Bohemian Mermaid Palace

I think I'm just about ready to get going on some festivals. Lots of planning and purchasing going on here at The Palace. This weekend though, I mostly hung out with Barney. He started working in the bay area, so I only get him on the weekends for a while. Sigh. We did lots of movie-watching and snuggling... and I made so much jewelry I got a blister. I'm a machine, I know. Well it really started with a flower garland I made to decorate my booth. The wire in the flowers was hard to cut and I worked on that thing for like 3 hours. I was having so much fun I didn't care that my hands hurt. Then I made jewelry for 2 days. I can't help myself. I got a couple of neato packages yesterday... one full of hats! I'm excited to have found these cotton hats to dye. I want one of each. I also got my first shipment of shirts from the Buz finally. They are sweet! I'll get a photo at some point...

Last saturday was my birthday. Barney had a training thing in Benicia on friday. So, I went along and afterward we headed over to Reno for a visit to my little bro and his wife. It was lovely. Weather couldn't have been nicer, sunny and wonderful the entire time. Let's see... it took about 5 hours to go from here to Benicia. No problem. The drive to Reno, according to mapquest , takes about 3 hours. Hm. 3 hours got us just through Sacramento. Bloody hell. It actually took 5 hours. We could have driven home in that time. Anyway, that's life in civilization...I don't know how people can live that way. Blech. We mostly hung out at the house there... went out for birthday sushi. mmmmm it was good too. And got some ice cream afterwards. Perfect. Otherwise we laid around and watched movies, drank beer and visited. Oh, we did visit Pam & Jim and their two little kids, which was neat. I had never seen the kids awake. Of course I didn't take any pictures. Trust me, the

Ok. Let's see... I posted my first 2 skirts onto etsy.com before I left for the weekend. Yesterday, I posted 4 more. Today I sold one. I'm in shock I think. Woohoo! Thank you Pamela in SoCal!! I'm totally excited. Of course, I hoped the larger sizes would win some hearts... I notice there aren't many larger sized things there. Nor much hand-dyed clothing really at all. Let's hope this is a sign of things to come. Woopie!!

Uterus Skirt by hissyfitoly Maybe you've heard of it. Etsy.com "Your place to buy and sell things handmade." I have. And it looks like after only 2-3 years, lots of other folks have too. This site is awesome. It's very cheap to list things, the listings last a long time, and you pay a small percentage when the item sells. The variety and quality of goods on there is amazing. From fine art to jewelry and everything in between... there are also sections for vintage goods and art/craft supplies. From what I can tell, buyers know about it too. And they buy things. Sweet. This has been on my list of things to do for a while... I'm just about ready to list stuff. If not today, then next week when I get back from Reno. Here's my (empty) store: Bohemian Mermaid .etsy.com I'll probably re-post when I have actual stuff in it.

Man, I am just full of plans and schemes right now. After checking into the teaching studio thing a bit more, I'm not as convinced it's for me. We'll see how they evolve... but for now that's kind of off the list. However, after doing my taxes and deeply assessing last year's show income, I'm once again thinking about having a kid's activity booth (in addition to my clothes booth). I think I do this every year. Ha. I have two ideas for activity booths - Silk Painting with Kool-Aid and a Print Your Own Shirt booth. The first one I usually think of more around the holidays. It takes electricity and is sort of gifty. The latter is what I'm thinking for this summer... no electricity and m ore general appeal. All I need are some cool rubber stamps (made by me) and some T-shirts. The tricky part is the printing ink... but I think I have that figured out. Anyway, I have always liked this idea and I think it could really take off. If it did, later I would add b

Yeah, definitely hibernation time around here. But never fear, I'm doing stuff. I'm always doing stuff. I maybe in my pajamas all day, but things are being done. Let's see, a few interesting developments. I have connected with a new art teaching space that sounds pretty cool. I'll find out more this weekend, but a lady has brought together a multitude of artists to teach classes in a big studio. I like teaching, I like studios. Um, I used to teach in mine, when I had one in public. So, this might be just the ticket to not working another regular job this year. Fill in the craft show gaps with teaching. Perfect perfect. I convinced a sewing friend of mine to make some cool cotton bags for me finally. She wasn't sewing for a while, but bags are her thing. I really need one or two nice bags... like girly purses. Not tote bags, which is mostly what I have now. Yesss. Awesome. And I found a new source for more hip type cotton hats. I find that exciting. What else... I&

Hm... what a weird day. My little baby brother turns 30 today. I also learned a few minutes ago that my old friend Jim Fahey has died (I guess there's a big remembrance piece in today's Eye... I'll see if they post it for reading). Both pretty trippy in themselves. Hmp.

