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?

A Contest for the Holidays

There are always a few awesome contests being hosted by wonderful crafty bloggers out there, but I have found one that is truly exceptional. For 12 days, JoPackham at WhereWomenCreate is offering a daily drawing for anyone who comments on their posts. You can enter twice a day if you add their widget to your own blog (like me!) and it will totally be worth it.

Go check it out - and good luck!

29 years ago today...

On the 27th of November, 1980, my mom woke me up around 2am and told me she was going to go to the hospital - she was in the early stages of labor with my sister. Mom took me to the kitchen and gave me a quick run through on how to prepare a turkey and all the fixings. See, it wasn't just delivery day, it was also Thanksgiving.

I got up later that morning and started working on what would be my first Thanksgiving meal. It was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. Except for the gravy. I had never made gravy, and started with the flour, rather than the turkey drippings... It was pretty much just lumpy, flavorless paste when I was done with it. Not pretty.

The turkey's automatic timer popped out, the mashed potatoes were creamed, and my two younger brothers and I sat down around the table. Just as I started to hack away at the bird, the phone rang. My mother asked "Can you hear her?" It was a girl! We jumped around the room like maniacs, cheering the birth of our sister.

Erin Nichole turned 29 today. While I don't often jump around like a maniac in her honor anymore, I am still extremely proud and pleased to have her around.

The last few years have been especially important to me. Erin moved to NW Arkansas after graduating from UT, thinking she'd live here near our mom for a few months to a year as she figured out what to do next. That was in 2004... Since then, we've become closer than ever - we've gone on shopping road trips together, started our crafting businesses together, cared for our mother through her cancer battle together... I can honestly say she's become my best friend over the last five years. I'm pretty sure that November 27, 1980 was one of the best days of my life. Except for the gravy.

Happy Birthday Erin! I love you!!

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.

Crafty Memories

I was out at my mom's for a bit today and found a box in the shop that was full of fabric and a smaller box of clothing patterns. I pulled a of the well-worn envelopes out of the smaller box, and found a little time capsule of sewing. There was the peasant skirt and blouse from the 50's that my grandmother made mom when she was 10. I'm not sure if this is the same outfit, but it's another handmade bit of loveliness created by my grandmother in any case... how adorable was my mom!?

There was also my prom dress, dresses that mom made for my girls, the dress she made for my sister's band formal, Barbie doll clothes from the 50's, the cowboy vests she made out of faux leather for my brothers in 1974, the dress and blouse she made for me when I was part of the chorus in my high school musical, Oklahoma! 

These patterns mean more to me than her jewelry or keepsakes. They are symbols of the love she had for her kids. She loved us through the time and effort she spent making these things for us. I'm so glad she kept them.

Holiday Boutique!

You don't want to miss this! Okay, I might be a little biased, but not unreasonably so...

My sister and I and a few other fantastic women are going to host a little get-together and would love for you and your bffs to join us.

Snacks, drinks, music, shopping... we even have a masseuse involved!! What's not to love!?

See you Saturday!

(click on flyer image to see it in a better format... can't get it to be clearer here for some reason.)

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.