Just a little thrifty goodness.

I stop by my local Goodwill at least once a week. Sometimes I find amazing vintage goodies to resell in my Junque Rethunque booth, sometimes I find beautiful vintage things to give as gifts, other times, I just find things I will use around my own house. Today (and yesterday) provided the latter.

Yesterday, I found a great handmade cap and a little holiday tin - the hat for me, and the tin for my sister who reuses them to gift homemade cookies and candy (yes, you should envy me!). The cap is in perfect shape... wonder who got it for Christmas? Their loss!

Today I ran by again to see if a frame I passed up yesterday was still there, which it wasn't, and picked up this great basket. The lid has been removed, but I am going to use it to hold wood and kindling next to our newly-refurbished fireplace. Note: if you see something you like at the thrift store, don't wait - someone else will like it too!! :)

What are some of your recent thrift or junky finds? Share with us here or on our Facebook page HERE.

The niche is shrinking!

A while back, I shared my wish for a little shop. A little corner where I could stock with lovely handmade items (mine and other artists and crafters I love), vintage finds, and repurposed items. I don't think it's uncommon for creatives who decide to start selling the results of their crafting to the masses to eventually at least think about what owning a little shop would be like. Or maybe I'm a little off my gourd. But whatever.

My sister and I have started (or re-started to be more accurate) a business and rented out space at a local flea market to test the waters. We have paid for our second month's rent with the sales of the first month - which is great - but the space still doesn't really suit our vibe. We need to punch up the color and have decided that covering the walls with white burlap will be just the ticket. It will lighten the space a lot, but it's forgiving if we hammer a few nails through it to hang things on the wall. We also need to come up with a logo, get some rubber stamps made, create a packaging plan for the things we make ourselves... a little at a time.
 

Our original idea was to experiment with our ideas in the booth, with an eye on the possibility of opening a stand alone shop someday.

Fast forward to this week. We found out about YET ANOTHER boutique recently opened in our area that seems to have the vibe and viewpoint that our non-existent shop would have. It sells vintage finds, repurposed goods, handmade art and homegoods...

SCREEEEAM!!!

My sister went by today and checked out the evil competitors who are stealing our dream. She found the new shop to be awesome. It's run by two delightful, creative women, and too perfect and lovely for us to hate.

*sigh*

So... we're rethinking our plan now. Instead of opening our own shop, we're thinking that we need to focus on production. We can still sell vintage finds in our Etsy shop, but we can get our brand put together and wholesale our creations in OTHER people's shops. No overhead, no employees or payroll, no working weekends. Kind of a win-win, right? As long as we find the right shop, a shop that looks like what we would make our own shop look like...

So, updates will be forthcoming. But until then, if you are hanging out in Northwest Arkansas do visit Red Hill Gallery & Homewares and let us know what you think. Tell them Laurie and Erin sent you. :)

Warm Thoughts and Inventory

Okay, I had the great idea of posting this pic of my homemade bunting made for a craft fair last fall, in hopes of sharing warm fuzzy thoughts when it's about 4 degrees outside. Then, I remembered that at said craft fair my sister and I were freezing our booties off every morning because it was around 35 degrees. It was NOT, however, 4 degrees. So, comparatively, it was WARM.

I'm enjoying a little break this month from the constant pressure of making sure I have inventory ready for the next craft show/market/promotion on Etsy... it's allowing me some thinking time to consider how better to brand myself this coming year, and what items I need to focus on making. One of my frustrations with myself is that I have 847 different ideas flying around in my head on any given day. But of course I don't have the time to spend on 847 different ideas. Knowing I don't have the time frustrates me and makes it hard to focus, and then I don't know where to start. So, I have to narrow it down a little.


The branding thing is difficult for me. I'm far too fickle when it comes to my shop's banner designs. And my color favorites change with the seasons. But I am going to get a stamp made based on a screenprinted business card my brother made for me last year. I'll use it with some washable ink to label my items, and scan it into the computer to use on my banner. If the name/font stays consistent, maybe a quarterly color and image tweak will not be a big deal.

