I listed the gLove Story Dolls at wholesale price in the Etsy shop yesterday- 10 dolls for $50. This is available at the store too! Choose your favorite 10 gLove Story Dolls and pay only $5 each! I can personalize their nametags too so it's a great chance to get awesome party favors!
Mark your calendars:
Happy Summer!
Summer MarketPlace
A Group Trunk Show - July 8th-10th
A fabulous selection of artists & designers.
Art
Clothing
Jewelry
& More....
All in our side gallery space!
Tues, July 8th 11-5
Weds, July 9th 11-8,
Mojitos & Snacks 5-8
Thurs, July 10th 11-8 Psychic, BettyAnn
Salierno will be in for readings from 6-8
(20 Minutes for $25., Call to make an appt)
Vintage Alley 730 Bloomfield Ave Verona 973.857.3222
Abby and I talked about how we thought I needed to have a picture of someone holding the monkeys so I made her be the model. See more pics here.
I started a new batch of sock monkeys and made an awesome new market bag this week.
Recently I struck up a conversation with a nice woman about my handmade items. She was inspired by them enough to custom order her daughter's high school graduation gift. She brought me a pair of her daughter's socks, one of her old gloves, a scarf the girl had knit, and a large piece of the girl's favorite fabric. I made a sock monkey, market bag, and gLove Story Doll. The woman left me the task of naming the gLove Story Doll. The girl's name is Hannah and I named the doll Palindrome Perfection.
The order was really fun to make and I think she'll love it.
St. Louis Magazine published a cool little article about the Crammed Organisms show!
Here are some of the new felt birds I've been making non-stop.
We got rained out after only a couple of hours but I'm still happy about today at the Eco Fair. My dad stayed all day and helped us tear down in the rain. Thank you!!!
Yesterday at Whole Foods Millburn wasn't as successful as I hoped and I didn't get into a show I applied to in NYC for the end of this month. But on the bright side I made Dean's List for last semester. I'll take the good with the bad and keep moving forward.
I'm acting like tomorrow won't be rained out at the Eco Fair. They're so often wrong predicting the weather. I have a few more market bags to finish up today. I'll pack up everything at the end of the day in preparation for tomorrow and hope for the best.
Update: I sliced off a nice bit of the tip of my finger with scissors today packing up. I'm afraid I'm getting a drama queen reputation if I didn't already have one. Not sure how much massage this will affect but I'm still planning on tomorrow!
I'll be spending this Sunday at the Eco Fair at Edgemont Park. Hope to see you there!
I've been working on a new batch of gLove Story Dolls and here's a preview:
The turnout at the Glen Ridge Arts Festival today was great! I met my expectations, met great people, and had an all-around great time! My mom helped me out in the morning and my mother-in-law helped in the afternoon. That made for a pseudo-Mother's Day celebration today since I'll be busy unpacking and selling last minute Mother's Day cards at the store tomorrow. This picture is a tease. Go here to see all the pics of the booth.
Thanks to everyone who helped me have a successful day today...you all know who you are and I appreciate it more than you know.
All the little things I've been doing will add up to bigger things eventually. The continuing education sports massage class in Princeton was good. Last night was the CPR class. They will both help me join the AMTA NJ sports massage team. I'm also working hard preparing for the Glen Ridge Arts Festival this Saturday. I've made a bunch of the big market bags from vintage fabrics and I love the way they are turning out. I need to set the whole booth up once this week to make sure I have enough tables and signs. But that won't happen this morning. I'm off to UMDNJ to tour the classrooms for the Institute for Therapeutic Massage Oncology Massage Certification Program. I went to the open house at the Pompton Lakes campus a couple of weeks ago and although I'm not prepared to enter another program, I'm curious to see what the hospital is all about so hopefully the tour will be a reality check.
I made it into another Treasury! This time with a Copabananas monkey!
