Online Auction -- amazing and wonderful items!

Looking for a way to snag some amazing gifts this holiday season AND give back a little bit? Here is a great opportunity! Starting today, there will be a charity auction at BLOOM (www.placetobloom.blogspot.com) to benefit Claire and Benson Skinner.

Here's a helpful link to the entire list of auction items! Mine is #53.

As explained by their parents, "Benson and Claire were born with a rare genetic disease in which their liver produces too much oxalate--called primary hyperoxaluria. Claire's condition has progressed much faster than Benson's. She has been on dialysis since she was 3 months old and is on dialysis 3 hours a day, 6 days a week. She is now on the waiting list to receive a combined kidney / liver transplant. It is expected Benson will eventually need similar transplants."

Read more about the Skinners' experience.

All proceeds from the auction at BLOOM will go directly to Claire's COTA (Children's Organ Transplant Association) account to help pay for her transplant. Please head over to BLOOM now for the auction! It ends on Saturday!

Check out the auction now! (remember to click to see all 82 items!)

Featured on Etsy's home page!

Whoo hoo!

I'm so excited! My pop-up Elegant Elephant Card has been featured on Etsy's home page!

Yippee!

Help for Two Adorable Children

Reading this blog post made me want to weep:

http://placetobloom.blogspot.com/2009/11/help-for-two-little-angels.html

Two little kids with a terrible disease. The little girl has to be on dialysis for 15 hours a DAY (12 at night, three during the day). They need liver and kidney transplants. Sometimes I think it's hard to be a parent and then I read about something like this and I realize all that I have to be thankful about.

Anyway, the gist of the blog posting was that they were holding an online auction to raise money to help and they were seeking donations to this cause.

I picked out a bunch of cards and I'll see if this works for them -- the deadline for donations has already passed, but I hope that they can still use them.

I feel lucky to be in a position to help, even just a little bit.

When the auction goes live, I'll link to it here!

Another Grown-Up Party Invitation Order

My invitations were originally designed for kids parties, but there's nothing wrong with using them for a fun-loving adult!

The above invites were created for an adult's 30th birthday party. Adam is having his party at a place called Medieval Times, which hosts real live battles and a feast for the guests. It looks like a total fun.

Anyway, I love how Adam's face looks, peeking out from the knight's helm. So cute!

Tualatin Country Club Craft Fair

Yesterday, my friends, Christine Thatcher and Kathy Larsen and I met at the Tualatin Country Club. Christine had heard of a Ladies' Luncheon which included a vendor area.

Since it seems clear that we need to reach an audience with deeper pockets (the better to appreciate our fine wares), this seemed like the perfect opportunity for us!

The Country Club provided tables with cloths and skirting. We were allowed one 8' table and one 5' round, which meant we were a bit squished, but, as Christine had mentioned, we could make good use of vertical space.

With complementary offerings, we artfully wove together all of our offerings, trying to find ways to use every bit of available space.

I think we did really well! Click on the photos above to enlarge any of the images. You can see how Christine's jewelry is arranged throughout, Kathy's lavender offerings are placed strategically about and my cards flank each end and get little spots here and there.

The effect we were shooting for was of a small boutique.

I have to say that after checking out some other lackluster displays that I really think ours was, hands down, really great! Most people simply laid their work out without any thought to display. In some ways, being cramped for space forced us to use our scanty area very sparingly and things ended up looking great!

One really nice thing for our customers was that, thanks to Christine and Kathy, we could accept credit cards, which was pleasing to some and really had them looking through our items thoroughly before committing a charge to their card.

Overall, sales were a bit of a disappointment. I think I gained about $35, plus I put some cards in trade towards an AMAZING cashmere shawl (which is keeping me nicely cozy now) from a really sweet vendor, Naturally Knotty Designs (check out their websites for information about their sustainable practices).

The cashmere shawl I scooped up (Kathy and I got the last two black ones) is a nice, medium-weight. The gal told me that these items were leftover from a set that Nordstrom had purchased from them last year and which retailed for $300! Mine for only $25 and a handful of pop-up cards! Whoo hoo!

