Monday, April 29, 2013

In the Workroom Recap : Week 285

Hey guys! As promised, I don't have too much to show you from the workroom last week and additionally less because I seem to have picked up a bug that has rendered me mostly useless.
Luckily I was still able to finish what was planned for the week - mostly. Most importantly the boring taxes and paperwork! I can't fully express to you how glad I am to have them out of the way.



My worktable was covered in reciepts for most of the week but when I finished, I did a little reorganizing again then dove in to the supply closet to see what was hiding under the clutter and supplies...



Lots of goodies! The few fabrics on the right will become skirts for me when I get around to sewing them and the rest I think I can use for doll dresses and other fun things. I'm glad they are no longer buried and forgotten! And the closet is a little easier to get around now which was the initial goal.

Since summer shows will be coming up sooner than later now, we've also been painting some more potential display items to match the display trunk I finished for One of a Kind Show a while back. The little table in the top left was made by my mom's dad many years ago so I'm excited to use it for my display now. Lots of white things happening!



It'll be fun to get another brand new display together for the big outdoor shows this year! Some of you may know that my mom and I combine our handmadies for the local shows so her knits will be mixed in with Needlings once fall comes!

I was working on the last batch of cell phone sleeves that will go along with a big batch of goodies for Wholly Craft in Ohio before I started to feel a littly flu-y. Not fun!



Hopefully I'll be back to normal soon so I'll have the finished bunch to show you next week. Fingers crossed!
See you then friends!

Monday, April 22, 2013

Toronto Weekend : City of Craft, Photobooths, Street Style!

As I mentioned in my last workroom update, I went in to Toronto on Saturday to check out the amazing City of Craft Spring Show with one of my crafty friends Lisa of Nerdbiskit. I'm so used to being a vendor at all the craft shows I attend so it was nice to be a customer/visitor for the day!

We walked in to Trinity St. Paul's on Bloor Street and it was adorably decorated with handmade paper flower decorations so even though it was quite a chilly day for Spring, it was beautiful and sunny and cheerful!





I could have bought something from every single vendor there but I refrained and only spent a teeny bit and had a great time looking around at some new and some familiar favourites.


Picked up a few cards, a postcard print of a drawing by one of the vendor's kiddies, Bookhou (who's bags I am in love with), and a washi tape covered heart pin from Ghostface Knittah.


One of the cards is from We See Inc. that had a booth up in preperation for a performance piece and their Soul Bank! We happily donated our souls via our fingerprints and strand of hair! Yep, we did that! Anything for art's sake.



The other card was from Have & Hold Design that puts together super cute photobooths and photo props! Lisa and I of course couldn't pass them down.



So much fun! 

As we were walking down the street after our craft show fun times, a girl who turned out to be Karyn of KillerKurves.com, a plus size fashion blog, asked me to participate in a street fashion feature on her blog! Turns out we even have some friends in common! Small world!



Forever squinty glasses girl. Windy but bright day! Someone needs some prescription sunglasses...
All the details from my outfit are over on the blog feature including a little Needlings plug. I'm so happy to make Karyn an Owl Mama of her own now! It's funny how just walking down the street sometimes can end up exciting. 



So that was our day! I can't wait to visit the holiday City of Craft this winter and will be spending some solid time visiting the vendor's via the internet in the meantime. Check the vendor's list here. Every single one of them is worth a look!




See you soon!  ♥

Sunday, April 21, 2013

In the Workroom Recap : Week 284

Hi guys! Another week over. I spent the week finishing up a big restock for White Rabbit in Iowa City, one of my favourite shops in one of my favourite towns.







It's a big one! And it's all boxed up and on it's way. Whew.

I took a little break from work this weekend to head in to Toronto to check out City of Craft, a great indie craft show with tons of amazing vendors. It's fun just to be a shopper at a craft show every once in awhile and this one is a great one for that! I'll have to do a seperate post very soon to share my day (which was great). I know I've slacked off on the non-workroom posts this year but now that One of a Kind show is over and my workload is a little less, I hope to share with you a little more than all my loads of sewing and crampy hands. 

But for now, that's it for the week! I will probably have less to show you next week as far as finished things since there is some fun paperwork and TAXES to finish up but I'll be back anyway just in case. See you then!

Have a lovely week, friends!

(From Callie too!)

Sunday, April 14, 2013

In the Workroom Recap : Week 283

My week started with packing up some orders and sending out some goodies with special cards.




I want to eventually get around to drawing all the one of a kind dolls I've made so when I say goodbye to them I have something to remember them by! Plus it's just fun for me, ok guys?

