Solstice Arts & Crafts Market

It's the last show I'm doing this year, on Winter Solstice (yay!), a day before Hanukkah starts, and just a few days before Christmas. What a perfect time to pick up a new painting (for $30 and under!), giclee print, coloring book, magnet set, or card! Plus all of the cool handmade stuff the other 40 vendors will have.

December 20th, 2008 from 8am to 3pm, inside the Smith Center at Portland State University!

Yay for packages!

A few days ago, I got this gorgeous set of 4 handmade napkins from kzoriginals.etsy.com in the mail! They are really soft, really pretty, and even came all wrapped up just like a present. I love that :) I don't do a whole lot of trades on Etsy, mostly because I really need the cash, but I've been wanting some fabric napkins for a long time now so I just couldn't resist. Woohoo!

Weekend Project--Crayons!

This weekend was a blast! Friday night was a great time at the show; I had a most delicious dinner and margaritas cooked by my lovely friend Katie and shared with her husband, Chris; I caught up with my friend Jill; I even managed to spend time with a new friend. I'm not normally such a social butterfly, but it was just what I needed.

Between all of this socializing, I also managed to get some new supplies listed in my shop! I recently added a destash/limited stock section with some really fun stuff. Finally, I did a new and super-fun project--made crayons!!! These whimsical lovelies were given a new, rejuvenated life from Indigo's old broken-up crayon graveyard. I have listed one set of three in my shop--the others will be coming throughout the next couple of days.

Here's to a great week!

Need something to do?

If you are feeling a little bored and need a project to get your creative juices flowing, check out my new diy kits!

I currently have two, with more to come. The first is a make your own shrinky dink pendant kit, complete with enough materials to make two of your own unique pendants, along with complete instructions.

The second is a decorate your own slide top tin kit. It comes with one large slide top tin, the perfect size for storing MOO cards, and a surprise collection of collage materials. Check out my flickr to see how I decorated a couple of tins for my Valentines!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

In celebrations of this lovely holiday, I am offering all of the pendants in my shop at 50% off! Stop by the sale section of my shop and check it out!

Happy Holidays!

Now that I am done with the mad holiday selling rush, I am finally feeling cheery and exited about the holidays. Indigo and I already celebrated Hanukkah earlier this month, but we like to keep the menorah under our tree all month long. Tonight is especially exiting because we are celebrating Winter Solstice tomorrow morning, so today feels a bit like Christmas Eve to me. On Christmas Indigo will be with her dad this year, but then I am picking her up later Christmas day and we are driving to see Steve's family for more Christmas celebrations.

People who are more religious than I may find all of this very confusing, not to mention heretical, but I was raised celebrating Hanukkah with my mom and Christmas with my dad--neither of them infused with any religious meaning. As an adult, I choose to celebrate--the changing seasons, my family's heritage(s), but mostly my family. I am so grateful to have them, and once I get over the mass-consumerism (I have to work my way through that one every year in my head!), I find that exchanging gifts and decorating our home is a fun way to celebrate each other. Especially if the gifts are all (or mostly) handmade.

So, however or whatever it is that you celebrate, I hope that you all are enjoying the season. Happy Holidays!

Holy Cow! I'm in the Storque!

Heeheehee..... I made a video for Etsy's video project: Why I Sell Handmade and today my video is featured in the Storque! For those not on Etsy, The Storque is Etsy's super-blog, sort of like a newspaper and a blog all in one.
I am so exited and embarrassed all at once--I am thrilled and honored to be featured, but I am VERY camera shy when it comes to video and I am afraid of people watching it! (Yet here I am promoting it.....)

A little background--I got an email asking me to make the video last week sometime. I really wanted to do it, but I was so freaked out! It took me several days to work up the guts to stand in a room by myself and talk to my video camera (how dumb is that--there wasn't even anyone watching!!!). Finally, I was up early one morning and had a bit of extra time. I threw my camera on my tripod and with very little planning, started recording (I had tried the planning thing a couple of days earlier and it just made me more nervous). I threw it onto YouTube, submitted it to the Storque, and there you have it! Now I am a tiny bit famous :D

So, go watch it! Or not! I will be paradoxically happy either way :)

Mark you calendars, People!

Good morning everyone! Maybe I've just had too much coffee this morning, but I don't think that is affecting just how exited I am about the amazing Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Holiday Sale!!!

I will be vending there along with over 100 other crafty vendors, so mark your calendars for December 16th! Stop by to keep me company, do your last minute holiday shopping, and feel great about supporting local artists and artisans! And don't forget to have your afternoon cocktail at the Horny Troll Bar after you do some diy gift wrapping with SCRAP.

Please note, the location is Norse Hall on 11th & Couch, a few blocks away from Crafty's usual location at the Doug Fir. See you there!