Give the Gift of Nature! Shop Small this Season...

Natural stones all polished and strung, check out these gifts for some holiday fun!

15% off of everything in my Etsy Shop from now through this weekend! 

Use Code: BLACKFRIDAY12

Knotted and beaded with stones to match, long enough for your favorite hard back, these handmade bookmarks are unique and personal so consider one or two for your favorite reader:

Yellow Botswana Agate and Golden Autumn Leaf Macrame Bookmark

Lapis Lazuli and Starfish Macrame Bookmark

Perhaps a pendant or necklace is what you seek? A single nugget of earth's beauty or some sliding stones, adjustable from large to small they are a great fit for one and all!

  

Crazy Lace Agate Adjustable Pendant

 Labradorite Sliding Stone Necklace

Bracelets and jotter sets I have as well. What you might like I cannot tell so take a peek and have a look-see, especially the jotters that have artwork done originally by me.

Practical art for your pocket or stones for your wrist, you might find a stocking stuffer or perfect hostess gift!

 

Mookaite Jasper Triple Leather Wrap Bracelet

  

 

Garlic Scapes Jotter Journal Set (3 mini-journals.)

Last, but not least, be sure to check back as I will continue to add to the shop, that's a fact. 

Happy shopping!

Kerrytown BookFest!

Last Sunday (September 9) I had the opportunity to have my first, official, by-myself booth at an event. I had a table at the 10th Annual Kerrytown BookFest!

BookFest is a fantastic, local event focusing not just on authors and the literary arts, but also on the art and craft that goes into creating the physical books, including bookbinding, printing, and papermaking. As a librarian and artist, I couldn't resist the combination!

Held in the space where the weekly Kerrytown Farmer's Market occurs, my booth was in a great location just outside of Sweetwater's cafe, next to the information booths for BookFest. I was also right at the T-insersection of the first aisle of the market.

I had consistent foot traffic all day, so much so that when I took a couple of brief breaks, my volunteer relief (both BookFest volunteers and also my husband!) reported that I had folks stopping by and browsing and asking questions. Great to hear!

 

My offerings included the full range of items that I have in my Etsy shop, including wrap bracelets, jotter journal sets with prints of my original artwork on them, natural stone pendants, hand-knotted macrame gemstone bookmarks, and some handbound mini-journals.

<-- Jotter Journals with Prints of Original Art

Handbound journals, bookmarks and pendants -->

In addition to my products, I had a couple of other things that were incentives for folks to stop by and linger:

1) A giveaway! I thought it would be a nice sign of appreciation to the folks who came by to have a chance to win a gift card to my shop. I put a sign on the front of my booth and had a  sign-up sheet on the table for folks to win a $50.00 gift card to my Etsy shop. I had over 60 entries and picked the lucky winner (Ellery) during the week after BookFest.

2) Something informative! One other item I had on my table that seemed to be helpful in drawing folks to the booth and giving them something "no-pressure" to do was an informative display about Stones of Michigan. You can see the sheet in front of my jewelry stands:

It included samples of five different stones, all from Michigan, with descriptions of the origins of each.  Most Michiganders are familiar with the state stone - Petoskey Stone - which is a fossil coral, specifically Hexagonaria, found off of the shores of Lake Michigan. In the course of making wrap bracelets and researching the state's natural history, I have discovered a number of other stones that I have started to use in my creations. These include Leland Bluestone, which is actually a glass/stone mix that resulted as a by-product of smelting in the 1870s; epidote, a gorgeous, green stone; mid-mitten alabaster; and kona dolomite (a fossil algae.) People were drawn into the booth and it gave them something to look at, and learn from, while browsing around.

The content of the booth also includes the finishing touches, such as a nice table covering and display stands, professional signage (I printed pricing cards up and laminated them) as well as some decorative items to fill up the space so that the table doesn't look too sparse. All of this contributes to creating an attractive, inviting, and professional display that speaks to the quality of your products and your business as a whole.

I am thrilled to report that I had a nice number of sales at BookFest as well as some inquiries from folks about my presence at other local craft venues. I am very grateful for everyone who came out and who supported my first foray into craft booth selling!

What did I learn? While having a craft booth is invigorating and exciting, and potentially lucrative, it is exhausting! I spent a great deal of time preparing my booth materials, making extra product so that I had enough to offer my customers, and then spending the entire day on Sunday setting up, staffing, and cleaning up the booth. It was a wonderful opportunity to talk with my customers and potential customers directly, get my products in front of people, and make some sales, but when I started to tally up my time spent on the whole endeavor, I began thinking about my pricing. I will explain more about that in my next post...stay tuned!

