Tuesday, May 31, 2011

New Items Coming Soon!


New Things are Coming to Live. Dream. Create.!

I am currently working on my "Summer fun" collection. 
Think hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, s'mores over a campfire,
and cool summer sweets and treats!

Keep checking on Etsy and Artfire to see new pieces as I finish them!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Baby Chick Giveaway Winner


Winner of the Baby Chick Giveaway is:
(Drum roll please!)
Rebekah Arnold!
Congrats!

I will email the winner to get their shipping information.
Thank you to everyone who has participated!

************


The next giveaway will start when I gather 100 "likes" on the Live.Dream.Create. facebook page OR 100 followers to the blog

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

My baby chicks got a special feature today!


They were a hit at Oddmall, and now they are featured on Your Blissful Day's party planning blog!

This week's party theme is "Barnyard Bash", and my adorable chicks have found a spot amongst adorable farm themed party favors and decorations! Each day, new items by etsy sellers are introduced that will fit right in with cow print placemats, hand-painted picture frames, and napkin holders featuring horses. Everything to make your barnyard party a blast!

Head on over to check out my baby chicks, the barnyard theme, and other fun party themes featuring handmade items!




Sunday, May 15, 2011

Voting on the May CIC challenge

Voting on the Crafting in Color May Challenge: Recycling has started and my felt fortune cookies are in the running!

My fortune cookies are made from my re-purposed scraps. I also use felt made from recycled plastics.


Saturday, May 14, 2011

Changes!


If you are a regular follower, you may have noticed the new navigation bar at the top of the page! I will start to organize new posts to fit into some of these new pages.


  • Home
    • This will take you to the main blog page
    • Here you will find general posts that are not sorted into the following areas
  • Schedule of Appearances
    • This is where I will list my upcoming craft show events
    • I will organize them in order by the date they occur, rather than by when I sign up/finalize them. This will make it easier on all of us I believe. ;)
  • Current contests/giveaways
    • Find information about current giveaways, coupons, promotions, etc here.
    • After doing this first giveaway, I realized I needed to put the information in a place far easier to find, and I think this will do the trick. 
  • I've been featured!
    • Here I will post when I get featured in blogs, collections, treasuries and elsewhere
    • I will post them in order with the oldest at the bottom and the newest at the top
  • Craft shows in review
    • This is where you will find my pictures, reflections and other thoughts on the craft shows/events I attend.
    • I would like to get a rating system going at some point as to how likely I will be to do the show again in the future.

Rainy Days collection on Artfire


Monday, May 9, 2011

Oddmall: A look inside my first show

How to describe a day at Oddmall? Well... "odd" does seem to come to mind pretty quickly! I saw everything from Andy Hopp's fantastical creature art to vegan chocolates to gourmet cupcakes, zombie toys/stuffed animals, fleece penguin Yodas and Harry Potters, various styles of ceramics, sculpture, and unusual "surrealist"/ fantasy art. There were even belly dancers! Everything was mis-matched together in 4 rooms: 1 large main room, 2 smaller rooms and the center "entrance" area. (Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to take a picture of everything once we were under way.)
Our table was in the main room along a side wall- #6 to be exact- down the same aisle as Andy Hopp, Zombiesocks and other great creators. We arrived Friday evening (during the storm!) and began setting up our table...

Before:
Our table with all of our stuff piled around... where to start!?!

Other sellers setting up around our room.

We finally picked a place to start; we decided to set up the table coverings and we hung up our sign behind the table from the ceiling. Next, it was time to put the display shelves together and position them one each side of the main table. Once we got the displays situated, we began to fill them up with all of our creations and things began to take shape! It didn't take long for our empty table to begin to transform into a little mini toy shop!
In-Progress:
 The felt "munchies" side of the table
 Courtney's adorable "Bean Stockings" and hair clips with my plushies
The whole shebang as we left it Friday night to catch a few zzz's!

