Life Update

It has been quite the busy time around here so I thought I should take a moment and give you an update on what is going on with me.  Evelyn!  In January I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl (Evelyn or Evie for short) and she has been completely taking over our lives.  She's now just over 9 months old and I am trying so hard to get things back on track.  She can be quite the happy distraction though - check our her monthly montage:

Such a happy girl!  I'm currently spending any spare time I do have prepping for the three holiday craft markets I've signed up for (in the summer when I figured I'd have more free time by now....errr....right...).  I meant to post my list of markets sooner (i.e. before the first one) but better late than never:

 

Woo! One down two to go! The first one went pretty well considering I took my baby away from her usual schedule and home for 10 solid hours and she didn't totally lose it. Plus she discovered how much she LOVES the magic wands I make:

Adorable right? (I know, I'm biased).  So two more markets to go and we will see how I am doing about opening up the Etsy shop again.  My crafty hiatus has been much longer than I expected, but that's how life goes sometimes.  I am always available by email with any craft requests or special orders though so keep that as an option if you're hankering for some Kate-made goods. Hooray!  

Currently I'm brimming with crafty ideas and super short on time.  I get maybe two hours of work time in a day (when Evie is in bed), but usually that is prime showering/eating time making that work window all the shorter.  One day she probably won't be as much work (or as likely to want to eat everything I try to make) but that's a ways off I imagine.  Ah well.  She is one smiley, happy, chill, and charming little girl bringing sunshine and giggles into every day!  Welcome to the world Miss Evelyn! You've forever changed my life for the better (and slightly less crafty)! Yay!

Fall/Winter Craft Show Schedule

Fall is in full swing and before we know it the holiday season will be upon us! Come check me out this October/November at these fabulous markets I am signed up for (also to be found in that handy "shop" tab at the top of my blog):

Oct 22nd (9-4pm) The Red Barn Artisan Market - 4409 Lakeshore Rd, Kelowna BC. Free Admission and lots of fun!

Oct 29th (10-2pm) The Shores Retirement Craft Bazaar - 870 Westminster Ave. Kamloops BC. free admission, coffee, tea, and treats throughout the day!

Nov 6th (10-4pm) RIH Craft-A-Fair - Sandman Centre 300 Lorne St. Kamloops BC  $2 Admission going to the Royal Inland Hospital Evening Auxiliary to buy new hospital equipment.  I will be in spot 131 on the main concourse level (halfway up to the left of the entrance)

Nov 19th (10-3pm) Kamloops School of the Arts Huge Craft Fair - 1390 9th Ave. Kamloops BC. Admission by donation, concession, draws, bake sale, kids craft corner & more!

Leslie Sale

Hello happy readers!  I am planning a little trip up to visit my sister in the north-to-me wonders of B.C - and as per Leslie's request will be bringing a few goodies up with me to peddle while I am there.  That being said - my entire crafty set up takes up pretty much the entire truck and that won't be doable for this trip,  so with limited space comes this lovely post!  We will now take a little tour of my current crafty set up thanks to the wonders of the internet and anyone interested can request which items I should haul with me.  Ready? Ok! Here we are - my typical set up:


How charming! Let's start in that left hand corner there.

1. Magic Wands ($10)

These beauties come in three shapes (star, heart, and flower), are lovingly hand-stitched using felt, ribbons and dowel, and are fully loaded with as much magic as your imagination can handle.

2. Brass Stud Earrings (Small $12, Large $14)

Like all my earring creations, the backings are gold, white gold, or silver and free of any nickel or cadmium for those of us (like me) with ridiculously sensitive skin.  There is quite the variety of shapes with these babies ranging from geometric shapes (triangles, circles, hexagons, diamonds) to some nature themed darlings (bees, cats, owls, birds, acorns, clover, leaves, lady bugs, whales). Oh my!

3. Brass Dangle Earrings (Small $14, Large $16)

These lovelies vary just as much as their stud counterparts and have loads of designs including shapes and more nature themed beauties.  I differentiate between the "small" and "large" sizes by using two different sizes of card to hold them on and the prices differ accordingly.  Most popular of these earrings tend to me the leaves, bees, hexagons, and little pinecones.  Leslie has a pinecone pair she apparently wears often.

