SquareUP - GET IT!

I haven't done a Craft Show in a while, but I totally got one of these, just in case.  It's a Credit Card Reader that you use with an App on your smartphone.  It seems pretty awesome cause you don't need a merchant account with a third party to accept credit cards on-the-go. There is no monthly fee, just a small % of sales, and the payment is directly deposited into your bank account.

The last craft show we went to, EVERYBODY had one.  It's super easy & you don't have to record anyone's credit card #'s, so your customers might be more comfortable with that.

Check it out if you've ever found yourself loosing a sale cause you only take cash.

Picts from Renegade!!

So here are a few picts from the L.A. Renegade Show. It was a blast & I'm still recovering from the weekend. I pretty much slept from when I got home from work till this morning last night! I was sooooo tired!!
















































I think one of the funnest things that people tell me at shows is (and it's usually fellow felters!!!), people comment on how nice the shading is on my work. They ask me how I get such nice gradations & shadows & when I tell them I use the airbrush they usually go "Oh...." and look super disappointed.

I know I've never been a traditional "felter". I find easy & cheap-trick ways to make creating my sculptures faster & better looking. I think my fellow felters feel cheated by how I use the airbrush to do shading. The way I look at is that I'm creating sculptures and part of creating those sculptures is the process of painting them. If I were sculpting sculpey sculptures, they need to be painted... If I were creating ceramic pieces, they would need to be glazed.... I don't feel bad about using any technique to get the look I want. I've got almost 10 years working as a prop maker & sculptor & 5 of those was almost exclusively creating work for Disney. Disney has a VERY specific aesthetic they follow & I enjoy the clean, graphic, animation inspired look to my sculptures. There is NO WAY to create that using traditional felting techniques.

Wool is just a medium for me to express my ideas in a sculptural form, not to be confined & limited by.

I miss Vegas & Unemployment....

Do you have a "Day-Job"?

I just wanted to vent a little about how having a Day-Job kinda SUCKS! I love what I do at my job... but I miss vacation... I (surprisingly) miss being unemployed... I think it's the TIME that I miss. I love being on vacation cause it's an excuse to do whatever you want, spend money you really shouldn't, and eat whatever without feeling guilty. Despite the worry I felt when unemployed, I miss the 8-14 hours a day that I could work on my art. Now I get home & have maybe a couple hours to work on stuff. It really was nice to have unlimited time to start & prefect my craft.

It's funny cause I'm trying to work on the Predator Munny to finish it in time to submit it to the KidRobot contest, so I'm working like 3 hours after I get home from my Day-Job. Lance is so nice cause he is willing to go get us Fast-Food cause I'm busy working on it. It's nice, but annoying cause I don't seem to have any time to just chill. I think it's pretty much self-imposed business, but there always seems to be something that I HAVE HAVE HAVE to get finished. I have a craft show in July (which is getting close) that I haven't done much for, so I'm sure that I'll be frantically working on that once the Munny is done.

Sorry for the "pitty-party", but I just am feeling slightly overwhelmed. PLUS - I have the Art Supply store that I work at on the weekends to keep that job going.... ARGGGG!

This is the show I will be selling at in about a month!!!

Unique Los Angeles!

If you are in Los Angeles area, be sure to check out the Unique Los Angeles show this weekend!! I was going to be a vendor here, but with everything going on, I decided to ship it this year. We are going today as visitors & to spend money on awesome Handmade Goodies!! The show runs this weekend April 24th & 25th from 11am- 7pm in Down Town. Be sure to go and support your local crafters and see some excellent work!!

And tomorrow, we are going to take an awesome Sunday PCH drive! I love driving up to Mailbu at maybe stopping at Neptune's Net for lunch!!!

Have a great weekend!!

Pink Parlour Festival Picts!!

Even though it was supposed to be a relaxing day off after my show yesterday, I still found myself running around like a chicken with their head cut-off!!!!

The Pink Parlour Festival was a ton of fun!! Didn't sell a whole lot, but handed out plenty of business cards, made some great connections, got some amazing feedback on my work, & had interest in some special orders!!

