Holiday Craft Show

Join me for the holiday Meet Your Maker show on Dec 5th at Cosmic Pizza.
Enjoy a gorgeous selection of hip, handmade gifts, join the raffle, and be sure to stop by my booth for your fleecy wrist warmers, gifts, stocking stuffers, ornaments, and gnome needs!

MYM July

Thanks Tonia, the Meet Your Maker show was fun. We vended outside and inside this time, and I thought it ended up lucky to be INSIDE in airconditioning on such a hot day. We Oregonians aren't used to 90's temps, esp all at once!

My table was right next to Melissa from Butterfly Effect-- her leaf pouches created quite a buzz. Folks are gearing up for the Oregon Country Fair and Faeryworlds festivals!

My new Zodiac bags were a hit, as well as the water bottle carriers with recycled belt straps.

There were new vendors, that I hadn't met yet, and several people who had never sold their things before ever! We chatted them up encouragingly.

OH! And while I was outside, visiting all the booths, I spotted a San Fran friend who was just happening by on a bike tour of the West coast. It was delightful!

Meet Your Maker - THIS Friday

We are doing an indoor/outdoor show and will have over 30 vendors this time! I'll be right inside the door, next to my buddy Melissa from Things N Stuff. Come down and say hi to us.

Indie artist/designers and free wine! How great is that?

Meet Your Maker
Broadway Wine bar
200 W Broadway
Downtown Eugene
on the First Friday of each month (Artwalk time!!)

Indie Craft Shows

Me at the June "Meet Your Maker" show, Friday evening, Broadway Winebar, downtown Eugene. I like to create a different display each time, and bring new things along with my classics. I'm debuting my new line of Bliss Bags: the big bags on the stand, totes and lots of little zippy pouches to keep all your goods organized.

It's a fun challenge to make an interesting set up on a 2.5 foot table!

Birthday Bunny gift set made it's first public appearance, and super fun Tooth Fairy pouches. Both are found in my BlissForest store.


A view down the row just after we set up. There's a flurry of activity between 4:30-5pm, then we all settle down. As 5pm work lets off for the week, folks start arriving. 6pm brings the art walk gallery crowd. And throughout the evening many folks are visiting the wine bar and happy to come down and browse our wares. The floor fills up!

There was a little too much browsing and not enough buying on this night, for me, but I always have a great time seeing all my etsy and crafty friends, and getting direct feedback on my products. We show off all our latest inventions and talk craft. My mom and several friends visited- I love that!

I'm posting all my new bags in my AlyTheRed-BlissMonkeyStudio shop this weekend! Enjoy.

Blissfull Fairies

When all the Easter bunnies hopped off to their new homes, these brand new Fairy Bunnies started showing up. Sparkly tummies and wings! They hop and fly and giggle. Come visit them at Bliss Forest.




This is my table at the recent Meet Your Maker show. A girl has to make much of a 2 1/2' space. I've learned to sit next to my table rather than behind it and miss out on vertical space! You can just make out the bins of eager bunnies, and the wiggly ninja bunnies climbing the ropes. The show was great fun, with a constant stream of shoppers (that's how we like it) who were friendly and chatty (that's also how we like it). I really enjoy having a monthly show to sell my work locally, be part of the First Friday Art Walk downtown AND see so many of my crafter friends at once.

It was so pleasing how many High Flying Easter Bunnies found lovely homes all over the world via etsy. One went as far as Greece! And one Neen Jah Buhn Nee got customized for a special home in Singapore. xoxoxoxs to all my bunny friends in Canada and the UK. Making plush cuteness is a very rewarding job.

xo xo

Spring Craft Shows in Eugene and Oregon

Bliss Monkey Studio AND Bliss Forest friends will be at the first Meet Your Maker show of 2009.

Meet Your Maker April, is the first Friday evening, 5-8, at the Broadway Winebar downtown. A fun and lively venue! Come supply yourself with Easter bunnies. You may be lucky enough to snag a Neen Jah Buhn Nee, if you get there early! Those hot ninja girls are hot!

21 Bun Salute! Or at least a four bun salute... almost as good....

April 3 is the MYM show.
April 4th is my birthday!!!! YEY.
April 5th is the Crafty Wonderland show and I hope to pop up to Portland and attend if I can. It's a huge craft fair with special things going on. See flyer below.


Information from Crafty Wonderland:

This is a special show for two reasons: it's our 3rd birthday so we'll have some surprises...and that weekend is the Portland premier of Handmade Nation, the indie craft documentary, at the Museum of Contemporary Craft!

Faythe Levine (the filmmaker) will be at Crafty Wonderland to meet visitors and sign/sell copies of her book, also titled Handmade Nation. And we're having a special Handmade Nation themed DIY Table project! Some of the crafters featured in her film/book are going to be there as well! Read more about the film here: http://indiecraftdocumentary.blogspot.com/

Get tickets to see the film and find out about the other cool things happening at the museum that weekend here: http://www.museumofcontemporarycraft.org/hmn/tickets.html.

