The Glasses

I'm back in my own home after hanging out at my parent's place over the weekend. I think I brought back about as much as I took over there. I only made one present for my family, I made some pillows for my brother's fiance. Luckily the fabric I choose will go well with what they're doing in their new living room. All the other presents went over well.

As for the annual gift swap with my remaining friend from high school--we had a great time. Beth said she already knew what she got because I mentioned it in the blog, but I didn't post pictures. Here are the pictures of the two sets of glasses I etched. Each is actually a set of 6 with the designs repeated.


The photos aren't the best. The skinny glasses say "gin" and "juice" and one glass just has a stripe. The other set says "eat," "drink" and "be merry." I really was pleased with how they turned out. I think I'll be trying out some other designs on glasses and big fat vases.

They're aren't any shows coming up. We are entering the slow time for the craft business. It's too bad in a way. I like having a break after all the shows in December, but at the same time it feels so empty in the coming month. I'll just have to get busy with consignment and wholesale for spring.

If I don't get back to the blog--have a wonderful new year! I want to come up with some goals and resolutions for the year to come.

Squidfire Review

So I'm a bit behind the times in putting up a review of Squidfire's Holiday Art Mart but here it is.
For the first DIY show ever in Baltimore it was great. It was held in a cute little space. I was, unfortunately, by the door and it was a cold day. But I wore my wool sweater and brought hot chocolate to keep warm. There was a great turn out for the show and lots of people were in the buying mood for themselves and for gifts.


I made a few swaps and got some things for myself. From Titling Swiftly I got this pretty winter berries necklace. I've already worn it twice to work. I love the cluster bead look.
I also found out about tknits, a Baltimore based company of one, Christalena. She makes these amazing Honeycomb fingerless gloves. I got them in a light seafoamy and white. Love them! I've gotten to wear them a few times even though the weather has turned freakishly warm again in Baltimore. I never know what to wear.
This weekend I got some of my own gift crafting done. I've been wanting to try glass etching for awhile and randomly found a cute little set of glasses at a yard sale on Saturday. So with two sets I had one each for a gift exchange I do with some friends. The etching turned out really well. I will post photos this week hopefully. I also made some candy cane bark--yum! George and I already ate the alotted bit that was for us. There's a recipe for the bark here. It's really great for a quick gift or stocking stuffer.

Back in business just in time for Squidfire's Holiday Art Mart

I got my sewing machine out of hock and three days late. But it's good as new. It's just happily humming away. I've taken to calling its time away from me as time at the spa. Maybe I should send it to the spa once a year. It's just so happy now. And when the machine is happy, I'm happy. I haven't cursed at it once!

It's a good thing I got it back this weekend. At least I had a little time to work on things before the Squidfire's Holiday Art Mart next Saturday. All the vendors are now listed on their site. I know some people and others are totally new to me. It should be a fun show.


I did make some time today to go a show that I wasn't in. And I made quite a find there. A couple runs a antique business up in Pennsylvania and the woman specializes in buttons. She had tons and tons of Bakelite buttons. Aaahhh! And I didn't bring much cash and they couldn't take credit cards. That was a good thing for my wallet, but it was painful to make decisions. Actually it wasn't too hard. I just had to have a giant chocolate brown Bakelite button with a carved deco-ish design. I'm going to make it into a button for myself. I'll take a photo of it when I'm done with it. Trust me, you are going to be so jealous. I foresee a visit to a little Pennsylvania town.

December Shop Update and other news

I finally got the Bake Sale Designs' shop updated. Whew. A lot of things sold at shows in the past three weeks before I could get them up and available online, but that's just the way it is. So there are new pins and lots of new bags, including the two new winter tulip bags pictured below, plus zipper pouches, a mini-messenger and a couple more bangle bags.

Unfortunately, my sewing machine is MIA. I was supposed to get it back yesterday. I spoke with a woman at the repair center and she said it was fixed. But I may not get it until Monday! Yeah, I don't think so. It was supposed to be delivered today. I think I'll pay those nice people a visit tomorrow and see if they can't rustle up my machine for me. I NEED it this weekend to catch up on inventory for the Squidfire show in Baltimore next weekend. Errr!
I'll just have to try to relax and bake a new recipe, Chocolate Cranberry Cake and finish up my holiday pom-pom decorations.