Goin' Old School

I was perusing through some of my favorite blogs and on Pinterest and I kept seeing the same thing.

Cross Stitch.

The first thing I couldn't help but think was, "My mom and Grandmother used to do that." Therefore, I kinda just shrugged my shoulders and went on. But then, I saw some really pretty and really cute ones and I began to change my mind a little. 

I already had my Grandmother's and Mother's stashes of embroidery floss as well as some of of my own. It was a match made in heaven.

I went to my local JoAnn's and they had these little 'My First Stitch' kits and some other little kits. I grabbed a MFS and another kit and headed to checkout. 

(Side Story)

We all know that I like LOVE to save money. I knew one of the kits was on sale and the other was a dollar. Not too expensive to begin with but, I'll always take what I can get. Back in the summer, JoAnn's had a discount card for students. It was something along the lines of 10 or 15% of you regular and sale purchase. It expired some time in August and I was so sad but, all good things must come to an end. 

I was at Plato's Closet a couple of days before I went to JoAnn's. They had a piece of paper taped to the counter that said when a customer showed their college ID, they got a discount. I could not believe I didn't realize that sooner. That got me thinking about all the places that can and do give discounts to college students. 

Back to JoAnn's, when I was checking out with my Cross Stitch kits, I asked the cashier if they had a discount program for college students. She asked to see my ID, grabbed a form, asked me to fill out a form and gave me a card that is good for 10% off regular, sale, AND CLEARANCE purchases, AND it's good until next year. 

WHOOHOOO!!!!

Since then, literally everywhere I go, I ask if they have discounts for college students. I was at a thrift store and asked and the lady said even though they didn't, she'd give me one anyway!

Moral of the Story: It never hurts to ask. All they can say is no.
(End of Side Story)

I started on the MFS kit and quickly worked through most of the pattern. I soon found a pattern online and used the material from the other kit to complete it.



Even with all the great patterns on the Internet and Pinterest, I couldn't find a pattern of an Owl. (Another little fact about myself, I LOVE Owls). I was perusing the embroidery section of Wal-Mart and I saw the perfect thing. A MFS Owl kit.


I wasn't crazy about the color combinations or the pattern on the stomach so I went my own way. Maybe that's a sign that I'm getting good?! ;)

I most certainly plan on pursuing this but, don't really foresee buying any more kits. Goodness knows, I have plenty of my own string I can use.

Thanks for coming by and have a Great day.

Second Time Around

Dec 1, I did my second Craft Show. I felt a lot more confident going into this one, being my second time around.

This show was part of the Lighting of the Oaks program at Lanier Charter Career Academy at the Oaks in Oakwood, Georgia. Also a part of the program were performances by various groups, a Creative Christmas Tree Contest, a Gingerbread House Contest, a silent auction, and, of course, The Lighting of the Oaks.

This time my Mom and I went in together 50-50. She was selling Christmas bows while I sold my usual wares. 

I had actually set up some of my merchandise in the student run Gift Shop there. For the show, I simply moved them down the hall and set them up on my tables. 

This time was oh so different than my first Craft Show. 

There were people coming in and looking around while most of us vendors were still setting up. This really irritated me because I didn't have everything out and if they didn't see something they liked then, they would have no reason to come back and see the rest of my merchandise. It was just really unfair to everyone involved. 

Speaking of unfair things, as a performer myself, I felt uglier than pooting in church, talking and carrying on while all the different groups were singing. We were all in the same room with the performers and audience on one informal side and the Craft Show on the other informal side

I felt like there were a lot more people at this show than at my last one but, no one was buying. They said all my stuff was cute and neat and such a great idea but never bought. My Mom brought to my attention that most of the people coming through were probably the parents of those who were performing and probably didn't know that there was going to be a Craft Show going on. Needless to say, they wouldn't be prepared to spend money on all of our wonderful products.

I also REALLY disliked the set up of the tables in the space. They were basically set up in L's. We chose an L in the middle of the room. We thought we could get some good traffic this way but I soon found that I had my back to customers a good deal. I would follow my customers as they went around the table then back around as another customer came by. I spent the whole night going in circles. 

Despite all these issues/problems/concerns, we broke even and profited a tiny bit monetarily. I say it like that because another vendor told me about another show in Cornelia that takes place for three days, two weekends in a row, $30 for all six days. I feel like this show could be a really good fit and could do well for me. 

As I have said before, God takes care of his children. In more ways than one. 

My First TIme

Have no fear everybody. This is PG-13. I'm talking about my first craft show.

It all started when my Mom and I were at a Creative Memories representative's Open House. We were hanging out and she was telling us about all the other things she was doing and she mentioned she was holding a Craft Show the following weekend. I asked her to put me on the mailing for next time since I would have loved to participate. She looked up at me and said, "Well, do you want to do it next weekend?" I was so taken aback, my first response was 'no, thank you though.'

