Forest Cupcake Toppers and SALE!

They are HERE!
Forest Friends cupcake toppers can now be found in the shop!

Also the Ginormous Sale is officially started!

We are discontinuing many items in our shop to streamline our product line. Brooches, Pouches and Stuffed Animals are all marked down over 50% and have free shipping!

Stock up now for birthdays, holidays and whimsical handmade gift giving! The sale will be until the end of May unless items sell out first.
Mobiles and other goodies will be listed tomorrow and over the next few days so keep checking back!
Hooray!

Sneak Peek! Custom Cupcake Toppers!

A circus lion! A bear with a clown nose! A pink elephant! These custom cupcake toppers are for a special little ladys Circus Themed Birthday next week!

They are reusable too! You can change out the stick (Food Grade Bamboo Skewers) when you are done using them in the cupcake or cake and use them as home decor or even plant buddies in houseplants!
A new addition to the Red Marionette line on Etsy starting next week.

I will offer custom color options to match your parties out of our felt color line and we will also have other style sets as well! I am stitching up a woodland set tonight!
I love new goodies to share with you all!

What does Handmade mean?

Newest Featured seller on Etsy took the words right out of my mouth!
"To me, handmade is about maintaining autonomy in what I find to be an increasingly global and industrialized environment. There is a big disconnect between people and the processes behind the gazillion commodities we purchase and identify with. There’s a saying that you’re casting a vote with every dollar you spend, and in many ways I think that's true. For me, creating and selling handmade products is about offering an alternative to that, adding some diversity. When we invest in something handmade, there’s a value to it beyond just the monetary price tag."
Opelle Creative and their interview can be found HERE
What does "Handmade" mean to you?

Mythological Creatures

For some time I have been scheming to make a Mythological Creatures Mobile. Today I finished the sketches for the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, Unicorn, Chupacabra and Jackalope!
Loch Ness will be in greens with sparkly seed beads stitched to him to look like shimmery scales and freckles. Bigfoot will be brown with a tan belly. The Unicorn will be made from glitter felt. I never have used glitter felt before but I thought it fitting for such a creature. Jared the Jackalope will be in light blue. Chupacabra is the only one I have not necessarily decided on colors for. Dark blues? Purples? Reds? If you are totally lost and are not sure what a Chupacabra is, you can see the legend of it HERE. What do you all think would be a good color for Chupacabra in this motley crue?

Open

After much deliberation we have decided to open up the shop a little before having the grand reopening sale.
I have been giving myself fits and starts with not having the shop open for people to just SEE my work.
So here is the plan - Red Marionette opens back up on Etsy tonight. And in the first week of May we will have our ginormously hugeantic sale and launching brand new goodies.
We are streamlining our product lines so a lot of things will be discontinued. We are moving to work only in Home Decor items. So keep an eye out - and of course I will be announcing it on the blog and facebook.

Thanks for all of the well wishes - We are officially back!

A late update: We are here!

How is the Spring coming along for everyone!?

I hadnt updated in a long while for my Red Marionette Blog! We have arrived at our new home. A lot of goodies already unpacked. We are still working on getting all of our personal stuff settled. This place is about 400 less square feet than our old apartment, and the layout is completely different. So we are trying to find homes for things, noticing where we need more shelving or drawers rearranged. The settling is always hard.
I am still moving a lot around in the studio to determine the most efficient layout.
I keep finding more and more boxes that have important things that need to be unpacked. Then the challenge of finding somewhere to put them! Tomorrows priority is to unpack the whiteboard so I can make a big to do list.
I am still on task to have the Grand Reopening sale at the end of April (First week of May, more than likely it will kick off) I have a few important projects to complete and then I will be able to focus on restocking the shop with summer goodies, Fall Goodies and of course more Holiday goodies!
I will keep updating the blog and I hope to get some photos taken of the studio so you all can see my new space.

As a side note: I am highly excited to experience seasons again! It was sad to see all of the lush tropical Florida green go away, but on the drive up here we could see life budding and sprouting. We helped my father outside pulling weeds today and it was wonderful to get dirt under my fingernails and feel the fresh, cool and moist soil.

Last night

This is the last night we are staying at our current residence. The house is quieting down from all of the hustle and bustle of the busy day. My Father in Law is here helping make the move easier by offering manpower. My father flies in tomorrow morning to do the same.

I am thinking about how much I have accomplished here. How much my little shop and I have grown together. There is a lot that has happened in the three years we have lived here and tonight is the last time I will call this place home.

I am moving on to bigger (the potential growth, not the floorplan, teehee!) and better things. We are so excited to me moving closer to family. The unemployment rate is nearly half what it is here. I feel good things about this.
Because let me tell you, I have had many moments of me thinking myself "bat-shit insane", pardon the term, for leaving a job in this economy. It needed to be done.

Decisions made, happily tootin' along in this direction now. I am tired of cardboard and tape. Boxes and tubs. Im ready to get this show on the road!

Ill be down and out for a while with no internet (Boo hiss) but dont despair! I will update facebook and my blog as soon as I physically can!
Happy Spring, everyone!
Here is to new growth and fresh starts!