What's New

I bought these things:


The garlands kit is by my Twitter contact PlanetJune, I've been so interested in making paper garlands lately and here was this kit! The bags book is just something I'm excited about trying right now. Nothing gets me more invigorated about creating than looking at pretty pictures of handmade objects and perusing tutorials.

And I'm making these:


Those will be nest pins, coffee cuffs and little felty heart pins. I'm so grateful I did well this past holiday season, but now I have no inventory! *make make make*

I became a year 'round vendor at Craftland (yay!) and I spent the first two weeks of January making this lot to send them:


Now I am working on all the little projects I put off until "after the holidays". Everyone has been so patient with me and I will get them all completed eventually!

2010, I'm Ready For You!

Happy new year! What are your plans for the next twelve months? I look forward to expanding my business, Made in Lowell. I have so much on my to do list already and it's only 01/01/10! I love being this busy and I can't imagine having nothing on my plate. Though I'm sure I would fill any lull with crafty activities as my kind-hearted inlaws witnessed whilst I knitted throughout a whole day of holiday festivities :)


In a scenario the crafty among us will recognize, it was in October that I was besieged with orginal new product ideas I wanted to develop. Which, of course, is terrible timing for new product development as autumn is when we all switch into high production for holiday sales. I suspect the fact that we are unable to develop this avalanche of ideas is probably why they are so numerous. I hope you all wrote the ideas down like I did because now is the time to travel those creative roads wherever they may lead.

What's new for you?

Bazaar Bizarre Boston 2009

I didn't realize how thrilled I would feel to be vending at BazBizBos this past Sunday, it kind of surprised me! But I guess it makes sense. Three years ago, before I had even put anything in my fledgling Etsy shop, Dell and I attended BazBiz in the same location, the Cyclorama in Boston's South End.

It was then I realized, these are my peeps! These tattooed and pierced ladies with cool glasses were making quirky crafts and selling them and I wanted in. I was and am not tattooed or particularly extensively pierced, but I had been making things and selling them for almost 20 years. This new craft revolution really spoke to me. I had been a bit of a loner in my endeavors and now I had a possible peer group. I filled my Etsy shop with the goods I had been making forever: polymer clay egg ornaments and bead and metal jewelry. The next year I applied to BazBiz but did not get juried in! I realized I was probably not Bizarre enough. My goods were very mainstream.

Without really meaning to, over the next two years my style started to lean more toward what I can only describe as an Etsy aesthetic. I took up needle felting and started producing more modern items. Last year I did not apply to BazBiz, I did two other amazing holiday shows instead. This year I got up the nerve to try again and I got in! And after two years in other venues, BazBiz was back at the Cyclorama where my excitement had been renewed about what would eventually become my full time career. I could not shake the feeling that I had won a contest and was going to play on stage with my favorite band! I grinned ear to ear from 9:30 til 7.


I was lucky and made excellent sales, but the most fun for me was meeting a whole host of humans I had heretofore only "internet known". Some for years! Some who had changed my life! Fer reals. It was an amazing day. I loved being near my dear friend Candace of The Intuitive Garden and next to Elise of Argyle Whale whom I have admired from afar (on Flickr and through her excellent tweets). I was so grateful to Dell for hanging out and helping me all day, even taking the blame when I stepped on his glasses ("I'm sure I put them in a bad place!"). I was actually, miraculously able to fix them so he could drive us home. And he is the one who took all these great pictures documenting the day.






Huge thanks to the organizers of this wonderful show! And I hope I get in again next year :)

Craft Show Update

I was a felting wild woman prepping for the Worcester Center for Crafts Festival of Crafts over Thanksgiving weekend!

Before the show, Dell and I spent a lovely Thanksgiving afternoon with mom and dad at the house I grew up in.

The show went well though doing 3 day shows is hard! Luckily, I married a really nice guy who helped me through it all. I am so grateful I sold well and had to spend my nights making more goods for the next day. I would also like to express appreciation for my friends and family who have given me strength and encouragement at this exciting but truly stressful time, I couldn't do this without them!



Sunday night we packed my table up and went out to dinner at the Beerworks in Lowell, which we love.

