Posts

Festival Season Begins!

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Woo! I'm scheduling a ton of festivals this year, and I'm pretty set up through July at this point. Here's how it's looking (if you really care about exact dates and locations look here )... I have one at the end of April here locally called the Spring Fever Festival. It's very new and not yet very well attended. But, it's put together by a local art chica and it has great potential to really take off. There's also a fall version in october. Good quality crafts, non-profit booths, activities, music. So, this is my second time doing it... who knows if money will be made there. But it's my first chance to visit with some of my craft buddies and see what other festivals people are doing etc. AND it's literally right down the street. May will be interesting, no local festival really during May. So, I'll be going to Shasta for an Old Time Fiddle Jamboree. Then for memorial day weekend, heading down to Lakeport right on Clear Lake. I'm looking forw

Weirdness

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So there I was... saturday afternoon sometime, I turned on the tv. First thing I saw, the very first thing, was my ex-boyfriend's big face. Stunned, I watched as they zooooomed in on his face even more. He was talking on the phone on tv, his wedding ring glistened on the handset next to his big face. 'Weird' I thought to myself. Then, I figure out why he's on the phone on tv. It's the local Easter Seals Telethon. Weirdness #2 - I worked for ES for 2 years and volunteered behind the scenes of that very telethon twice. Whoa. As I'm staring, still stunned, STILL seeing whatshisname's big face ... the mc lady says, "now let's speak with someone pledging all the way from Bismarck North Dakota!" I almost spit out my beer. Why, I used to live in that very part of North Dakota ... in fact my mother still does. It felt like I turned on the tv and the tv people pointed right at me and said, "HEY MERMAID!!" Weirdness, no?

Craft Shows Baby!

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Man, my head is spinning. Lookit all those applications! But see how organized I am? Yeah... I know. I made a map and everything. Yep, tis the season for planning out the craft festival season. It's fun! I'm trying to do as many shows as physically possible this year. It may kill me. If so, please give my mannequins to my boyfriend. I'm looking at doing all the usual local fairs... oyster fest, north country fair, 4th of july, trinidad sunday market. Also some things in oregon and mendocino. Sweet. Check out my web site if you care about exact dates and places. (Don't bug me about the crappy width of the screen ok? The html edit thing stinks.) Really, I can't think of anything else right now. Must... do ... more ... fairs...

I Like Making Stuff

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I always have. Now, I'm trying to make a living making stuff... sheesh. It's fun, but there are plenty of challenges. Mainly I like selling at craft fairs and such. I have a great time. Traveling, camping out, meeting interesting folks. I love all that. The up side (along with all that stuff) is I'm getting full retail price for all my goods, personal interaction with my customers and therefore direct feedback. The down side, I suppose, is the added cost of travel, booth fees... and personal energy. Physical and emotional. Well, that's not really a down side I guess, but a cost none the less. The travel, setup, and breakdown takes lots of physical energy. And being 'on' all weekend, schmoozing customers and such, is exhausting as well. Still, it is my preferred mode of selling... versus say, wholesaling to shops. That's a separate post I think. The problem I'm trying to solve right now is, well... there are only so many craft shows. The ones that are goo

Here We Go!

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O k, well you can all relax now. I got my confirmation in the mail yesterday... whew. Not only that, but it looks like I have a killer spot! All alone on a little island, in the middle of the show. Sweet. I did this show once before... when I was doing Wax Hand job. That is, the job where I worked in a kid's wax hand booth in college. As I recall, the quality of crafts was mixed... not too high end handcrafts, mixed with buy/sell goods. Well populated, large festival with a difficult setup. I also remember hitting some bars at night and having fun. I think it's a sort of historic section of town. Anyway... I think I'm set up to do as well as possible, which is all I can ever do. At the very least, I'll cover my expenses. Not worried about that. And I'll get some quality time with my little sis, a rare treat. Get a little visiting time with Dad, also fairly rare. AND get out of town to someplace warm where I'll be doing my thing. Good times. But first, I have app

Goin down ta Jackson

This could be a blues song... But I hope not. Any day now the Dandelion Days - Lions Club guy is going to call me back and confirm my booth space. Yep. Pretty soon. Festival is this weekend. Ha. Anyway I'm proceeding as if it's a go. My first ever double booth. Yessss. I've got bead kits, hat kits, dye kits, lots of new jewelry... oh, and some new goodies for my booth set up. Extra baskets, better dressing room and awnings! Oh, I'm ready. And clothes . I always have lots of those. Jackson is waaay down near Stockton, so there's a bit of travel involved. I'm getting excited to leave town, now that spring is starting to spring forth. It's gonna be in the 70s! Plus, my little sister will be my sidekick for the weekend. That will rock. So... yeah... once I can get this all uh firmed up... that will be cool.