I've got a lot coming up and it's great to be so busy. Tomorrow I'm volunteering at the March for Babies Walkathon in Mahwah doing chair massage. I'll also be at the Montclair Run on June 1st. On May 16th I'll be doing chair massage from 11-2 at the Millburn Whole Foods. The major event for me is that I'll be exhibiting my handmade items at the Glen Ridge Arts Festival on May 10th. More on everything as the dates get closer.
I was lucky enough to be included in
this Treasury on Etsy!
Here are the 4 entries for the Crammed Organisms shows in St. Louis. The 3 gLove Story Dolls in each group are stitched together and will hang on the wall. I reshot them and remade their nametags on glossy photo paper.
I was accepted to Crammed Organisms! Yay!!!!
Only 2 more days until the notifications go out for the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn. And any day now for notifications from Crammed Organisms. Finger crossed!
For weeks now I've had the book sale at the Unitarian Church on my calendar. I was especially looking forward to it this year since I've been cutting images from books for the collage magnets. I was like a kid in a candy shop and with Abby's help I filled 2 grocery bags with exactly what I was looking for: kids encyclopedias, cookbooks, dictionaries, and anything how to. I made some collages this week too.
I reshot a bunch of the gLove Story Dolls because I wasn't completely happy with all the pics on the Etsy shop. I like the new pics a lot. It's funny when they seem like they're looking at the camera.
I got another listing on Indie Parade today! It features the new pillows I'm making.
Today I made a cushion cover in anticipation of receiving the 14" x 14" pillow forms I ordered. I'm also finishing a flip book made from one of the many "movies" Abby made in PhotoBooth on my computer. This one features one of my favorite sock monkeys zooming in and out of the shot. I think she'll approve!
The bunnies I'm making keep getting cuter and cuter! When I use small kids socks they have fat little bodies. This little guy is only 11" long from the top of his ear to his toe, just the right size for an easter basket!
Look, he's waving at you!
I noticed that I had a large pile of papers next to my printer that were the result of being printed poorly or by mistake. I think most people might have a pile of papers like that. I also have a lot of file folders and some invoices form the old store. I gathered them up with some other miscellaneous papers around and made some 4 x 6 books that can be used as notebooks or scrapbooks. I sewed the books on my sewing machine and finished them with some cool Smurf babies tape. I think they're cute and it was just the biblio-therapy I needed to get me out of the bad mood I've been in the past few days.
I had labels made and I've been sewing them into the tails of the sock monkeys. It means taking their tails off, pulling out the stuffing, sewing the label in, restuffing it, and sewing it back on. It is so worth it, though, they look great!
I've had a good amount of coffee and I'm ready to head over to the shop now and work out a design for a sock bunny. Yay! Good long ears and some kind of bunny tail. I've got 10 pairs of sock left in my stash and they've got Easter and coffee as motivation to transform them into Copabananas sock bunnies. Pics to come, of course.
Last night I made my first gLove Story Dolls sale on Etsy. It was so cool to see the sale on the Pounce page, which searches recently sold items as a way of browsing Etsy.
I finished a big group of 13 gLove Story Dolls today. They're all for sale on the Etsy site and in the shop. My favorite is Little Lilly, I love her eyes.
Here's a few pics from the shop yesterday: Blue Q sent a couple backordered items, the Instant Rehab breath spray and the Know it All breath spray; Last Supper After Dinner Mints from Accoutrements; super cute punny valentines from Hoopla; the store decked out in repurposed encyclopedia page paper cranes; lots of billfolds.
Lots of new stuff up on Etsy. Of course, it's all available at the store too!
I'm keeping busy making gLove Story Dolls, sock monkeys, and tissue paper flowers. Today I made 4 sock monkeys including the one from a toe sock, he's so cool. I made the flowers from old tissue paper patterns. I like the way they look. I need to name the new gLove dolls and give them their name tags. Most of the new ones are from the gloves I found on a walk around town last Monday. 
