February already?

Where has the time gone? At this rate, I’ll be opening my booth at the Portland Saturday Market before I have time to make any new jewelry! Or update my display, both of which I have plans for but have not yet started. It has been a crazy couple of weeks, heck, a crazy 2008, but I’ve talked about how busy January was in previous posts so I won’t do that again.

But the Trade Show! Let me start by saying that setup went smoother than we had any right to expect. We arrived in San Francisco at the end of the worst rainstorm they’ve had in ages. So bad that the airport in LA was closed! Thats bad! We thought we were going to die on the drive in, so many cars on the road, and so little visibility in all that rain and kickup from the other cars. Scary. So we get into town, and have to find the Moscone Center, which isn’t well marked, and especially hard to find in the driving rain. It sucked, but find it we did, and they were kind enough to let us in and unload without driving out to the staging area, wherever that was. We never found out, I guess I’ll have to figure that out next time. We got in, got unloaded, and setup in like two hours. It was awesome.

Then we found our way to our hotel, which is no where near the Moscone center, but had free parking, and alot of great little resturants nearby. If you want to go on vacation and just eat at little holes in the wall with great food, than San Francisco is your place. The hotel we stayed at was called the La Luna, and while loud, it was great. Comfortable beds (someday I want to live in a house with a bedroom large enough for a king size bed, they are the best for those who don’t like to touch when they are asleep, but like to spread out. I see why my parents have one.), cable (yay animal planet), and a desky thing that was perfect for working on bottlecaps on. Also lots of hot water in the bathtub, which we needed because by the time we made it there we were soaked, tired, and angry at the roads for never letting you turn left when you need to. I swear, there are like six places in all of San Fran you can turn left. We almost ended up driving out of the city on the Golden Gate bridge because we couldn’t turn left!

The show was quiet but fruitful. I swear, just once I would like to be at a show that isn’t quiet. I always seem to miss the busy one, or the show is “getting slower every year.” I know the economy is in the shitter and that people are scared of spending money and whatnot, but com’on people, I’m trying to make a living here! And pay of some debt! And send my chickens to college! Anyway, what I am saying, is that shows are difficult. I am not a natural salesperson, and if I go to long between potential customers I get desperate and angry, and forget how to talk to people. I did make back what I spent to be down there, and thats good, and I did make alot of contacts some of which have contacted ME after I got home, and thats good too. My favorite contact is someone who right now is specializing in bringing small japanese artisan’s work to the states and making it easy for stores here to order directly from them (which I’ve been told is hard to do right now). He is wanting to do the same thing for artisans here, bring them to the Japanese market. I want my jewelry to visit Japan in a big way. Japanese tourist girls love my jewelry. Brandon’s been after me for a while to get my stuff over there, and now I may have found a way! Its very exciting, and I really hope this works.

So four days of hanging out in what amounts to a huge basement selling my wares, and then one day of shopping before the drive home. Brandon amused himself by getting drunk saturday, then spending sunday working for me, then monday at MoMa and tuesday at some other museum. Tuesday night we moved on over to Jessie’s (college friend of ours) apartment in the Mission, which is a great apartment despite what they say (Corbett, her husband, doesn’t like it so much). Jessie and I hung out in her ‘hood and drank and ate mexican food. Brandon met up with another college buddy Martin and drank downtown. It was fantastic seeing Jessie again, its been a couple of years, but with her even though we hadn’t spoken in a while it always feels like I had just seen the week before. Shes just one of those people that you feel immediately comfortable with. Her husband is too. They are great people. She just finished up her masters in painting six months ago and I have a link to her website on the side of this blog somewhere. Check her out, shes great!

