Deluxe, a recap

This last weekend, I had my big craft show of the season. Its name is Deluxe, and this was its first year. The organizers did a fabulous job of well, organizing and promoting. Crowds were steady, as were my sales (yay!). Selling things always makes for an enjoyable craft fair, but beyond that, it was just plain fun to be in a room with 40 other people who do what I do.

Photos of my booth:







Norman was nice enough to be my brute labor and booth-sitter all day. And he did a bunch of homework.


Me (and Bun)! The Knitting Cowboy is the guy sitting behind me. Also, fun tidbit -- behind me, behind the Cowboy, across the aisle is where the roller derby girls were wrapping presents for donations! We're an eclectic bunch, apparently.

I was privileged to sit across from the girl who won the booth decor contest. She is totally cute. Check out her shop and her blog. I also sat behind the "Knitting Cowboy", as he's come to be known among the Disciples of Etsy. Nice guy. He raises his own sheep, and then spins and dyes their wool. Talk about DIY!

So, all in all, a great Saturday. Those of you who failed to show up for whatever reason totally missed out. Not to fear, though! The organizers are already whispering about a Spring Deluxe! (Which I will most likely not be vending at -- Bun is due to escape in the spring.) But you should go anyway!

The Giving of the Thanks

This year for Thanksgiving we went up to Minnesota to visit the 'rents and the brothers and the future sister-in-law and the nephew. (Whew!)

So, as we all know, I blog better in pictures, so here we go:

Norman at a Steak n Shake in Kansas. Oh. my. gosh. I had been looking forward to eating there for at least a month. Sooo good. Hamburger (with the crispy edges!), cheese fries, and a (small) chocolate malt. Yum.

Also, gotta jump in here and tell you about the thing I should have taken a photo of, but didn't. FAIL.
We stopped in Emporia, KS, in order to buy Braum's eggnog to take with us. And we got a little lost (Google maps FAIL), and ended up wandering through town (it's pretty cute, actually). On our way through town I saw a Wendy's sign. The moveable letters said "Closed for Remodel". And I looked over at where the Wendy's building should have been, and there was nothing. Nothing but a plot of dirt. I laughed and laughed. Remodel indeed.



The fam around the table. All the best, traditional Mindeman foods. Sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, sticky rolls, and cherry jello (but in tiny fancy glasses! with Cool Whip!).


My mom and my nephew Connor. (I started calling her Grandma by the end of the week. Weird.)

This, believe it or not, is the best of the SIX photos I took of the two of them. Dad kept making faces.

This is my parents' Christmas tree this year. It's like they just... gave up. It's precisely as depressing as it was on Charlie Brown.


Norman, Mom, Henry, and I went thrift storing in Mankato on Saturday. Henry found this elf/gnome, and he and Norman decided to takes menacing photos of him. Then Henry bought him, named him "Green Man", and took him home.


This was the view outside our bedroom window the morning we left to go home. Norman said he would have been disappointed if there was no snow. So, Norman, this snow's for you.


And this is the pile of things I had to ship out when we got back. Going out of town for 5 days around the busiest shopping day of the year -- not the best idea ever.

"Virtual Trunk Show" ...Huh?

What the heck is a virtual trunk show? Well, it's actually quite exciting and high-tech. A regular old trunk show is where a seller, or two, or five, or ten, get together at a physical location and show off their wares. Sometimes there's wine and cheese or what have you. Usually there's a sale. It's kind of like an open house, but it's usually at a storefront, and it's usually more than one person.

A virtual trunk show is where a bunch of sellers get together at a specific place on the internet to show off their wares. Which is exactly what the Etsy Trashion Team is doing this Friday. Yep, Friday. Black Friday. Although we prefer to call it Green Friday. Save your gasoline, stay home, and buy from Etsy Trashion sellers. We make stuff out of reused materials! Yay! That makes them super green and super one-of-a-kind. Double win!




You can just hop on over to the Etsy Virtual Labs on Friday at 7pm (Eastern), and you'll see the announcement for the Trashion Trunk Show. Just click on in, hang out, here us give our spiels, and take advantage of our sales! Oh, and did I mention there will be door prizes? Yep, prizes. Plural. Woot!

Where I Am

I'm thinking a few dollars spent on size 16 thrift store pants sounds like the wisest path. Maybe I should go do that right now.

Spiced Apple Cider recipe

The open house was on Thursday evening. It was fun! I was glad to accomplish my goal, as described previously, to share what I do with people I care about.

Unfortunately, in my frazzled attempt to set up everything and be outgoing, I completely forgot to take photos. Oops. So instead of photos, you get the recipe for the spiced cider I served. This is an oldie but a goody from my grandmother.


