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Guess who made the Pittsburgh Magazine Weddings edition this month?! So exciting!

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Printable Valentine Cards

Every year I tell myself I am going to put together Valentine freebies for the blog and every year I get completely sidetracked and fail to do so.  I should know better by now - I have to design them way ahead of time and not wait until the busy month of January.  One day, I promise, I will have something.  In the meantime, there are amazing designers already posting some fantastic designs for you such as the Yoda Best Valentine from design.wash.rinse.repeat.  Having 3 nephews in love with Star Wars, I thought this was the most clever Valentine I've ever seen and absolutely had to share it.  And it's free!

Even if you aren't in the market for a Star Wars Valentine this year, I recommend checking out the design.wash.rinse.repeat blog for so many other great freebies and fun ideas.

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The Last Minute Market

What a day! This was my very first time selling at an event, in person, with my very own booth and it. Was. So. Exciting!  For those of you not in the Cleveland area, or in the area but just not aware of this awesome event, The Last Minute Market happens every year on the last Saturday before Christmas and features over 100 unique artists selling everything from jewelry to soap to baby onesies. The perfect place for all you procrastinating shoppers to get one of a kind gifts (hey - I don't judge. I'm definitely one of you).

The morning of was raining cats and dogs which taught me my first lesson of the day -Don't pack your stuff in cardboard boxes.  Luckily the wonderful staff at the Screw Factory (the most beautiful, old building in which the market is located) very quickly helped us load everything from the car onto the dock without damaging any of my product.  Once I got everything to my space I was ready to go, since I had meticulously practiced my booth set up in our dining room nearly a month a head of time. I'm a bit of an over planner.

My second lesson of the day came as soon as my third customer was ready to checkout - Make sure you have a good internet connection and/or a back up device for credit card payments.  And to add to that - Make sure you have power to charge said devices.  Trying to appear totally calm and under control, I was secretly panicking and could feel my upper lip start to sweat as the card reader kept freezing as I scanned the card over and over.  Being my first time using a credit card reader I wasn't exactly sure if I was charging this poor woman every time I swiped it.  It didn't help that a line was now starting to form.  This was pretty much my one and only freak out and everything from there on out went rather smooth and I must say, I thought I made an excellent sales person. *Note: I did research later and discovered that I did not, in fact, charge her card 10 times and all was good in the hood.

All in all, it was a very successful and fun day and I look forward to trying out more shows in the near future.  It was great meeting and talking to people in person, since my only interaction so far has been through the computer.  I hope you can all come to one someday!

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Holiday Sale

Personalized notepads and mini calendars make a great little gift for friends, co-workers and even your favorite Aunt Myrtle.  For under $20 and stocking stuffer friendly, how can you pass these up? And even better - they're on sale!

For one week only, starting Black Friday (Nov. 29th), get 20% OFF Calendars and 10% OFF any 3 or more custom notepads plus FREE SHIPPING*.

All custom notepads can be color changed. Use coupon codes CALENDAR20 or NOTEPAD10 at checkout. Enter code FSNP3 for free shipping on notepads.

*Free Shipping is available on 3 or more notepads only, all year long, using coupon code FSNP3. Domestic shipping only.

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Saying goodbye to our boy

It's been a little over a month since we said goodbye to Baxter, our boy and one half of the Two Pooch namesake.  And it has been the hardest month of my life.  It sounds silly to say it out loud, he's a dog. But if you've ever had a dog like Baxter I think you might get where I'm coming from. 

It was quick, which I'm still not sure if that was good or bad.  One day he wasn't himself, so we went for a checkup. A day later they confirmed that it was stage 5 lymphoma and another day later we made the extremely difficult decision to put him down. That's it, 3 days.  He went from his usual-eating everything in sight-wrestling with Molly-greeting every neighbor that walked by-always happy self to that in just 3 days.

Today would have been his 11th birthday.  I really believed he was going to be the dog that lived to 13 or 14 but I'm so thankful for the 11 years I got to have him by my side.  And even more thankful that I had the opportunity to work from home these past few years. Every morning he did his biscuit dance and every afternoon he stared at me for an hour until dinner was served. The dogs went with me to the post office, the bank, to pick up supplies for the shop and always for a nice long walk to finish off the day. He was there the day I met my husband and the day we got engaged. He was always there, waiting at the gate or just inside the door every time we came home. He had a huge personality and was probably too smart for his own good.   I'm going to miss my boy something awful.

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Made in the 216 Holiday Shoppe

It's hard to believe that I am wrapping up products for this years Made in the 216 Holiday Shoppe this week. Is it really November already?!  Despite my disbelief, I am pretty darn excited to be a part of the event yet again this year.  The Holiday Shoppe opens with a rip roaring party on Black Friday (11/29) at Room Service, a fantastic boutique in the heart of Ohio City.

If you're from Cleveland, you can't miss this awesome pop-up shop featuring lots of handmade items from local artisans.  It runs through Christmas Eve, so even you last minute shoppers can get in on this. And hey, if you're not from Cleveland - this is yet another reason to check out the fabulous city we call home.

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The revival of the 70's sewing machine

Last summer, a friend gave me a sewing machine circa 1970-something.  This was it! My chance! I was going to sew my heart out!  Except I didn't know how to sew. And the machine was not working.

Fast forward a year and the sewing machine has be cleaned up and returned to working order and I have had at least one crash course of making an odd shaped, but stellar (if I do say so myself) tiny satchel.  I am super excited to get going on two projects that I've been thinking about for some time now - The DIY Floor Pillow by The Merrythought  and The Lovely Liberty Coin Purse which is sold as a kit from Purl Soho.

Check out other creative DIY projects I have hopes of attempting someday.  What are you all working on lately?

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