alberta arts street fair tonight!

yeah yeah i know i swore no more shows but this doesn't count. this is just cruise in and grab up some concrete in a true street vendor style. and i am just bringing pendants. lots of pendants. $15 ea or 2 for $25. see? i won't have to mess with 1's! genius. plus i only have a few five to spare for change ha ha. :)

above are some pix of a few (ha FEW? i busted out all of these minus 3 or 4 only!) for sale tonight. if it is a bust and i come home empty handed i am running a sale and will list these for the weekend.

sunday is foodfight!'s anniversary party and that is what the flyer is for. i have been sadly neglecting all the places i could be flyering...vegan and non-vegan hangouts with bulletin boards. duh! not a genius manoeuvre.anyway, i am handing out flyers with coupons to friends and new friends alike at the paartaay. sounds like a lot of fun!

crochet, hats, math and me

here is a huge shocker: i don't do so well with much beyond business math. if it is too linear i seem to not be too interested in it, like oh say....woodworking or building a bridge where your calculations must be perfect; no room for the wiggle. as someone from my past once put it ever so delicately to me, in math there is ONE right answer. something about that displeases me in a nails on chalk-board kind of way. much like the F i received in that algebra class after being tutored by someone who got a fucking A+. come on! who gets an A+ in math? pu-lease.

so, with making crocheted hats you really don't do math per se, you just keep regular count and for some reason either i am a.d.d. or just plain dumb (stfu! i hear you!) but it is really difficult for me. i loose track, get distracted...end up making too many of this stitch in this stitch or vice-versa which makes for one fucked up looking hat.

however, last night i dove in again and i made what could be the most (practically) perfect hat i have ever made! and my arm hurts from me patting myself on the back over it. if you actually read all this and are thinking so what, big deal what the hell is wrong with you...then you have no idea how big of an accomplishment this is for me, and you suck ;)! but on the other hand if you can relate then you understand this is huge for me. :) i am going to make that hat from the happy hooker, the one with the flaps and buttons? not for sale but just to follow the recipe (ha ha) for practice. then i think i want to change it up and make my own, perhaps without those little webby openings in the mid-crown. i like the ear flap idea...*thinks ahead to cold wintery weather*. brrrrrrr.

garden fresh

my garden produced some bounty up the wazoo! vine ripened tomatoes, zucchini and onions oh my! at least we won't starve :) also i have a loquat tree that is over ripened with literally pounds of loquats. i picked and ate some last night, but can only come up with either making jam or jelly with them or some type of cobbler. they are like a plum, so what else could i do with them? hmmm i really am not a jam-maker, but i certainly could give it a go.

in other news, i did finally get down to union rose and in other words here in portland yesterday afternoon. i really feel accomplished and will try and keep up the momentum. union rose took over 20 pendants and almost as many hairpins! i am really happy about that. in other words is a cute bookstore and resource center for women and i am happy to be anywhere near affiliated with them. if you are local, please stop by and check out these stores!

in other other news i am hoping this week will be productive and i plan to reup on some much needed supplies. i am pretty much out of everything except yarn. i have boatloads of yarn! i found a great website for ball chain (ballchain.com how surprising!) and if i can't find any chain cheaper i will offer those for sale in the shops for pendants or whatever. they do have sterling silver too, which i personally would chose, but it is soooo spendy. i have to think about that investment (read: come up with the $$$).

shawn had a good birthday and we have had a really great three days together. i really love that man :p

happy birthday baby

saturday is shawn's birthday, but in grand 'shawn's birthday' style, his birthdays always meld into at least 3 to 4 days of celebrations! me, not so much. i like a quiet bday nowadays, with some love, appreciation and maybe a nice cake. OK i like presents too! but they are not necessary by any means. LOVE is best, and i usually get heaps of that everyday.

i think he settled on ethiopian food tomorrow night and has some skate plans for the weekend with out of town friends. as for me i think i will take it (sl)eazy around the house and catch up on all this stuff that seems to be multiplying by itself...like a virus!

pootie

i really want to go out to my friends bar tonight and check out pootie tang and dr. no on the big screen tv! hell, i can crochet there as well as i could home, eh? ha ha yeah right. we are having a house guest, a friend who is apt. hunting here in portland and needs a place to crash for a day or two so i probably could slip out for a few.

last night while i was doing dishes i got another attack and had to go sit down for a spell. that was weird for sure. i think i figured out the head motion, but i am not sure and i don't really want to try and recreate it because i get sick when it happens. i just have to try to keep my head steady and not whip it around much, while i do things like bend over.

