Gearing Up for My 1st Craft Show!

I opened my Etsy conversations a few days ago to find a wonderful surprise; I'd been invited to have a booth at a craft show at the locally run coffee house near my campus! Well, I was completely shocked, flattered, and...well...mildly terrified. 0_o

What do I know about hosting a booth? What items should I feature and concentrate on? How do I display them? Business cards? Banners? Tables? I was feeling pretty overwhelmed with it all!

Well, I did the only sensible thing. I started hitting the net for help. And, for any of you crafters out their facing the scary and often confusing world of your first craft show, or even if you've got a few under your belt, here's some wonderful sites with amazing tips to help you out! ^_^

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First off, we have the Indie Craft Shows Blog. This blog is a GREAT start in your search for guidance on everything craft show. From applications to DIY displays, this blog has tons of great information and photos. I also found their Twitter great to follow.

Next, we have Moo. This is a great place to start looking for ideas for promotions and buisness cards. Personally, I can't really afford to order from them and I kow so many of us artists are on a tight budget at best, but their products are awesome for inspiring ideas for DIY promotional items.

Another great resource is Flickr, beleieve it or not. Do a search for craft show displays under the group tab, and you'll find TONS of groups with great photos of booth displays to help inspire your own set up. Also, these groups are full of great people to ask for help! Find a booth you like and comment on it!

And here's some little tidbits I found Googling.

• DIY Simple (and CHEAP) Jewelry Stand & DIY Pendant Display (also great for other small items) from Build/Make/Craft/Bake's Blog
• DIY Ring Display Box with great step-by-step photos from shop POPKO's Blog
• Various tutorials on Instructables.com

Also, I found Google image search to be pretty helpful, too.

I will continue to post any helpful hints I find and updates as I begin my journey to Craft Show-dom. Happy crafting and good luck to all you furture and current craft show divas!

A Few Of My Favorite Things....

This week's feature doesn't necessarily have a set theme, per say, but when I looked for items this week, I thought of listings that reminded me of my favorite things. Roses, hummingbirds, soft colors. I guess you could say this week's feature theme is 'pretty.'

Thank you to all the wonderful Etsy-ians out there for their beautiful art, and please take a look at my sidebar and visit these amazing sellers for yourself!

Origami

Origami and kirigami are everywhere really, and maybe in places you wouldn't think to look. If you've ever made paper airplanes, or made snowflakes from construction paper at Christmas, you've done origami.

The art is spreading and finding new avenues to take as crafters begin to use paper art in new and exciting ways.

Check out these pieces of origami jewelry! What a creative use of origami art!



Here's some examples of my origami and paper art!


Why not try some origami yourself? Here's a wonderful site to start some basic origami projects. ^_^

http://www.origami-club.com/en/

Happy folding!

New Life

I know you're likely thinking how pretty I am, or what a nice addition I'd make to your bedside table, but it wasn't always that way. It wasn't that long ago that no one thought I was very pretty.

It all started at the bottom of a rummage bin. It was pretty dark and dingy, but at least I had some company in there. Still, what I really wanted was to be taken home and displayed, the way a frame ought to be. But I was dinged and dirty and had on a coat of the most unflattering dishwater-colored paint. Who'd want me?

And then, she came.

Yep, the owner of this very blog came into that rummage store and plucked me right out of that bin and took me home. Well, I was so happy just to be out of that bin, but when we arrived, it got even better.

She put me on her craft table (I was a bit nervous) and she sanded out my dings and gave me a fresh coat of bright white paint! She even hand-painted my almost worn off floral scrolls!

I'd been rescued, and now I'm ready to be displayed again!

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^_^ I just adore this little frame! Upcycling is so much fun and really makes you feel good about giving a piece new purpose! Going to rummage sales or Goodwill/Salvation Army and finding little diamonds in the rough is like going on a treasure hunt, and I can't wait to go back for more. Try it, you'll be hooked!

Here's some other great upcycling from the Etsy-verse!





Happy crafting!

~TPE

This weeks feature: BIRDS!

For this week's (and my very first!) featured artist selection, I decided to feature shops with BIRD items! I just adore the little feathered friends and I love the whimsy they add to almost any project. Please check out my sidebar for all the wonderful feathered finds and thank you to all the wonderful Etsy-ians who shared their beautiful work with me. I wish I could feature you all, lovelies! <3

Miniature Geishas

With my love of all things paper, I suppose it was rather inevitable that my little addiction would only progress. First it was scrapbooking, then card-making, then origami and now I've moved onto even bigger projects.

Well, I guess they're smaller projects really.

I started making miniature geisha washi dolls, and I'm hooked!

It all started with a simple little tutorial I purchased about paper dolls, and I was hooked with the first one I made. granted, she was simple and basic, but I soon found i could change up the design and achieve different looks and poses. I could use whatever color paper I wished, add whatever hair-style and accessories i wanted and I even began branching out into adding scenery to my dolls! There were just so many options and avenues to try, it was the perfect craft!

I already have a list a mile long of things I want to try, and I can't wait to try them and post about my successes and the occasional failures. (What is art without a few boo-boos along the way? :D )

I'm very excited to begin sharing my craft and I hope to foster greater interest in the art or paper dolling. ^_^