HOORAY!!

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Well, it's been decided. The Same Old People will run the North Country Fair this year... and Washington Whatshisname has resigned as coordinator. Yippee! I can't wait for September and my same old festival.

Out of Hybernation... I suppose...

Well, I think my foggy winter head is waking up finally. I have my lists of potential craft fairs and application deadlines nicely plotted out on my yahoo calendar. Printed and color coded and pinned to the bulletin board. I'm even sending off applications! I have my lists and charts of new bead and jewelry stuff all laid out. Sweet. Gawd how I do love going through the bead catalogs and web site. Rather than doing it for 2 weeks, though... in a cave-dwelling haze of notebooks and pajamas... I'm getting it all done in a couple days. Not bad huh? Sometime today I'll be conferring with The Buz about some new clothing designs. Heehee. I'm gonna have my OWN original designs. So, we need to get going on all that and work out some details. I'm also working on my booth setup. I want to order a few items to beef up the display a bit... it's getting freakin crowded in there. I've been needing a rolling clothing rack for the travel of wrinkle-prone clothing... and a f

North Country Fair Update

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(Hey, there's my booth up in the top left corner... see that purple spot?? That's me!) Ah, the saga continues. You can see my previous posts about this on my Craft Fair Reports list over on the right there... and more recently, here . So, the other day I got a letter and email from the Same Old People, the traditional organizers of the North Country Fair. They seem more than confident about reclaiming the fair from Washington Whatshisname. So, that's good. Apparently, they both have submitted applications to the city to use the Plaza for the festival this year. No decisions yet. But, I see also that the city has adopted a new policy of only issuing permits of use to non-profits. That's pretty cool, considering the SOP have now attained that status. They had always worked like a non-profit, but never really felt the need to officially get the papers... because things just worked very well as they were. Anyway, that might be a help. Also, they have issued a letter to What

Not really a secret...

At work, we sell this movie called The Secret. I haven't watched it... but I watched most of Oprah's show about it. Man, she can make even the most deep and wonderful things so very cheesy and lame. I didn't realize that The Secret isn't just a movie, it's a book and a lecture series. A little weird, as far as 'spiritual' type teachings go I think... the method, not the message that is. Anyway, the secret isn't so secret really. Stuff I've lived by for years. Ask for what you want. Visualize your life as you want it. You create your own reality. That sort of stuff. The idea being, you reap what you sow... or putting out thoughts and energy will create that path for you. I know all that, but I think (aside from the television-cheesiness) it's neat to see it put out mainstream style. I guess. I mean, if that's what it takes for folks to accept some of this info. Things enlightened hippy-types have been spouting forever. Somehow on Oprah it'

Festival Season Approachin'

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Well, I just got the first issue of my new subscription to the Craftmaster News . Wooo! It's been a few years since I subscribed, and they've really done a lot to it. This is a giant list of fairs and festivals, including all pertinent info. I mean lots of info... fees, deadlines, contacts, type of show, types of crafts, whether or not commercial items are allowed, if there's camping available, everything. Now there are lots of emails and websites too. Sweet! Used to cover mostly California and a few surrounding states... now it includes shows all the way to North Dakota and Texas! Also some articles, indexed ads for supplies and shows. Each issue used to cover 6 months, now it's almost a year. Pretty cool. I remember hunting around for a craft fair list a while back and many cost hundreds of dollars. This one, I think, is a good value. They send you an updated version every other month, and now you can get updates online and via email. All for the low low price of abou

Settling In

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Yes, the new studio room at the house is getting broken in, finally. You know... it takes me a while to settle into a studio space. Moving the stuff in is easy. Making it a comfy place to create takes some time. For some reason, until I get my mojo going in a place... I just want to leave. I stay long enough to get stuff done, but then I'm eager to go. I can't explain it. So, I have to make an effort to just spend time there... reading art books, writin g, sketching... quiet time stuff that gets my creative juices flowing. To that end, last weekend I spent lots of time in there... added some shelves, emptied some boxes, set up more lighting, put some of my favorite art on the walls (some of mine, some I have acquired from friends). And I made a wonderful discovery. While the super bowl raged just a few feet away... my little studio was a calm oasis. Quiet except for my npr favorites on the radio and the occasional passing car. Lovely. The photos really can't capture the cal

Kits for Sale!

