Gifts from the heART!

Tomorrow, Saturday, February 5th, from noon to five, Western Avenue Studios is hosting First Saturdays Open Studios. I will be there in studio A305!

In addition, thirty of us artists banded together to offer a fun promotion called Gifts from the heART. Pick up a postcard at the entrance to the building and carry it around with you. When you come across a participating studio, gather a heart sticker. When you leave Western Avenue, drop your be-stickered card off in the box outside the loading dock on the second floor of the A Mill to be entered into a drawing!

Collect 10+ hearts and be entered to win a $25 gift certificate. Gather 20+ hearts and be entered to win $50 gift certificate. Get all 30 hearts and enter to win a $75 gift certificate!

I have been replenishing my stocks from the holiday shows and adding new colors of old favorites. Hope to see you!

Year end business recap and looking ahead

I had a great holiday season! I hope you did too. I had fun with friends and family, also I'm grateful to announce that my business did very well during the gift-buying season.

It started with a wonderful Open Studios at my studio at Western Avenue Studios in Lowell, MA. the first Saturday in December. Mom and dad came, kept me company while folks came in and did their holiday shopping.

Then I participated in Bazaar Bizarre for the second year in a row. That was an honor! I loved seeing all my crafty friends at set-up. They are a peer group I mostly socialize with online only.


After that I did SOWA Holiday Market for the third year in a row. That was also a lot of fun, especially since I got to hang out with Kristin Kelley of SkiingWeaver who was in the booth right next to me! We got a kick out of that since the show organizer had no idea we were friends and had studios right down the hall from one another. Kristin made the beautiful scarf I'm wearing in this photo and she took the picture as well! Thanks K :)

I had an item, the pincushion ring, that sold very well online and it kept me hopping through November and December. I was so stressed at some points trying to make a bunch of these items that I started to worry I had priced them too low. Then I realized, no, they are priced accurately, they just weren't intended for mass production. Like all my items, they take time and care to produce. That is just the way it is.

So I soldiered through, making items all day in my studio then bringing home materials to work from dinner time to bed time. I wasn't able to make as many of my best selling items in the most popular colors as I wanted to and that had me down sometimes. But I am only one person and I don't want any outside help, the point is that I make everything myself!

Also, I remembered that I am not really in this solely for the money, though it is my job and it is a business, if it ceases to be fulfilling then what is the point? So I may not have capitalized as fully on the selling season as I would have liked, but it was still a success!

Now it is the new year and I can concentrate on what is next: I was accepted into Craftland year 'round shop again this year which pleases me greatly! I will make them some new inventory and ship it to Providence, RI post-haste.

I was also accepted into the Cabin Fever show on February 13th, this is their second year holding it but my first year participating, it's in the same Cathedral High School gym in Boston's South End where SOWA Holiday show is held.

A group of us at Western Avenue Studios is putting together a Gifts From the heART promotion for February Open Studios on the 5th where you can win a gift certificate to spend with participating artists! More on that as details become finalized.


I hope you enjoyed your holidays and are also excited for the new year. Here we come 2011, ready or not!

Handmade Holiday Cards

I usually make our holiday cards but this year I'm really going to enjoy sending cards made by my talented friends:


1} Pressbound

2} HeatherJeany

3} Thimblewinder

4} Zoetropa

Etsy Holiday Gift Guide - Rhode Island

In the last few years Rhode Island artisans have become some of my greatest internet friends, and because RI is not far from where I live, I sometimes get to see some of these friendly crafters in person at shows! I have my work in the all handmade shop Craftland in Providence and I do very well there. I feel like Rhode Island folks just get me. And I get them too! I highly recommend their gorgeous goods:

à la mode stuff
Seatbelt bags :: home decor :: jewelry & more. Linda makes amazing items with seatbelts, yes, seatbelts. Also industrial jewelry, switch plates and fun jewelry. I have one of her home prints and I love it!

D. S. Brennan Photography
I only know this photographer through her friendly tweets, but I love these images. They cover all my favorite topics: flora, fauna, the ocean!


HeatherJeany
Screenprinted goodies, handmade with love. What can I say about Heather? She is a fabulous person who makes utterly original work! Dell and I buy her cards and bookmarks whenever we see her. And the coffee at her shop is excellent too.

K. O'Brien Jewelry
Contemporary handcrafted jewelry. Kim is someone I met online and am very glad I got to meet in real life. She is so generous and kind, and her jewelry is gorgeous!


