Thursday, June 30, 2011

Christmas in July

It's hard to believe that today is the last day of June.  Where did it go?  I feel like I haven't accomplished anything yet this summer.  All of the projects I had planned to do are still waiting to be done.  And with the weather we've had here in Minnesota, it certainly hasn't felt much like summer.  Cold and rainy is what it's been.  I went to the Farmer's Market today and there was nothing to buy.  Only radishes, green onions and lettuce.  By this time, there should be way more produce available.  But it's been so rainy and cold, that planting has been delayed.

And now it's time for Artfire's Christmas in July sale.  After all, Christmas is only 6 months away (which will go really fast).  I'm participating in the sale this year.  If you use the promotion code XMASINJULY at checkout when you purchase  something from my shop (http://BrendasCraftStore.artfire.com), you can get 5% off everything in the Clearance section and 5% off everything in the Christmas section.  The 5% off of clearance will get you some very nice prices.  In the Christmas section, you find some sets of Christmas hanging dish towels.  I've posted some pictures below.

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=3518934




http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=3510341



http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=2523732
http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=2534571

Saturday, June 25, 2011

A Photo Book of Some Recent Work

I store all my craft photos on Shutterfly on a share site so that I can easily keep track of them all and people can see them.  It also lets me add captions and such.  It also serves as a good backup in case my computer crashes or something and I lose my pictures.  But because my computer has been having some issues with photos lately and it's not getting any younger (just like me), I had my son spend a few hours backing up all my photos on CDs too.  I hadn't EVER backed them up.  Not a good thing.  You should FREQUENTLY back up your photos and documents.

Anyway, Shutterfly gave me a special offer that if I posted my new photo book to my blog, I'd get a $10 coupon for a future order.  So.....you guessed it!  I posted my photo book.  Take a look if you'd like.  It's not everything I make by any means, but there are quite a few things in there.

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Monday, June 20, 2011

I'm Featured Again! Plus Comments on Outdoor Arts Festivals

Another fellow handmade artist has featured me on her blog.  I'm very flattered and grateful.  I encourage everyone to check out her Etsy shop and her blog.  She recycles fabrics and turns it into bracelets and other wonderful items.  My favorite is a bracelet made out of neckties.  See it at http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.251012268.jpg.  Her Etsy shop is located at http://www.ReUseReNewReLove.etsy.com .

You can read her post about me at
http://sweetastonishments.blogspot.com/2011/06/etsy-feature-brendas-craft-store.html

Next weekend (June 25-26) here in Eagan is the annual Arts Festival.  They feature artists who do jewelry, pottery, prints and a few other things.  There is always a lot of nice stuff to look at.  I hope the weather is better for them this year than last year.  Last year the temperature was in the 90's and it was extremely humid.  It's an outdoor show, so I felt very sorry for the artisans who had to sit out in the heat and humidity for 2 days.  It was so miserable out that even attending the festival wasn't enjoyable. All you wanted to do was just quick walk through and go back to your air conditioned car.

That's why I've never done an outdoor show.  They seem so dependent on the weather.  If it rains or storms, you and your items get very wet and no one comes.  Then you've spent a lot of money on entrance fees and invested a lot of time and not gotten much in return.  And if it's too hot and humid, you'll be miserable and attendance will be down too because people don't want to go out in the heat and humidity.  Plus you have to invest in a tent for your booth.  And entrance fees for outdoor shows are always quite high around here.  At least with indoor shows at churches, schools, etc., weather isn't as big a factor and the entrance fees are usually pretty reasonable. 

I'd love to hear any comments on whether or not the readers have participated in outdoor shows and why or why not.

Monday, June 13, 2011

I'm Featured on a Blog!

I've been featured on a blog!  I'm excited and flattered.  You can find a profile of me on http://extravaganzacrafts.com/Blogs/?p=1502.  I thank Shasta Mclaughlin for taking the time and interest to feature me on her blog.  I encourage you to check out some of her past posts--she has some very interesting articles on how to make the most of your business.  She also features crafters and it's always interesting to learn about what others are doing and how they're doing it.

I've been busy updating my Artfire and Etsy stores and adding some new listings.  Some photos are below. 

Now that it's summer, it's time to think about the county fair.  I've entered some of my crochet items twice now and everything has won a ribbon so far.  I wasn't able to enter anything last year as that's when my mother died so I wasn't here.  But I intend to enter again this summer and now I have to choose what to make.  I want it to be something unique and something that is very eye catching.  My sister-in-law is encouraging me to enter something in the State Fair too.  She has been entering socks.  I might try it this year.  Everything at the State Fair is always so good though, that I'm a little intimidated that I can't live up to the other talented people who enter.

Do you enter any of your work in your county or state fair?  I'd love to hear about what you've entered and if you've won ribbons so please post some comments.