Crys (@bigbrightbulb from bigbrightbulb.com) ordered my Time Flies journal from my shop last week. She said she wanted a place to write her haikus. And this is the first one she wrote:

O Alexia!
Bless your busy mind & hand
You make Happy, too

Thanks Crys for the lovely haiku! It made me happy.

I’m in the process of creating more happy, so keep an eye out at my shop.

So with that said, I’m running a studio sale at my Artfire site. Everything is already marked down 15% and if you spend $50 or more, use code FREESHIPARRRT for free shipping in the USA & Canada.

I have book necklaces, journals and patches on sale. Head on over and see! Once they’re gone, I can’t promise there will be any more.

Rest assured, they are not me, and & did not approve them.

Email spoofing isn’t all that difficult, it’s a nasty, horrible thing, but people do it all the time. My rocketdiary.com site had the same problems a few years back.

All I have to say is “blah.”

Well, if he is or isn’t, he’s probably still a tough gift nut to crack.

The Etsy North Georgia team rounded up some awesome gift ideas for this Fathers day – hopefully your dad will like something on this list. If not, get him some jelly beans or chocolate and a card & call it a day… That’s usually what I end up doing.

*Photo by Denise Clark

My Table

One unfortunate thing (of several) was that communication up until the show was lacking. I never got any of the mailings and had to get Alicia to forward when she got them. All the way up until the day before the market, I had NO idea whether or not I needed to bring my tent or tables – and I scoured every inch of the application and all the emails I had been forwarded. So I called one of the organizers and asked. She was helpful, although surprised that I didn’t know what was going on and insisted that the information was in every email. Turned out I didn’t need to bring anything but my product & display stuff which made me super happy.

So on to the day of the show.

Alicia of Alicia's Colors - Glass Art

Alicia and I got there around 8:30 am to set up. The only indication that we were in the right place were the tents and one sign in front of the venue. No signs lined the main drag. No people waving folks in. No indication at all that there was a big event going on. Eep!

Mismatched gigantic candy-stripe and plain white tents were all over the grounds. All the tables were draped with tablecloths and although we were told we’d have signs at our “booths” we didn’t see any, so we had to track down someone to help us locate our space. The space was not 10″x10″ as promised. We barely had 10×4, just the size of the table and definitely not enough space for 2 people. I didn’t realize how much stuff I actually had! Thankfully (?) whoever was to the left of us didn’t show up so we each had a 10 foot table to ourselves.

Detail of part of my booth

The layout of the show really left a lot to be desired. I understand the “first time show organizer” dealie but there are conventions for laying out shows, and having vendors see each others’ asses is NOT a good thing. Not only that, if you promise 10″ x 10″ space, vendors expect 10″ x 10″ and will be a bit pissed if they don’t get it.

There was a lovely garden area off to the side of the venue with a fountain and flowers and such but no signs pointing that there were other vendors in there. Poor folks in the garden area had a great vibe and probably 10 degrees cooler than the rest of us but no customers!

Several folks ended up bringing their tents and setting up wherever they could which also interrupted the non-existent flow. Lots of unhappy vendors the first day and as a result quite a few failed to show up on Sunday.

Although I understand the reason why they refused to show up the second day, I think it’s never a good idea to go back on your end of the bargain – even if the other party failed to live up to your expectations. For me, it’s an integrity issue.

This was a first-year show and although it could have been run a LOT better, it’s not a show without vendors. I also think the organizers could have been a bit more cordial – after all we came from all over expecting to make some money that weekend and if we weren’t there, there would have been no Hatch Market. I know of a few vendors who had some “words” with the organizers and ended up leaving early.

And another shot of my table

Foot traffic was minimal on Saturday because of Prom. I was informed that the high schoolers were planning on being there on Sunday (with their parents) but really – how much to teenagers really spend on crafts in small towns? Especially after prom? At any rate, I was seriously reconsidering showing up on Sunday. But I sucked it up and did it again the next day.