So, there I was... minding my own business... recovering from a pretty good little New Years psycho breakdown (don't ask)... when I get a call from The Busam saying she's on her way to my house from Oregon. Just what the doctor ordered. For those who don't know, The Busam, aka The Buz, aka Heather (or Sweet Heather as my dad calls her at times) is my super best friend. We met the first day of our senior year in high school, and have been like sisters ever since. We were roommates as wild young adults in Stockton, then again here in Humboldt as wild college students. Now, she lives with her hubby in Alaska where they both work for the forest service. I hadn't seen her since my brother's wedding like 1.5 yrs ago. How she knew I needed her right then one can never know. Vibes. They are actually seeking some sort of property for Joe's retirement ... either around here or up in Oregon. Both completely acceptable to me. Woo. They stayed for a couple days and it was su

Jeesh... guess I've been snoozing on the whole blog thing eh? And still no snotty comments from Fred. Go figure. Well, I see I haven't yet put up a craft fair report from the Arcata Holiday Market. Mostly because I didn't take any photos... not as fun to report that way. Ha. But also it was fairly uneventful... bah, I'll make one anyway I suppose. One project I've neglected to report on is my friend's little temporary store in Old Town Eureka, on the Gazebo next to Sjaak's Chocolates . I know you know where that is. So, yeah... two friends of mine who import stuff from Ghana and Vietnam opened this store just for the month of Dec and asked me to consign some of my goods there. Not sure how many I have sold... some. But now that gift giving is over, they are trying to drum up business by having a super blowout sale. So, I guess I'm putting stuff on sale too. I think they plan on being open through Arts Alive on Jan 5 and then close the next day. So for

Get the eBay Listings (Slideshow Format) widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox ! Yeah, I have skills. Sortof. I've been making all sorts of doohickeys online lately. My ebay store has lots of bells and whistles, which I've been trying to take advantage of since I do pay a monthly fee. Pretty fun. See how my store is called Bohemian Mermaid Crafts?? Yeah, cuz that doll chick has Bohemian Mermaid as her ID (mine has a 9 in it) so I can't use it to name my store. Sigh. Whatever. I also finally made a myspace page . Ok, I knew it was a very populated site... which is why I wanted to join. Just to promote my biz like all those bands I hear are on there. What I didn't expect was to actually know people. Like local people and bands I love. Trippy. So, I have connected with some friends... AND I'm promoting my biz. Woohoo! Oh, and I just sent out my very first marketing email. Got a sale in like the first hour! Sweet! I kept it simple and linked to my sal

Of course I was going to post this last week, but every time I started I blathered on and on and on in such an almost pukey way. I made myself sick. Plus, who wants to read all that? I think I can boil it down to a few bullet points. Ha. Try this... Man, am I freakin thankful! I have pretty much the exact life I've wanted, and do just what I please. It all boils down to support, I have lots. Here are the highlights: - Barney, the Bestboyfriendinthewholewideworld . He supports my endeavors in every possible way AND he's very easy on the eyes. - All my friends ROCK . They believe in me even when I don't and are just super awesome people. - My family is pretty cool too . Even though they think I'm a little nutso, always behind me 100%. - This place is magic. I'm thankful every day for this amazing place where I live. The people, the nature, the vibe... all keep me going and allow me to live this creative life. - I'm pretty healthy and capable . Thanks. Mostly, I&#

