Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Make It Personal. The Party Pack Has Your Name Written All Over It.


I've been meaning to get to this for awhile but it's been a crazy couple of months with craft fairs and a complete studio renovation. It's been a very exciting time around here and a little hectic.

Now that I'm 100% moved into my fabulous new studio space I have time to share news on a variation of one of my top sellers: The Personalized Party Pack! What a fun way to treat someone special with this gorgeous kit customized with the recipient's name. Each quart sized container contains supplies to create 50 of your own glass pendants, magnets and rings. This option is also available upon request for the Petite Party Pack for an additional $15. The Petite Party Pack includes supplies and instructions on how to make Scrabble Tile Pendants, glass pendants, rings, and magnets using premium Chiyogami and Italian papers. What a unique and beautiful gift to give that's already wrapped in gorgeous paper!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

New Bottle Cap Collage Sheet Designs!


Brand new to my shop are therse freshly listed 1" bottle cap designs ready for you to create your bottle cap hair bows or bottle cap pendants! My friend at PrettyBowtique makes the cutest clippies for winter in white and pale blue, so I designed this fabulous bottle cap collage sheet with that in mind. These are sold exclusively at Annie Howes on Etsy.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Hinton's Orchard and Harvest Fun!


Each Tuesday morning I meet up for coffee with a few of my fellow Amazon spouses for some light socialization, much needed for me since I rarely get out of the studio most days. School is out for two weeks for Fall Break and a couple of the moms had planned a morning trip to a pumpkin patch.

I had a full schedule today with much needed glass arriving, orders to ship, kits to assemble, all while Mr. Howes was busy renovating my studio (that's another post entirely), so I hemmed and hawed, but after twisting my rubber arm, I quickly caved. It's rare that an invitation to poke around a pumpkin patch arises, and with children in tow we all headed to Hinton's Orchard & Farm Market located off 210 in Hodgenville, KY.

We were so pleasantly surprised at what we found. There was a blow up jumping *thing* (what are those called?), a hayride, baby calves (redundant, I know) that were the sweetest things I ever saw, a corn silo the kids could play in, a corn maze, and of course pumpkins! Lots of beautiful, perfect pumpkins.

It didn't take long for everyone to find their perfect pumpkins, in fact it took much longer for us to shop in their small but well-stocked market. The aroma of caramel apples permeated the market. Frozen lamb chops, beef patties, and pork were available, all grown locally in Kentucky. Homemade preserves, and apple and peach butters lined shelves alongside BBQ sauce and relish.

This coming weekend is their 5th Annual Pumpkinfest with a live band, pumpkin painting, and hot air balloon rides. The Green River Cattle Company will be there grilling their famous ribeye sandwiches which is one of my personal favorites. Take a look at the Hinton Orchard's website and blog for more information. You won't be disappointed! Please say hello to 3 week old "Number 29" (see photo at top) from me. He's a sweetie!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Country Ham Days Craft Fair Photos


I am so glad craft fair season is over for me. I have completely underestimated the toll it would take on me and my online business. Wow. Despite wearing comfortable shoes, my feet still hurt, and despite working 18 hour days, I still havea few days to catch up on shipping. To all my patient customers, I can never express in words how deeply I appreciate your patience with my shipping.


So it's been a non-stop packing, shipping, glass firing, coffee drinking, aspirin taking kind of a week around here. I'm left feeling slightly narcoleptic, but because I can see progress (I now have only a 4 days lag in shipping instead of 8), I'm beginning to have hope that at some point I can put my sore feet up and rest a moment.



Ham Days in Lebanon, KY was so much fun. I met fellow Etsy FAM Team member, Denita, in person and she's a DOLL! Her friend, Julie is special, too, and I miss them both! Denita makes the cutest tutus and we had one on Millie the first day, but sadly I neglected to take her picture. Julie makes the most gorgeous decorated frames and memory boxes. I am thoroughly impressed with the talent both of these fabulous women posess.


I also got to meet the owner of The Frisky Feather on Etsy! She came out of her way to meet me, however I suspect she came to browse all the fantastic booths put together by the talented people of the region.

All right, enough of this business of blogging. I have packages to ship and sleep to catch up on.