Sale = Good Times

Here are three pictures of my oddly shaped booth at the craft fair on Saturday (yep, I had some hallway space that was 18 feet by 3', nice and awkward). Oh and thank you so much to friends and family who came out to support this crafter. And thanks also for buying my goodies. I'm pretty excited about how things went and, most importantly, I had lots of fun.

It's neat to look at this picture and see some necklaces that are no longer in my care! I sold plenty of them and I'm scheming some new ways to keep up the dream.

Here's one of my three bulletin boards of necklaces.

Table One, complete with succulent glass bottle planters and some Arkansas felt creatures (that sold out!!).

And table two is weird lighting picture -- sorry about that. I was so excited about the fair that I didn't take many pictures.

Thanks again for all the love!

Stuck Like Glue

And again with another button trio. This one's a bit bigger than some of the others I've shown. It's a nice little centerpiece necklace for a V-neck sweater or an open shirt. It would also go well with a strapless dress. It's got a wee bit of bling epoxied on to one of the buttons. At the time of this adhering, I learned for the first time how to epoxy. Smelly, smelly stuff. It's like burning rubber and dead fish combined -- and my apartment reeked for two days. That's how much I love you readers, shoppers, crafters. I was willing to live with that wretched smell for the glory of it all. And I've actually always wanted to learn how to epoxy, so it's cool. And now another type of adhesive to have laying around. I don't like to write advice columns or anything like that, but I tell you what, I sure have a lot of ways of affixing one thing to another and I've learned a lot about which products go with which types of glue. I'd go ahead and say that if you're trying to build a glue wardrobe, add some epoxy to it. The bond is very intense. I would liken it to the bond between Angelina and Brad, but I've heard that bond is now searching for his own apartment in Paris. That's straight from the tabloids, waited a few days, and then passed on to you here.

Continuing With The Dime Store Theme

I don't remember where in my life I first heard the term "two-a-days" because I never played a sport seriously enough that it necessitated me to train more than once a week, much less twice a day. I suspect it was somewhere during the four years I spent in a sorority full of athletes. Or maybe it comes from an ardent following of baseball, including Spring Training. I don't know, but that's sort of my story around the blog here these days. I have too too many projects to debut before the October Market on October 3. So I'm doing them "two-a-days" style.

I absolutely admit that this is a completely strange necklace. It's just that I kinda liked the idea of pinkish purple goose as a necklace. I bought this goose at a trippy toy store a few blocks off the drag in Austin, so really, don't hate. I was down there pretending I'm still 21, and if I can pretend I'm still 21, I can pretend I'm 12 and that I need lots of necklaces with toys on them.

At least it's a genuinely attractive goose. Also, for note, there's matching pig and chicken necklaces. Just think about the statement you're making: goose, pig or chicken. Oh and the donkey. I'm pretty sure that all of us boil down to one of those animals. Frankly, I'm wishing I was "goose" but I probably need "pig."

Going Once, Going Twice, Sold!

Here's where the fun begins folks. Presenting the finished projects, the stuff that's for sale. What I've been working on all summer long. The deal with these two (well three because I'm keeping one for myself) necklaces is that I've already sold them. I guess that means I can now say I'm a professional jewelry maker -- because, hey, I've been paid for my creations. I made these necklaces and sold them to my coworkers out of vintage buttons. I don't have too terribly much to say about all these necklaces I've been making. And if I did write a full profile of each, I'd have a lot of writing to do. You're going to see a lot. Like a lot a lot.

P.S. Muchas gracias to my neck models (a.k.a., the purchasers). All the rest of the necks (unless otherwise noted) are, well, my own neck. You'll get used to freckles soon!

Little Stacks Everywhere

All around my apartment are little arrangements. Preparing for this craft show or, more accurately, my booth at a shopping market, has turned my little crafting life upsidedown. And I'm not kidding when I say there are little collections of projects sitting out everywhere. Above you see a collection of Mexican bingo tiles with fresh coats of a kind of plastic lacquer that will make them hard enough to stand alone on necklaces. More details on that to come.

And here are some vintage/random buttons gathered together. Also awaiting their turn at the chopping block, or so to speak, when they'll be turned into projects. All of them have polished, flat backsides so they are ready for use. Sanding a hundred buttons is like a dream come true. (I've never gotten into sanding; if it could be skipped, it would be.)

