Deluxe Indie Craft Bazaar

Fun news! I just found out I will be a vendor at this years Deluxe Indie Craft Bazaar, Saturday, December 8, 2012 at the OKC fairgrounds. Go ahead an put it on your calendars and I will give you more info as I have it.
I have been a shopper at this Bazaar a few times and have always been impressed with the cool products and fun activities so. . . I am super excited to be able to participate as a vendor this year.
I am already starting to think about holiday ideas.

Do you all do most of your holliday shopping at these kind of events or hit the mall, shop online, make it all yourself?

*note-I think this graphic must be from last year, disregard the date. It is not on the 11th it is Dec. 8th*

Plaza District Fest . . . Sneak Peek!

Here is a quick peek of a few little things I am working on for the Plaza District Festival. . .more to
come later.

 



   

 

 

 

What are you working on? For money, fun or both? Are you already preping holliday crafts?

ALLIDAY

 

 

Exciting news! I just found out I will be a vendor at the ALLIDAY arts & crafts fair in Tulsa, OK December 15th.

I am pretty excited and will keep you posted with more info as the date approaches.

 

by the by. . .December 15th is a pretty cool day aside from this as it is my sister's birthday and the anniversary of Jerod and I starting to date (12 years together for anyone counting).

 

*ALLIDAY's website seems to be having some problems so I have linked to their facebook page*



Plaza District Festival

Exciting news!



I just found out I will be one of the vendors at OKC's Plaza District Festival!!!!! It is September 29th, from 12pm to 10pm so put it on your calendars and come out and see me. If you haven't been to the Plaza District you should . . . it is a cool little area that seems to be getting continuously cooler!

YIKES! I have a lot to do between now and the Sept. 29th. Wish me luck.

Is anyone else participating or attending anything fun this fall?

Fairs and Festivals

On Saturday, May 20th Jerod and I drove up to Tulsa to check out the Blue Dome Arts Festival (it's part of Mayfest) a friend of ours had a booth (more about that later) we wanted to check out her stuff and see what else there was to see. It is a really big festival, compared to Dustbowl! I did see a few of my fellow Dustbowl venders and lots of new and cool things . . . we went on a little sending spree . . . for us that is. So I am going to get right to the goodies and show you what we bought.

First, the lovely and talented Jeanine Copeland/Dirty Birdee (the friend I mentioned) had her first art festival booth and we picked up a couple of things from her:

 

 this adorable magnet is already making my fridge cheerier

 

I wore this pin last Tuesday and got tons of compliments!

 

This little coin purse is going to our niece, Emma who is turning 12 in June. I will probably fill it with a few extras before sending it to her.

One last thing. . .not to plug too hard but Dirty Birdee has a facebook page if you want to find out more info or look at products. Jeanine make adorable birdnest headbands that I am dying for someone to get. . .unfortunately my giant, bucket head has never worked well with a headband.

Second, we did some shopping for the yard. . .yes we are on a yard sprucing kick!

 We got these great birdhouses to hang on our fence.

 

 They are small but precious and will be perfect in a corner of the yard we are devoting to birds and bird paraphernalia.

The vendor does not have a website or online presence thus I can't pass his info along:(

We also picked up this sun-catcher/garden stake.

 

It is made from a gear and glass and we both think it is perfect for the front bed. I, of course, wish we had about 15 of them in all different sizes.

Maybe I will call this the start of a "grouping"

Also, this vendor does not have a website or online presence so again I can not pass along her info.

Third, I WON SOMETHING!!!!!!!! I never win anything so I was pretty stoked about this. While walking around I heard one of the vendors say he hid two ruby slippers in other booths at the festival and if you found one you could bring it back for a prize. Coincidentally, one of the ruby slippers was in our friends booth. I did NOT cheat, though. I saw it ask if was one and was told it was, other peoples overlooking was my gain. I won a 4x6 photo of my choice from Death of a Witch by Evan Taylor. I am going to pre-apologize because the following picture is horrible but the actually photo is cute. I was having reflection problems when I took it!

