Handmade The Hippie Way :)

I can honestly say I haven't been to a craft fair/show in a very long time. Even just like a local swap meet or flea market, which i've always been a big fan of. There's just something about outdoor markets, temporary or permanent that I just can't get enough of :) My local Las Vegas etsy team Handmade in Vegas sponsored/organized a craft fair at the Mt Charleston Resort today. I had originally wanted to participate but it was shortly after that I found out about my hand/arm issues so I wasn't going to be able to get enough inventory by the time the fair. I still of course had an interest in going to check out what everyone had to offer, I love handmade items! I saw some really cool and amazing stuff, met alot of cool people, gathered and passed out alot of business cards and learned a few things.

The first person I met was CJ of Art Creations by CJ . She was super cool, helpful and gave me a few great suggestions. It was her first fair, but I did learn some things from her and she shared a few tips I hadn't thought about. Her art is amazing, she makes jewelry art sculptures. Now i'm not talking about jewelry you can wear, her pieces are COVERED in awesomely unique pieces of jewelry. First thing that came to mind after studying her pieces for a few minutes was that alot of the pieces looked like things I remember seeing in my grandmothers jewelry box. After talking to her for a few minutes I learned that she picks up her materials at anything from estate sales to thrift stores and all points in between. She rescues the "broken" and "unloved" pieces and turns them into some amazing works of art. She's even made a piece that hangs in Mayor of Las Vegas Oscar Goodman's office! She is definitely a very talented woman! I fell in love with her little lady bug and lizard, they were both so cute.






Now of course whenever I go somewhere that has jewelry, especially natural stone jewelry I naturally gravitate straight to it. I met Patricia of Rock My Beads, not only did I love her business name but her jewelry was beautiful! I had a great conversation with her, we both exchanged some great info and I know that i'll be purchasing some jewelry from her in the future! Check out her stuff, these are a few things I really loved!







Now if you like cute country style home decor and pillows with cute sayings this next gal is for you. She is Eva from Eva's Designs and she has some wonderful decor items. She had cute little items you can stick on shelves, pillows with adorable sayings, wall hangings, crocheted items,etc. she had a great variety of things. Her pillows were beautiful and very well made they also had some great sayings on them.





I met alot of other really great artists, asked alot of questions, learned alot of great things, got some good ideas for displays. Today was a productive day! I enjoyed being out in the fresh mountain air without the responsibility of kids :) Going to this show today really made me more excited about the show in October! I even wore my new shop tshirt I just got from VistaPrint :) Yeah that's me lookin goofy below! Not to mention it was some great advertisement for me, I handed out alot of cards but the shirt attracted it's fair share of attention, I think I may buy another and tie dye it. I'll be posting more informational stuff in the next post, so keep your eye out!

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Recently I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome in my right wrist (and i'm right handed!) and pinched nerves in both sides of my neck. Safe to say it really makes things hard some days and definitely puts a damper on my crafting abilities, at least when it comes to crochet. Now until this point crochet was my bread and butter, it was all I did and all that I had listed in my Etsy shop. I about cried when the Dr. told me I needed to lay off the repetitive motions and wear a hand brace. So at that point I did my best to not have a poopy attitude about things and to find something else that I could do that would fit in with my shop aesthetics. Safe to say I found myself depressed and without ideas, until one night that I wasn't able to sleep. I had been asked to make a set of towels for my brother in-law's girlfriends birthday (whew say that 10 times fast) I had made this sort of towel prior to this, but hadn't listed any in my etsy shop. I'd given them as gifts or sold them to people I knew personally, i'd never really given it a thought to make and sell them on Etsy in addition to what I already had. So with some midnight inspiration and a trip to the fabric store a new line was born.



In my trip to the fabric store I went and perused the countless fabrics to get some ideas. It didn't come right away, it took a little bit of looking and thinking to come up with the final concept for this new line of towels. So after alot of pacing through the aisles of fabric I came to the conclusion that I would fabricate a line of towels with a Rainbow/Hippie/Retro theme. To me, this line screams me, from color, to print, to concept, even down to the very pattern fabricated to make the topper, there is a piece of me in each and every one of these towels. It took me a little more than a week on and off working for a couple hours here and there to finish the 18 towels. I finally photographed and listed the first few of the line just yesterday and will continue to list a few at a time until all 9 colors are up.

This has been the most challenging and pain-staking project to date, but with all of the blood sweat and tears they're done. I can now move on to other things, and continue to build my inventory over the next few months. I'll be participating in a craft fair at the end of October, so I have alot of work to do in order to get a beefed up inventory big enough to handle a 3 day festival. This is another big reason as to why I had to come up with another plan for things I could make and not damage myself any further. I hope to document my entire experience prior, during and after the craft fair since it's my first and I would love to share it with the world. Keep your eyes open for future blog postings on "the road to my first craft show" I intend on doing an entire series. :) For now I bid you farewell!

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