It was a start

I went to a small show/craft fair on Saturday. It was very small, but was my first time really selling anything I've made (except for that brief friendship bracelet/embroidery floss fiasco in 1st Form, aka 6th Grade, at Mount Carmel). So, I brought most of my cards, and my one big ticket item, home. Did I roll in the dollars? No. But I did make some spending money with the potential for more. Not bad. Definitely beats the worst case scenario.

There was a lot of lead up to the event. About a month of my trying to fit card making into my routine so I'd have a large selection, slightly derailed by the flu. A wonderful friend helped me out and took beautiful pictures of some of my cards, which wound up with an order from one of her colleagues. Thanks, Majo! And I started planning on actually putting things up on Etsy after the show.

Now, I have a lot of follow up work. And though it wasn't quite what I thought, the show at Aux 3 Pommes was a great experience. I have shop links to two other sellers and I want to take a moment to appreciate their work. I can't link to Marie Jose's jewelry shop, but she was kind enough to open her language school, Aux 3 Pommes, to us as a venue and was showing bold, chunky jewelry with colorful and graphic beads. I can't afford her pieces but still spent a good deal of time admiring them. Debra Musto, known to me as Aunt Debbie, brought me into the show. She had her beautiful and jewelry on display and for sale, and I can almost afford hers. I wound up trading (bartering?) cards for a brooch which I'll have to take a picture of so you can see how beautiful it is. Copper wire (I love copper) and a large, round, greenish bead. Her Etsy shop is Jewelry Designs by D, and I think she's got a great variety of designs. I was also sure to grab the shop and blog info of Corina S. Alvarezdelugo because I was staring longingly at her work all day, specifically Lovely Darfur and Want, both pictured below. You can find her as Corinadotdash (Etsy, blog, website).




I'm sure I'll have more to talk about on this later, and I'm really glad I went. I really want to take some art classes, now, and get better. I think in illustration, though, novice that I am, I'm sure basic drawing is necessary, too. It was great for artists to look at my work and note the time, energy, and decisions that go into a little card.

Here's a (very) little of what I had out on Saturday, and please note Majo's wonderful photos.






"Weekend Ready" was in my first ever official sale, to my great friend since high school, Shelley. I was so glad to start the day off with a friendly face who came just to see and support me. And all the nice things she had to say were probably undeserved, but totally awesome to hear from someone whose sense of style I really love. In fact, I think she was wearing some of the coolest shoes I've ever seen- 40's inspired mary jane heels in a very fun red plaid material. I should also find a picture of these because they were such a great mix of shape, texture, and pattern. Hmm... email out to Shelley.