Special Invitation Wine Tasting and Craft Show

A friend was invited to bring her crafts to a wine tasting and BBQ today and asked me to help her and bring my jewelry. We both had a fun and successful day. Fall in Oregon can sometimes be very lovely and today was one of those days. Some clouds, some sun, shade of a fir tree, and appreciative customers. What crafter could ask for more. We were the only crafters invited so we really felt special.
We each had sign for our section of the tables, business cards, and name tags. There were many comments on our nice displays, requests for business cards and some special orders taken. This is a small winery in a country setting and only about 70 - 80 people attended so we were very surprised and pleased at our sales.
Since this was the first time we had joined forces to show our crafts, we were both very pleased at the results.
Just wanted to share the fun with all of you. Here is a picture of my happiness.

Gratitude - Is It Good Business?

I want to share the link to this Reader's Digest article. Personally I've found this to be true and am grateful to see that the science backs up my experiences for a change. To make it even more special - my Sister sent me this link with the comment that she knew that I already did this. :)

The October Reader's Digest had an excellent article that I wanted to share with you, so here's the link. http://www.rd.com/content/the-new-science-of-being-thankful/

VAST AUTUMN EVENT LAUNCHED

The Visual Artist Street Team of Etsy is launching their Autumn Event today, September 15, 2007 and it is well worth your while to check it out. It is a visual feast for the eyes as well as a great way to get started on holiday shopping.

Just follow this link to Etsy.com http://www.etsy.com/buy.php and enter the following phrase into the search box: vastautumnevent

Yes, I know that there isn't any spaces in it - the search tag was designed that way so you would find the items you are seeking.

Happy searching and shopping.

NOT A CRAFT - GREAT SITE

If you have a high-speed internet connection and haven't already discovered National Geographic's Wildcam Africa you need to take a look. Best viewing times are listed on the site. You can sit comfortably at your computer and have a window into wild Africa. Pete's Pond (where the camera is located) frequently has visits of elephants, giraffes, eland, wildebeast, hyenas, jackels plus a crocodile lives in the pond.

Here is the link and hope you enjoy the viewing as much as I do. I just put a small real player viewing window on the corner of my screen and go on about my Etsy or other business. http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/wildcamafrica/

Fall Events and Happenings

Lots of great things have been occurring lately on some of the street teams that I'm involved with plus a surprise notice from the cross stitch editor of http://craftgossip.com/ stating that she will be mentioning my Kae1Supplies.etsy.com store in the blog.

Etsy Trashion has been very busy with their Trunk Show (a great success) and now a posting on Etsy's new Storque
http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/events/article/trunk-full-o-trashion/124/

that shows some of the Trunk Show action and participants.

VAST Street Team is getting set to launch our VAST Autumn Event on September 15th so we are all busy creating great items for this. You can use vastautumnevent as a search on Etsy to find the items that are linked to autumn and this event.

On a more personal front, I've been busy creating clothing for my Craft store and adding a lot of new craft books and magazines to my Kae1Supplies store so do check them out and remember that I will combine shipping for items purchased in both shops to save you money.

I've also joined ecoetsy street team but haven't had much time to really get acquainted with it. One of their focuses is to reuse as much packaging materials as we can so that items don't get put in the dump -- well many of my items I use in shipping are 'reclaimed, reconstructed and repurposed' to say the least. Here is a short list of how I reuse packaging materials:

1. I use old plastic bags to make padding for shipping using foam peanuts that I've been given and then seal the bags to that the peanuts aren't floating away while packaging.
2. I use old boxes to make 'new' shipping boxes the correct size for what I'm shipping.
3. Egg cartons make good packaging around lighter weight items and protect them.
4. Cereal cartons make a good protective backing for lighter weight books and magazines.
5. Carefully open any item you receive so you can reuse the envelope, bubble wrap, peanuts, etc.
6. Tell friends and neighbors that you accept all used bubble wrap, peanuts, and any other packaging materials you use so you don't have to buy new.
7. Protective plastic wrap from boxes (the soft kind of plastic wrap) is great for filling small corners when packaging.
8. Soft foam can be sliced with a serrated knife and made to fit whatever packaging shape you need. I found a cheap knife at a thrift store and use it just for that purpose.

These are just some of the things I've done for reusing packaging. I'm sure others have many great tips and I hope you will share them.

Happy autumn, selling, packaging and successful shipping.

Kae