Look where I showed up in Google today!

I added my store to Google Base a couple of weeks ago. Today I went to search for bike basket liners and look where I showed up!! I'm SO excited!!!!



(If you click on the picture it will get bigger)

The Gift of Giving

Less than 1 week 'til Christmas and I've been a busy little bee! This holiday season I tried to buy as many handmade gifts as possible. Also, when people asked me what I wanted I gave them links to things on Etsy. We'll see how well that works out :).

One of the reasons I really like buying handmade is because you know that purchase really matters to the person you are buying it from and it could actually keep them eating for another day.

Here are some of the goodies I bought for friends this year. I wish I had bought more handmade gifts, but some people are just incredibly hard to shop for!

This first little necklace is for my friend Linda. It's one of a kind (which makes it even better in my book!) and made by Envisage. I've already given it to her and she absolutely loved it!


Next on the list is my brother, David. He's one of those guys that loves all things manly...fishing, hunting, off-roading and so on. You are probably thinking to yourself, "What the heck do you get someone like that and still have it be handmade?" Well, dear reader, you get him soap made from beer, of course! David will be getting soaps made from PBR, Guiness, Newcastle and Sam Adams. They are all from Dennis Anderson and I have a feeling he's going to laugh his ass off when he opens his gift.



Last on the list is my friend Michelle. Michelle is one of those girls that's "a dude's dude". She loves riding her fixed gear bike, kid robot, listening to any music she can get her hands on and the majority of the year she lives in a van full of guys. What do you get someone like this? You get them a zipper pouch that's made from recycled bike tire innertubes that also has a sweet print to it, naturally. This pouch is made by Urchin Bags and is sick as, well, (insert obsene adjective here). I was so excited when I found this I couldn't wait to order it!


What are some of the handmade gifts you are giving this year?

Carried Away: Promote A Sister!

Today is "Promote A Sister Day" in the Carried Away: Bag Makers of Etsy Team that I belong to. I have chosen Sew Artsy to be my sister :). SewArtsy's real name is Amy. She just had a baby girl and I can't wait to see pictures!

Anyhow, here are some of the amazing items you will find her her shop. I highly recommend that you scoot on over there and check it out.

Twice in one week! Say it isn't so!

But it is!!

I'm starting to get into the Holiday spirit and looking for presents to buy the people in my life. I'm trying to keep all gifts handmade. This will get tricky for me because I like to see and touch something before I buy it. I've already got some great ideas for my brother and the family gift exchange.

For my brother, I think I'm going to get him a set of the beer soaps that Dennis Anderson makes. My brother is a pretty big beer drinker so I think this will be perfect for him. Click here to see what I'm talking about.

For the family gift exchange, I'm almost positive I'm going to get this handmade candy/jelly bean dispenser from Stump Pond Toy. The family is pretty big on sweets so I think it will be big hit. Click here to see what I'm talking about.

Other than that, I have no idea what I'm getting anyone yet. I need to do some more looking around first.

On a different note, I joined Twitter today. If you are on there, let's follow each other! Find me at Twitter.com/LuckyFindDesign.

Don't forget! I have a sale starting on Sunday! Visit LuckyFindDesigns.com on Sunday for more information!

Green and Brown and Green and Brown

I've been OBSESSED with greens and browns the past few months. Since about August, actually. I'm working on redoing my bedroom/creating space and found the raddest "rack" to hang my keys, purse and other things from that is in the same green and brown theme.

It comes from Shauniel and is the absolute PERFECT color match. The packaging was phenomenal. Shredded paper, a cloth sack, bubble wrap, a set of 3 matching magnets and a thank you card. I could go on and on :).

Over the past weekend I found out that our local Linen's & Things was closing so I headed over to see if there was anything that matched. And there was! I found a great green and brown stripped shower curtain (yes, shower curtain) that is made out of a cotton fabric and decided to use it as a window curtain. There was only 1 left, so to get the curtain look I was going for I cut it up the middle and stitched up the raw edges. I also bought some chocolate brown satin ribbon and attached it so the curtains can be held back when I want. I also bought some shower curtain hooks that have white ceramic flowers on one end. They look perfect against the curtain and add the perfect touch of "girl".

