Thursday, March 28, 2013

Updates

Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for sticking with my blog while I scale things back a bit. I just wanted to let everyone in on a few updates...

ANNOUNCEMENT:
I will be at the Tennessee Soap and Candle Social on Saturday, May 4 in Nashville, TN! This is my first year attending, and I am really excited to meet and rub elbows with other Tennessee soapers. I'll have a full write-up on the different speakers and activities that are planned, so keep your eyes peeled in the second week of May!

CRAFT SHOWS:
I have two craft shows to announce coming in April, with many more coming later in the year.

  • April 19-21: I will be at the Old Oak Festival at Tusculum College in Greeneville, TN! Hours are Friday: Noon-dark, Saturday: 9am-dark, Sunday: noon-4pm! (I will be with the indoor crafters, so come out and see me rain or shine!)
  • April 27: I will be at the Boones Creek Baptist Church Craft Show in Johnson City! Hours are 9am-4pm!

NEW PRODUCTS:
Green Apple Solid Lotion Bar
--I am working on a few lines of new products that I am hoping to debut soon. My solid lotion bars are slowly working their way on to my Etsy shop, so make sure to keep checking back for new fragrances.
--I am also working on a line of whipped body butters! They are packed full of great oils and butters, like mango and shea butter, avocado oil, and sweet almond oil. I am going to have them at my spring craft shows, and I am working on the stability of the mixture, so I will be able to ship them in the summer months.
--Lastly, I am perfecting my recipe for water-based body and linen sprays. These will also be at my craft shows and should start popping up on Etsy very soon, so keep checking!

I have a few other things that I am developing, like new melt and pour soaps, new cold and hot process soap varieties, and whipped cold process soap, so keep a look-out!

With school starting to wind down, I should be able to pick up my blogging a little more often, which is great! I have really missed it... I cannot wait to start up again!

Friday, March 22, 2013

Feature Post: Judy of Dazies Head 2 Toe

Judy's handmade items are amazing! Learn more about her below:
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My name is Judy Carrier and I live in Bristol, Virginia. I have been married to my high school sweetheart for 41 years and have two children, and three grandchildren. I work for the City of Bristol Tennessee, but I have a little business on the side called Dazies Head 2 Toe. I have two shops on Etsy, one is called Dazies Head 2 Toe, the other is Dazies Head 2 Toe Too.

I started my first shop in March 2008 after the birth of my granddaughter. I’ve always been a crafty person and when my daughter asked if I would make my granddaughter some hairbows I started looking around to see what the little girls were wearing. I started making the hairbows and since I loved to crochet I decided to also make her some crochet trimmed socks. It just blew up from there. I found that I loved making them and decided to open a shop on Etsy, and because it was hairbows and socks I came up with the name Dazies Head 2 Toe. I soon incorporated jewelry, headbands, and hairbow holders, into my line also.

My second shop Dazies Head 2 Toe Too is mostly key fobs right now but I plan to expand that shop to also include more adult jewelry as well.

Even though I work a full-time job I find that in the evening and on the weekends I have plenty of time for handcrafting and making the things I love. I like everything I make, but I guess my favorite is the hairbows. They were the beginning of Dazies Head 2 Toe and will always be my first love.

I not only have the shops on Etsy, but I also have a shop on Artfire.com, sell my hairbows at True Colors, in Bristol, Virginia, and I have a section in Blowfish Emporium in downtown Bristol where I sell my whole line.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Feature Post: Leslie of atouchofhealinghands

This week's feature is all about Leslie! Read more about her below in her own words, and make sure to check out her Etsy shop to see her amazing creations!
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I am a wife and step-mother who loves to be at home with family, that is why I decided to sell on etsy. I create cross stitch patterns for other people to find there artistic and crafty side. I believe with the right encouragement anyone can stitch. My grandmother taught me to crochet and it took off from there. I am the only family member left who can carry on the tradition of making gifts for the kids in our family. My favorite thing to do is help someone learn how to create something for themselves that they will cherish for a lifetime. My family and Movies inspire me most, watching movies would be my 2nd hobby. My Beauty and the Beast pattern is my favorite, because its the 1st disney movie I ever got! www.facebook.com/leslie.grizzell I have tried to sell other things on etsy and have found that my patterns are the most successfull and give me the most joy!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Spring Break!

