ha ha more shows!

i responded to a bulletin on myspace from flappergirl on myspace about the holiday i heart rummage sale here in portland on december 2. she said she got the ok, but the booth cost was too high and she needed to share. well, she said yes and i am super excited about it! i have always wanted to do the seattle show, but could not justify the travel. so now they are coming here and i am STOKED! i will have more info since i just got this email just now and am probably jumping the gun but i am excited. that is good news!

also, alison from the sampler reached out and has a deal about september advertising if i contribute again. perfect kick in the ass for me since it has been months and i was thinking about contributing again but got side swiped by life :) also i will send something in to crafters for critters while i am at it (again, it has been TOO long since i have given anything). it gives me a month to work on what i can make a bunch of but still have NFB style and panash? ha. i said panash. do i have panash? ;)

thank god no more shows until mid august

glad it's all over now. there was both good and bad moments for both days. mainly the good was i got another wholesale account at motokitty after cari gets back from vacation in mid august. also, i met the gal who contacted me from other words and she was stoked to see NFB stuff and we will get that going within the week. so TWO new stores confirmed which is great business. the bad: it was tortuously slow for the handmade bazaar and it was really kind of disappointing. there were a bunch of other shows going on and i suspect the locale had a lot to do with it. but, it was fun laughing with mmmfiber and seeing all the gals. so i really can't complain too much. over all i did OK and am honestly glad it is just OVER. next is the ETSY show on the 11th and then i am doing nothing until holiday. i am serious. i am craftshowed out!

*om*

as i sit here to reflect on my stress, i am trying to keep everything in perspective. other than carding some earrings and hairpins, make a sign, buttons and pendants tonight i am done. i will take care of all that by noon. then, i will pack everything up well, pack up my table and little granny cart in the car late tonight and viola. i have to get change at my bank this afternoon (the most important part, eh?) and have a relaxing dinner with the family tonight. a piece of cake!

so, i will finish my lovely cup of tea and get going. i won't update until monday i am sure with pictures of the weekend and hopefully great news and sales. :)

oh and thanks to vintage indie for contacting me and i will be participating in their august giveaway! check back for that and be sure to enter. you may get some good swag!

i am obsessing now!

i found a neat little tray at target for $6. woot! it fits the pendants nicely and i don't have to put rice down if i don't want to. which i don't really :) and i filled in the little red tray i spray painted and they fit perfectly! now i have a little wire necklace holder that i think i will spray paint red to match everything in a minute. also, notice the little price cards i made that i figured i would just make everything the same price for the sake of argument! all earrings are $8, pendants $15 ea or 2 for $25, and hairpins are $7. i can't be dealing with all different prices on these guys anymore. i just don't feel like doing the math, you know? ;) i am bringing my day of the dead skulls and also the little plaques too for a little side table. and there is all is. i really hope i have enough of everything for both shows. i mean, not that i think i will blow out of everything on day one (that would be both nice and bad) but i don't want a raggedy selection for day two either. ARGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hello stress, howya doing? ;)

good morning sunshine!

i didn't wake up one time last night making this the first time in a LOOOONG while i slept uninterrupted. with at least 7 hours under my belt i am waking up, feeling good and ready to face the day. which already i can see is going to be filled with pendants ! :) last night i whipped these up. i like them. they are smaller, at 1" squared and 1/2 x 1 5/8" rectangles, both a thicker glass, too. as always made with random scraps of vintage fabric. woot!

also the girl's grams sent them a target card so we will probably go there today. doing the target thang, you know! the big girl loves the dollar isle and i want to price out a casserole dish. i really could use one for various reasons.

oh and last night as i was gathering blackberries from the yard i stepped on a bee and it stung the hell out of the ball of my foot. what a bummer. glad it happened to me and not the girls....IT HURTS like hell, even this morning each time i take a step. sorry bee, but dang!

rockpaperscissors and handmade bazaar THIS weekend!

happy to be at both these fun events this saturday and sunday! if you are in portland or can get here, please come on down and shop indie this weekend!

craft fair readiness?

i thought it was weds yesterday, which means theoretically i should be ahead a day. but in reality i was just crazy ;) and now since it is truly weds, i am starting to panic slightly. above are pictures of some finished assorted earrings and hairpins plus a little stuffed chick pin i want to make a few more of since i think they are cute as hell, but in assorted fabrics.

yesterday we swam all afternoon and of course i shined the sunblock and am just a TAD pink today. but i say by tomorrow night this pink will turn into the st. tropez tan i thought i was getting yesterday, but was getting a burn instead :( but we had so much fun...the pool we went to was absolutely fabulous. two for tuesdays makes that a summer destination on tuesdays for a while!