We all had fun together -- it was much easier for me to "sell" Christine and Kathy's wares than my own (it seems too braggy to talk about your own stuff so much). It was a lot of fun watching people's reactions to my cards, if they were into them. While we all made little in sales, it was still good experience.

I think, all in all, though, I'm realizing that there's not much to be made off of pop-up cards on the craft fair circuit. At least for now (whether it be the recession or craft fair oversaturation).

Better to concentrate on etsy or branch further into the retail market!

Superior Scribbler Award!

My friend, Jessica Smedley, sent me this Bloggy Award! Whoo hoo!

Jess is the scribe behind the "Have We Met" blog which has been chronicling her encounters with irritating people, her culinary exploits and, lately, some holiday angst. She lives, unwillingly, in North Carolina but someday, maybe she'll return to Portland and we can be friends outside of of the internets.

So, the rules of the award are listed below (this is a little like some crazy chain mail idea or maybe a pyramid scheme, but with lots more internet traffic involved). Like Jess, I'm going to state a few random facts about myself:

• A doctor once told me that if my blood pressure got any lower, I'd have to get a pacemaker (but years of a high-sodium diet and sloth have happily reversed this!)
• I started this website: http://www.techforchildren.org/ for a colleague at work who had been selling stuffed animals door-to-door for orphans in Laos and Thailand.
• Our cat, Joey, has 24 toes, seven on each front paw. It looks like her has furry slippers on all the time. Our other cat, Gus, is 18 and looking forward to voting in the next election.
• I often have to drag my husband to the latest action flick with car chases and disaster sequences. Love them!
• As a teen I played Dungeons and Dragons avidly and still consider myself a total nerd at heart.

And here are my nominees for the Bloggy Award:

• http://extremecards.blogspot.com/ This blog, written by my cyberfriend, Carol, is chock full of wonderful tutorials and inspiration for the pop-up card maker. It's a must-see!
• http://www.craftypod.com/ Sister Diane runs this blog and also hosts a podcast, the CraftyPod. Both are wonderful and cover crafts of all kinds! She has been very supportive of this budding etsy entrepeneur!
• http://theinfiniteblog.wordpress.com/ Nicolette, of Singapore, was the person who first put in a a wholesale order with me last year when she was selling handmade cards at flea markets. Since then, she's got her own store, renting part of a larger store, with a partner, to sell the goodies she finds from crafters. This blog chronicles her adventures!
• http://modpodgerocks.blogspot.com/ The name of the blog says it all, doesn't it? Amy keeps the creative juices flowing with a constant flow of cute and interesting craft projects, all featuring Mod Podge.
• http://hip2save.blogspot.com/ Want to save some serious money? Check out the constant stream of amazing deals found at this blog! Absolutely incredible bargains!

Of course, as with every Bloggy Award, there are A Few Rules. They are, forthwith:

• Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.
• Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.
• Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.
• Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!
• Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

Don't forget to add your name to the long list of links! I'm number 1325... whoo hoo!

DoggoneKnitting Collar Featured on City Dog Magazine!

My friend Wendy, of the etsy shop DoggoneKnitting, has been featured in City Dog Magazine!

Check it out above and go to the link here: http://citydogmagazine.blogspot.com/2009/11/holiday-issue-hot-of-press-here-is_30.html

Amazing!

Apparently her screams, when she discovered her Gingerbread Man Dog Collar featured on the site at last (she's known about it for months) were enough to make her long-suffering husband, Patrick, fear for her life.

Wendy started out on etsy sometime before I did, making baby booties. Inspired by her success, I jumped in as well.

Now, Wendy's famous! And selling dog collars and leashes at Doggone Knitting and super darling sewn pouches and handbags at QueenBeeHandmade.

Check it out! She's had amazing sales and terrific feedback! I think it's a matter of time before you'll see Wendy featured in an Etsy "How I Quit My Day Job" article....