Whew! I am so grateful for the person who first dreamed up the concept of spring break! I really needed this week off... School has been kicking my booty up and down the road, and it is great to take some time off and relax... and make soap!

I've got lots planned for my spring break week (wait, wasnt this supposed to be relaxing?!?), and I'll give you a quick taste:

  • I am planning a HUGE project for this summer, and I am so excited about it I could burst! The planning stages are going to start this week.... :oD
  • New bath bombs are coming!! It has been ages since I made any new fragrances, and they're going to feature some of my most popular scents!
  • I'll be soaping once a day for 5 days straight! I've got everything planned out, and I am going to make YouTube videos of each one. I'll be doing different techniques, from in-the-pot swirling, to using embeds, to piping. It'll be fun on the bun!
  • By the end of this week, most of my solid lotion fragrances will be listed on my Etsy shop. I'll also be playing around with my whipped butter recipe, tweaking it as I go.
  • Two words: Body. Spray.
Relax?!? Who ever said anything about relaxing?!?

Friday, March 8, 2013

Featured Post: Peggy from MyCountryCloset

Girls Pillowcase Dress
MyCountryCrochet is filled with a touch of vintage and a touch of handmade! Peggy creates gorgeous crochet creations as well as beautiful clothes for children. I am love with her shop! I love the vintage patterns that she offers... They remind me of patterns that my grandmother collected. Learn more about Peggy below in her own words:
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1. I'm Peggy Spivey, originally from Chicago where I raised 4 children, then got divorced. Soon after, I was offered a job here in Kingsport TN. I met my 2nd husband here and we've been married 23 yrs, have 6 adult children together and 15 grandchildren. I'm retired now, and I have to keep busy.


Easy Stitch & Save Pattern 6268


2. I've been sewing & crocheting since I was 9 yrs. old; my grandmother taught me. When I had children, I started sewing for the girls, and continued through their proms and weddings. I stopped for awhile when I was pursuing my career (about 15-20 yrs.) I resumed when I retired, first collecting antique dolls and sewing & selling doll clothing. A few years ago, I started making clothing for young girls because the styles & patterns were so adorable.

3. The favorite part of the process is choosing the pattern and the fabrics. That's the creative part.

4. I get inspired by the work of others. I love browsing through sewing and craft sites, through etsy and ebay. I post my items for sale on sewing sites and enjoy members comments and input.

5. My favorite item in my etsy shop is a girl's dress with an attached apron; I added free-hand appliques of chicks and hens and enjoyed seeing them come to life.
Crochet Scarf

6. I have 3 blog sites, but I'm bad about keeping them up.
sews4you-peggyspretties.blogspot.com/ mycountrycloset.blogspot.com/
sews4you.blogspot.com/
...and a Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sews4you-Creations/179173778830832

My crochet scarves have been selling well, but the girls' dresses have not. I've been asked to write an article for Sew Beautiful and it's supposed to be in the July-August 2013 Issue. It will feature 3 of my girl's outfits, and I'm hoping that will bring in more traffic. I'm in the process of making more inventory in a variety of dress styles.

Monday, March 4, 2013

My Inspiration Wall

I love to read books on crafting, and one of the suggestions that I have came across a few times is to start an inspiration wall, filled with gorgeous things that inspire you to create. So, I started one of my own! Mine isn't big yet, but I hope to keep adding to it as time goes on to make a beautiful collection of awesomeness!

