circus treasury

Just a quick post to add a link to my latest treasury - Join the Circus!

I maaayyy have been inspired a little by the last movie I saw in theaters (Water for Elephants.) It's not a great movie, but this is a great treasury, if I do say so myself!! :)


I've been making cotton washcloths like a crazy person - ready to sell alongside Wi's soaps and lotions! I'd love love love to get some resin in my magnets in the next few days.... they are just sitting, empty, waiting...

I also did a bunch of contacting today - talked to BJ at the Marina LB farmers market - I will hopefully be selling there on the first Sunday in July. I contacted Art for the Soul, and Fern's garden - crossing my fingers!!! Also, a friend of mine wants to hold another Backyard Bazaar - so I sent some dates! Things are moving moving moving!

boutique and banners

Spent this weekend at the Splash into Summer Boutique in Lakewood! It was fun - got to be next to Wisalya again, which is nice because we are starting to think of some complementary projects. She makes super fantastic soaps and lotions, and I am going to start doing some ceramic soap dishes, and crocheted washcloths to go with them!

The boutique itself was very cute - about 15 vendors - mostly for girls/babies/young children. My earrings did pretty well - and I sold a few ceramics and a few magnets. I definitely need to make more magnets before the next show. I have some new ideas for those too - alphabet sets, and "how I am feeling today" sets too.

Tonight I've been messing around a bit with new banners for my etsy shop... here are the finalists. Right now I've got the yellow one up, but I may switch...



I've also got a few new listings up on etsy - trying to get photos of my most recent earrings up! I make too many, it's hard to keep track of them!!!

If anyone has any ideas for tracking inventory, please let me know. I could use it.

I traded a few items at the Splash into Summer Boutique, and I will do a better blogpost with links soon!

TONIGHT's boutique and treasuries!!!

TONIGHT! I am getting ready to go have some fun at the Splash into Summer Boutique in lakewood! The event is tonight from 5-8pm, and then AGAIN tomorrow from 10-3!

Other fun I've been having...making treasury list after treasury list! haha. Love this etsy feature. Here are links to a few...

Vessels

So turn on the sky, let it hear what you're saying


ooh AND I was featured in someone else's treasury!! Here is it


I may or may not do a more in-depth blog post later.... but I wanted to say hi, and get these links up for ya'll.

etsybloggers

When I first joined etsy I found the etsybloggers team - and immediately joined and immediately loved it. I then got busy and didn't feel like I could keep up with the requirements - but now I am BACK and focused on etsy again - and am thrilled to be a part of the etsybloggers team once more!

To celebrate - here's a treasury I made with just items from fellow etsybloggers. I think it is pretty darn gorgeous if I do say so myself.

Santa Barbara Island and my latest treasury

This past week I spent on the smallest of the Channel Islands - Santa Barbara Island.

This is the 3rd year I've gone - once was as a student the summer of 2005, and the last two years as staff (2010 and 2011).

The group that goes is a CSULB class called "Recreation in the Ocean Environment" and it's anywhere from 10-30 people, most of whom are recreation majors, some who just have an interest in spending a week on the island.

SBI is an amazing place - we hike, learn about plants and animals (largest mammal is the doormouse), get swooped by barn owls, watch pelicans, do compass/map orienteering stuff, explore the tidepools, jump off the dock, swim with sea lions, snorkel, kayak, sleep in tents and cook on campstoves. It's a phenomenal experience.

This year the group was particularly wonderful - a bunch of vivacious, enthusiastic and motivated csulb students who really upped my enjoyment of the island (and I love it already).

Spending a week camping on an island with no water, no trees, and so much amazing NATURE is the best thing for my mental health. I came home and haven't wanted to let go of it yet. So here's how I'm bridging my worlds - my latest etsy treasury - my homage to the SBI trip of 2011.

Patchwork Indie - Santa Ana

As much as I love making and selling earrings and other items, I have found that there is a point at each event where I sort of wish I was done, because it's hot and I'm tired and I have been sitting in a booth for 5 hours and I want a change of scenery. This point never lasts long, but it has happened. However - at today's Patchwork Indie Arts and Crafts Festival - that moment never happened.

I got to the space at about 8am. I circled the block probably 4 times before I figured out where to pull in the truck - I have officially moved up in the world of vendors, I now have enough set-up to warrant borrowing my husband's giant truck instead of being able to use my Yaris. I set up what I could, moved the truck, and then waited for Wi and Ken to bring their soaps and lotions for set up.

The wind was a bit of an issue - twice my new cabinet fell all the way over, taking and breaking my mirror and lightbulb in my new lamp with it. But it wasn't anything a football field's worth of 50 lb test fishing line couldn't handle!! I tied earrings to lamp, lamp to easy up, cabinet to easy up, and weighted everything down with rolls of duct tape. By the time the wind came back in the afternoon, everything just swayed slightly. woohoo!



