Working Tuesday: Selling your creations - the shops

Another way to sell your creations is to get your work into shops. In my experience, there are a couple ways shops will take your work: they'll either buy it outright at a wholesale price or they'll take the work on consignment with a markup. In pricing your work for shops, it's probably a good bet there will be a 100% markup. Keep in mind, your work will still have to be reasonable enough to sell, but you'll need to make enough on the piece to make it worth your while. That's the balance you have to strike.

This is where testing the market comes in handy. If you've been selling your work, you should be getting a feel for how much people are willing to pay for your pieces. When you have this knowledge, it's much easier to price your work for sale in shops. That leaves the hardest part of this process - getting into a shop.

Here's where you'll have to do some research to find shops in your area or state that would be a good fit for your work. When I was still living in WV, I heard learned that Tamarack - the State's answer to helping regional artists sell their work - was jurying craftspeople. I found out that on a certain day the buyers were looking at artists work, packed up my samples and stood in line to see the buyer. The buyer looked at my work, selected several prototypes, discussed terms and placed an order. It took some perseverance, but the sale was worth the trouble!

Once you've identified a shop you think would be a good fit, call the shop and ask if they accept artists and ask their terms. Some shops work on a jurying process you'll have to get through. If the terms are acceptable, ask to make an appointment with their buyer. Sometimes this is the shop owner and I know from experience this can make for some great long-term relationships.

Here's where being prepared can be very important. When you meet with the buyer, make sure you have everything priced according to the terms. That way there's no confusion if the buyer wants to take certain pieces on the spot. Some buyers will give you an order for x number of pieces in x style. I've never been afraid to tell the buyer if a certain style hasn't sold well in the past. After all, if your work doesn't sell well for you and it doesn't sell for them, they might not want to sell your work in the future.
Before you leave the meeting with the buyer, make sure you set up payment terms. Don't beafraid to clearly spell out the relationship. It saves a lot of pain in the end and this is business!

One more tip on selling to shops. I've recently come across a website called Trunkt. I'm still exploring the possibilities, but it could be another opportunity to get your work into the hands of sellers!

Next week: shows.

DIY Monday: Flower Series pt. 1

So I'm going to spend a couple weeks laying out ways to decorate with flowers that are budget friendly and that might help you think about decorating in a different way. I grew up with flowers. My grandmother was a gardener. She taught my mother to be a gardener. And I too love to putter in a garden. For many years my job was to weed the flower gardens around our house, and some of the flowers in those gardens had been planted 100 years ago.

Because we had so many flower gardens, we almost always had an abundance of cut flowers in the house. No matter the season, we could go outside and find something in the yard. I can't count the number of wilted violet bouquets I took my mother. Sometimes, while they were still wet with morning dew, we'd gather armloads of French lilacs to perfume the house. And the grape hyacinths, with their fruity smell, remain a favorite today.

Mama always taught me to look at objects in a way that didn't always conform with their intended use. Certainly a tiny pitcher is lovely for pouring an individual serving of maple syrup, but it was also lovely for those grape hyacinths. Those little violets would be lost in most bud vases, but they were lovely in a child's teacup. Quite often silver sugar bowls or biscuit boxes would be pressed into service as centerpieces for teas or dinner parties. If it could hold water, it could hold flowers.

I've noticed more and more bridal and decorative magazines are featuring "found objects" as centerpieces. Martha Stewart Weddings dedicated an article to tea tin centerpieces. Eco-friendly brides are opting for tin can vases. I've even seen Mason jars pressed into service in some layouts. The key is in the groupings, the color and texture of the blooms and in being creative in how you define the word "vase."

*Photos property of Martha Stewart Weddings, Celebrations and Kathryn Leach Home.

Weekend Wanderings: Wandering in Annapolis

We got the travel bug last weekend. We've been stuck in town for weeks and needed to go somewhere and DO something. It couldn't be far because we were deciding on the spur of the moment and we didn't make arrangements for Corgi girl to stay the night with anyone. That's how we started the discussion.

What are the places we can visit within two hours of DC? North, South, East, West. We threw out places and ideas. We plotted and planned. But in the end, we went with an old favorite: Annapolis.

Without crazy traffic, it's only about an hour from DC. As I've mentioned before, you can take a lovely sailing cruise on the Woodwind lines - which we'd thought about doing, but didn't make a reservation ahead. Instead, we had a lovely lunch at one of the many restaurants in the historic section of the city.

I'd spied the spires of a church as we left the parking lot and headed to the restaurant, and convinced the husband to explore with me. Walking up the hill from the water, we found St. Mary's Church next to the Charles Carroll house and gardens. We had to walk around the church to get to the gardens, but they are such a lovely oasis in the middle of the city!

Charles Carroll was one of four Marylanders to sign the Declaration of Independence. Apparently, he was the only Catholic to sign and was the last to die. The land was eventually purchased by a group of priests and a beautiful church building now occupies the space next to the house. The history of the house indicates there was once a private family chapel as Catholics had to worship privately in early America. This makes me wonder if the remnants of the private chapel became part of the existing church building. His house can be toured by appointment on Saturdays and Sundays (again, plan ahead!) and there's a very interesting history of his long and vivid life here.

