chimesblog

Hello bloglings. Tomorrow is my first Market Day of the season.  They’ve been going on since May, but I’ve not had a chance to do much crafting until this last month.

For those of you who don’t know and are around Central Iowa, you should come check it out.  It’s pretty awesome.

Actually, for you newbies, here’s a description from their website:  Market Day is an indie craft market: their vendors craft — but they don’t make your grandma’s crafts. At Market Day, shoppers find screenprinted posters and tees, postcards of monsters, stenciled paintings of mermaids, kawaii earrings, macabre pottery, and more. And? They’ve got their share of vintage housewares, clothing and jewelry, too.

Find Market Day at the Des Moines Social Club in the Kirkwood Theater — at 400 Walnut Street in downtown Des Moines, IA. Click here to get directions.

What am I selling? Why dishes of course. But actually, since I moved twice since the last craft show I did, I don’t have any new dishes.  I do, however, have a metric butt-ton of new zippy pouches because these are super easy to transport and are reallllly fun to make.

Zippy pouches are $10 (at Market Day, $12+shipping on etsy). Dishes range from $5-15 for single items and $35-75 for sets (again, 10% more expensive on etsy + shipping).

Also, did I mention that Market Day is from 9 AM-2 PM? COME ON DOWN.

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I decided this weekend to start curating things on my blog kind of like I do on pinterest — but only the top 5.  Show you people some pretty things. I’ve got a LOT of stuff lined up (if you’ve seen my pinterest boards, you’ll understand).

1. Sweet Heart Button Purse by nonsuch on Etsy | 2. Kathy Van Zeeland French Kiss Sachel | 3. Halston Heritage Jenny Fold Sequin Clutch | 4. Bloom Small Leather Wallet by sewzinski | 5. Felix and Jayne Clutch

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I’m going to be doing Craft Saturday this month on April 30th, so I’ve been working on some crafts.

I made a rule for this show — I can’t buy any new supplies — only use what’s in my stash and scraps. That way I can reduce the clutter and save some cash.

I had half a mind to get rid of ALL of my crafting supplies when I moved last month, but I decided to keep some of it. I might have gone insane without it, but I was getting kind of burnt out. I needed to find something new and interesting and fun. No more crafting for OTHER people. It’s okay to craft for yourself. Sometimes. And the stuff you make doesn’t have to be useful (these are actually useful things I learned from Amy Sedaris’s book).

I present to you — little zippy pouches.

These cute little pouches are perfect for makeup bags, emergency kits for your purse, travel crafting supplies and many more uses. I’ve had one that I made a LONG time ago that I used for my makeup in my gym bag.  They were also a great project for scrapbusting. I’m a big fan of wonky asymmetrical patchwork and I made myself use ONLY what was in my scrap bag for these — so no cutting any new pieces.  There are 3 here, but I’ve got 5 made and will be making a few more. They’re kind of time consuming, but I enjoy making them, so I’m going to have a few for the show at the end of the month.

And yes, I’ve also decided my label is going on everything. It will go on the inside of most of my stuff, but I thought it made these pouches look a bit more finished and since they’re scrappy to begin with, I thought it was a nice touch.

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This week’s Humpday Blog Love goes to Domestica, a lovely shop in Des Moines that holds such fabulous art, design and accessories.

Domestica is always on the cutting edge of fun and funky handmade items.  They carry June Craft, from Cedar Rapids, who just a bit ago was unknown, but has exploded all over the internet with their  goods — such as the long dog (below).

After a recent visit to Domestica, I’ve become smitten with Felix and Jayne.  Their pieces are so unique and fit my style perfectly. I’m in love.

So if you have a hankering for good taste, go check out Domestica and tell them that chimes sent you.

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Everything is fair game this month.

Both my stores, chimes design and toDIYfor, are having a 20% off special this month.  To participate, convo me on etsy with the item you’d like to apply the sale to and I’ll adjust the price and reserve it for you.

An extra 5% off if you blog or tweet about my sale and include the link to your blog post/tweet in your convo.

Easy peasy.

As per usual, I’m offering free shipping to Des Moines and Ames as long as we can arrange a drop off/pick up.

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I’ve been up since 4:30 and I’ve got a few things I still need to do in preparation for Market Day.

I decided last Sunday to make some clutches.  And by some, I mean 18.  And I managed to forget to sew on a closure to 3 of them. Unlike some things I make, the closure has to be sewn as part of an earlier step in the process on these.  I decided to use a frog closure on the ones I forgot to sew the original closure on, but I couldn’t find 2 small white closures for the last 2 bags, so I’ll be finishing those later.

Here’s my bounty of clutches/wallets/envelope purses:

and last-minute yesterday, I decided to finally mark my fabric scraps that I don’t want. I realized I didn’t want people unfolding them and such (would be utter chaos) so I used scraps of another fabric to wrap them. Most of the fabrics I’m selling don’t go with the scrap fabric I use to wrap them with, but these two looked pretty cute wrapped.

awwwww. adorable.  I’m putting those on the top of the pile.

Anywho, gotta do those last-minute things and shower and get ready to head out. Want to get there by 7 AM.

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