Twist!

I can't believe my first holiday show is only 5 days away. My, how time flies. I wanted to highlight some of my favorite vendors that will be at Twist. There are so many that i'll be splitting it into two posts: my fellow Vermont artist friends and then a second one of non VT peeps.  This show is amazing. It is my second time doing it. It's such a breeze to load in and out and I don't even have to bring a table or garment rack, it's rather luxurious. And as vendors, we even get fed! Hot DOG! No, not fed hot dogs but you catch my drift.

Here are some of my favorite Vermont vendors.. check them out.
 First up, Coob Originals. Calvin makes awesome jewelry and accessories out of recycled skateboards. I have a pair of his hoops that I love to wear!

by LoveErica I love this ring so much, it is so affordable and it reminds me of my mother's wedding band from when she was married in Hawaii! 

I had the pleasure of spending a lot of time fellow artist Moe of Recycle Moe at the BCA Markets. She's also helping to organize the Women's Festival of Crafts in a few weeks so if you aren't in 

Northampton, be sure to check us out there! 

this lovely skirt is by Sarah Green of Mountain Ash Design

beautiful porcelain bowls by Rob Cartelli

Deer Wall Art by Fiddleheads For Fiona

Okay, so maybe Lisa moved and actually lives in Northampton now but I will always think of her as a fellow Vermonter! :) Lisa is Elle Paisley Designs and makes awesome jewelry out of recycled watch parts. 

stay tuned for part two of awesome vendors that will be at Twist and don't forget to come see us Friday 6-9 and Saturday 10-6 at Northampton Center for the Arts/17 New South St. Northampton, MA! 

stocking up for the holidays & applique frenzy

I have been having too much fun doing applique on everything blank that I own.  No more plain hoodies, t-shirts or yoga pants for that matter will be left in my closet for very long.  I started this for fun, but meanwhile trying to figure out how I could come up with enough inventory for the holidays and the ridiculous amount of shows I signed myself up for.  I just don't have the time to stock all of the shops I sell in, keep things rolling on etsy and prepare for shows with all one-of-a-kind made-from-scratch pieces.  I took a little poll on facebook and it seemed that there would be interest in some of these designs on some more simple pieces.  I also think this is a more affordable approach for some people who were interested in my designs but couldn't necessarily afford the one-of-a-kinds.



After buying a few sample hoodies, yoga pants, and t-shirts I've come up with some really cute designs that I hope to have photographed over the next week or so but meanwhile, I want to know:What colors would you like to see in terms of hoodies & tees? I'm thinking mainly long sleeved tee's? I can be swayed.

Please help! What would YOU like to see? :) I'm not sure if I'll be putting these on etsy, or just taking them to some shows and putting in some shops. I'm also not sure if I'll continue them after the holidays. It all depends on how they go over. I'd love opinions!

Holiday Shows!

Here is what my crazy holiday show calendar looks like this year! Come by, I'll be all over the place!

Twist - November 11th + 12th

Northampton Center for the Arts
17 New South Street 
Northampton, MA 

Queen City Craft - November 19th

Union Station

1 Main St. 

Burlington, VT

Craftland Show - November 25th - December 31st

235 Westminster St.

Providence, RI

Women's Festival of Crafts - November 26th + 27th

Union Station

1 Main St. 

Burlington, VT

Renegade Craft Fair Chicago - December 3rd + 4th

Pulaski Park Fieldhouse

Chicago, IL

Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco - December 17th + 18th

Concourse Exhibition Center

San Francisco, CA

Look forward to seeing you! Meanwhile, if you can't make it to one of these shows, I'll have my etsy shop on hopefully the entire time, although I may close it close to the holiday.

Thank you etsy

Yay! I am this week's Quit Your Day Job Interview feature thingy majig on etsy.  I can't tell you how humbled, honored and excited I am to have had this opportunity.  Check that one off of my bucket list! ;)

Yep. It's totally always this neat and organized. Just a short week and a half ago, my world was rocked by being asked to do this interview.  I of course dropped every other project and everything else that I was doing in order to make my studio look totally awesome and unrealistic.  When reading most of those interviews on etsy I always was so envious by how neat and organized their studios were.  Now I'm SURE that they all had to have done what I did. Or maybe not. Maybe it's not normal that I over ran the rest of my apartment with the the stuff I usually keep in my studio in the hall and my bedroom. I wanted it to look really really nice for the 3-5 photos she asked me to take.  What? I took hundreds and pondered over which to use for days? Who said that?

