Craft Show #2: Done!

The "after" isn't a whole lot different from the "before," is it? This was a terrific show---my second, for those of you who've just tuned in or aren't paying attention---and I'm still trying to get my proverbial act together.  I made a bunch of sales, though, and people had lots of nice things to say about my work, so it was a success in my book, hands down

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 Check out my new bunting!  Yup, that's the one I was working on while Chevi had her surgery.  It's lighter and easier to schlep around than the big wooden sign I made for my first show.  Also a heck of a lot easier to hang.

 See those burlap necklace displays?  They're about to get a significant facelift, because the "look" of my setup has changed pretty drastically since I made them. I also used them to hold my ornaments this go-round, since the hanger I made for the last show was un-hangable in this setup.  I need to work on that, I think...

 Okay, this display is my current favorite---it's lightweight, holds a boatload of product, and cost me nothing.  (Except that I had to find a new location for the potatoes, because that's the crate they usually live in.  Don't ask me how I stumbled upon this little stroke of genius---just be glad it happened and know that the spuds are doing just fine in their slightly less glamorous new-old plastic-milk-crate digs.  Get it?  Digs? Potatoes?)

 New product for this show---my washer keychains!  Even had the wherewithal to put together a drawing for a freebie, which generated a surprising amount of interest.  People got a kick out of the idea of designing their own keychains, and a couple of folks actually wrote down their ideas along with their names and email info on their entries. 

 My button jewelry got a lot of attention, and the sheer number of people who told me tales of their mothers' or grandmothers' button boxes/tins/jars boggled my mind.  If I had a button for every person who mentioned the huge stashes of buttons they have collecting dust at home, I wouldn't have to troll the thrift shops and estate sales the way I do!  (but, really---how much fun would that be?)

All in all show number two was a winner.  And now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a birthday cake to frost and a pinata to hang.  Miss Chevi is having her seventh birthday part this afternoon, and her mom has been a little too craft-show-focused this week to get much planning done.  So I'm off to fly by the seat of my pants once again....I'll be back with photographic evidence later!  (Here's a teaser from the actual birthday---which I was reminded incessantly wasn't her real party---last Sunday.  Please disregard shoddy cake frosting.)

Happy Blog-day to Me and a Goody Bag Giveaway

I almost missed it.  And then, this afternoon, I remembered that my wedding anniversary (17 years today!) is also my blogiversary, and I figured it would be sporting of me to post something.  So here I am, looking at the big oh-two.  Two years of throwing it all out there, and being amazed and delighted at what's come back.


To celebrate, I've decided to have a little give-away, but I haven't gotten around to deciding what I'm giving away.  Let's call it a goody bag, and assume that there will be some kind of jewelry and an assortment of goodies thrown in, because I'm cool like that.  We'll open it up to everybody---location notwithstanding--- and you can enter by leaving me a comment on  this post.  You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook for an extra entry, blah, blah, blah.  I'll choose a winner in a week---on the evening of the 26th.

Oh, and on an Always Greener note?  My Not Your Mother's Upcycled Giftbox was featured over at Chopstick Lady and Love2Upcycle.  Virtual high five!

Rings on her fingers (no bells on her toes...)

So last night ---late last night...I should have been snoring soundly---I was flitting about the blogosphere when I found this little chunk of fabulousness.

photo (and rings!) by Michelle Stolz, Aisle 3

'Chelle over at Aisle 3 made some gorgeous, fabric and button business-card rings.  She used Fabric Stick--an iron on printable stabilizer---with some scrap fabric and buttons to create an adorable freebie to give out at shows and events.

I mulled this one over for awhile, loving the idea but not keen to lay out the dinero for Fabric Stick, and wanting to tie the whole thing in with my "brand."  Just after I fell asleep---best thinking time for me!---I realized I could probably make a spin-off of' Chelle's goodies with what I already had on hand.  (Hurrah for the skinflint upcycler in me!) I managed to quell my enthusiasm for 6 hours---no small task, that---and woke up ready to cut up brown bags and dictionaries.  Long story short, it took forever to get my printer to behave, but I'm pleased as punch with the results.

And inside...

And the take-ee will have a lasting reminder of my shop---my own little ad specialties on the cheap...and green!

Very, very, happy!

My Creative Space: Feelin' the Love

This week has been chock full of happy surprises.  Like having my giftbox included in an Etsy treasury  just nine minutes after I listed it.  And being featured in another treasury only a day later.   Waking up this morning to find that Amy had posted the interview with me on her blog.  And sitting down with my breakfast and my laptop for my morning dose of Handmadeology to see the Dictionary Sacrifice Rosettes tutorial I'd submitted staring me in the face.  (It was kind of like when you pick up the phone to call someone and they're on the line already, having just called you.  Weird, but really good.)

So, getting a bit of much-needed exposure there, but there seems to be a real dearth of comments.  Feel free to comment, if you pop by, so I don't look like a total dork in public.  And while you're protecting me from total dork-dom, are any of you guys on Facebook?  If you are, would you mind taking a minute to "like" always greener?  (Because my FB and my self-esteem are strongly linked, and I know you wouldn't want to damage my fragile sense of self-worth.)