After those few jobs were out of the way I got down to biz on my application for the Christmas One of a Kind show. Yep, applying again! We'll have to see if I get in again of course but they have my requests anyway. I didn't have it in me to fill out the paperwork during the week of the Spring show but it's all out of the way now.



So exciting!

The next little thing I worked on was a little Thumbelina for the Plush TeamFairytale Challenge. I was a little late on getting her finished but I had to go with the late-coming inspiration anyway. I have plans on making a half-size option of my big art dolls so I thought this extra little one would be good practice. Plus I always loved the Thumbelina story.



She's now available in the Plush Team etsy shop for purchase, where you can read a little bit about my connection to the story and see a few more pictures of her.





She's little! And she has a little polka dot flower to lounge in. It's funny how being given an assignment of sorts helps me think of some new things I end up liking and wanting to make more of.  

The rest of the week was spent on some cell phone sleeves that will be added to a big bunch of goodies I'll be sending off to White Rabbit in Iowa City.



I'll be working on boring paperwork things like taxes next week but will hopefully have a few things to show you by the end of it.

See you then!

Sunday, April 7, 2013

In the Workroom Recap : Week 282

Back in the workroom! We'll go ahead and skip week 281 which was spent mostly at the One of a Kind Show with a few days of scrambling beforehand to get things together and ready for the studio/car/convention hall transition. 

But that's all behind us now! I will admit that I had a pretty slow week after the craziness of five 13-15 hour days in a row but I still managed to get some orders out and get my own space back in order after it was sufficiently torn apart before, during, and after One of a Kind! So not completely behind us but almost there!

After a couple days of relaxing recovery time which involved lots of kitty and puppy cuddles and movie watching, I got to work on a little robot order!



Notice the close up shot to cut out the disarray all around...

I don't make these big robots as much as the little ones but custom orders for them are fun for me. I got to thinking about big robots with bowties so that might be a thing at some point...

Next, I packaged up some more orders and decided that new doll owners will get special little sketches. I plan on doing some more illustrations of my girls in the future, mostly because I think it's fun and because I get a little sad when they find new homes and leave me forever.




And then a day of reorganizing and rehanging! I really should have taken a before picture since no one ever believes my desk is messy but I swear it was!! 




Ah, much better! I still have a big ol' stack of felt scraps that has yet to be dealt with but everything else, for the most part, is back in order.

Which is good because I have a couple store restocks to get to work on in the coming weeks! First up is a big batch of goodies for White Rabbit in Iowa City which shouldn't take me too long to finish up hopefully!
Table space helps!

Well, that's it for the week! I'll see you after the next one, friends!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

One of a Kind Spring Show and Sale 2013

After months of build up and preparation, the five days of the One of a Kind Show finally came and went last week/end. It's so hard to include everything that happened because it seemed like every day was packed with visits and exciting events but I will do my best!



We set up the night before the show started at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto. Made some quick changes to my display when I saw the space in person finally but I was happy with it in the end!




This was by far the biggest show I've ever done and being a part of the new Etsy section was a big honour! I think all the customers were just as excited as we were because our little packed section was packed with people the whole week! 



It was a busy busy week of driving in to and back from the city every day but the customers and visits from my super supportive and wonderful friends and family helped keep me going!



I'll have to do a separate post of my outfits for the show! I always have fun trying to match my booth so five days of it in a row was fun for me. I'm also currently working out the details to start making the custom Needlings illustration skirts I make for myself available for purchase so watch out for those in the future!

My dolls had their own little fashionable moment when they were asked to be a part of the kids' fashion show on the weekend!




Pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen! The little (human) ones did an amazing job and it was fun to scoot away from my booth for a little bit to check out the show.
I wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of my amazing mom who helped me throughout the entire show. Every day! I can't even say how much I appreciate her and everything she does for me. And my family and friends too - who visited me, took care of my puppy, and generally made me lucky I know so many amazing people! I won't post all their photos here but if you hop over toInstagram you can see all the photos I took throughout the show including some of my lovely visitors.




The show was pretty amazing and my little table was packed with goodies; front, back, side - everywhere! I'm excited to do One of a Kind again in the future and move everything around again! My trunk worked perfectly, too, which made me pretty happy!



On Saturday morning, I was happy to hear that my little ladies had been featured in Toronto Life as one of the top 15 picks from the One of a Kind Show! One of the vendors told me in the morning and then I heard the same thing from customers throughout the day which was exciting! I was happy that a few of them found new homes and shed a tear or two when they head off with their new owners.



And it seemed as quickly as it started, we were packing up and heading out!



All gone! Well, a lot of it! 

Thank you again to everyone who came to visit and if you missed me this year, don't worry! I'll be back again!