Coal Craft

Isn't this a cool necklace Gretchen gave me? It's a piece of coal about 1-3/4" in diameter, hand carved by a young man in Colombia.

The Colombian government established a workshop for boys to learn this craft so hopefully they won't have to work in unsafe mines. You can read more about on the One World Projects website.

You can see why Gretchen thought of me immediately when she saw the design. :-)

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Steve and I went on a bike ride this morning, our first in a long time. How long? Well besides being a few chins and pounds ago, it was clearly before I wore bifocals. I had to take off my sunglasses (which are prescription but not bifocal) and wear my glasses so I could see the numbers on the gear shifts and cyclocomputer. So yeah, it's been a while.

And the resulting endorphin rush was high enough to get me to put the finishing touches on the garage clean up that Simon started a few days ago. All good stuff.

Otherwise, I've caught up on a bunch of paperwork and even created a few new designs to stitch. Here's a sneak preview:

My designs keep getting stitchier & stitchier. The more stitching, the more fun to make - and less embellishment is needed so they assemble more quickly.

Swimming Turtle

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I should have been working on other stuff last night but sometimes, you just gotta try something new, know what I mean? I bought the die to make this turtle last year and had played around with it a little bit. The only way I could see it, involved copper, black and turquoise. I was just about to toss it all and start with brand new colors (greens and browns?) when I hit upon this triple layer of turquoise. Water! The turtle is swimming!

I have had thoughts that I want every piece I sell to have stitching on it of some sort. But my pins sell pretty well without stitching so I think I need to get over myself and realize that sometimes a nice graphic image is nice in it's own right. I'm happy with this.

Hey look - my name made it into a blog title - that's a first! My crafty friend Leslie gave stitching on cardstock a go the other day. Go see what she made - I think it turned out really nicely. (Thanks again, Leslie - you rock!)

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Bead Trio

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Are these not scrumptious??

Gretchen gave me these beads with a gift certificate to Let's Bead! The name of the store has that exclamation point - but I would have used it anyway to note my enthusiasm for this gift. :-) I haven't even been over to the store since they expanded. I hope to rectify that shortly. I'm very happy that the store is doing so well that they needed to expand.

If you are a local reader, take a look at their long list of classes. If I had the time, I'd be inclined to take a class on chain maille. Isn't it cool?

Byzantine Chain Maille Bracelet , by Deb Sardina

I use these tiny seed beads for embellishing my Sticky Notes (and other projects). I notice though, that the bigger time crunch I get into, the less I take the time to bead. So my spring Sticky Notes are beaded. Fall? Not so much.

Paper, thread, beads - just another addiction. Beats heroin.

Oh! Speaking of addiction - I watched my first season of Celebrity Rehab this year. I Tivoed it out of curiosity, just for a giggle and was instantly hooked. It was very moving. I was really taken with Dr. Drew Pinsky, who I'd heard of but had no exposure too. I came away with a lot of respect for him.

I still don't understand why anyone would air their problems on TV - ala Dr. Phil and Dr. Drew. But being a lover of the biographical genre, I find myself hooked whenever I watch one of these.

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Rag Sky Art Studio

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(1-1/2" x 2")

Taking a break from showing you what I made as gifts for Christmas, here's something that was given to me. Mom gave me this "Fabric Jewels" pin made by Meg Hannan of Rag Sky Art Studio, in Seattle, WA.

Meg says, "Using processes of my own invention, I create my jewelry out of fabric & fibers. I first hand-dye some of it, then layer or roll the fabric with liquid glue which hardens and protects it. Finally, I slice it cross-section, essentially creating fiber 'millefiori' ".

I saw this at a Casa Larga craft show, being sold by Frame of Mind, which offers custom framing and needlework supplies. The store is located right in the village of Penfield, which I go through a lot so I could sort of picture their sign out on the main road but she had to explain to me where their building is - behind other buildings. I had assumed it was a frame shop only; I had no idea they sold needlework supplies - and this outstanding work by Meg Hannan. I'll definitely be stopping in there sometime.

The funny thing was that I had purposely made time before the craft show started, to walk around and look at the work of the other vendors because Mom usually comes to this show and invariably asks, "See anything here you want for ::: insert next appropriate holiday here :::? I told this to the nice woman at the Frame of Mind booth, so she offered to put the pin aside for me. Hours passed and no Mom . . . so I finally called her to ask if she was planning on stopping by. If not, I'd buy the pin myself and she could give it to me for Christmas, if she wanted to. I got her voice mail because you know how busy retired people are. She called me back though and this was one of the few shows she had not planned on coming to - but it's close to her house, so she did stop by and bought the pin.

People shopping for Sticky Notes in my booth often comment how hard it is to choose. In my head, I'm sort of chuckling, "How hard can it be?" But that's exactly how I felt trying to pick out just the right heart pin. Each one is so one-of-a-kind!

I think it's absolutely gorgeous - fabric, color, tiny beads, heart shaped - all things that sing my name!

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Hand Beaded Earrings

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I should have put a coin next to the earrings for reference. Each earring is about the size of a quarter.

These are the hand beaded earrings I gave Mom for Christmas. I met the creator, Kyla Williams, at a craft show this year and loved her work - so tiny and fine and perfect. We were talking for a while, as I looked over her earring display for something for Mom - and kept coming back to the earrings Kyla was wearing, which were just like these except in oranges and reds. Just stunning! I asked if she could make a pair for me in the above blues, greens and purples. She came back the next day with one earring almost finished, "Like this?"

They are the same on both sides. I can't remember if she told me if there is air in the middle of the 2 sides but it feels like fluff (quilt batting, not the marshmallow spread!) They are light as a feather.