Have you ever sold your wares at a craft booth? Do you do this frequently, or just at a select few shows per year? I would love to hear your perspective on the subject.

FOLKbarn at the Springfield Antique Show & Flea Market

Are you in the Ohio area this weekend? If so, stop by the FOLKbarn at the Springfield Antique Show & Flea Market today through Sunday!

I am excited to be participating in FOLK Magazine's pop-up booth within the barn. The booth features handmade artisan creations and antique & vintage goods from artisans all over the country. I have sent some bracelets as well as some of my hand-made jotter journals, including:

Moukaite Jasper Triple Wrap Bracelet. Made exclusively for the FOLKbarn!

Pietersite Double Wrap Bracelet. Made exclusively for the FOLKbarn!

Safari Jasper Double Wrap Bracelet. Made exclusively for the FOLKbarn!

 

Orange Star Jotter Journal Set. All jotter journal sets feature prints of my original artwork and include 3 mini-notebooks made with recycled paper. Great for sketches, notes, lists, and more!

Lady Slipper Orchid Jotter Journal Set.

 

Red Tulip Jotter Journal Set.

 

American Red Raspberry Jotter Journal Set.

Use this 10% off coupon towards a purchase this weekend, or next weekend at the FOLKstore in Beaver Dam, KY.

And, of course, you can find more bracelets, jotter journal sets, and hand-bound journals in my Etsy shop.  Happy shopping!

Happy March! 10% off in my Etsy shop!

Happy March, readers! Are you ready for spring? Get a head start and celebrate by taking 10% off of anything in my Etsy shop between now and March 15! 

Use coupon code: THINKSPRING12 

There are lots of great gift items, including natural gemstone wrap bracelets, jotter journal sets and a hand-bound blank journal made with heavy-weight Wyndstone art paper. Take a look!

  

 

Brecciated Jasper Leather Wrap Bracelet 

 

Leland Bluestone Macrame Bracelet

African Daisy Jotter Journal Set 

New Jotter Journals!

QUICK UPDATE: I have been working on some new jotter journals to list in my Etsy shop and just put my first set up. 

These feature a print of my American Red Raspberry plant illustration. I look forward to creating more sets featuring other original illustrations including more botanicals, natural objects and wildlife. Stay tuned!

More Jotters! Wrapped Edges and End Papers.

These are for you, Anita! :)

My friend Anita made a comment on yesterday's jotter journal post about my edge-fraying problem. We both agreed that wrapping the edges of the fabric around the card stock would be a good solution. I wasn't sure if it was worth the time to do that and include end papers since this is such a quick project. However, I decided to try it today and it worked beautifully! It really did not take much longer to do and I think it gives a much more finished look to the journals.

So, in today's experiment, I created two new little jotters. Both were done using my Tree Stripes fabric in cotton silk. It has a lovely sheen and gives a slightly fancier look to the finished product. 

The first is about 3" x 3.5" and in addition to wrapping the fabric around the edges, I also sewed the pages in a bit differently, adding a large, decorative bead at the bottom for a little embellishment.

 

After gluing the card stock to the fabric, I trimmed the edges an prepared to glue them down. I also cut end papers to fit. What isn't shown here is that I had to trim diagonally across the corners leaving about 1/8" fabric so that when the edges were folded there wasn't too much bulk.

 

 I glued the fabric edges down using my glue stick and after they dried a bit (under some waxed paper and a heavy book), I trimmed up the little bit of extra sticking out in each corner.

 Finally, I glued down the end papers, again using my glue stick and pressing it under some waxed paper and a heavy book to dry.

 The finished product! The quarter is in the photo for scale.

The second was inspired by the work of Louise Thompson, an artist from New Zealand, who makes incredibly beautiful and often miniature leather-bound journals. Check out her sites - she has a blog as well as an Etsy shop. Her shop is under the name Bibliographica. If you enjoy bookbinding at all or miniature things, you will really love it.

Anyway, my mini jotter is just 1 1/4 " square. It was made using the same cotton silk fabric in the Tree Stripes print. 

Both journals have 32 pages of blank paper inside for little lists, notes, doodles, or thoughts. Also, the mini is very handy for my 4-year-old daughter who is using it as a book for her stuffed animals. :)

NOTE: I did both of these earlier today off and on with interruptions from the kids, drying time, etc. It really was a quick project. I can see me doing lots more of these.