Etsy Crafty Party!

Please note:  Due to my inability to effectively think like a "blogger" and visually capture my experiences in photo-form throughout the day, all would-be photos in this blog post have been replaced with hand-drawn illustrations - enjoy!

Greetings once more, blog buddies! It's been a busy week all around. This past Thursday I volunteered at the Etsy Crafty Party and boy was it....HOT! I'm thinking that the people up in Etsy central (which I believe is somewhere in Brooklyn) didn't consider that scheduling a party in Florida in late June would mean lots of sweaty, smelly crafters and craft lovers alike.      

Before the event - filled with a bunch of "go-get-um"

And after. Notice the look of total dehydration, drippy sweat drops and dreaded hair fly-aways.                

                                                                                                                       
But I grabbed my umbrella from the car, shaded myself from the death rays of the sun and started to greet the first shoppers strolling in. I was stationed at a demo table. At my table, shoppers could stop and create these really nifty wooden badges. And it was really fun - my visitors were super creative and made some really fantastic work.  But what was most fun was to really feel like part of the creative community.  As an Etsy artist, or any artist for that matter, you can sometimes feel like you're working and creating in a bubble. So it's nice to get out and see fellow Etsians or just plain art lovers talking and sharing and enjoying each other's company and creations!

One little girl came by the table and was SO excited to glue flowers onto her wooden heart that she filled the WHOLE badge with flowers. I think she was only supposed to only take one or two, but I didn't have the heart to tell her, so I just let her go crazy. We named this one "Flower Power."

Then there was this badge. The lady who made this one came by and used Washi tape to add layers of color. She finished it off with this crazy fringe which we've all seen before but I have no idea what it's called. You know, it's that ribbon that's kind of like yarn and it has fringe, but instead of stringy fringe, it has little puff balls hanging down. This ribbon/yarn will always bring back an instant memory of the curtains my grandmother hand-made for our family camper. The fabric was a plaid pattern of golden yellow and the puff ball fringe was in a dark brown - very sixties, very grandmom-ish.

Lastly, this lady came by and decorated a circular badge.  She went for a simplified look with only strips of color and one singular flower in the center. Simple but pretty.

Well blog buddies, until next time. And I promise to TRY and think like a blogger and start taking more pictures of my happenings.  Until then, art college tuition is paying itself off baby!