a good friend of mine, Gina, taught me to knit awhile back. She's an amazing knitter!! Her specialty seems to be all the most difficult-to-knit items -- intricate lacy shawls and teeny-tiny baby clothing. I have occasionally carried her work ... the itty-bitty knit hats and baby booties in the shape of animals ... in my booth at various craft shows.
Now Gina has a store of her own! Stop here to look at & purchase her beautiful lace work, baby items, and more!
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
NEXT SHOW!!! And fun at sales
First, a quick announcement: I will be at the Aetna Fire Hall Spring Craft Show in Newark, DE this Sunday, April 1 (no, it's no joke, I WILL be there selling my handcrafted items). It was a last-minute registration. Karma, actually, as I had thought the show was already filled, but then got an invitation email from the promoter just the other day. So, please come on out and see me! The show is free to get in, and will be open from 10am to 3pm.
Now, about fun at sales. I had some sad news yesterday that turned into a ton of fun. Backwards, perhaps. But there is a Hancock Fabrics near to my house, and it's closing. Not the entire chain, but that particular store.
And that's where the fun comes in - the closing sale. Everything is on sale! I had a great time and bought lots of supplies to make more fun stuff for my store: fabric, purse handles, ribbon...
Tomorrow I get to shop some more, this time for storage bins. Large ones. After setting up and then packing up displays and products this past weekend, I decided life would be much easier with a set of 4 or 5 large plastic bins, rather than various sized boxes and bags for moving all my stuff. After all, a display is more than just the large furniture; there are the cloths to cover and make everything look uniform and neat, there are decorative cloths/doilies to be, well, decorative, there is my model for the hats, and baskets, and candles and flowers for homey touches. Yes, I really do up my booth right. And I don't want to have to cart all that stuff in multiple boxes and bags ever again!
Now, about fun at sales. I had some sad news yesterday that turned into a ton of fun. Backwards, perhaps. But there is a Hancock Fabrics near to my house, and it's closing. Not the entire chain, but that particular store.
And that's where the fun comes in - the closing sale. Everything is on sale! I had a great time and bought lots of supplies to make more fun stuff for my store: fabric, purse handles, ribbon...
Tomorrow I get to shop some more, this time for storage bins. Large ones. After setting up and then packing up displays and products this past weekend, I decided life would be much easier with a set of 4 or 5 large plastic bins, rather than various sized boxes and bags for moving all my stuff. After all, a display is more than just the large furniture; there are the cloths to cover and make everything look uniform and neat, there are decorative cloths/doilies to be, well, decorative, there is my model for the hats, and baskets, and candles and flowers for homey touches. Yes, I really do up my booth right. And I don't want to have to cart all that stuff in multiple boxes and bags ever again!
Saturday, March 10, 2007
New Gizmo lets you shop more easily from here!
I love the programmers at Etsy.
Etsy is the mother-site where my shop, Smile Creations Crafts, is hosted. The programmers are forever cooking up cool ideas to help us sell our handcrafted items. Their newest is "Etsy mini," a mini glance at our shop for posting on our web sites or blogs. Mine is to the right, under my logo. Click on any pictured item to go directly to that item on my Etsy site.
Other news:
1) I am making headway on a database to track all my products and supplies. It is turning out to be a complicated task, since I feel like every time I turn around, I remember more info that I should be tracking, but I'm getting there.
2)After my blog rant about "finishing" on Tuesday, I got off my butt and got about finishing. I finished a slew of cute little totes and purses, each with a unique look. And yesterday my mom and dad visited, and with their craft assistance, I completed many colorful paperback book covers for my craft show. Added bonus: anyone who buys a book cover at my booth on March 24th or 25th, gets a complimentary paperback book from me!
3) I finished and delivered the newsboy-style hat to my friend at UPenn, who looks adorable in it! I made a second one while I was at it, to post in my store, and will post a pic here once I take one.
Etsy is the mother-site where my shop, Smile Creations Crafts, is hosted. The programmers are forever cooking up cool ideas to help us sell our handcrafted items. Their newest is "Etsy mini," a mini glance at our shop for posting on our web sites or blogs. Mine is to the right, under my logo. Click on any pictured item to go directly to that item on my Etsy site.