Monday I was back in production mode with another big show weekend coming up; Open Studios on Saturday, December 5th from 12-5 then Bazaar Bizarre on Sunday December 6th along with The Intuitive Garden, Lush Beads and many other Etsians I have only "met" online, should be intense!

Pilgrimage to Providence

This morning we packed my collection of felty goods and drove down to Craftland in Providence, Rhode Island. I don't know Providence at all but I instantly fell in love with Westminster Street where Craftland is located, it's pretty, full of interesting retail and OMG there were more hipsters per square inch than any other place I've been. I just loved it!

The Craftland shop is big and bright and friendly looking. I got to see one of my Etsy faves, HeatherJeany, and I met Kristin of ScrapsofPaper. I had a lot of fun talking shop with them and looking for the goods of other artists I might recognize. I was so excited to see the work of alamodestuff, heatherwangjewelry and absolutelysmall in the year round shop.

Handmade cuteness!


LOVE the sign:

Since my husband's sister lives in RI, we arranged to meet her for lunch after the drop off.

I would love to go back when the holiday goods are out. I know it will be winter wonderland in there!

Craftland!

As their adorable website explains:
Craftland Show is an annual holiday sale in downtown Providence, RI that celebrates all kinds of sparkly handmade objects and the people who make them.

Craftland is a juried seasonal shop and I am thrilled to be participating alongside so many fantastic artists! I've been working very hard to come up with a nice collection to take there.

Here I am with my goods:

And here are the goods closer up:

I hope you get a chance to stop by!

The Intuitive Garden

I would like to take a minute to toot a horn for someone who would never toot their own. Candace just appeared like a crafty sister-separated-at-birth one day and immensely altered my life and business for the better.

All my life I have been crafting and selling my goods. In 2006 I started hearing about something online called Etsy so that fall I joined, giddy and hopeful. It seemed like a good fit for me so I decided to devote my full time attention to a crafting business.


All through the 90's I did craft shows but had taken a long break. In the spring of 2007 I read a forum post that called for Boston area crafters. The SOWA Open Market was offering free spots at their Sunday Market for first timers who were on Etsy. I thought this was a good chance to start doing shows again so I signed right up. We were to be 4 people sharing 2 tents. I did not have a tent and I wanted to be sure I was going to be compatible with these crafty strangers so I scoped out the three other shops, picked the one that looked the cutest and contacted the shop owner. Candace had a tent and yes, she would share with me.


Having that settled, we immediately faced our first crisis. Due to flying tents in high winds the previous week, the SOWA Open Market was requiring weights on all tent legs. We could use water jugs, or sand bags they didn't care. I nervously called Candace to find out how we were going to handle this little snag since I knew she didn't have sand. After a well-placed joke about "big jugs" I knew we would get along great. Dell and I brought sand, Candace and her husband brought sand, we were a team with a stable tent. And we smiled when we saw the other two Etsians sharing a tent that day; perfectly matched goth girls with black velvet and tattoos.


Since then, we have done many shows together and now have studios side by side in an old mill building. She knows more than anyone what my daily life is like, she has the same job as me. And she has great ideas for what I should make, how I can display things, all conveyed in an enthusiastic, friendly way that gets me excited about the possibilities.


Also, Candace is uncanny for giving me just the right thing at just the right time; a display, some mailing envelopes, jewelry findings. She is so generous and it's like she can read my mind. Which maybe she can, we are both Virgos :)

And look at her work! She's amazing! See, she takes photos, makes drawings, illustrations, then meticulously combines them with resin to create these little gems she makes into the most beautiful jewelry. You can't imagine how much craftsmanship goes into her items, it's incredible. I have seen all the steps, all the decisions, all the knowledge she puts into every tiny piece. I fall in love with her work over and over each time she shows me something new she is developing. How cool is it that I get to see new things being born right in front of my eyes? I'm a witness to the creative process, it's so inspiring.


Plus we can be snarky together, have a laugh over the hard parts of running our own businesses; the tedium, the let-downs, the weirdos we encounter. Everything is easier to handle when someone is on your side and knows what you are talking about.

All this is to say, I feel very fortunate to have had her placed in my life at just the right time and I don't think I would be this successful without her encouragement and camaraderie. I wish for every artist an artist friend like Candace. And if you have one, go ahead and toot that person's horn for them! They are probably too gracious to do it themselves.