Sunday Success

I've been busy! Making tons of things and enjoying my summer. I even got a nap on the beach the other day - life is good!


I made this fab pouch as a custom order. I'm in love with it and I want to keep it. Darn this making-a-living BS. ;)

I was invited to a trunk show in Battle Creek yesterday at Art Center Too. What an awesome place! And they set me up right across from Sew Unique Threads, so of course, I bought fabric. This was really neat newsprint-ish fabric with some red thrown in. I cut a woman right out of the middle of it and made it into the French Smoking Girl Pouch. Which will someday hopefully get listed in my Etsy shop.

I took a couple hours today to try this tutorial from Prudent Baby. I only made one wrong cut, which was no biggie, and now I've got 10.5 beautiful yards of mustard yellow double-fold bias tape! Thanks Prudent Baby!



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3,000 Squares, Oh My!

First off, I'd like to remind anyone that's interested, my magnet sets are marked down to $5 for all of December! They make a great stocking stuffer!

Now moving on... :)

I am officially insane. This has been confirmed by many of my close personal friends over the years, and again today by a few members of the Twitter community. I spent a good 5 hours of my day today cutting, cutting, cutting. 3,000 squares -- without a rotary cutter! I cherish my razor-edged titanium scissors my step-dad bought for me. Without them this wouldn't be possible and I'd have to go out and spend the $12 on a rotary cutter. I know, I should anyway.

I used up the last bits of many of my fabrics, and broke into a few I've been avoiding cutting. I'm weird like that with fabric. A lot of people have asked me if I will have quilts available in my shop. The answer is finally YES! I would've earlier, but I've loved them all so much that I kept them all for myself. I even have quilts set aside for babies I haven't even had yet. And babies I will never have, since I'm only enduring the madness of pregnancy once more. I've gifted quilts to lots of the new soon-to-come babies in my life, and now it's time for me to share with the Etsy community. So keep your eyes peeled, they're coming soon!

I blogged earlier about the Fashion Show at The Strutt. A few people have asked me how it went. Long story short - there's a reason I work alone. The girls I was working with on it are great people, so sweet! However, the details were fuzzy on tons of things and come last Tuesday I realized that in order to show a cohesive group of clothing, I was out. My stuff is wild and colorful. The group was pretty, but mild. Simple shapes, common colors, very mellow in comparison. So I backed out. I still set up a table at the show and hoped for the best.

Once I arrived I realized what a giant clusterfuck I was involved in. One group was the mild and mellow. The other collection being shown was out-there. Not my style of crazy, but gorgeous! Neither were handmade. These 2 collections mish-mashed together was NOT cohesive. If someone would've informed me of what the hell was going on (and believe me, I asked numerous times), I would've just found my own models, put my own clothes on them, and actually been in the show! I was also told that no one under 21 was allowed in the bar it was at. Then saw 15 year old models. I have a huge group of 13 year olds that would have absolutely LOVED to spend their Friday night modelling for my show. And every one of their tiny butts would've fit in the Ninja Pants I had already made. For a fleeting moment I thought of calling their moms and begging to borrow their children. It could have been done. If things were more organized and I had had some sort of clue what was happening, it really could've paid off big time. It's unfortunate things turned out the way they did.

Important Lesson Learned -- Don't say Yes so quickly. Get more info.

In the end, it was a riot though. We all had a good time, and I met some other amazing artists. I had fun and keep trying not to remind myself how much more fun it would've been had I had my things on a runway. I was just so excited for it. Won't do it again under the same circumstances.

I was all set for the Bizarre Bazaar on Sunday at my favorite bar, Bell's Brewery too. I was supposed to share a table with someone. I asked her how much space we had and was told "oh there's lots of room!" and spent Saturday night making new signage, organizing, and collecting all my show goodies that I haven't pulled out in a while. Got my car all loaded up, got my Mom to babysit, and I was on my way! Fast forward to Bell's. My "table" was more like a nightstand. 3'x4'.... seriously?! That's it? Really? For a 7 hour show you want me to put out 5% of my product? Uh no. Quick call to Mom to catch her before she zooms out of town and I'm out of that show too. Why do I bother? *sigh*

I did take something from all of this. I learned not to mix wine, tequila, and bloody marys if you don't want to have a horrendous Saturday morning. And I also decided to set back from the shows and get to work on my wholesale terms. I've had tons of people ask me for wholesale in the past, and I didn't have my terms together. So nows the time. I need to get more of my items into stores. That is my mission, so stay tuned, hopefully I have much success!

FSAM Fabulousness

A very blue tinted photo of my booth... without me in it. Ohhh well. I think I need bright blue table coverings. Light blue just isn't circus-y enough for me.

