Holiday Shopping on Etsy

Fun news! One of my bibs made it into the "Baby Gift Guide" on Etsy! I'm really quite pleased as the employees of Etsy pick the products and they are really picky about what they'll use. YAY! One of my "Extraordinary Equine" Bibs is in the 2nd row.
And I wanted to take a minute to encourage everyone to shop on Etsy for their holiday gifts this year. You won't find a better selection of UNIQUE gifts that you purchase right from the artist. It's also a great way to support your local artist AND get a gift that is really nifty too!

Click here to shop Etsy's other gift guides. Or go to Etsy's home page and start searching for that perfect gift! For instance, my brother (and brother-in-law and step-dad) like fishing. So I'll do a search for "Fish" or "fishing" and then you can narrow it down by price or item. I have found some GREAT and fun items that way! Don't forget to also check out the vintage section.

In other news, I am doing one other fun "trunk show" this weekend.

Holiday Trunk Show
Featuring unique gifts you won't find at Target and without the frenzy. The focus is on gifts under $100 (great selection under $50!). And, if you see something you think would look great on you, we're happy to send a "hint" to your personal Santa Claus!

We will be serving wine, hot chocolate and tasty bites PLUS complimentary gift wrapping. Cash and checks only (thanks!)

Where: Berkeley Row • 4400 West 46th Avenue #102 • Denver
(at the corner of 46th & Tennyson)
When: Sunday, December 7 from 2:00 - 5:00pm

Invite anyone and everyone! I have been busy sewing up a lot more appliqued tee's in larger girls sizes (I'll have size 4T-12), more onesies and of course lots of bibs! See you there!

Can the 3rd time be a charm too?

This past weekend I had my 3rd craft show and it was a BLAST! I'm finding out that one of the reasons I really like shows is that I get to meet some really amazing fellow crafters (Hi Dorothy & Becky!), and I just love talking to the customers and seeing what they pick out (usually not at all what I would have guessed!).

My booth space was a little bigger this time - 10x10 - so I borrowed an 8' table and here is what it looked like!
It actually changed a bit by the end of the day - I moved the rack on the left up to the table and pushed the table up to aisle level. It seemed to work better. I also need to get something to go behind me - it gets a little cluttered looking when you can see the people behind me! I'll have to see if I can talk my dear husband into building a contraption that folds up and is not too heavy to carry!

So I'm a sucker for the mountians... my drive up to Longmont was so so beautiful with the sun coming up and just starting to hit the snow covered Rockies.

I like this one. I love Waffle Houses. This might be the closest one to our house and it's about 45 minutes away!


Overall it was an awesome show. I sold over 25 bibs and 10 onesies/t-shirts. I had a lot of questions about bigger sized t-shirts (kids and adults) so I'm taking the plunge! I just purchased a bunch of t-shirts in size 4-12 which will hopefully be on the site within the next few days. The two horsie t-shirts I had sold already! I also bought a bunch of onesies since those make such great gifts too. I may start doing some bib/onesie sets too. The possibilites are endless! :)

Here is a look at the two shirts I had (I can make more if you're interested!)


I also sold out of my bib/burp cloth sets so I am going to have to make more of those too! I think I may make a couple that match the bib that was in the magazine as those have been selling like hot cakes! :)

If you would like to get a quick e-mail when I do add my bigger sized t-shirts to my Etsy site, or if you are interested in a custom shirt (same price as the ones pre-made! They'll be $14), please let me know! You can contact me through my Etsy store (click on the "contact" button). I promise I won't send out a ton of e-mails (I hate spam too!).

Thanks to everyone who I met at the sale - especially the mom with the adorable twin boys who came just because she saw I was going to be there on my Etsy annoucement - you made my day!!

Til next time...
jesi

Hip Violet is in "equestrian" Magazine!

It's OUT! The November issue of the United States Equestrian Federation's member magazine "equestrian" is showing up in mailboxes all over the country. With a lovely HIP VIOLET bib in the Gift Guide! I'm so excited! The magazine did a beautiful job of laying out the pages, and they only did 21 items so look how big my bib is on page 3 of the spread!!

Above is the page to the right with the ordering info. I'm so excited to see if I get any orders from the ad! I am also trying to scurry around and make a few more horse bibs - I got this great horse fabric a while ago and have yet to make anything out of it!


I'm thinking those would look cute with a little stirrup or snaffle bit applique. I better get crackin'!

In other news, my next (and last) craft show of the season is this weekend! It's the Mollie McGee Holiday Craft Fair at the Boulder Fairgrounds in Longmont, CO. Come and see us and get a jump start on your holiday shopping! It's Saturday from 9-5 and Sunday from 10-4. Keep in mind that strollers are not allowed on Saturday - time to get out the baby carriers! :)

See you there!
jesi

Second Time's a Charm!

I had my second craft show last night and it was a SUCCESS!! Plus it was really really fun and in an absolutely AWESOME venue. I already can't wait for next year!

It was a benefit for the Parenting Place in Boulder, and it was in the evening so it was pretty festive. There were appetizers, drinks (my friend Nicole and I have decided that ALL shows should have a bar... we appreciated the extra sales!) and a jazz band. So fun!