I know you've all been dying to see some new stuff on my web site . Ok, maybe a few of you. Or someone you know ... or once heard of. Whatever. The point is, I have been spending my days taking photos and posting new items to my site. And updating the old ones to look better and hopefully easier to read. I made a check list to keep track of what's done and about half are checked off now. Woo! I added color swatches t o each individual item page, which I think helps a bit. Shows the new colors and odd vari ations of colors. I added a few pieces which I've carried in my booth for a while, but hadn't gotten to the site yet. Woo! Many more to go... like skirts, baby stuff, hats and jewels. But it's coming along. To fix the lighting/camera issues I've been having, I finally gave in and just set up the mannequin outside. I just can't get the indoor lighting right. Grrr. But, it's working ok so far I think. I'm using my old funky camera, since Barney's

I'm adjusting. Working on developing a routine for this new working at home thing. So far, um it's not yet in place. Ha. It's a process. What I HAVE done is ... let's see. Posted about a ton of buttons and stickers on my new eBay store. Mostly because they were sitting here in a box right next to me... and they're easy to photograph. I bought a bunch on my last day at the Peace place, while I could still get the cheapo price. Ha. Started working on my web site. The home page was totally deleted and redone. Removing the tables really helped the spacing issues I had. I tried to simplify the top and put the more detailed info further down the page. Once I have some better outfit pics, I'll move them to the top. I've also been taking photos of new colors and garments. Sigh. I have lighting issues. That's always the issue. I'm not sure what the problem is. I'm using the lights from my booth setup and the shot will look well-lit when I'm taki

Ok, this is a new festival at the Redwood Acres Fairgrounds in Eureka taking place in April and October. It's put on by an artist who thought we needed a show to do during these two slow months for crafts vendors. And she's got the right idea here... again, I'll say how well she put it together, how I like the non profit activity booths, the themes, the quality of vendors, the beauty of the addition of beer to the festival. It's all very good. But, people just don't really know about it yet. I guess. Because attendance is still pretty low and slow. I did pretty well at the spring version... but this time not as well. My neighbor didn't show, so I even had a big Mermaid clearance area (in the empty spot) which didn't really yield results. Oh well. There was music. There was beer. There was a diverse selection of art and crafts. There were some friends to visit with. IF YOU LIKE TO GO TO CRAFT FAIRS, YOU NEED TO ATTEND THIS ONE AND BUY STUFF NEXT TIME! APRIL.

...for YOU to send me money... I'm working. I'm just about done dyeing, gotta finish up the label-sewing, ironing, hanging & pricing. Then, off to my last out of town craft show of the year. Wooo! The Steele Winery in Kelseyville... near Clear Lake off hwy 20. Easy little 3.5 hour drive. I'm hoping this is my last big shebang. According to the vendors I met down there this summer, this is THE woopedydoo event. I'm ready. Looks like the rain is supposed to stop just in time for 73 degree days and sunshine. Yippee. (hey, this could be your big chance to give me some money... you waaaant to go wine tasting this weeeeekeeeeend...) Let's see... what else... oh, yeah. I opened an Ebay Store this week too. We'll see how it goes. There's a monthly fee, but then I can list things in the store for super cheap listing fees but a higher percentage if they sell. They don't show up in searches as readily as regular auctions, mostly just in the store list. There

Yeah see, here's the cool part where the universe starts hurtling cash towards me in support of my move to save the world full time. You can be a part of this deep cosmic happening by sending me some money too . See? Ok, well I'm remembering when I left my job at the storage place to pursue my dream of self employment... a bit prematurely, but still. In the span of maybe 2 weeks, people sent me money that I didn't even know I had coming. Hundreds of dollars, I swear. Let's see... I got a power company refund of a deposit I had forgotten about. Which led me to phone my old roommate/dickhead boyfriend for another deposit I recalled helping to pay. Got that back too. There were some show fees I had written off... for a little market I had paid for then stopped attending. Didn't expect the money back. Yet, the organizer walked right up to me on the street and said,"I owe you money, let me write you a check." He insisted, so I took it. THEN, maybe the weirdest

