Toiletries/Wine Bag

10 years ago, I loved Pottery Barn stuff so much that I received their catalog regularly in the mail.  Of course, I could only afford about three things in their whole inventory, so one day I bought one of those three things.  Ladies and Gents, meet my toiletries bag!  As you can tell, I've taken it on every single trip since then.

It actually is meant to be a wine bag.  How it became a toiletries bag is a mystery to me.  Maybe I loved it so much (velveteen outside, silk lining) that I couldn't bring myself to gift it, so I thought of other uses?  Who knows.  Anyway, it is threadbare now and needs to become a fabric scrap.  So today, I made a new one!  Since it is meant to be a wine bag, I couldn't help but show the new one with a bottle of wine in it, but it will absolutely serve (hopefully for the next 10 years) as a toiletries bag.

The fabrics are both heavy duty IKEA fabrics.  I got the blue stuff on sale at $4 a yard, which seemed like a steal.  What's interesting about this is that I chose to make a bag exactly that size and shape again.  At some points over the last 10 years, I've thought that it is too narrow and deep for toiletries, and it is sometimes annoying for that reason (there is a limit to how much can fit in there).  However, I opted to go for the same design because the narrow-ness is actually helpful in keeping my toiletries from taking up too much space in my suitcase!  It is also without a zipper that could break, and it is easy to carry around when I'm in a space-not-my-own.  Plus, those annoying TSA regulations have made it so actually, all my stuff does actually fit in there.

My day today started off with a custom Etsy order for some bike bands with this new ribbon I got last weekend.  They will be a Christmas gift for a woman in Virginia who just got a new bike.  Her daughter says she has been frustrated that she hasn't been able to find these invaluable accessories anywhere, and of course, nothing as cute as this anyway.  (Ok, I threw that last bit in---the daughter didn't say that, or the word invaluable either.)

Today, my biggest task was finishing up making my Christmas cards.  You know I won't spoil the surprise here, but here is a little teaser of some of the parts.  I will of course post the final product after Christmas day.

And The Best Selling Item Was...

Advent calendars!  Hooray!  Out of the 11 I made for the season, I have sold a total of 9 this year.  So cool.  A close second was the bike bands.  If you are reading this and you didn't get a chance to buy this weekend, but you would LIKE to, please visit my etsy shop here.  (If you're in the Fort, I am very happy to rendezvous with you in town to avoid shipping costs.)

Excellent things about this fair:

1. I was in a good location for customer visibility and light!  
2. I had a cozy corner to set up a little table in, where I was able to work on a couple things to pass the time.  Indeed, I designed my Christmas card for this year!
3. My product fit in with the theme of the fair: fine & funky.  Customers were hip, the kind of people who would go out Christmas shopping in Old Town Fort Collins (local) despite the fact that it had snowed 3 inches the night before and the temps were in the 20s-30s for the whole day.  Other sellers were great too, selling lots of interesting and very original things. No knitted coat-hanger covers.
4. I made a new friend in art!  Jennifer owns Quay & Co, and she and I clearly have similar tastes!  She made the cold and the slower moments bearable.  Check out her excellent etsy shop!  (I particularly heart her camera straps.)

Things that were tough:

1. I was right next to the door, first booth, and please note the outside temperatures I mentioned above.
2. For having stood in a cold location for 12 hours, I didn't profit quite as much as I would have liked.  But, exposure is a big reason I was there, and I think lots more people know about me now.  Nice!

Here's a photo of what was directly across from me (aka what I looked at all day), the art of William Pilch.  His stuff is really dimensional and vibrant, and he is a character too.

Both evenings, we were serenaded with carols from some costumed carolers.  Here they are in my booth, singing Noel.

This week: I plan to work on Christmas cards and a new toiletries bag... for MYSELF!  (Amazing, I know.)

Fine & Funky This Week!

The Fine & Funky Craft Bazaar will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this year at the Opera Galleria in Fort Collins, THIS WEEKEND!  And, yours truly will be there with a booth, joining an awesome group of artists for the first time.  I am pretty thrilled.  I've got lots of great things, including new framed collages and plenty of bike bands.  Come on down!


Friday night, 5-9pm
Saturday, 10am-6pm


North of Mountain Ave on College, west side of the street.  


The trunk show at Wadoo was a lot of fun (and mildly profitable).  Here are some photos of my set up, right next to the chocolate and champagne table across the hall.  I did manage to only have one glass, but those handmade chocolates made by the chocolatier down the street fresh that afternoon were really hard to resist.  I think all of us feasted on them for dinner!

See you this weekend!

Trunk Show Prep & The Beckoning of Lovely

Here is a photo of the "booth" I hope to have at tomorrow's trunk show!  (Pardon the bookshelf and yellow framed art on the wall--they will not be part of the display!)

Any feedback?  

Come on out tomorrow night!  It is a private event but you're invited!  You'll need to either get a copy of the invitation (contact me for this) or RSVP by calling Amy at Wadoo at (970) 223-4012.

Last week was 11.11.11, and if you've been reading my blog for awhile, you may know already about The Beckoning of Lovely.  My friend Katie and I flew to Chicago to attend Friday's last BOL event with Katie's Chicago-native friend Lindsay.  The event was led by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, who describes herself as "a person who likes to make things" and  truly has some inspiring ideas that validate the ordinary, simplicity, humanity, kindness and friendship.  The final BOL movie has been pulled from YouTube today, since it appears that she needs to tweak it, but perhaps that is for the best.  I'd love for you to see the video of the event last Friday that we attended, and I suspect that that, along with the adjusted movie, will be available in another month or so for you to see.  I will make sure you know about it!  

I am so glad that I attended. :)

Finally, I heard about something on the radio today that I want to share with you.  StoryCorps is a great organization advocating for people to share stories with one another, and in some cases, larger groups.  StoryCorps records people's stories as oral history.  They sponsor a project called The National Day of Listening.  This year, it is next Friday, November 25, the day after Thanksgiving.  I think this is a great opportunity to be mindful of time spent with family and friends, and to really listen for people's stories.  If you'd like something fun to do next weekend, I suggest recording a few stories of your own!  The StoryCorps website has some great guidelines and a way to develop a good list of questions.  

Trunk Show Coming Up!

As I said before, Christmas is upon us!  Well, upon me anyway.  I've been invited to participate in a Trunk Show on November 17th!  What is a trunk show? you ask.  I had to look it up for the proper definition.  Here's Wikipedia's version: a trunk show is a special sale in which vendors present merchandise directly to store personnel or select customers at a retail location or another unique venue. In many cases it allows store personnel to preview and/or purchase merchandise before it is made available to the public. It is particularly desirable to have the actual designer present at the event. Most small businesses do this to get more buys.

And so, time to prepare!! My friend Katie helped me organize my bike band supplies.  Here are all the components:

And voila!  Here are 29 newly made bike bands, made over the last couple days.  This photo is missing the ever-popular Giraffes, as I ran out of turquoise thread.  They, however, will be sold at the show!  Tonight I plan to trim all the threads while watching a movie.  Nice.

Also, advent calendars will be on sale, along with aprons and Christmas cards.  If you are interested in attending, let me know and I'll forward you the invitation!  It'll be from 4-8pm at Wadoo on College Avenue, across the street from Oak Street Plaza.

And here are the final three recipe cards I made for my friend Barbara's birthday advent (see last week's post):