I think my 2010 shop inventory will look like this:
Market bags - made from repurposed vintage bed and table linens.
Tote bags - sturdier fabrics like curtains and upholstery remnants, with appliques and other decoration.
Hip bags - for the fall and winter only, made with repurposed sweaters.
Aprons - hobby aprons made from canvas and vintage decorator fabrics with appliques and pockets

I'm cutting out the drink coasters because there are nicer ones on Etsy and they're a pain to make. I may make some lapel pins up and list them to see if they get noticed... they sell well at the fairs, but haven't tried them on Etsy. I'm also going to make some repurposed t-shirt scarves and kids' tunics, but am going to sell them in local boutiques. I made my neice some cute-as-a-button hats for her American Girl dolls out of scrap wool from my repurposed sweaters... but see, that's another project.

Now I'm just rambling...
What are you going to work on this year? Are you focusing on any new items for your shops, or just reworking what you've got?

I knew it all along

When a woman reaches a certain age, she begins to wonder if her outward persona is still jiving with her inner. At least, that's something that I wonder about. If you don't - good for you. You're either incredibly self-assured, or your delusional, or maybe just in denial...


So, along those lines, I question the potential popularity of my handmade crafts as I'm coming up with new things - and think about what audience they might appeal to the most. When I started making my little hip bags out of repurposed wool sweaters, I observed that my best customer for them was young women who are a little on the "crunchy" "ecologically conscious" side - educated, concerned about the environment, listening to alternative rock  and shopping at the local farmer's markets... also a fan of vintage clothing perhaps. I don't think any sorority members or Ed Hardy fans are carrying one of my bags yet. Anyway, I have hoped that I am creating items to continue to appeal to these lovely ladies, and that I am cool enough inside to know what works and what doesn't for that demographic.

Yesterday at the Fayetteville Farmer's Market a sweet boy in his 20's (that's right, I said boy) was admiring my bags, and applauded my ability to make "hipster" bags and other items that appeal to a different group of people. I was ridiculously excited to be told that I am, indeed, able to execute a hip item properly. My inner cool quotient increased like the Grinch's heart on Christmas day. Silly, I know, but sooooo satisfying.

I heart custom requests!

I recently shared a booth at the Bella Vista Arts & Crafts Festival with my uber-talented sister. We met a terrific young woman named Jennifer who works at Denali State Park during summers, and winters with her mom or with friends who live in the lower-48. I am totally envious of her and wish I had been aware of cool jobs like that when I was in my 20s... but I probably wouldn't have taken advantage of them. I'm so not the person now that I was then... thankfully.

But I digress... the cool bohemian girl loved one of the bags I had at the show, but it sold. I wandered by her mom's booth on the final day, and was asked if I wanted to trade a bag for something she had there. I picked an adorable star-shaped candle box with a painted snowman on it, and yesterday I mailed off the bag I made for Jennifer. It's almost like the one she liked - except that it has the buttons from the front of the sweater it was made from. The original was made from the back of the garment.

I would be happy to get to the point where people asked me to make custom pieces for them more often.

Sorry - this is a pretty boring post... I'm in a bit of a funk.

A New Year of Craftiness

I've been thinking lately about the things I make, and the things I want to make. In 2008 I was a supply-buying fool, so I have a ton of clothing from thrift stores, sewing notions, bits of ephemera, and other odds and ends that I have found here and there... but it doesn't seem like I have used as much as I've purchased.

I have bits of this and that that I thought I would use to make art cards and collage shadow boxes, but that idea, in particular, did not come to fruition. I like to think I'd make some cool things with all of the wonderful things I found... I even bought frames as I found them in thrift stores to put them in. I failed at the collage-making. I think I'll post a lot of stuff in my Girlchild shop as supplies. (Be ready, Denise!)

I also have fabric that I thought I HAD to have, that I had big ideas for, but for the life of me, I don't know what those ideas consisted of...Mostly, I went back over and over to the sweaters and vintage linens. They speak to me somehow. Don't pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about!!

Worse yet, I started projects that I thought would be awesome, but then they didn't turn out as planned and I abandoned them. Poor little Ghostfolk... At least I haven't thrown them out!! And I did find out that stamping my name on the fabric works great...

My Punkinhead shop has been a little bit random... but I want to get more focused on "lines" of items. I also want to create seasonally. I typically end up coming up with great Halloween item ideas on October 25th... Christmas items on December 20th. Not a great plan for selling anything right? In 2009 I am going to have a schedule, and spend more time working on ideas for projects that can be created on that schedule.