In the world of Lucky Find Designs, things have been pretty steady. I haven't felt like sewing much the past few weeks so I've been working on getting more products photographed and up online. I've also been doing more marketing and getting ready for the holiday season. My 1 year "etsyversary" is coming up in a few weeks and I'm going to have a sale for it so make sure you check back for more details on that. Oh and don't forget to check in now to see all of the new things I've posted lately. www.LuckyFindDesigns.com

Until then, thanks for stopping in. I hope you have a great day!

I'm really bad at this...

So I've decided I'm really bad at this whole blogging thing. I would like to be good at it and post more often, but it seems like there just isn't enough time in the day to do everything I want.

What's been going on lately? Well.....

www.LuckyFindDesigns.com is now up and running! YAY! Make sure you stop by and check it out.

I've been selling at a lot of craft shows and derby bouts. I've met some great fellow Etsian's and other people.

I've been putting new things up in my shop a lot lately (finally!) and posting them in Flickr. Speaking of Flickr, it really does work for marketing purposes! Rachel over at Cupcakes Take the Cake found my cupcake purses on Flickr and bought one! AND! She posted about them in her blog which means I sold a bunch more! Two even went to Norway! I'm so excited! I don't think I will ever be able to thank Rachel enough for this. By the way, Rachel, if you ever read this THANK YOU!!!! (again :) ).

I think that's all for me this time. I've got tons to do to get ready for the Holiday Season (AHH!!!) By the way, make sure you stop by my shop Nov. 16-22nd for a special suprise. It will be my 1 year aniversary on Etsy and selling things I make!

As promised...pictures from the Glass House Swap Meet

In the blog I posted yesterday I said I would post pictures from the Glass House Swap Meet this past weekend. There were about 50 vendors total, 25 of which were handmade.

The list of vendors was as follows: Kid Robot, Obey, Paul Frank, To Die For, MUNKY KING, Japan LA, Dim Mak Collection, Alphacult, Hooligan Skate, Kung Fu Records, London Calling, The Militia Group, Rockett, Soulful Commandoe, Viper Black Clothing, SP Radio 1, Trey Q, Anenberg, The Meltdown Toy Store, Poseur Ink, Krypta Kustoms, Artillary Clothing, Notion Clothing, Loud and Obnoxious, The Illionaires, Gallery Onelove Deluxe!, Abyssal Gems, Amanda K. Lockrow Jewelry, Annie Rexic, Armas, Cutthroat Designs, Every Little Counts, Freshly Baked, Jane Clothing, LA Art Glass, Lean Dog Pottery, Lucky Find Designs, MJPartetc, My Friend Roze, New Socks, Ones and Zeros Fashions, Skull Flower, Spitting Image, Spun By Ver, Susuten, Voz Clothing, Windchime, Zombie Factory

There were about 2,000 people that showed up! Most of them were there for the Kid Robot stuff, but most of them did stick around and check out all of the other vendors too. It was a lot of fun to put this together and I can't wait until March for the next one!

On a completely separate topic, a couple of friends and I went on a bike
ride on Sunday from the HB Pier to The Queen Mary (just about). We couldn't have asked for a better day to go. I have never rode that far North on PCH in the past. Along the way, we found the Long Beach dog park and they had this hilarious crossing sign painted on the ground. It pretty much represents how I feel when I take our dog, Baxter, on a walk so I couldn't help but stop and take a picture. Maybe all of us will get our dogs together soon and take them for a walk on the beach. I wonder how Baxter would do?

Wow! It's been a while! / How to Run A Craft Show

It's been a few months to be exact. So what have I been up to? Lots of crafting, selling at lots of different events and lots on working my real job. I've even started running my own events! The first one took place last weekend at the Glass House in Pomona. More information will come on that tomorrow, I need to get the pics off my camera. The reason for my post tonight is because people have started asking me, "How do you run a craft show?" so I thought I would put some information online for people to access.

Please note that this is how I do it, it doesn't mean it's the right way, it's just the way that works for me. Also, notice that the title DOESN'T say "How to Run a SUCCESSFUL Craft Show". The success your show has will result in how much you put into it.

I recommend trying to run a few really small one's first (that's what I did) before you run a really big one. Try getting a couple (maybe 5) local people together at one person's house and have each person set up a table in the front/back yard. We had a meeting before hand to discuss ideas and show everyone our products, and that way we could all meet once before :). Everyone does their help with the promotion and on the day of you post signs (like a garage sale) on busy streets directing people to the house. The group I did this with did it a few times and we traded houses each time. They are a lot of fun and a great way to get your feet wet. Just remember, location is key. You don't want to make people drive too far out of the way to get to you.