Here are a few picts of my table set-up. There's even a couple picts of Lance, who was awesome all day & helped me out with displaying everything.

HUGE Week!!

It's been a big, busy past week here at Felted Chicken!!! I've had 4 sales (which pretty much doubled my total sales in February). Not only have I been getting ready for The Pink Parlour Festival by running around town getting stuff & finishing product, but I also am working 40 hours at my job, AND have made my FIRST GIANT Etsy sale!!!

I sold the Angler Fish!! He will be missed because he has had a permanent spot on our bookcase in the living room for the past year. He is going to a great home in Germany!! It's my first major sculpture sale & it feels awesome!! I feel kinda justified & like an official Artist!!




















And here is a Custom Cupcake that I made for a customer this week, too! It's a sweet Chocolate Cupcake with Frosty Blue Icing!! It's got me thinking of making some more interesting Cupcake Color combinations.




















OH!! I forgot to mention before....

I just listed my 100th item in my Etsy Shop!!! Gots lots of stuff, now just need lots of buyers!!! HAHA!!!

TGIF...

Even though I do have to work tomorrow.... I didn't think that working one extra day this week would be that big of a deal, but the evidence of my lack of blogging tells a different story. But I do have the excuse that one of my two days off was Lance's birthday, so I really only had one day to catch up on all my Crafting Stuff.

Trying to finish off all the projects that I started for the Pink Parlour Festival next weekend. I have been listing new items in my Etsy shop regularly for the past couple weeks though. Here are a few of the newly listed AWESOME things that I've finished!!




































Be sure to check out my Etsy shop this next week because I will be putting it on "Vacation Mode" next weekend, packing everything up, & hopefully make some $$ at the Show!! If there's anything that you've had your eye on in the recent past, grab it now!!!

(sorry for the shameless plug... you all know I'm usually not like this!!! But wouldn't mind a sale or two in the next week ;)

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I've been a bad Blogger...

Sorry for my lack of posts this week. Work & life & Crafting can be overwhelming. Still trying to find that balance. It's making me feel a bit anti-computer. Will try harder in the future!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANCE!!!

Yea!! Today is my man's B-Day. Letting him sleep in, then we will be going to dinner at Sizzlers!! I love Sizzlers!! They have a great salad bar & are budget friendly!! Can't wait!

Still Listing New Items in my Etsy Shop!!!

Be sure to stop by to see all the fun & (slightly) Girly items that I've be listing!

Pink Parlour is only 2 weeks away!!

Still have alot to do, but it's nothing compared to my first show. And of course I am scheduled to work 40 hours next week. Been doing about 30 which gives me 3 days off to work on crafty stuff, but of course I get scheduled for more the weeks before my next show... Just my luck...

Be sure to come by if you are in the Los Angeles Area to help support your fellow hand-makers!!






Hope everybody has (or had) a great weekend!!!

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

So it is the beginning of a long week of rain here in SoCal. They are predicting that it could be the worst rain storms in the last decade, which kinda sucks cause my house is old & totally not rain-proof. Also, when you live in a place where it rains like days out of the year, it's annoying cause I count on having warm, dry days to help with crafting. I work a lot outside with painting, or hanging things to dry, or taking pictures. Well, glad I got a bunch of stuff photographed last week, cause it's going to be a while before I get out there again.

So here are some awesome in-process picts of my jumping frog!! He's all dyed & has his joints put in. I put grommets in the joints to help protect the felt, then put some small nuts & bolts in to have the movement. I just need to finish the detail on him, add a couple more joints & make the box & hardware, still a lot to do to finish, but he's coming along!!


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Question for my Fellow Crafters!!!

So I've got a question to those of you that sell at Craft Shows regularly:

Do you customize your table or booth display for each show or season... OR... Do you just keep the same setup for every show?

