Check off another Fair

The 4th of July Fair in Monona is officially another one done and in the books.
It was hot, and there wasn't a breeze to blow even a piece of paper around. Thankfully we invested in this great battery operated fan that provided some relief. If only they made larger ones that could really pump out some coolness. If it wasn't for all the paper products, I'm seriously considering one of those misters :)

I do really like hanging the jewelry display board on the side of the tent. It frees up more space for stuffed animals on the table. The downside, I think people are more hesitant to ask for help with the earrings when they are pinned to the board. The upside, set-up and tear down literally took like 15 mins each. We will have to watch sales and see what happens.

Staying up to date

So a couple of things have happened this week.
1st of all we are in a new store in Oshkosh. Very exciting. The link is on the right side bar to the shop's website.

2nd, paper quilling. Such fun. And through trial and error we have discovered how to coat the product so that the paper is solid and wearable. There is one pair of quilled earrings up in the shop now with more to come.
Click here to see the earrings

3rd: my WI etsy group is participating in an Etsy top 10 list challenge. Everyone gets to submit 2 items and then the public votes on what is the coolest stuff.
Click here to see the list and vote

New Project

Has anyone heard of Paper Quilling before?
One of my friends just introduced me to it yesterday and I am in love. It starts off similar to making paper beads, with narrow, long strips of paper. You then either roll them loose or tight and let the paper expand. You can get some really cool shapes.
Last night I played around with some scrap paper and ended up making a whole pile of flower petals.
I am excited, this stuff looks really cool and I think it will really advance the paper jewelry we currently produce.
Now all I have to play around with is how to coat the finished project to make it uber durable to wear. Because this is paper, but it needs to withstand wear and tear. and unlike paper beads that are all tightly wound, these are mostly loosely round and sometimes just 1 layer of paper is holding the whole design together.
I'll post some photos or links once I get stuff up and going a little more :)

Sun Prairie

Well the craft fair was a success despite the cold, overcast day.
Seems like Sun Prairie is a Zombie loving town, because the shirts and bibs were just loved.

I have thought of a new booth layout and an excited to try that at our next event, which will either be the 25th in New Glarus or the 4th of July in Monona. Either ways, I think it will look cool and will allow us to put more stuffed animals out, which are always a hit!

Beads, Beads Everywhere

So I went on a Paper Bead making Extravaganza.
I think this was brought on by cleaning, there was so much good paper and flyers and old greeting cards that I just couldn't throw them away. (I admit to being a paper hoarder!)
So the bead shop is getting filled up again. It is exciting when the beads get to go to new homes. I love seeing what people make out of the beads. I really love the other etsy shops that link back to me, so I can see their finished product. Best in sales to everyone.
And why not be eco friendly? The beads are durable and as long as you don't shower/bathe/go swimming with your pieces on, they will last just like normal jewelry.
Here are a couple of the beads, but keep your eyes on the store as it gets new listings daily.
And hey, all sized orders ship for one price. And if you see a bead color that you like but want it in a different size, I may just have some extra paper/packaging laying around and can whip something up just for you!

Art Fair Tomorrow

So Saturday is the Mother's Day Fair in Oshkosh at the Fairgrounds. It should be very interesting. There is a nice mix of commericial products and homemade goodies.
And they are selling roses and coupon books to raise money for the Humane Society. We put a coupon in the book, so be sure to donate your dollar for something awesome.

What we will have there you might ask?
Recycled Bracelets

Scrabble Tile Pendants/Keychains

And the comeback of Zombie Shirts/Bandanas and now Baby Bibs!!!
Due to numerous requests, new this show are Zombie shirts in kids sizing.


We also are in a grouping with a bunch of other Etsy artists from the area. Stop by their booths for lots of great items as well.

Thanks!!!!

I just wanted to thank everyone that bid on our jewelry for the Dog Rescue Group. Our 3 pieces alone were able to raise $126. I am super excited for the amount of good that can do for the dogs.

Reminder we have an art show on 4/30 in Oshkosh at the Fairgrounds. Entry fees go to the Humane Society. It should be a great event. They are selling coupon books for all the vendors for a very small fee. (heads up, we are offering a free scrabble tile pendant with purchase and a great deal on the t-shirts we will have available)

Dog Rescue Group Auction

We have donated 3 awesome necklace/earring jewelry sets to be auctioned off for a local Dog Rescue Group.
100% of the money collected is going straight to the dogs.