 

Thanks to Death of a Witch. I think I will add this to the bedroom collage wall.

Fourth. . .and this is the best part. . . . .
Okay, a little back story and a public apology. When Jerod and I shop we always check everything out, then discuss the things we like, think about them, and then decide if they are worth buying. At Bluedome we had already perused everything and were considering the bird houses and the garden stake when we came across the next item, I instantly fell in love but it was more than we had planned to spend, so we walked away. Later in the day Jerod excused himself to get us drinks and find a bathroom, he was gone for awhile but I didn't think about it as it was super crowed. So, later as we were deciding on our items I could not let the following item go and kept insisting we think about it and consider buying it instead of the other items, I was so obsessively talking about it that Jerod finally had to tell me that . . . He had already gone back and gotten it for me for my upcoming birthday!!!!!! I need to say that Jerod does not usually plan gifts ahead or do big surprises so I feel/felt especially awful for blowing this one BUT now I get to enjoy it longer.
With no further ado here is my new and most beloved Water Buffalo

 

Isn't he beautiful. 

The super nice man who makes these has no contact info besides a telephone number(which doesn't seem like something to give out online) so yet again I can't do anything to help promote his work.

I LOVE THIS MASK AND MY HUSBAND FOR BUYING IT FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The cats love it too and were very happy once I got it on the wall. Can't you feel the joy in their eyes?

On Saturday, May 26th I volunteered for the PAMBE Ghana Market at the Paseo Arts Festival for a few hours in the afternoon and showed up a bit early so I could check out the vendors there.
I picked up a couple of small but cool items.

First up are these tiny and precious ceramic vases and bowls, none of them are more than two inches tall!!  

How cute will they be with a single flower in them? 

The artist is Cobos Leon, he is part of Paseo Pottery.

Secondly, is this small (5x7-ish) paper cutting to add to the collage wall in our bedroom. 

 

I thought is was very pretty and would fit in nicely with some other bits and pieces we already have.

The artist once again does not have an online presence so. . .no info to pass along

Lastly, I picked up two friendship bracelets to add to our nieces birthday gift. 

 

They are so bright and cute. Plus, they seemed perfect for a twelve year old. 

I purchased these from Pambe Ghana, the organization I volunteer for, so I know they are fair trade and benefit a good cause. You can check out info on Pambe Ghana here and here.

And such are my weekends of festivals!
Have any of you all been to any fun festivals or fairs yet this summer?


*It needs to be noted that I was not payed or perked for this post. My promotion or mentioning or these products or vendors is solely because I think they are cool.

Dustbowl Arts Market: Recap

Well all . . . last weekend was finally the Dustbowl Arts Market at Norman Music Fest 5! After a month of doing nothing but working and sewing I got to set up my booth and sell some stuff. Some being the operative word. . .meaning there was more looking than buying but I got some great responses, gave out a million cards, and had some good chats with people. With this being my first market I learned a few things and would rethink (or restructure) this or that when doing one of these in the future but all in all I had a great time and am anxious to apply for more shows and give this making/vending thing another shot.
So here are some pictures of my booth: 

This is a full shot of the booth. Again there are a few things I would change but I think it looks pretty cute

and a lot like me! Also it was VERY overcast when the day started so my pictures are a little drab due to the low grew light.

 

A few of my pillows.

some bits and pieces. . . Oh. . .a couple (three) things 

1: I used, as it was recommended by friends and the Dustbowl organizers, Square. Which allows you to run credit cards on your iphone or android. It is great, a little finicky, but so cool! You can text or email receipts and include a photo of the product on the receipt. Super handy, Super cool. 

2: Last minute I decided I wanted some cheap little extras to jazz up my table so I whipped up some cute little flags with fabric scraps and skewers (see picture below). Crazy easy and so cheerful. 

