*show* them what you've got

one of my favorite parts of the spring season is the abundance of arts and craft shows that pop up around where i live...



i recently participated in a benefit handmade-only crafts show in Blair, NE - the raffle ticket sales and booth fees went to the animal shelter, a great cause.

here are some pictures of me, my set-up, and my booth. it was the first of the year, with a new set-up, so it was a little rough, but i know what i need to improve, and i know what worked and didn't.



a close-up of my booth's focal point



smiling with a bow in my hair - although this outfit was nothing fancy, it's important to never look frumpy or disgruntled at a show - who wants to buy from someone like that?



this is how i display my stud earrings. it's a work-in-progress, but for now, i've painted an inexpensive canvas teal with the word "studlies," and i punch the studs through the canvas. it's not very portable, but it's fairly cute. i need to make a new canvas, and use a ruler to punch evenly-spaced holes. on my epically long to-do list ;)



this picture was taken at a show last september. the show was an epic fail - my sister and i shared the booth, and paid $400 to make $37. BUT the experience was invaluable, and it was great to see what displays worked and didn't. for example, the giant earring tower to my right? bad idea - people were intimidated by the size, it blocked out other items from view, and no one wanted to rotate it for fear of knocking it over. that display now sits in my cabinet, organizing my for-sale earrings on etsy. :)

have you done any shows yet this year? link us to your booth pictures, favorite set-ups on flickr, and share any tips or stories about your experiences. :)

p.s. want to do a little extra homework? check out this great flickr group, saturated with jewelry booth pictures - i stole a whole bunch of ideas! :)

XO, Anna

workroom: a home for all my things

for the first of many posts, i’d like to swoon over my new apartment. jake and i spent all last week moving, across town with all our junk, into a two-bedroom apartment, and that second bedroom is being made into a workroom for all my crafts and artsy-fartsy-ness. i’m so incredibly pumped!

i built a furniture-in-a-box pantry cabinet that i stuffed full with my jewelry, cards, bubble mailers, wrapping and shipping equipment, and show displays. don’t ask me how i crammed it all in there! and i got a matching white embellishment center – basically a big self-standing shelving unit, with ribbon dowels and cubbyholes so everything i ever need is right at my fingertips.

it was torture when i bought the cabinet and the shelving center, a couple weeks before we moved, because i couldn’t open them or fill them or anything, since there was nowhere for them to go in the old place. torture, i tell you!

below are some in-progress shots of what the room looks like, as i’m putting it together. there are many changes yet to come, including lots of wall art and the obvious organizational tasks that come with moving all your crap across a big city, haha!

so, what kind of set-up do YOU have? share all the little ways you keep your crafts in an organized manner, or for that matter, chaotic mess! J link us to some shots of your space on flikr, etc. and show us how you do what you do!

(more pictures soon, i promise!)

XO, Anna

opening scene

once in a long while does a girl get the opportunity to say hello to the world around her, in such a public and visual way. in short, this blog is for all things fun and fanciful that catch my eye and interest, and i hope it becomes a favorite of yours. you can expect handmade lovelies, important things from the world around us, views from beyond, and noteworthy melodies, just to name a few. soon, i'll be featuring other online souls, and doing some fun giveaways to celebrate this new blog, so i invite you to follow me and stay tuned! ;)