Oh My Gosh, It's October!

Hello fellow Ultimate Blogging Challengers. I feel a bit remiss because here we are almost in the middle of the month and I haven't mentioned my Etsy shop or my crafting work at all! Very poor in the marketing division. I'll have to speak with someone about that! (I AM the marketing division, along with every other division - LOL).

For about 10 or 11 years I have had an Etsy shop where I sell my handmade greeting cards, mini scrapbook albums and other paper crafts. In the last five years I have begun attending craft fairs, mostly around the holidays but I'm beginning to branch out to other times of the year as well. A lot of my creations are interactive and I find that they are best shown in person, although Etsy does now have a spot for videos of your items.

At any rate, one of the things I did recently was be a vendor at an outdoor evening event. It was at a local church and as part of their festival they were having a holiday night market. I have done outside events but none at night so I thought I'd give it a shot.  We just recently got a canopy so that outside events would be possible and I must say that we put it up really quickly. 

I knew that it might get a little windy, especially as night came on, but the days had been really warm so I wasn't too worried. Still, I didn't display everything as I usually do because most of my products are made of paper and I didn't want to have to chase everything if the wind came up. Which it did. Forcefully. I had weights around the legs of the canopy but it almost blew away. Thankfully my vendor neighbor helped secure it by sharing some of their weights. One of my items did fall off and unfortunately it was a glass frame which broke. 

Since it was going to get dark, I bought some twinkle lights to spread around the table. I really liked them and decided I was going to get more for the upcoming holiday craft fairs I have scheduled next month. 

 

Sadly, I didn't make any sales. I think it will be a while before I attempt that venue again. It is was definitely not worth setting it all up and sitting in the cold and wind for 5 hours. It was a three day event but I only could do Friday night. Perhaps if I had done the Saturday one it might have been more profitable. 

These are examples of the products I make. 

Here is a little tour of my studio. This was from a few years ago but it is basically the same, just more crowded with stuff! 

I also have a YouTube channel where I share some of the processes for making my items. That's another aspect of the business that I want to enhance. 

And that's about it for now. Hope you enjoyed the tour of the studio. After watching it again I can see how much has actually changed in the 5 years since I made it and I'll have to do an update. If you are looking for unique handmade greeting cards or need an album for a special occasion I'd love to work with you. Send me a message on the Etsy site! Happy Saturday!

A to Z Challenge - 2019 - R is for Repurpose and Recycle

Moving right along in the 10th Annual Blogging from A to Z Challenge we come to the letter "R" which stands for Repurpose, Reuse and Recycle.   I love experimenting with things and when I see some ordinary item I immediately start thinking about what else I could use it for.  Take these Laughing Cow cheese containers.  I really like this cheese so we had quite a few empty ones and I wondered what I could do with them.

This is what I came up with.  A little Halloween container for a mini-album of course.  

There is a string of about 8 to 10 circles held together that pull out from the base. 

I thought it would be fun to put pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes.   

It might also be a cute gift for the hostess of the costume party!

Another thing we seemed to have a lot of was CDs.  They came in some magazines we were getting and they used to get sent in the mail so you could install AOL (yes, I am dating myself!).  

So I decided to cover them and make a Christmas mini.  I punched a hole in the side so I could use a ring to hold them together. 

I think this would make a great gift for the hostess of the Christmas party or as one of the gifts in a Secret Santa.

There is a pocket inside so if you wanted to use it as a gift card holder that would work too.  

There is ribbon around the metal ring that holds it closed. 

These were some water bottles that I used as gift holders for Easter.  Inside I put candy, pencils, little toys and things like that.  I tied a ribbon around the top with a tag with the initial of the recipient on it.  They came out okay but I've never done them again.  Water bottles are too small to use I think. 

My daughter was putting all her CDs into a holder and had lots of cases leftover. 

Guess what?  Another mini album!  This one is for Mother's day.  Inside the case I glued paper so that it opens up and there is a flower pocket to hold a message or a gift card. 

This one is for Halloween.  

And then there are the tea boxes.  I drink A LOT of tea and the boxes were just so cute.

I covered the boxes with paper and put a bunch of tags inside with messages and spots to write notes.

This one is for Mother's Day but I have done them for Father's Day as well.  Ribbon is again tied around the ring that holds the tags together. 

I love the tags and colors in this one.  

I bought some sheets a while ago and they were wrapped around these cardboard holders.  Of course I saved them.  They will make great sturdy covers for... mini-albums!  I just haven't figured out what themes to use yet.  Maybe travel.  I've been meaning to do one of those.    

Am I the only one who sees these things and wonders what to do with them?  All of them can easily be thrown into the recycle bin and the garbage company will take them away to melt them down or whatever they do but I think my way is more fun, don't you?  You can find these and others on my Etsy site and if you can think of a theme you'd like to see one made into let me know!

"Rib" is the prompt for the #SoCS today so I'm glad I've been able to incorporate it into my little story here.

Tomorrow is Sunday so there is no A to Z.  I missed last week's Song Lyric Sunday but maybe I'll be able to play this week.  I'm going to try to make the rounds to some new A to Z-ers too and make sure I have the letters ready for the last week of the Challenge.  Have a Happy Easter!

Jots in June - 2018 - Crafty work for Father's Day

Father's Day will be here before you know it so I've been busy adding some items to my Etsy shop:

A few cards:

And a mini-album for the sports enthusiast:

This is about 8 x 8 inches and it will stand on its own when opened.  

There is room to add a couple of pictures and write a note or two and in the back there is a pocket to add a gift card or tickets to see his favorite sports team.  I am in the process of making a similar one for the handyman, complete with tool belt and tools.

What do you think?  Visit the Etsy shop to see the rest of the things I have for Father's Day.  

Fiddlin' February - 2018

Here are a couple of things I've been fiddlin' around with so far this month:

A few new cards for the Etsy shop:

A mini-album for Valentine's Day, although it doesn't say Valentine's Day so it could be used for an anniversary or other reason you want to tell someone you love them:

I finished the book about Stevie Nicks.  I thought I was a fan but there were lots of things I didn't know about Fleetwood Mac and Stevie.  I was out of the concert loop for many years so although I knew there was a Fleetwood Mac before Stevie and Lindsay Buckingham joined the group, I did not know that there were several tours they did after that where either Stevie, Lindsay or both were not touring with them.  We saw them a couple of times without Christine McVie.  They are supposed to be touring again in 2018 - 2019.    

Now I am onto this book, a true story about a man who killed his brother after the brother became paralyzed due to a motorcycle accident.  I've had this book for a VERY long time (it has a bookplate with my maiden name inside!) but I don't remember reading it.  Time to get it off the shelf.  I'm not sure I could perform a mercy killing, even if someone asked me to. 

Today is Super Bowl Sunday and we are going to a friend's house for a traditional get together.  I'm not into football and especially not this year since the Cowboys are no where to be seen and Justin Timberlake is okay but he's not on my top 10 list.  I'm bringing some coloring to do so I don't sit around and eat all day.  

That's what I've been fiddlin' with, how about you?  Watching the game today?  Follow Fleetwood?  Believe in mercy killing?  Love to hear from you!