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!
Howdy folks. Are you ready for more of the Seattle Adventure? To recap: Amtrak train ride from SF Bay Area to Seattle, Washington. Tour of Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens was next. Lunch at 5 Point Cafe.
After we ate lunch and relaxed a bit we went to the hotel lobby desk and asked for a cab to take us to the harbor so we could catch the Argosy Cruise Line for a trip around the Seattle waterfront. While waiting to board I saw there was a Curiosity Shop that I definitely wanted to go in when we got back!
We were fortunate that the weather was just perfect for a little jaunt on the water and we sat on the upper deck so we could see everything. We had a great tour guide who was able to tell us what we were seeing and she was a fountain of knowledge about the history of the city. There were several things that we had seen from the Space Needle that we saw in closer range, like the ferris wheel and the Needle itself looks impressive from the harbor.
We were able to see the stadiums for the Seattle Seahawks and next door, the Seattle Mariners. Seattle has some pretty interestingly shaped skyscrapers. Apparently there is some controversy about which building is actually the tallest. One of them is built on a hill so it appears taller but really isn't. There was a sailboat on the water with us as well.
Seattle is a shipping port and we went right by the cargo ships. It was fascinating to watch them load the massive crates. The cranes always make me think of something out of Star Wars. We were pretty close to them. That is not zoom photography.
We were out on the water for at least an hour. When we got back to land we did take a stroll through the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe. There were definitely some curiosities in there. I don't know why I didn't take any pictures of them. I also found a necklace that I almost bought but didn't. Maybe we'll have to go back!
When we were ready to head back to the hotel I used the Seattle Yellow Cab app that I had downloaded and was able to order a cab with no problems. I felt so tech savvy! We've never used Uber or Lyft so it was a new experience.
And that was the end of our first full day in Seattle. We had one more day there with another excursion, the Hop On Hop Off bus tour through downtown. Come back tomorrow and see what delights we found.
Well here it is the day before Thanksgiving and while I truly do have a lot to be grateful for, honestly I’m just in too much of a fog to think of them all. Let me explain.
The last post in October was about the crafty things I had been working on. We also went to our final concert of the year, Scorpions. They always put on a great show and did not disappoint this year either, kind of. There are so many songs of theirs that we like but they just had a new album out and played some of the new stuff that we didn’t know. Good, but not spectacular. Lots of lights and special effects which was fun to see.
Immediately after the show we had to fly back up to Oregon to check on my husband’s mom. She, herself, was fine but she wanted us to look into progress of the house she had for sale. That was fine too, thankfully, and we managed to get some things done for her in her new apartment and take her out to lunch one day, dinner the next and to the grocery store for her to get some things she wanted. We stayed in a really nice hotel and will probably stay there again any time we go to see her in the future.
Once we got home I had another pop-up craft fair and that turned out well.
November started out fun. I was able to get away for a much needed scrapbook retreat with my BFF and worked on my concert album for two days straight.
Our health plan offers some free benefits to seniors and one of them is a gym membership so our youngest daughter and I started going to the gym at 5:30 in the morning. She wanted to go before she goes to work and since I have no set time schedule, it worked for me too. I was actually enjoying getting up early and then starting my day. We were getting into a pretty good rhythm.
And.then.Covid. Last Thursday I started feeling a tickle in my throat and coincidentally my daughter sent me a text from work saying that she had a scratch in her throat. I took a home test and it was immediately positive. Our son had been coughing for a few days and he took one as well, positive too. My daughter and husband at first were negative but by Saturday we all had it. Fortunately we have all been immunized and boosted so while we were all feeling pretty lousy, I think that we could have been worse.
As I do, I’m trying to find the silver linings in all this. One is that we all got it at once so it will sweep through the house and we should be done with it rather than having it drag on and on. I did take two or three days where I didn’t do much besides stay in bed and read, something I rarely give myself permission to do. Now that I am feeling a little stronger, I can still work since I do it from home anyway and my clients have been very understanding that things are taking just a bit longer.
I am most bummed because I did have to miss the local library book sale where you fill up a grocery bag of books for $10 and the first of my holiday boutiques. Fortunately I am getting the space fee back for that and truthfully I don’t need any more books at the moment.
