A Little Help From My Friends.

I spent a good chunk of time Saturday crafting.  The rest of the weekend was filled with family time, so craft fair prep took a welcomed back burner to date day and baby’s first trip to the zoo!  I did manage to complete a few things this weekend including 8 Monopoly notebooks, 3 Berenstain Bear notebooks and 6 cassette tape notebooks.  Seventeen notebooks is not a bad showing for a few hours of work, but the list of things I DIDN’T get to is far larger.  I did also make it to Ace Hardware to pick up some more light switch covers, so I plan on making some more of those this week as well.  I’m trying to stay on top of the blogging, but my motto is live first, write second (and this weekend we did a lot of living.)

I had two of my best friends over last night, one of whom will be my right hand at the actual craft fair and showed them what I’ve been working on.  I got some really positive feedback and we discussed some price points.  They liked a lot of the stuff I actually had no intention of selling, including a set of pencils wrapped in comic books.  They also think the record bowls I plan to display some items in would make a great product all on their own.  So I’m taking all their feedback and I’ll put it to good use.  This week one of my weekly goals is to include some actual pictures with my blog.  I need to say I’m a little awed of this whole blogspot thing, it’s crazy to know that it’s gone as far as to be read by people in Europe.  From my living room, to the world!  Stay tuned everyone, pictures to follow.

So Little to Do, So Much Time… Strike That… Reverse It.

 I’m not entirely sure I initially realized how much work this craft fair would be.  I’m still moving forward making product, but the May 4^th time crunch is certainly sitting there in the back of my brain. Even products that are “done” aren’t really done because they need packaging.  I have about 50 or so packages of upcycled gift tags (made from old children’s books, sheet music, and greeting cards) which need to be packaged.  I have them individually bagged in those little mini-Ziploc type bags, so now I need to come up with a cut bag topper.  Now this is no major undertaking.  It will take a relatively short amount of time to do up a template, cut and prepare said packaging.  What gets daunting is to this of all the “little things” that go into making this craft fair happen.  Just typing that is enough to give me a stress twitch, time to make a list so I can visualize all the projects rattling around between my ears.

I’ve put my etsy shop on the back-burner at least this week so I can throw myself into everything that needs to be done for the craft fair.  I have a small amount of merch ready to roll. 

Ready for immediate sale:

40-50 Monopoly notebooks (property deeds, chance, and community chest)

5 Berenstein Bears notebooks (made from the old children’s book.  A personal favorite.)

1 Scrabble notebook

Completed and ready for packaging:
2 light switch covers (super cute Disney Princesses)

1 set of tile coasters (M-I-C-K-E-Y)

50+ gift tags (various upcycled paper goods)

12 pain chip notebooks that need stamping with my shop name.

Still needing completion:
75+ guitar picks (punched from old gift cards but still could use some sanding)

And that doesn’t include all the projects in my head that haven’t even been started!  I think I’m going to switch my focus from starting new to finishing old.  I can hear my mother telling me to finish one project before starting another.  I’m notoriously scattered and balancing 50 things at once (which I prefer for view as productivity vs. ADHD.)   

So that’s the plan.  Now to just start doing it.  Hopefully at my next post my “to do” list will read more like a “to done” list.

Trial and Error

I got some valuable crafting time in yesterday while the baby was napping.  Total haul for the day was:

4 monopoly notebooks (2 property deeds and 2 community chests)

1 scrabble notebook made from the actual board to the game

12 paint chip notebooks

1 complete set of tile coasters made from an old Disney children’s book

2 light switch covers made from a Disney Princess book.

Lost causes:

1 light switch cover

1 set of Winnie the Pooh tile coasters

Like so many things in life I have found crafting to be very much an exercise in trial and error (and boy did I err.)  I learned a few valuable lessons in the process.  Do not apply crystal clear spray paint to a paper product that hasn’t first had a layer of mod podge.  The moisture from the initial coating allows for the back design of the paper to bleed straight through, which is fine if you’re using store bought scrapbook paper with a plain white back, but not ideal when your medium is colorful pages from children’s books.  Lesson learned: mod podge first, clear coat second.  Hence the lost cause of my Little Mermaid light switch cover (the poor thing had King Tritons trident going right through her head due to the back page bleeding through!)

Speaking of mod podging first, allow me to elaborate.  If you only mod podge the pack of the paper and whatever your affixing it to it looks just fine.  If you mod podge the back and then clear coat mod podge the top for a clear coating you can work out any air bubbles that may occur from mod podging, and again the result looks just fine.  IF you mod podge, allow to fully dry, then LATER go back to clear coat the top you will get tons of air pockets.  These air pockets are unsightly and near impossible to get rid of short of soaking the paper which risks tearing along with paper discoloration.  A lot of work and risk for something I learned can be easily avoided.  Hence the lost set of what would have been adorable Winnie the Pooh tile coasters.  Winnie the Pooh had too many air bubbles to survive the operation.

And Away We Go...

Things I’ve accomplished since my last post:

1.)  I got a super cute banner for my etsy shop.  It reminds me of scrabble tiles and since I have a LARGE amount of board game related merch. I thought it was a must.  Check it out:
<!--[endif]-->

Awesome right?  Shout out time: 

Thanks Kerguelen Laetitia, you can check out her work here:.Kerguelen's Etsy Shop

                                         

2.)  I went to Ace Hardware and got some basic white light switch plates and mod-podged on some pages from an old children’s book.  (So far I’ve made two Ariel’s and one Belle, it was a Disney princess type of morning.)  Unfortunately it was raining so I haven’t put the final clear coat on but as soon as they are done expect a picture to follow!

3.)  Not at all craft but I got to spend some quality time with my girls on this rainy Saturday morning, and that's awesome too.

Classes start back up on Monday, so I’m going to have to make a conscience effort to keep the momentum going with both the crafting and the blogging.  I’m going to try very hard.  Scouts Honor.

An Introduction of Sorts...

First and Foremost: An Introduction

I’m Steph Bense.  A 26-year-old, mommy, wife, social worker, student, and in those rare moments of down time: crafter extraordinaire.  Life has been good to me; I have a beautiful baby girl, an amazing wife, and all around awesome family.  I work full time as a social worker in a nursing home, and I’m working on my second bachelor’s degree in business administration.  In my spare time I like to get down and crafty, and that’s what this blog will primarily be about.

I’ve been saying for eons I wanted to do craft fairs and open an etsy shop, so it’s time to cowboy up and just do it.  I always loved crafting, and primarily just did things for the house or as gifts for friends.  I got super motivated while pregnant with my daughter because it seems everything I went to buy for the nursery was insanely priced, and it left me thinking “why should I pay someone for something I can make myself.”  So I made it myself.  Follow up thought: “why aren’t I the person making money off my wares?” 

Flash Forward: I signed up for my first craft fair May 4, 2013.  It is just a local yard sale and craft fair with an estimated 40-60 vendors.  Pros: it’s around the corner, and only cost $20.00 registration.  Con: I have never done a craft fair before so I’m mildly stressing the process.  It’s been a week and a half since registering so I’ve been having fun building up my inventory of items, which is the fun part.  I also (at the prodding of the aforementioned amazing wife) settled on a name (Avery Gray Designs) and procured a etsy shop, email, and business cards accordingly. 

So that’s me in a nut shell.  More to follow.  This is just one woman’s humble quest to pedal her wares in the indie craft fair marketplace.