Other news:
1) I am making headway on a database to track all my products and supplies. It is turning out to be a complicated task, since I feel like every time I turn around, I remember more info that I should be tracking, but I'm getting there.
2)After my blog rant about "finishing" on Tuesday, I got off my butt and got about finishing. I finished a slew of cute little totes and purses, each with a unique look. And yesterday my mom and dad visited, and with their craft assistance, I completed many colorful paperback book covers for my craft show. Added bonus: anyone who buys a book cover at my booth on March 24th or 25th, gets a complimentary paperback book from me!
3) I finished and delivered the newsboy-style hat to my friend at UPenn, who looks adorable in it! I made a second one while I was at it, to post in my store, and will post a pic here once I take one.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Ah, the smell of new yarn!
Ok, not really the smell (although I do know knitters who shop for wool by the way it smells!)... but bringing home a bag of new yarn is like bringing home a pair of new shoes. :)
This afternoon I headed to a nearby yarn store, Stitches with Style, to buy some skeins of beige/pink yarn. A friend asked me to make a hat to match a scarf she really likes. It's a very hard to match color --- alone it looks beige with gold thread through it, but against her coat, it looks like pale lavendar or dusty rose. I found a few possibilities. Now I have to put them up against the scarf to double-check. And if they don't match, I'm sure I'll find something else to create using them!!
But, as usual, it was impossible to escape the yarn store without more than just the sample skeins. I found several really good finds hidden in a sale bin under a rack of other yarns. Just hiding out there, waiting for me. I'm not sure yet what I'll do with them.... most of them, in various colors, are wool or part wool. I may just wait until August to start knitting them up. We'll see.
As exciting as today's shopping was, I had some sad news to balance out the euphoria of yarn buying. I often order yarn from a company called Smiley's Yarns, which functions almost exclusively online. They carry a variety of yarns, at ridiculously wonderful prices. Their stock always changes, though, so I buy when I see. But anyway, I'm off topic again. My sad news: I opened my most recent box of purchases from Smiley's, only to discover that one sleeve of yarn (three skeins in a plastic bag) was slit, probably when the larger case of that color was opened, and two of the three balls were slit as well. So instead of pretty ribbon yarn, I have pretty ribbon confetti.
Sadly, their website proclaims NO REFUNDS EVER, but I can't imagine they'd want a repeat customer to be stuck with damaged goods. So I wrote them an email, and am hoping for the best! Cross your fingers; I'll keep you posted.
This afternoon I headed to a nearby yarn store, Stitches with Style, to buy some skeins of beige/pink yarn. A friend asked me to make a hat to match a scarf she really likes. It's a very hard to match color --- alone it looks beige with gold thread through it, but against her coat, it looks like pale lavendar or dusty rose. I found a few possibilities. Now I have to put them up against the scarf to double-check. And if they don't match, I'm sure I'll find something else to create using them!!
But, as usual, it was impossible to escape the yarn store without more than just the sample skeins. I found several really good finds hidden in a sale bin under a rack of other yarns. Just hiding out there, waiting for me. I'm not sure yet what I'll do with them.... most of them, in various colors, are wool or part wool. I may just wait until August to start knitting them up. We'll see.
As exciting as today's shopping was, I had some sad news to balance out the euphoria of yarn buying. I often order yarn from a company called Smiley's Yarns, which functions almost exclusively online. They carry a variety of yarns, at ridiculously wonderful prices. Their stock always changes, though, so I buy when I see. But anyway, I'm off topic again. My sad news: I opened my most recent box of purchases from Smiley's, only to discover that one sleeve of yarn (three skeins in a plastic bag) was slit, probably when the larger case of that color was opened, and two of the three balls were slit as well. So instead of pretty ribbon yarn, I have pretty ribbon confetti.
Sadly, their website proclaims NO REFUNDS EVER, but I can't imagine they'd want a repeat customer to be stuck with damaged goods. So I wrote them an email, and am hoping for the best! Cross your fingers; I'll keep you posted.
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