3: I also wanted something wearable in the mix and thought some classic friendship pins (see picture below) would do the trick. These are a tiny bit annoying to make as you have to unwind the safety pin. . . but aren't they happy. I think I may have to wear frequently now.

Little and big buntings or pendant flags or hanging flags. I am going to have to think of what I call them going forward. It seems people either know them as buntings or are completely confused by the term.

My birds. These were the big seller and got the most attention in generally.

I would like to take a second to talk about my cards and my labels which (in my opinion) turned out GREAT! I got quite a few comments on the cards and a number of question on how I did them so here it is. . . I ordered custom cards with black text on plain brown kraft paper from Modern Typography's Etsy shop. To give a little plug Modern Typography was extremely helpful, got my cards to me quick as can be AND she has lots of other adorable stuff in her shop so check it out. Back to my cards. . .once I got the plain cards I ran them through my sewing machine using a decorative stitch and bright thread.

I didn't do any additional work on my fabric labels but think they turned out great so. . .I am going to show them off. I ordered them from Inked Papers on Etsy who also has tons of great looking products (especially the labels). 

. . .And that is my Dustbowl experience.

 I do need to say that Jerod was a great help on Saturday (man can he load a card when he needs to [you would have been impressed Dad]) and is always my biggest supporter and bought me curry on Sunday and put up with me not being the most fun person this last month and is encouraging me to make and do more. . .so . . . thanks to him.

And thanks to everyone else who had to listen to me talk only about this.

More Dustbowl-ing

Dustbowl progress is being made although, I did have a little freak out on Tuesday and per the suggestion of my husband I went to bed at 9 o'clock!!I woke up feeling MUCH better. . . I was in one of those spots where everything is started and you are working but nothing seems to be getting done. . .I am going to assume everyone knows what I mean. Luckily, I am now feeling like (some) things are moving in the done direction. Here is what I have been up to:

Little bird bodies waiting to be stuffed and sewn shut. . .

Stuffed birds getting grouped into families. . .

STRUNG BIRDS!!! Don't they look like they want to live on someone's porch or wall or where ever? Granted, they still need a tassle on the end but . . . THEY ARE ACTUALLY READY TO HANG!

Pillow front (pieces) example #1. . .

Pillow front (pieces) example #2.

I have all of the pillow fronts designed and cut out now I just need to sew and sew and sew and iron. I am getting excited to see them all put together and backed.

Hopefully I will make big pillow progress this weekend.

Where Crispin likes to "help" me sew Sweet Keith decided he is more of a bird man and got in on the stuffing action.

Dustbowl Progress

So. . . I have been hard at work prepping for the Dustbowl Arts Market (April 28th). I have spent the evenings and weekends cutting, sewing, ironing (my least favorite part) and planning. Jerod refers to this state of things as "the Belteau sweat shop" and threatens to lock the door, feed me speed and just give me food once a day (in actuality he has done the grocery shopping, helped me clean and let me monopolize the Roku). I don't have any finished product to show off yet but I have made some headway.

I have bags full of various size bunting pieces all stacked, sorted and ready to sew.

Bird bodies. . . .

A bit of sewing done! (Crispin was so exhausted from supervising that she took a quick nap. . .I think it was 2 hours)

AND. . . a couple almost done buntings (size large) they just need their finishing touches.

Although, it is a lot of work I have been having tons of fun and am more excited than I have been in ages (I hope I am not getting my hopes up too high).

I will keep you all posted on my progress and hope that everyone is up to something of their own that is both fun and fulfilling.

Exciting News!

Yesterday I found out that I will be a vendor at the Spring 2012, Dustbowl Arts Market! It will be Saturday, April 28th during Norman Music Fest 5.

I plan on selling some of my sewn goods, pillows, buntings, birds and other exciting bits and pieces that I have yet to think up!

The next month will be busy but I am super excited:)

I will keep everyone posted as I work on new projects and get all of the details. This is my first time to do anything like this so. . .YIKES!