More Holiday Fun

Do you have a fishing fanatic in your life? Check out the felted fishing lure ornaments Nicki has created:

available, this holiday season, at Lantana's in Southport, NC. We hope to make more available through our Etsy shop, until then, if you're interested, you can contact us via defabricate [at] gmail [dot] com.

Tracy Sells Sea Shells on the Sea Shore

More accurately, she's selling her earrings (with shell inclusions) at Lantana's Gallery in Southport, on the coast of North Carolina. Since she's getting ready to send another batch we thought it'd be nice to show you some of her work ('cuz it's really cool), and let you know that if you're in the greater Southport area you can check out the earrings for yourself.

The shells for this (& her second) batch were all collected on the beach just north of Southport, in Wilmington, NC. Tracy includes a balance of industrial and natural elements to create one-of-a-kind ear ring pairs.

If you're interested, the earrings sell for $44. And we have a new batch of shells, this time from Florida's Gulf coast, with which to play. So keep your eyes peeled for new designs!

Black Friday = Be Nice Day

You're not fully ready for the biggest shopping day of the year until you have your retail clerk appreciation cards in hand.

As someone who has had to work retail on Black Friday, I can tell you, it's no picnic to get up at 4 am to be at work super early in order to deal with the throngs of people desperate to find the best deals in order to make THIS holiday season the most perfect ever.

And when you're dealing with the potential down fall of perfection - you're dealing with the crazies, who, on any other day are perfectly normal, congenial, and down right nice. Remember, it's the retail clerks that are running to the back to see if they have any more of whatever it is you want, they're calling other stores for you & making special orders, they're ringing you up, and they're picking up after your messes. So show 'em some love, tell them that you appreciate them, because you know they're only making $8 an hour - which is not nearly enough to put up with all the crankmeisters (it's the stores that are rakin' in the dough, not the employees - so be nice).

Should you find yourself out and about before the crack of dawn on the day after Thanksgiving, make sure you have your cup of coffee, your check book, your lists & coupons - AND your thank you cards.  Who knows, you might just make someone's day - or at least make it possible for them to make it to the end of their work shift without breaking down.

You can download a sheet of 10 cards to print and cut out here. (and if you want to be extra nice, consider tipping those retail clerks who are working extra hard to help you get what you need. $1 will go a long way to making someone's day).

First Friday Indie Market

Preparing for the Swift and Stealth Attack of the Holiday Season

Every year about this time I get hit with excitement for the approaching holiday season, AND anxiety over the approaching holiday season. Ack! So much to do and so little time. WHY OH WHY did I not start earlier, say... July?!? AND WHY do those infernal stores have to put out the Christmas decorations the day after Halloween?!?!

This season, like so many before, will prove difficult for a lot of folks (not just us) in juggling pocket book and family. So I would very much love to come up with even more free goodies to post under our "Free Stuff" tab.  I hope, as well, to have a few tutorials posted over the next few weeks, but it would be helpful to know what you guys might want to see (or have in the way of downloadable printable goodies). So let us know how we can help make this holiday season easier/nicer/more pleasant/more fun for everyone.

And, as you're shopping be it in the virtual world or the real one, don't forget to breathe... and smile (because a smile can go a long way to improving not only your day, but the person's who might catch a glimpse of it as well).

Best,
.n & .t

Holy Schamole! You Guys are Great!

Well, it's mid-morning on Saturday - the day after our very first Indie Market, and BOY are we sore! The crowds were great even if the weather was not  and we got some fabulous feedback! So Huzzah!

We're both sad and delighted that a few of the sock creatures found new homes - Both Perry (the peg-legged pirate) and Wallace (with his slide rule) left in the arms of loving parents. As did our Coraline Frog, and several of our argyle sock frogs.  I have to give props to Tracy for working so hard to make these guys more baby friendly - she replaced the button eyes with felt discs & EVERYbody was happier (Perry told me so).  We will certainly be making more fabulous sock creatures for the Etsy store and December's Indie Market, so keep your buttons peeled. 


Also popular was Tracy's impromptu demonstrations on knitting with a hand loom. She kept her hands warm last night by knitting a skinny scarf and showing the curious passers-by the technique and results. Good Job Tracy!


Many, many thanks to all the great people (venders and shoppers alike) who showed up for First Friday Indie Market. We hope we'll see you again on Friday December 3rd (same bat time, same bat channel).


Have a great weekend and come see us at our Etsy Store on Monday!

Our Indie Market Adventure!

Tomorrow we're embarking on an adventure--our very first craft show! If you happen to be in downtown Greensboro, NC, enjoying the First Friday festivities, please stop by the outdoor Indie Market and say hi!

Our Etsy shop will be on vacation for the next two days, since we're taking the whole kit and caboodle to Indie Market. Our sock creatures will be making their Greensboro debut tomorrow (they're a little nervous, but we think people will love them), along with some other brand-new goodies like vintage card garlands and skinny knit scarves. If we don't sell out tomorrow, a few of them may make their way to the shop next week as well.

Have a great weekend! And please wish us good luck with the weather tomorrow--it'll be a bit chilly but (we hope) not raining...