Crafty Wonderland
Sunday April 5, 2009
11 am - 4 pm
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E. Burnside
Portland, OR

My wee snail garden near the front door.

Meet Your Maker Dec -Indie craft show

I was really glad I got into the Meet YOur Maker show this month. I had returning customers happy I was there, and people who had seen my write up (along with many other local etsians) in the Eugene Weekly Gift Guide. The show was great for me. Thanks for a great monthly event all year, Amy and Megan.

My crazy-full display table. I had a small spot and was NOT messing around! Bin of big plush gnomes, TREE with ornaments, bin of coffee cozies, bin on wrist warmers, bin of applique wrist warmers...... fun fun fun!


Mushrooms, gnomes, gift giving monsters, and colorful birds.....


Very famous model Scott Cunningham working the runway with my Pebbles and BamBam wrist warmers. Hot hot HOT! And girls, yes, he's single. :-)

Holiday Local Markets

News: I will be at Meet Your Maker show tomorrow after all!
Broadway Winebar, downtown, 5-8 as part of the First Friday Artwalk in Eugene (each month). I am bringing all my cute new ornaments, the big gnomes, wrist warmers, and coffee cozies. See you there!

Photos from Eugene's Holiday Market below..... yes, it's every weekend till xmas, but I was there only last weekend. If you want more of my items before the holidays, email or convo me. Thanks!


Our big Holiday Market three day weekend-- I shared a space in Alley, Pracital Rabbit's booth. It was fun, it was colorful, it was busy.

My display rack with wrist warmers, coffee cozies, and brand new gnome stuffie ornaments. See the big gnomies in the bin below? They were a pretty happening bunch.

Booth front.
Practical Rabbit's amazing display of needle felted gnomes, mushrooms, and monsters.

WHEW!!!!

Oh I love you, yes I love you, how I love you.....

Kids, I'm a busy busy bee in the studio, sewing lots and lots to keep everyone in wrist warmers and coffees cozied and such. I'll be debuting my new ornaments soon.

Here's a pic of me and Melissa sharing a table at the last Meet Your Maker show. Her hoodies sold like hot cakes!

I am feeling a little tired. I swore off the sewing machine today. When I think back over what I did in the last week..........

For Halloween, the kids dressed as ninja ( our first not made by us costumes ) so max and I surprised them by dressing as pirates. As in "ninja vs pirates" all night long! They were amused.

With all my "spare" time I organized a Neighborhood Halloween Children's Parade. We hope it's an annual event. Lots of families showed up to make some noise with instruments, to do a loop through the neighborhood. It's fun to get some playtime in and show off your costume before DARK when no one can really see. We went home to eat a few more bites of dinner, light the pumpkins and add the finishing touches on our porch decorations, before getting down to the serious business of trick or treating!

I finally got Saffron on the right medicine this week. He's only 7 months old (he's the fuzzy guy on the right with his arms around his best buddy Lil Scoop who's 4 months old), but he's been sick the past two months! He has some sort of intestinal disorder. It's wonderful to see him feel better than "OK". He's so fun and playful with Lil Scoop- a riot, but the good kind. They wrestle and race through the house and backyard together. And Saffron is more snugly with all the cats during nap times. I'm super in love with the kittens so it's wonderful to see both so well.

Besides all the great busy-ness of orders, and making lots of new coffee cozies, I finished a design project for Lark book's "Pretty Little Mini Quilts". I designed the quilt (framed on a wooden shape which make for a fun look but a bit tricky and expensive to ship), then wrote directions for the book so readers can make their own. The tea cups button off, can be flipped to the reverse side colors, or changed seasonally. One of my "interactive quilt" dreams come true. The book won't be out till Spring 2010! But I have two other books coming out this next spring, which will help my patience. :-)

Oh! And I wrote a new bio for this book, and used the term "my girlfriend" instead of "my partner". That felt big, though you are the only one I've told.


I developed a project I've been amusing myself over for quite some time..... the Lochness Monster coffee cozy screen print. I haven't put it up on etsy yet, but have the photos ready....


The Loch Ness Monster pillow/wall ornament/tree ornament/lavender sachet!! I hope some others will enjoy her as much as I do.

I am negotiating a massive wholesale order for wrist warmers... I have to consider all the timing and upcoming holiday market dates.....

THEN I got ready for the Meet Your Maker indie craft show Friday evening. It's great fun to sell at the Broadway wine bar, and see all my crafty friends out of our studios and lookin cute!

Gee, need I wonder why I'm tired? Busy busy busy week, and even given the chance to sleep in a few times, I'd wake up and start DESIGNING in my mind. A-wake! Where's the off button?

So today I swore off the sewing machine. Max went on a trip to Seattle to visit her ex who's about to have a sweet new baby soon. The weather was so warm and sunny-lovely, the kids and I RAN outside and raked the gorgeous yellow leaves out front .... a storm began to roll in so we raced the clouds to get the leaves put away in the garden before it poured! Perfect timing. I indulged the kids with both in a peppermint bubble bath while I read Harry Potter aloud, and fixed second breakfasts of folded over peanut butter pancakes with jam.

