Monday, November 29, 2010

Sale time on my website.

It is sale time on my website. I always at the end of the year have some one of a kind odds and ends so I decided I might as well put them up before Christmas to let everyone have the bargains before Christmas.

My craft shows are pretty much done for the year. I am doing the Art Fair at the local college but it is boutique style so I only work 2 of the 6 days. I got it set up with bears, soft dolls and mice. It starts tonight so I hope to sell most of the bears because that will just about be the end of that part of my crafting.

My stock shelves are now filling up with vintage and refurbished/recycled dolls and they don't seem to take up as much room as the bears did. Those will stay until my antique and collectible show in February. Of course, they are available on my website right now. I thought I had all of them on the website until yesterday when I looked and nope, not all there. Today I added some of them and will try to get the rest put on tomorrow. I have to take some pictures first.

So all of you out there looking for some great gifts for family or friends, don't forget to check out my site for some great bargains.
http://ejcrafts.com

Monday, November 22, 2010

Busy, busy!!!



Well here it is Monday and I don't have all the stuff ready for a outdoor craft show I have for this coming Friday and Saturday. This is the last show of the year to show my vintage and recycled dolls. I do have an Art Fair show the first week of December but that is only the stuff that I make.

I do like to do all the shows and meet at the people but Oct, Nov and the first part of Dec, do tire me out. I will be glad and sad that the selling season is over. Sad because then I don't have anything until February and March to get ready for. The end of December and January are dead times in the show circuit. People have spent all their money and are not looking to buy anything new.

Well I did get all my walking dolls finished up this past week so they will be ready to show this weekend. I love doing the big dolls and people seem to be more impressed by the bigger dolls. I still have some small baby dolls to get dressed but I already have some finished for the show so they may wait until after the first of the year.

I think after this week, I wil put some of the stuff on ebay and see if I can sell a little more before Christmas. You know, for all those people who wait until the last minute to buy.

Monday, November 15, 2010

I have been working on dolls.

Yes, I have been making dolls. I got a special order for 6 of my Emma dolls (the four face doll). I was down to one in stock and the lady decided she wanted 6 and no lace on them. Okay, so lace in the easiest way to trim the dresses and hats but she wanted ruffles. So self fabric rubbles I made. Now I think I like the ones with ruffles better too. Funny how someone asks for something and it turns out to be a good thing. It is hard on my hands to make them because I don't have a rufflier for my machine. I run a basting thread and then ruffle them by hand. I have blisters on a couple of my fingers from pulling thread. Just a little problem of the trade and they will heal. These are now done and will be on their way to the east coast tomorrow.


So today I got back to working on my vintage dolls. First was a trip to the grocery store of a couple of things we forgot last week. Then decided that because we were near the Goodwill store we might as well go there too. Found a couple more dolls. One was a 1977 Horsman baby doll in what looked like an original outfit. The other a Cititoy soft baby doll from 1997. I decided after cleaning several dolls up this afternoon that I would try Ebay again and see if I could sell anything on there. I have not had much luck with selling there but right now with the free listing what do I have to lose. So on went four dolls. Cross your fingers for me that at least a couple of them sell.




Now tomorrow, I have several other dolls that I need to work on. I have two walking dolls that really need new clothes. One is 30 inches tall and and other is 21 inches tall. I love walking dolls and they are hard to find good cheap ones that I can work on. I still have an old composition 1950's walking/crying doll that need new hair and clothes. That one will have to wait.

I have one craft show and one art show yet to do this month. The craft show I can show my dolls at and that is Thanksgiving weekend and then the art show at the college I can only show my own work. I didn't have many bears left so dropped out of the online show so that I would have bears for the art show. Hope I did the right thing. Two years ago when I did the art show, I sold a lot of bears.

Hope everyone is having a great craft season and you know Christmas is only 40 days away.....can you believe that. WHEW!!!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

November already????

Where has Ocotber gone and now November is already a week old. I think I have been lost or busy or something. I know I have been busy with dolls and more dolls plus crafts shows so that is why I must have lost some of the past few weeks.

I have done a few shows, none that were really great but at least I made expenses and a little extra but I don't think that is why I do them. I really miss the big show that I have been doing every year but alas it is gone now and I have been trying all these little shows and it just doesn't bring in the money I am use too. There are no big shows left in the area I live and driving to the Las Vegas area and picking up a few shows, I am finding in not the way to go. I still have a couple of local little shows that should get me some business but as of December 1, those are done too.

My body just can't take the physical labor it takes to pack, setup and teardowns and unpacking that all these little shows require. When did I get so old? I still want to be able to get out there and work like I use too.

I am hoping that going from teddy bears and soft dolls to concentrating on vintage and recycled dolls will be a good step for me. There is one local antique and collectible show in March that I want to do. Maybe there will be more down the road too or maybe we will be able to drive over to California or down to Phoenix to do a big doll and collectible show. Don't know if we will be able to or not as we live each day now without making any long term plans.

On a happier note, I did get a bunch of, new to me, dolls this week from my daughter and I am now working on them and should have some ready to show by the end of the week. Maybe they will peak someones interest and get a loved one or friend a beautiful doll for Christmas.