First Friday Indie Market

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...

More Free Stuff

In the midst of preparing for Indie Market, I have found myself procrastinating by creating even more for our FREE STUFF section.

Newly added is printable instructions and artwork for vintage postcard wallets.  You don't even have to go scavenging Grandma's card drawer - I've already done the scavenging!  The download includes four, very cool, vintage postcards (from the Public Domain).

So, if you feel the need to be crafty or just have a hankerin' to make little money carriers / business card holders / gift card envelopes, head on over to our Free Stuff tab and check it out.

I also posted the popular "How-To" tutorials for the Tetra-Pak coin purse, the Sock Creatures, and the Juice Pouch Coin Purse.

November Indie Market is Upon Us

Greetings and Salutations to all our nifty, crafty, and ultra cool friends out there.  Tracy and I would like to let you know that we will be at the First Friday Indie Market next Friday.

Today, in fact, Tracy is busy (custom) making utility aprons for each of us. If they turn out nicely, we may even have a few to sell next Friday.

Of course, I wanted to show up dressed to the hilt in 50's house wife regalia, with my hair & make-up done up, but since I have no 50's house-wife regalia in my magic closet (nor do I have a 50's house wife regalia budget), I'm guessing this fantasy will remain as such.

Although if any of you want to dress up 50s style & visit our booth, we might  just have some little "extras" for you (& you only).

New Ornaments For the Holidays

A few weeks ago, whilst perusing books at the bookstore (where else?), I came across an idea for ornaments that threw me back into the fondest memories of my childhood - making felt ornaments for our Christmas tree.

Usually those ornaments were flat, glue laden, slightly lopsided snowmen, but occasionally we got super creative and made the ornaments somewhat dimensional with a little fiberfill stuffing.

While Tracy has been busy working on earrings for our friends at Lantana's Gallery in Southport, NC (pictures to come), I've been creating these charming, folk-style, felt ornaments.

We'll soon have pears, apples, and lovely little birds listed on Etsy. Each ornament is hand stitched & made of thick wool felt (because the texture is so much nicer than that acrylic craft stuff). The apples come in a subtly mottled red, wool felt. The pears and birds will be offered in a variety of colors (including burgundy, oatmeal, light blue, and sage green).

Also, on the less folksy - more vintage side, we've been trying to figure out what to do with our stash of vintage holiday cards (from the 1940s & 50s). We've been playing around with different ideas, but the one we like the best is this set of 12 nifty, tag-style ornaments, ready to hang.

Tell us what you think, and if you'd like to see more!

OH BABY!

We're gearing up for Indie Market in a couple of weeks... busy making stuff, designing tags, taking pictures, band-aiding our poor needle-poked finger tips, etc. But I have to say, the results include some KeeyUte baby gear!  With a new batch of stuff finished and ready to photograph (we'll have pictures soon), I thought I'd point you toward some of the adorable knit baby hats and blankets we have already listed over at the Etsy store.

We're excited for Indie Market, where these guys are sure to sell, so if you're eyeing anything, you might want to grab it while you can.

And thanks for lookin' - you guys are great!

.n & .t

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

And for those elsewhere, Happy Saturday afternoon or evening or Happy Sunday morning - depending where on the planet you reside. Where ever it is, I hope you're having a good day, and if you're not, I hope you make it safely home where there is a bowl of hot soup & freshly baked bread (or something equally comforting) awaiting you. (it is quite possible that I am hungry).


We spent the afternoon trying to be productive and just maybe we came up with a few more (very charming) ideas for the the Etsy store (time will tell).


So while we work on our new and 'old' ideas alike, we hope you are safe (and satiated for all those who had big Thanksgiving dinners) and have a wonderful afternoon/evening/morning, wherever you are!


Cheers,


-Nicki & Tracy

Make Your Own Cereal Post Cards

I noticed whilst perusing the stamp aisle at Hobby Lobby yesterday that they had a post card back stamp. You know, a stamp that says "address here," "place stamp here," and "write letter here."  

 About three years ago I searched all over the place for a similar stamp and NO ONE, but no one had anything like it. In fact, no one had even heard of such a thing - which I thought was just terribly wrong.  


About a year later I came across a scrap-booking stamp that mimicked a postcard back. I bought it and cut out almost all of the image, leaving only the barest dividing line, stamp box, etc.  


So, now I had a stamp.  But I soon realized that the water-based ink, even after it dried, ran if the postcards got wet. After a series of trial and error runs, I decided to use oil based inks instead. I rolled the stamp with my inky brayer and printed the postcard design onto the back of my cut-out cereal boxes. Voila! Cereal Postcards!  I was so proud of myself.  Most of my friends told me how cool the idea was, but when it came time to hand out the postcards, most people declined.  I was completely bummed.  I had spent so much time on this idea and its execution & now nobody wanted them.


What I came to understand later was that, keen as the idea was, nobody wrote letters anymore - not even short postcard blurbs. It's far too easy to just send out an email... and besides, with email you don't have to deal with postage.


Well, no more. From now on, the Cereal Post postcards at Defabricate will now include postage! That's right, if you don't feel like buying a $10 stamp, cutting up your own cereal boxes to postcard sizes and stamping your own postcards - you can just buy ours, pre-cut, pre-printed, and pre-stamped (as in postage).  Now all you have to do is jot a note and fill in the address.... and, maybe, if you don't feel like doing that, I'll include my never-fail script for writing postcards:

"Dear [name], 

I hope this finds you well. It's [fill in the weather conditions here] and it made me think of you and that time we [fill in event here]. I still have the [pictures, mug-shot, scars, night terrors]. Love to [fill in name of spouse, children, parents, dogs, cats, next door neighbor, etc].

All the Best, [your name]"

If you'd still rather make your own postcards, you'll need:

• empty cereal boxes
• metal ruler
• pencil & eraser
• scissors or utility knife
• USPS postcard template
• Postcard inking stamp
• Ink pad 

First, make sure your box is empty. Next, pull apart all glued sections of the box, unfold and flatten.  You want to find the most interesting part of the box to use as your post card front. Once you identify this, measure and mark your 3.5" x 5" (min.) or 4.25" x 6" (max.) rectangle. Cut along the marked lines using your scissors or the metal ruler and utility knife. Once cut out, you can now stamp the back of your postcard, and aside from actually writing a note, adhering postage, and plopping it in the mail - you're done!  Congratulations!