I'm going through my products & thinking about what I want to sell & how I want to display it for the upcoming show Pink Parlour Festival. I see that it's about 2 weeks before Easter & was wondering how many of you really tailor your products to the holiday or even the feel of the show. If you are selling at a more Artsy Show, do you feature more fine art pieces, or a more Crafty show, do you show more hand-made DIY stuff?

Or do you even think that much about it?


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2010 Resolution #1... CHECK!

So I get to check off my first FeltedChicken 2010 Resolution! The first thing that I wanted to focus on was getting more involved with selling at Craft Shows. I just sent my payment for my first show of 2010!!! I'm excited and have a lot of work to do, although not nearly as much work as last time!!!














So if you are in the Los Angeles area, stop by and find me!! I'm getting an 8' table this time instead of a 10' x 10' booth. I'm hoping that this won't be as overwhelming as last time & I can focus more on featuring my best products instead of just throwing everything into the space to fill it up! Maybe I will work my way back up to a booth some day. A table is more manageable & cheaper!!

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And my Etsy assault has started! Got several new items listed in my shop! Got some cute Valentine's Day (re)GIFT BAGS, and some more Sushi Magnets! Be sure to stop by and check them out!

Obvious Conclusions...

**Thanx krex for inspiring these thoughts!!**

It's funny, at points last weekend (especially Friday) I was swearing that I would NEVER NEVER NEVER do another Show again. It was too much stress, too much pressure, too overwhelming.

So what changed my mind?

Well, I think it was Saturday night, we were driving home after the first long day kinda talking about how things went & what the day was like, and I came to some obvious conclusions....

1. It won't be this stressful every time. I hadn't realized that I wasn't going to have to make as much product for every show. I think I was under some delusion that I would sell out every item that I had for sale, and would have to restock it all in the future. Well, that didn't happen!! I have plenty of stuff that I can list in my shop & plenty of product to take to the next show. I can instead focus on making more AWESOME sculptures to sell instead of spending so much time making the small, easy stuff.
2. Just because I don't sell at the show, doesn't mean people won't buy. I knew this one in the back of my head, but was so worried about selling stuff there, that it wasn't until Sunday that I really started to focus on handing out business cards & telling people about my blog. I know that doing shows is about networking and getting people exposed to your work, and there is no reason that someone who took my business card at the show might not check out my shop & buy something they passed over before.
3. Not every show is going to be a winner. My parents used to own a Comic Book Shop when I was little, and they would sell at many-a Comic Book Conventions. They told me that there were shows where they didn't make a single sale all weekend!! Also Unique Los Angeles is a huge show (almost too overwhelming) and after talking to a fellow vendor, I learned that this specific show is very Design & Clothes & Bags based. There are other shows that are more arts and hand-made crafts based that I might sell better at. You never know until you try!

So now that I have a more realistic view of what doing shows is going to be like, I feel better about it. I think I just had nothing to compare it to. I did really well, so I am happy with the whole experience. I also know that starting your own business (crafty or otherwise) is really expensive, and most people fail, and most people do it for years without any real recognition. I'm okay with that... for now.

And going with the thoughts of #1, I'm excited about making new products and to continue expanding my current designs. I did get to make a few new sculptures for the show. I sold many of them, but have a few that I need to photo & list in my shop.







Need better pictures of my new Palm Tree. It has battery-powered X-Mas lights, with the battery pack hidden in the base. It's super cute & lights up! Definitely need to get this one photo'd today!
























Everybody thought these were HILARIOUS!! I thought they were cute & funny. They are just little bits of felted coal. Made the same way as my sushi, except that I dyed the wool with Acid dyes (which was kinda hardcore & complicated).














New CupCakes!! Love these & the cherries!! I think the stems came out perfect!! I need to photo these too... so much to do even after the show's over!!









HeeHee!! New design, need to tweak it a little bit to make it more awesome. Got some materials (casting resin) to try out on this little fun sculpture. You can't kill this little fishy!!!

Pictures from Unique L.A.

So here is the first installment of pictures of my most-awesome booth at the Unique Los Angeles Craft Show.

