Exciting new items!

We have some great new printed apparel in the Etsy shop today. Some I am VERY excited about!

Along with our Green Vegetables tee we now have a Slate Grey men's option and a scoop neck women's option.

But even better than that we have a new Burlington Vermont Sweatshirt!

We have been dealing with some quality control issues with our previous 'high end' sweatshirt manufacturer that we just couldn't take any more. So about a month ago we decided to discontinue our Hooded Sweatshirt and look for another option. After some serious searching and testing and washing and wearing we have found a perfect alternative! No more hood but because its a crew neck sweatshirt we can offer it at a lower price point for what we believe to be a much higher quality garment. YIPPEEEE! I know this is one of those things that makes us more excited than our customers but let me tell you, you will NOT want to take this sweatshirt off!

Super awesome things about this sweatshirt:

1. Our Burlington throwback vintage design in new ink colors - Mustard Yellow, Rust Orange and Navy Blue

2. SUPER soft and thick sponge fleece that is just so heavenly to wear

3. DOES NOT PILL - this is a big one for us and one of the 'quality issues' we were dealing with, with the previous manufacturer. We have washed this sweatshirt multiple times normally with cold water and dried in a hot dryer and the design and sweatshirt hold up SO WELL.

4 . USA MADE - another YIPPPEEEEE! the previous 'high end' ones weren't. So much for a name brand, I will take high quality USA made basics any day.

5 . Great fit! - Not too boxy but has more generous sleeves than our previous sweatshirt. Fits my 6'3" skinny husband as well as more average sized humans.

6 . Better price point! - We will not be wholesaling this sweatshirt so you will have to get it from us only, that will keep our prices down and make everyone happier :)

So check it out : HERE!!

Quick Fun Project

Our neighbor Bruce from Cabin 46 and Randy Sound stopped over today to see if I could print on a bass drum head for him. I was pumped, its not everyday I get to try something fun like this, so I jumped on the opportunity to do it for him. Below are some pictures of the printing!

 Lining up my jig to the drum head..

The screen

 the finished head.

 Another shot (water based ink)

We have a WINNER!

Thanks to everyone for leaving such great comments for our Catnip Eyeball giveaway. I love all the stores, videos and pictures of your cut kitties!

And the winner is....

Congrats Aurban! We loved the video of your cats cleaning each other. I wish ours liked each other that much!

I didn't see any contact info in your profile so give us an email at newduds@gmail.com with your address and we will get the Eyeballs and Stick out to you ASAP.

Thanks again everyone for participating and look for more giveaways to come!

Family and Finance Friday

I have some favorite books that have been really helpful in expanding my knowledge of personal finance. 

Here are my favorites, check them out at your local library.

The 10 Commandments of Money by Liz Weston - It's now available in paperback too!

A great all around personal finance book for today. She talks about the great 50/30/20 budget I am so fond of as well. 

Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin

Such a good book to make you think about money in a different, more healthy way. She does take an extreme stance herself but just using the basic principals you can really change your relationship with money and learn some serious lessons in saving. I feel like I should re-read this one again anytime I am wavering with my saving. 

In relation to finance is also a focus on Simple Living. I find if I try to focus on living a more simple life I automatically save money and feel calmer with my environment and my choices to not buy in excess.  

Here are a couple books I have loved about a simple living mindset. I am not going to end up living off the grid or anything but they do have some great tips and tricks to keep in mind when I feel pressure to over consume.

Twelve by Twelve by William Powers

An interesting read that while a little slow, and not normally in my usually interests, really made me think after I was finished reading it. I took away quite a bit of personal insight from this book.

Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne and Lise M. Ross

This one is a little ahead of the game for us because we don't have any children yet, but the basic principals can apply to a household without children as well. The ideas seem so novel yet so compelling and old fashioned, I cant wait to use them for our future family. 

Any books that you love about Family and Finance? Feel free to share in the comments section! And don't forget to sigh up for our Catnip Eyeball contest by just posting a comment on the this blog post.

Wanna win some eyeballs??

Oh, its our first New Duds blogger give away!

I will make it easy for ya to enter.

JUST:

1. Follow or bookmark this blog for future New Duds updates if you haven't already

2. Like us on Facebook or/and Favorite us on Etsy - Hannapt

3. Post a comment about your cat to this post (or a cat you know that would like some eyeballs).
You could tell a funny story, just their names or something quirky they like to do.