I received a package of new fabric straight from Japan, which was wrapped sweetly and included a complimentary hello kitty tissue set. THEN we did needle felting all afternoon, and watched Happy Feet. That was a little more intense than I imagined. But the kids liked it. They went off to their dad's for a boy's night of fun.

I'm home alone over night! I have time to read, reflect, sketch. I'm really happy, in general, but I've also been a bit design insane and it's good to regroup, get some more exercise, and have quiet time too.

What are you reading?
I have "Unlondon" by China Meiville (i love his work)
And an artsie inspiration book.

much love

Studio Chat

I'm happy to report sales on my etsy have been hot. It's good.

I am selling many solid colors of the wrist warmers, and this new "One Leaf Tree" design is very fun to make because I bend and shape the limbs as I sew, plus they sell quickly.

I had a panic attack last weekend, with 6+ orders of black fingerless gloves, I restocked at Joann's fabric. Once at home, I noticed the black fabric was from a different manufacturer. Not as soft, not as thick, not as stretchy and just not good enough! Sewed one up and it felt more like felt! Yuck.

The other Joann's has the same new black. All the other colors are nice, but not the black fabric. I held the orders until I had good quality black in the studio once again. It doesn't sound so dire, but quality is really important to me. I am proud of the pattern I created, and how soft and comfortable they are. Customers love them, and I want to keep providing the goodness. (Have you noticed how much I like the word goodness used as a noun?) Laugh at me a little.

That leads me to discuss: I feel like I'm being overly sincere on the blog lately. Expressing my gratitude and successful things instead of my ups and downs about being a self employed designer. I ask myself, is that "honest"? I think it's because I don't really believe in complaining. The holiday season is incredibly important to me in terms of income, so I AM rather serious about the work (friends have to pry me out of the studio with a crow bar to see me), plus I'm very positive by nature. I'm working my ass off, always moving forward, hurtling challenges as best I can, and loving it. What's to complain about? If you are interested in hearing more of what I struggle with, leave a comment.

Studio news:
I'm coming out with my ornaments soon, and the big surprise will be my first pattern/kit! Very exciting.

Upcoming shows:
I hope to see all the local friends at this month's Meet YOur Maker show on Friday, 5-8pm, at our new regular location the Broadway Winebar downtown! Come out come out! Do the galleries, have some wine, shop early!

The Meet YOur Maker Show

Meet Your Maker indie art/craft monthly show was last night from 5-8. The new location in the Broadway wine bar was great! Big windows to bee seen from outside, actual spotlights on our tables inside (!!!), a wine bar crowd, downtown AND during the first Friday Artwalk. Nice. As always, I'm happy to see artist friends and meet new ones.

Here's my new display. Max made this clothesline rack for me, and each cozy is labeled on the pin holding it. I put clips on the very top for whatever I wish to display. It's very different from my previous "coffee bar" display. I kinda missed that part, but wanted to really get my work vertical. And the wee dish of coffee beans did not impart the same aromatic impact as the whole coffee bar full of beads does. See all the wrist cozies?

Other vendors kept saying, "Nice rack!!!" I'd blush and gush, "Yea and it only cost me $15. Other girls have to pay $5000!"

Me sittin by my booth.....


See this blue guy? He's my actual Bliss Monkey. He hangs out in my studio as one of my muses. I found out at the show, I don't want people to touch him!! How would I know that ahead of time? Every time a kid came up, they wanted to touch him, pose him, arrange him. I was really uncomfortable with that. I thought I'd bring him in to show how much he LOVES the coffee cozies I made, esp the sock monkey one. The best I could say is, "Hey hon, you better leave him just as he is, my six year old spent a lot of time getting his pose JUST RIGHT". :-)

When it wasn't busy, I walked around with the camera. I always wish I had more photos of live events.......
Antennae Art's confident look. Her work is bold and unique! I got to model a gorgeous and large silver torc style necklace most the night.

This artist is Marlis. Sorry to notice only now that my flash obliterated her art. Perhaps you can click on the photo and see the tattoo she has of her own art! I love it.


I loved the Iconic art at the back of the wine bar there.......

A great night, lots of visitors, fun products and vendors, glad to be there, and wish I sold a bit more. The wrist cozies were going well but people didn't seem to think they needed to have the coffee cozies. I can't imagine!!!!

Meet Your Maker Show Tomorrow!!!

Meet Your Maker Indie Craft show is TOMORROW (Friday).
New location: Broadway market - yes, the wine bar will be open. Please note this is not the whine bar. I'm excited to report we are on the same night as the downtown art walk!
Same time: 5-8 pm.
What new: The premiere of my new coffee cozy designs, and get the first pick of the season's new wrist cozies. Many are one of a kind.

Yey Blogger allowed me to upload photos once again!!! Thanks for all the luv today, everyone. How I've missed ya. Happy Jewish New Year! And welcome to the new baby sprout (you know who you are, sweet lil sticky bun).

Max's lovely challa loaf.