The auction runs until 4/17
Check it out!
Click here to go to the Auction site

Ribbon Earrings

Yes my shop is diverse. Right now I"m keeping it to recycled jewelry and crochet animals.
I do have the separate label and bead shop. When I have a moment to branch out, I have an apparel shop lined up. I'm trying to keep them somewhat separate and specialized. We will see how long that lasts.

Here is the newest ribbon earrings. There are bunch up in the shop right now. These are just a couple of examples.
pink argyle ribbon earrings
blue diamonds ribbon earrings

The stuffed animals are still slowly being added to the shop. As of this morning. I'm up to 14. I have 2 more to add today.
Click here to see Stuffed Animals!!

We also got invited to a craft fair benefit for the Humane Society at the end of the Month up in Oshkosh. More news to come about that, but I'm excited to support a good cause.

Stuffed Animals Online

The stuffed animal line is slowly being added online.
Right now I believe there are 5 or 6 guys up, more to come. Here are a couple of the creations.
Don't forget to click the Stuffed Animal link above to go visit the store and see what else there is up. Changes daily!

Model Options :)

Is busy making price tags today. Here are the model canditates.

Art Fair on Saturday!

Don't forget about our next event. Come snag a one-of-a-kind crocheted stuffed animal while they last!

The Rasta-Animal

Here is another recent creation making an appearance on the 26th at the Alliant Energy Center.

I'm calling it a Rasta-Elephant. Who knows what it is. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Whatever it is, it has a lot of long, flowing purple/pink hair.

Every piece is one-of-a-kind, I follow no pattern.

Hope to see everyone there.

Woooshh Busy Weekend

The show at the Glitter Workshop was a success.
Okay so I spent the entire time drinking hot chocolates and eating the delicious little cupcakes that were for the customers.
But we had sales.
You could tell that the protests in Madison are affecting sales. I completely understand that everyone is stressed out and worring about the future of their jobs. The union issues don't affect me, but they affect enough people that I am friends with to understand the problems it is causing.

We left some great new merch behind at the glitter Workshop. Stop by and check out our stuff. And buy something if you are so inclined.
And even better news, we got a new store in Madison that is going to carry our stuff. That is always exciting to me when someone new likes us! I will let you know more about that when I actually have stuff ready to go to them.
For now, bust preparing for the next show on the 26th. Stuffed animal mania is going on right now. I might be getting crazy because there certainly are some interesting color combos taking shape.

Sneak Peak

Sneak peak alert. This is one of the new Zipper necklaces making an appearance on Saturday.

I'm only going to have one available at the show, but don't fret, they are up for purchase in the store.
Click here to Buy Necklace Online!

This is only one of the new zipper necklaces coming out for show and tell on Saturday. I don't have photos of the other ones, but they are *limited* and I will only have one of each style available.

Don't forget about the free cupcakes too. Mmmmm. I'm told they will be Mint Chocolate and Snickerdoodle Flavored.

Luck of the Craft

Just a reminder that our 1st fair of the year is this Saturday at the Glitter Workshop in Madison.
Exciting, I found out there will be cupcakes, coffee/tea/hot cocoa for everyone. mmmmm


So it's a jewelry themed event, so that is what we will be showing. We have the scrabble tile pendants, upcycled yarn bracelets, of course our zipper necklaces, then some lego stuff, I"m thinking a collection of beads and whatever else I deem would fit into the theme of the show. All exciting and currently not up for sale on the website.


I hope to see everyone there.


FYI: There will not be any jewelry at our show on the 26th. That is going to be stuffed animal onlys. We like to rotate what we do at all the shows :)

Sneak Peak

So the art fair in Madision is slowing sneaking up on me. I am spending all my free time cranking out some critters for the masses.
Here is a sneak peak of one of the new critters that will be available at the show.
The flower child :)
Every piece is one of a kind!

The great chicken

Okay this really have nothing to do with Twisted Planet, but I was cleaning up my computer as I was trying to make room on the hard drive to save custom labels so that if people reorder, I still have their original artwork, and I came across this picture.
The Great Chick-Twister. hehehe. My poor little dog. I don't think she's forgiven me for this costume.
It's a good thing she's a good sport. She has a huge closet of dog sweaters. Spoiled beast :)

Great Gift!

So I got a great gift last night, a box of used tape rolls.
I was so excited and was hoping for a snow day today so that I could stay home and work on new bracelets.
No such luck today, but tomorrow it sounds like we are supposed to have a blizzard, so keeping my fingers crossed...