Friday night we got home late, caught a few hours of sleep, then were back at the show bright and early with our Dunkin' Donuts. We had a couple of hours to put the final touches on our area and get ready for the first customers. By 10 AM we were ready to go!
After:
 Sorry this one is a little blury...
Courtney with her Baby Sprout bean stockings


 Me next to the sushi and sandwich playsets
The customers started to arrive, and the room got crowded real quick! Everyone was stopping and looking, playing and commenting! Everyone (kids and adults, young and old) got a kick out of my sushi and sandwich playsets- but baby chicks stole the spot light very quickly! 
By the end of the show, the kids had accumulated a collection of various stuffed animals and stopped by my table to buy snacks and food for their new friends! One boy insisted his new mutant octopus and fluffy fleece penguin needed a carrot so that they wouldn't eat each other. :)  Several families made multiple stops at our table and the girls even had my baby chicks painted on their faces!  I had a lot of fun watching the younger kids get excited about the felt foods. They picked up different items saying, "Look Mom! An apple! And look! Watermelon!" One mom tried to explain a piece of sushi to her young girl- the little girl looked at it, squinted a little, and looked at her mom very seriously, "Su-sh-i. No Mom, that is a carrot. See, it is orange!"
"No Mom, that is a carrot!"

I didn't get to do a whole ton of looking around and shopping since I was busy at my table, but I was able to circle the show once. During that time, several people saw my special Live. Dream. Create. t-shirt and recognized me as "the girl that makes those adorable felt ______." (Mostly recalling the sushi, baby pigs, and baby chicks.) It was a really weird (but good!) feeling to walk around and have people to stop you because they connect you to something you made, and then to top it off, they really like that thing you made!

Other fun/odd highlights of the day:
  • I got to trade a couple things with Andy Hopp himself! (I LOVE his work!)
  • I heard one man tell another his "beard is magnificent".
  • I got trapped in the entrance area by the belly dancers. (I was headed out into the main hotel to hit up the vending machines for a Coke and chips when they started a routine and I was stuck between them, the wall and spectators. It was quite awkward!)
  • They say that some where in the world we each have a double. I found my husband's a few tables down from ours! Two random people could not be so exact!
  • My Aunt and Uncle stopped out to see us! (Fun, not odd!)
  • I tried "vegan" chocolate covered brownies. (My final analysis is that I will stick to regular brownies for the time being, sorry folks!)
  • I walked into the women's restroom and there was a man changing paper towels... It was a little awkward for both of us. I, of course, had to stop and quickly assure myself I was in the correct restroom! 
  • A gentleman stopped by and asked to take pictures of my table because he felt that it "embodies the Oddmall spirit"
  • Courtney asked if she was interested in doing consignment.
  • I got to put faces to a lot of names and shops I see around Etsy and Artfire.
Overall, we had a really fun day! Not bad for our first show! 
June 14th we will be at the Canal Day Craft Show and Duck Derby in Akron.
I am expecting setup to go much quicker, displays to look sharper, and to have even more fun!

I'm in love with Eco-fi (felt) collection on Artfire.com


Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Purging. Aka: Cleaning out the closets

Today I was cleaning out the office closet in order to empty out a tote or two for the craft show this weekend. After running around work in warp speed all day thanks to a large cup of coffee, I came home and continued the pace while I still could. Despite having ALL kinds of stuff to do for the upcoming show, the closet seemed in dire need of attention... My family's giant yard sale is at the end of the month, so I figured I would do a little sorting while all the totes were pulled out.


These are some of the things I found:
  • My bike helmet
  • A spool of  fishing line (which rocks because I need some for a new project)
  • 100ft of internet cable
  • An extension cord
  • Sewing patterns for skirts and tank tops
  • Supplies for the Jewelry/metals class I took my freshman year of college
  • My flute
  • A copy of Stars and Stripes Forever for my flute/piccolo
  • My handmade sketchbook from 2003-04 (aka high school)
  • IMAG0614
  • Art from high school including these gems:

"Drawing is just bending and shaping lines.
Being an artist is just knowing 
how to bend them and where to put them"

    IMAG0618
    IMAG0617
    IMAG0619

    IMAG0615
    IMAG0611
    IMAG0613
    I can honestly say, I remember drawing each of these- where the inspiration came from, who was around when I drew, what was going on in my life to prompt each, etc. These are all from various points in high school. I can't wait to see what is hidden in my Mom's attic...