Shower Art - Holiday Craft Show Schedule 2011

Doug and I are frantically getting ready for the holiday craft show season that is about to hit. We start getting ready earlier and earlier every year -- and it STILL always takes us by surprise. Sigh.

We have two new products to introduce this year: 

T-Shirts! Oh yeah baby. We turned a popular Shower Art piece into a concept for a t-shirt with the help of Barry Blankenship.

Soap Dishes! We got tired of people always asking, "So this is Shower Art? But what do you DO with it?" Ummmmmm.... NOTHING. You just look at it. Like you do with other art. (I have a bad attitude - that's why Doug does most of the customer service). Now you can have Shower Art in the shape of a functional soap dish. Yes, yes you can.

This year we are participating in three shows: 

EtsyRAIN Handmade Holiday Show - Seattle, WA

Saturday, November 26th and Sunday, November 27th
11:00 - 5:00 both days

Location:
Intiman Theatre
201 Mercer Street
Seattle, WA 98109


Be one of the first 50 people in line each day and receive a swag bag filled with crafty goodness. 




Urban Craft Uprising - Seattle, WA

Saturday, December 3rd and Sunday December 4th
11:00 - 5:00 both days

Location:
Seattle Center Exhibition Hall
305 Harrison Street
Seattle,WA 98109
(the entrance is on Mercer Street)

Be one of the first 100 people in line each day and receive a swag bag filled with crafty goodness. If you want one, plan to get there between 9:00 and 10:00 to wait in line. There's always a line around the block to get these.







 
One of a Kind Show and Sale - Vancouver, Canada

Thursday, 12/8 - 10:00 - 9:00
Friday, 12/9 - 10:00 - 9:00
Saturday, 12/10 - 10:00 - 9:00
Sunday, 12/11 - 10:00 - 5:00

Location:
Vancouver Convention Centre West
1055 Canada Place
Vancouver, BC, V6C 0C3
  
Tickets:
Adults $12.00
Seniors (65+) $6.50
Students (13-17) $6.50
Children (12 and under) Free

If you are around for any of these shows, come on over and say, "Hey!" If you can't make it to any of our events but still want to buy some Shower Art for your friends and family, email me to arrange a private peek in our studio inventory. We'll drink coffee and dig through bins. It'll be awesome.

In closing: We love you.

Out of Line

I've been staring at this grey dress by Out Of Line for about a million years. Yesterday, some money I wasn't expecting landed in my lap.

So I finally bought it.

Here's a closeup of the stitching at the neckline: 

I can't wait to get it in the mail! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeee

The Wonderful-ness of Crafty Wonderland

On May 1st and 2nd Mr. Gale and I traveled to Portland, OR to sell Shower Art at Crafty Wonderland. This is the first year that they have done a Spring Show and to my knowledge - the first time they have done a two-day show.

The Pros: Lots of people came out to the show. It was obviously well advertised. There was a great variety of vendors -- and many of them. It was well organized and the communication with the organizers was clear and easy to understand. Lots of people took our cards and said things like, "Everyone I know is getting one of these for Christmas." Awesome!

The Cons: We didn't sell as much as we had anticipated. Lots of people were at the show, but they didn't seem to be spending lots of money. Comparing it to the holiday show is unfair though as there isn't a holiday of that magnitude that people are preparing for in May -- but it was still less than my devious, little mind allowed me to hope for.

In my opinion, the ideal situation for Crafty Wonderland would be to do a two-day show in December for the holidays and a one-day show in the spring.

Now, the fun part -- the awesome stuffs!:

Stuff Out of Things: 
I berated poor Brian about not being able to accept credit cards and he bent to my will and signed up for a service after the first day. Then, I bought these mugs. I love, love, love his stuff. I was tempted to buy a coffee mug that had the leg of an (by his estimation) 8 month old child attached. I would bring it to work and sip from it as though there was nothing strange at all about drinking coffee from a mug with a child's leg growing out of it. I would have too -- if the coffee at my work wasn't such swill. I can't bear to drink it out of anything. Check out Brian's Etsy Shop: ThingsOutOfStuff.

Bella Sisters: 
I didn't find a jacket that was perfect for me on this trip (which is really okay since I already have two) but Mr. Gale did. It has deer antlers on it. He's not here right now for me to take a picture...plus he hates it when I talk about him on the Internets. But seriously - these jackets are just about the best thing I've ever put on my body. You WILL agree.

Flying Bird Botanicals: 
Vanilla Rose flavored hot cacao mix? Really? How could I NOT buy that? Am I a zombie? No. No, I am not. It is delicious.

Whale Mountain: 
I saw these paintings/embroidery pieces last year during the holiday show and felt bad that I didn't get one then -- so I was thrilled that Whale Mountain was back for the spring. I am also glad I waited because now they have a series of pieces that are yoga themed and I've been re-committing to Bikram yoga over the past few months. It will be a great reminder what my priorities should be...once I make time to hang it up.

So, in short -- Crafty Wonderland totally worth the trip just for the craft show. BUT -- we got an extra added bonus because we got to stay with friends Merritt and Tim who took us to Slappy Cakes where they give you a squeeze bottle of pancake batter and let you go to town making pancakes at your table. Did I mention that the table is also a griddle? It's pretty much the best place I've ever been in my life.

