December 15, 2007

Office Gift Ideas

Since I know my office mates don't read my blog (okay, I don't really work in an office - I work part time in an art gallery/frame shop so I work with a bunch of crazy creative types), I'm going to post what I am giving them for Christmas. It became a mad search this week, mostly because I really like giving gifts and supporting indie businesses, so it was an excuse to do both. First - the men - five of them in all and they have COMPLETELY different personalities. I thought - how about a nifty handmade notebook? Finding a nifty & manly & inexpensive handmade notebook proved to be tough, but I found this one on Little Otsu:
I have always been under the impression that men liked graph paper, but when I shared this profound knowledge with my husband, he kind of looked at me funny, kind of like he disagreed. Oh well. I guess I don't know everything, but I think they'll like their new journals.

Next - the ladies. I work with the same two on the usual days that I work so I wanted to get them something special. I knew I wanted a cute little handmade pouch/makeup bag since there are SO many cute ones out there (especially on etsy) and since I only can have so many, I thought I would vicariously buy and give some. What I found for them was an adorable makeup pouch AND wristlet keychain gift set for only $18!

It's from a shop called Jimmy Pickles, and I like them so much, I'll have to get a set for myself now, but I'll wait until they restock after Christmas, since it seems pretty picked over at this point, but good for them! They've sold over 1,000 items on etsy! Holy crap - that's a lot!

For the other ladies, I wanted to give them handmade pouches, too, but I didn't want to spend that much so I found another great shop called LouLou Bell. Here are two of the seven that I purchased:
She had so many great fabrics to choose from, and great prices, too. I found a fabric for each of the seven ladies that I work with, which was no easy task since they range in age from 25 - 55! Unfortunately, I suck at geography and didn't realize she lives in Canada. Sooo... the shop owner was super sweet and agreed to express ship them for me in the hopes that they would arrive before Christmas. I'm crossing my fingers!

December 12, 2007

The Girlie Show Blog


The Girlie Show blog did a little write up about me in their blog. Go check it out! It was such a fun show, and I was tickled that they wanted to feature me along with some of their other fabulous artists!

December 09, 2007

I'm in an etsy treasury!

Yay! It's so exciting to see that little star next to a treasury listing... and then the next thing I know it's on the front page! Woo hoo!!! I sold 3 things while it was up - that's a lot for etsy! My etsy shop does okay but my website does much better. There are just too many distractions on etsy to draw attention away from shops. Speaking of, have you ever seen the etsy tools website? It's really interesting and shows charts of sales, listings, etc. It's down for the moment, but you should bookmark it and come back to it soon to see how much etsy sells in a day - it is amazing! Etsytools.com

November 30, 2007

She's Crafty Secret Santa Gift Exchange

Hey Ladies!

You're invited to participate in the She's Crafty Secret Santa Gift Exchange!

Here's the sign up link!

The sign up deadline is Friday, December 07, 2007.

I hope you'll join in. This is going to be lots of fun! The rules are simple - get ready to give and receive something handmade this holiday season!

Are you a jewelry maker who loves to draw? Are you a knitter who's always wanted to try amigurumi? Now is your opportunity to create something you've never tried just for fun! Or, stick with what you know and try and tweak it to your secret santa's liking...

Once you sign up, you'll receive an email on December 7th telling you who you have drawn. You will then be able to anonymously ask that person questions to help you along, i.e. "what's your favorite color", "what's your t-shirt size", "what's your favorite city", etc. You can then get crafting to create something nifty for them. It doesn't have to be big or elaborate - just hand crafted by you!

Then you must mail your gift on or by December 19th (that's 12 days to make something). Just don't be a Lame Santa and space out on the most important part!

Have a crafty holiday!
Freshie