Ignore the panic button in the middle...  All, college living!
I started by adding my three favorite photographs of my three favorite people. First, I added a photo of me and my husband at our wedding, a picture of my son blowing kisses at 2 weeks old, and a picture of me and my sister making chocolate dipped strawberries for my wedding. I also added the note from the Fall/Winter S.O.A.P. team that I received last year. And I picked out three gorgeous handmade cards from ChickenCoopStamper last winter at a local farmer's market that I cannot part with and they have made their way onto my inspiration wall! My wall still looks a little bare, but I am always keeping my eyes open for great new things to add to it! Inspire me, wall!


Friday, March 1, 2013

Featured Post: Ashley of AshleyAfterDark

Glass Paper weights
Bright. Colorful. Fun. Those are the three words that I would use to describe the amazingly cool things that you can find in Ashley's Etsy shop, AshleyAfterDark! Ashley makes some beautiful peices using alcohol and ink to create random, gorgeous patterns! Read more about Ashley in her own words below:
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1.Who are you and what do you sell?

I am an artist that loves trying new ideas and projects. I specialize in designing an assortment of gorgeous and unique alcohol ink products. You will find a very colorful variety of coasters, tiles, framed art, motivational and inspirational art pieces, as well as upcycled and repurposed jewelry. I am also in the process of adding a new line of trendy magnets. As time progresses I continue to branch out on new adventures in order to create fresh and new products.

2.What inspired you to get started in your craft?

I had been eyeing alcohol inks for awhile so one day I decided to give it a whirl. I started out with 3 colors for a trial run. And as soon as I tried them I was completely hooked. It was fascinating to see all the colors and how they combined and mixed. You will notice that all my products are different and reflect a unique style.
Alcohol Ink Coasters

Crafting and creating however has always been a big part of who I am, and is something that I am passing along to my children. I grew up in a house with a mom that is very talented and always had some craft project going on. We now can create together and bounce ideas off one another. It has become a real bonding time for not only my mom and I, but my daughter and I as well. She is always asking when she gets to head out to the craft cave to do some art.

3.What is your favorite part of your process?

Getting to view the final product is by the far the best part of the whole process. I have somewhat of an idea what it’s going to look like just from the colors that I have applied, but the high gloss glaze is really what completes it in order to make the colors POP!
I also love to see what tiles people gravitate towards and so far people seem to order such a variety of colors and would much rather them be all different versus coordinating.

4.Handmade: What inspires you the most while you create?

While I am creating a big part that plays into my creativity is my emotions. I have to be in a carefree relaxing state of mind in order to properly create something that I love. Many times I will sit down to start a piece of art, then when I step back and view it I think of it as just ok. With a little more color and love being poured in it, it usually ends up being one of my favorite pieces of art.

Magnet Set
5.If you could pick, what is your most favorite item in your Etsy shop?

There is so many that I love that it’s hard to pick just one. The brighter colors have more of an appeal to my eye so I would have to go with this one…..

www.etsy.com/listing/121152239/alcohol-ink-modern-artwork-trivets

6.Got any social media links?

Following me on:
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/AshleyAfterDarkWhereThePartyStartsAtTheCraftTable
TWITTER: twitter.com/AshleyRodgers26
PINTEREST: pinterest.com/ashley_breann/
GOOGLE+: plus.google.com/u/0/101678518806867897153/posts?tab=XX

7.Anything else that you want to share?

Creations of any sort come from the heart and have meaning behind them for each and every individual. You must have confidence in yourself and in the products you are selling. In order to make it worthwhile you have to believe in yourself.

The first craft fair I did was very intimidating, but it was also a great learning experience. There was a blind vision on my part that I could hide in the corner and magically sell my art. But as many of you know that is far from how it works. It forced me to communicate with buyers as well as various sellers in order to get my products out there. When I began to see results there was a confidence about me that I wanted to share with the world. If you are able to connect yourself with craft fairs and galleries it's something I would highly recommend to any artisan.
Upcycled Domino Necklace

You also have to go into selling with realistic expectations. Most etsy sellers aren't able to throw some items together, take a few pictures and make money. It takes patience and realistic goals. Success is not going to happen overnight.