Friday After St. Patrick's Day

Having a good Irish last name, St. Patrick’s day was never forgotten in my household growing up and is never forgotten in my own home with my children.  This year, due to a crazy working schedule, I could not cook my favorite buttermilk soda bread or the traditional American St. Patty’s day feast of Corn beef and Cabbage.  Therefore my St. Patty’s day got post poned a couple days to today.  Since it is Friday and I LOVE to blog about fun ETSY items, I figured I’d make it all about St. Patrick’s day today.

This first item I just love.  It’s a Felt I-phone case featuring an adorable four leaf clover.  Entirely hand-sewn this beauty will fit any gadget.
Check out these fantastic lucky clover hoops from Twisted Designs.  This design is truly unique and is causal enough to fit with any outfit, on any day (not just St. Patrick’s day).
And lastly, enjoy some Guiness, the cure for all ails, but instead of drinking it, scrub with it.  I love this soap made with this very famous stout beer.

Getting Ready for my FIRST ever Craft Fair!

So just a couple weeks away from my first ever craft fair and already I'm feeling the crunch. Long lists of what I still have to make (in bulk). But presently I am planning my booth layout. What works best. I haven't really put forth much effort in researching it, and potentially that will be my downfall. But really we live in a commercial world and are bombarded by displays, layouts, signage, etc on a daily basis. I do my research every day I go shopping. Place items at eye level, have the purpose of an item clearly identified, have prices clearly labeled, have a professional setup - clean and neat, and make sure you display does not over power your crafts to be sold.

I’m pretty excited about getting some actual feedback from people face to face on my wares while showing off my abilities.
The biggest issue that faces me presently is how to gauge how much time it will take to do packaging and signage.  Like always, I am sure I will underestimate the time needed to preparing this step.
Any seasoned craft show people out there that can offer me a word or two of advice, it would be appreciated.

Why is it so Hard to find Oganic Fabrics??

That’s a mighty fine question.  What’s more, when I decided that I would open a new Etsy shop  ( http://www.x2useittwice.etsy.com) which is devoted to reducing waste, using organic materials, and upcylcing, I started calling the local fabric stores to ask them about their organic fabric supply.  I was shock to hear their response, “What do you mean.”  What do you mean??  Wow!  The local Quilting shop was very helpful.  She explained to me that the Organic supply of fabrics is presently very low and are created on a very small scale.  Because of this many of the prints do not have a clarity of the larger printing shops.  This is something that I have not noticed but I am not a fabric supplier and do not look at several hundred fabric swatches a week.

To get a good selection, I’ve had to hit the online shops.  Here a couple good ones that I have found:

http://www.organiccottonplus.com/ <- large selection, reasonable priced, good reputation.
http://www.pmorganics.com/index.htm <- great selection of bright prints, limited selection
http://www.nearseanaturals.com/index.php <- great selection, more expensive, premium fabrics