craft fair report

You know what?  The craft fair was a lot of fun.  Know what else?  I kinda, sorta, almost sold out. Which isn’t terribly hard to do when you only bring 20 some odd items to sell.  But still.  I was really happy about the outcome and enjoyed the whole experience.

Here is why it was a successful day for me:

:: I received a ton of great advice from all of you.  A big huge THANKS to those who popped in and commented on my last post.  The comments on that particular entry are a great resource.

:: I had fun because I was in good company and had friends with me to hold my hand. I shared a table with a photographer friend and was sitting nearby an artist and jewelry-maker friend. (Her blog recap is here.) Their support and friendship made all the difference. And by sharing time at the table, neither my photography friend nor I had to sit there all afternoon. {It was a half-day event.}

:: I priced things reasonably.  Curvy clutches were $25 and mini zip pouches were $5. I sold seven clutches and thirteen mini zips. I know that my time and effort plus materials was worth more than that, but this was my first time selling things and I really didn’t want to come home with a bunch of “inventory” for a shop that does not exist. That would have been bad for the crafty ego. I was a little bummed that my favorite clutch sold in the last hour because I would have like to have kept it for myself.  But that was a happy kind of sad, if you know what I mean.

:: I shared a table with a talented photographer whose note cards attracted tons of traffic.  Without her, I am sure that my wares would have gone less noticed.

:: I had a blast meeting my “customers.”  {I probably shouldn’t put that word in quotes because they truly were customers. But I felt like I was playing store all day, so I felt like they were just playing along.}  They were sweet.  They love and appreciate handmade.  Some of them recognized the fabrics I used and mentioned the designers.  They had questions galore about process. How long did it take to make this? {The clutches–FOREVER.  The zips–no time at all.} Where did you get the clutch pattern? (Keykaloupatterns.com – It’s great.} How do you install the snaps? {Hmm. Let me try to explain!} Where do you shop for fabric locally? {Franklin Mill Store mostly} TALKING SHOP WAS SO MUCH FUN!

:: In a small way, I contributed to a good cause.  The only fee that vendors paid was a donation of handmade goods valuing $25 dollars for a raffle that benefited a group of college students who will spend their winter break in New Orleans helping with reconstruction efforts.  There was this one college student, who I am guessing was one of the students who will go on this trip, who spent a good amount of time at my table trying to decide which mini-zip pouch to buy.  You could tell she is the type who spends her money carefully. After a while, she settled on one and made her purchase.  At the end of the day when they picked the raffle winners, I waited around to see who won my clutch. This same young woman was still around.  When they picked her name out of the hat, she did a tiny little victory jump and then looked over at me and said, “I was really hoping to win it.” It was the sweetest thing.  Made my crafty heart all fuzzy and warm.  I’d make that girl a million clutches if I had the time.

:: I learned a bit about myself as a crafter.  I found that I actually do enjoy making things assembly-line style.  It takes a bit longer to get to the finished product, but when you are on that last step (for example, turning eight curvy clutches right-side-out), seeing the final items is even more exciting. It makes me understand why people like me have little online shops.  If you are making a gift for a friend, why not make a few more and pop them into a cyber shop?  There is very little overhead involved and if something is snatched up, you get to experience the rush of a sale.  Now I get it. I’m not saying that I will have a little shop of my own up and running anytime soon, but I think it could be in my future.

So that’s the rundown.  It was a good little experiment for me.  It made for a very nice afternoon.  I now know that when my family and friends graciously accept my handmade gifts, there is a good chance that they actually like them and that they are not just being polite.  I don’t know that I’d seek out another craft fair, but I do think I will sign up for this one again next year.

fifty five

Just a quick post to say hello and let you know that it has been such fun having all of my siblings and their families (or parts of their families) home for a long weekend.  My sister and her family who are visiting from Hawaii are here until the end of the week, so I am savoring every bit of their company.