Wednesday, my day of rest, I had one goal: the H&M store. I knew that I had to go there, not just for my own personal edification, but because I honestly think my friend Christina would never speak to me again if I didn’t go there. She was so excited that I would be in a place with an H&M that she e-mailed me both store locations! That morning was beautiful, like 50 degrees and sunny. We strolled around Jessies neighborhood and got tea and chocolate corossants while Brandon nursed his hangover and watched cartoons. Then we collected him and took the BART downtown and hit up the H&M. I got a brown squiggle patterned sweater, a pair of buttony plaid trousers, and a totally rad plum, velour mou-mou. Its not really a mou-mou, its a cute house dress, but its fun to say, and makes Brandon wince when we say it, so me and Jessie said it alot. She promised to go back and get one, since she passed up on it to get neon blue leather gloves, which were also pretty awesome.

We headed back for portland on Thursday, we left town at seven, and were up to Redding by like eleven. We were kicking ass. We knew we’d probably need to chain up, and we did just past Redding. we were still kicking ass at 35 miles an hour. But then around one, the krap hit the fan. It keep snowing harder, and we got hung up for a while due to a semi getting stuck. Then we heard the news: I-5 was being held up at Yureka. It was closed, and the storm wasn’t letting up. We saw signs for Mt. Shasta, we needed to pee, we needed gas, so we took the exit. Once we were there, we realized that we weren’t getting out until Friday. There were plows all over town. HUGE piles of white white snow everywhere, it was a frigging winter wonderland up there. It kinda made me happy in spite of myself, what can I say, even when it costs me another $100 in hotels I still love snow.

So we checked into a hotel there at about one thirty in the afternoon. Nothing we could do, so we turned on the TV, I got out some bottlecaps that needed glittering, and we spent the afternoon working and watching cable. I believe it was “Romeo must Die.” Then we watched the Barak and Hillary debate, which was pretty fun. I liked seeing them be nice to each other. What can I say, I’m a sucker. And I learned that Obama is left handed like me! It didn’t really help me decide who to vote for, I still really like the both, but Brandon hates Hillary’s laugh. I think it may just be a male reaction to the laugh of a strong willed, middle aged woman. I’m not bothered by it, but then, I know about a million of those ladies, and they have some crazy ass laughs. After the debate, it was time for LOST! Yay for the new season! Being somewhere we could watch it and not on the road was almost worth it.

Friday we left early again, ate on the road. I-5 had been opened late the night before, and we didn’t need chains because so many cars and trucks had been on it and broke up all the snow. We made great time all the way back, got Marcus at Iris’s house (made poor Rosie sad says Iris, she really liked having her boyfriend staying with her all week) and were home by four. And I have never been so happy to pull into our driveway in my life!

Saturday morning came and I started feeling sick. Which was uber-crappy because I was due to leave for a bachalorette weekend in about an hour. I made some calls, and it was decided that I should go anyway, which I am so glad I did because even sick, I had the best time. The beach house we stayed in was beautiful, the girls all fun and sweet, and the bride excited and nervous and so happy we were all there. And they all smoked like chimneys. And I think only two of them are regular smokers. And they took my definitly now sick ass to a smokey hick beach bar were we had a great time and I breathed in enough second hand smoke to kill me.

The next morning I was definitly worse for wear. And it just got worse from there. We got back mid afternoon and Iris had to drive me home, I was too sick to pick my car up from Rasa’s house. I went to bed at four to sick to take my clothes off! Brandon came down with the cold too.

I can honestly say that this was the worst head cold I have ever had. My head felt so stuffed with Ick that I could hardly think. I was sick enough that Brandon when grocery shopping by himself and didn’t even complain, and he himself was SICK. That is freaking sick. And it didn’t go away until Thursday, when Rasa and Charlie dropped of their furry little bundle of joy Lukas to be watched while they fly off to a tropical island to get married. Thank God my head cold was gone, cause Marcus and Lukas are hilarious together, but they are not quiet.

So now my house is full of dogs, my studio is full of orders in various states of finished, and I am on the mend, and life is settling down for a little while. Oh, did I mention that I discovered that we have a leak somewhere in our underground water pipe system? I discovered that on day three of my head cold. I don’t know where it is, by my water bill says its there, and so does my water meter. So be looking forward to that post in the coming month….

Toodles! Maggie

San Francisco here we come!

