Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Presence on the Patio in Review...

I know what you're thinking..."That picture doesn't look like you were on a patio!"
Well, the weather wasn't nice enough for us to have the event outside on the Shirt Factory Cafe's patio. It was a gusty, blustery day all day, and the wind would have turned our canopy into a big kite and sent all our various wares flying across the street. Plus it was cold and rainy later in the afternoon. So outside wasn't an option.

Thankfully, when I was freaking out earlier in the week about weather reports predicting a rainy Saturday, my husband had suggested that we ask the cafe if we could use their large back room as a backup plan...so that we could still have the event and not have to cancel in case the weather was yucky. What a smart guy! (I'm so glad I married him!)

He's always very helpful and supportive when I do these shows too. He helped rig up the rope lights other stuff. I don't know what I'd so without him. :)

Here's my table (yay!). I think I like this setup the best out of any I have done before...because I have never set up my table the same way twice. I want a banner with my KiraArts logo for the front though.

My Mom came and we set up a mini-table for her to sell her cards. She is still recovering from surgery, but is doing very well. Spending the day together at the show, and then going to dinner afterwards was how we celebrated Mother's Day.


My friend Char ran a table with a free craft for the kids. I taught her how to do the coffee filter flower craft.

My friend Rachel (Char's daughter) was my partner in crime in organizing this event, and she and a friend did facepainting.

Rachel turning our friend's son, Micah, into an elephant...


Our other friend's son, Matt, wanted to be an elephant too.

This "alien" monster Matt picked out was one of CJ's favorites. I suppose I should make more monsters with eye stalks.

Matt's sister Emily picked up this monster and walked around hugging him the rest of the day. She was so cute! She loved that monster so much! I'm glad she picked him. I made him a long time ago and he's been in my Etsy shop and was even at Moonflower for a while, and no one ever wanted him...so I'm glad he has a home now.

And I found out that the facepainting girls started doing paintings of the monsters!

So cute! This picture is of a fellow vendor's daughter. She is so sweet. After both Presence on the Patio shows, during teardown/cleanup, she asked me if I need any help when I'm packing up.

These two 12-year-old girls came to the Presence on the Patio show we had back in December. I remember the girl in the hat had green hair then and she was the one who bought the Cheshire Cat pillow. They (and their mom) bought a lot of stuff, including some of my monster-ear hats, and were my best customers! I think I may be starting a fanbase in Medina!

Despite the nasty weather and having to have the event inside, this turned out to be my most successful craft show ever. I said the same thing about the show in December...it seems each show I have turns out to surpass the last. I can't wait until the next show! I'd like to plan one for the Fall. I've had people ask if we'll do one in the summer, but I think I need a break. Plus, there's enough craft shows during the summer. I don't need to add another one into the mix.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

MayDay Underground Review

I've kind of fallen behind with blogging lately. I realized that I never posted about Mayday Underground, which was two weeks ago!


I got there early and was #6 in line to get a free "Swag Bag"... a cute little handmade bag with a few little goodies donated by some of the vendors.

These were not the swag bags (the swag bags were smaller) But I had to buy one of these tote bags. For $1...I can always use another tote bag. Especially one with a cute design on it that promotes a local indie craft show!


I loved the space they had for the show. I thought it really fit that "indie" vibe. It was gritty and industrial. I loved it. (although the low lighting made taking pictures without a flash difficult...that's why a lot of these pictures are a little blurry. I'm stubborn and hate using a flash.)



I liked this booth with the monsters (surprise surprise, right?) The guy makes the plush monsters and the girl does paintings of them. The original painting and plush were sold as a set. They also had prints of the paintings. I never thought of doing paintings of my monsters. That could be an experiment.

I was glad to finally meet John of Jackbear Stamps. We've communicated online before and were both a part of the First & Last: Arts & Craft shows Spot Coffee used to host, but always missed each other. I would be at the show on Friday or Saturday, and he'd do the show on a Sunday. It was good to finally meet face to face. I want to get a custom stamp of my KiraArts logo from him.

Latherati made some lovely perfumes and soaps in scents that were "inspired by books". I bought a roll-on perfume called "Beguile" based on "The Other Boleyn Girl" that has essential oils of rosemary, spearmint, and lavender in it. (Did I mention she's based in Rome NY?...my original home town and where my Grandma lives!)