As we were walking through, one wedding was leaving the church and another was ready to enter. Because of the weddings, we didn't try to enter the church, but the pictures I've found make me want to go back and see the inside for myself! One bride and several bridesmaids were in the courtyard behind the church taking pictures of this special day. Apparently, we weren't the first to discover the serenity of the garden. This is definitely a place worth exploring further.

Oh well, I guess we'll have to go back to Annapolis!

Foodie Friday: Jazzing up summer burgers

I admit it. I like meat. I just do. I've tried to take meat out of my diet, but I like it too much to quit. I guess I just lack self-discipline. Sue me.

Some days, a girl just wants a hamburger. I figure, though, if you're going to eat a hamburger, there are things you can do to make it a tad bit healthier, which is what I set out to do one Friday evening earlier this summer.

Pull together a pound of the leanest ground beef I can find - organic if you're worried about hormones - and then find some feta cheese, an egg, a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix, some whole wheat buns and whatever toppings you'd like.

In a bowl, mix up the beef, egg, ranch mix and cubed feta until you no longer see the egg and the feta stops bunching in bunches. Roll that into even patties (remember that they cook down a bit) and throw them onto the grill or into your skillet. Since we aren't allowed open flames on our deck, I make do with the skillet.

On a medium high heat, allow the patties to brown several minutes on one side before you turn them. The cheese will sizzle a little bit, but don't let that scare you into turning them too quickly. After they've browned a bit on one side, gently turn them over and allow them to brown on the other side as well - again, this will take several minutes and heating them over medium high heat will help cook without burning. If you got trigger happy and turned before time, you might have to repeat this step until both sides are brown and the insides lose their pink.

When you're brown on both sides and the pink is gone, pull them off the heat and gently transfer them to your buns. If you're not concerned about calories, you can toast the buns with a little butter, but those days are over for me my friends! Top them with some lettuce, fresh tomatoes, maybe a little mustard or ketchup. Be daring. Add a pickle. Live a little.

Enjoy!

Inspiration Thursday! Simple Gifts.

The last few weeks have allowed time for reflection- a time of searching for direction. And to some extent, I've found it in the world around me.

I've been searching for ways to expand the business - finding something that's uniquely mine. I believe I've found an option if I can just make it a reality. And I found the option by looking around me, in my own little home and seeing the beauty just outside my door.

Last winter when the snow was blinding and insanely deep, I began to worry about the birds in the area being able to feed. Mama had given us a suet feeder for Christmas our first year together, but it had taken me this long to use it. I chose the Cardinal blend because I love the streaks of red across the snow. In return, a daddy and mama Cardinal became "regulars" at my balcony buffet. I've probably taken 100 pictures of these little birds as they've come and fed - one watching while the other eats. And I love the little personalities that have shone through.

And so this summer we expanded to a hummingbird feeder and a songbird mix in a larger bird feeder. I can't seem to catch the hummingbird in flight (still trying to figure out how to do that with the camera), but I've gotten a shot or two of a hummingbird resting on the feeder. RESTING! Who knew?

The larger feeder has a pair of goldfinches who, just like my Cardinals, take turns feeding while the other stands watch. The male's feathers almost glow in the early morning sunlight. And in the rain, I've found them sheltering on the perch, feathers puffed out to keep them warm and dry.

The Cardinals became tame enough that I could leave my deck door open and they'd still feed with the TV blaring and me talking and walking around the living room. These goldfinches are still a little skittish, but I have hope they'll learn to trust me - if Sophie would stop charging to the window to say hello!

From this, among other things, I've learned something this summer. If you constantly look around at what you don't have, you'll always be poor in mind and spirit. But if you take pleasures in the little blessings in life, keeping your eyes open to the gifts around you, you'll always be rich.

With these little beauties around, my life is golden.

Vintage Wednesday: From Paris. I love.

In the first week of October 2001, my mother and I flew to Heathrow, took a bus through Canterbury to the white cliffs of Dover and boarded a ferry to cross the Channel to Calais. We then took a train across the French countryside and arrived in Paris. We were some of the first Americans in Paris after the 9/11 attacks and all the stories we'd heard about Parisians rebuffing Americans proved untrue. They welcomed us. And so began our time in Paris.

We did the obligatory touristy things: saw the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, crossed the guards with the huge machine guns to see the Eiffel Tower, walked across the gardens and over a bridge to see Musee D'Orsay and saw the stunning Rose Window in Notre Dame. These were "must see" attractions if you're in Paris for the first time. But we also took some time off the beaten track, finding a needlework shop, exploring a pharmacy full of wondrous scented waters and soaps and found one of the flea markets of Paris.

It was a huge, sprawling mess of booths - some covered with tin roofing, some in multistory building-like structures with an open air feel. And the things we saw in abundance in Paris, we'd search a year to find in an antique store here. You see, in Paris, vintage is what we call antique. And what we call vintage is - or was - cheap and abundant.

