Cigar Box Purse

A couple weeks ago, we went to the Farmers Market in Ybor City… A huge Cigar making place. One of the cigar vendors was selling his empty boxes for $3 a piece. I bought 4.

I’ve always been pretty enchanted by cigar box purses, but I’ve never thought to make my own.
Etsy is full of beautiful examples! This one is my favorite!

So, after seeing the boxes at the market, I decided to give it a go!

Here is my progress so far on my first try.

It’s kind of peaceful painting the little edges! I’m sure I will learn a lot, and my next one will be even better! I will show pics of the completed project when it’s done.

Button bin

I use buttons on almost everything I make. Barefoot sandals, owl hats, sock monkey hats, and some booties, too. So, I put a request out to my Facebook friends to send me some of their old buttons that they didn’t have a use for. I was so excited when my cousin in NY, also a very crafty gal, sent me a box of some awesome vintage buttons, most still on the cards.

It was very exciting to see $0.29 button cards!

I also got a whole whack of buttons from eBay for really cheap. This was a pretty awesome score, but it led to a slight problem. No more room in my button bin!

This is what I used to use – a round tin from a German Christmas cookie box. It was not big enough for all of the loose buttons as well as the carded ones.

With the advent of Pinterest, I have started collecting all manner of things, including empty glass jars. My husband laughs, but I just put them aside, thinking ill find a use for some of them eventually. Today is that eventually. I turned a big pasta sauce jar into a button holder.

I love how it looks with all of the beautiful colorful buttons in a clear glass jar!

Now I’m using the old button tin to hold all of the carded buttons, and it works out pretty well. The only downside is that even though I can see all of the buttons pretty well, they are often difficult to actually get to.

Making piles

I have been working diligently to make a whole whack of stuff to bring to Market in a month. The problem, if you can call it that, is that every time I show off what I’ve made on Facebook, I end up with another order. Absolutely NOT a bad thing, but it makes stockpiling a little difficult.

A local shop used to carry my items, and when they changed ownership, my handiwork was left homeless. Well, in a bin in my bedroom. I took some pics to put on Facebook of everything I had, in the hopes that someone would buy some of it. I really do have a bunch of piles, but they aren’t very tall at the moment.

I added prices with the friends and family discount, in the hopes of selling it all. However, this was before I made the decision to do the Farmers Market.

Since adding these, I have sold 2 of those earrings. That’s it. Meanwhile, it has gained me orders for 1 blanket, 2 booties, 5 hats. With another 2 blanket bootie sets in a few months.

Between commissions, I have been looking for other cutie things to make for the market. One of them was Sock Monkey Hats. They are really adorable. Here is the one I made:

I have found a wonderful website with a ton of adorable hat patterns for free, and she lets you sell the items! She could sell her patterns and make a mint, and I for one, am thrilled that they are free.
She’s over at Repeat Crafter Me. You should go visit her!

Owls are a hoot

As I gear up to start selling at the Farmers Market, I did some “research” yesterday by going to a couple markets with my hubby. It was a nice time out, and we got some exercise, veggies, bread, and some empty cigar boxes that I am excited to play with!

I did not see anyone set up at either market that has the sort of stuff I do. I was really hoping for some staging ideas, but didn’t really get any. I am hoping to go out to the market we will be actually be setting up at to see if there is anything similar there.

Anyway, as I was thinking of the types of items that I want to make, I started with a baby owl hat. I found a free pattern on Ravelry, and made it in about 3 hours… Including a stop at Joann to get the yarn.

It came out absolutely adorable, and when I showed FaceBook, I had a couple orders the same day. The first I started working on was to be darker blue with no ear flaps, and matching booties. So I started playing around, and this is what I came up with.

They came out so cute… But I made them cuter!

I know… Right! Adorable. Makes me wish my boys were babies again! So, I will finish up the orders and then make up a few to put in my Market bin.

I am getting excited. Like not being able to sleep excited! We are aiming for the last weekend in August to start. That will be mostly good timing, except that I will have started back at nursing school the week before. Multi-tasking… I can do this!

Lets try this again…

I have started another blog. This time, the goal is to have a home for my Hook ‘N Stick Designs. I like having a place to show off finished projects and chat about new ideas and trends in the craft world. My goal over the next few weeks is to get my Etsy shop (Hook ‘N Stick) back up and going, post pics and links to where you can buy the items that are available now, as well as offer a place to commission custom orders.

I also have the opportunity to bring my items to the Celebration Farmer’s Market with a friend of mine (Go visit Angela’s Etsy… she’s awesome! Madison Totes.) so I am gearing up to get back into the craft fair game. It’s been a long time since I participated in one, and I have to dig back through my bins to see what is still appropriate to sell.

I lucked out and got a Groupon for some VistaPrint discounts ($70 worth of stuffs for $17! What?), and you know what that means… New Business Cards!! The new business cards are what spawned this blog. I needed ways for customers to find me, and since I can’t do a dedicated website, Etsy and a Blog have won.

It’ll be good though, we can do this… I have a list.