Here was my booth set up this time. Pretty much the same as last time :)
This was in an art gallery though... again, why can't ALL our shows be in galleries? Much much better than in church basements or exhibit halls of fairgrounds :) And warmer too! My friend Nicole and I had booths right next to each other and we were right in front of these huge windows that looked down on the streets of Boulder and the mountains. I can't think of a more fun place to have a show! Here was my view:
Nicole sells amazingly cool felt barrettes (we're now the proud owners of 2 more), beautiful handmade jewelry, and her signature "Twombley" dolls that are sooo cute! We had so much fun - I wish we could do every show together! Here we are posing with our booths and some of the artwork on the walls of the gallery.
Nicole got a bib for a friend of hers, and found out it fit her perfectly ;)

Overall this show was MUCH more successful and MUCH more fun! I sold almost as many bibs and I did onesies - in fact I'm headed out in a few minutes to see if I can expand into some bigger sizes of shirts to applique (I'm thinking 2T-4T). I was really surprised at how many people bought them, and how many people wanted special orders (which I gladly will do!). I also had THREE seperate people ask if I had matching onsies for twins they knew... so I guess I'd better start making some doubles!

I also sold quite a few barrettes and gave out TONS of cards. I'm really thinking about going "corporate" - I think my bibs would make really great unique baby gifts for business owners to give customers. Nicole and I might try out a few networking dinners to see how that goes. How fun!

The other thing I learned at this show is that I need to be more specific to genders when I pick out my appliques and colors. I had made a few green onsies with floral appliques (thinking for a girl) but people kept asking if it was for a boy. And I had a cute off-white onesie with a brown floral elephant and that one also kept getting the boy look (the onesie had ruffles on the sleeves, so I think not!). SOOO I really need to stick with more traditional colors for boy and girl so I don't confuse people!

It's just always so much fun because I love that my booth makes people SMILE. Even if they don't have kids or grandkids or anyone to buy for, it was really cool to see people smile when they saw what I was selling - and to hear that they thought everything was so cute. Yay!

'Til next time
jesi

Christmas is Coming!?!

Whether we like it or not! So I made some cute Christmasy bibs to get in the spirit!


I also just finished up a fabulous custom order - these were SO fun to make! Thanks Molly for picking such fun fabrics!

In other news, I've been having some sewing machine troubles. My dear sweet Beatrice (my Kenmore sewing machine) fell ill and I had to borrow my friend Sarah's brand new Brother machine. It sews GREAT but it took me a few hours of swearing at it before I figured it out. They did NOT make those very user friendly! So special thanks to Sarah for saving my little sewing butt!

If you have a chance to peek at my Etsy shop you'll see that I've been adding lots of new bibs lately. I finished about 18 bibs this weekend - many of them are horse bibs and I even did a couple just for the little cowboys in the group! As usual if there is anything you'd like to see, let me know! I'm working on a robot applique for the boys, and I have a new flower one that I think will be really cute.

Have a great day!
jesi

Horse Bibs & Horse Bibs and

when you're done with THAT... how about a few more HORSE BIBS???

Why so many horse bibs, you might ask? I am SO excited to tell you that I got an e-mail last week asking if I'd like to have one of my bibs featured in the November Holiday Gift Guide in a magazine called equestrian which is the publication of the United States Equestrian Federation. HOLY COW!! I'm so excited!

But, as the person who contacted me noted, I might want to make a few more bibs. See, they send out 90,000 copies. Now I'm not great at math, but if just a teeny tiny percentage of the people who get the magazine actually would like a bib... I'm in big trouble! Currently I'm training my 20 month old daughter to applique and we're going to start our own sweatshop in the living room. ;)

Here are just a few of the bibs I've been making:

I've also had to (darn it!) buy more fabric!! I really love buying fabric from fellow Etsians - my two favorite stores are fabricpalooza and Acme Baby Co.

Despite my less-than-stellar first craft show experience, I have decided to do a couple more of them that are a little more selective and I think will be more my crowd.

November 13
Girls Night Out • Boulder, CO • www.BoulderParenting.com
Girls Night Out does have a $25/$30 admission fee, but it's all tax deductible and for a great cause!

November 22-23
Mollie McGee Holiday Market • Longmont, CO • Boulder County Fairgrounds

I'm really excited to see how it goes!

Have a great day!
jesi

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

So my first craft show with Hip Violet was yesterday... here is the lowdown on how it went!

The Good
• I sold enough bibs to pay for my booth space... barely!
• I met some REALLY NIFTY fellow crafters
• There was a horse sale going on at the same fairgrounds so I got my "horse fix"

The Bad
• The craft show was not exactly my "crowd" so I didn't sell much at all. The people selling gourds with faces painted on them, anything made of Bronco's fabric, and the fudge shop all made out like bandits.
• I was really surprised at how many moms who were either very pregnant or had kids of bib-wearing age didn't even take a second glance at my bibs or onesies. WEIRD!
• I also had a lot of older ladies stop, look, compliment me on the bibs but comment that they didn't have any grandkids who were at bib-wearing age anymore. OF COURSE!

The Ugly
• Aforementioned painted gourds
• Scary, huge fleece blankets... that you wear
• Storage cans made out of kids jeans and a coffee can
• Purses made out of old jeans with extra fringe

Overall it was a great learning experience. I didn't forget one thing, and got my booth totally set up in about a half hour. I really loved how my display turned out


I also met another fellow crafter, Nicole, who makes really really cool felt barrettes and jewelry that was right up my alley. We have very similar styles and taste - she gave me some really great advice on upcoming craft shows AND it was just fun to talk to someone else who has been doing the circuit for a while! Here is Violet modeling her new Marmalade barrette:

I'm trying to talk Nicole into starting her own Etsy site since I think she would do AWESOME on, so stay tuned for her link :) RIGHT Nicole? RIGHT!

I also had a great conversation with Gina who makes really colorful yarn from alpaca and lambswool, and Angela who makes wonderful smelling soap. They were all in booths close by mine and made the show more tolerable (it got really slow and a little boring at the end!).

Anyway, I'm glad I went and it makes me much more excited to try some shows that are a little more my style. Stay tuned for how those go!

Make sure to check out my Etsy site in the upcoming days as I'll be adding all of the bibs I made for the show. There will be a TON of new ones!