This event seemed WAY bigger than the Long Beach one. Maybe it was because it was mostly set up in one narrow road, with a few parking-lot offshoots of vendors, or maybe it was because I was pretty close to bathrooms and a food truck and so saw more traffic - but it did seem like there was a pretty steady stream of people, dogs, and strollers going by.



I have finally started tracking what items I'm selling, because I'd like to track over time to see what trends exist for what shows. I am a little surprised at how quick my bottle-cap-resin-magnets are going!! I am almost out, and will definitely need to make more.

I have to do a little sidebar here and make a comment about how AMAZING it is that people actually stop to look at my items, and then like them enough to buy them. Part of me is not totally surprised - I think they are neat, or I wouldn't make them - but it is a totally different gratifying feeling to know other people think so too. It is especially gratifying when people who saw me at the Long Beach Patchwork show came back to my booth to buy more - or people who found and liked my page on facebook choose which earrings they want to buy and then come to the show to get them. It's a really humble feeling, and is the most encouraging one in the world.

Here's a photo from my perspective in the booth, while people perused my table...


One of the contributing factors to my not having that ready-to-leave-feeling at this event was the people watching. I have to say - there were SO MANY CUTE PEOPLE at this show. I have never seen so many adorable boots in one place before in my life. People were fun and funky looking, it was obvious that the majority of what folks were wearing were handmade, and everyone was smiling and really seemed like they wanted nothing more than to be walking down this sunshiney street in Santa Ana looking for more handmade items to buy. The street itself was cute - beautiful and richly colored homes behind us, and Bowers Museum one street over. There seemed to be an abundance of pregnant and stroller pushing mama's, and a lot of little kids. That was fun too - my earrings and magnets are bright and were at the perfect level to catch 6 year old eyes. Some of the best conversations of the day were with the kids who came to ask about crocheting.

I always like to showcase another booth in my blog after an event - and this time is no exception. This particular booth was right across from me, and I spent the whole time getting distracted by her brightly colored fused glass pendants. They are beautiful, and with a name like Sunny Scarlett, she deserves a comic book, not just a mention in a blog post. But here she is, and here are a few photos of her work:




if anyone wants to buy me a present, I want that tree pendant!!!

I wasn't ready to pack up with 5pm rolled around. It was a blast, and I am jonesing for the next Patchwork Indie.

I'll leave you with two more photos - one of the traffic jam of vendors trying to get out of the show at the end...


and this one I saw on my walk back to the truck at the end of the day.

2nd Petite Flea Market rundown!

This is a long overdue blog post, but it's been a busy week!

On May 22 I got up super duper early, loaded my stuff into Wi's car, and we drove to Costa Mesa for the 2nd Petite Flea Market at God's and Heroes Hair Salon. I had no idea what to expect - it was a last minute invitation to participate, and it all felt sorta spur of the moment.

The location was in the parkinglot in the back of this pretty nice looking building, and it seemed like the majority of the vendors were all set up already.

I have officially done 4 sales, ever - 1. Good Vibrations Homeschooling Conference in San Diego, 2. Backyard Bazaar...in MY backyard, 3. Patchwork Indie LB, and now this one. The 1st was a big conference with a sale for a few hours. The backyard bazaar and Patchwork are both handmade-items (for the most part) - but the Petite Flea Market is definitely like art sale + swap meet...which I guess is what a flea market is.

There were probably 15-20 vendors, and only about 5 of us had handmade items. Of those five, 3 of us had jewelry. There were also a lot of vintage items for sale.

Here is a picture of my little set up...complete with earrings, handbags, ceramics and more...


I didn't have much of a chance to leave my booth, but did get to talk to the sellers next to me. Of course, Wi and her yummmmy bath and body works was sharing a space with me...

And then I met Dianna Agzour, who had a variety of jewelry for sale. She had a lot of smaller necklaces and pendants, but of course the one that caught MY eye...


If you look closely, you can see that all of that is hand-wired. Crazy!!! I grabbed her business card, but there is no website to link - so I'll just let you know that if you want to contact her, email her at dnzkatz@earthlink.net

On her other side was Francis Frank, who makes striking feather earrings.

Here's a close up of one of her pieces


Annnnd on the other side of Dianna, a super friendly Kim Wistos was selling aprons and other accessories! No website on her card either, but her email address is saviya@speakeasy.net



So I had a pretty good day - it was collllld at the beginning, but warmed up for the last part of the day. I did okay sales - and made enough that I got to buy this fantastic item, that had caught my eye at the beginning of the day...


If you are coming to the Patchwork Indie show in Santa Ana on the 29th of May (THIS SUNDAY) you will get to see this awesome lamp in action, as my brand new earring tree. :)