Plushroom Soup

Win a Custom Plushie!

Yes, you read that right! I'm giving away a custom (i.e., you pick the colors and details!) owl or wee imp plushie. Head over to the Handmade MN blog for details on how to win a little post-holiday gift for yourself! You have until December 26 to enter.

Here's just a few owl and wee imp examples to whet your appetite.

Quickie Recap: No Coast Day 1

The first day of No Coast was a huge success! It seemed a lot more crowded than Friday night last year. Business at the booth was really steady. I'm so glad I made ornaments this year, because it seems that you guys really love your ornaments! All yeti ornaments sold out in under an hour, and almost all of the owl ornaments sold too. I whipped up a scant few more of each tonight.

Zombie critters were also very popular; there's only one left (zombie yeti)!

I was so busy tonight that I didn't get a chance to look around at any of the other vendors' wares, but I have some helpers for the booth tomorrow, so will be able to do some shopping of my own.

See you there!

Today's the Big Day!

Ack! Yeti looks about how I feel right now; a little worried. Somehow it's the first day of No Coast already. How did this happen? November, why did you hurry off so soon? I sure could have used another week or two of your calm before the storm.

Though I'm afraid there must be something crucial I neglected to do (I'm sure it's just nerves; I made lists and checked them all twice), I'm also super excited. No Coast is always a blast; there are so many awesome vendors and it's so great to chat with all of the wonderful shoppers.

Also, I have one more special treat to reveal to you that I saved especially for today. I made ornaments this year!

 

 

I super shrunk my frog, owl, yeti, and giraffe to make these little guys. I think they're pretty cute! Huge, huge shout out to Amy, Tiffany, and Jason, who helped me cut out all of these guys the day before Thanksgiving. I owe them each something very special!

Can't wait to see everyone today! I'll have a complete recap of the show for everyone as soon as I can catch my breath!

In Which You Clamor for Yetis

The results of my little poll are in, and yetis beat out the competition by a small margin:

You asked for it, you got it! Introducing Cotton Candy Yetis!

These guys will be available at No Coast, but there's only six of 'em, so get to the booth early!

And for those of you who were really hoping for more frogs and owls, no worries. I have plenty of both of those as well.

See you at No Coast! I'm booth D-2 this year, in the main hallway near the security desk.

November Goal Recap and December Goals

I don't know about you, but November flew by for me! My month kind of got derailed by my acceptance into the No Coast Craft-o-Rama; this will be my fourth year at this awesome event! So let's see how I did on last month's goals:

1. Finish and ship my pieces for the Go Ask Alice show. Status: Complete.
   I wasn't entirely happy with my Queen of Hearts piece, but I loved my Tweedles. I'd never made anything remotely human before, and I'm kind of excited to try it again!
2. Send out at least 2 more inquiry emails to retail stores/art gallery boutiques. (If any of you know of an awesome store/gallery in your city that I should contact, please let me know!) Status: Complete.
   No response from either yet, but at least I'm getting my contact info out there. I identified a few more boutiques I can send inquiries to after the holidays as well.
3. Finish organizing my fabric shelves, take pictures of the craft room, and blog about the process. Status: incomplete.
   In fact, I'll likely have to start all over again later this month as I've been sewing like a madwoman and have made my craft room pretty messy again. Ah well. At least I'm creating!
   
   Total Accomplished: 2 / 3. Not bad! 

Last month I also managed to make 26 plushies (that's got to be a record for me!), create price tags for my No Coast items, create other signage for my booth, buy a new booth display, and open a merchant account that will enable me to accept credit cards at my booth. 

I'm feeling really overwhelmed about December at the moment because No Coast is only 2 days away and I still have so much to do, so I'm once again keeping my goals simple.

1. Kick butt at No Coast. Specifically, I hope to sell at least half of my inventory, and make some new connections with sponsors/vendors I haven't chatted up in past years.
2. Complete all my custom Christmas orders. I received 6 custom order requests before November was even over, so I don't think I'll be accepting any more Christmas customs at No Coast this year.
3. Clean up my craft room again, organize shelves, take pictures, and blog it.
4. Send out at least 2 more inquiry emails to retail stores/art gallery boutiques. (If any of you know of an awesome store/gallery in your city that I should contact, please let me know!)