also yesterday i dropped off my necklaces over at MOTOKITTY on division in portland! if you happen to be local, love handmade screen tees and pleather messenger bags moto yo' ass down to the shop and check it out! the list of where you can find never felt better locally is growing and growing! on weds i am going by the new new store called UNION ROSE and also IN OTHER WORDS. both you will find buttons, hairpins or pendants. so things are going really well on that front.

i have officially put myself "in production" (i love saying this!) to get ready for fall and winter sales. i have the readymade ad coming out and i have to get going in hopes things pay off. lots of crocheting, lots of soldering, lots of hairpins galore!

i am hoping to get down to the dmv this afternoon to take my written driving test but it is raining and gray and i am not too keen on going out at the moment. lets see if this mate and happy camper can help that attitude out at all. mate is some serious stuff, and i am not really used to the taste. it is acquired, and i haven't acquired a LOVE for it quite yet! :)

never never on a sunday a sunday a sunday

on friday i had the weirdest attack/feeling and it prompted shawn to be worried enough about me to prompt me to get my ass to the dr. seems after all was said and done i am developing a good case of something called BPPV, a big fancy name for vertigo. although mine was from moving my head in such a way it dislodges and swirls the rocks in my inner ear around to clog up the tubes that help your body know what position it is in relative to gravity. weird huh? i thought so. now that i know i am not stroking out, dying or losing my mind i feel honestly much much better. next time it happens (this was actually the worst of them, the other times i chalked it up to head-rushing from getting up too fast or whatever. not so much the case, really) there are some maneuvers i can do that can alleviate the feeling of spinning. yay!

so, needless to say i have been taking it easy and trying to feel better. it made me really sick and i don't typically get motion sickness. plus I FREAKING LOVE things that go upside down and roller coasters and such so that just tells you how random and spinny it really was. not so fun in the middle of the night in the dark where you feel you are going to take a header in the bathroom and someone will find you dead in the morning. not so fun at all!

it is so funny, i always thought "vertigo" was something just in your head, and literally it is! it isn't just a mental thing. shawn got a kick out of saying there are rocks in my head...because there are very literally rocks in my head. nice!


on a good and positive note, i sent the ad and blurb off to readymade and now have a NEW level of anxiety to deal with. will my ad look lame, will i get any hits or sales? will i be laughed out of town? geez, i sure hope not. but, you know...it is nerve wracking for me. actually this was a HUGE leap not even a first step in advertising. wtf am i thinking????? :))

on the road to ready

i have to fax the paperwork to readymade today and i am really nervous. she said i have over the weekend to get the photo and the 10 word blurb to her which is cool, i didn't get a chance to do it last night so any extra time is great for me. i have a feeling hashing out the picture and the 10 word blurb is going to kill me! so, i have to go to kinko's for the earring cards i never made over the weekend since i really do need them by tomorrow night so i can fax her my info to save my spot in the gallery. while i am out, i am going to office max and i am picking up a good sized wipe off board.

i am happy to say that nfb has grown to the point that i need a big wipe off board to keep track of everything! woooohoooo! this is uh..good news? *wipes sweat*. yes, this is good news. if i have 5 local wholesale accounts there is no reason why i can't do more out of town, out of state, out of country. with holiday coming up i hope to be busier and really need to streamline a little. right now my organizational skills are uh...lacking. so what else is new? :)

so if the sun would make a debut this morning i can try taking some good pictures to consider sending in as my photo. i have no idea which item i should highlight. *sigh* it is just a product shot on white. *sigh* not my forte!

wish me lots of luck. oh and i am taking the written test for my oregon license tomorrow (yeah it has only been two years ha ha) and i of course have testing nerves for that. wouldn't it be funny if i failed? no. no, it wouldn't.

am i ready for readymade?

i am taking a huge plunge and placing an ad in the oct/nov issue of readymade's gallery section. it is a great deal for the print ad itself plus the online version plus the holiday shopping guide through january. *gulp* am i ready for this? the rep said it has 250K readers. uh, yeah...i am just going to do it. only something good could come out of it and i am on such a role with wholesale accounts i would really love more. i just did a round of ads on myspace and livejournal, so i could use some sales at both shops. i am four sales out of my big 100 woo on etsy, and i am looking to get that out of the way. i had some sales on the site but you can see the etsy stats! ha ha i would like it to be the big 1-0-0 for kicks and giggles.

i am meeting with cari from motokitty on saturday to sell some pendants. i need to pick up some more plated necklaces, she wants them on the chain. i will be in production this afternoon and evening for her order...that is if i get off the computer and quit fighting with photoshop. photoshop and i are well, like oil and water. we don't quite mix.