Vicki of In My Head Studios was there too. I've met Vicki before at the First & Last:Arts & Crafts show. She also had her stuff at Moonflower. She makes jewelry out of dominos and Scrabble tiles. I traded her a bunch of wooden dominoes I had for a necklace that I ended up giving Mom for Mother's Day. I love using the barter system among fellow crafters!


Friday, May 7, 2010

Cardmaking Chaos!

Mom might kill me for posting this picture on my blog...but this is what her kitchen table looks like when we are cardmaking...

I had to clear it all off last night so we could have dinner!

Here's a shot of the Cricut in action...

And more cards I made yesterday...


I love that monster-print paper!


And since you got to see King last time...here's a shot of what Luna was doing while we played with paper...hanging out on the kitchen floor.

Back to my plush-making roots...

I noticed that I've been using store-bought fleece a lot to make my monsters (although I usually try to only buy the remnant pieces in the 50% off bin at Joann's). But I have bins and bins of socks and clothes that I've saved to make monsters with...so I've been trying to get back to my original plush-making roots lately by repurposing those socks & clothing to make my monsters...

This guy is from an old fleece I had lying around. One of my favorite things is making pocket mouths...especially with zippers!



This gal is a pretty simple monster. My favorite part about her is her long hair. I envision her as an eccentric, hippie art teacher. All she's missing is a long funky necklace and tie-dye.

(Sorry if the pictures are a little blurry. I was trying to snap some quick pictures of these two monsters before the craft show tomorrow in case they sell. I need to set up a photo shoot area again in my craft room with decent lighting and a tripod for the camera. )

Thursday, May 6, 2010

"Spools" by Abby Try Again

I came across this image by photographer Abby Try Again via the second storie blog today...

I LOVE this photo of vintage spools of thread. It's gorgeous. I'd really like a print for my craft room. There is a giveaway at a blog called Poppy & Leo where one of the prizes is a 8x12 print of this photo. I entered it, but there are 200 more comments besides mine. Of course, I have won a giveaway before...so it could happen. ;)

Even if I don't win, Abby is having a clearance sale until this Sunday (May 9th)...so I can still purchase the print for $15.00.

I think I remember Abby from the second storie indie market show I went to back in December...she was out of business cards, so she just wrote her name & info on the back of one of her small prints and gave it to me. The print was of a jar of colorful crochet hooks or something. I remember thinking that was so sweet of her, because essentially, she gave me a free print!

**EDIT:** Yes, it WAS Abby Try Again that gave me that print. I found the picture when I went home last night. They're not crochet hooks. I think they're hand-dipped candles...

***ANOTHER EDIT:***
I didn't win the giveaway. Bleh. :/

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

More Cardmaking: Monster Cards!

Mom and I are on a cardmaking roll! She did most of the work yesterday (I just gave constructive criticism, moral support, and supply wrangling)...but today I have actually been cranking out my own cards!
Both Mom and I have a Cricut machine. She has the Cricut Expression and I have the smaller Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter (which Mom got me for Christmas). Yesterday, I didn't have any of my Cricut cartridges, and one of them, "Wild Card" is perfect for making cards. So I asked my lovely hubby last night if he could bring them today on his way in to the office, and he dropped them off when he dropped off Luna before he went to work. So today I got to use my favorite design from the Wild Card cartridge...the monster card!

I made Mother's Day cards to sell at the show on Saturday (since Sunday is Mother's Day).




I did some other cards as well..

I love that monster design!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Spending time with my Mommy

I am hanging out with my Mommy this week (how appropriate for the week before Mother's Day!) Mom had intestinal surgery recently and is on the 2nd week of her 6 week recovery time. My Grandma came to help her out last week, and I am over this week to help her with the housework. She's recovering very well though. She's not bedridden like I thought she would be. She's actually supposed to get up and walking occasionally during the day. She's not supposed to lift anything over 10 pounds though, and she is supposed to get rest. So I am doing the laundry, cooking, vacuuming, etc.

Anyway, we are going to a birthday dinner for one of my parents' friends tonight, and Mom needed to make a card...(since she is the Queen of Cardmaking!)

I love the design of this card she made. Simple and colorful. (and I love orange, yellow, and blue together).


Mom is trying to crank out some cards to sell at Presence on the Patio as well...


And this is what King, my parents' dog was doing while we were cardmaking...

Sorry to wake you King! :)