Destination Art!

This "shop hop" of Sacramento-area art and fabric shops was held yesterday and today. In its 6th year, this is the first year I've heard about it!

My first stop was JR Flamingo, on Fulton Avenue. This is a quilt/fabric shop with a strong emphasis on Asian fabric. They were doing a wet felting demo and had a display of "art dolls." They also loaded me up with water and snacks!

Next was Art Ellis, on J Street in Midtown. I'd never been in there, though I've often stopped at University Art across the street! Art Ellis is a traditional art supply store and sells sketchbooks, pencils, etc.

Then I headed up I-5 to Piece of Mind Bead & Jewelry Studio on Northgate Blvd; this shop was hard to find, so if you're into beads, don't give up -- you'll love it! They were hosting a show and sale of lampworked glass beads by about 8 local? artists. One of the artists, Kim Osibin, was one of the first 30 lampwork bead artists in the country (world?). Another of the bead artists (Suzanne?) provided a demonstration of lampworking (turns out she's an RDH -- dental hygienist -- and knows my boss!).

By this time it was rush hour, and I had NO interest in sitting in traffic on the freeways, so I took Northgate south until I saw a familiar street. El Camino took me through the 'hood, but since it was daylight I wasn't tooooo scared! I eventually ended up at Babetta's Yarn & Gift Shop on San Juan @ Winding Way. This store is the yarn equivalent of Piece of Mind! Among the more unusual fibers were yarns made from 100% bamboo and also some alpaca yarns.

And because it was on the way home, I stopped at Cje's Art & Fiber Gallery in Fair Oaks Village. Although this shop's address is Fair Oaks Blvd, it was a very hard shop to find, as they were tucked around the corner and fronted a parking lot rather than Fair Oaks. I'm not real sure what they do here (sort of looked like a working studio); they had an odd assortment of paintings and unusual and ethnic crafts.

Then this morning, I met Julia at The Stamp Art Shoppe on Sunrise @ Cirby. If you like stamping, scrapbooking, or altered art, you NEED to check this shop out! They were giving a demo of different inks. This was the only shop that had a sale or shop hop special -- 10% off pretty much everything, and we both spent a few dollars.

I'm a little confused about the gift basket drawings. There's one HUGE basket (valued at $900!), the winner of which will be drawn from all of the tickets received -- so I guess for those who went to all 6 shops, they may have 6 entries?? I thought the smaller baskets would be awarded shop by shop, but I heard somewhere along the way that there will be 6 names drawn from ALL of the tickets received -- so the odds are a bit more challenging.

WHEW!!! I can't believe this is the 6th year for this event, but just the first time I've heard of it. I'm already looking forward to next year's Destination Art!

Bagaholics Unite!

Oh my! I am sooooo honored to be in two Treasuries in as many days! Just got a convo from DeborahsForgetMeNots that she had used my backpack in her "OOAK Purse Art" Treasury!

The image is linked to the Treasury, and (as usual) the link will no longer work after the Treasury expires, early on Wednesday March 11th.

If you remember from yesterday's post about how Treasuries work, once you've logged into your Etsy account, just click on your favorite bags! You have a total of 12 votes and they can all be used on one item, or you can spread them out however you like. Of course I'd appreciate a vote or two ... :-)

Bitten by the Bag Bug!

Well, it looks like I've been bitten by the bag bug! Before you reach for the disinfectant, let me assure you that this is only contagious if you're the craft-makin' type (though I hope the shoppers catch it too!). Yes, it seems that this is the year of The Bag!

I've just listed two bags on Etsy. The first is a cute little black and almost-white patchwork bag. It went together rather quickly, which enables me to offer it at a lower price.

For this bag, I used a stripe fabric which I purchased recently and a floral fabric that I purchased new a buncha years ago, and is close to qualifying as vintage!

This bag is unlined, but I have taken the time to finish the seams. The fabrics were all prewashed so it it machine washable. You can purchase this bag here.


The second bag I listed is a backpack. I made a few of these last year, and they're still looking for their forever homes.

I had a lot of fun with these backpacks because I was able to raid my stash of antique lace and vintage mother-of-pearl buttons. The two layers of lace around the flap is sewn on by hand with the tiniest of stitches ... and ALL of the pearl buttons are sewn on by hand (there's about 25 of them altogether!).

The other two backpacks are similar -- one has a more antique-looking fabric for the bag (i.e., not so white), and the other has a raspberry background fabric for the bag. Both have several accent fabrics too, of course, as well as the antique lace and vintage buttons. You can purchase this bag here.

I'm currently working on a new bag. The handles are frustrating me just a bit, but I'm almost done with them. I think the rest of the bag will go together very easily ... at least I hope so! And yes, it's also a floral fabric ... and matches one of the (other) backpacks!

What a Nice Surprise!

Woke up this morning and had a convo from Kath that she had featured my 3 black bunnies in an Etsy Treasury. What a surprise!

*sprinkling magical sales dust on all of the bunnies*

If you're not familiar with Etsy Treasuries, the more popular ones (judged by # of clicks, views, and comments) eventually make it to Etsy's front page; this is the section titled "Handpicked Items."

To vote for Treasury items, once you're logged in to your Etsy account, simply click on the image(s) of your favorite items in each Treasury! You're allowed a total of 12 votes, and that can be divided amongst all of the items, or you can vote 12 times for one item ... or any combination in-between! PLEASE remember to log into your Etsy account before you vote; otherwise, you can click yourself silly, but your votes won't count at all!

NOTE: The screenshot of the Treasury is currently linked to the actual Treasury on the Etsy site, however after this Treasury hops away at 2:34pm EST on March 8th, the link will no longer work.