And, yep, some more future projects. It's amazing to think that I've made any progress at all, since looking at these pictures reminds me that all I've done is set up more work for myself to do later. Yikes. Two weeks and a trip to Chicago thrown in... I better get busy!

And finally, here's a completed project. Woohoo! But like all the others, perhaps a bit difficult to explain. I'm just happy that there's one thing that I'm done with. I guess I do still have to worry about the packaging... I doubt this post has shed much light on my current bevy of projects, but it should let you know ... colorful, found objects...

Synergized: A Lemon Yellow Necklace

Click on the picture above and you should be able to be magically transported to another blog of wonder in which you will see the exact same picture but on an ever-so-slightly larger scale.

I bet you thought I just plum fell off the face of the Earth seeing as I haven't posted anything new in many many moons. Well, there, my reader, you are wrong. I am here. I am vibrant. I am going to have a booth at a market and well its going to be full of crafts and, dagnabbit, I'm busy making crafts. Like the above necklace. I made that. Yay!

As you must have gleaned from previous prior posts, I'm a little too in love with my Dremel. And inheriting a small collection of antique buttons from my mother and finding a warehouse full of similarly interesting buttons and realizing how easy it really is to buy a length of chain -- it was inevitable that I'd decide to make my own necklaces.

I'm calling this line the "Mother May I" line because of the prim and proper lady on the buttons. She's so cute, with her hat and her hair. I just love her, enough to saw a hole in her portrait, sandpaper her backside and varnish the buttons to finish. As Led Zeppelin would say "A Whole Lotta Love."

I'm not going to make any wild promises that I'll post more soon, but if I have the opportunity, I sure will. I have so many things to show you and so little will power to photo, photoshop, upload and write.

Plug #2 Art Show

In many ways, it is quite fitting that my first ever art show should take place at Inwood Village. It's a shopping center that is so tied to my childhood. I had my first job there -- at Smoothie Zone (I can't even remember if that was it's real name!) down where the TCBY used to be, near the old Black Eyed Pea. I made smoothies and served up fro-yo back when I was old enough to work, but not old enough to drive so my mom had to pick me up and drop me off every work day. I had my second job in Inwood Village. I worked at the Zuka Juice that became a Jamba Juice that is now a high-end candle store. So many fond memories of working at the trio of smoothie joints that tried to make a go of things in Inwood Village.

It's amazing that I can get so nostalgic for a simple shopping village, but I love that place. It's anchored by the ever-bizarre Inwood Theater, where, a few weeks ago, my mom and I were walking past the box office as a ticket seller sat in the booth serenading the empty parking lot with his guitar cover songs. I believe he had turned on the box office microphone and was belting out John Denver's classic "Country Roads." It has shops that rival Highland Park Village, Preston Center and Snieder Plaza, yet it is outside the Bubble, and therefore more casual and serves a broader, more diverse community.

In my childhood we took family walks to Inwood Village, accompanied of course by our most beloved dog, Montie. We'd walk to that Starbucks and the cashier would bring out a cup of water for Montie and she'd make a big mess. Now days, there's a permanent doggie water bowl outside the Inwood Village Starbucks, but back then you'd have to tap on the glass, point at your dog and hope that the employees were feeling generous.

The countless hours of time I've spent there eating and shopping, bumping into friends--I really feel like its my home base. I remember my cousin Emily's surprise birthday party at the pizza joint that eventually became Lover's Egg Roll, only to recently become the crepe hot spot, Rise. Emily thought that no one loved her because we'd all done such a great job forgetting her birthday that she ran away from home and missed the first hour or so of her surprise party. And when that pizza place closed, I thought it was the end of the world. And again, when Lover's Egg Roll met its demise (that's the original location, you know), I thought that the place would never be the same. But Rise fits in as well as any place before it. But now I see that it is in those cobblestone paved streets that things are always changing. A smoothie store can become a candle store. And Children's Collection can become Chico's. And Mario Accardi's parents' costume supply store above the floral shop can become Tyler's Dallas. And, finally, the girl who's mom dropped her off to make smoothies $8 an hour can show her art at Starbucks at age 26, 11 years after her first debut in the Inwood Village community.

So, at the top is my invitation to my art show. Which really isn't much of a show because it's just four paintings on the wall between the bakery counter and the bathroom (pretty glamorous, huh?) but it is a start.

And sorry if I get a little too verbose on the subject. I haven't written much lately so I'm feeling a bit wordy.