What I'm Reading: Grow Your Handmade Business

Kari Chapin and I have been pen pals for years. I don't really remember how it began. I constantly try to pressure almost everyone I meet into sending me things in the mail so I imagine I was the one to propose the pen pal relationship scenario. I love mail.

Kari is extremely funny and also a best selling author. Her book, The Handmade Marketplace, is considered the indie craft business bible for people starting out on their journey. I'm a little behind the times and am just getting around to reading her second book: Grow Your Handmade Business now. I bought a copy at the last Urban Craft Uprising show.

 

The best part about buying a book directly from the author is that you can make them uncomfortable by asking them to write crazy things in your book. It's one of my favorite things ever. 

Kari also had these cute notepads at the event and I scored one. I've been writing messages to myself on it ever since. 

What I've learned: I do nothing quickly but I would like to do a lot of things. Or rather - I would like to have a lot of things done. Not by me. Maybe by a nice fairy or something. Someone else. Someone good at stuff who is also really focused.

In conclusion, I'm reading a book. 
The end.

I am Obsessed with Embroidery

I am. It's true. I embroider while I watch movies. I embroider in the car. I embroider while I work at the store. I love to embroider. Every pillow case in our house is covered with embroidery. Sometimes I use a pattern and other times I just doodle. I love it. I'm obsessed.

So I was touched when Urban Craft Uprising asked me to do an embroidery demo at the most recent show. I decided to do a very low stress demo that would get people started on a project in an hour -- and give them all the supplies they would need to finish it off at home. I called it : Beginning Embroidery for the Timid and Fearful. Everyone who attended got a second-hand pillowcase with a Sublime Stitching pattern already ironed on, a hoop, a needle and some floss. I used pillowcases so that it wouldn't matter what the back of the project looked like when they were done.

I'll be teaching another class shortly at my shop in the Pike Place Market, Ugly Baby and La Ru. We also carry Sublime Stitching embroidery supplies at the shop. If you're obsessed -- come visit.

Enjoy some photos of my recent converts: 

2013 Etsy Craft Party - Seattle Edition

2013 Etsy Craft Party - Seattle Edition, a set on Flickr.

Take a look through the photos from the Etsy Craft Party 2013 - Seattle Edition. We hosted the event at Ugly Baby and La Ru with the help of EtsyRAIN, Unanimous Craft and School House Craft.

Of course, it rained on the day we planned a big community sidewalk chalk art project - but that's okay. We made the best of it. Seattle-ites aren't UN-used to rain so no one seemed to mind. Plus, the chalk clean-up was a piece of cake!

Enjoy!

Etsy Craft Party 2013 - Seattle Edition

We are thrilled to be hosting one of the many Etsy Craft Parties to celebrate Etsy's birthday on June 20, 2013. We are partnering with several local crafty groups: EtsyRAIN, Unanimous Craft and School House Craft. Ugly Baby and La Ru, our new shop in the Pike Place Market will be home base. From there, people can use some of the 500 PIECES OF SIDEWALK CHALK to chalk the sidewalk up and down Western Ave. Hot damn!

EtsyRAIN, one of our co-producers, will be setting up a tent where people can decorate tiny chalkboards, write a message on them and then hide them in the downtown area. It's fun to make a little magic appear in people's lives and we think teeny chalkboards will do just that.

Get all the details and RSVP here.

You're super great and I hope you can join us. It'll be super fun and stuff.

I Don't Feel So Good

I don't. 
It's true.
My throat is all swollen and I feel weak and terrible.

It's not being sick and feeling bad that gets me down though. When I'm sick, all I can think about are all the things I need to get done and how much time I'm wasting by not having any energy. You'd think that would inspire me to take better care of myself... but it doesn't. 

Basically, I'm an idiot.

I should buy this tonsil print on Etsy to remind me to drink more water and be a good person and stuff. Do you think it would work? 

How long, after purchasing this print, do you think it would take me to frame it and hang it up on the wall? I'm guessing 18 months. Anyone care to make a wager? 

Pretty Kitties in Portland for Crafty Wonderland

If Portland wasn't amazing enough as a relaxing, weird destination, we also get to bask in the wonder-ness that is Crafty Wonderland. This Saturday. We'll be slinging Shower Art. We'll be buying socks. We'll be making pancakes in the shape of butts. This weekend. Portland. Prepare yourselves. 

Mimi Kirchner's Tattooed Gentleman Make Me Sweat

Mimi Kirchner's Tattooed Gentlemen make me sweat. Every single time I see them, I fall deeper and deeper in love. One day, I will own one of these fantastic works of art.

Until then, enjoy some photos from her Etsy shop and drool along with me.