Big A$$ Indie Art & Craft Show

Busily gluing, bending and pouring resin for the upcoming Big A$$ Indie Art and Craft Show at Mad Art Gallery on July 31st-August 2nd. Hoping to do as well as I did at the Rock and Roll Craft Show.

Department store-style craft shows have really become popular in Saint Louis. I like the fact that I don't have to work a three day show, but I find the tagging of all my items a pain in the A$$! Ha! I invested in some manual plastic tagging loops that I can use for my rings and trim down. I want this to be the last time I have to tag everything. It's nice that I can use the same vendor number for each show. After this show, I will also have everything assigned an inventory number, too.

I usually sell my recycled bottlecaps individually, but do to tagging restrictions, I am going to sell them in packs of four. I found some self-sealing cellophane bags at Paper Mart (my new fave online store). I am going to place a business card in the pack and place the magnets on top of the card. I am hoping the magnets are strong enough that they will hold onto my framed piece of sheet metal that I usually use for the magnets. I have the framed sheet metal on an easel. It makes for a great display. People are drawn to it.

Back to creating! Hope to see you at Big A$$!

My Booth at Artropy

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Originally uploaded by Crafty Wino

My daughter and I at my booth at Artropy, hosted by ShowMe Etsy Street Team.

ShowMe Etsy Street Team Hosting Artropy at SqWires!

Come to SqWires Annex in historic Lafayette Square to Artropy! ShowMe Etsy Street Team and other vendors will be hunkered down for the day and ready to show you their diverse wares!

I'll be there with bottlecap magnets, felted flower bobby pin sets, resin goodies and whatever else my mind can create!

http://www.webjam.com/showmeetsy/artropy

Bring a copy of the Artropy post card to enter a drawing for a free basket of handmade goodies!

Green With Indie

Green With Indie
Originally uploaded by strungoutandwired

Hey Guys! I had a wonderful weekend at the Green With Indie Craft Show hosted by the Saint Louis Craft Mafia! Many folks out browsing and looking for cool upcycled and repurposed items.
I did very well with my resin bottle cap magnets (see right side of photo) selling about 150! I plan to make more, so keep those bottle caps coming!
It was amazing to see all of the items made from soda cans, old clothing, etc...
I can't wait to do it again next year! I have many ideas floating through this busy brain of mine.
Now I'm preparing for the ShowMe Etsy Street Team Show, Artropy.

I'm Green, I'm Just Not Motivated Today!

Happy New Year! Here I am, the beginning of a new year, still attempting to get organized. I still have to input all of my receipts and data from last year for the tax man, but hey, I still have a good month to figure that out!

I just signed up for the Green With Indie Craft Show sponsored by St. Louis Craft Mafia. I recently did the Rock N Roll Craft Show sponsored by them and felt I did all right for my first juried show. Now I just need to take some pics of my "green" items! I have tons of wooden dominoes from estate sales that I have re purposed into pendants. I also have gobs of vintage jewelry that I can take apart and make into "new" goodies!

I also have jars of buttons just waiting to be made into bobbi pins, rings, and other goodies! Not to mention the cool old black and white photos that I bought at the antique mall that are just begging to be made into some cool piece of jewelry!

Now I just need a swift kick in the butt! How does one get motivated and find their muse again? I feel mine has taken a short vacation from me! I work very long shifts as a Critical Care RN. When I'm off work I am either playing house frou or wanting to just be a sofa spud. I need some creativity to hit me in the noggin', and soon!!

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to add more balance to my life. I want to learn how to balance my crafting, my friends, family, housework, exercise, and relaxation. Is there a way? I thought it would just take some extra preparation, but I did not consider that some days I'm tired and not very motivated.

So how do you do it? Do you schedule a few hours daily for creating, laundry, errands, exercise, posting in forums? There has to be a way to make this work for me!

I'll keep you posted on the progress!

Strung Out and Wired

Strung Out and Wired
Originally uploaded by Stick to Your Knittin' Kitten

Here's a pic of my set-up at the Crazy Autumn Art & Craft Show at Sqwires Annex in St Louis, MO.
It was the first show for ShowMe Etsy, and I did quite well! Actually got a few orders from people who were at the show, too!

Tres Cheap

I wrote last Friday about the new "Tres Cheap" section in my Etsy Shop. I added this section as an experiment to see if lower price items would sell. I usually make all of my items with sterling or fine silver, but I chose to use sterling or gold plated findings for these pieces.

It seems to be working! I sold my "Girls Gotta Have It Resin Ring in Pink" Saturday after it had only been listed 3 days! I relisted it immediately since I have a few of these made.

I guess I will stock up my "Tres Cheap" section with more goodies for the approaching holidays, and hope things sell!

I'll keep you posted!