Upcoming Valentine's Day Arts and Crafts Show at the Westport Flea Market in Kansas City Missouri Features Handmade Creations for your Sweetheart!

I will be a vendor at this local upcoming event.  Join myself and several other handmade artisans at the Westport Flea Market on Saturday, February 13th, from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.  It is the ideal place to buy something for those that you love or just a little something special for yourself!  I will be selling my handmade needle felted heart jewelry there as well as my needle felting kits and new line of note cards and tags.  There will also be some of my nuno felted scarves and other fashion accessories available.  Click here for driving directions, a list of vendors, and complete event details.  I hope to see you there!

Shop Local and Buy Handmade this Holiday Season! Huge KCEtsy Black Friday through Cyber Monday Sales!

Black Friday through Cyber Monday (11/27 - 11/30), 20+ Kansas City Etsy Street Team members will be participating in a mega sales event!  Each individual shop has chosen their own special sale just for you.  Check the KCEtsy blog for complete details about savings and a list of shops participating.  Many shops are offering percentages off, free shipping, and/or freebies with purchases.  Beat the crazy shopping center crowds this weekend and shop in your pajamas with a cup of coffee in hand right in front of your computer!  Fun!  Fun!  Fun!

My Etsy Shop Black Friday through Cyber Monday Sale:

•••• 20% off all orders + free shipping worldwide ••••

No promo code necessary!  Shipping fees have already been marked down for all shipping destinations.  The 20% discount for your entire order will be reimbursed via PayPal within a few days once payment is completed.  Please see my Etsy shop announcements for any further details.

Check out my Etsy shop:

A Very Random Friday . . . just some random thoughts and happenings of the week

I've found my thoughts to be a lot more scattered over the last month or so. I like to call it pregnancy brain and blame it on my ever changing hormones. Because of this feeling of disarray, it has been hard for me to post regularly here on my blog with main points and solid topics. Today I have decided to just give in to my "pregnancy brain" and write about a few random happenings of this week and past weeks. Hopefully it will still be interesting.

First of all, I've been really blessed over the past couple of weeks with good publicity and encouraging contacts. Recently a local Kansas City area newspaper contacted me about including some photos of my creations in an upcoming article. They did a phone interview and asked for some good quality photos. I was really happy and encouraged by that. I was also contacted recently by a local co-op arts and crafts gallery that asked me to join. Unfortunately, with a baby coming, I could not commit to the responsibility involved, but I was extremely flattered to have been contacted and asked. Then there have also been a few blogs that have featured my work over the last couple of weeks which is always a little boost of happiness to see. All of these little things have been a real God-send in some ways because I have felt so very tired and unproductive due to the pregnancy. These little bursts of publicity and validation really help to keep me going and encouraged in my artistic endeavors.

The next bit of randomness actually happened today. A fellow Etsy seller contacted me. They were very honest in expressing how they like a certain aspect of some of my item listings and marketing style and wanted to incorporate that into their own item listings and marketing. Essentially, they were asking me what I thought about the copyright and ethical issues of it. First of all, let me say that I was impressed that they actually contacted me and did not just copy without considering my side. This showed a sign of professionalism to me. That being said, as a professional artist and business woman, I am protective of anything that is my original design which includes not only my creations but also my photo styles, descriptions, titles, etc. Situations like this are difficult because as an otherwise civil and kind person, I don't want to come across as a dragon lady, but then again business is business. My response, in the most polite way that I could, reminded the other Etsy seller that all of my designs including photo styles, descriptions, titles, etc., were uniquely mine. I also mentioned the importance of professionalism and the consequences of copyright infringement. Their response was actually very civil and understanding with them agreeing to seek their own marketing path for their unique items. What I thought would be a considerably uncomfortable situation was actually not that bad. I think that being able to communicate with one another in such a way shows signs of true professionalism among colleagues. Unfortunately, I know that when it comes to copyright and ethics, that is not always going to be the case, but for today, I feel blessed with the outcome.

And lastly, I have felt in rather a creative funk lately. It seems that I have a strong desire to make art objects, but I don't have any energy for it. I like making my little needle felted jewelry creations which are quite popular in my Etsy shop, but I have felt the need to branch out beyond that with some creations that are just art for art's sake and not utilitarian in any way. This is quite unusual for me considering that I ordinarily like my creations to all have a "useful" purpose and therefore concentrate on jewelry and fashion accessories. I hope that I have the physical energy soon to start creating some art objects. It will be a bit of a new adventure for me, but I think that I need that right now. I'm ready to explore a new side of fiber art and feltmaking.