i took some cute pictures of the kitten, but my batteries died and i am charging them for later. i hope to have some new pendants to show off. :) my friend stacey from bossyboots gave me yet another fat bag of vintage scraps and this had some really great fabric in there. i am excited to see what comes out. i also have some new hairpins to photograph for the presents of mind order. she was so nice that i had to reschedule--her family was visiting from out of town anyway so it was totally ok that i could not come in yesterday. we are shooting for next week and i am just dropping the in other words in the mail until i can get time to go in and look around uninterrupted. she also was too cool about my troubles and tribulations with our car. we are working all that out today and should be all good by the weekend. car trouble bites! :( but it can't rain on my parade about all the good stuff that is happening with NFB. i have to maintain a positive mental attitude and not let the little things get me down!

on a weird note i had a dream i was pregnant and was finding out they were twin boys. i was in a state of shock in my dream. that ain't cool! :)

happy monday!

i have some pictures of the ETSY show, but when i saw them posted they really look kinda bad so i will spare you my erronious point and shoot pictures. i could use a photography course! :)

let's see, highlights of the weekend are as follows:

~great show. the weather was perfect, sales were good, found a new wholesale account and made some new friends all in one fail swoop! i met jackie from scrumptious suds, my tent-mate who i must say had the best day of anyone i had ever seen at a craft show. she sold soaps and all her recipes are based off cake and cocktail recipes and she practically sold out in a few hours. i think i am in the wrong business ha ha!!! she was rad, and i am looking forward to hanging out with her more. she is having a potluck in the next month to discuss some type of collective with friends and i would love to get in on that action!

~breakfast in bed. shawn fully served me biscuits and vegan sausage gravy-IN BED on sunday and that was so nice. i lazed around watching trashy morning tv like the soup and whatever else was on the E channel. what a man!

~this kitten is so right at home. he frisks around and it is so freaking cute. i have to take a video of the cute so you can experience it too. it is too much for just me and the girls. it's so funny when you get a new family member--you look and all of a sudden they are there doing their thing and it is though you can't really remember how it was when they weren't there. the kitten is totally warming up to the dogs, too. the dogs want to play but simon sez NO still--and is just all "ffft" and halloween kitty. although yesterday i did allow the puppy to sleep on the bed with us and the kitty was ok with that. i want them to sleep together that is so cute to see. :)

~the car got fixed! woot! late last night the water pump was replaced and we are good to go. we still need a tune up and a muffler, but hey. i am stoked on the home garage action! plus our nice neighbor would not take our money, so he is my new best friend for major car emergencies. that was really nice of him and i should make him some cookies or something this week to show him our thanks.

~i designed three different earring cards and i am running out to pick them up today since i didn't get shawn to last night since he was working on the car. kinkos is right by me and you can email them the job and pick it up so i have got to get those today. i hope they don't look lame!

well, i hope everyone has a great start to their week. i have a lot of work to do for my meetings tomorrow (two shops in the afternoon to sell) and i should be posting some pictures later on when the sun comes out. i have two new scarves finished and i would love to post them on the sites.

crochet is groov-ay

i love this yarn a little too much. it is so ugly it's great to me. i was saying how my kitchen growing up was totally in this color scheme. complete with mushrooms, big wooden spoons and forks on the walls and macrame plant hangers that went from ceiling to floor. those were good times....

almost finished

i am finished with this one and am moving on to the other skein of grooviness. the new is skinnier but brown, yellow and orange. oh yeah.

i think i deserve sushi tonight, don't you?

well you know my name is simon....

we named the kitten simon after a marmalade cat my sister had forever. he was cool, he would hold your hand with his paw and play fetch like a dog. this kitten is super frisky--making himself at home! he spits a bit less at the dogs today than yesterday so i imagine soon he will be riding around on their backs and running in their pack. the puppy really loves it, but rico not so much the LOVE, more like he would love to taste it just to make sure it is not one of his little stuffed animal toys.

tomorrow is the ETSY show, and surprise! i am unprepared. not really in inventory or change but mentally. my period is WIPING me out and the only symptom i am having, is the energy drain no matter what i do. i could seriously use some more sleep, but i got plenty last night. i just do not feel rested and i really really hate this feeling. anyway, the show is tomorrow hopefully i can catch a ride with mmmfiber since my car is kaput for the moment. i am sharing the tent with a gal who sells soap so that is always a good place to be. lets hope for the best on that one, i am seriously dragging ass all over the place.

enjoy the cute toddler-n-kitten pix. we were getting ready for bed and had some kitten snorgling time. poor kitty gets totted around by the neck--i keep saying NO NECK and try to show her how to hold by the body but i get a "no, mommy" and a toddler version of the *face palm*. i love trying to reason with a 2.5 year old! what joy that is! :))

oooh lookie who is fresh and cute!