So we are going to San Francisco, but we don’t have flowers in our hair. Its not really the season for it I guess. Can’t say I’m going to miss the freezing temperatures here, not that it will be that much warmer there, but hey 50ish is WAY warmer than 40ish any day.

Its so cold here at my house that I can’t keep the chickens in fresh water. It all freezes within an hour of putting it out there. I had to bring in their large waterer and thaw it out! They are so tired of being blown around in this icy wind that they have been taking naps in their henhouse, which they kind of hate doing! I feel bad for the girls.

Marcus has figured out that something is going on. He’s not as with it as my childhood dog, Nicki, who figured it out as soon as mom got out the suitcases that we were going, and she may not be coming with. She’d run out to the car any chance she’d get and sit in it while we were packing it up just to make sure she wasn’t getting left behind. Not that Marcus has had much of a chance to pick up on what happens when we leave town, it hasn’t happened since we got him almost two years ago that we have left and not taken him with us.

He will not be sitting around a cold house though, hes staying with his girlfriend Rosie at his Auntie Iris and Uncle Forrest’s home in Dundee. He gets to be a country dog for a week. Hopefully he will get to roll in something gross, chase tennis balls, and play with kitties. And not get run over by cars on the 99W, which they live just off of. But thats just our paranoia, he’s been out there a couple times with me and hasn’t gone near it yet!

So we leave tomorrow for the trade show, everybody wish us luck!
Maggie

Portland Gift Trade Show and whatnot

Wow, I’ve been meaning to write this blog for about two weeks now! My how time flies when you’re having fun, and filling orders!

So my January started with a sneeze, as in, New Year’s Eve we ended up staying home and watching the first season of Dexter (highly recommend, by the way) because Brandon had a cold. I don’t mind, I kind of dislike New Year’s in that the jolly always seems kind of forced, and no one likes to make definite plans because something really cool could come up at the last minute, but it never really does. I think everyone should just stay home, or get a few close friends together, and celebrate by watching movies and playing games and enjoying one another (which we would have done if Brandon wasn’t sick). Anyway, this post isn’t about New Years!

Its about my finally being back to work again! Debbie (my wonderful sales rep) is getting back to work after being off sick for about six months. She sent me my first order from her in as long, and it made me happy. The next day I started the trade show.

Now, a little background on the Portland Show. Its the smallest of all of them, I think. It takes up one large conference room (the size of a city block roughly) and its chock full of everything you see at a gift shop. Cards, faux antiques, faux signs, candles, jewelry (both of the cheap rhinestone variety and handmade), imported goods, beads, and weird stuff that someone came up with and is now trying to get out into the world (there was this weird spinning wood caddy thing that you could put your remote or cigarettes, or a deck of cards in, and I never figured out why you would want to do so). So there is alot of competition for peoples attention. And its divided up into several sections: food, antiques, imports, gifty stuff represented by sales reps, and the handmade (artisans avenue). Now, its cool that we get a section, and that the booths are smaller and more affordable, but we are stuck in the back of the show. And Joan (the woman in charge) is trying to get the Portland Show to be the place where stores can find that unique, handmade and environmentally friendly gifty item that no one else has. But us unique, perhaps environmentally friendly vendors are stuck behind all the weird, non-unique crap! Its a little frustrating, but hey, at least we are all together and not spread out where our displays would get overlooked by the larger ones.

Its a good show to do in because: one, its in Portland, so i don’t have to travel; two, its inexpensive, so you can make your money back fairly easily; and three, you are in your community, so you meet store owners and craftspeople from your own area, so they are easier to get to know and perhaps see again.

So while these things are all good, the show is INCREDIBLY slow. Its the first weekend in January, I think maybe store owners really aren’t ready to deal with finding new products. There just aren’t that many buyers at this show. And this year it was particularly slow. For everyone. There were times when no one would walk down your aisle for an HOUR. Granted, those were at the end of the show, but still, horrible. At the end of Monday, I spend almost an hour away around the corner from my booth renewing my friendship with Rebecca from Umbrellaworks. An hour. And when I made my way back to my booth, my neighbor there, Dominique (also a pretty darn cool chick) pretty much just shrugged her shoulders at me, no customers. She was awesome, she stayed in her booth the whole time. Me, on the other hand, kept wandering off to visit my friends around the corner, because there was nothing to keep me in my booth!

