ARTFULLY YOURS WILLIAMSBURG

Artfully Yours is a beautiful shop in the Art District of Williamsburg, Virginia. They opened a little bit earlier this year, and I was so excited when the asked me if I would be interested in selling anykind there. They have all kinds of accessories, jewelry, art, prints, kids stuff and more - all created and handmade in Virginia. The shop is in a gorgeous old house with so much space and light - they also have a big upstairs where they have craft classes and events.

I took these photos when I visited earlier in May. I just went back to take some more things this past weekend, and they had already gotten so much more neat stuff and rearranged a few things. I'm really happy to be included in the awesome variety of handmade things this shop has. I also love how my things look with how the old house and how they've decorated. So that's an added bonus.

MY LITTLE SHIPPING STATION

One of my favorite parts of having an Etsy shop is wrapping up orders and shipping them out. I always think it's really nice to get a package that has a little extra thought put into the wrapping, so I really wanted a cohesive, pretty way to wrap up orders. I got almost all these supplies from Etsy - the kraft paper tissue, thick bakers twine, black and white washi tape.

A few weeks ago, when I was reorganizing and cleaning my work room, I put all my packaging supplies into this old, wooden box for easy access to move it wherever I need it. I've also started writing more letters recently - with old friends who live far away. So it's nice to have some pretty little things at hand for that, too.

SUMMERY SHOP UPDATE

I updated my shop this week with some summery new bags, hair bows, and bow ties. I've been lucky to come across some really great vintage florals lately. And I finally made floral bow ties I have been wanting to make - so hopefully some guys are into those somewhere. Hope your day is nicer than the one we're having here - the storm is finally here. Have a nice night!

NORFOLK'S FIRST "FIRST FRIDAY"

I was so excited to set up at Norfolk's inaugural First Friday on Granby Street last week. I wish I had a chance to take photos outside our little area, but once 6:00 rolled around, we were busy and chatting with people the whole time. It was a really fun night. A huge highlight was that Douglas got to come with me - he hasn't been a show with me since we first moved here. That was my favorite part. I'd be lying if I said it was easy being here away from our family and friends, with Douglas gone so much, but nights like this make it better. We're doing things to make it better. 

SPRING SHOP UPDATE

I just updated the shop with some spring-y things. Well, maybe the black and white tribal in the last photo isn't the springiest of things...regardless, these tribal shoulder bags are some of my favorites I've ever made. I try to not make and keep things very often to avoid filling out apartment up with bags (like it actually isn't anyway), but I kept the first one of these I made and use it every day. I recently thrifted the bright floral in the first three photos and loved it more every time I looked at it. I was so excited to make these things from it.

*You can still get 15% off anything in the shop until May 5 with the code THANKS15 (see post here)

SHOP UPDATE + SOMETHING FOR YOU

I receive so many kind words and encouraging thoughts from you all about my little handmade business - my shop re-opening, everyday work photos, all my craft show experiences. So thank you a lot a lot for everything. I just updated the shop with some new things and want to offer 15% off your purchase through May 5, no minimum purchase required. After May 5, I will be closing my shop for about two weeks for vacation. Here's what's new:

Some summery new hair bows - I will never get over mint or mustard. So I live with it. 

And I added some bags with my first screen printed fabric design. It's a simple geometric pattern, some printed in black, some in gold. There are also a handful of new child-sized clip-on bow ties if you have a child to decorate. Have a look around the shop.

I plan to add more coin pouches and shoulder bags to the shop this weekend, so check back. Thank you all. Have a good weekend.

ANYKIND SHOP RE-OPENING

Today my Etsy shop is finally re-open! After posting a picture from my workroom or markets here and there, I'm excited to finally have everything posted and ready to share. I temporarily closed my shop in December to get reorganized, but left it down longer than expected to plan some new ideas and get everything just right.  A few months, yards of fabric, and one shoddy light box later, here we are. 

Some new things I've added to the shop are smaller hair bows, shoulder bags with leather straps, new pouch sizes (big and small), and men's bow ties. And of course, there are lots of new fabric colors and patterns, too. I also added a sale section, and I have a lot more to add to it. 

My new favorite thing to make are these men's clip-on bow ties. It's really fun to choose fabrics that aren't for bags...that are pretty much intended for females. There is some overlap in the fabrics, but I've found a few really perfect fabric for bow ties. 

I hope you enjoy looking through everything. I'm so excited to finally get it together and have this to work on again. Thanks for looking!

HOLIDAY CRAFT MARKETS

I participated in two holiday craft markets the last two weekends - the MOCA Holiday Craft Sale and the Selden Handmade Fair. After Thanksgiving and up until now, I did very few activities not involved in preparing for these shows.

Most of the stress was due to the slow, stressful death of my dear, old sewing machine. It involved a few trips back and forth to my trusted sewing machine repair man and ended with a quick, graceful decline right after she sewed a few (or twelve) last zippers on for me. As told to me by every single person I asked, sewing machines are not made like they used to be. But I have found a cute, sturdy little Baby Lock machine that is simple and does exactly what I need it to do. So I am more than happy with it for now.

And luckily both of these shows were so much fun and went really well. It's been about two months since we've been in Norfolk, and I still really have trouble sometimes feeling at home here. But doing stuff like this and getting back to doing things I love helps so much. Plus is always really nice to spend whole days talking to nice people who live here, too.

Getting ready for these shows was a lot of work in another way, too. Preparing for the summer markets in Saratoga, I became more and more discontent with some of the work I was doing. I kind of hated a lot of the fabric I ended up with and hated the fact that I had started to do less designing and more making things really fast to feel ready. So I attempted to avoid that and fix those problems for these two shows to give myself and Anykind a new start. I really love some of the fabrics I have started to use (mostly vintage!) and have fallen in love all over again with designing and sewing - and especially the whole process of what I am doing.

So my next endeavor is to re-do basically everything about my online shop - new pictures and all that. I really want my shop to represent what I am doing, and it definitely does not do that now. So hopefully soon I will have that to share as well!