Moving on, then, to some surprises of a more mundane variety, like the grocery sack of toy ponies I nabbed at the thrift shop yesterday, just in time for Shani's birthday.

 
And the mysterious email from a friend I haven't heard from in years.  And the parking spot smack-dab in front of the dentist's office this morning---in the pouring rain, no less.   And the new Jasper Fforde book I checked out of the library.  And the tackle box I scored this afternoon on my way home from the library.  (Why would someone throw out a perfectly good tackle box?)
 
I hope your space  has been full of pleasant surprises this week, too!

Tutorial Time: Dictionary Sacrifice Rosettes

I'm a little in love with the rosettes I use to top my origami gift boxes.  They come from the humblest of beginnings, but end up looking pretty sharp smart when all's said and done.  Wanna make one ---or sixty-three, like me?

First, gather your materials:

• paper grocery bag
• cut-up-able dictionary page (or other contrasting paper)
• glue stick
• glue gun and glue
• selection of vintage buttons
• paper cutter (or ruler and scissors)

Next, cut your bag crosswise into 1.5" strips.  This is a whole heck of a lot easier if you have a paper cutter, but if you're the type of person who can measure and cut straight, then have at it.

 

Now go ahead and cut your contrasting paper (in this case, some dictionary pages) into 1" strips.

Great.  Now grab one of your strips of grocery bag and snip it on one of the folds, so you have a looooong strip instead of a loop.

Get your gluestick and slather it on the  the back of one of your contrast strips.  Get the edges.  And the ends.  (If you're working, say, on your dining room table or some other surface you don't want fully stickified, it helps to put down a piece of parchment paper to act as a glue-catcher.  Not that I'd know, or anything.)

Okay, now we're getting to the good stuff.  Center your sticky contrast paper on your paper bag strip. (From here on out, we'll refer to your paper bag strip as a PBS because I'm too lazy to type it out anymore, 'kay?)  Repeat this step until your entire PBS has been adorned with sticky contrast paper strips.  (You guessed it: they'll be known as CPS from this moment forward.  Way to keep up with me.)  Burnish the paper with your fingernail or a giftcard to make sure you've got a nice seal.

Important question:  Did you go to kindergarten?  (If not, go find someone who did.  I don't want you trying this next step on your own if you haven't got the necessary skill set.)  Remember those fans you made in kindergarten, then, where you folded the paper back and forth to make a zig-zag?  Reach back in your memory and hang on to that experience.  We're going to do just that with our PBS/CPS combo.  Ready? Fold.

Keep folding till you've got at least 12 peaks on your strip.  Like this, see?

Now comes the fun part. Use your gluestick to adhere the first and last tabs together, like so:

(Sorry about the iffy picture quality there.  I was holding the camera in my teeth.)  Okay, we need to let that seal firm up for a few minutes, so this is a good time to take a coffee break, or check your email or something.  But before you do that, plug in your glue gun and choose a pretty button to use for the center of your flower.  We're that close.

All righty, then...you back?  Good.  Your tabs should be well and truly stuck together (that's a technical term, you know...) and your glue gun should be hot and ready to go.  So here's the tricky bit.  You need to transform your zig-zaggity circle into a flower.  This is something of an origami move.  Here's what it should look like to begin with:

Then like this...

And finally, like this:

All set?  Go for your glue gun (careful--that's hot!) and squirt a drop of glue down to the bottom of the rosette.  Then hold the whole shebang together for a few seconds til the glue sets up.

Now squirt in another dollop of glue toward the top of your rosette.  If you're using a button with a shank, stick it into the glue while it's still molten.  If not, push the center together again and let it set up, then put a blob of glue on the back of your flat button and stick it on the center of the rosette.  Easy-peasy, right?  You're done!

Enjoy!

Not interested in making your own?  Skipped Kindergarten and stymied by zig-zag folding?  Have no fear---these guys will be in my shop on the morrow...

Is it wrong to swoon over something you've made with your own two hands?

I hope not.  Because these make me positively giddy each and every time I look at them.

And these are having a similar effect.

It's a wrap.

Three orders into my Etsy career means that there have been three packages to create this week, and here's what I've come up with:

Upcycled origami box with dictionary "ribbon" and vintage button accent.

Equally upcycled pillowbox with vintage sheet music/vintage button "ribbon."

Variation on the origami box theme with curling dictionary "ribbon."  ( I promise you, it's all the same half-trashed dictionary that I rescued from the thrift shop years ago...I wouldn't just go about randomly---get it? randomly?--- hacking up reference books...)

Instead of cotton inside, I used a piece of felted green wool to cushion the goods.  Which design do you like best?   And does anyone have any idea where I can get pre-loved bubble wrap and small shipping boxes?  It goes against my eco-sensibilities (and my frugal ones, too) to buy new ones when there must be someplace out there that's recycling---or worse: throwing out---just the supplies I need.  

Happy Sunday...