The Martha Stewart Show

Yesterday I sat in the audience of one of the last tapings of the Martha Stewart Show. I am a HUGE Martha Stewart fan so I was super excited to be invited as an audience member on the Etsy episode.

The episode will air Thursday, April 26, 2012 and is all about Etsy!  All the guests and audience members were either Etsy sellers or employees of Etsy.  We learned a little bit about the operations of Etsy, did some crafts with owners of successful Etsy shops, and even watched an all-Etsy fashion show.  Plus we walked out of there with lots of presents from Martha - craft supplies, gift certificates to HP, and books - SCORE!

Going to a show taping is a lot of waiting in lines and being quiet and clapping for two hours, but loving Martha and Etsy so much definitely made it a very exciting day for the audience.  We all showed off our products to the cameras and Martha requested that we all have our individual photos taken so they can be put on The Martha Stewart Show website/blog.  That is huge to all of us small business owners and we really appreciated Martha's support.  It was obvious that she recognizes and appreciates that our group of people - craftspeople - are the ones who helped make her such a success. 

A little "behind the scenes" dish:  Martha is seriously no-nonsense when she is working.  No small talk during breaks and she is not interested in any delays, but then the camera turns on and she is all charm.  It was pretty awesome to observe.  I love that she is so successful and such a strong business person.  The staff of the show were hustling non-stop and I'm sure it's beyond tough to work for Martha Stewart, but they seemed to really respect her and were proud to work on the show.  What really made me like Martha was to see how she interacts with dogs and kids.  With adults she was all business, but when there was a dog in the room - or even when someone talked about a dog - she lit up and got lost in animal land.  As a fellow animal lover I really enjoyed seeing her in those moments.

Crafts in Chelsea Festival

Thanks to Time Out New York for the shout out in the magazine and online photo! 

 Wicked Mint  will be at the Crafts in Chelsea show tomorrow, October 15, 2011 from 10am-5pm on West 21st Street between 8th and 9th Aves.  I'm sharing booth #16 with the lovely Sweet Olive Jewelry.

2011 Calendar: Woodland Garden

This is the calendar I designed for my swapmate Marissa from Marissa Makes for the Design Crush/Greedy Girl Calendar Swap 2011.  

The calendar is printed on 55% linen and 45% combed cotton from Spoonflower and is approxmately 19"x 25" and is finished with mitered edges.  And that means that the calendar can be used as a tea towel/dish towel in 2012!

SHOP HERE

Memory Globes at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum

On Sunday I taught at class at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum as part of the Design Kids program sponsored by Target.  My class was all about how to make a Memory Globe a.k.a. snow globes.   I guess my past snow globe sessions at Etsy and with friends have turned me into a bit of an expert on the subject, but I also have instructions listed right here on my blog.

We had a great turn-out in the two sessions and everyone - kids and parents - took home some wonderful creations.  It was so fun to see everyone get creative with the projects.  We had teeny-tiny globes with just a kitten and 3 buttons (representing balls of yard) and giant globes with a wild underwater scenes and dinosaurs "drinking" from the top.

More photos and info from snow globe class after the jump.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

That was Craftacular!

Well, all the hard work preparing for the BUST Craftacular was worth it. I could barely sleep the night before and was up by 6am. Abe and I were in the car at 7am and in front of the Manhattan Pavilion by 7:30 - early enough to score a parking spot out front and with time to chow down an egg sandwich.

I didn't think I had a great spot when I looked at the map, but my location ended up being top notch! I had plenty of room to set up a nice shop and was in an area where there was room for people to really see everything on my table. There were so many awesome vendors - if I had time I could have spent a fortune shopping in that one room.

My top sellers of the day were definitely my dishtowels, but the t-shirts came in a close second as well as my new yoga bags. I got a lot of requests for other patterns printed on my yoga bags so I'll definitely come out with a few more now that I know there is interest. My Poucho and El Sloucho bags sold well and I was cleaned out of buttons, postcards and business cards!

I met some great people at the show - we all had so much fun. I haven't done markets in a long time and the last time I did them I was really burnt out. I forgot that they are soooo fun when you're selling your product and you get to meet a lot of wonderful artists, crafters and business people. Abe and I decided to do a few big shows each year and maybe travel a bit.

I have to give a big hand to Abe - I would not have pulled it off so smoothly and so nicely if it wasn't for him. Having an extra person to run around town looking for hooks the night before the show really helped keep my stress levels low.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Craftacular!