Holy crap, what a fun time!! Maybe I have mentioned it before, but I LOVE going down to the Mendocino coast! It's so much like Arcata and home. The people are so cool, the area is so beautiful, the vendors are so talented. It rocks. Caspar Fest was no exception. We really lucked out with the weather, sunny and beautiful... while it poured rain at home on Sunday, I heard. A bit of wind and pretty cold at night, but overall nice nice. Now, there were a few adventures on my way down. I was running pretty late getting out of town Friday, so I thought it would be smart to book a room in Willits for the night. I couldn't set up the booth until Sat morning anyway and the van was full of stuff, which makes sleeping in it a challenge. Also, I wouldn't stress so much about getting there by dark if I wasn't driving all the way. Smart. Yep. I found a good deal online and booked it. Well, when I got there that night I found I had booked it for the following night. Smart. They said

Ok, I'm back from the Caspar festival and working my last days at the Peace Place ... and I am freakin tiiiired. Sheesh. I'll post separately about the festival, it was super fun. But you know, it would have been courteous for my last week at work to be a slow one. It's been so busy. I mean, I've had one day off since um... jeesh, when? Hm one day in like over 2 weeks. I took the monday after North Country Fair to sit around mostly. Then prepped for Caspar and got home sunday night late... back to work monday A.M. Sigh. For a lazy person, I work hard man. Ha. But, tomorrow's my last day. Post work beers at the Lost Coast Brewery to mourn my passing. Then dyeing stuff for the next two shows. Yippy. I'm starting to feel the freedom and really excited to work on some Mermaid projects unencumbered. I'm ready. Saving the world ain't easy, folks.

Well, the time has come once again to say Buh-Bye to another day job. Muaaaahahahahha! Yes, I've been at the peace sticker place for about a year and a half. Seems like plenty. I had planned on staying through the winter and leaving in the spring... but I don't think I can make it that long. A few reasons. One is that I'm just plain burnt. Much as I predicted when my coworker/supervisor started taking 3-4 weeks off at a time and the big boss didn't hire anyone else. I told them I could do it, but if the stress level stayed high for too long I'd burn out for sure. Hey, guess what? I was right. Secondly, the boss is freakin nuts. Which is fine in itself, most of my best friends are nuts. Yeah, it was fine when he barely spoke to me... but I would hear him sometimes go batty on my coworkers and I'd say, "good thing he doesn't speak to me that way or I might have to tell him to fuck himself". Then he started talking to me... and eventually in that way

...cuz it's time once again for the wonderful North Country Fair! Wooooooo! I hope all my friends and neighbors are gearing up for the big fall hootinany on the Arcata Plaza this weekend. Cuz man, it's the funnest thing around. Yes, funnest. Three stages of music and dance, featuring all our favorite local talent. 200 crafts, food and info booths. Two parades, one each day. Beer. Sun. Friends. I mean, what more do you want? I for one have been feverishly dyeing stuff, ordering booth supplies, getting ready for a great weekend. I have my new specially-made-by-Busam festival skirt... but alas, the rest of the goods she's been working on are not ready as I had hoped. We were so close, but now she has other life things to tend to and the Mermaid must wait. Sigh. Maybe I'll have them in the spring. But at least MY skirt is done and it's fantastic. Full circle with ruffles. Yesss. And of course I'll have some other new goodies to show off. Don't worry. Um, what el

Ok, well it's time to get ready for this next round of shows. Fort Bragg was a nice warmup. I dyed whatever random stuff I had here to dye. It was a lot, but mostly unusual special items... I didn't have all my stock up to what I like. Now, I need to do a full inventory and order whatever I need to fill it all out. About a ton. In fact, I should over order, since I'll have 2 shows in a row right away. I have 2 weeks until North Country Fair on Sept 22-23. woooo! I'll see you all there. It's the rockinest hootinany around. As I've mentioned before , the drama is over and this will be a great show for all I'm sure. Hey, looks like there are still some vendor spots available. The following week, I'm off to Caspar on the beautiful Mendocino coast for Caspar Fest. I loved this show last year, it was my intro to doing shows in this area. So it will be fun fun fun. Also they are adding more eco-groovy & community themes and activities, like demos and a din