Here's overall pictures of me & my booth design. I was happy that so many people complimented me on how nice my work was displayed. They were saying that lots of people didn't layout the space well, so that it wasn't inviting to come in and look at stuff. That was a goal of mine, to really make it fun & homey and get people in to look at all the stuff I had in there. There was alot of stuff, but I was pretty happy with most everything.





You can see my coffee there! This was Sunday Morning, and I was chugging it like it was going out of style!!




Lots of people liked the Fireplace. My mom totally stayed up till 2AM the night before set-up, cause the way I wanted to construct it, didn't quite work out. It was based off of an old-school CardBoard Fireplace, but instead of painting the bricks on, we glued felt bricks on!! It ended up nice.

I was really proud of my self, that after all the blood, sweat, & tears... I made enough stuff to fill the booth! I pretty much made everything in about a month. It was so stressful, but in the end, it was a ton of fun. I really really enjoyed meeting all the shoppers & fellow sellers. Everybody was so nice & really helpful. Everyone was surprised that this was my VERY FIRST SHOW!! They all laughed and said that I picked a huge show to start with.

But that just like me...
Gotta jump in head first... not test the water with my little toe... feeling the chill... scared to get wet...

Just a Late Night Reminder...

1 WEEK TO GO!!
If you are in the Los Angeles Area, don't forget to come & visit me at the UNIQUE LOS ANGELES show!

December 5 & 6 - California Market Center - 11am-6pm - $10

**** PLUS **** Shepard Fairey's Studio No.1 has partnered with UNIQUE LA (omg)! Every attendee will get a free cotton tote bag featuring artwork exclusive to UNIQUE LA. That makes it a collectible. Soooo cool...

UNIQUE L.A. DECEMBER 5 & 6!

So I just realized that I never made an official announcement about FeltedChicken being a vendor at the Unique Los Angeles Show!! If you live in or around the L.A. area, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE come by the show & do your Christmas or Hannukah shopping and support Hand-Made Artists!!

When: December 5&6,
11am - 6pm both days
Where: California Market Center
(110 East 9th Street - Map It)
Cost: $10, with partial proceeds going to the local non-profit 826LA! Entry gets you an exclusive-to-the-show limited edition tote bag, a free drink ticket, unlimited re-entry for both days, and access to our great lineup of free workshops. (children 12 and under are free)


I've been working really hard the past 3 weeks getting ready. I'm just waiting on my last couple of supplies (i.e. I'm out of white wool which makes it really hard to finish alot of my projects). I'm hoping to have a ROCK'N booth, selling sushi & (re)GIFT BAGS & Needle Felting Kits!! Plus my mom is coming into town to help me out for the weekend!!! YEA!!!

I'm still working hard, finishing up some stuff, starting some others, got some more (re)GIFT BAGS & sushi to photograph, got some things that I would like to start... etc... Been working 10 hour days, been ordering pizza every night, drinking too much boxed wine... etc...

So PLEASE be sure to come by the show & see all my hard work!!

Thanx!!

I am a Machine...

My days & nights... my house... are all being taken over with Craftiness! I am trying to make up for lost time and am working hard on getting ready for my first Craft Show. I kinda feel like I'm running in place cause I'm starting all sorts of projects, and haven't finished any yet. But hopefully I will get a few things finished up & photo'd this weekend so I can start listing X-Mas friendly items in my shop. There is alot of prep work that I have to do to get the ball rolling with my felted sculptures, so here are some fun picts of my quickly expanding crafty work...






Sheets & sheets & sheets of white pre-felt drying on my home-made clothes lines. I just tied some twine up between the bars on my windows out back. Usually I just stack 'em up and let them air dry, but I figured I would be making so many that a couple of nice dry-lines would come in handy!













Stacks of cut foam waiting to be wet-felted with the pre-felt. I have a ton of great ideas & am excited to get to felting!! There is some logs & sushi & other stuff hiding in the stack just waiting to be made!!