Kristin Crane
Books, travel journals and other fun stuff! Kristin is an amazing bookbinder. Her map-covered, hand-bound, blank journals make excellent gifts for travelers and graduates. Plus Kristin is the fun voice of Craftland on Twitter!

Parrott Design Studio
Letterpress wedding & stationery. I've met Sarah in person at shows and I just love her elegant letterpress!

Tanner Glass
FUNctional Objects for Everyday Life. Suzanne is a glassblower! How cool is that? She's also a super nice person I love interacting with online and running into at craft shows :)

Etsy Holiday Gift Guide - Local

This holiday gift guide features local area (Massachusetts, New Hampshire) artisans I've gotten to know better this year. Please check out their shops for gift giving ideas! (Note: gift to self, always an excellent choice :)

Kerry Hawkins
Kerry takes pictures that capture what's interesting about a particular place at a particular moment. She often photographs a person's hands as they are making something and posts it on her blog, always makes me happy when she chooses me :)



Mimi Kirchner
Mimi's work snuck up on me. I never intended to become interested in art dolls, and I will tell you, I'm still not really. But Mimi's work just mesmerizes me. The details, the materials, the craftsmanship! Her unique take and the characters she chooses to manifest. Wow. You'll see.


Red Staggerwing
Lisa makes beautiful bags that are expertly sewn! I treasure the little card case I got from her.



Stonehouse Studio
Betsy transforms polymer clay in elegant ways. Her work is beautiful and modern.


Stray Notions
Sharon has a whimsical way with textiles I find charming.


To Boldly Fold
I'm just getting to know Melissa, can't wait to see her work in person, I love the finishing touches on her hand bound books; vintage buttons, beach stones.



Vintage by Crystal
Crystal makes charming, vintage-inspired spun cotton decorations which are at once nostalgic and modern, very sweet.


Zuguu
Jen's work is so adorable and her craftsmanship is so expert, I think I need one of her ornaments this year!

Etsy Holiday Gift Guide - Lowell

I made a list of some excellent local online shop owners I know, they either live in or have a studio in Lowell, Massachusetts. I hope you will check them out for your holiday shopping!

Brick Mill Studio
Intricate and lovely bead crochet by an expert. I have a bead crochet bracelet in my favorite colors and it is so comfortable to wear, I treasure it!



Heather Wang Jewelry
Enamel jewelry and custom pieces, this is her 2010 ornament, I have one and I love it!



The Intuitive Garden
Painstakingly-crafted, original, resin jewelry. I have a HUGE collection of Intuitive Garden earrings that I treasure and wear all the time.



Junk Culture
For the the ultimate in hip eco-giving, buy vintage! Junk Culture has an excellent eye for classy and kitschy home goods.



Lush Beads
Carefully constructed jewelry, this is from her new unisex industrial line made from upcycled computer parts, I think they look excellent!



Skiing Weaver
Handwoven Scarves, wraps, journals. My Skiing Weaver scarf gets a bazillion compliments and is so comfy!



Sweet Lydia's
I don't eat sugar so I am relying on all of you to support this super nice baker! The husband gives her smores an enthusiastic thumbs up and I think they would make any holiday party a hit.



Walk On The Moon
One of a kind & limited edition artisan jewelry, she has an eye for things that sparkle exquisitely!

Making table covers for craft shows

Recently my good friend Candace asked me to sew her some custom table covers. She bought king-sized cotton sheets, washed them and loaned me her spray bottle. I gathered my sewing machine, iron, pins, measuring tape, straight edge, cutting mat and a rotary cutter.


Some of you may know that I am not an expert sewer, but this was going to be straight lines and I knew the hardest part would be the measuring and cutting. Also the ironing! Never again will I ever try to iron anything without using a spray bottle. What a lifesaver. Candace had tried to get 50%/50% sheets so they wouldn't hold a wrinkle so steadfastly, but that kind wasn't available and time was short so we made do.


I cleared my crafting tables, moved everything to the sides of my studio and pushed the tables together to make a large working surface. I also set up one of Candace's tables to take measurements. I put a plastic drip cloth on the floor to keep the white fabric from getting dirty on the rusty metal floors.




I measured and cut and folded over and pressed and hemmed! The most exciting moment was when the thread pulled out of my machine as I was changing the needle. You see, I've been tying the new thread to the old one for years and pulling it through without learning really how to properly thread my machine. So when it pulled completely out my heart stopped for just a second. Then I got onto the trusty internet and found a threading diagram for my 20 year old sewing machine! Have I mentioned how much I love the internet?


I don't think I handled the inside corners with finesse, but at least the measurements were right!


Candace really loved the covers and her work looks smashing on them!