What's Up Wednesdays :: In Preparation

I haven't posted in a while mainly because I was off to Nebraska for my brother's wedding.

Now that I'm back, I'm getting ready for another craft show.

This time, I have a two day show November 6-7th.

So I'm gearing up & getting stuff cut, sewn & labeled so I have enough inventory. I'm also presenting a new item at the show, so I want to have a few samples for sale.

I'm also spending money! I recently got more business cards and I'm gonna purchase a bigger & better bag display for this show. I had a decent display last time, but since I mainly make bags I figured I better put my best foot forward.

I will be very busy for a while, but I will try to post more often... now that I'm home & in the craft room.

P.S., I'm still waiting to hear back from The Big Crafty... I know some have already received their acceptance... I'm sure I will be waiting up until the last moment. Sigh...

In Like a Lion

What's up with me?

About everything!

March has been crazy and I'm seeing some more craziness in my future.

I've sold two items so far this month, which is nice. It's been so slow on Etsy and I hope this is a sign that business is gonna pick up!
Also I sold a huge custom order on Etsy. A lady from California bought 320 custom magnets to give as favors for her wedding. I've ordered all the supplies and those should all be in by Wednesday. After Wednesday, I will be elbow-deep in magnets & gems & glue & loteria cards. I can't wait!

Also I've decided to spearhead an Etsy Craft Show. So I've been e-mailing back & forth with other Etsy sellers in the area and we plan to meet in a few days to start planning.
I don't know when the show is gonna be, but I'll let you know when I know.

So between magnets & craft shows... I looks like March is gonna go out like a lion too.

I'm happy to be busy!

Cough, sniffle, cough...

I am home sick from my 9-5. This is good and bad in so many ways.

I am actually sick enough to not work, whether it's at my 9-5 or at my sewing machine. Trust me I tried last night, even though I wanted to sew it became tedious and painful after a few minutes.

But my brain is moving! I received a general, mass letter from the Big Crafty peeps about the show. To summarize, it said if you were for sure not accepted you would know by now, if you still don't know then they are waiting for all the applications to come in before making the final decision. So I'm either on the "maybe" list or my rejection got lost in the e-mail. I choose to believe I'm on the "maybe" list. Woot!

So my brain is going over the show, if I get in.

How is my table gonna be set up...
Do I have enough stuff...
What stuff should I make...
Do I have enough things to help make my table look awesome...
Can I afford my current list of needed supplies...
Can I do this...

So even if I can't slave over the machine, I am still plotting my possible show and how I want it to go down.

And BTW, according to my general, mass letter from the Big Crafty... I should know if I got in or not by this coming Tuesday, October 27th. Gulp.

My new machine & the Big Crafty

So my last post was about the Big Crafty. I haven't heard a thing about it yet. I'm bummed and I hope that it's not a last minute announcement, because I need a decent amount of time to process it. It's exciting and scary, so there needs to be that personal time of reflection about what is happening.

So I wait.

I did get a new sewing machine. This is very, very awesome! I got the Singer Advance 7422 and it is wild! I have only worked on standard, mechanical machines. This one is electronic and has tons of buttons.
It does weird things I'm not use to... like when you take your foot off the pedal (while you're in mid-sew) the needle raises automatically. This is a slight pain when you want to turn a corner. And when I'm backstitching it does an extra stitch forward before going back... so I'm slowly getting use to that. But overall, it's head and shoulders above my old one, which was so cheap and wimpy that it didn't even have a model number (which became troublesome when I was trying to troubleshoot it's issues).

So at the sewing table, I'm just working things out, sewing as much as I can to learn the new machine and creating as much as I can in preparation for a possible Big Crafty invite.

My birthday loot!

Well, happy birthday to me! I'm pushing 30... but still young!
My family knows me well and they often get me crafty stuff for my birthday... this year I received some cash (cha-ching) and a gift card to a craft store (also cha-ching!).
So at the fabric store I bought the above: some purple suede, red denim, strippy cotton, blue linen & purple polyesther... I'm very excited about what they might become.

At the craft store I bought a corner embosser, some paper, lots of metal charms & chain, some more fabric and some stickers.
I've got big plans for the paper and I decided to use the charms as zipper pulls.
I just love birthday loot!! Thanks mom & grandma for supporting my crafty/fabric habits!

I Must Be Asking For Too Much!

I was determined yesterday to find a bucket o' buttons in Asheville, NC.

The main reason I want them is, honestly, just to have them in case I need a button. I have some small ones for eyes on my little stuffed creatures, but I wanted a variety of larger ones for bags & stuff.

I have seen them before, years ago, and when I was younger, my mother bought some... somewhere.

But after driving to three places yesterday morning, I came up short. I could not find a container of assorted buttons anywhere!

Freakin' impossible!

I went to obvious places like Foam & Fabric and Hancock Fabrics. Then I went to a couple not so obvious places. And I turned up with nothing.

Nada, zilch, zero.

A search on the internet didn't yield much either. That's sad too, because after failing in Asheville, I figured "you can find anything on the Internet." I eventually found what I was looking for, but I'm nervous about ordering online, because I can't look at the buttons in there. However, it looks like that is the only way I'm gonna get what I want. I'm gonna have to gamble that what I pay for online with actually work for me in real life!

On the other hand and out of desperation to have an assortment of colorful "somethings," I purchased a bag of miscellaneous ribbon. I don't use a lot of ribbon in stuff, but I will now.

And dammit, I'll show those buttons what they're missing out on. Just think, you crazy little buttons, you could be sewn on to a bag just like this ribbon is gonna be.

Ha! Take that!

The Dangerous Store & Cooking Oilcloth

I just got home a little while ago from gas hunting (we're outta gas here in Western North Carolina) and while I was out (and done finding gas) I went to the Foam & Fabrics Outlet. 

Bad, bad idea.

That place is dangerous! It is filled to the brim with fabric, tools, foam, stuffing, fabric scraps & outlet linens. Some stuff is cheap. Others are too damn good to pass up. I can spend a lot of money in there. 

I can spend a lot of time in there too! I was there for an hour and walked out with some denim, oilcloth & whole new bedding set (didn't need that last one... oops!). Plus I got some thread and other notions. If I hadn't splurged on the bedding set (about $30 total for a king size set) I probably could have gotten some more craft stuff, but I was terribly tempted by the awesome selection. 

I actually miss it and want to go back. Now! Ah, another day I guess.

On the other hand, I did get the oilcloth I had been looking for. I have found some great stuff online, but I just needed a little to get started on a prototype for my website. So I found two yards worth for about two dollars a yard. The patterns are pretty good too.

I've never used oilcloth before, so this is new territory. I read online to leave it out in the sun to get the wrinkles out of it (which there is a lot of because it was stuffed at the bottom of a wooden bin in the store). Hopefully, the neighbors don't think I'm too crazy when they see the oilcloth cooking on my porch.

Of course, when I get this oilcloth thing figured out I will post my journey with the oilcloth.