Bohemian Mermaid Palace

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...

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...

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,...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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!