For running a bigger craft show (some of these will work for smaller one's too):

1. Select your date and times. Make sure you are flexible on this, just in case it doesn't work for the venue.

2. Secure a venue. Same thing as the small one, location is key. You want somewhere easily accessible with LOTS of parking. Try local Churches/schools. A lot of time they will rent large rooms at a low cost. Use the connections that you have to help with this.

3. Figure out how many vendors you can fit and how big each person's space will be.

4. Figure out what your space fee is going to be. I have added a little extra to mine for "just in case" reasons and to help with future events.

5. Do you want the event to be juried or not? I suggest juried. It's how all of the big shows are done and that way you can limit the amount of one type of product you have. Ex: You don't want 10 jewelry vendors and only 2 with purses. You want a good mix of all the products you can offer.

6. Do you want to have a raffle? What about goody bags for the first so many people that come in the doors? What are you going to do for promotion to help people get there? Can people only sell items that are handmade or is mass produced OK too? Ask around in the Etsy forums for what people have/haven't liked about one's they have sold at.

6. Get your application together. I copied mine off of past events I have been apart of and added/subtracted as necessary to make it the way I wanted.

7. Start getting your vendors. I post in the Etsy forums, in my local Etsy team, on Craigslist and I find other local vendors by the "Shop Local" feature on Etsy. You can also go to other craft shows and talk to vendors that are set up there.

8. Go through all of the applications you have received and select the vendors you would like to have participate and contact all of them to let them know.

9. Make sure you stay in contact with your vendors for the duration of the time before the show. This is really important. How much would you trust someone that you never heard from and had given money to?

10. Work on all of your promotion/advertising.

11. Try going in the night before and marking off the space that each person is going to set up in. If not, go in super early the morning of the show.

12. Make sure everything you can is taken care of before your vendors start arriving so that all they have to do is load in and set up.

13. Have a great time! If you aren't having fun, you can't expect that everyone else will too. Remember to be prepared, it will cut back on your stress level and make things easier for you in the long run.



I think that covers everything. If there is something I forget, or realize as I go along I will leave it in a comment below.

People on Etsy you should check out

For starters, check out mymy. She makes some GREAT buttons this one is my favorite
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13044009

Also check out onesandzerosfashions. I have one of her fantastic lunch monsters and it's probably one of the best things I have ever bought on Etsy.

I love customecouturelabelco and the labels they sell for all the goodies I make.

Onama is great if you need anything graphically designed. She did my business cards and they are quite cute.

I crack up every time I see the "hand soaps" that foliage makes.

Father's Day, The Support of Other People...and more!

Since I'm really into making people's gifts lately I decided to make a BBQ plate for my Dad to carry all the stuff he BBQ's into the house. I got it at Color Me Mine and it took me 3 hours to complete! He says he really really liked it but it's too heavy for him to carry into the house with food on it. I told him to suck it up :). My step-brother Ken got him at change jar that counts the change for you as you put it in. I'm totally jealous and need to go to Linen's and Things and get my own!


People have really been liking the basket liner's I've made lately...probably because it's summer time :). Tammy of Ivonnardona's Creations featured them in her blog, check it out here. Evidently you can also find them when searching for Bike Basket Liner's on Google and I have had some people contact me because of that. I just finished making the one on the right the other day. Annie Rexic sent me some of her fabric and I made a custom liner for her and got to meet her at Warped Tour in Pomona this past Friday. She's great and a real sweet heart!

Other than that I'm just getting ready for the Derby Dolls Tournament this weekend. I'm super excited and have quite a bit left to do...I can't wait!

Ch Ch Ch Changes and Tiiiiiiiiiiiiii i i ime is not on my side

Do you ever get a feeling like something is going to change in your life soon but you aren't sure what it is, but you know something is coming? I have this feeling right now and I have no idea what it is.

I feel like redecorating my room. Painting the walls a light green, new pictures of poppies, taking the flower border down, new curtains for my closet, a new dresser (since I haven't had one since Jr. High)...basically everything but the comforter because I just bought it last fall.

Maybe it's because I need more room for all of the sewing I'm doing. I have recently outgrown the limited space available in my bedroom and took over our family room. That didn't go over so well and after 3ish weeks I just got all of that cleaned up the other day. Now it's taking over my entire room. I need to clean out, clean up and reorganize. There's no other way to do it! I HAVE to make the time.