ok, today i have some errands to run. mainly the stained glass store for some wider tape. i got some new glass pieces in different shapes for pendants but my foil is too thin and it won't work. but once i get that i can crank out oodles of new pendants! woot!

more pretties and weekend fun

made a bunch of these on saturday afternoon. i am enjoying their simplicity plus lace is groovy pretty much all the time no matter how you slice it. unless it is lace overload, of course. ;)

then we found a great lake very near to our house we didn't know was there--it has a beach and sprinkler park for the little ones. it was pretty fun for them and by them i am including the biggest kid of all, shawn!

i have some dental drudgery for the big girl this afternoon, but when i get home i need to get going on some buttons and other items for this BIG weekend. i should have a new flyer to post for rockpaperscissors on saturday. this ought to be a fun, busy and hectic weekend! lets just hope it is profitable ha ha ;)

aw pretty pink lace

apparently i was in a PINK mood this morning because, well i dunno. had a yummy breakfast of a spot on reproduction of the vegan potatoes at junior's and smart bacon. yummmmmmm. now i am contemplating what i need to knock out as far as housework. there is a TON, and i am a tad overwhelmed to be honest. this place can spiral out of control in less than 4 or 5 hours. off to go be domestic, and hopefully later on i can crank out some pin back buttons and little ones for hair pins. next weekend will be here sooner than you know it and i really have to be prepared. two all day long shows back to back? wow. :)

picture post predominantly of premier pendants

alliteration! love it! so i did some stuff today, believe it or not and here is a sampling. i also spray painted a small riser type shelf for my table red and was a dork and got it everywhere. you have to remember to put down newspaper and not try and hold the item while you spray. yeah. i will make some more small mirrored pendants for earrings for those oh-so-disco moments we all have i'm sure.

most of all, i tried to get stuff straight in my head about what upcoming shows need what, what stores need what. i am one scatterbrained gal i tell you what. i need a HUGE wall calendar or something, but knowing me i would ignore it anyways. there has got to be a way to keep stuff straight in my mind!

handmade bazaar flyer!

how cute is this???? click on the pic to see where i will be aug 22. i love this show, i really do. :)

new opportunity

yesterday, i was contacted by a buyer at a small,local not for profit feminist bookstore that also carries crafts on consignment. i don't do much consignment but it would be cool to have a few items spread out and the potential for a little money here and there. gets the name out there for sure. i must be the laziest business owner on the planet. the last three stores i sell in have found me and approached ME. that would be a total of 4 of 5 over the last 12 months. the other one were friends and i just walked in on them because i could. now, this leads me to one, and only one conclusion i can draw from this. what would happen if ACTIVELY went out and sought out new stores. um....DUH. my genius hurts me sometimes.

OK. well, this passive style of being is coming to a stop. if i can force myself to pander my wares out and stop waiting for them to come to me...i might actually be on to something. the interest is there, but the cold-calling risk taking self confident part is uh...in there somewhere. i think.

camera frustrations!

for some reason my camera is on strike from taking these hairpin's picture. the closeups are blurry and lame. i don't know what the problem is...i have tried in my lightbox, outside, inside...it just hates these. a lot. thinking my camera was crapping out, i tried to focus on something else and it did fine. well, whatever. i am not listing these anyways i just thought i would like a decent photo to show. blargh.

yesterday the girls and i went to our local community center pool. i keep saying it wasn't as skeevy as i thought it was going to be. we actually had a good time and are planning on going to this other one in SW that has swimming channels, a big sprinkler play place with a big frog sprinkler and a whirlpool. although today is cooler and sprinkling out it is supposed to clear up for the weekend. i love swimming and the girls had a blast and got very worn out. woot. meeee too.

i am tired tired tired today but i still have to work in some strength and core exercises. i signed up for sparkpeople.com and it is really good for me. i am now accountable to the internet gods my caloric intake and exercise. i feel forced to drink the minimum 8 glasses of water a day, too. i even got shawn to sign up heh heh. i think i prefer it over say, weightwatchers because it is just a log of what you eat and what you do with a reward system. i don't have to deal with points for food or anything, that does not appeal to me. plus it is vegan friendly and you can enter in your own food for the data bank for other people to use as well. so i have entered some analog meats and my brand of soymilk i use that weren't in there. it is pretty nifty. :))

sun kisses

that is what my mom used to call my freckles! i seem to be getting a lot more of those "sun kisses" as summer goes on!

