Happy Birthday America!
I just noticed that I rarely make anything in the colors, red, white and blue. I need to remedy that! I did make this pillow.
Festivals that Support Handmade
Since I knew we would be traveling to St. Louis last weekend, I was particularly interested in the blog post my blogging friend, Paige, put up on her wonderful blog, Lenox Knits. If you haven’t looked at the things Paige knits, I am warning you, you will have to buy one of her beautiful scarves. Anyway, Paige mentioned that she would have a booth at the Strange Folk Festival.
We decided that my husband shouldn’t do very much walking since he is just getting over a bout of tendinitis so we didn’t go to the festival. I am mentioning it here, on my blog, as a reference so that when we do get to go, I will have all the info.
The Strange Folk Festival showcases indie crafts and indie music. I didn’t really know the significance of the “indie” conotation so, of course, I used my Swagbucks search bar and did some searching. In the Urban Dictionary, indie is described as (n) an obscure form of rock which you only learn about from someone slightly more hip than yourself. I didn’t think that was quite the “indie” I was looking for so I went on to search at Wikipedia. There I found the following:
Indie is a shortform of “independent”
The indie design movement is made up of independent designers, artists and craftspeople who design and make a wide array of products without being part of large, industrialized businesses.
They are supported by a growing number of indie shoppers who are seeking niche and often handmade products as opposed to those mass-produced by corporations. Such products may include jewelery and other accessories, ceramics, clothing, glass, metalwork, furniture, cosmetics, art and much more.
Indie designers often sell their items directly to buyers by way of their own online shops, craft fairs, street markets and a variety of online marketplaces, such as Etsy. However, they may also engage in consignment and/or wholesale relationships with retail outlets, both online and offline.
The indie design movement can be seen as being an aspect of the general indie movement and DIY culture.
Now that’s more like it! Yes, I believe the Strange Folk Festival is a gathering of artists who sell their handmade products. You can eat wonderful foods, listen to authors discuss their books and participate in the The Upcycle Exchange. Best of all, you can purchase beautiful, handmade items that will fill your life with pleasure while supporting the handmade movement.
Foggy Brain
Does your brain seem more foggy when there is snow on the ground and the day is dreary? I am so sleepy and am finding it hard to get motivated today. I did finish a purse for a customer. I am going to have to buy more of this fabric because I barely had enough to make this bag. It is the fourth purse I have made out of this fabric so I think that others like it too!
Crafters Need to Join!
Hear ye! Hear ye! I have joined a great blog hop to get myself into the holiday spirit! I think you should join in. It is going to be loads of fun and you will meet some nice people.
The Frugal Housewife is hosting a Blog Hop on
“Decorating for the Holidays” on December 14th.
What do you need to do in order to sign up and be included in the “Decorating for the Holidays” Blog Hop?
1. Be a family friendly blog. Adult themed content (gambling, pornographic, or adult humor) will not be included.
2. If you are a family friendly blog and want to participate, sign up by December 9th using the MckLinky form. A list of the participants will be posted on The Frugal Housewife’s and will be available for the participants to post on their blog. This will give you linky love back to your blog.
3. Write a post on December 14th about the subject “Decorating for the Holidays.” It doesn’t matter what your niche is as long as it’s family friendly. If you are personal finance writer, you might want to write a post on how expensive it is to decorate for the holidays or how you can save money decorating for the holidays. If you are a craft person you might want to write a how to make a holiday decoration. If you are food blog, you might want to write a blog on how you can create a holiday tablescape. You get the picture… the post has to deal with “Decorating for the Holidays.”
This is very important!!! At the end of your post, you will need to provide a link to the next person on the list after you. Thus creating the Blog Hop. This also creates more linky love. A couple of days before the Blog Hop our host will let the participants know who the person is after them that they need to link to. If she doesn’t have an email address for you, please watch your comments for a comment from her.
What can you do to help drive readers to the blog hop?
ADVERTISE!!! ADVERTISE!!! ADVERTISE!!! The sooner you start advertising, the better! Give shout outs about the blog hop on your blog, your Facebook, your Twitter, whatever other social networks you belong to. Remember, the more you help drive people to the blog hop the more successful it will be and the more readers you will have and hopefully you will find new readers that will keep returning to visit your blog!
It really is a WIN, WIN combination!!! You get linky love from the Blog Hop. You give linky love to other blogs. You get new readers visiting your blog from other blogs. You basically get free advertising that you are a part of the blog from those posting the lists of Blog Hop participants. Plus … you get a lot of holiday decorating ideas!
Come on, what are you waiting for? Sign up and let’s have a great Decorating for the Holidays Blog Hop!!!
Halloween Crafts
One thing I miss about not having kids at home any longer, (mine are adults and live elsewhere), is making crafts with them. Something just doesn’t feel right about carving a pumpkin without them. If you have children and they tend to whine about being bored, you should check out the post, Kids Love Halloween Crafts, on Squidoo. Making crafts with your kids is something they will enjoy during the moment and remember for a lifetime.
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