Hot spiced cider

You need a coffee pot. A big one. (I got my older one for $2 at a thrift store. You don't have to pay an arm and a leg.) Into it you will pour 1 1/2 gallons of apple cider (which you can find at any grocery store in the fall -- NOT apple juice). Into the basket of your giant coffee pot, you will place the following:

2 teaspoons whole cloves
2 teaspoons whole allspice
2-3 sticks cinnamon
1 unpeeled lemon, sliced thin
1/2 cup sugar

You will then plug in the giant coffee pot and let it do its percolating thing. Then you drink it (after you blow on it a little).

(TWSS)

The Open House Cometh

Weeeee! My 2nd Annual Holiday Open House is this Thursday evening, and I'm so excited. Last year we had a fabulous time -- I got to show off my crafts to my friends and family, and people shopped, and ate cookies and snacks, and chatted. It's the best party I throw all year. (That's not saying too much, but hey...)

This year will be even better -- I've invited the gals of the Oklahoma Etsy Street Team, along with the usual church friends contingent. In addition to tasty cookies, candy, and spiced apple cider (recipe coming soon!), there will be a door prize! That's at least 4 separate completely free things, and all you have to do is show up.

While this is a business venture for me, I think most of my excitement comes from letting the people I care about see what I do with my time. I don't have much in the way of a title that I can give people when they ask what I do. "Well, let's see... I'm out of school, and I don't have a job. I take care of my house, I cook, and I make crafts and sell them on the internet." The closest I've ever gotten to a decent title is "craftswoman/homemaker/entrepreneur", but that's just cumbersome. Although I love that this is what I do with my time, it never sounds very impressive when I explain it. So I'm excited to show people just exactly what I mean by "I make crafts."

If you're in the area, and you're interested in attending, e-mail me! I'll send you the address and more information.

Oh, and here's a preview of some of the goodies you'll find at the open house:

Journal

Christmas cards

Zipper pouch

New Different Stockings

I forgot to mention one other thing I did during my morning sickness -- I spent a lot of time on eBay. Not just looking around, but actually buying things. Zippers, board game boards, a "prize" for Norman. Also, cutter quilts! The first result of which can be seen at the aforementioned five-paragraph essay.

Here is the second result:




This particular stocking is actually from a quilt my grandmother gave me (don't worry, it's not from "in the family"):


Available now in the Etsy shop, or in person at my holiday open house! That's this coming Thursday, so if you live in the area and didn't get invited, get in touch with me.

Featured on the Storque!

Hey! One of my babies has been featured in an article on the Storque (Etsy's blog). Ironically, it's an article about gifts for NPR lovers. (The irony there is that I do not love NPR.)

Here's the article.

Here's what was featured:

Homemade shipping envelopes

Being, as I am, an online retailer, I do a lot of shipping. And darned if shipping envelopes don't get expensive after a while! I reuse envelopes when I can, but I (thankfully) don't receive enough things through the mail to ship everything I sell with reused envelopes.


So I started making envelopes out of grocery sacks. (The genesis of that idea courtesy of the Etsy Labs.) I chop up the sacks and sew them (yes, on the sewing machine) into envelopes. And I still do that when I need larger envelopes.

But most of my items with fit into these new envelopes I'm making. Turns out some old books have really thick pages. Books like children's dictionaries and encyclopedias, or binders of "Wood Structural Design Data" from the OU libraries book sale.


I just pull two pages out of the book, chop one a little shorter than the other (to make a flap), and sew them together with a long zigzag stitch. Not hard, just a little time-consuming, and they are so. cute. The ladies at the post office always rave about them.


So you want some of these envelopes, but you don't have any old books, can't stand to chop up old books, or are just short on time? Well, lucky you -- I made a bunch of extras and I'm selling them! Hooray!

Library Book Sale Bag Sale

So I told you all about the Library Book Sale. And I warned you that the all-you-can-fit-in-a-grocery-sack-for-$3 sale was Monday afternoon. Well, I went, I carried too much, I got a sore back, but I ultimately survived with a lovely haul.


A typing book, a pile of Gregg Shorthand books (They are my weakness. I see one, and I have to buy it. I could start a Gregg Shorthand library.), some note cards, and two film reels. I dunno. They were there. Anyone want some film reel?


Maps, children's books, and children's encyclopedias. The encyclopedias have thick pages, and are therefore perfect for making shipping envelopes. (On a side note, I still sing that song to myself when I'm trying to spell "encyclopedia".)


Atlases, sheet music, road sign stickers, more kids' books for chopping up, and 3 kids' books NOT for chopping up -- "I Hate English", "The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too!", and "The Pigeon Loves Things That Go!"

And yes, that was all to be had for $3 (OK, that's not actually true -- the Oklahoma book cost an extra dollar). And all well worth it. I have so much consumer surplus, I don't even know what to do with myself!