4. Candy Dot Earrings ($5)

Bright and cheerful these little dots of resin come in a rainbow of fun bright colours.

5. Glass Tile Earrings (Small 8cm $12, Large 12cm $14)

These studs are made from sterling silver and come in a variety of designs.  I've made some of these using vintage images (canadian mammals, vintage kitties and other animals, and pyrex inspired designs), some using different graphic designs and patterns I've purchased, as well as some using my own drawings.  Jean is particularly taken by the unicorn pair although she is yet to have her ears pierced.

6. Vintage Silver Necklaces ($18 + $1 for rolo chain upgrade)

I must say these are one of my favourite items I wear on a regular basis and despite my attempt to make an easier to view set up, they don't get the love they deserve at craft shows.  They're made of sterling silver, show off a variety of vintage images including Canadian mammals, kitties, pyrex designs, vintage sheets, and a few pulp sci-fi.  They come with a 30" silver ball chain (which I can easily adjust to me smaller if need be) of you can add a dollar and upgrade to the thicker (also silver) rolo chain.  Oh, it's adjustable too.

7. Illustrated Art Postcards ($8 for set of 3 cards)

Featuring some of my heartfelt and lovingly illustrated drawings by yours truly, these art postcards are super high quality glossy printed and perfect for framing or sending.  They're 5.5' x 7" in size and come in the sets shown above.  I also have a studio ghibli set (including totoro, soot sprites, and calicfer) which isn't shown as well as a few limited solo cards (like thumbs up yeti) that I sell for $3 each.

8. Embroidery Hoop Wall Art (Prices range from $14-$43 and are based on how many hours I've spent sewing them)

I have made quite the selection of embroidery hoop art pieces over the last year and despite them taking ages (I mean ages) to lovingly hand stitch, I am a sucker for making more!  I decide what saying/creature/embellishment I want to go with, find the right fabric to make it from (mostly vintage prints and high end cottons), and then (sometimes) cut out letters or pieces from wool felt and get stitching! I'm very open to doing custom orders if you have a saying in mind and can often recreate a hoop depending if I have the fabric kicking around.  I love their mix of classy granny-chic embroidery with updated sass to make the perfect combination art piece to go in pretty much any home.  Ok, I'm a little obsessed in how much I love these...lots of other hoops I've made can be found on my instagram account since I seem to share loads there when creativity strikes.  As stated above I price these based on how long they take me to make and although they are a true labor of love, I do not sell my hoops in consignment shops since I don't really make any money off them to begin with. 

9. Adjustable Rings ($8)

I can think of quite a few little girls who love spending time trying on pretty much every single ring on this stand!  There is quite the assortment of rings available including cast resin flowers and glass tile rings (which have my illustrations, washi tape patterns, and vintage images on them).  I can adjust the size of these beauties to fit extra wee to mammoth sized fingers and come in a whole rainbow of colours to match your mood.

10. Plush Microbes ($9)

These darling stuffed germs are pretty much how I started my science crafty ways after making a few for friends during uni! They are (according to many child critics) the cutest little bean shaped dudes ever and come in a nice rainbow of colours and species.  Each colour coordinates to a different species of germ as the sign above states and each little pal comes with his own fact card so you can learn about your new infectious friend! Great for someone you like...or don't like...these guys remain a staple to my craft show display and get a LOT of weird looks and questions.  Yes. That is stuffed chalymdia. No. They aren't actually contagious - and you can do whatever you want with them. They're a great desk pal.

11. Pinback Buttons ($2 each, $3 for BFF sets of 2, or $4 for illustrated sets of 3)

 Hooray! I have always been a sucker for buttons and over the years have grown my 1" button making like crazy.  There are all sorts of buttony designs to chose from including a bunch of wide-set eye smiling cuties I've drawn, a few sassy saying, patterns, pyrex, and all sorts of vintage images (including Canadian mammals, all sorts of kitties, animals, sheets, and pulp sci-fi). Not sure what you'd do with a button? You also have the power to upgrade your pin into a magnet (add $1), zipper pull (add $1), or keychain (add $1.50).  Bulk buyers get a deal too. 

