replace the paper sleeves on to-go cups and reduce waste, but they also function as insulators for hot cups and cold cans, and they catch condensation on iced beverages in cold cups too. These are also reversible and washable.

As Earth Day approaches, take a look at your daily routine and find one small change you can make to reduce, reuse or recycle.

Hottest Item To Hit The Floor... Literally!

The100% cotton handmade swiffer cover available in my shop was featured on the front page of Etsy and in their environmentally friendly gift guide toward the end of October, and they've been selling consistently ever since.

Shoppers are finding this great alternative to the disposable covers and they're getting them two at a a time.  The covers can be made in nearly any color. Using this washable cover helps reduce waste but also saves you money by not having to buy boxes of disposable covers.  Even the off-brand gets pricey after a while. Also, wouldn't you actually use your swiffer if it you had a cover for it?

The Other Cotton

I crocheted like a woman possessed today, and I'm not done yet! But I pause now to introduce some of my new products. Today I finished up some bookmarks. I bought two skeins of ultra smooth yarn last month for swiffer covers, but thicker kitchen cotton makes stronger grooves for cleaning. The mercerized cotton is perfect for bead work and individual strands of tight stitches though!

My favorite bookmark is a belt type with a heavy gold heart at one end and an adjustable loop that fits around my book. I like that one for my big hardcovers but it is too heavy for my paperbacks. Today, I solved that problem with these universal bookmarks. They have beads on them for weight and style, and the strands are thin enough to work in any book.


I made a cute lariat last night of pink and green recycled cotton, and then I took it apart this morning to use as a bookmark instead. This is cute, eco-friendly and very easy to use.  Just drape it across the page and the flower peeks out the top and the leaf hangs out the bottom of the book.  No worries if you're using it in a very large book, it lays nice and flat.

As my experiments with cotton continue, I made something extremely unique.  Introducing a crochet scarf made of a corn and cotton blend yarn.  Yes, CORN.

The yarn is wonderfully smooth, soft and sturdy.  It came together into a huge 8-foot scarf that drapes any way you want it to.  It is one of my higher priced items, but it took a large amount of yarn to put this together.  I searched all over the web for days for something else like this and I came up empty.  I can say with confidence that this a unique scarf.

I wish I could be around when the person wearing it gets to tell people what it's made of!   I tried it on and I fell in love with it.  Soft, snuggly and sturdy, this is a great piece.

Weekend Deal

Weekend deals in Ollie's Boutique: 

25% off anything in the Fall line 10/2 - 10/4!

...including Candy Corn cotton housewares, Fall Colors cotton housewares, scarves, cowls and all Fall wearables in the Fall Colors section.

Just enter Weekend Deals in the message to seller at check out, and discounts will be refunded through PayPal.

Shop the Fall Line