I made twice my booth fee (which was only half the “full” booth fee due to a stroke of good luck) on Saturday. But it was S – L – O – W! I ended up chatting with quite a few of the vendors including some of my NORGA team mates. Sunday was slightly better in terms of traffic, and I was able to reach just over 6x my booth fee, which was WAY beyond my expectations. I sold a book necklace & a new distressed-leather 224-page sketchbook, both of which were a couple of my higher-priced items.

The gal who bought that book necklace also brought in her copy of 1,000 Artist Journal Pages: Personal Pages and Inspirations (1000 Series) and asked me to sign it!

I was so nervous 1) because I sold a book necklace 2) I was given a $100 bill to make change for and 3) someone actually wanted *my* autograph that I failed to count out change correctly. Now mind you – I grew up in a restaurant and as a teenager ran the till with NO problem counting out change (who needs a stinkin’ register!). I can count change in my sleep. But I kept screwing up. AND I ended up signing in BALL POINT PEN instead of Sharpie which I had in my pocket. *headdesk*  Oh well.  If you’re out there, ENJOY your signed book & book necklace!

So overall, despite the gloomy weather (thankfully it didn’t rain), disgruntled sellers, disorganized organizers and no beer despite being sponsored by Yuengling, it was a decent weekend for me – both in terms of money and adding tons of new people to my mailing list.

More traffic, better advertising, reorganized flow & better vendor relations may make next year’s (if there IS a next year) Hatch Market even better.

So here’s the latest Creative Blogger. Her name is Marie-Michèle and she runs Mademoisell M, the blog and the website where she sells her jewelry. I love the gold & turquoise in the piece to the left – I’m not a huge fan of yellow gold but I do like this one. She’s running specials on her gold and gold tone jewelry in May so check out her deals!

If you ever wanted to know about a particular gemstone, she also has a section on her website with all gems from A to Z and all their facts & lore. I’m drawn to amethysts (fourth one down on the page) since I was born in February and my favorite color is purple. Did you know that in ancient Greece amethysts were worn to ward off drunkenness? I suppose it worked because I’ve always worn a ring with amethysts and I’ve never really drunk enough to get past tipsy… Very interesting.

Joella, the Always Wired Bead Lady, makes some gorgeous beaded & chainmaille jewelry. So for that she has my admiration. You can find Joella at her blog & Etsy.

I have a habit of overbooking myself and then driving myself absolutely insane to meet all those obligations. Usually I end up in a corner sucking my thumb by the middle of it all and not performing well on half of these commitments (at least by my standards), and that’s never a pretty sight.

Lately I’ve been reevaluating what I’ve agreed to do and decided that it’s never a good thing to let myself get *so* overwhelmed that I get paralyzed. No one benefits and I’m sure it’s taking off minutes – if not days – of my life. So last month I decided to start hacking away at things I said I’d do but were stressing me out big time.

And it worked. People were disappointed, but they’ll get over it. What’s most important is that I kept myself healthy & able to create. When I get overwhelmed I get blocked – creatively & otherwise – and I become rather useless. I know I’m one of those people who wants to please everyone all the time (eldest daughter, dad w/ temper, sister who’s a bit wild) and in the meantime gets so frustrated and stressed out that she explodes with her own pent-up energy at the most inopportune times.

This month I realized I overbooked myself. Three shows, 2 classes, 1 band gig, several arts league-related things, new fantastic, exciting project & helping my sister with her upcoming wedding. Argh! All this on top of writing articles for eHow & keeping my 6-8 hr/day web gig.

So now I’m going through my schedule and hacking away at things that aren’t important to me and are not doing anything but increasing my stress levels. That means backing out of one show (which I didn’t have to pay for) and flaking on a few friends (who I see weekly anyway) to keep my sanity.

And I’m feeling good about it. That is, until I got hit with major sinus crap yesterday. (double argh!)

I guess what I’m trying to say is:

Be good to yourself.

Quit doing things because you feel obligated (and that’s the only reason you’re doing it).

To create you need space – both in your life and around you – so make the space you need.

Even if it means disappointing people. They WILL get over it and you will be a lot happier & more creative. And as a bonus, those people you disappointed may ooh & ahh at your latest and greatest creation!

photo credit: FredArmitage