Creature of Craft

Citi Field was beautiful!

Fellow crafters, my summer vacation has been GLORIOUS. I’m hoping you’ll forgive me for not spending much time on the blog this summer, as I’ve been on several adventures since we last spoke.

In my absence, I have:

- Visited the new Citi Field to see the Mets play the Yankees

- Gone on vacation to the XX Merge festival in North Carolina with Brian — my first music festival ever!

- Scheduled and/or taught bead classes at not just one, but two bead stores near me

- Moved… again. This would make it my fourth move in the two years I’ve been out of school.

- Pulled my bike out of the garage at home and started using it every day to get around!

- Gotten back to salsa dancing, which feels so great — hoping to do it once a week if I can

- Pondered joining a gospel choir

And now, as the air turns crisp and transitions into my favorite season, it feels like time to get back to blogging. Stay tuned for more crafter and artist interviews, Etsy finds, tips and tricks. I’m excited to be back!

What has you excited lately? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Image courtesy Saquan Stimpson

With more business and a couple of craft shows looming on the horizon, I’m taking the leap into one of the oft-overlooked parts of selling your wares — how to package them. Read the rest of this entry »

If there is one thing I’ve noticed after spending some time on Sayo’s blog, “Working Title,” it’s that she’s a woman after my own heart. Read the rest of this entry »

I came across CREATEaTHOUGHT’s blog through the EtsyBloggers group, and her fun line of rings, created from buttons, beads and components.

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First came Mother’s Day, then came Father’s Day — really! Father’s Day was initially scoffed at as a humorous afterthought to Mother’s Day, but why should Mom get all the credit? My dad’s a cool dude — he’s a tinkerer, a pen-and-ink artist, a great cook, and a hard worker. He deserves just as much accolade as my mom in teaching my siblings and me how to be good kids — good people. But enough of my stories — I want to hear yours! What makes your dad especially awesome?

Lately, I’ve been in the planning stages for summer, and I’m trying this new thing where I don’t try to create my entire inventory last minute =) My new essential accessory is the crochet hook; any time I’m on the T, I’ve got my crocheting with me, zipping up bracelets at warp speed! (Ok, maybe not warp speed, but it’s a good thought.) And so, the theme of my summer shop is bracelets — LOTS of them — in great summer colors:

[Images courtesy Fire Mountain Gems and Shipwreck Beads]

I’m currently planning for a couple of shows, one in June and one in the fall, so I need to build my inventory quite a bit, not just for my shop, but also for my table — this is an exciting time for sure!

Image courtesy SoWa Sundays on flickr. Click through for all the wonderful photos in the SoWa Sundays 2009 album.

I had a very exciting weekend at the SoWa South End Open Market on Saturday and Newton Open Studios on Sunday. I’ll be doing a fuller writeup very soon, quite possibly as guest posts on another blog — don’t worry; I’ll update you with the links when I have them! Hap- hap- happy Monday!

This week’s artist feature is Robyn of Shibang Designs. Please click through for the full interview!

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This week’s Etsy feature is all about sweet, bright candy colors:

Tammy Antoinette of paintedmetal had her saffron earrings featured in my Mother’s Day feature last Wednesday, and to my surprise, I found her on the front page this morning:

Congratulations Tammy! Looking again now, it seems they have sold. Ah, the power of the front page.