I miss my little blog and my crafty friends, so I thought I’d also pop in to let you know that I have made some progress on my son’s birthday quilt. I have fifty-five of the above pictured blocks ready to go. And need another thirty or so to arrive at where I want to be.  The goal is a twin sized quilt.  Apparently you need lots and lots of 2.5 inch squares to get there!  Seam allowances can be a real buzz kill.

Other news on the sewing front is that I recently signed up for a local craft fair.  I have never sold anything that I have made, so the prospect makes me very nervous. I could go on and on about the many doubts I have about putting my handmade lovelies “out there” to be judged by the public, but I won’t go there.  I will report on how I do {for better or for worse} after it is over.  In the meantime, if you have any experience with selling at craft fairs, please share any pearls of wisdom.  I will be clinging to every word, trust me!

My very best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving to those who will be feasting on Thursday!

group photo

What is it about kids and cameras?

When they are all by themselves…they take great {albeit serious} photos.

But if you try to get a bunch of them all in the same shot, it just…

…never…

…works…

out.

treat

We still haven’t carved a pumpkin, but we did get around to creating a haunted mansion.  Bob Vila’s website has some fun templates.  I have never had any desire to construct a gingerbread house.  It just seems wrong to spend so much time baking when the end product is practically inedible.  {Which is why our house sits on a lawn of yellow cake, frosting and green coconut.}  One of my son’s favorite books is Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. Whenever we get to the page where the gingerbread baby goes into the gingerbread house, he always asks me if he can make one. So we did.  Halloween style.  Because I just don’t know that I will have it in me when December creeps up on us.

Hope everyone has a fantastic and fun halloween!  We will be out and about with Thomas the Tank Engine and a cute little monkey doing our best to collect gobs of candy and spook the neighbors.

pink and green

Little girls need little bits of pink and green, don’t you think?  This is a scalloped garland I made for a friend who is expecting in February.  I could make different versions of these all day long.  The tutorial is here, though I took shortcuts.  {I pinked, rather than turned under, the edges.}  I think that some of these fabrics will eventually make their way into a twin sized quilt for my baby girl.  They are in rehearsal here and I think they are ready for the big show.

keeping track

I started a journal recently.* The impetus was to keep track of some of the funny things that pour out of the mouth of my almost three year old.

Exhibit A:

Me: “Fireman Frank. Do you have that fire under control?”

Him (in his ‘Big Man’ voice): “Yes, Mom. I have a remote control.”**

I used to keep handwritten journals when I traveled a lot, but have really gotten out of the habit. With work and the kids, life is pretty hectic right now, so the idea of adding one.more.thing to the mix seemed daunting. I knew that if I was going to start to record little snippets of our life, I needed to choose a format that was doable. Enter the 5 Year Diary.***

Each page represents one day across five years, so once you have used the journal for one full year, you will be able to read what you did that same day the previous year as you write your new entry. That alone will motivate me to keep up with my little journaling project. Also, each entry only leaves space for six lines of text. It takes me a minute to figure out which occurrences are worthy of documentation, but the actual writing is accomplished in less than five minutes. The fact that you are forced to distill information is great. Only the most important bits make it in there. One very pleasant surprise has been that my writing has not been exclusively focused on the kids. Some entries record things about my husband, our friends, and random little ideas that I would like to have filed away. I think it is going to provide a great little snapshot of our lives at this particular point in time.

I feel compelled to mention that while I don’t typically like posting on topics that make people feel wanty to buy things, I really do like this journal. If you like the concept but don’t want to purchase it, you could always use a blank notebook and emulate the format.

*Yes, I am fully aware that I maintain a blog. And that a blog, technically, is a journal of sorts. But if I started to post things like– “He cut down all of the dead trees on our property. So happy!” — things may start to get kind of dull around here.