She shipped them to me shortly thereafter, arriving in a brown satin pouch. I wish she had a website so I could send you there but she doesn't (yet). Her company is called Glass Kiwi Beads & such. (Capitalized and italicized like that.) I can't wait to run into her again in 2009 - might need to buy something for myself this time. She makes some gorgeous crocheted beaded necklaces.

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Winter Pins

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I finally got the new Pins uploaded to the Pine Tree Designs website. Having that Halloween pin on the front page was bugging the living crap out of me. I wish I could update my website more than I do. A stagnant website is so amateurish. I envision a big overhaul in January. Not design, just product. Anyway, there they are, $3.50 - $4.00 each.

I am so backed up on orders but today is my best day to get caught up. Yesterday, I went to The Enchanted Rose Garden an hour before they opened and put all my show leftovers in my rental space there. I wish I had a few more Sticky Notes, but overall, I'm happy with the quantity of everything. This weekend is Penfield's big tree-lighting holiday shopping event so I'm glad I was able to get that stuff in there in time.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning up my studio. I know I say this all the time, but it was such a frenzied mess! I think it was actually flavoring the rest of my life - I was feeling a little depressed actually. I didn't want to be in there and it's my favorite room of the house! I recycled a mountain of cardboard from boxes of recent shipments and old storage boxes. I reorganized the closet with some plastic drawers, neatly labeled of course. They hold my various frames, which were getting out of control stacked on the shelf.

This closet organizing paraphernalia was in each closet of the house when we bought it. I started realizing how much space was wasted in my studio because I'm obviously not hanging clothes. My recent plan was to take all this out and fill the closet with adjustable shelves. Then I realized I just needed to go vertical in some of the clothes hanging spots. I'm still not using every inch of space but this is good for now. I may still do the adjustable shelves at some point, when I feel I have the time for a big project.

Back to work, y'all.

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Casa Larga Recap

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Look what I bought yesterday! This pin is made of many layers of fabric stuck together, embellished with sparkle & beads. Some had some quilting on them too but this was perfect for me since I wear a lot of red and a lot of purple.

(Hey Ann - did you see the artist's name above?)

I used to have a strict policy of not buying anything at the craft shows I'm in because I wanted it to be an all money-in experience, not money-out. I even take my lunch so I don't spend money on lunch. But I've decided I also like to support my fellow artists so as long as I don't go nuts, buying something I love is a good thing.

I'm pooped. I've decided after the big show at the Rochester Museum & Science Center in November, which is Friday night, Saturday and Sunday - I'm going to take Monday morning off. I've slotted all the rest of my vacation days (and then some) for the rest of the year so I don't want to take the whole day off but to be able to sleep until I wake up Monday morning would be a very good thing. I think the fatigue is mental as well as physical.

Overall, yesterday's show was a bit slower than last year, by 15%, for me. I attribute that to two things. It was freakin' 80-something degrees yesterday I think - in October? in Rochester? So people were not in the holiday buying spirit yet. I also consider this a warm up to the major holiday shows, one of the first of the season maybe. Vendors mostly had fall/autumn/Halloween stuff, but still I heard very little talk from customers about Christmas, etc. This show is repeated November 1 and that will be more "holiday" related. We always sell more at the November show than the October show.

The other thing is the road the winery is on is being repaved. It's a very hilly road so the areas that are one way are very long. Meaning there's a really long wait but then lots of cars get to go at once, finally. Not conducive to craft shopping, I don't think. That project will be done in a few days so we won't have that problem again.

I don't think this had anything to do with slower sales but the room I was in did not have the air conditioning turned on. We didn't figure this out until 30 minutes before close. We all assumed it was broken or something until one of the vendors went over and checked the thermostat himself - and turned it on. I sat there in a state of one perpetual hot flash all freakin' day. During slow periods, I walked around the other rooms a couple of times, partly to cool off.

Some of the highlights:

Seeing fellow vendors I hadn't seen in months was fun. I feel a real part of the community. I love that.

Some of my regular customers stopped by, always cool.

A man and his wife stopped by - he's a rep for greeting card companies. He was amazed at my work and my prices. He was especially interested in the gift tags, which is a little item I whipped together a couple of days before a spring show. He said stores are always asking him for kid-related gift tags. We talked and brainstormed and it looks like we might be working together. He lives in Fairport too.

One woman told me I don't charge enough for my $4.00 Sticky Notes. I said, "Okay, for you, $6.00." She laughed and said, "Oooh - I meant for other people, not me!"

I was invited (as was every vendor there I think) to participate in a church craft show on December 1. I just received my application for another show on December 1, one that comes highly recommended, but if I don't get into that one, I'll do the church one.

I was also invited to participate in a fundraiser craft show for breast cancer research but it's a day I'm already doing another show. It's actually the weekend where I'm doing one show, Thurs-Sat and another one overlapping Fri-Sun so I really thought it best not to completely overextend myself. I asked her to put me on her mailing list though.

So while I'm a teeny bit disappointed in sales yesterday, the good news is I have good inventory left for future shows. I always prepare like I'm going to sell out of every single thing, which I guess is a good motivator to keep producing.

I'll post a picture soon, when I can find them again, of some pumpkin pins that I made last year. They sold so-so last year but were selling well yesterday. I was glad I had these leftovers available - and I'll definitely make more.

I've bored you enough. Off to my day job soon, where I can get some rest!

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Dragonfly Necklace

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This is the necklace I bought for myself at Artizanns on Sunday. Wish I'd paid attention to the artist's name so I could Google her/him and provide a link. It came on this black cord but I'm probably going to put it on a silver chain I have. This is so me - the colors, the subject, the size, everything!

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