Anyway, I had so much fun and am still pinching myself :)

Here are a few of the photos I loved but didn't use

these are my little helpers.

panoramic view!

all of the lovely local Vermont wool that I can't wait to make into neck warmers! 

last but not least... this is my ''I just had an etsy sale face!" 

Thanks so much for reading my interview and now it's time for me to get back to work on things for the holidays! Speaking of, I have been having so much fun doing applique! After I ran out of tea towels, moleskines and all of my old hoodies, I was thinking of buying some nice hoodies or maybe thrifting some for the holidays but would love some input on what you think? Here is a photo of what some may look like: 

I'd love some input! 

xoxo

Renegade Recap

For quite some time I have wanted to participate in the famous Renegade Craft Show. It is the craft show of craft shows after all. It's HUGE with 300 vendors and they host shows in Brooklyn, San Francisco, LA, Austin, London & Chicago. Renegade is based in Chicago and also has a brick and mortar shop in Chicago along Division St.

Several months ago I was super excited to get the news that I was accepted to the Chicago show! I planned on driving so that I could bring as much with me as possible and just a good old fashioned road trip with my Mom was in store.

I headed to Dallas, PA (my old stomping grounds) to spend a few days with friends and family before heading to Chicago. I was a little worried about being able to travel through Vermont and upstate NY because so many roads were washed out due to Irene. Luckily though, all roads were clear and I made the trip with my two buddies safe and sound.

Once I arrived in PA I was very surprised to see that the flooding had followed me. It was awful to hear again that so many people were in jeopardy of losing everything. This also proved to be an obstacle for us getting to Chicago. On Thursday before the show we hopped onto 80west for about an hour before the road was closed. I stopped at three different truck stops trying to find a different route to take to cross the Susquehanna. I kept getting responses like 'YA AINT GETTIN THERE FROM HERE' or 'YOU BETTER FIND A PLACE TO STAY QUICK'

AH! My family on lower ground was being evacuated and staying at my Mom's house. Evacuation deadlines moved up from 8pm to 4pm. It seemed like it was going to be serious business and for a minute we thought we should just turn around and go home. If waters receded we could drive through the night on Friday! or maybe make it in time for Saturday. It all seemed crazy. One fed-ex trucker suggested taking a crazy route that he STILL wasn't sure was passable and would have extended the trip from 11 hours to 19, nonetheless we had lost a few already driving to a road closure and turning around. I had to try. We headed to the turnpike and passed through a few areas that we thought the road would be closed. After a few hours, 81 WAS open through Harrisburg and that meant smooth sailin'!

After a VERY long drive, we made it to Chicago! What a lovely city. We had a free day to walk around and eat yummy food and relax. I'm sure there was much more that I hadn't checked out but my favorite neighborhood that I had been to was the one Renegade was held in, Wicker Park. The shopping on Milwaukee St. was great, too! Lots of cute vintage stores. Then it was back to the hotel to get some sleep before the big show!

I was the first of the staggered load in times, which was great because I am a bit finicky with moving things around 10 times until I get it right. It was SO EASY to load in. We rented a tent, so didn't have to bother with putting one up and we were able to pull the car right next to the tent. It may sound silly, but that can make such a difference.

I set up my (half) booth and met my awesome booth mate Tiyani of Tiselle. She made really lovely letterpress cards. One of the most exciting things about doing a show of this size was being able to see so much cool stuff in person! Lots of things I've gawked at on etsy and also people I hadn't seen in a while. I also got to meet several different shop owners of whom I sell in their shop! Here are some of the things I purchased while I did the rounds of shopping.

doily coasters by uncommon

this I bought for my boyfriend :)

Do the Dishes Tomorrow flour sack kitchen towel by letterform

this was a gift from my Mom!

Porcelain Egg Planters by EcoElements

and last but not least this lovely blizzard hat from YesJess

(mine is red but love this color too!)

All in all it was such a great time! If I do another Renegade I will most likely fly and that will be interesting to see how to come up with neat displays as I can't really bring most of that with me!

Renegade Chicago + New button necklaces

I'll be listing these pretties throughout the day today in my etsy shop. I've made about 15 or so new ones and love them!

I am also so super excited to say that I've been accepted as a vendor at the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago this upcoming September! More details to follow. YAY!

Summer is here!

Woohoo! I have been trying my hardest to do any little task usually done in the studio outside. Which really means, making jewelry & sewing on buttons.

Aside from that, I have been vending at the BCA Market every Saturday (weather pending). So if you are in Burlington this Saturday or any Saturday until the end of October, come by and say hi!

Above are some new necklaces that I just listed in my etsy shop here. Get them now before they're gone!