The Etsy Shop is Live!

HURRAY! I got the Eyes Aflame Adornments Etsy shop going . . . I loaded up six
different button designs, and I'm just tickled pink. It takes me back to the 80's when every girl in my middle school had a cluster of 1" Duran Duran buttons pins to her denim jacket!
While none of them will be Duran Duran, I'll be getting some more
button designs and jewelry up this week . . .

I'm glad to finally be a part of the Etsy community - there are so many great artists from
around the world who sell their handmade goodies there - and there's a lot of vintage finds and great craft supplies available, too.


And of course it's a great excuse to make more stuff! And to hopefully trade with a bunch of the other wonderful vendors - of course, I'm also going to pull together a Christmas list
with a heavy emphasis on the handmade.

And if you're local to Portland, I'm also selling at
Crafty Wonderland this year on December 14th at the Convention Center along with an amazing array of other vendors. The first 200 people in line to get in when the event opens at 11 am will get goody bags full of niftiness donated by the vendors . . . like a local Sampler. And yes, I donated about 50 buttons . . .

Back in Craft Show Land

I only do a few "craft shows" a year now, but 15 years ago, they were how I made my living. Loading my van up with bins full of stuff, hauling it up and down the west coast, setting up the booth, freezing or sweating, and hoping I sold some stuff . . . fortunately for all aspiring crafters and artists, we now have the internet and Etsy shops.

Of course, craft shows still happen - but, thank heavens, now, I'm only doing a few a year - and small ones at that. It gets the word out about my classes, I get to meet people, and I reduce my ever-growing inventory of class samples and experiments. (After all, how many of these things can my friends actually absorb?) As a result, I end up with a bizarre mish-mash of stuff at my table - almost like a crafter's rummage sale - and I am beginning to think that an Etsy shop might be a more efficient way for me to offer these things up to the wider world . . .

Oh boy. Another project. Let's finish NaBloPoMo first, shall we? And then there's that book I'm working on . . .

Bottom line, though, I had a great time at the Secret Society Sale (and hauling my stuff up the stairs meant some much needed exercise!) and have a few folks to recommend . . .

Erin MacLeod, of the Crafty MacLeods*, makes these wonderful one-size-fits-many snap around skirts. I wear about a size 10, and they work great for me! I got one this summer, and picked up a few more today since her booth was right next to mine . . . And I saw the gal from Woolie Originals again . . . she makes lovely hats, etc., from reclaimed sweater pieces-parts, but what I'm most crazy about are her collages from old sweaters. I'm getting on her mailing list, and hoping to pick one up sometime in the next year . . . rumor is, she may be doing a piece that features an Octopus! I'm getting excited just thinking about it . . .

(* Do not be disturbed if you didn't catch the obscure Highlander reference. I did it to amuse myself.)