A bag full of felted sushi waiting to be finished. They are like little blank canvases ready for some color!! They look so sad being all white sitting in their festive bag.

So I WILL BE SUPER PRODUCTIVE this weekend & I WILL have pictures of new products on Monday!! YEA!!!




**Also just wanted to mention that I am deeply saddened & moved by the tragedy yesterday in Texas. Everyone needs to send their thoughts & prayers to the families of those fallen soldiers. It's amazing how it only takes one irrational person to destroy so many lives. It's a sad day....

Kinda Squirrely!

So here are pictures of my newest Needle-Felted Sculpture. He was inspired by my walk through of the Hard-Ware Store. I found these giant bolts & nuts, so I made him. I think I could use this idea of screwing on things via giant bolts for future projects!! I also wanted to play with adding different materials into the wool... kinda... "Metal vs. Wool" - the ultimate battle!! (not really)





This is the picture of the drawing I made before I sculpted. I still like to make sketches before I commit myself to making a sculpture. I think it's easier to work through the look and shape before I go 3-D.












I think he's kinda cute. I like that you can interact with the piece by screwing or unscrewing the nut. That's a big goal of mine, to get my pieces more interactive. He's pretty heavy to cause I had to get a long bolt to balance the weight of the nut as the head. I sculpted him completely, then cut down into his body to make room for the bolt, then finally I added a little gray shadow with my trusty airbrush.




And this is just a peek at what's going on at my house right now. I'm a crafting-machine!! I will be listing new items in my shop, hopefully in the next couple days. I have a ton of ideas & am going shopping today to get my crafty-stash restocked!!







** Man just re-reading my post & I hate that White Wool doesn't photograph very well. The squirrel is really cute, has some personality, but it gets so washed out in pictures. He looks kinda blah & blank here, sorry**

OMG...

So this is so a late night post... because I have some HUGE news...

My brain is working on overtime cause I was just accepted into the UNIQUE L.A. Craft Show. Man, I had just given up on doing any show this season, but now I have a not just a fire lit under my butt, but a propane tank on full power, directly up my bum-hole. Man, I can't believe it, I have so much to do. I started (kinda) on some X-Mas themed stuff yesterday, then last night I got the news. So I am totally going to try & keep everybody updated on the most recent FeltedChicken news!!!

I am totally committed to blogging the experience of my first Craft Show!!! Hopefully it will turn out great for me! Picts to come tomorrow!!!

Nothing like SUPER PRESSURE to get you motivated!

I'm back......

So my vacation was AWESOME!!! We had so much fun, although Lance did say that he likes Nebraska better than Dallas! I think it's that he had so much fun running around on my Aunt's farm with the animals & quiet country-type living for a day. We ate WAY too much, drank WAY too much, and it went by WAY too fast.

So today... back to work! I have another custom order, plus want to make a present for Lance's cousin's birthday. Day-Job is officially over, great to get some money saved up...

BUT...

Didn't get into that craft show I wanted. BOOO!!! Kinda bummed about it, took a big hit on my motivation (and self esteem). But it is what it is, right? Maybe that just means that there will be more Day-Job work coming up & it would have interfered with crafty work. So I guess I gotta get back into blogging everyday. Right now it seems like a daunting task, but I promise that I will get back into it! I guess I gotta get working on new stuff so I have something to write about!

Here are a couple of my most favorite picts from my weekend!


Picture of my beautiful family! We got to go out to breakfast at my favorite restaurant in Omaha, Summer Kitchen!! They have the best cookies in town!










A picture of me and my brother. I still don't know if we look that much like each other.













Me and my man. He is way more good looking than me!! And look! He's almost smiling in this picture!!












Lance and my mom trying to warm up by the bonfire. The Halloween party was awesome! It was soooooo cold that night, like in the 30's, so we mainly stuck to the fire-side. My uncles and his sons made a Haunted House in the barn & a Haunted Hay-Rack Ride in the pasture. We roasted s'mores & hotdogs over the fire, and got to see like a million stars! It was an awesome night!