12. Pocket Mirrors ($6)

If you're someone who continuously gets something stuck right in between your front teeth like I do, this is the item for you!  These surprisingly durable mirrors measure 2.25" in diameter, feature a darling illustrated design by yours truly, and come with a handy little felt pouch so keep them in so they don't get scratched up.  If you bulk buy these lovelies (like most of my items actually) you get a discount and these mirrors make amazing little gifts and stocking stuffers.  Now to chose which one you like best...

13. Bottle Opener Keychains ($8)

I finally got my hands on bottle opener parts to use in my 2.25" button making machine just around the time I was diagnosed with liver disease making them completely useless for me as I can't drink alcohol or loads of refined sugar (boo) - but perfect for you! As you can see above, you can get a super manly vintage mammal design (ie. moose/elk), a sassy saying or two, or dive into cuteness with one of my illustrated designs.  They're very durable and handy and I've been told are especially useful if you hang it on the side of your beer fridge.  Looking for a specific design? Let me know now and I can make you one of whatever design you'd like.

14. Felt Flower Brooch ($10)

I'm a huge brooch fan and love to wear my mustard gold handstitched brooch on my cardigan in the fall!   These beauties are hand sewn with love and add a great pop of colour and texture to your coat's lapel.

15. Felt Flower Hairbands and Clips (small hairband $19, large hairband $22, clips $8)

What a perfect accessory for your hair!  These flowers are all carefully hand cut and stitched from wool felt and come in a rainbow of colours to suit your needs.  The hairbands are made on quite stretchy elastic that easily go on babies' heads to massive noggins like mine.

16. Fabric Button Earrings ($10/pair) 

I pretty much love searching for fabric so any tiny prints I find I turn into earrings! These come in all sorts of patterns and colours and you're sure to find a pair that suits your needs.  Backings are all hypoallergenic white gold, gold, or silver and are nickel and cadmium free.  These make awesome presents for anyone with pierced ears and I you can get them 3 pairs for $25 to encourage you to get all the patterns if you have problems deciding. There are also some nice painted wooden studs scattered in here too in domed and flat shapes too. 

17. Cast Resin Flower Studs ($10/pair)

Rainbows of flowery fun in all sorts of flower shapes and sizes!  These studs are made from cast resin of vintage flower cabochons to come up with some classy flower earrings great with practically any outfit! They have hypoallergenic backings like all my earrings and come 3 pairs for $25 if you're interested in buying bulk. 

18. Illustrated Glass Tile Necklaces ($15 each, BFF sets $24)

Another option for someone who isn't into plain buttons, these necklaces features my illustrated designs on a 1" glass tile bezel necklace that comes with a 18" ball chain.  I can easily modify these to be shorter if needed too.

19. Clay and Wood Necklaces ($32)

One of my favourite accessories, these necklaces are made with hand sculpted polymer clay and wooden beads I've painted with custom mixed colours and combinations.  They're hung on adjustable organic waved cotton string and make a stunning simple statement piece to complete your outfit.

20. Wooden Necklaces (Acorns $16, Mushrooms $17, Double-sided Circles $20)

I custom mix all the paints for these necklaces to create pieces that are muted and jewel toned.  They come on organic waxed cotton cord that is adjustable to suit your necklace needs.

So there we have it - a virtual picture tour of my craft booth! Perhaps not quite as satisfying as actually being able to touch things - but it does the job I hope! Please note that the pricing on this post is based on my current craft fair price guide and is not guaranteed to stay this way for the foreseeable future.  Many of my items are available for consignment sales (in which pricing may change slightly depending on the market).  I'm also happy to give discounts on most items if you're buying in bulk and most items are given a "buy 2 + get the 3rd for 1/2 price" deal.  Well I hope that is clear enough but feel free to throw any questions my way and I will help how I can! Yay!

One down - many to go!