Those were the times people would show up. I have to say Dominique really saved my butt a few times. Twice people came back to see me. But its okay, because they did come back.

For all that it was a slow show, I did make my money back and then some. Not much, but enough to make me want to try the show one more time. I think I will go back this summer. These shows, you have to go to be seen, and its really good to get your whole line of jewelry out where people can see it. Its important. Several of my stores were really excited to see my new stuff, things that I don’t bring in to show them because its not what they order. One of them ordered a few of the new glass things, and the other store decided to start carrying my pins along with my pendants and magnets. So it was good for that. And connecting with my community of small, independent craftspeople is also really good. You feel less like you work in a vacuum. So I will do it again, even though Brandon thinks its a waste of time.

The weekend after the show I went to the beach with my family. Brandon stayed home to paint (which he did). It was me, my dog Marcus, my parents, my brother (peter) and their dog Bailey. We did what we always do, build a fire, eat peanut m&m’s by the handful, read, play with the dogs, go for walks, and antique shop. Marcus had a blast because there is nothing that 70 pound pit bull loves more than sitting on a variety of different laps, on a variety of chairs and couches, and that is what he did. No one can resist that dogs eyes, and he has a way of slowly getting into your lap that somehow fools you into letting him up every time. He’s just freaking adorable and spoiled. Bailey prefers sitting on the back of the couch, or in your lap, and anywhere not touching Marcus. But by the end of the weekend, they would sleep just barely touching, we are all waiting for the day when Bailey lets Marcus full on snuggle, cause it will be the cutest thing ever, a black pit bull snuggled up against a white westie on the couch. The world may come to an end.

After I got back from the beach, it was time to get to work. I laid out and made all those bottlecap orders for four days straight, while watching Six Feet Under, which I really enjoy. I’m halfway though season two right now. Ah, cable television on dvd, the best thing ever to keep you working in your studio. I started on the glass work a couple days ago, and that’s what I will continue to work on today. I’m really pleased with how my new glass line was received at the show. I was really nervous about it. I mean, I really like it, but would anyone else? And they did. It makes me really happy.

We leave for the San Francisco International Gift Trade Show on Thursday. I’m pretty pumped about it, I hope I have a great show. Alot of my vendor friends will be there, and hopefully some of them will be near me.

Oh! And buyers are now coming out of the woodwork with orders! Its great, and overwhelming after the six months of slowness that I have been having due to Debbie being sick. Creating Keepsakes just placed a huge order, and yesterday I was contacted by a store in Australia! An Aussie store! How awesome is that, Papaver may be going international! I just had to look up shipping costs to get down under! Expensive, but rad!

For the month that most Saturday Market vendors get to relax, I am having my busiest one in a year. I’m not complaining, although Brandon might, I have been a bit stressed out and kind of wacky lately. Sometimes a borderline basket case. But hey, I’ve got alot on my mind!

Okay, its time to bring this overlong blog to a close, thanks for sticking it out. maggie

A bit of this, a bit of that

I love the rain. It always inspires me to stay inside, start a fire (the main way we heat our little house) and get some work done. I can’t garden, or walk the dog, or play with the chickens (more of watching them and kicking them out of the areas in the garden they aren’t allowed, but its like playing, sort of). Its a bit of a challenge to cut wood outside for indoor house renovation projects with everything being wet, so I usually don’t get inspired to do that either. Its perfect working in the studio weather. And its raining today. Right now its super gloomy, being as its only seven forty five in the morning and raining and the sun hasn’t risen all the way yet. Its putting me in mind of Halloween…

But I digress! I’ve been working! Yesterday Brandon had no work (it was raining then too, and being as he is a house painter these days they are transitioning over from outdoor to indoor work, and they didn’t have any for him) at work to do, he made bottlecaps for me. I love it when he is working for me, because then I feel freed up to do the other parts of the business that are equally important really, they just seem less important when there is product to be made. So I worked on some new bottlecap designs for next year’s catalog (the sock monkey is my personal favorite, inspired by Grace the sock monkey dog I traded for at the Saturday Market), paid bills (yuck, but so satisfying), and filed papers away.