Right before Christmas, Filomena Jack from Quilts and Such stopped in. She told me she's moving to Montclair! She's opening up on Walnut St. near Trumpets as she details on her blog. Since she won't be doing so much retail, mostly workshops and special orders, she returned my consignment items to me yesterday. And the timing was perfect! I added the gLove Story Dolls to the collection on the Etsy store and replaced xmas decorations in the store with the wall hangings she brought back. It's great that she's in Montclair now!
Now that I'm starting to recover from a painful back ache this week, I'm looking ahead and thinking about what I need to do. It was hard to think about it when I could barely get out of bed and walk around but now that I'm feeling better I need to get organized. I registered for classes today, Medical Terminology and 2 massage classes. School will be done in April for good. I'm looking for an affordable massage chair so I can start doing chair massage in the shop. I have to move out of the studio this month. There's not much left over there but it's all packed and ready to go, thanks to my sister. Inventory is basically finished which is a benefit of having a smaller store! Normally it would take weeks to count all the back stock. I will slowly be reordering new merchandise, including kids' boxed valentines. In the meantime I've been finding lots of lost gloves for gLove Story dolls. Remember, we changed our hours but we're still open every day and there's plenty of parking around here so if you haven't stopped in yet to see our new digs, don't be a stranger.
I bought some of the original red heel socks to make some more classic looking sock monkeys. They'll look a little different from the striped and argyle monkeys I've been making because the red heel makes the lips and I won't have to stitch a mouth on.
After the Artisan Market last Saturday I only have 8 sock monkeys left. I made one this week but sold it an hour after I put it on the shelf. That's how it's been going, I sell them as fast as I make them. I hope to have more time to restock them after school ends next week. I have 3 more classes in Anatomy and Physiology but I also have 3 more exams. Ouch. I'll be happy when this semester is over!
Today is the Artisan Market! Hope to see you there!
This week I'm finishing up a bunch of sock monkeys and putting price tags on everything in preparation for the Artisan Fair on Saturday. School's almost over for the semester. The schedule for next semester looks good. They're offering everything I need to finish up so I should be done with school in April! Back to pricing for now...
I'll be participating in the Artisan Gift Market at the Glen Ridge Congregational Church on December 1st. I'll be selling sock monkeys, Christmas stockings, voodoo dolls, gLove Story Dolls and the purses. I'll also be promoting the re-opening of the store. It should be a great day, I'm looking forward to it.
There was a nice little story in Suburban Essex Magazine about the gLove Story Dolls this month. At $10 each I can hardly keep up with the demand. I named and tagged the dolls that hadn't been identified yet. I'm getting more yarn from Sima tomorrow for hair so I can make more.
It's been heavy duty Montclair Made time this weekend. I worked on
stockings all weekend. They're lined with red fabric and are looking
great. I made a pattern for a cute smaller size and I'll start making
those tomorrow. I'm taking donations of gloves and socks for gLove
Story Dolls and sock monkeys if anyone has any singles or any they
don't use anymore!
One more week until the studio tour. Kathryn, my studio-mate, and I still need to work out what we want to do for food and drink, and every other detail for that matter. We've been missing each other lately and haven't had a chance to talk about anything yet. We should see each other this week, though, and make our plans. Luckily I can be there a lot since my classes ended and the next semester doesn't start until May.
Yesterday Abby and I brought the bags, wall hangings, and gLove Story Friends to Quilts and Such in Lyndhurst. Filomena, the owner, took everything on consignment, while Abby was in heaven petting the resident big baby bunny, Bunsy. The shop was very cool and Filomena was very gracious to us. I had to price everything before we went. Abby and I prepared the gLove Story dolls by photographing and naming each one. Then I printed them onto card stock, cut that out, and sewed it onto their thumb (arm) as their price tag. It added to each one's individuality and looked very cool. There were 3 she just couldn't part with, and we decided to give the one we named after my studio-mate's dog, Vivi, to her. For the wall hangings, I scanned the fabric each one was made from, printed that out with the price printed on it, cut it into a small square and sewed that on. That looked cool because it blended in with the fabric but still worked as a price tag. The bags I had already priced with tags I made from the scanned buttons. And, of course, the price tags said Montclair Made.
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