New Ornament Designs

Here they are!
New designs!

Frog and Dog!

Id love to hear any opinions, I will be keeping Red Marionette ornaments in shop year round, so keep looking for new designs!









He HAD to have a little tongue hanging out! So far I have yellow, gray, blue and brown puppies cut out.

Thinking Ahead

There isn't much left of 2008 so I have been thinking ahead for some changes for Red Marionette.
I have been finessing my shipping capabilities for some months now. Watching the products cost of shipping in various locations.
To eliminate some extra work I am doing away with my shipping overage refund of a dollar or more.
There are very few packages that go out now where I have to refund shipping overages.
Its causing me more work to have to go back and refund when I do. I feel I have my pricing fair and definitely cheap comparatively. So.... as of 12/18/2008 the shipping prices are what you pay as is. (Hopefully you all out there in bloggity land aren't boo-hissing me, there really isn't much of a change I promise)

Also... new designs. New directions.
As many of you know I am no longer employed (not by choice). Red Marionette has become my full time devotion.
Many things cannot be decided until we find out what will go through with this new Childrens product safety act they are trying to push though. (See to the right of my blog) if that does go through I will no longer be able to make items for children under 12.
Well that cuts out more than half of my products.

I have some new ideas. Not as cute and plushie as my finger puppets and pocket monsters. But I will still be able to make Ornaments, Tote Bags, and Clutch Purses. I toyed around with the idea of scarves in a unique design and fun color combinations. That may come to fruition. I also have some new ornament designs I am working on. Mice, Bats, Frogs and Dogs. :)
I have been convinced by my best friend to keep some "holiday" items out year round to see how they do. I shall give it a whirl.
Thats all for now!
Over and out!

Atomic Holiday Bazaar

WHOO HOOO!
Atomic Holiday Bazaar is over, its done! I survived!

These lovelies are Julie and Stacey (And me) at the Atomic Pre-Party last Saturday Night.
Julie runs www.sewitsforyou.etsy.com
Stacey runs www.ellebelleonetsy.etsy.com

The pre-party was held at the Sarasota Olive Oil Company. A neat little place if you are ever in the area of 5th and Central. We had a great time hanging out and noshing on neato little rueben like sandwiches and nummy ales and beers.


Big smile! This is me at my table the next morning. We spent the night in Sarasota to avoid the long drive. It was refreshing to not have to get up well before the sun rises to make a 2 and a half hour drive.

www.feltandpaper.etsy.com was my back neighbor. She is a doll. We had to share tight quarters as our tables were backed up to each other and constantly working around each other flawlessly.


I loved that they had a DJ! It was fun to have music the whole day.





This is the table as much as I could squeeze in the photo. The table was as packed as I could make it. The tree had every branch covered and two extra little boxes of ornaments beneath it. I also had about 15 extra in a box under the table. Off to the opposite side of the tree was my coat rack with all of the tote bags hanging on it. (not pictured)
Mr. Red Marionette was a super sport. I couldnt have done this without him. My wingman. :)
He manned the Tree side of the table while I took the finger puppet side. It is a pleasure to work with him as well as have my best friend with me.


This is the aftermath.
I snuck a photo about 15 minutes before packing up. This was what was left over after nearly six hours of sales.
Holy Momma! Adrien really knows how to put on a show! I was in shock.
I literally only had about 25 ornaments left. My guestimates are about 1/3 of my clutch purses under the tree sold. 3/4 's of my pocket monsters and stuffed animals sold. About half of my finger puppets sold. All stockings but two sold. The big bat pillow sold. Etc, etc.
It was insane. I loved it.

I hope she has Atomic Holiday Bazaar for years and years to come! By far my best show of the year and as I said Adrien (the coordinator) really knows how to have a show. The demographic was great, location and advertising was wonderful. I cant say enough good things about it.

Thank you to all of the lovely shoppers and vendors that I met. You all made it a wonderful day!

BUSY

Oh. My. God.

I have to say its a good thing I dont have a full time out of the house job right now.
I am loving being this busy with Red Marionette due to the Holiday Rush and I am trying to soak it up now as much as I possibly can.
Ornaments. Are. Hot.
That is all I have sold in the past two weeks, except one Sylvester the Snake brooch to a lady in the UK.
I just have to say I want to thank everyone who is making all of these purchases and keeping my sewing fingers busy.

Atomic Holiday Bazaar is finally upon us this coming weekend. I am excited and freaking out. I try not to get my hopes too high, but gal dern if I aint excited!
Lots to do so I shall get back to it with a vengence!

Happy Sales!

Fierce and Nerdy... thats right, I said it!

Oh look out!
The coolest site found me yesterday to let me know I would be featured on their Chic Geek Christmas post!
Found here:
http://fierceandnerdy.com/index.php

She has some great tips, tricks and words of advice to make this Holiday season warm, fluffy, and economical as well as Eco friendly. See Economical and Eco-friend have the first three letters the same. Thats the most important part. :)
I know im not the first to notice that, but when you have an epiphany you have to share.
ECO... woot!

Fierce and Nerdy! Woot!
Thats just fun to say.

Over and out.

You're a star, Kid!

Gilbert is now a star!
http://www.designformankind.com/2008/12/gilbert/

Design for Mankind featured him on their website! Oh I hope he doesnt get a big head from this and demand gold leafing on his red and green buttons.

http://justaddcharm.blogspot.com/2008/12/trimming-tree.html Oh! Look! He is featured on another website as well!

He seems like he is going right to the top!

A lot... I mean A LOT has happened.

So.
I have a great number of excuses for my prolonged absence of blogging. Many of which I shall not touch on but for a brief shining moment for which they deserve.
I was recently laid off from my full time employment due to lack of work. That has caused me to spend less time on the computer and more time creating things!
Good for fun little creatures, bad for blogging.

So what have I been doing aside from creating?
I have been job searching.
Enjoying relaxing.
Getting entirely too involved in the Xbox 360 game called Fallout 3.
Not doing much cleaning ...YET... Yes I will get to the "deep" cleaning before the Holidays.
I have picked up Christmas lights and I am determined to apply them to the outside of my house this year now that "I have time."
Just got back from five days in snowy Kansas visiting the family for Thanksgiving.

I have also been preparing for the zinger of a show I have been so excited about since I discovered its existence. Atomic. Holiday. Bazaar. Those three words give me willies. Good willies.
www.atomicholidaybazaar.com is in Sarasota, FL and a highly sought after show to participate as well as attend. It is in less than two weeks. PANIC.

So my little fingers have been working to the bone*.
I really should get a move on as I should be building stock as this is the show I hope to support myself on for the next month while unemployed**

On another note relating to Etsy.
Today, December 1st, I met my aggressive goals for November. 140 sales.
Does that count a day late? :) I havent set any goals for December yet, I know that could be a problem as I normally at least have a number in sales to strive for, so hopefully I can figure out a number in the next few days to reach for. (Not including the Craft Show on the 14th) Do you think 190 sales too aggressive? Hmm... let me think about that one.

Well kiddos, the night has now turned into morning and I still have bright peepers. Time for me to get in a little hand sewing.
Ta Ta!



*When I am not too involved in Fallout 3
**Likelihood of this happening is semi-realistic. No, really, its that big of a show.