I also finally decided that I was going to do the Portland Gift Trade Show in January. I’ve been on the fence about it for weeks now. Here are my pros and cons lists:

Pros: its the cheapest trade show around.
its in portland, so no travel expenses.
will find new boutiques to sell to in Portland.
They are trying to change the perception of this trade show from tiny regular show to tiny, but showcasing the newest independent designers around. which I like. and will make it a destination show, rather than a regional show. I want to be a part of that, even if it will take a few years.
My mom can come and help, and can go shopping in the cash and carry jewelry vault, which she loves.

Cons: its in portland, where I already have a sales rep and some large stores.
its a small show.
it will take a few years for its new identity to grow.

So you see, the pros list ended up being longer than the cons! Also, I need to buy some new displays for the trade show in San Francisco, but I’m not sure that I will get juried into that show (I feel that my application was less than stellar, it was kinda thrown together online, when my back was out in August.) and I don’t want to wait until the last minute to get my product lines and displays in order, but I also don’t want to spend all that money for nothing! Plus, I can practice for the bigger show at the smaller one. So all in all, it should be a good experience.

So I did that. I also bought the wood for the shelves in the Loft (formerly known as the Attic Room). If the weather gets more inviting later I may get to go outside and do some cutting and then some building (yay!). So I just checked last week’s blog post and I DIDN’T talk about installing the floor in the attic!

It was awesome! Brandon was so excited about the wood floor (and we wanted it out of the living room, Marcus’ doggie play area was getting smaller by the day with stuff for the loft. First the window, then a box of records (from my parents house, Brandon has had them there for only 8 years now) then four eight foot boxes of flooring) that on friday we climbed up there to finish getting the floor beams ready for the flooring. And we cut the portal (as we are calling the hole the ladder will go through) in the living room ceiling.

That was a big freaking deal to us. It made me feel kinda panicky, because we had to cut one of the ceiling beams to do it. We called Charlie the contractor friend for advice on it. He didn’t seem to feel it was a big deal at all, he was just like, eh, it’ll be fine, just make sure you head off that beam you cut so its not just hanging in space. We did it, everything went smoothly except for the part where Brandon dropped a drywall saw onto my head. Fortunately, it just made one tiny sawtooth cut in my forehead, hardly worth talking about except for the fact that A SAW FELL ON MY HEAD. He felt bad about it, and it did no real damage so its a bit more funny than anything else now.

The flooring was so easy to install it was amazing. You just hammer it together. It fits perfectly, and doesn’t come apart. We had to nail it down here and there cause, wouldn’t you know it, our attic isn’t level! The ceiling beams are on a couple slightly different planes. Nothing major, just every so often we had to nail it down so you wouldn’t feel like you were bouncing.

Its a beautiful floor. its a deep, red cherry color mostly. One set of the four was a different type of wood, its more warm, rich honey tones, but that wood looks great mixed in with the reds. It kind of gives it more depth, and interest. Its the prettiest floor in the house, and I love all the wood floors in my house (and its all wood in here).

So now we are waiting on two things: For Brandon to finish his ginormous painting of the bar full of his friends (its a great painting, its just friggin‘ huge, and hes down to the less fun, tedious last details, like painting a plaid shirt. Yikes! Who in their right mind paints plaid? Brandon does! And it will look amazing.). He says we can’t start a big build project until its done, he just wants it done! And the other, is for Charlie to have some free time he wants to spend in our attic. I hope both of these things happen soon! I can’t wait!

Okay, the cat has settled herself in my lap, making typing difficult. I guess that means its time to sign off for now! Have a good day everyone!