**Um. Watch TV much?

***This blog post has some nice photos of the inside of The 5 Year Journal. As a bonus, its author does some very cool embroidery.

slap bracelet napkin ring tutorial

This is a very quick and easy project. A patchwork version would be great for busting scraps, so I am going to enter this into Sew Mama Sew’s scrap busting contest. If you don’t want to buy inkjet ready fabric sheets, you can stamp the names onto a piece of twill tape instead. And if you don’t want to use actual names because you never know who the heck is coming to dinner, use nicknames instead. The Mr., The Mrs., Wino, Hippie, Rasta, Fashionista, Punk, Artist, Biker, Raconteur, Rock Star, Chatterbox, Wanderer, Chef, Shopaholic, and Frequent Flyer are some that I’ve used before. If you don’t even want to give it that much thought, choose a theme. Do you love The Sound of Music? Then use: Maria, Captain Von Trapp, The Baroness, Rolf, Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa…just don’t forget my favorite, little Gretyl. Throwing a Mad Men party? Then Don, Betty, Pete and Peggy, it is! Just be careful not to offend whoever picks the “Midge” napkin ring. {Joking.} Are you a Brady Bunch fan?

OK. Enough said. You get the idea.

Click here to download the two page pdf tutorial. Click here and here to see them in action. And do let me know if you give it a try. I’d love to see what you come up with (my flickr group is here) and would be glad to be alerted to any errors.

*Note: I bought my slap bracelets here.

some vacation photos and some blather

I’ve had a million little blog posts floating in my head lately, but they never seem to make their way to this spot. Not sure why that is. Hmmm. Not going to try to figure it out either.

The photos are from an early September vacation on Cape Cod. We stay on the same beach every year. I won’t get into a recap, but it was a beautiful week. Best sunsets ever right from the front porch of the cottage.

This weekend was a quiet one at home. Apple picking with Dad; apple pie baking with mom. Playing at home and at the park. Visits with grandparents. Football watching. The usual. {Nice.}

All of my siblings will be home just before Thanksgiving. This means arrivals from Hawaii, Montana and Utah. It also means that I will get to meet my niece, Island Baby, for the first time. Oh, I can’t wait!

The kids are doing great. He’s talking up a storm. A very noisy storm. And she’s finally loving solid foods. It took a good two months before she really took to it. Just watching her shovel it in makes me tremendously happy. She’s sitting up and playing on her own. Every little step toward independence is bittersweet. Though to be honest, for this mom, it’s more sweet than bitter–but really only during the first year or so. I mean, I love my babies to the moon and back, but I am just not a true blue “baby” person. {I’m OK with that.} Both my mom and my mother-in-law are, and just watching them amazes me.

I am cutting out a quilt for the Little Guy using all 2.5 inch squares. Mostly blue and green tones. Some of my most favorite bits of fabric ever, with pieces of old clothing mixed in. I was having trouble settling on a design, but the recipient mentioned wanting to play checkers, so that did it for me. I’m inspired by this lovely number, but with Kona cotton charcoal as the solid. I am hoping to have it finished by his third birthday which is right around Christmas time. It’s the only crafty thing I feel like I need to accomplish this year. Just saying that feels good. Though I know I will likely want to {and will} do more.

I guess that’s a sampling of what’s been swirling around my head. I think I’ll stop blathering now. Thanks for checking in.

P.S. I’ve got a tutorial up next. The napkin rings from my last post. It’s simple but kind of fun. Back soon….

birthday party recap

My husband’s birthday. What to say? It was a lot of fun because a lot of great people were there. And it was a little extra festive, because I spent all of my crafting time for the month of August on silly party ideas. Which was a really good thing because I almost never make stuff for us to keep in our our own home. This was a perfect excuse to do just that. There was no one unifying theme to this party, but I will say that I was inspired by the colors of a pack of tissue paper that I bought at Target. Here is the run-down on the crafty details:

I almost never do this, but I did send out paper invites for this one. I already had the card stock and used that pack of tissue paper to cut out little flags. I sewed the flags onto the cardstock and that was that. Sending out paper invitations really does get people to a party.

