International Shipping

I finally got back to the box store for the right size boxes for international shipping. Now I am offering it in my Etsy shop!! Come on all you people from out of country!! I am ready for you!

Over A Billion

I just found a cool stat site for birthday information. I am over a billion seconds old!

My birthday is December 19, 1974:

I was born on a Thursday.
My star sign is Sagittarius.
The season was autumn.
I am 33 years, 3 months, 7 days old.
It is 268 days until my next Birthday.
I am 12,151 days old.
I am approximately 291,630 hours old.
I am approximately 1,049,869,194 seconds old.

I like numbers so I find this interesting. A billion is a lot of somethings.

My mom's birthday is December 8, 1947. We have some very weird coincidental number related happenings about our ages and birthdays. She was born in ’47 and I was born in ’74. When I turned 14, she had just turned 41. (It also happened when I turned 3 and she turned 30, but my zero is dropped.) This age-number-reversal happens every 11 years, so when she turns 63, I will turn 36. Also 4+7=11. And our birthday date numbers are 11 days apart. (Insert Twilight Zone music here.)

My lucky numbers are 4, 7, and 11 for the above reasons. Only a total math nerd would figure all this out. I love math!

Happy Easter!

Plans for today: eat chocolate bunnies until they are ALL gone!! Don’t forget to intermix the chocolate with jelly beans to aid in digestion.

The only funny tale of Easter hilarity in my family that I can recall in my Sunday afternoon sleep deprived state is the time my sister made us all an Easter card that said “Happy EATster!!” I think we were only in grade school at the time. My mother probably still has the card. I guess her spelling slip up hinted at her desire to eat on Easter. We tease her about it to this day. When I see her today I will say "Happy Eatster!" to her without a doubt. Then I will cluck like a chicken from that Cadbury egg commercial. Bok Bok!!

Candy, chocolate bunnies, Peeps, Cadbury eggs, malted milk ball robin eggs, and peanut butter cup eggs were always plentiful in our Easter baskets on Easter morning. My mom The Easter Bunny made sure we didn’t want for anything. It was a dentist’s nightmare. My parents would actually let us just eat candy for breakfast. The baskets had enough candy to last for weeks.

I hope you have your fill of candy, food, and family today. We’re going to my mom’s for ham and lamb, which I sincerely hope that she wrapped one around the other before she baked it. It will be the new Turducken! We'll call it Hamb.

Tokenblogger’s Custom Pendant

Around Christmas last year, I got a custom pendant request from Tokenblogger. Her original request was a design with pansies on it and the words “I AM”. We emailed a lot to nail down more details. Usually a custom pendant takes about two weeks of communicating and drafts to get right. This one took longer, and I didn’t mind one bit. I really wanted her to have exactly what she wanted without a doubt. That’s what custom pendants are for, right?

I really liked working on this project because it kept changing from the original request. She would send me new ideas and pictures weekly and I would find a way to incorporate the new pieces each time. I know some people may find this kind of work taxing, but I honestly liked the new additions she kept making. It forced me to rethink an idea each time keeping the work fresh and challenging.

She ultimately decided on a green background with two purple pansies on the front. I included the original “I AM” while adding real lace and a picture of her pet dog, a whippet named Emma. The back turned into a conglomerate of things that Tokenblogger holds dear: a piano, the star of David, a blue bicycle, a coffee mug, a container of Earl Grey tea, and a cello. Since she wanted so many images on the back we came to an agreement that it should be a digital collage to make it look best. I’m very happy with how it turned out. It’s better in person than I thought it would be.

She blogged about on at her blog. Check it out to see how I lovingly gift wrap every purchase!! She took pictures even!

Thank you, Tokenblogger, for allowing me to make something so personal for you. Again, I really enjoyed working on this. I am so glad you love it!

All New Buffalo Indie Market

Mary Stephens, Founder/Director of the new Buffalo Indie Market in Buffalo, NY, has launched a monumental undertaking in setting up a monthly independent artists’ market. Local artists now have a place to set up shop and sell their handcrafted wares. The Market will be open every second Sunday of the month starting May 11, 2008.

The first event will be on Saturday, April 12th from 11 am to 4 pm at Pearl Street Grill and Brewery on the second floor in the Pan American Room, 76 Pearl Street, Buffalo, NY 14202. The Pearl Street Grill and Brewery will be the home of all the Market’s events.

The Market’s mission is “to bring a monthly market of unique and stylish handmade products to the Buffalo community while nurturing the professional talents and business potential of up & coming designers & crafters. The Buffalo Indie Market offers local consumers a whole new way to shop and provide the Buffalo community with a space to discover hand-made jewelry, handbags, clothes, stationery, pottery, knitted items and more.” [quote source: Buffalo Indie Market website]

More about the Market: “When starting Ry Stephens Design, a handmade cards and invitations business, Mary [Stephens] quickly realized the need for a more current year long market. With the recent growth of on-line markets and independent artists, a need for a Buffalo market of current handmade products appeared obvious. In October of 2007, Mary took part in Brooklyn Indie Market, which is a weekly Independent Artists market in Brooklyn, New York. The warm welcome she received there and the pleasant community atmosphere developed by Kathy Malone and Johanna Resnikoff, a native of Buffalo, spurred Mary's desire to start an Indie Artist market in Buffalo. Buffalo has long awaited for a market that brings all the latest handmade creations from the local Indie Art community to the area’s consumers.” [quote source: Buffalo Indie Market website]

Buffalo Rising Online recently gave the Market some great press. See it HERE. There is also a group at Indiepublic for members interested in networking with each other.

I am looking forward to hopefully participating in this market in May. Even though I am not from Buffalo, it still is a local scene for me as it is only a 1.5 hour drive from Rochester. Now we indie artists in Rochester have to get on the ball and open our own market. Mary Stephens has set the bar pretty high.

Thank you, Mary, for all the hard work you have put into this! So many people are going to benefit from it.

Applications for future events can be found on the Buffalo Indie Market website as well as flyers and postcards to distribute for advertising the events. Spread the word!