December crafty giveaway--embroidered flower pin!

Good news--my next blog giveaway is finally ready! This month, the prize is one of my new embroidered flower pins.



It's easy to enter--just leave a comment on this post below including your email address and what color pin (from the picture above) you'd like if you win.

You can leave your email address in this format if you like: pickychickybird AT gmail DOT com, just to avoid spam.

The lucky winner will be chosen at random on Tuesday, January 4th...I'll announce the winner here on my blog, so stay posted!

Seattle shopping extravaganza

We discovered some great places to shop in downtown Seattle...as well as (surprisingly) a great gift shop in our hotel. Also made a quick trip to the outlets and picked up some good stuff there.

Warm & cozy stuff for the winter! Furry vest: Gap Outlet. Leather gloves: Fini. Socks: Free People. Wood rounds coasters: The Country Store at Salish Lodge & Spa.

I fell in love with this coat, even though I already have at least a dozen coats. It's super soft (not wool!) and has a great silhouette, plus lots of fun zippers! Coat: Free People. Shawl: The Country Store at Salish Lodge & Spa.

Carved wooden frame/wall art: Thailand Junkie. Birds flour sack dish towel: Watson Kennedy. Greeting cards: The Country Store at Salish Lodge & Spa.

Some very cool (and mostly bird-themed) finds from Snoqualmie and Seattle, WA. Sweater: Gap Outlet. Birds flour sack dish towel: Watson Kennedy. Footie slippers: Free People. Metal chicken tray, greeting cards, chickadee figurine, and chickadee mini plate: The Country Store at Salish Lodge & Spa.

Yay for awesome shopping!

Inspiration in Seattle

Earlier this month, I spent a lovely week in Seattle and Snoqualmie, WA with some friends! What a relaxing time...we enjoyed the hotel spa, watched bad tv, went shopping (and eating!) in downtown Seattle, played board games, and enjoyed great food. Here are a few of my trip pics, check out my Flickr page for more!

Our hotel, the Salish Lodge & Spa. 

  

 

And coming soon--a separate post with pictures of all the cool things I bought!

Craft fair takeaways

So I ended up doing two craft fairs this week, one at NPR and one at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in DC. Both were internal craft fairs, not open to the public, but they went pretty well.

I always bring materials so I can work on pins or other projects if things are slow at the table for a while. Yesterday this worked out great! I had a few potential customers come by who were interested in the pins I had, but wanted something specific--usually different sizes or colors. I was able to take their orders and make their pins right there, so they could pick them up at my table later in the day.

One of the requests was for a set of pins to wear for holidays--a pink/red one for Valentine's Day, a black-and-orange one for Halloween, a pink/yellow for Easter, and yes, a GREEN one for St. Patty's Day. Recall an earlier discussion with Brie where she thought no one would want a green flower pin? And I said they would for St. Patty's Day? Well I do...haha. So there!

I also got a few ideas from folks who wanted to see other animals/themes:

• ladybug bookmarks
• turtle pins
• butterflies (wouldn't a monarch be cute on orange felt with black stitching)?
• seals and frogs (a man came by who said he ONLY purchased things with seals or frogs on them!)

So my takeaways for the week?

1) Always bring projects to work on while you wait.
2) Make what your customers want! I seem to get a lot of requests for pink and purple pins for little girls...must make more!
3) Let visitors to your table know that you are happy to do custom work.
4) Brie is wrong about green things. :)

You can dance if you want to...

I'm a bit behind on blogging and crafting lately, I've been super-busy with dance rehearsals and other stuff! Yesterday was the Southern Region Oireachtas (Irish dance competition) and it was a lot of fun. It was local this year, which was nice...we got to hang out at National Harbor for the day, plus I didn't have to fly anywhere :)

Our ceili teams did great...my four hand placed first (out of 7!) and my eight hand placed third. And our school got both 1st and 2nd in ladies AND mixed ceilis! A good day overall!

Today it's back to crafty, I have a bunch of felt tags and things that I need to get ready for a craft fair this coming Friday. And of course, a few more owl pins...

This week's batch of hoot owls :)