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Oh, I have some craft kits alright. Do I ever. I love love love the idea of kits. I guess because I love to come up with craft projects, especially for those who think they are not crafty. That's what I like about teaching art ... showing folks that everyone can enjoy it, not only those who have a talent for it. It's fun and satisfying to start with a pile of stuff and end up with something pretty or useful. My approach is to have them make one item that incorporates a number of skills, pretty much foolproof but with room for creativity. So at the end of the class they go home with something cool that they feel good about. When I prepare a new class, I write up all the instructions. Once they are done, I can just teach it over and over. The hard part is finished in planning the activity. I like to take the instructions and some supplies and make up kits to sell. Likewise, I can just sell them over and over without much more thought. Except for what the next kit will be. So, an

Argh. That time of year again...

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I'm feeling scattered. Just like every year at this time. Craft fairs are on hold until spring. The weather is cold and laying around in my jammies seems so inviting. As well as a general winter cave-dwelling tendency. Every year at this time I try to make a good plan... like... it's really a perfect time to be working on new print designs or dye techniques. Also a good time to do some wholesaling (that's a whole other post) and improve my printed materials to that end. The web site always needs work. There are taxes to prepare, end of the year reports I like to compile (well I LIKE to have them, compiling them is a chore). Craft fairs to seek out and apply for... plenty of stuff. But, I always have a hard time getting things done. I guess I don't really make a solid enough plan soon enough or something. I think about the stuff... do some of it. But, really I mostly do whatever I feel like doing on a particular day. I've always been a self-indulgent adult. Without a

Mateel Community Center

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Ok, so maybe like me you have been hearing about the Mateel and Raggae drama going on lately. My understanding is that the folks now in charge of Raggae on the River (the name, or property... not sure) have outsourced it to some bay area fair management. Thus somehow removing it from its historical purpose... the main fund raiser for the Mateel Community Center . I'm sure I'm missing many details. But whatever, the result is this email I got the other day from one of the Mateel organizers: Dear vendor. I hope your new year is going well. Due to financial problems in regards to shortfalls in expected income form Reggae on the River, the mateel community center has been closed since December 14 th , just after our last event of the year the Winter Arts Fair. You may have participated in our Summer Arts and Music Festival, our Winter Arts Fair, or one of our other two outdoor festivals in 2006. Unfortunately all of our events for 2007 are now on hold. In or

More About the Holiday Market

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I know I'm a bit late with this... but I wanted to talk a little more about the Arcata Holiday Craft Market. Like I said before, it was fun. This is my booth, right next to Paula's Puzzles just like every year at the North Country Fair. On the other side, some pretty copper hanging things... and across, the smelly wreath lady. Hahaha. I don't mean she was smelly, but her booth fulla wreaths smelled like all kinds of Holiday Goodness. Eucalyptus, pine, lavender, and I bartered for one of these pretty pepper wreaths that Barney wanted (then I faked him out so I could surprise him for Xmas, muahaha). Joyful Dancers top on the mannequin there... I sold that top & pants outfit right off her. Love when that happens. The guy had brought his wife by, then snuck back to get it. Lots of that kind of sweetness during that weekend. Heehee. I found a spot for all the new jewelry. I think it worked out well. People could see it walking by and I even sold some. Woo! Although, looking

Where Have I Been?

Excellent question. Thanks for asking... Um, I've been festivizing like the rest of you. Went out to North Dakota for a week to visit my mom et al. Good times. Art-wise, not too much happening as I recover from this nasty cold. I have some garment dyeing to do for a friend who makes baby clothes. I got some beautiful beads and baubles as gifts from my sweety... so as I've been laying around blowing my nose, I've also been making jewelry. My ebay stuff went on hold for my time out of state. But today I decided to switch auction managers to save some cash... so I've been learning the new site and transferring auction stuff. The old one was Vendio.com (previously AuctionWatch). Really a great and easy to use site. I've been with them for years, they were free back in the day. Now there are lots of plans and their fees are pretty low. But, for the amount I sell, I shouldn't be paying for extras. Ebay and Paypal cost enough. So, I hunted around and found Auctiva . W

