[elle] and August

Today starts the longest month of the year. Sure there are other months with 31 days, but August always seems to take a longer time. July flies by and I anticipate September...just a peek into my head.



Sent those scraps off to be buttonized. I've fallen for pinbacks, just like I've fallen for chain. Plus my plaid scraps were too nice to just be thrown away. No only specks remain of those shirts. :)

I want to work on ornament designs this month. I already have one, a sort of carry-over from last year. I came up with the idea to re-introduce ornaments to my shop late last year. Since I'm doing shows this year, and just generally trying harder to make elpy successful, I want to have more and the only way to do that is to start working earlier.

Also I want to add photo cards to rJax and add more supplies to elpy [Closet]. I must ramp up work on my off-Etsy site. It will probably still point back to Etsy for sales, but I want a web presence independent of...everything, make use of my domain. Maybe one of my lists is in order...I do better with a list.

Post Picture:New necklace! Elle has been added to my shop. It's part of the Minta Collection. There is more to the Elle subset of Minta, must get photographed, etc. I really like the pictures for that necklace though. I always like when very little editing has to be done. :)

Sports Aside 7.31- Strike 3

I live in a torn state. It's politically blue but sometimes bleeds red for the Boston Red Sox. Today, they traded Manny Ramirez, arguably one of the best pure hitters in baseball history.

Now, I'm a Yankees fan by birth, (if you're not one it can't be explained) so I'm not really sad to see him go. He usually killed the Yankees. And the 1-2 punch, though actually it was usually 3-4 or 4-5, of he and Ortiz was somewhat lethal...in athletic terms. They were monsters at the plate.

I just don't understand it logically. Ramirez had a whopping 2 months left on his monster contract. The Red Sox couldn't tough it out, Cowboy Up, for 2 more months? Were his skills eroding that much, was his mind that far gone? They still ended up paying $7 mil to the Dodgers to cover the remainder of his salary.

The Sox seem to have gotten stiffed in the trade-deadline deal. The Dodgers got a free player for two months, the Pirates pick up scads of prospects, the Red Sox...get Jason Bay? A National League hitter, from the Pirates. (somehow they worked out a three-team deal.) Does the name Renteria ring a bell? NL hitters struggle switching to the American League. Not all, but...is it worth it? For two months? He'd have been gone, then and the Sox might have won another Series. That hurts me to type.

Baseball is my secret love. I do normally right about my Etsy shop and crafty things, but this was too huge a deal and my confusion/opinion too strong not to be blogged. Now that I've thrown enough links at you...

Post Picture:photo of Manny Ramirez by Elise Amendola / AP

Post-Market

I went back to the Billings Forge Farmer's Market. I'm thinking I may be too expensive for farmer's market. People are coming to buy food, and the food is pretty inexpensive, though local and yummy. Yesterday I was next to a guy selling $1.50 trays of produce. Yeah. Even the Dots look like a lot then. I think I always knew this, but...well, that's a long story.

Today was better than yesterday for me as a person. I wasn't as stressed out, maybe because I've done that market before. I sold one pair of Dots earrings that hadn't made it to the shop, yet. It was 91 degrees with very little breeze and a lot of humidity. That's the CT River Valley, for you. I was extremely thankful for the tent.

So, farmer's markets are a great way to get started with shows. I'm going back to both next week because I said I would. After that, if sales aren't any better, I may move on. Still...I'm glad I did them. Met a lot of people, gave out cards and got tons of compliments. It's encouraging for the most part.

Post Picture: Me after we unpacked the car. Hot and tired.

Try

So I did the show I was invited to. I'm too tired now to offer a real review but I make have given a lot of contact info out to a stalker...or he could really be a news reporter. I didn't think to ask for his name, or the name of his paper until after the show was over. Made about $14 all told. Yeah. I told the market manager I'd come back. Figure giving the thing two weeks would be fair. People ARE coming expecting to buy food...not me with my handmade pretties.

Tomorrow I have another, the one I did before and have been trying to get back to since. I don't think my mom understands how mentally draining this is on me and I can't explain it. Shows and me...somewhat tumultuous mix. Wish I could figure out how to acclimate myself.

Post Picture: From the first market. The wooden items.

g'morning

Puzzle magnets
Originally uploaded by lpdesigns

Okay, really...I think something's wrong with me internal clock. I somehow may have gotten on west coast time without ever going there. Heh.

I'm awake, blogging early in the day so hopefully, I won't be tempted to later and I can get some things done. I worked on two necklace designs yesterday. They're for my Minta collection. Note to self: next time you want to make a collection assembled all the materials for all the pieces first. Anyway, necklaces are a challenge to me, whether macrame or not. They're usually 18+ inches of beaded/knotted/chained loveliness, so they take longer than I'm used to since I have made mostly earrings. (speaking of, finished two more pairs of Dots...have yet to be photo'd and listed, but they're cute)

I know I've said it before. But I really do love how when I'm working, and not just ideating/stressing about work, more ideas come. It's a beautiful thing.

Have a show tomorrow and maybe Thursday. Crazy, yes? I haven't heard back about Thursday, though.

Thinking I should do a feature post because I know I get bored of just writing about me.

Post Picture: New magnets as yet unlisted. My camera is slowly losing the ability to focus. It's digital and about 4yrs old. This should be interesting.