I'm still here. Vacation was swell, thanks. My attitude was adjusted appropriately I think... just in time too. I'm back to work at the peace sticker place. Most of my coworkers left for a week or two, so I'm holding down the peace fort. I have skills. And it's been slow. Also, I refuse to be stressed. So it's working out fine. I also just scored a last-minute spot in the Fort Bragg festival this weekend... um Paul Bunyan Days. Yippee! I have wanted to do this one for a few years, but always miss the deadline somehow. I usually do pretty well in that area, and it is a holiday weekend. So I suspect the wealthy vacationers will be in abundance. Luckily, I have been reckless in my online ordering during my break, so I have lots of stuff to dye up. I'm a bit behind schedule, due to car issues and my own lame tendencies... but I can hear the washer finishing up a load of Ocean colored stuff as I type. I'll have a few things for the mendo throngs to adore. Worry n

Oh, yessss. I'm lovin it. After months of hard work and slaving away at the Peace Sticker place between c raft shows, filling in for other folks and whatnot... I now have a whole week off! Yippee. Can I afford it? I don't know. But that won't stop me from enjoying myself. Oh no. I managed to work o ut a Mom visit, which is pretty cool. She'll be arriving on Tuesday from North Dakota, and on Thursday we'll drive to Reno to visit my little bro and his wife in their new house. I'm getting pretty excited about the whole thing. I mean, Mom hasn't been here to visit for a couple years, hasn't seen the new digs. And I haven't seen my brother since his wedding over a year ago. Eesh. Way too long! It's going to be so fun!! So, for now... after I'm done basking in my vacation-ness, which means lounging on the computer in my pj's for hours at a time... it will be time to clean the house real good. Yip. I have a few things planned for Mom when she ar

Oh yeah, baby. One of the best things about vending at festivals with such talented artists is definitely the booty. I love to trade mermaid clothing for goodies on my travels. Sometimes I even buy stuff. Like the painting above. I bought it from the guy selling next to me up at that oregon show. I love it. sort of a cross between sunset at the beach up here and maybe some other planetscape. Plus the guy was neat to talk with (and he wasn't selling much I think). This bag is great and the fabric is fuzzy. Love it so much I made it my new magical money bag for the booth. I scored both of these at the fair on Clear Lake. The bag I traded for. The painting I bought from this little old lady who was so sweet! She was doing her booth all alone and it was painful to watch, she wouldn't accept much help cuz she said, if I can't do it alone I might as well stay home. The painting really reminds me of her. The card above was SUCH a score! I was at that oregon show, running to get so

I'm resting. But as we know, the Mermaid's work is never done... I have things to take care of. Let's see... uh, website stuff for sure. I haven't updated the inventory on it for months. Gotta do that. I also have a bunch of items not shown on the site. So, new photos and new pages are in order for sure. I think I'm going to hire my friend's daughter to help with a bunch of stuff. That will be fun. I have business crap to take care of too. This place is a mess! Gotta fix up my files and sales records and all that. Ick. OH, and it looks like I'm gonna get me a new VAN finally! Yipee! A nice big cargo van, just like the one I use that belongs to Barney. But newer and not creepy. THAT is freakin exciting. Christmas fair applications are showing up, so time to figure out what the hell I'm doing this year in that area. Sigh. Oh, and the designs I've been working on with The Buz are coming together. I should have at least 2 new pieces for North Country F

So today at work , as I slaved away over a hot keyboard/phone/stickerpile... we had khum on the radio as usual. At some point I noticed they were playing the friday songs. (Larry usually plays a few particular songs near 5pm on fridays and then announces it's officially the weekend. Sometimes he'll play them at like 2pm and just say he's 'calling it'. It's the weekend people, start figuring out your excuse to leave work early. Cute, I know. I love Larry.) How odd, thought I. Why the hell are they playing friday songs at noon on tuesday? Cruelty? I may have mumbled about it to myself throughout the set of songs... I'm not saying for sure. Well duh Mermaid, there is a holiday tomorrow and many many folks have the day off or even long weekends. Sure, ok. At the end of the set Mike says, "call me up and tell me what just happened, using the proper phrasing and I'll give you a cd". So I did. You called it, man! Then he asked if I had to work tomorr

