Hot Dog! and Hamburgers too

Hmm . . . once again a post title in reference to a song and once again, if you haven't heard it or haven't heard it in awhile check it out - "Hot Dog" by Led Zeppelin of course.

But the hot dogs and hamburgers I am talking about are two new card designs. I haven't made any new card designs in a very long time and these were sketches in the works for - I want to say years - how is that possible??? There will be more meat-related card designs coming soon but here are the first two.
I like how one hamburger looks very proud of himself and the other is not amused at all? Ah, the subtleties of felt and google eyes.

Sweeter than a honey bee

The title of this post (and this latest project) have this great song happily stuck in my head. The actual song title is "Queen Bee" by wonderful Taj Mahal. It's a great song to listen to and be happy about - especially this time of year!

I have been working day and night, getting ready for the upcoming Buyers Market of American Craft show - I am so excited and nervous and thrilled and did I mention nervous? to be participating for the first time in the February portion of this amazing show. I have been lucky enough to do the Summer show - so this is a huge honor. There is so much preparation going into it - I am a slave to the to-do lists, but it feels so good to be able to put 100% focus on it and hopefully, no matter what happens, I can say - "Well, I gave it my best!"

During breaks of show preparation tasks, I have been sneaking in a little stitching (I couldn't possibly stop that!) I have just finished up a batch of bees - they are the sweet kind that don't sting. They are in the Etsy shop too!

This little fella just told me "Don't be nervous, BEE happy. . . ."

Whew! It's been a mighty long time! Luckily, during my very long absence, I have been busy making and creating and doing and I would like to share what has been on the ol' Pea Soup Studio work desk.

Today for example, I have been working on taking pictures - not just pictures but GOOD pictures. This is certainly not something that comes easy for me!! Other than that mountain I am climbing, I have also begun work on a new ostrich egg, just for fun. The first step of doing a batik on an ostrich shell is prepping the surface, which takes about a half an hour of scrubbing it with a vinegar wash. Naturally, the egg shell is almost like porcelain with a lovely shine, but no dye or wax or even pencil lines would adhere to it. By washing and scrubbing the shell, it now has a lovely matte finish to it - perfect to begin the pencil divisions.

More along the lines of Pea Soup, wool felt lovelies, I have been working on a trio of puppy dogs that I have just finished and have even uploaded one into the Etsy shop. These little guys turned out very cute (I haven't made any dolls in a very long time!) And I amso into the idea of giving them as a gift to a little tot that I made up a little "adoption paper" coloring card to go with them. Too much fun! Here they all are together, with their favorite toys, before they are adopted to their new owners:

Here's there "very offical" adoption card:

And they will soon all be up in the shops very soon! That is all for today. . . back to work I go!

In Order to Display - - -

Whew! Now where was I?

I believe waaay back in July (and July is a wonderful thought isn't it?! Warm and sunny and when the world wasn't covered in 3 feet of snow . . . ) I digress, in July, I had the thought to share my lessons learned from my first year at the Buyers Market of American Craft. (By the way, I will be there again this year! It's in Baltimore, MD August 23, 24, 25!) So, seven months later, it seems like a good idea.

One of the things that I am always keeping an eye out for is great ways to display work. As anyone probably has told you, your displays should be a reflection of your work. It should compliment while not distracting the items that you are selling. For years, I sold only at outdoor festivals/arts and crafts fairs/etc. For that, it was simply tables covered with "pea soup" color yards of fabric, old barn boxes for varying heights, some baskets and a few burlap covered boards with hooks for hanging my pins.

For the Buyers Market, I knew I wanted a very simply display, I wanted my pins (which are all packaged on shipping tags) to look like they were hanging in a salon gallery. So, I went to ABCTarget .com (here) first . But I didn't want it to look cheesy or department store-ish. But I liked the ideas of portable "walls" to hang my work on and they weren't ridiculously heavy, so I bought six 2 by 6 feet grid walls in white (here.)

My original thought is that I would cover them in fabric panels. So, I figured out how many hooks I would need, and then all the proper hardware, legs, connectors etc. and a couple of gridwall shelves for displaying my cards on.

These are the hooks, I got the small ones - I think I got 160? So, I went a little hook crazy . . . )


Okay, so at this point, I am well aware that this is looking department-store-ish and also very non-pea soup-ish. But I was confident I could do something to it.

Here's what I ended up doing - not making fabric panels! I was in a time crunch. What I did was lightly sand all of the gridwalls, hooks, and legs with steel wool (don't skip this step!) and I spray painted (I used rust-0-leum) everything a java brown. Now, if you are thinking about spray painting the way that I did, think ahead to the color you are going to use and buy the grid wall system in the closest color! For example, I should have bought black because white is too light! If there is a missed spot or a chip - you can really see it! I chose brown because on all of my tags, I use brown ink and the tags themselves are a light tan/brown - it complimented my work without overwhelming it.


You may be asking yourself - so when are we going to see the final results!?!?! Here you are, a lovely (blurry!) picture -






Now, everyone's display needs are going to be different. And you are going to want to convey the feeling that your products emit. But all displays have a few good rules of thumb, like keep everything at eye level so that your customers don't have to strain to see your product, keep your displays clean and neat and let your work be the stars of the show! Let the little touches (for me, the color of the grid walls, the fabric on my table, my sign, height boxes and trees) really be the icing to the cake that is all of your handmade goodies!!!

Until next time!

A new project

So, part of the reason I have not been blogging and not been posting any new things in the Etsy shop and really posting anything at all is that I have been completely immersed in this very special and very very outside of my comfort zone show coming up this very weekend. It's the Philadelphia Buyers Market of American Craft and I applied on a whim and some how got accepted and have been in a mild state of panic and stress and shock since! But here is my idea, as I am actually seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, is to share my adventure on this blog. I mean - what does one do when they need affordable, cute promotional give-aways? Where do you get BIG posters made of your work? How about catchy business cards? What the heck is the difference between PAR 30 and PAr 20 lighting??? These are all things that I have been stressing/pondering over for months and I want to put it all out there for anyone who may need it. You all are probably a bit more savvy then myself, but I still feel like I have almost survived the battle and would love to help anyone that may be in a similar situation! Okay, so no photos or tips or hints just yet - soon though - keep your fingers crossed - it's almost a day away until show time!!!!!

And now for my next trick . . .

Truth be told - on my work desk right now is a batch of ghosts and a batch of snowmen . . . I know, I don't blame you for not wanting to see them either - July is upon us and too much weeding and mulching and tending to outside things like sunshine and walks and grills to think about ghosts and snowmen. So, here instead is a picture that I took right before dinner, which we ate outside as a storm loomed - fresh vegetables, chilled white wine, brown rice . . . now THAT is summer and so is this:

Back Again

I'm back again - at least I think - the good news is, I have weathered quite an adventure. The bad news is, this is what my studio looked like about an hour ago:

The good news is this is what my table looks like now:Sorry for the terribly dark pictures!

Hopefully, many little felt creations will be marching their way completed off of this table very soon!