We went home and I started thinking about the Craft Show and my schedule and I began to realize, 'I can do this.' I emailed the representative and asked if it was too late for me to enter the show and if there was enough room for me. She said to come on down.

I got all my inventory together and started putting together my displays. 

Once I got all my displays done, I was so tired of looking at everything and working with it and, oh gosh. If it wasn't for my Mom who helped me so much and kept me going, I'm not that sure things would have been a good as they were.

We loaded up our Jeep the night before so, the next morning, we were ready to go. Our host allowed us to start setting up at 8 and that was when we were there. We got set up quickly enough and then it was a waiting game until the show 'officially' opened.

Things started SO SLOW. Oh my goodness, it was pitiful. I sold just a couple of things and was getting discouraged. My Mom tried to keep my spirits up and said, "Things will pick up after lunch." I kept that in mind and kept going. It wasn't long though until I got really discouraged.

I went to bathroom and nearly started to cry. At the rate I was going, I wasn't even going to be able to make up my $15 entrance fee. $15. I reminded myself, though, God takes care of his children, no matter how it turned out, it would be what was right for me.

I went back to selling and the lady selling next to me made a $15 purchase. I went from not even breaking even to making a profit. I was so ecstatic. Words can't even describe. I still get chills and funny feelings thinking about it. I now know that God heard me and worked through the lady selling next to me. The next purchase was $37. The most I have ever, ever sold.

Right before we closed up, I made one last sale giving a total of $60 in sales, $45 in profit. Considering my products, that's REALLY good.

Lucky for me, the other participants of the Craft Show were really supportive and helpful. They gave me lots of advice about my displays and pricing.

LESSONS LEARNED

I was so focused on getting my inventory together, I didn't think twice about promoting the event and promotion is half the battle.

My displays weren't the best they could have been when it came to my necklaces. One lady, that was also selling, pointed out if I turned the display 90 degrees, I would have more room. (Lightbulb goes off.)

Most of my product are for late teens and young women. While this particular age group  was not part of the population that came to the show, their parents were. The $37 purchase was made by our host and her sister as gifts for daughters and nieces. All of this means that you don't always have to sell your target market. You can also target those who would give them to your target market as gifts.  Oh Goodness, my fashion marketing class was really worth something.

Another thing about the $37 purchase was that a deciding factor in what the two ladies bought had to do with the recipients' school colors. I had heard before that I should make things in school colors but, this reinforced the idea. If I was doing a show in Forsyth County, then I could look up the schools in that area and their colors and make inventory for that area.

One thing I really wish I was is more outgoing. I saw a little girl, less than 18 months, coming over with her Mom. I knew I had a bracelet that would match her outfit perfectly I showed it to the little girl and tied it on her. (Good gosh she was so adorable.) She liked it so much, I gave her Mom a discount and made a sale. My point with all of this being, if I had done something similar with everyone who walked over, my sales would have tripled, meaning, I have GOT to work on my people skills.

One of the last things I learned was that, if you can, wear what you make. If you don't seem to like what you make, why should anyone else? By the end of the show, I was wearing one of my t-shirt scarves to show one it's unique feature of going through itself instead of having to tie a knot. You are your own best advertising.

With all these things in mind, I can't wait to go to another show. I'm beginning to think that maybe this is really what God wants me to do, and I couldn't be more excited.

Pinterest Did It Again

Once again, I miraculously managed to finish another Pinterest project. As we all know, I have a thing for bracelets so, it should be no surprise to no one that this project was a bracelet.

Link

I had some bangles left over from some other projects that I wasn't sure what to do with and I thought this would be perfect.

I did five in one day. Now, in the picture you see four. I promise, I count. I did one, didn't like it and then redid it.

I can see myself using some different macrame knots and patterns in the future for some variety.

'Leaves' Bracelet

Oops, Pinterest did it again. I found, yet another, bracelet on Pinterest. 

Link

Friendship bracelets were the beginning for me. 

(Story Time. To find out about this bracelet, scroll until you see 'End Story Time')

Somehow or another, I discovered friendship bracelets on the Internet. Whatever website I was looking at said you should use embroidery floss. I asked my Mom if our local craft store would have it. She said she had some from when she did cross-stitch. Low and behold, she comes up with a literal and whole treasure chest of vintage embroidery floss. 

It was fate.

Not long after, my friends were trying to think of a fundraiser for Tsunami victims in Japan. I suggested friendship bracelets. I learned how to make new bracelet patterns and developed something of a reputation as a bracelet maker, so much so, people thought it weird if I wasn't working on one.

There have been times were my fingers, my back, and my neck were so sore and I was so sick of looking at and working with my string, I wouldn't make a bracelet for months. Nonetheless, I always picked it back up again. 