Arcata Holiday Market Report

It was fun!! I think I need to do this one every year... It's well run, the lady in charge is awesome and makes herself available all weekend. What a concept. It's put on by the city recreation dept so there are lots of kids volunteering and school bands playing. Just a fun atmosphere. They had a little food stand run by the kids too. Everything was either $1 or $2. The brownies were awesome and we got two coupons for free coffee. The Arts in the Afternoon program kids were selling silk scarves they made, which was neat. I got to see a few friends and made a few trades for gifts. I made money too! It didn't look good on the first day, but the second day was awesome and overall I did pretty well. Woo. They do need to advertise a little, at least on the community calendars... the crowd was pretty thin. But otherwise, it's a good one. Ok, I gotta go to officegirl land now, photos and humorous anecdotes to follow...

Damn, I slept too late!

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Well, it's my day off from officegirl land. I guess one tends to sleep in on those days. But there are things to be done!! A craft fair to prep for ... and as usual I'm behind schedule. Lately I've been crashing early and waking early and it's been good. But nooooo. Last night I crashed early (rather than working like I should have) cuz I was tired and I figured I'd wake up early like I have all week. Barney kisses me good bye at about 6:30, and lately I've been unable to go back to sleep afterwards. Not today. Sigh. Woke up at freakin 10. What the hell?!? Anywayzzzz... I'm only taking the time to write here cuz well... computerizing goes so well with my coffee. And I do need to wake up a bit. Luckily I have my Mermaid Power Mug to help me along... Buz brought this from Ireland (I think) and bought it from the artist at a craft fair or something. Isn't it awesome?? The photo doesn't do it justice really. So what's on the agenda for today? Plenty,

New Studio Space

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Yeah, the new studio space is at home now. It is good in many ways... the main one being cost. And it's close. I have all my worldly possessions in one spot. Handy. I did get a little spoiled at the last studio. The two big rooms with sinks and tables and show space and teaching space. The nice central Arcata location. But, I never could afford it. Not the whole thing alone. There are some adjustments to be made with the new setup, unpacking still to be done. But here's the scene as it is now... I have one whole bedroom for my artgirl activities (Barney the Best Boyfriend in the Wholewideworld was all for it. He rocks!) It has big windows, pretty good light. Room for tables, a cabinet and shortly some bookshelves. Most of the dry type supplies like sewing, beads, painting stuff and kits. There's a huge walk-in closet that spans most of the length of this wall. Holds lots of Mermaid goodies. I've packed away most of the knit clothing, but there's still room for the

What's it all about?? Well?!?

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I've been pondering... and perusing. And it seems like I need to better define what this here blog is all about. (check out breakfast blogger , now THEY have a purpose!) I've started to cruise around some other local blogs and it's fun! Most of them discuss local happenings. Very interesting. Some are just funny and entertaining. That's good too. And now that a few have found my blog... I feel a little more pressure to perform. So to speak. I mean, so far, nobody but my parents read it. And someone in North Carolina. I never thought much about being entertaining or even informative. I started it for two simple reasons - 1. To get more traffic to my online store , and maybe sell some stuff. 2. To have a place where I can blather on about the mundane details of my Mermaid life, interesting only to me. My friends are polite, but really who cares about how the Ocean green came out in this batch? Ok, I guess I figured some customer might find it mildly amusing to see what I

I'm Doin Stuff, ok??

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Really I am. Ok, maybe I haven't been overly motivated with the holiday slacking and rainy day moods and whatnot. But, I've got things going on... oh yes. Next weekend is the afore mentioned Arcata Holiday Market , at the Arcata Community Center (next to Health Sport). Yay! I do love the craft fairs. The last time I did this one, there were lots of new-ish crafters along with some old friends... all high quality goods. Many opportunities for Xmas gift bartering. Love it! And I hope to make a bit of cash too, of course. See some old customers, that's always fun. Anyway, today is dyeing day. I'm not doing too much, just enough to satisfy some recent orders and flesh out the stock a bit. Since I stocked up so much for the North Country Fair, I resisted the urge to spend lots of money on supplies. It's tricky really... need enough stock to do well, but not be stuck with too much afterward. My next show probably won't be until March or so. I've also been making