{Love the toes in this shot.}

I made a pinata and decorated it with that same tissue paper. I used three layers of paper mache. Two layers would have been better for my audience (two kids under three years old). I had to cut the pinata open with a knife because my little man and his cousin couldn’t make a dent in it with the baseball bat. I also made little loot bags for gathering the candy. Didn’t get a good photo, but they were made with a cute squirrel fabric by Lecien.

Yes, I am a sewing nerd. So yes, I did make personalized napkin rings for each party-goer. I have made these as gifts before and really wanted a set for us. So, the next time any of these people return to our home for a meal, they will have a napkin ring to wrap around their napkin…or their ponytail…or their wrist. That is what happened at the party and it cracked me up. These are made like little slipcovers for slap bracelets. Remember those? I hope to post a tutorial for these soon.

{Most creative use of a napkin ring.}

{Profit drinking.}

I set up a little lemonade stand so that my son and his cousin could sell lemonade at the party. He is mildly obsessed with fattening up his piggy bank, so I was pretty sure this activity would go over well. I wanted to buy a new beverage dispenser like this one, but I knew that my sister had a less fancy grocery store version that I could “dress up.” I printed a vintage looking lemonade graphic that I found via google image, covered it with contact paper, and wrapped it around the dispenser. And because every good crafty blogger needs a fabric banner, I made one to decorate the lemonade stand and other bits of the yard. I am excited that I now have one of these to use over and over at future birthday parties and other events.

The drink marker thingamabobs were very simple. And I think they actually helped some people keep track of their drinks. Using pinking shears, I cut small triangles from the scraps that were created while I was making the banner. I then cut a little slit in each triangle, threaded them with baker’s twine, and tied them onto the glasses. I bought a few mason jars because we didn’t have enough glasses and I didn’t want to use plastic. I’ll reuse the jars for canning.

We played a beer tasting/guessing game. I downloaded a free font called Mom’s Typewriter that I found via iDIY to make these little game cards. Guests brought six packs of beer. My sister and a friend selected a type of beer from the cooler, covered the bottles with small paper bags to conceal identity, poured samples into glasses, and people tried to guess the name of the beer they were drinking.

I bought two bunches of zinnias at the farmstand. I love these flowers so much and they are always in bloom right around my husband’s birthday. Of course, I knew my husband would enjoy them, but I considered them to be a little hostess gift to myself. Music was provided by The Flashdance. I just clicked on this link and played the mixes. Way better than any playlist I could have come up with and people definitely complimented the music. Three cheers for generous blogging DJs!

I kept the menu simple and whenever I was offered help, the answer was “yes.” {Motherhood has taught me that skill.} I provided some basics: veggie dip, fresh salsa, cheeseburgers, pasta salad, baked beans, homemade lemonade, iced tea, and the cake, while guests filled out the menu with fancier extras such as grilled shrimp, a pesto, cheese and sundried tomato torte appetizer, spring rolls, salad greens with goat cheese, watermelon, seven layer magic bars and mint brownies. Good eats for sure!

{Oh, the big browns on this little one. !Para comersela!}

I took Jen’s advice and put into action as many little projects as I could without making myself crazy. The diy smilebooth did not happen. I had a theme and props and everything. But I couldn’t work out a way to protect my camera, so I let it go. Of course, I was rushing around even minutes before the party started, but once guests arrived, I just let things happen and really enjoyed myself. And mostly, had a lot of fun watching the handsome birthday boy have a great time on his big day.

Update:  Thanks to Sara at Party Perfect for featuring this party.  I drew so much inspiration from her beautiful blog, so be sure to check it out if you are looking to get creative with entertaining.

lemonade stand

The birthday party was a ton of fun.  More on that later. Just wanted my family to see my favorite photo from the day.  And bid a slightly teary-eyed farewell to my sister and my sweet-as-a-lemonade-stand niece. Love you guys.