Did you vend at Crafty Wonderland's Spring Show? Did you shop there? What awesome stuff did you buy?

What Do You Get When You Combine Make and BoingBoing?

A new online selling venue for handmade crafts. Why? What were you thinking?

Make and Boing Boing recently announced their new site for handmade sellers: Makers Market. I, for one, have already applied to be a seller. It's a juried process but we'll see what happens.

The fees seem reasonable if they anticipate enough traffic to the site to support the fees: "In the future, we will charge a one-time store setup fee of $75, a monthly fee of $15, and a commission of 8.5% per transaction. (The commission is calculated on product revenue, not shipping.) We are setting a commission minimum of $17/month, meaning our goal would be for you to sell at least $200 of merchandise each month."

They are waiving the fees for store setup and the monthly fee of $15 during their Beta phase.

One great thing that I noticed is that buyers don't have to create an account on the site in order to make a purchase. The payment gateway is each sellers individual Paypal account. That will be great for making sure that people who are making impulsive purchases don't back out before they can check out. Yay! Impulse!

Keep yer fingers crossed my little potatoes!

Handmade Canvas Floorcloth...say what?

It's not very often that you go to a craft show and see something completely and totally unique. Something that no one else around is making. Something, well, magical. Okay, maybe not magical.

Two years ago at Urban Craft Uprising, I found StyleGarden. She makes all kinds of great lampshades and cake plates -- but that's not why we're here. She also makes hand painted canvas floor coverings. Like carpet, but not.

I bought one with a fleur de lis pattern the first time I found her. It's perfect because our whole house is tile and VERY COLD in winter time. I put it next to my side of the bed so when I get up in the morning my little feetsies don't get quite as cold. Or at least the cold is delayed for a few extra seconds. It's nice.

This year at Urban Craft Uprising, I ran into her again - our booth were kitty corner from each other so I could basically shop while sitting down in my own booth. Ahhhhhhhh....

I bought another one for Doug's side of the bed so now he has warmer feets too.

Another added bonus that I've discovered: the cat doesn't throw up on them. She only throws up on the other throw rugs that we have -- but so far, these have gone through life unscathed. I don't know about you, but that's a HUGE bonus in my book. Huge.

I Make Money Mistakes

I went shopping. Then, I looked at my bank account online and said -- "wait, I still have so much money -- I'm gonna buy more stuff." (not something you would normally hear me say -- which explains my excitement) I didn't pause to consider that I SHOULDN'T actually have that much money in my account.So I will pay the price later. None of this will come as any surprise to Doug. He often laughs at me when I pay for things out of the wrong account or send checks to the wrong people or panic when someone cashes a check that they've held onto for months. Well, he used to laugh. Until we started a joint checking account. mmmmmmmwwhahahhaahahahaha.... For some reason he still hasn't given me the login information for that account. Humph! Who cares though...just look at one of the great things I got on Etsy: It's pink. Really pink. And it satisfies that weird urge I've had to buy things with chandeliers printed on them. I once had a plan to have all kinds of pillows with different kinds of chandeliers printed on them, a chandelier wall decal and chandeliers printed on our curtains. These plans all fell through when it came time to actually PAY for said items...but it was still a good plan. And to have your dreams realized for $22 -- well, now that's a good way to go. Hot damn that's pink! Check out the rest of the shop: PrettyRaccoon on Etsy. Everything there is pretty. I didn't see anything with Raccoons.

Craft Show Sunday

You know you want to go.

I know you want to go.

My cat, Karma, knows you want to go.

Why don't you just go?

The first 50 people in line get a super fantastic swag bag FILLED with great stuff. And I DO mean great stuff -- I do not mean stacks of business cards -- I mean awesome stuff that would probably take care of lots of your holiday shopping.

Seattle Etsy Sellers Unite!

I've joined a group of Etsy sellers in Seattle (in Etsy lingo: Street Team) to collaborate, create and (hopefully someday) drink some wine. Recently we bought two booths at the Fremont Sunday Market and made a day of it relaxing in the (VERY) hot sun. Here's me with my (oh so necessary) coffee.

My husband Doug and I make Shower Art, waterproof art you can hang in your shower with a suction cup. Here's one I sold at the market:

Someone must really like eggs. That makes sense though....eggs are good. Shoot, now I want eggs. Focus. Good. Scary White Girl (or as we call her "Dawn") has created this Cthulu bottle cozy that makes me laugh out loud. I love his little curly face. Plus, I guess it's also the idea that Cthulu has been relegated to keeping my drink cold that makes me giggle.

I put Dawn's Cthulu bottle cozy in my Treasury of the Weirdest things I could find on Etsy. And not to brag or anything (yes, I'm totally bragging) but it IS the #1 Treasury on Etsy right now. How's that for WEIRD!?

I'll keep you all posted on the Etsy Rain (oh yeah, that's the name of our group - I guess it would help to mention that) happenings and goings on.

Much Love to You All,

Rosalie

Click here to check out
The Seattle Etsy Meet-up!