Now, I'm trying to make something like a business selling my bracelets and other jewelry items.

And here I am.

(End Story Time.)

Here is my version of the bracelet.

Unlike most any other project that I have gotten off Pinterest, I followed this one to a T. 

I think I like the overall design but, I'm not crazy about the colors I chose.

Thanks for stopping by!

A New Obsession

I have discovered a new and fantastic way to make friendship bracelets. It's called kumihimo. I don;t know the history or anything like that but I know it's a lot easier than the traditional way.

To make a kumihimo bracelet, you first need a wheel, like the one below.

You can go to the site printed on the wheel, a.k.a. here, to make you're own wheel. If you print one, I would suggest gluing the paper to some cardboard to strengthen it.

The same website where you can print the wheel also has patterns and tutorials to make all styles.

I have tried a few patterns and have fell in love with one in particular.

I've made it so many different colors and lengths, it could very be classified as an obsession. Below are some of my color combos.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Pizza Monkey Bread

Recipes and cooking are not exactly my thing but, it is something I have done and you can do yourself. 

Recipe

Believe or not, I didn't get this off Pinterest. I put it there so my Mom could see and consider putting on the Menu that week. I actually got it off of Tums' Facebook Page. 

I generally followed the recipe. We didn't have any pepperoni (probably a good thing) so I used some chunks of cooked chicken. I didn't have any garlic cloves either so I used melted butter and garlic salt. It didn't see to add any flavor to me but I may have not used enough. 

I also used a wheat crust which gave it a definitely not pizza crust flavor that I wouldn't recommend if you wanted a real pizza taste. 

There was enough for myself, my older, very hungry, brother, and my mother, and some leftovers. Granted, my brother loved it so much he probably would've eaten the whole thing. He was so excited and loved it so much it was almost hilarious. 

Overall, I think it's a good recipe and can certainly be adapted to many different tastes. I dipped some of mine in Ranch dressing as is my taste. I could also see using alfredo for dipping sauce and maybe filling the dough with spinach, artichoke, and chicken. The possibilities really are endless.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope I didn't just make you starve. ;)

My New Board

As I am sure you have noticed, I get a lot of my projects off Pinterest. When writing posts, I often have to sift through the endless pins on my Crafts to Do board to find the original links for the projects. After doing this a few times, I thought, 'Why don't I just go through all my pins at one time and put them on a board of projects that I've completed?'

So I did. I've created this Finished Projects board with that idea in mind. You'll see posts about most, if not all, of these projects at some point or another.

If you want to try one of the projects and I haven't posted on it yet, feel free to leave a comment on the pin or leave a comment on this blog.

*If I could ask just a small favor, if you could like, follow, etc. my boards and pins when you visit them, I would greatly appreciate it.*

Thanks and have a great day everybody.

Another Finished Pinterest Project

You may remember this Work In Progress that I posted about forever ago. (Sorry, again)

It is now no longer in Progress but a Finished Project, has been for a long time actually.

Once I picked out all the color beads I needed, the weaving went pretty quickly. A large needle is definitely helpful seeing as how the threading material hardly ever does what you want it to by itself.

I'm not sure they'll be as lucrative as my Friendship Bracelets but, who knows? If nothing else, it will probably lead to something that is.

An Apology

Oh my goodness, I cannot I believe I only posted once in the entire month of September AND it's almost been a month since then. I am mortified. 

I promise I have some posts coming up with my spoils from Pinterest other fun stuff. 

Thanks to everyone who still stops by. I'll try not to let you down again.

Fun with Wood, Paper, and Glue

School's fully underway but while I know what my physical schedule is, my HOMEWORK schedule is a roller-coaster to say the least. Anywho, I managed to find some time to post about my crafty Labor Day Weekend.

Recently when I was at Michael’s, they had those thin wood letters for less than a dollar. They were a good size so I thought, ‘Why not? Plenty of possibilities.’

I got home and a had the ‘I Have to Do Something Crafty RIGHT NOW’ bug crawl up my pants. I decided I was going to Mod Podge scrapbook paper on it. I had cardboard letter that I had gotten from the Dollar Spot at Target as well and decided to kill two birds with one stone.

I have a pad of paper with some of the prettiest colors and patterns in it. I also had plenty glue from my Elementary school days. Altogether, it was a perfect crafting storm.

In case you can't tell, the color scheme of my room is pink and black.

 

I got a grab bag of stuff from Michael's. It was unbelievable. 4 pads of 12x12 paper, a couple of large stamps, some confetti, a couple of toy dolls, and a nice handful of little wooden letters, one of which was another one of my initials.

I also couldn't help but get hooked on the 'Plate and Candlestick = Cake Stand' craze. The plate was on clearance at Target for $.88 and the candle stick was $2.50 in Target's Dollar Spot. A little hot glue was all it took.