Right now, I'm liquidating holiday items in my Punkinhead shop (go see!) and I'm going to start working on some things to sell for Valentine's day. My plans are for more Hearts-on-a-Stick, but that's all that's coming so far.

How are the rest of you re-working your shop or craft room for the new year?

Snowfolk for everyone!!

Etsy sales abound this weekend, and my shop is no different.

Not only am I offering free shipping on all purchases through Sunday, but I'm also throwing in a set of four handmade vintage fabric drink coasters as well! What a deal! A gift for you, and a stocking stuffer for your Mother-in-Law!!

I've made my Christmas gift list, and am pleased to report that I can make 99% of the gifts I'm giving this year myself. Coasters, pillows, bags, and a couple of other miscellaneous items are on the list... I can't wait to get started. I guess I should say I SHOULDN'T wait to get started... time's a wastin!!!!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Mama's got a brand new bag!

A friend of mine just had a sweet little baby girl, after having two boys. As you can imagine, she chucked all ideas of buying gender-neutral clothes and went for the pink!

When I found out a few months ago she was having a girl, I told her I'd put together a diaper bag made from some of the lovely vintage fabrics I've got in my piles. She picked out some fabrics, and I put them aside to work on... Miriam was born two weeks ago, and I finished the bag today. I never guaranteed her a delivery date, thank goodness.

The main part of the bag is made from a Tommy Hilfiger sheet, the bottom part is a vintage curtain and they have a little trim of white in between. The "flowers" are cut from a felted wool sweater, the leaves are bits of linen tablecloth and vintage fabric samples, and the strap is another sheet. Vintage buttons finish it out, and it's lined with a vintage pillowcase.

I also made a matching changing pad out of a pink hand towel I picked up at a thrift store. The beauty is that all of this can be machine washed. The sheets and towel have been washed before, of course, and I washed the curtains and sweater as well. Easy!!

I really like the way it turned out. I would love to do more things like this, using different combinations of fabrics. I think I'll post pics of this one in my Etsy shop and advertise that I'll let people pick their fabrics for a truly custom bag.

Building Inventory

Idyllhands, a.k.a. my sister, Erin, talked my mom and I into joining her for the Spanker Creek craft fair in May. Last summer, in order to get ready for the Clothesline Fair in September, I was creating little families of Snowfolk nonstop. But they were fairly easy to whip out, and were not as needy in terms of time at the sewing machine. The tote bags I'm making now are a different story.

Yesterday I spent some time in the morning making some bags, and got three done. They were simple, unlined bags that are intended to be market bags - nothing terribly detailed or time consuming. Two are made from vintage pillowcases. I think my stepmother had a set of linens with that poppy print on them. I have several more pillowcases to make bags out of.

Another bag from yesterday is made from some orange and green vintage upholstery fabric. I have two made from the same stuff listed in my Etsy site, but those have one long strap, whereas this one has two short ones.

Now that the boy's napping, I should go work on some more bags, May is just around the corner!

Movies inspire me

I went to see Atonement with a girlfriend Saturday, and left feeling so inspired to be creative! I have always loved film - I'm a drama geek from way back and used to have Oscar-watching parties. Attendees were usually just me, my mom and brother, but I won't bore you with my ineffectual party-throwing skills...

So, I've known I love good films for a long time. But I had an "aHA!" moment Saturday when I realized, after reveling in the amazing costuming, cinematography, and even the score of Atonement, that I wanted to get home and make stuff and write stuff and just be generally creative. I stopped by B&N and picked up the Writer's Market 2008, and came home and started digging through my fabric piles and cutting out tote bags.

I got two unlined bags done this weekend, and another one, a custom for a friend. The first two are made from some great vintage upholstery fabric I bought a few weeks ago ---------------------->





Plus, I have three others that just need to be detailed and lined. Isn't it interesting how things can inspire us that are not at all directly related to the craft we actually make? I guess we're all inspired at times by nature - or music... I just hadn't put the film and art connection together before. At least, not in terms of my own art.

What are you inspired by? Anything unusual? Your children? Favorite music? Walks in the woods? Fudge brownies with that crackled crispy crust on top??