Looks like I will have a whole bunch of new goodies up in no time. Such a pretty gift :)

Retail store #2- Check

Goodies, goodies everywhere.

The retail drop off is done for the month. We have 1 box of hats, 1 box of scarves, 1 box of paper beads, 1 box of lego jewerly and 3 clocks.
All in all, a little bit of everything for everyone!
My personal favorite? The green gnome hat :)

Everything was dropped off at the Glitter Workshop in Madison. I encourage you, if you are in the area to check it out. They have great stuff from over 90 different artists.


Now that the shipment is done, I'm back to crochet critter and preparing for the accessories trunk show in March. Whohooo!!!!

Now I"m off to look at my craft show list for the upcoming months and book up the rest of my year!

Beautiful Labels

Success!!!!

After forgeting to flip my image when making the labels and wasting 1 sheet, there has been success. Great looking labels with my choice of of font/color.
I think they look sooo good, and now that I've sewn them onto my orders, they look very professional.
Okay, yes I am super excited.

 

Now I'm off to finishing packing up my delivery to a local shop. More to come later... :)

Promised Scarf Photo

I promised a photo, so to not be accused of lying, here it is.

Now I'm not going admit this is what I had in mind when I started off on trying to do a shape. I was looking for something kinda like a fan shape. So I need more practice. I'll admit that.
Still though the scarf turned out pretty and it's super warm and cozy. It's headed for the Glitter Workshop on Sunday for retail sale :)



Tonight I am trying to make my own labels for all the crochet pieces. I am playing around with fonts to see what will actually work on the ribbon I bought.
I'll post some photos of how they turn out. Hopefully this works, keep your fingers crossed.

Crochet Mishap

Last night I realized that I know nothing about how to crochet. I've had this idea for a new scarf design and I decided I wanted to try it. Yeah... it looks like crap. So I took it out and wound the yarn back up.
Today, more determined, I set out scavenging online to try and figure out how to do the stitch that I wanted.

Have you ever seen a crochet pattern book? It's in freaking gibberish. What language are they talking in? trebles, picots. "Work (1dc 2ch) into first treble, work 1ch 1tr into each tr of row 1." Ummmmm is all I have to say.
So yes, I admit it, I do not use patterns, everything is just made on a whim and by playing with the yarn and manipulating it into what I'm looking for. I don't even basic crochet correctly according to the simple directions on the pattern.
So now the basic stitch will just be referred to as the TP stitch. Apparently made up by my mind/hands.
All I have to say about it: it seems to work out just fine :) 

So tonight I am heading home with a new found desire to figure out how to make my idea. It might take all night, but I plan on having a photo to show everyone tomorrow of the excellence :)

Crocheting like mad

So I promised a delivery to a local store by the end of the month. Here it is, less then 1 week away and I am not done with the order. Eckkk!!!
Hopefully it's not as bad as it sounds. I think I'm down to just needing 1 hat and scarf, finishing up of a couple hats (yes I'm putting flowers on them) and then putting on labels.
I had this idea to make my own labels out of ribbon. I haven't tried it yet. Cross your fingers that it actually works.

Aside from the crochet, I also guaranteed a selection of upcycled Lego jewelry and a basket full of paper beads. I'm good on those. I just need to get some bags or something to put the beads in. I'm hitting the shops tonight to see what lovely things I can find.

I'll put pictures up of the shipment before it heads out to the store. Woohoo. 2 stores now are carrying my stuff. I'll let this new store settle in and then start looking for the 3rd. Afterall, 3 is better then 2!

The Stash

This is the yarn stash that I keep next to me. Oh Goodness there is no order at all to this pile. It's just randomly placed into a tub. I kinda just sit there and stare at a yarn and try to figure out what I am making now. Eventually I plan on sorting stuff out, maybe to color stories, maybe yarn type. Maybe I'm dreaming and I will most likely just keep it in tubs.

Current Projects: Spring hats and scarfs. I'm thinking flowers and ruffles. They may or may not be on the same piece :)

Whoohooo. The blog is officially up and going!

I am really excited to be starting this blog. This is going to be a place where people can get to know us a little bit better.

This is like a behind the scenes look at what it takes to keep Twisted Planet.
We are going to be showing works in progress. Shipments to local stores (you get to know what's going to be for sale before the store owner does), new designs. Who knows what I am going to put up!

Thanks everyone for stopping and clicking over.

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