Ahhhh yes, time. Next to money you are my worst enemy. I currently need more of you in the day/week. I am having a really hard time balancing work, friends and crafting. There is just so much that needs to be done every day. Maybe when the craft shows and derby's slow down things will get better. I hope so!

Bike basket liners are really starting to take off! Probably because it's summer, but I'm getting a ton of requests for them and it's really fun!

Time for work!

Today's Bike Ride

Today's bike ride with Annel, Marie and Michelle was great! We started out at a near by friend's house and rode down to the Huntington Beach Pier area for lunch. The place we ate at was a bust! Our waitress sucked and it took about 2 hours!

Anyhow, we made our way down the the bike/walk path that is near the sand and headed left (South) to an unknown destination. It was the perfect day for a ride! The sun was shining, and there was a nice breeze. As we made our way down PCH we came up on Balboa Island and decided to go see if there was anything going on. We soon found that bike riding was not a good idea in this area and stopped to regroup and figure out were we wanted to go.

Some one suggested the always popular cupcake place Sprinkles that is located near Fashion Island. A quick look on mapquest to see how far away it was and we were on our way (gotta love phones with the internet!). We soon came up on the biggest hill of the day and it was a big one! Michelle made it all the way up, Marie and Annel made it about 3/4's of the way and I made it about 1/2. Walking can be a good thing :). We took a quick break and were on our way again. We could see the tall buildings near our destination and this was the motivation we really needed to make it all the way.

Sooner than we could have imagined we were at Sprinkles. I've never been there before. The like was amazingly HUGE and down the sidewalk. While Michelle and Annel waited for their cupcakes Maire and I got a table and gelato from a near by store. It was GREAT and the perfect afternoon treat. After everyone's sugar tooth was satisfied we went back to our bikes to start our journey back. When we got to the bikes Annel noticed that her front tire was flat! A thorn in her tire was the evil doer! Since there were no bike shops near by we decided to walk to a near by gas station and see if they could help us. The closest one had fix a flat and we were set to head back to a bike shop we had seen a few miles back.

On or way to the bike shop we got to go down the big hill we went up earlier and it was soooooo much fun to feel the wind zipping past us!

When we got to the bike shop we were greeted by one of the most energetic people I have ever met in my life! He was pretty much nuts and gave all of us tune ups on our bikes and rambled about everything and nothing. While someone that works for him fixed Annel's tire I noticed that there was a REALLY old rusted bike in the front of the shop. It was soooo cool and I got some great pictures! The shop owner said he had pulled it out of a river but who knows.

After Annel's tire was fixed we started on the road again and only had a few miles left to go.

We made it back to our starting point about an hour later and were all happy to be done riding. All in all we rode some where between 25-27 miles. It's the longest bike ride I have ever gone one and I think Marie and Annel are in the same boat. It will be interesting to see how our bodies feel tomorrow!

Roller Derby

I sold at/went to my first roller derby last weekend. It was incredible! I loved watching the few minutes of the derby I saw and how aggressive the girls were. I wish I could be like it but I'm pretty happy I'm not haha. The match was for the L.A. Derby Dolls teams the Sirens and the Touch Cookies. The Tough Cookies were the favorite since they were undefeated for the season, but the Sirens ended up winning!

It was my first time selling at anything like this and I think it went pretty well. I made enough to cover my booth space, gas to and from L.A, dinner and have a little bit left over. You aren't really allowed to take cameras into the roller but I was able to pull of taking a picture of my booth. I need to get some better lighting to string through my tent but other than that I think it looks pretty good.




Everyone there was really nice and I can't wait to sell at the 2 day tournament on June 28th and 29th. If you want to go you can get tickets at http://brownpapertickets.com/event/35418. It should be great fun times and I hope you can make it!



What else has been going on...Oh! On Sunday I woke up and found that our dog, who totally knows better, had peed on AND ruined my favorite sewing machine. I cleaned it out to no end and no matter what I do the thread still smells like urine. So, I had to buy a new sewing machine...sigh! I picked up this one at the local Wally-world since I didn't like any of the one's at Joann's and I'm pretty happy with it so far. I've made a purse and 2 fleece Angel's blankets and haven't had any problems.


This weekend will be filled with sewing and bike rides at the beach. I can't wait!

What a busy life!

I've been sooooo busy lately between working, crafting, buying a new car, craft shows and just life it seems like everything is going in fast forward.