I Still Have My Day Job

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Remember my awesome day job ? I still like it. It's become a little more stressful, as I take on more responsibility. But, overally it's pretty cool. I work for the Peace Resource Project... "We want to help you raise funds and awareness!" We sell a bunch of stuff with peaceful-type themes to shops, non-profits and individuals. Mostly buttons and stickers, but also now a considerable amount of DVDs and misc other stuff like patches, jewelry, postcards and flags. My job is customer service. I man the phones, take orders, fill orders, invoice and package orders to the peaceful masses. I meet some interesting folks from all over the country, and sometimes other countries. There are some folks that own hippy stores or have a table of buttons and stickers on the street. Some very business like, some not so much. One guy, (I think he's in southern california with a street table someplace) is very nice but doesn't know any of our stock numbers. We have almost 500 sti

Credit Card Update

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Ok, well the credit card chargeback freakout is about over. I got the original amount back into my bank account. Not the extra chargeback fees though. Turns out that since there were two transactions in dispute, I got charged the $35 fee twice. They said it was non-refundable processing fee, much like a bounced check fee. I spoke with the nice lady who bought the stuff and she was soooo sorry. She said she had remembered who I was the day after she disputed the charges, and right then called off the CC company who said they'd undo the complaint. She figured it had been taken care of. Ha. I told her about the extra fees, and she says she asked her company to see if they could get them waived... I guess they said they'd try. Although, if that's even possible I don't know. Doesn't seem likely. But, she pretty much agreed to pay the money either way. Sigh. We'll see. Otherwise I guess that's just the cost of doing Mermaid business...

Still more scheming...

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So more planning and scheming is afoot. I'm really excited about this... My best friend in the wholewideworld is Heather, who also is the best seamstress I know. We are currently in the pre-planning stages of a new line of Bohemian Mermaid clothing which she will sew for me. I think we agree that the first pieces will be a chemise-style poets blouse - gathered at the neck and sleeves with a full flowing cut. And, some style of bodice, similar to this one... which can be paired with the blouse. Ooooooh it's really exciting! I'll keep most of my other goodies as they are... but slowly add more custom pieces sewn by Heather. Other items we are discussing are a wrap skirt, a loose cape-like jacket, a vest, and a ruffle skirt. The best part of all this is the freedom of using whatever fabrics we like. Right now, I buy my garments already sewn, and dye them. Although there are lots of styles and fabrics to choose from, there are limits... and most other dyers buy from the same su

Back to where it aaaaaall began..

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Well, this weekend I'm off to clothe the masses once again in Mermaid style. Headed down the highway 101 to lovely Ukiah, California for the annual Pumpkinfest. Woooo! It's always exciting to try a new festival... this one happens to be located in the city of my birth. Also the resting place of my grandparents. I have many fond memories of childhood visits to Ukiah. My grandparents' house with the glass doorknobs and that photo of Grandpa in his Andy Griffith style police uniform. The park down the street with the cool rocketship slide. Strawberry ice cream cones and Archie comics from the cigar shop downtown, where everyone knew Grandpa. Eating tomatos out of Grandma's garden. That sort of stuff... So, I plan on driving by the old house and park while I'm there, maybe to the cemetary if time permits. And I hope to make a little cash also. I have been sick at home for a couple days, but I'm determined to have fun in the sun this weekend! Woohoo!

Mermaid Plans & Schemes

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Oh, I always have plans alright... Let's see, uh... OH I just found a site for the informational-type pages I've been wanting to post: Bohemian Mermaid Info Pages . The store only has so many pages to edit, so I'm adding a whole new site with links, wholesale info, FAQ page, and ultimately some crafty projects or how-to info, and whatever other fun stuff I can think up. Setting that baby up was my Sat morning coffee/computer funtime today. What else...? I have a couple craft fairs coming up... I guess I'm going to Ukiah next weekend for the Pumpkinfest. Haven't yet gotten any paperwork, maybe it's time to call. Hm. The next one isn't until December, in Arcata. Oh of course I have some issues with Christmas-time fairs. Maybe I'll post about that later. Otherwise, I'm still getting my studio together at the new house... moving is slooooow work. I'm also thinking about where I can teach some silk painting classes during the winter & spring mont

BACK !! WOOOOOOO!