shawn was kissing me goodbye this morning and as he did we both heard a MEWL from outside our window in the front yard so guess who was in our bushes looking all cute and fresh and marmalade! new kitteh! :)) already he has hissed at the dogs, walked on the computer keyboard, ate some hard food mixed with soy milk and snoozed on my shoulder. what a full morning already! little guy needs a cat box and a flea bath badly.

last night there was some skywriting above our house. something about ice cream...i would have preferred someone rent that for a proposal or something rather than an advertisement. but whatever it was fun to watch!

ok i lost a day somewhere!

yes, kids i went yet another day thinking it was the wrong day yesterday. i found out it was indeed tuesday around 5 pm and it really screwed me up! but, now that it is truly humpday the week is taking a busy turn.

there is another ETSY craft show downtown on saturday! this one is one, guaranteed not to be rained out ha ha and two, guaranteed to be mild and beautiful out. a grand slam. no rain and no rain!

here is my pending new stores list that will gell hopefully mid week for all three.

*UNION ROSE new account!
*IN OTHER WORDS new account!
*MOTOKITTY new account!

*PRESENCE OF MIND re-stock!

notice, the new store union rose. i actually burst out of my comfort zone and emailed them to see if they would be interested in a meeting, and they got right back with me and are interested in glass and fabric pendants and hairpins! woot! i actually reached out to a new store! this could be the start of something beautiful...me actually getting up the nerve to approach nerve-wracking stores here in town! i can think of a few that are intimidating in my mind. i have to get over that whole thing.....:))

hump day :)

got most of my groovy pink vintage yarn jobbie finished last night. i shattered my back up plastic hook with this yarn! i am almost done, minus about three inches, the fancy trim and whatever else i can come up with. yay for the first scarf of the season...first of about 50 ha ha. yikes!


also, i am pretty much finished with the patches for the sampler. will pin some tags on and then i am ready to put it in the post on it's long journey to samplerville. i wish i was together enough to contribute every month but those deadlines sneak way up on me and knock me over the head and about the ears and i can't stand that kind of abuse at the moment ;). there is always so much going on!

patches!

i went a little crazy with the stamping today so far. my batteries just died after two pictures, but i have about 20 done already. 20/100--a good start for the sampler! :) i am really happy with these, and i am stoked on the speedball-system. easy, good results...i am in love!

*more* good times :)

and while i was there, they just happened to have a speedball lino block i could utilize (very timely) and i carved out some poppies from my logo to make into patches and other fun stuff. especially useful for the sampler deadline coming up....





it was my good friend vanessa's bday and yard sale yesterday. we had a bbq and cake and too much wine. there was the cutest puppy there and the weather was mild and kinda stormy, actually. it was gorgeous! i took some pictures of her table since she never does and i think the did the best of the day! she was, however the birthday girl so i should hope so :)

good times, bad times!

inside city hall's main building. these were hanging from the glass ceiling!
skaters!
lyric and skate art, the one on tops says portland, oregon! sweet.
shawn looking like a statue :)


yesterday afternoon i took the girls downtown to check out finnegans toys and meet up with shawn at city hall for a skate demo and art show. had never been to city hall, so it was cool to see the rad building itself plus skate art. that was great, and on our way to sushi we noticed the car was acting like a bitch and sure enough we scraped the plans for dinner with hopes of just getting home. hoses with liquid burst, weird cowbell sounds from under the hood and as we got to our street the power steering blew! YAY! GOOD NEWS: it is a honda. a '85 honda and our next door neighbor has some and fixes them up real nice. hell, i have the book i could even fix some hoses. that is what i love about older cars that aren't computerized. you can actually FIX the problems cheaply rather than delve into hundreds with some shit they make to break and not really fix well in newer cars.

so, until we fix the ride that is what is going on around here! woot!

hello carpal tunnel!

one of the highlights of handmade bazaar was that someone was giving away mounds of free vintage acrylic yarn. JOY! i made off with a serious amount. groovy color combos, stuff they just don't make anymore. so last night i started the wonderous task of making scarves! no time like the present, plus i need to just wind down and crocheting does that for me in spades. especially when i am not under a time crunch or special order, i actually really love to do it.

i am hoping to get a few out and ready for their little loveable appliques sooner than later. :)

i can't believe it is august already. i am thinking...BACK TO SCHOOL, HOLIDAYS...wtf. but now is the time. i want to do more day of the dead skulls for sure. i am going to list the ones i have left (i did some listing today on my site, etsy is having..uh, technical problems with uploading picures so they can suck it since they fixed the auto-charge and i got whammied with a huge bill yesterday!) today and also filter in more neckaces as the day progresses.

listing is drudgery. and if i have to take and process pictures, like i have had to do already it really sucks up the day. i also have to go get dog food, but that is besides the point. ARGHHHHH!

ok. back to work! :)