I may be slow on posting - but my first market was a huge hit!  I was feeling a wee bit skeptical of how things would do on a weekday late morning by the library, but I was pleasantly surprised with lots of visitors, a few sales, and zero rain (which was the forecast)! Hooray! Here's a peek at my set up:

 

I'm trying to purge out some of my less popular items since I have such limited table space (and SO SO much stuff to sell) and there is still some tweaking left to do before it is perfect. Heck, let's be honest. It will never be "perfect."  Perfect would be an enormous brick and mortar shop with lots of traffic and zero rent. Alas. One day....As for my market goings - I am about to do my first farmer's market this Saturday so here's hoping the weather stays reasonable for me and I have boatloads of sales! Yay! 

off to market!

Looks like market season is upon us and ready or not, I'm signed up and starting markets this week!  Oh my! 

There are two craft markets happening this year in my hometown so I will be seasonally vending at the Kamloops Regional Farmer's Market (link) on Saturdays (8-12) as well as casually vending at the Kamloops Artisan Market (link) on Thursdays (10-2)! As usual my crafty/"likes to be way over prepared" self is hustling my buns trying to get ready in time for my first markets but hey, at least I have an enormous inventory of crafty goods to sell! So if you're around - come pop by for a visit! Heck, mention this post and you may even get a free button if you're nice.  Wish me luck! 

hoop-tastic happenings

As I mentioned in my last post, my life seems to be all about prepping for the market these days! I finally got back up and running for the last Saturday in June and now after my second week I am totally in love! The Kamloops Farmer's Market is full of friendly and talented artisans (as well as loads of veg and food vendors) and brings in loads of people for a morning of local shopping! I was a little hesitant how my booth would do at the market as my past experience of selling in town wasn't very lucrative - but I was pleasantly surprised with some awesome customers who decided to shell out their hard earned cash on my plethora of geekery! Hooray! 

I've been trying to spread out my brand a bit and make a wider selection of goodies in different price ranges and one project I have fallen for is making embroidery hoop art. I made a few back in my Bastion Square Victoria market days but figured I could ramp it up a bit and do a wider range of hoops.  I really wanted to take great pictures of them to show you each one in detail - but as I said - I've been a busy girl - so instead I will just share the snap shots I took of hoops displayed at my craft booth.  Yay! Here we go!

Here's the basic set up of my hoop display. A few pegged onto a white rack I bought from Diaso and two baskets holding the rest to peruse. I tried to go for variety a bit (so not ALL anthropomorphized creatures) and really wanted something sassy out front (that didn't actually offend anyone).  This also gave me a perfect chance to start using up some of my vintage fabric stash too!  Take a peek:  

I put another white rack with some hoops on it on the other side of my table to get a little extra height in there and (as always) a bit of extra colour! One lady stopped by my booth and told me that, "Your booth is a hard one to walk past and ignore!" Yeah! That's exactly what I'm going for! Rope you in with colours and cuteness and hope you enjoy what you see! 

With all the compliments I got from my first market I decided to make a few more hoops for my second go - and did a similar set up again (with a few of the new hoops in there). Here is the end of the table: 

and the main hoop display (with an emphasis of feminism apparently):

I've now sold ten of these lovelies and am excited for them to go to their new homes! Best of all - I'm not feeling like I'm super ripping myself off by selling them for too little either - and priced them based on how long they took me to make (so small ones starting at $16 and going up to $38 for the big babies).  Yaaayyy! I'm on cloud nine with embroidery hoop excitement and even got around to listing four of the duplicate hoops I made in my etsy shop! Oh my! 

So now I'm hoping to hear from you. What are your thoughts on embroidery hoop art? Do you have any hanging in your house? Which ones do you like best? and (most importantly) any ideas of other hoops I should make? I'm trying to come up with cute or witty phrases to put on them but apparently my brain has been tapped out. What do you think? 

Craft Show Progress

Well the summer market season seems to be sneaking up on us (or at least me)! I have applied (and been accepted) to do the farmer's markets here in town but am still working on getting my booth set up worked out (and making enough stock to actually have a decent table).  My goal was to have my first market be June 13th, but that is actually scarily close since I still need to:

1. Make a cazillion crafts to sell

2. Sew up new table cloths since my old ones are extra sad

and 

3. Have Fraser make me 4 or 5 new displays (ok. so that isn't really something I have to do...but I can't really do the market without a proper set up).