I also went to JoAnn's and found a couple of these Iron-On appliques. Yet again, one of my initials.

I decided to use it as a signature on one of my tote bags I did.

Tote and fabric paint also from JoAnn's.

This next one isn't exactly crafty but it might be. I haven't decided. I found this electric typewriter at a local thrift store. It had a sticker price of $5.00 and the store was having a 50% off sale making it $2.50! I was ecstatic.

I took apart one typewriter for crafting purposes but quickly realized I would need another for my project to work and in walks this one. The problem is, I got home and realized it still worked and I can't bring myself to take it apart. However, it is kind of broken. The thing that holds the paper doesn't go the whole length of the paper and once you get to the end of a line, it doesn't go back to the beginning of the next line. Anyone know anything about fixing typewriters or where I could find some info on them and/or fixing them?

Coupon Time

It's finally happened!

If you like my Facebook page, Merritt's Marvels, you will receive a coupon code for my Etsy shop for 15% off. Just in time for Labor Day.

Go on over and like Merritt's Marvels and get you a coupon!

Work In Progress

In my aimless hours of hanging out on Pinterest, I found this Pin.

Beaded Bracelets

I loved them. I already had/have an obsession with making bracelets of the string variety so, this would be perfect. 

My family recently participated in a Kidsignments sale. (Kidsignments is a MEGA, and I truly mean mega, consignment sales for children's clothing, toys, furniture, and maternity clothes.) Somewhere in the midst of it all, all the hama/perler beads that I ever had were sold, of course. So I went to one of my favorite stores, JoAnn's in search of some.

I was on a bit of a tight budget when I went to JoAnn's. Lucky for me, I was armed with a 50% off coupon. I picked up the needles that would prove to be extremely useful in making one of these bracelets and went looking for beads. 

One bag of 1000 beads, all the same color, was $1.99. One of those sets with the boards and 2000 different color beads was $7.99. Remember when I said I was cheap thrifty? Well, with that in mind, none of these combinations were working for me. I finally found a bucket of 6000 different color beads with some boards for $9.99. I thought, "Finally, it's on the high end of my budget but, it'll work." The buckets came in two different colors schemes and as I was looking at the schemes, I found a bucket with a dent in it. I then became more excited because I knew I could get a 'damaged' discount. I went up to the register to check out and ask about the discount, expecting for them to tell me it would be like 10% or something and the cashier told me it would be 75% off. Score! I was also able to use my 50% coupon on the needles. That's $12 worth of materials for $3.50 after tax. Words cannot describe how excited I was. Can you tell I like to save money.

Now that I have bored you with my savings story, let's get to the crafting part of it all.

I followed the instructions to get started and made my own pattern from there. Here is the result after about 15 minutes. The weaving didn't take that long but, picking the beads out of the bucket took awhile.

Check back soon to see the final results.

Third Time's the Charm

So I guess the saying is true. After two previous attempts at stenciling, once with paper, once with freezer paper and with mixed feelings about the results, I finally feel like I hit the nail on the head. 

A family friend recently purchased the Damask Decor cartridge for the Cricut. This cartridge is simply amazingly beautiful and gorgeous. I was kinda scared to use it for the stenciling because I thought all the little pieces might be too much to handle. Lucky for me, this cartridge has a Silhouette feature that simplifies the images to the perfect level for stenciling. 

Once I had the image cut out, I took plenty of time ironing down the paper so I wouldn't have any bubbles and seepage. I probably took to much time since I may be a rather staunch neat freak so, if the pieces of the stencil didn't line up, it drove me crazy.

I then proceeded to paint over the stencil with yet another jar of 50 cents paints, let it dry, remove the stencil, and perceive a wonderful feeling of elation of a project going totally right. 

A Break

I realize we're just getting to know each other but, the time has come to take a break. 

School has just started. I'm enrolled in high school, college, and working part-time. Needless to say, spare time is fleeting. While I try to get a firm grip on my schedule, there won't be many posts but, I'll try my hardest to keep them coming.

I appreciate everyone who will continue to keep stopping by. 

I'll be posting a coupon code for my Etsy shop, MerrittsMarvels, on my Facebook page, Merritt's Marvels, in the very near future. Make sure to like the page and watch your NewsFeed.

Tribal Digital Print: Skinny Arrows

Here is the second tip to help you re-create this Tribal Print.

Skinny Arrows

Step A.

Go to the stickers tab, select arrows, and select the without the shaft.

Step B.

Line up the arrow with the edge.

Step C.

This is where the trick starts. 

Right click the arrow and select duplicate overlay.

Step D.

Change the color of the second arrow to the color of your background.

(I gave it a background so you could see arrow.)

Step E.

Line up the second arrow on top of the first to create the desired width.

And there you have it, Skinny Arrows.

Come back soon for another great tip and another step closer to making your own Tribal Print.