Craftiness Afoot

Moving Forward Despite My Sometimes Bad Attitude

2009-04-11T01:46:00.006-04:00

So, despite my lack of presence here on the old blog, I have been moving forward with my crafty endeavors. I have come up with a new name for my business. I'm calling it Lucky Penny, but I have yet to change my etsy site name, so that's still yessav for the moment. I decided on this particular name for a number of reasons. First, whenever I think of the old phrase that everyone learns when they are just a child, "find a penny pick it up and all the day you'll have good luck," I can't help smiling a little. Sometime I just smile on the inside, but I always smile. It makes me feel good to think about lucky pennies, so I might as well use that positive energy to promote my business. Second, I'm still always on the lookout for new ideas, much the same way I was always on the lookout for that lucky penny when I was a kid. In essence, Lucky Penny stands for positive new ideas.

Back to my sometimes bad attitude.

The time of my very first craft fair draws near, however, and I'm still paranoid that I won't have enough stuff to sell. The problem lay not in my lack of materials, nor in a lack of ideas. Time's the problem. I work full-time -- or thereabouts-- and I can't seem to just take the day off or whatever. How am I supposed to just up and not work to make stuff when there's no guarantee that I will make money at the show?

I just wish there was a way to be sure, because right now I'm feeling a little discouraged about the whole thing. Of course, I suppose it's hard to be sure of anything. In fact, when I begin to think such thoughts, my overall outlook on life gets a whole lot bleaker, and if I don't have enough time to craft, I certainly don't have time to get all grouchy about the state of my reality.

Let us consider brighter things then, shall we? First, my dear friend Marcy Davy has been so kind to have a bit of a sale where she will send out a 5" by 7" woodcut print to the first person that gives me my first sale on Etsy. Bless her heart. This is truly one of the kindest things anyone has ever offered to do for me and I am so grateful for her and her generosity. Marcy is a wonderful print maker and you can catch her stuff at allthingsgrow.etsy.com. Also, her blog can be found at thereisonlymake.blogspot.com. Both sites are seriously worth checking out.

Second, people have already responded well to my stuff. I've been peddling my wares over at work and have made a couple of sales. Nothing major, but definitely encouraging. I'm giving people my business card and all of that and it felt funny at first, but now it feels like exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. Not in an overall life purpose sort or way, just in a self-confident sort of way. Somewhere along the line, I have stopped being so scared of what people must be thinking of me, or at least I'm not paralyzed by this particular fear anymore. It's been a long time coming.

Anywho, the craft fair that I'm going to be at -- with lots of product, or not so much product -- is called the Spring Fling and will be held @ the Ann Arbor Learning Community on May 2nd, from 10am-2pm. It outta be short and sweet and I'm sure I'll learn a lot about the how that all works and maybe I'll get a better idea of what to expect next time around. Wish me luck.

Some Moderate Success

2009-03-19T17:00:00.006-04:00

Today I had the day off and so I dedicated myself to some quick errands, followed by concentrated effort on putting together some of my wallets. I still have some kinks to work out, but I have to say that I think they turned out all right.

Not too shabby, but they really did take forever. I think what I'm quickly learning from my crafting adventures is this: If you want to do something cool, and you don't have a pattern, it's gonna take a while to make it work and be cool. Here's to the learning curve.

The other thing that did turn out pretty okay is the actual felt. I don't have any pics of this process, but I'll try to get some up soon. Again, the learning curve comes into effect, but I think I'm well on my way to making really consistent felt. I think I need more layers of the wool before I begin to felt. I'm still getting used to the fiber, though, so we'll try something a little different next time.

If this crafting is good for anything, it's good for keeping my ego in check. You wouldn't believe how many times I had to use that little seam ripper thing! It was sheer pandemonium.

Well, until next time fellow crafters--

Yessa

Welcome to Craftiness Afoot!

2009-03-18T23:45:00.000-04:00

Well, welcome, as I said before and thanks for visiting. I will be using this blog to communicate my arts and crafts triumphs, set backs, and discoveries to whom ever.

I have been a novice crafter for some time now -- knitting, felting, (recently) sewing -- and have always had an innate desire to create stuff, but in about a month and a half, I will be entering into my very first craft show. I'm excited, scared, curious. Hopefully, this blog will provide me with the opportunity to share my works in progress.

Although I don't have any pretty pictures to show just yet, I hope to get that all sorted in the next few days or so. Also, you can check out my etsy site here: yessav.etsy.com. Take a peek, and get ready for some new products in the very near future. I'm working on these wallets that I think are really neat. My favorite part about them is that they feature handmade felt (made by mine own two hands, no less!) on the outside. They also have super cool retro cotton prints on the inside, lots of pockets, and a metal snap fastener to make sure that all of your stuff stays put in the wallet.

Wishing you all happy crafting--
Yessa