I sold at the "biggest" craft show in Orange County, Patchwork, a few weeks ago.I did pretty good. It wasn't really my crowd but that's OK, it was a great experience and I had tons of fun. Plus, I started selling my new line of Music Saves Lives purses. There were tons of people there and lots of really great crafters. I'll be adding a TON of new product to my Etsy account over the next few weeks so make sure you check in often.











I also got a new car!!! A Nissan Versa hatchback! I've needed a new car for at least a year now and I'm really excited about it. It's perfect for my busy life and lugging all of my stuff to craft shows and my bike to the beach for road trips. He doesn't have a name yet, but maybe you can help me think of one. My last car's name was Casper and with all of the electrical problems he ended up having it fit him very well. We were together for almost 7 years and had many great adventures together. He will be missed and I hope his new owner loves him as much as I did.


Hmmmm, what else? OH! This morning when I woke up our complex was flooded! Someone hit a fire extinguisher in the shopping center on the other side of the wall. I think there might be damage to our garage because there was SO much water. I got some rad pics though.

The other night my best friend Marie and I went to see Brett Dennen in Santa Moncia. What a treat that was! I had never seen him before, only heard him talk about him. He was GREAT! Such and original voice. He also made funny faces and dance while he played/sang. It was very entertaining and I highly recommend that everyone checks him out.

I'm selling at a roller derby on May 31st. It's a LA Derby Dolls event. I've always wanted to go to a roller derby and now I have my chance! If you want tickets go here.

OK time to get back to sewing. Hope you are having a great day!

I've been tagged!

By Elite Art. She makes some great jewelry pieces and is extremely nice. Here are the rules:


1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
_________________________________________________-

1. I have been to every state except Alaska

2. I fell off a 40ft cliff when I was 19.

3. I've had more than 30 jobs in 12 years (there were times when I had more than 1 job).

4. I work for a non-profit that helps save the lives of thousands of people every year.

5. I love Diet Coke and Cherry Coke Zero. Oh, and Dr. Pepper.

6. I am happier with my life right now than I have been in a long time.

7. I love riding my bike.


I don't really know anyone else that blogs besides my friend Michelle.

Wow. It's been a while

It's been over a month since I've posted anything. I've been super busy creating blankets and purses for craft shows.

Here are some of my favorite blankets I made


There are a bunch of different styles and some I made more than one of. All in all there are around 18 of them and the "patch" is hand sewn on.

I sold at my very first craft show this past Saturday. It was a really fun day and I can't wait for the super big one I'm doing this coming Saturday in Huntington Beach. The 4 other ladies that I sold with this past weekend and I are going to meet in April and possibly June again as well.

I also created a purse out of a skirt that no longer fits me anymore (which is a great feeling). It's really cute and I will post pics soon. I was going to try to sell the purse, but my mom loved it SO much that I gave it to her.

I haven't been getting a ton of sleep lately so I'm gonna call it a night and write more soon.

To all you out there reading, goodnight Neverland!

The past few weeks...

The past few weeks I haven't really felt like creating anything. I think I burnt myself out on sewing. I need to make some Valentine's/Birthday Day presents for my friends and I just can't get the motivation to do it. I made two of them yesterday and only have 2 left. Maybe tomorrow night after I go to the gym with some friends?

In honor of Single Awareness day, I'm having a sale through Feb. 15th, pretty much everything is Name Your Own Price. See my shop announcements for details. LuckyFindDesigns.Etsy.Com.

I've been asked to be a part of a pre-school's boutique/craft fair on April. I'm really excited and honored! This will be my very first one! I don't really have items for kids besides my bike basket linings. Purses for the mom's are good too, right? Maybe I'll check out some fabric shops and get some stuff to make blankets with :).

I logged into my Etsy.com account today and one of my apron's http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9351341 has sky rocketed to over 2,000 views. I have no idea how this happened. It must have been featured on the front page or someone posted it somewhere...no matter what, it is kinda cool!

I bought some stuff these weekend that I'm really excited about! I highly recommend you check each one, and their creator out. The first one was the first sale for the shop!
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=7353349
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=7357700
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=7357701
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=7344268


What else do people write about in these things? haha going to go check out other people's.

Until next time!
Kayte

The first one...

People have been telling me I need to get one of these to talk about my creations and help with getting some more publicity to my shop. We'll see if it works. I'm usually pretty bag about this kind of stuff haha.

Check it, LuckyFindDesigns.Etsy.Com