Oh, let's see um... huh... maybe I might do ANOTHER FESTIVAL. Wooo! Tomorrow I'm off to the Umpqua Valley Arts Festival up in Roseburg Oregon. It's a 3 day hootinany with over 100 art booths, 2 stages, kids area, food, wine garden... the whole shibang. Sweet. So, it's about a 4 hour drive north. I'll be going alone, Barney has to be at work friday I think. I am splurging for a motel for the entire trip and that will be quite luxurious. Showers and beds and everything. Heehee. Barney might show up at some point, not sure yet. But, I have no problems with doing a festival alone, I've done it lots of times and it's a little more of an adventure that way you know. Yeah, I don't have much else to tell. Except that I have about a ton of stuff to do and I'm still sitting here in coffee mode. Yawn. Thanks for helping me procrastinate...

I've been so busy, I forgot to show off my new Bohemian Mermaid stickers! I've wanted these ever since I started working at the sticker place and now I have them... sweet huh? I have 1000, want one?

Ok, I might be getting a little tired. I've done let's see... 4 craft shows in 6 weeks, most of them out of town. And dyeing stuff while working 4 days a week. Heh. Yeah I know, I'm studly. But I wouldn't mind a day off really. However, as you well know, a Mermaid's work is never done, and so... Tomorrow I have a festival! Wooo! It's the 17th annual Oyster Festival right here at home. Sweet. There aren't that many craft booths, this is really more about the food. But, I will have a giant obnoxious double booth per Barney's encouragement (bah just go for it!). I'm feeling a little self-conscious about it. But I guess if it makes me more visible it could help my sales. And he was right about paying more for the corner booth in benbow, that paid off pretty well. Yeah, I really hope he's right. Cuz this little one day fair is costing me plenty. The booth is spendy to begin with, for the privilege of selling in the lovely town of Arcata. Double booth

No. So there I was, trying to recover still from the busy festival last weekend. I've been so tired all week, with work and all... when Friday I get a call from the chick who runs the Trinidad sunday market. She's saved me a spot at the Fish Festival and will I be attending? Uh, I wasn't planning on it... since I have a ton of dyeing to do and I'm still so tired like I said. But, then she says how it's the 50th annual and there are like 40 booths and how I don't have to pay extra since I'm already signed up for the market etc. Gosh, at that moment it sounded too good to pass up. Sure, ok I'll be there! Of course, as soon as I got off the phone I says to myself I says, "What are you nuts?!" But Barney, being the awesome supporter he is, says "Hey, why not right? You can make a few bucks and I'll go with you to help, I'd like some of those fish and chips!" Ok. Sure, I'm studly what the hell. I'll dye stuff on saturday an

Yeah, I really just wanted to see that title.... so I needed a separate post. For some reason, my booth was a place for weird items to be lost during the show. Ok, two items. But still it was odd. Saturday, a garbage bag full of popcorn. Nobody claimed it, we asked around the neighbor's busy henna booth. Nope. Everyone in the immediate area. No, not mine. To my knowledge, no booths were even selling popcorn. We left it there for hours. People commented on it, but nobody touched it or came looking for it. It was a mystery. Later, we closed the booth and went wandering... many hours and drunk people passed, and still the popcorn was there. When we were returning to the booth to go to bed, I saw a figure in the dark bent over inspecting the bag... I didn't miss a step, "It's popcorn!" and I disappeared behind our tent laughing. The next morning it was gone. Sunday it was a pair of handcuffs. They were first spotted by some kids whose parents were visiting the pottery

Well, we are off to the thriving metropolis of Lakeport for their Memorial Day festival thingy down on Clear Lake. Barney is packing the truck and getting a new airbed for the back. I'm printing stars on baby shirts and gathering sunscreen and water. Yip, got my big bag of peace buttons and my sandals... ready for the sun baby! I'm counting on the bay area vacationers to come through this weekend. Line up ladies, wrap skirts and mermaid tanks for everyone! Woooo!