my latest endeavor of a little nickel-sized mirror pendant necklace. working on some matching earrings for those who like to be oh so matchy. :) i find it is harder to solder a rounded object (the metal gets gloopy and runs then dries funny before i can smooth it out perfectly, but PERFECT is not in my vernacular anyway so i don't even know why i said that!) but i have to keep practicing because i have a ton of marbles and rounded stuff that is beckoning me. beckoning i tell you!

it was a great mellow, lazy weekened. i started a new diet last week and i have lost TWO whole pounds already! so coupled with that and that pesky PMS i am having my energy is all over over the place. actually it is mostly low, but i workout today so i am hoping to recharge the ol' batteries a little. :)

yay pictures!

i really love the way these two pendants turned out. i am so happy my camera did not crap out before i took these shots. i have more to post, but it will have to wait until tomorrow--recharging the batteries as we speak! not only do i love the pictures, i love the solder lines and i am proud to say they are my best work yet. really clean! yay, practice does make perfect just like mama said!

the first picture is me and my new hair. i cut off all the blond and am going natural complete with gray hair and all! i don't know if i can last very long, but if i can get some serious salt and pepper going i will keep it. i LOVE gray hair on young people. don't snicker, i am STILL young dammit! :)

thunda!

so last night was awesome with a show of lightning and thunder we never got to see in california! i kept thinking some weirdo was taking flash pictures outside our window, until i heard the crash of thunder! it was really pretty and i wish i had gotten some good pictures but i couldn't get a good look at where the lightning was coming down. we had the nicest summer rain shower after that, and then it was over. today it is just gorgeous. not hot, clean from the rain and clear.

today i am babysitting for the afternoon, but i need to run some NFB related errands after they get picked up. i have some pendants already taped, and will try to churn out a few more before i solder tonight. i am in the mood i think, i have slacked majorly but am feeling in the groove!

no pictures today. nothing to show off! :)

monday monday

today is a busy one for little miss never felt better. i am hosting a pot luck for the committee for the girl's school to allow the for preschoolers. , so i have much work to complete before the house is "pot luck ready". ha. yesterday i had some friends over and one bought a glass pendant off me for his ex-girlfriend (what a guy!) and told me he has a ton of vintage photos and also negatives that would be perfect for pendants so i told him to BRING THEM ON OVER! i am totally excited and appreciate the free shtuff for sure.

i also posted some little leaf earrings in the shop, they are pretty much the cutest little things ever.

it's baaaaaack

back by popular demand, the '07 version of the astroturf button. nothing screams summer better than those fake grass doormats you know you had growing up. or at least, you knew someone who had them. maybe you have one now. either way, this is my homage to tacky fake grass mats on the porch!



check out my garden of earthly delights, speaking of green! i have more zucks and tomats than i can shake a stick at. maybe i can make ratatouille (i actually have no idea what that is. is it just a stew of vegetables?). so far i have a jillion pears, loquats and blackberries to look forward to as well. what a haul it will be when it is ready to harvest :)



in other news... i ate shit on my bike last night and jacked up my knee. this was no fun, and it feels even worse today. i think there is a piece of asphalt stuck in the kneecap. weeeeeeeeeeeeee!

5th of july!

just posted this little black lace number just now. i am trying to clean up my work area as i go, and it just isn't working! there is no room for all this stuff, and am looking forward to some better storage solutions here in the upcoming weeks. i need a complete workspace overhaul! i had to take a break and get some sort of game plan. it can be just a tad overwhelming when you just try and go at it all whilly-nilly. wish me luck!

this land is my land

i posted two more pendants last night and also had some good luck with sales on my website. i hope this trend goes through the weekend! here they are:





happy 4th, and remember, it is your land too! everyone go put on woody guthrie now, ok? we are bbqing and doing some backyard action today--hopefully we will get the full sky firework exhibit like we did last year. totally illegal flying fireworks right near our house so we camped out in the yard and watched the show. it was pretty awesome!

oops i did it again

i made a quickie small ad for the pendants hoping to get some business this week.




i finished one more today and listed it. i had to order more glass slides, but i have the feeling i am going to have to find a wholesaler so i can find the best deal. i would like some actual slides for the length, but i enjoy the square sized as well.




i had the good idea to put a ribbon under glass, which added to the depth of the glass which meant i did not have the right thickness of foil which meant that i messed it all up to hell. but it is a cute idea, and will work when i get the right kind of foil soon. now i know about more 3-d objects and how to make them the same on each side. this one you can see the copper foil through the middle and it just looks bad. NOT for sale ha ha. :)