So Opening Day of FSAM has finally come and gone. It was such a great time! Perfect, windless, sunny weather! My Dad showed up before I did and helped a bunch of people put up tarps (he rules! Thanks Dad!) and then helped me do a bunch of set up for my booth before taking off with my bambino for the day. It was so nice to see him and so nice to meet a bunch of the ladies from my Etsy West Michigan Team. I wish I had gotten a chance to meet everyone! It was just too hard to get away from my booth since I was all alone. I saw so many teammates with their husbands there, I think it's time I put mine to work! I wonder what he'll say to becoming my craft show partner? I'm guessing..... no.

SO MANY people stopped by to say "HEY! YOU'RE THE PANTS LADY!" It was great! I had no idea so many people had seen my Ninja Pants on my site. It was such a pleasure to hear all the wonderful things people had to say about my items. One girl even pretended to karate chop me while doing ninja moves- tooo funny!

My boss stopped by and took over my booth for a few minutes so I could go say some quick hellos which was very sweet of her. She sold a whole bunch of things in the 10 minutes I was gone! I told her that maybe on weekends I should be HER boss now.

My scratcher cards were a big hit! I managed to get all 4 winners by 2pm! That means well over 100 people visited my booth! Not too bad!

I have 3 missing items as well. I really hope they weren't stolen. Who does that? I work my little booty off making things, I don't appreciate being ripped off. Fortunately one of the missing items is possibly World's Ugliest Slapash Wallet soooooo Congrats Proud Theiving Owner of an Ugly Wallet. Karma will repay you. :) Maybe that's what I deserve for making a wallet so hideous. Neon green thread... really now? No Delainie, just no.

All in all, I learned a lot, had a wonderful time, met some fantastic artists, got a tan that looks like I've been relaxing on the beach all week, and made some $. Can't complain!

Next on the agenda -- Milham Art in the Park! This show is BIG!! My partner MaryLou has been wanting to do this show for years and finally decided to go for it this year. We are splitting a booth again. I'm still trying to get my paperwork in order for it (the fax # I was given doesn't work) and then I'm in! I've already been juried and accepted, they just need me to sign stuff! I'm thinking I might take on the Avenue for the Arts in Grand Rapids coming up as well. Who wouldn't want to hang out on dirty ol Division Ave. peddling wares? Sounds like the place for me- haha!

Art Fair Finds!

Oh what to blog, what to blog...
I have been a busy mama! I've had LOTS of custom orders both online and locally, so I've been workin hard! I've got a couple new versions of wallets coming soon, with some tweeks done by request. I'm talkin checkbook wallets, zippered pockets, all the works! Here's a peek at the outside of one I made for a friend (see the inside) --


I hit up the Garage Sale Art Fair last weekend! It was great, but busier than crap, I usually go near the end of it when the prices are super low... I'm cheap... I know this. But I had to go to it before that wedding I blogged about earlier.

I got some great pottery from some guy named Tanja. I picked up a big cup and a planter. His work looked so familiar! I found out later that I have a bunch of his pieces that I've gotten from friends or around town over the years! Hopefully I can get something to grow in the planter. I don't have a green thumb, mine is surely black. Or dead and brown. I also got another genie bottle style vase for my collection. I should get a picture, it's fantastic! I wish I had a realllly long shelf that I could put them all on! You readin this Dad? My bday is coming up fast :) Shelf, shelf, shelf...

I also got some perfect handmade paper. I think it's truly insane to take all that time to make paper, then sell it for as little as they were, but who am I to judge? I love it and my friend and I bought up 4 rolls. Now I wish I had more. I used my boss's typewriter and spent Weds. afternoon typing tons and tons and tons of hangtags and thank you notes. I have always loved the way a typewriters typing looks. It's so much more fun to use than a computer as well. I think I had about 150 tags when I was done and I still have a whole roll of paper left!


My has-to-be-next project is Bonnie's diaper bag! I've thought about it everyday but I just haven't had the time with all the other orders I've had. She picked some fabulous Micheal Miller fabric and a fun, HUGE style! I want to get started on it sooooo bad! I was making Slapdash Wallets the other night, so I whipped up a wallet in the colors she chose, as motivation to once again make something pink. This is what I came up with --


The inside has the black and white damask and pink pockets. My opinion? Needs less pink. Needs more of every other color like my other wallets! :) BUT, it's for one of my very favorite people and it's exactly what she wants. I'm super happy to be making her dream bag! Now, I just need to make the time to make it! I have a feeling I'm going to have a real late night on Friday and very busy day on Saturday. Must. Get. Bon's. Bag. DONE.