Turns out Safeway makes completely cooked turkey dinners so I’m going today to pick up ours that way I don’t have to cook. We will miss our older daughter because obviously we don’t want her to get it too but we will survive one holiday apart. It was going to be a strange one anyway since my mom is gone and she usually spends Thanksgiving and Christmas with us.
I do have a big show on Saturday and one more on December 11th. Of course I’m not as prepared as I’d like to be but having this down time has also given me a chance to think and plan for next year so I can get a little ahead for these unexpected changes in life. Also, very happy to report that I did make my 1000 followers on TikTok and my shop link is now live there! And, we are going to see “Ain’t Too Proud,” the play about the Temptations next week so I have something to look forward to so while my head may still be a bit cloudy now, I think I can see the sun breaking through.
Wishing everyone who celebrates it a very Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your family and friends. I am grateful for you all!
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So I haven’t been exactly following all the prompts in the #JustJoJan series this year. I hope you are understanding. (Thanks Kim).
I am choosing to write about the vision cards I made for this year. My main themes are the same as last year but I’ve used some different wording and the pictures are different.
Miles MansionConnectionThe StudioHealthy MeDiscovery and AdventureProsperity
I really love putting together these cards and going through the magazines and pulling the pictures that speak to me about each area. On the back I have written some of the things I’d like to accomplish this year and by doing so it gives me some direction but also takes the pressure off around the whole “resolutions” thing that happens every January. If I make a list of 5 or 10 things on each card and I get 3 or more done then I consider it a win. When I look at them again in June as I do, if there are some areas that have not gotten as much attention, I know what to focus on for the next six months.
Some folks have more focus areas but I think these about cover most of my everyday life so that’s what I’ve been using. I think I’ve been making these for almost 10 years now and I first got the idea from Jamie Ridler, who is a really great guide for helping you get in touch with yourself and what you want to make with your life. She is also the creator of the Studio Yearbook that I use each season. We are in the Winter one now and it is very helpful for transitioning from one year to the next.
Obviously I am not a great artist, but having the “image” section nudges me to give it a shot. Looking at that, I can clearly remember the night I watched “The Birds” in the studio while I was creating. Similarly, I don’t fill in every box every day, sometimes just choosing a picture like the one of our family Christmas to show what was happening on that day. Still can’t believe that less than a month after that picture was taken mom is gone. Yet I clearly remember that this was the best picture that we took that day because my son said something that made us all smile. Can’t even remember what it was now but we definitely all look happy. Around the circle in the “You” page I wrote a bunch of questions that start with “Tell me why…” like, Tell me why not? Tell me why it’s hard? Tell me why you don’t? Tell me why you feel it.” Etc. I know that kind of stuff is not for everyone but I think it helps me remain grounded and purposeful with the things that I do. We only have one life and I’d like to live the best one I can.
How about you guys? Do you think something like vision cards are easier than making resolutions? Like to collage and play with crayons? Think it’s all a bunch of hokey? Tell me why!
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Today’s prompt, not that I’ve been keeping up very well, is “challenge.” We are to write about a challenge. My current challenge is to figure out how to display all the cards and things I’ve been making for the upcoming boutiques! Here are some of the displays I’ve done in the past. I actually have quite a few shows under my belt now and I learn a little bit with every one.
The most recentThe snowman sweater!One of the earliestAbout 5 years ago
I have a lot of items to sell and they are not all Christmas related so one of the challenges is to organize them by either holiday or type, like all the decorations in one area, the Christmas things together, and then the general greeting cards in another. It amazes me that something I think is going to sell really fast I still have 5 years later!
The size of the table makes a difference too. Sometimes I have a 6 foot table to work with and sometimes it is 8 feet. I’ve learned that changing the heights of things is helpful. I went to the store yesterday and got some new risers (actually they are kitchen cabinet organizers) so I can put things at different levels. That increases the table space a lot and helps to make it look less cluttered.
And then there’s the whole what do I wear challenge? I think I’m going to retire that feathered hat. Maybe I’ll wear the cream colored fedora but add some fun flowers to it. I like to dress in holiday clothes as that can be a conversation starter. Since it is inside, we will probably be wearing masks, although I am vaccinated and boostered and there will be a table between me and everyone else. We’ll see.
One more challenge is to keep up with this blogging challenge without running out of space here on WP! I’ve been using pictures that I posted in the past so as to not use additional space. Fortunately it’s been working so far. What are your challenges?
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