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Holy smokes... as my good friend Fred so politely pointed out, I've been gone a while. Offline, except at work, and living temporarily in what I now refer to as The Homeless Studio. It wasn't so bad. I mean it could have been much worse - if we had been living in our van or forced to mooch off of friends. Basically, the housing in my area STINKS. We jumped the gun giving notice at our last place and it backfired on us. Just as school was starting at the college. Bad to worse. So, for 6 weeks we have been camping out at my art studio in Arcata. Nobody there really cared. There are a handfull of art students who live in their studios in that building, in fact the lady who had my studio before me lived there too. And there was room for the essentials... bed, movie collection, tv, clothes, dog. On the down side, however, it IS a commercial building with business activities going on. Like the woodworkers next door (ie on the other side of the wall by the bed) who start up the table

Still More Adventure

Does it ever end?? Well, first off... I had a GrEAT time at the Caspar World Folk Festival! I knew the second I got outa my van I was in the right place. It feels a lot like home down there... right on the coast, super nice folks, beautiful scenery. It was a small event compared to other festivals I have attended, but the quality of music, crafts and people more than made up for it. Quality over quantity, you might say. I actually did pretty well, considering the small crowd... and broke all my previous bartering records. Man, I came home with some GREAT goodies! And new friends galore. Really really fun. The other side of my recent adventures involve moving into my art studio while we continue to find a home. Sigh. It's very cozy... and easy to get work done. Ha. And we sure are saving money! Aaaanyhow... my projects now include some illusion necklaces for my good friend Leisa's wedding, a bunch of tie-dyed bandanas for a friend of my little sister, and misc items ordered at t

CRAZY HAPPY LUNCH

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"Does Miss Mermaid know, She is made of sausage And a friend from the sea?" (Note: When I googled 'crazy mermaid' I got this pic. You MUST look at this guy's other Japanese kid's lunch haikus . Awesome!) I like to keep busy, for sure. But seems like the past couple months have been craaaazy busy. What with craft fairs every other weekend and my day job, i've been using every day off either working in my studio or selling at a craft fair. Whew! So, I was looking forward to July... no big fairs until August. I thought I would relax and beef up my web site , etc. But noooooo. We decided to move into a bigger house, and to push ourselves into motion, gave our notice on July 1. You know what that means... we are near panic as we continue to try to find a place to live (housing up here is nuts, have to race tons of other folks for the good ones). Meanwhile, the current land lady wants to show our place in a few days. Hahahaha. We haven't done a bit of house

Trinidad Market ... more

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I finally took my camera to the Trinidad Farmers & Artists Market... ...there's my booth... The view from my booth across the way... too bad you can't see the woven scarves very well, they are gorgeous. This is my friend, Marianna with her lovely wares... she's a fun booth neighbor, and her sister (the lady with the little oyster shell paintings) gives me snacks. Woohoo. Again, the music was excellent. A group of guys singing old-timey tunes, twangy harmonies and all. Rooster Something, McClintock? Close. Anyway, that's my weekly Trinidad Sunday Market report. Read more about it in my earlier posts. Good times...

More Fun In Trinidad...

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...California, that is. Ok, so I started the Trinidad Farmers & Artists Market yesterday. Well, started to do it regularly anyway. I've mentioned it before, but it's worth mentioning again I think. Trinidad, for those who haven't been up to this end of the state, is maybe the prettiest town in the area. It's got some cute little shops, restaurants and B&Bs... as well as gorgeous beaches and ocean views. It's also right next to a ton of camp grounds and state parks, ie redwoods. Really beautiful. So, this little Sunday market happens each Sunday throughout the summer, in front of the grocery store there. The quality of crafts is very high, for such a dinky market. We just have a ton of talented folks around here, what can I say? There is also music each week and it's really pretty fun. Yesterday (I wish I had taken my camera, maybe next time) went very well... I thought. The music was exceptional... I think they were called The Fabulous Blue Jays (or was

Enough Sitting Around!

(ok my photo thingy does not work at all anymore!! AAAAAAAhhhhhgh!!) Man, it's hard to get outa the chair on a hazy day off... b ut there is work to be done! Yeah so, I'm getting ready for the 4th of July festival up in Crescent City, a bit up the coast from here. I'm a little nervous, this is my first time up there for a show... but there are issues with all of the 4th shows. The Arcata one is best for me of course. This is my town and my peoples... my customers expect to see me there and generally I do well at any Plaza event. However, as usual, the folks who run these fairs keep increasing the cost for the honor of selling in their little town. Man I get mad. This year, this ONE DAY event costs the same as the North Country Fair - a two day kick-ass festival in the fall. Not only that, but the 4th allows imports (not only handmade-by-the-artist goods) and they are notorious for placing say, 3 jewelers in a row. Or, like last year, my booth next door to two big booths of