I suppose I could go unprepared but that isn't in my personality so an attempt at perfection will have to do and I will hopefully get it all going by the end or June at least.

In other market-y news I've applied to the Kelowna Etsy Made in Canada show for September! Last year they had 3000+ attendees and I would love to get in on that action! Look how thrilling that poster is:

That being said - if it is such a hot event I really hope I get chosen to be a vendor!  I have been on Etsy since 2008 and have a pretty unique line of products (science goods aren't the norm at these things) but I don't want to get my hopes up too high incase I don't get chosen.  Actually - if I don't get chosen I think I'd want to go to the market anyways and see why I didn't make the cut. Is that some level of self-torture? Potentially. But here's to hoping I get in...

In the meantime I will keep slaving away on crafty projects to build up that inventory! Anyone want to come help me? 

to market or not to market?

Why hello there lovely blog readers! Today we are going to take a wee bit of a trip back in my craft show history and I am ever hopeful that you may be able to help me with some future show dilemmas I seem to be running into! 

The first craft show I did was a tiny little show at The Streaming Arts Cafe in Kelowna (not actually pictured here). It felt like a slow day - but in hindsight was actually pretty darned successful. I then joined up for the Bizarre Bazaar at the old court house in Kamloops.  I signed up to do a ton of shows all summer long and quickly learned that 1) the wind is evil and 2) how to deal with SUPER slow days. Here's a glimpse of my original set up:

The next show I signed up for was Fabulous Finds in Kelowna and holy smokes was it ever busy! You could certainly tell there were a lot more customers with disposable income and my low price items were a hit! I made a few higher priced items to try to make the trip and hotel stay worth it and you can see how my inventory had grown with a bigger set up:

After a winter and spring round in Kelowna, I signed up for the Artisan's Square Market in Kamloops for some weekends in the summer.  It ran the same day as the Kamloops Farmer's Market but because it was just around the corner from the market masses I had quite a few slow days - but still an improvement on my original Kamloops sales.  My stock and variety of goods had increased yet again and my booth grew:

The last shows I did were part of the Bastion Square Market in Victoria and this time my booth grew to be two tables and loads of stock. Check it out:

I tried to include a lot of height and interest in my set up as you can see a bit better in this shot:

The sales varied from week to week depending on the weather and amount of tourists around but it was still a great experience.  Of all the shows I've done I definitely DO NOT enjoy battling the elements and the wind can be brutal for blowing over tall displays and light items.  I did come up with a few ways to battle high winds with super heavy tent weights, C-clamps, and other weights for the table - but still have a way to go before I hit a stress free booth.  I also realize that trying to set up and take down a giant display can be super time consuming and tricky to fit in our Mazda.

So - here's my current dilemma I'm waffling over - should I try to do the Kamloops Farmer's Market in their artisan section this year?  The market runs every Saturday from now until the fall and although there is no way I would want to do that many markets it draws a pretty big crowd as far as Kamloops goes. I also really like the idea of establishing myself in the town I will be living in for the foreseeable future and a little extra income would be great since I've been off work for so long with chronic illness.

Another big hurdle I have to come over is how to display my items more efficiently and effectively but still have them portable in a mid sized car.  If you follow me on pinterest you may have seen my crazy obsession with booth pins lately (link) but I'm still in desperate need for help!  I'm really leaning towards a pegboard display set up like these two:

(source)

(source)

I love the idea of being have lots of my items already set up and ready to go on the board and have a thick enough ledge around that you can just close it up and be on your way (seriously - that sounds amazing right?)! It would also let me display higher without taking up table space (especially if I go for something like the second white pinboard display where it sits on the ground - but what could I do to combat the wind while still having the boards fit into the car? Maybe Fraser can magically make the foldable pinboard display and have a detachable wide base for it to rest on that is wind proof? Oh! The dilemma. What do you think? Have you seen any rad craft booth displays that would be good against the windiness of Kamloops? I'd love to know!