So you've made it through my random thoughts this Friday - congratulations and thank you! I hope that you have a splendid weekend and do many wonderfully random things!

National and Local Arts and Crafts Shows: So how do you find them? And how do you participate?

This past Saturday, my husband and I woke up early (well, early enough for me anyway) and went to a local area art festival. It is called the Plaza Art Fair and is a long standing tradition here in Kansas City. It is considered one of the top five art fairs in the country with highly competitive jurying for artists to participate. And, it gathers over 200,000 visitors during its three days. The mood and quality of artists and their work is very upscale and professional in every respect. Of all the wonderful things that there are to do here in Kansas City, the Plaza Art Fair is one of my favorites that I look forward to every year. It is inspiring and intimidating because of all the extraordinary displays of art from ceramics, to textiles, to mixed media, and beyond. I don't know that I'll ever be that caliber of artist to compete for such a coveted spot in a show like the Plaza Art Fair, but I certainly love to go see who this year's artists are and what exquisite things they make.

Personally, participating in public venue shows can be a bit nerve racking to me. I consider myself an introvert in such settings so it is more difficult for me to comfortably chat with browsers and handle the crowds. Usually, I choose to only do a few arts and crafts fairs during the year, but I would like to step out of my comfort zone and start doing more. In Fall of 2007, I participated in my largest show yet, the Strange Folk Festival in the St. Louis area, and had a wonderful time! I also learned a lot about selling in a large public venue, but unfortunately, this year, my schedule did not permit me to do that show again. (If you are in the area, I do highly recommend that you go check it out!) I am however thrilled to have been accepted as a vendor in the No Coast Craft-o-Rama in Minneapolis on December 5th & 6th! You may have read my previous post about it. This is really the only large public venue show that I've planned to do this year, and I am in full force making things for it. I hope it turns out to be a fabulous event for everyone involved.

Whether or not you choose to be a vendor at local or national shows, I always encourage artists and crafters to attend as many of them as they can - just to browse and chat with the vendors. These events are food for the artist's soul and can be quite eye-opening to what is currently popular in the world of arts, crafts, and design. Below you'll find a list of resource information on where to look for local shows and other artsy events. You'll also helpful to links arts and crafts show preparation.

And, before I sign off for this post, for those fiber artists out there, I just wanted to share two fellow fiber artists that I found at the Plaza Art Fair this past weekend. Annaesthetic, a.k.a. Anna Shapiro, is a woven textile designer that produces the most lovely scarves, shawls, and other clothing accessories - just amazing! Also her booth display was terrific. It was like a little boutique. And, Miriam Carter is a traditional feltmaker who had a variety of scarves, hats, and other clothing. Her lattice style felted scarves in many different colors are a classic.

Now on to some resource info . . .

Where to find event listings:
www.indiecraftshows.com
www.eventlister.com
www.craftlister.com
www.lunacraft.com
www.zapplication.org
www.juriedartservices.com
www.hpifestivals.com
www.bazaarbizarre.org
www.sunshineartist.com
www.festivalnet.com
www.artandcraftshows.net
www.craftmasternews.com
www.artfaircalendar.com
www.midwestartfairs.com

How to prepare for an arts & crafts fair:
Attending a Craft Show - All Fiber
Preparing for an Art or Craft Festival - Squidoo
How To: Prepare for a craft fair - GetCrafty
A Craft Show Check List - The Crafts Report
Craft Show Booth Ideas - Craft Show Success
Do a Craft Show w/o Breaking the Bank - The Storque
Arts & Crafts Fair & Shows Flickr Group
Craft Fair Goodies & Ideas Flickr Group
Photos of my own craft show table displays

**The image is a screen shot of some handy dandy craft show aprons that I found doing an Etsy search for "craft show apron" - these would be very useful and are super cute!

Upcoming Kansas City Event . . . Urban Bazaar

West Bottoms Urban Bazaar
I'm a vendor at this local event on Saturday, Sept. 15, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1221 Union Avenue, Kansas City, MO, in the West Bottoms. If you're local or up for a drive, please stop by, browse, and do a little shopping! The bazaar features several local artists and crafters, and admission is only a dollar for the Saturday event!