Here is our example:
"Our cat Oranges likes to play with the shower curtain now, it started a few weeks ago. He will get into the tub wet or dry and smack our shower curtain around for HOURS (no joke, he will spend the day in the tub). We think he likes to see the water droplets on the curtain or the light reflecting though, we really aren't quite sure. We have had this tub/curtain combo for months and he just figured out now this is his favorite thing to do. Sometimes the only way we can get him out is to actually turn on the shower. The curtain is taking a beating but its hard to put a stop to his utter enjoyment so we just let him go at it, most of the time."

Okay, got it? I will randomly pick a winner from the entries (comments on this post) on Monday morning (2/27). The winner will get a set of handmade Catnip Eyeballs and a Kickin' Stick shipped to you, for free!

Share the love and spread the contest to anyone you know!

Cant wait to read all the great comments :)

Around the shop

Things have been nice and mellow here lately. I am waiting on some more fabric to come in and we have just enough work to keep busy but not enough to go crazy! Good time in the 'slow season'. Here are some photos from around the shop.

 Getting the mail ready to go out

 Cutting out Leonards from waxed canvas

 Torrey seriously mixing some ink up

 Printing up some womens Burlington tees

Printed Veggie Tees!

Favorite things

This week we made some items that I totally and completely love!

First off is a new and improved Vegetables shirt!

Some of our very first designs were a carrot and red onion tee (below) so its nice to get back to our 'roots'.

Then I have been busy making bags again and am loving it! I made a prototype of this Bucket Tote a couple weeks ago for myself and have really enjoyed how it came out. After a few weeks of testing the design I have made up a couple more for sale. I don't know if I will be able to get more of this leather so if you are interested grab one while you can!

Olive Bucket Tote

And lastly a design we have had in the works for a while now. Once I saw these slouchy pullovers in the glorious Camel color I knew it would be perfect for our Knit Bunny design! I just adore how these came out and for sure snagged one for myself (something I do less that you might think!).

Knit Bunny Slouchy Pullover

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day 

to all you lovers out there.

If I hadn't already gotten Torrey the best present in the world I would get him this...

Because that man loves his pizza, thank you Style Rookie for showing me the light.

In other news this is the amazing present Torrey got me 

Yes, that's right, a hand drawn Nancy to keep with me always... sigh... love.

Family and Finance Friday - Spending Fast Recap Month 1

Veggie Art by the talented : Torrey Valyou

I promised an update of our Spending Fast 2 weeks ago, a little slow in coming but here it is.

As January came to a close we managed to save $1300.00!

And we put $400 into our retirement accounts this month. So really its like $1700! Wowza!

This is awesome!

We did however spend more on groceries than we have in previous months. I attribute most of that to having pretty bare cupboards after the holidays so we had to really stock up those first few days of January and us eating healthier. We did start buying quite a bit more produce. I could cut out all this 'good for us' food and we could be really thrifty and go back to eating more processed foods, starches and cheap meat but I just don't see the long term value in that. If we are being preventive by eating healthier then we should be saving money in the long term on doctors appointments and health issues. We did sign up for a local meat CSA for the spring and we will be getting a Veggie CSA also once the Farmers Market season rolls around. I am so excited for that!

I also have decided what I am going to buy once this fast ends. A JUICER! I have wanted one for months, then watching the super documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead on Netflix this week solidified it. I think we are going to save up for the mother of all juicers.

The Breville Juice Fountain Elite

Even though we are saving money for it and paying out of pocket I still already kinda dread forking over the cash. Saving money is so addictive and we have such awesome goals - Family / House/ Retirement. Its hard to step back and throw some cash down for something we really want but may not need.  But that is what money is for, life.  Not putting anything on a credit card like I would have a few years ago is just glorious. I just have to remind myself of that and really enjoy these things we choose to spend our money on.

Does anyone else struggle with this though? Once you start saving and you reach your goal its hard to actually spend that money on what you want without still feeling a bit guilty?

Lastly here are my goals for February - Spending Fast month two

1. More expected savings - from not getting these items this month
High Quality Pet food (bought it last month so we shouldn't have to buy it this month)
Zumba - guilty pleasure / girl time/ sanity helper (paid in advance for 2 months of classes last month)

2. Spend a bit less on food - We are going to try to freeze more leftovers and eat more from the cupboards than we already do.

4. Put all remaining money into savings at the end of Feb - (so far we are keeping it in our checking account).

It never gets old

I have come to decide you never get too old for potty humor... check out these clips and let me know what you think?

I need to watch this show if not just for its outtakes

your welcome