First, let me start by saying (listen up, husbands) everything I'm about to explain IN NO WAY changes our goal of not spending money on fabric/patterns and chipping away at our 'stashes'. Original purpose still in place, and faithfully being adhered to! We hope to continue to update everyone on our progress in that endeavor.
Breathe in through the nose - and out through the mouth...
Joy and Amanda have opened an Etsy Store!! I know - finally something to do with our time, right? (If I have to eat one more bon-bon and spend one more day by the pool, I might go crazy and fire the nanny or something...)
Here's the why's and the what-now's:
We found ourselves at an amazing little event called 'Crafty Wonderland', which is a wonderfully huge - and so very Portland - craft expo featuring local artists and crafters from all over the area. It was our little slice of heaven, to be sure. Check it out: www.craftywonderland.com
However, being sewers and crafters ourselves, we began to notice that the items being sold (for a butt-load of money, I might add) were not exactly 'up to our standards'. This rant is for you, mom! ;) For example: one vendor had some beautiful purses made from lovely fabrics, and as we started our critical inspection of the workmanship, we noticed... (horrified gasp inserted here) the back of the magnetic snap was completely exposed on the inside! What?! Has the next-gen-hipster-indie-crafter lost all sense of straight-seamed integrity and interfaced pride?! There are some mothers, grandmothers and home-ec teachers rolling in their graves over this, I guarantee it. Apparently the phrase "Look at this thing! I could make it better..." is not just something that was passed down through the women in my family (usually to avoid spending too much money on an impulse purchase) - because it came out of Joy's mouth before I could open mine. God meant for us to be friends...
Ok, I know that I just totally lost some if not most of you on this topic. It's okay, you can go ahead and keep spending money with blissful ignorance, on this kind of shoddy workmanship. But, those of us who understand the horrific offense committed here, we'll be able to follow the logic from here on out...
It started to dawn on us that, indeed, we could make some of these items better, and that, logically, lead to the obvious conclusion that we should make them better. If for no other reason than to prove to our generation that quality exists - and we are convinced that there are a ton of people who will immediately start throwing large amounts of money at us to thank us for giving them what they didn't know they were missing, and to personally own a piece of art that possesses a quality and attention to detail that they didn't even know they should care about.
I mean, it's charity, really.
So, we instantly began scheming. Which, is the best and most enjoyable part of any venture - solely because reality hasn't entered the picture yet.
We were able to float on this euphoric entrepreneurial cloud for about a week. So, I sat down to start a list of all the ideas and considerations to take into account to make our dream a reality.
It was a really long and really depressing list. Including pesky things like 'time' and 'money' and 'energy' and other irritating little things we were sorely short on.
Enter Plan B - which began to take form for the two of us - over coffee (the great equalizer).
We started to discuss things we actually wanted to make, and how much time and energy we were actually willing to devote to it. Ironically, it turned out that we only were willing and able to devote the exact amount of time we currently devote to our creative endeavors - except here's the amazing part: we put the finished products in an Etsy store. Then, to solidify our entrance into the 21st century, we - wait for it - blog about it.
I know, frickin' brilliant, right?
Oh, if our kids only knew how cutting-edge and hip their moms were, it would most certainly
Blow. Their. Minds. Fo' Shizzle Yo...
So, long story slightly longer, here's the link - pass it along! This is stuff you wouldn't be ashamed to give to your home-ec teacher. The hip one.
Click Here! SewAHolics
There's only a few things listed right now, but we're just getting started... ;)
Happy Sewing!
Amanda
