Website changes

You'll see some changes on my website over the next few days - my friend Jay designed a new logo for me so I am redoing my website based around it! If that's not enough, my fabulous friend Kelley modeled for me in an impromptu photo shoot today, so now I'll have a few fun pictures of her showing off the jewelry! Awesome!

Stitch Awesomeness

My summary of Stitch:

Stitch rocked.
I sold a lot, which also rocked.
I won the grant, which rocked asteroid sized rocks.*more details below, it deserves a second chance to be written about*
I was interviewed for the Indie Craft Documentary after I won, which was kind of embarrassing because I was really tired and not very entertaining on-camera.
You can see the pics here.



*About the grant, quoting from the website: "Each year Stitch gives a portion of its proceeds to charity...We've loved being able to give money to charity each year and are happy to continue the trend again this year, with a twist! We decided to focus our attention on giving within our own independent design community and created the Stitch Craft & Art Indie Upstart Grant. Our community is busting at the seams with creative, inventive, smart peeps with the most amazing ideas...We want to help someone totally awesome with a kick-ass business idea get started (or continue to grow) their rad company. We are super excited about this grant, as it will further our efforts to build and connect our creative community. We will give the grant recipient a minimum of $1000 ... winners will also be invited to participate in Stitch 2007 and will be featured on the Austin Craft Mafia website."

Cool, huh?? When they announced the grant winner and called out "freshie & zero", my mouth dropped open! I was so surprised because after seeing all the awesome stuff at Stitch, I thought the chances of winning were pretty slim due to the stiff competition! I hugged Greg and said "Holy shit I just won $1000!!". I mean - HELLO - the Austin Craft Mafia - the mafia that started it all - awarded me a grant. That's SO awesome! I am soooo grateful and if you ladies are reading this, thank you again!!! I'll have to give Zero a big treat, too, since he's half the namesake and all. I also must reread my business plan that I submitted to see what in the world I said, including what I was planning to do with the money!

In addition to all the grant awesomeness, I have to list some fabulous jewelry artists that I saw at Stitch and would have bought tons if I didn't make jewelry myself:
My Olivette (fortunately we traded)
Gypsy Born Designs
Angel Court Jewels
Erica Weiner Jewelry (a direct link to my favorite necklace of hers)
Lisa Chandler
and cute purses & wallets by:
Sweet Tooth Bags
and cool manly belts by:
Steel Toe Studios



Oh yeah - when I told my mom about the grant, she cried, but she denies it.

The end.

Atlanta suckiness

bear with me - i'm on pain medication... so yesterday while I was setting up for Shecky's in Atlanta, I threw my back out while lifting a heavy box full of glass. when i say threw - i mean i instantly became immobile in the middle of a craft show inside a ballroom surrounded by strangers since i thought i could do this show without any help. i have never before had back problems and I have never EVER been in so much pain.

it happened when i lifted the box, felt a snap, and immediately collapsed on the ground and started crying because i didn't know what to do and i could not move an inch. here i was, alone in atlanta sprawled on the floor bawling my eyes out from the pain next to my booth that i had paid over $500 for that was not even set up yet. after 15 minutes of laying on the ground and crying (oh the mascara ran!) and swearing i would be fine in a minute, the show organizers called an ambulance to take me to the hospital. i called greg and begged him to come rescue me and my booth - ah my sweet night in shining armor...

so what was supposed to be a lovely, prosperous money making night turned into a hellish nightmare at the hospital four hours from home. my fabulous fiance left work immediately and drove to atlanta from nashville all the while i texted him from the ER since i couldn't reach the phone on the wall to actually talk to him. after the hospital was essentially no help the entire time i was there and even gave me medicine i told them i was allergic to, i finally hobbled into a taxi and got to the show over two hours late to find my display a disaster. fortunately i was too drugged up to care and my fabulous friend misha had come to help sell my jewelry, and for someone who had absolutely no idea what to do, she did pretty well. she was also kind enough to let me stay at her house an extra night while i tried to recover.

the drugs i am taking aren't even making a dent in the pain. they just seem to be giving me weird side effects. AND i can't even take the crap the hospital prescribed, because it makes me hurl, so i can't even get relief from strong drugs. augh!!! this sucks!!! not to mention that greg's parents are coming into town on saturday, so we have to come back asap so he can clean up his place! not to mention i have stitch next weekend! not to mention i work in a freaking art gallery which involves moving and hanging art constantly - wtf am i supposed to do there now???

11.13.06 - update - Well my back still hurts but at least I can move around now. Greg & I drove to Texas with a heating pad and a pillow supporting my back, which was nice. I'm now subconsciously scared of those glass boxes, though - i started shaking when I picked up just a single piece of glass during Stitch. Yucky.