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. I’ve been investigating some options over the past week, and I think I have an idea of what I want to do. While it might seem like a small task to pick out the final packaging solution for your crafts, here are some things to keep in mind:

Cost: While custom gift boxes with your logo affixed in your choice of colors might look sharp, they are bound to be expensive. Every packaging choice, from cardboard boxes to paper bags to wooden presentation cases, have to contend with a tradeoff between cost and…

Quality: The old adage of “judging a book by its cover” is especially true when it comes to selling your handmade soaps, clothing, or jewelry. Even the box it comes in is an opportunity to sell your product. Often, high quality packaging equals a high quality product to the consumer.

Gift Wrapping: Can your packaging be used as-is when the person wants to give their purchase to someone else as a gift? Even adding ribbon or a handmade tag or decoration to the package can take even a brown paper bag from “meh” to “wow”.

Time: When it comes down to it, you really want to make the boxing/wrapping/assembly process as quick and easy as possible. This is especially true at craft shows — you don’t want to be taking too much time to curl ribbon or origami-fold a box for a purchase, as that time could be spent helping other customers, answering questions, and ultimately, bringing in more money.

So, with that in mind, I had to decide on something that would a) look nice, b) be cheap, c) stand out and d) make it easy for me to put together. This is what I have in mind: kraft pillow boxes with brightly colored matte raffia ribbon, hand-stamped by a custom stamp ordered through an Etsy seller. I like this idea for several reasons:

• The boxes come flat, so they won’t take up a lot of space, are made of recycled content, and can be stamped with my name and website.
• The stamp is a one-time deal, and I can use it forever (not like stickers which need to be reordered or printed, and create more waste)
• The raffia dresses up the box and keeps it closed, looks more exciting than curling ribbon, and presents the package nicely enough for gift-giving.

Admittedly, I drew this idea from Nancy Tobey, who boxes her beads this way.

How do you package your items? What was the coolest packaging you remember seeing from a crafter?

[ image courtesy Saquan Stimpson on flickr ]

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. Sayo is what I fondly refer to as an “Etsy finds fiend” (a party which I’m also a part of). Sayo has a penchant for sharing the cool things she finds on Etsy — check out the awesome button she found in VeronicaButtons‘ shop:

Image courtesy veronicabuttons.etsy.com

Fun, right? Definitely check out Sayo’s blog for more fun picks. And, of course, check out her Etsy shop, Saru Star for fun chunky rings like the pyrite one pictured here.

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

They’re sweet and super affordable — a great little gift for birthdays or “just because”:

Be sure to check out her line of handmade journals too!

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!

Tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do.

I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia which is somewhere so far away from where I grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia that I sometimes can’t believe I really live here. I came to Halifax to continue my studies at The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, after completing a Textile Arts Certificate at Capilano University in North Vancouver. From a young age I’ve been artistic and that interest was encouraged by my family and people who surrounded me, but when it came to deciding what pursue what to do after high school it wasn’t obvious at first. Luckily it only took one year of intro university courses before I was lured into textiles by a capturing poster I saw around campus advertising a sale from the Textiles Department. On that day I realized that this was what I had to do. That was more than five years ago and I haven’t looked back since. I feel so fortunate to have discovered what I feel so passionate about at this stage in my life.

Could you describe your creative process? Where do you work best; what do you surround yourself with when you’re doing your best work?

I truly love working at any time of day but there is nothing better than beginning first thing in the morning when the natural light is at its prime. I start in the morning and continue all day, with some breaks and interruptions, before making myself go to bed so that I am able to get up early in the morning to do it all again. In my work environment, which is now my home studio, I like to surround myself with plants and have corkboards up where I can pin up scraps of fabric, yarn, colours that inspire me. On these nice sunny days I usually open up the window in my studio so that the breeze and the noise from outside float in.

What are some blogs or websites that inspire you?

To be honest I don’t spend a lot of time searching for things on the Internet. One website that I do like is Marimekko’s because I their textiles always inspire me and I like to see the new things they are doing.

When you’re not making things, what are you doing?

What do I do when I’m not making things? Well I’m the kind of person who likes to be busy making something all of the time. I have so many things that I want to do and I’m fortunate to spend most of my time doing just that. I do take breaks and enjoy other things around me. Cooking is something that I love because it is another creative outlet, so satisfying and a great way to take a break. My boyfriend and I usually spend all weekend cooking and I like having friends over for brunch or dinner too. There are a lot of nice trails around Halifax and places to go near the water that I enjoy going to for a change of pace and to appreciate the surroundings.

If you could give crafters one piece of advice you wish someone had told you before you started on your crafting journey, what would it be?

My one piece of advice for crafter’s would be don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.

Where can we find you on the web?

My website for Shibang Designs is currently in the process of being designed and built by two graphic designers who recently graduated from the same university as I did. It can be found at www.shibangdesigns.com.

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