We found one shop that was full of linens and millinery supplies - there was a wall of shelves full of silk flowers and ribbons from the 20s and 30s. Another shop was full of vintage buttons circa 1900 - jar after jar of jet and glass and wooden buttons in a rainbow of colors. Mama's treasure was a stole, embroidered in gold and silk with liturgical objects. But my favorite find was this little purse. This purse stole my heart. At the time, the price was very dear, but THIS was to be my souvenir of Paris - the romance, the beauty, the style.

I've done a bit of research and I believe it was from around the late 1800s or early 1900s. Although a company named Whiting and Davis perfected the art of metallic mesh bags similar in style to this in the 1920s, this is a little different from those styles I've seen. The blue is a fiber instead of metal with bits of silver that look as if they've been crocheted into the mesh. The top looks like punched silver, so I don't think it was meant to be a compact purse (complete with mirror and powder puff). It's origin is still a mystery to me, but I treasure this little reminder of our trip to Paris and the wondrous things we were able to see. To this day, it hangs by my door as a reminder to seek out the treasures in life - because they're often waiting unexpectedly just around the corner.

Working Tuesday: Selling your creations

You've found your passion. Maybe it's gluing bottle caps into a wreath for Christmas? Maybe it's crocheting flowers into lapel pins? Possibly hand sewing together tiny little pocket books for use as a journal? Whatever it is, it's your passion. And your passion is rapidly piling up in your living room, your spare room, in boxes under your bed? Or maybe your friends have started to ask you if you'll make them a bottle cap wreath for their doors? Then, comes the dreaded phrase, "You should SELL these!" And the idea starts to grow in your head. And you start dreaming about ways to help finance your passion rather than using up your entire $10 a week in spending money every. single. week.

Yeah, I've been there. I get it. You have that need to create. You see designs where other people see piles of tchotchkes (yes, I had to look up the spelling of that too). But you have a passion and you have to create. So what's next?

We're lucky. In this day and age, there are many options open to us online that weren't available even 10 years ago. And the easiest and best known way I've found is etsy.com. Etsy - I pronounce it et-see (like set without the s and then like what you do when you use your eyes) - makes it ridiculously easy to set up an account. They have easy to follow directions available at the site.

Before you set up an account, however, think about a couple things. Most importantly? Your name. What's in a name? Your identity. This is what gives people an idea of what you sell. It's a way to convey a feeling about who you are and what you do. It's called branding. And though this may change in the near future, you can't change your name once you've picked it. So think long and hard about your name. It'll stick with you for a while.

For me, I wanted a name that conveyed timelessness while provoking emotion. I created a list of names, passed them around to friends who knew me and my work and asked them to vote on the name they thought fit me best. I even got several suggestions that were great. It's like doing market research without paying for a fancy focus group. I decided on the word Swoon because I like what it conveys - a flair for the dramatic, a bit of romance and - I admit it - it's also the name of an Imogen Heap song so the word was top of mind. And if Immi is using it, it's got to be cool, right?? Studios was both easy and difficult. We tried "designs" or "creations" - one was taken and another didn't fit. I ended up with the alliteration of Swoon Studio, that when I looked for the URL, it was taken. And thus Swoon Studios was born.

In the next couple weeks, I'll focus on the process of how and where you can start to sell your creations. In the meantime, start thinking about your name!

*Non-Swoon photos property of NewPrehistory, TheBroochBoutique and Zipper8Design, all etsy.com sellers. Click on the pictures to see their shops!

I'm Back!

The blogger seat has been empty for several weeks. I know. I know. But a couple people have actually asked me to get back to the blog and so I shall - but I'd love some help?

If you've got a DIY question or a skill you'd like to write about, let me know. I'd love to have some guest postings - especially in the DIY category. Let's face it, there's only so much I can do in my house before I need to start branching out to other houses. If you have a DIY question you think I can answer, email me and ask. I'll post the answer here if I know it. And DIY doesn't just mean finding ways to fix up your house. I get a lot of questions about crafting, decorating, party planning, wedding planning - my family taught me many, many things. I'm happy to answer those questions as well. Curious? Just email me!

I've also made a couple changes to the blog. If I've done this correctly, you'll see some response buttons at the bottom of this posting. Let me know what you think! Heck, let me know you're out there reading!! If you hate the post, that's ok too. Some days I feel like these postings echo in the annals of empty blogville. I'm excited to get some feedback.

And why the long absence? Well, we've just gone through an IVF cycle. We had one little 5-celled embryo implanted in mid-July that didn't make it through the 2 week wait (or 2WW as they call it on the boards). We're still figuring out our options to have little ones, but the entire process takes a toll and I've wanted to focus on getting through the cycle. I'm thinking about writing a book about the IVF process, but in the meantime I'll satisfy my need to write here in the blog! And so I'm back. I look forward to hearing YOUR ideas - and the challenge of answering some of your questions. Let's start a conversation!