Craft Hope and the Gulf Coast

I've been trying to stay away from looking at the images of oil-soaked animals from the Gulf Coast. The few I've seen have been utterly heart-wrenching. And without having a way to help, looking at those images make me feel so hopeless.

Enter Craft Hope and project 8. Finally, there is something I (we!) can do.

Craft Hope is organizing crafters from all over to make towels (washcloth and hand towel size) and get them in the hands of rescue workers cleaning oil off the animals.

If you feel so inclined, please consider making towels and sending them to Florida to aid the rescue effort.

And, if you want to help but don't have the time/energy/desire to make towels yourself, I'm currently collecting any old items you have that could be repurposed into towels.

Hunt through your closets and garages and dig out sheets, towels, plain t-shirts (even just plain on the back), etc. 100% cotton is best, but I'll take anything you think might work. They need the towels by the end of June, so contact me this week if you have anything you'd like me to take off your hands.

And let me know if you decide to send towels on your own!

My first check!

Not to be a braggy bragger, but I received my first check from Dunn Bros today AND have a small amount in my PayPal account from Etsy. This is my first official Happy Apple money. Woo hoo!

I think I'm heading to the bank this weekend to open a business account. Hopefully they won't laugh at the measly amount of my first deposit. A girl's gotta start somewhere, right?!

Now, if I could only decide if I should save it for a serger or a new camera -- both needed for the business -- or if I should buy fabric. Decisions, decisions...

Dunn Bros update ...

So I dropped off my first little shipment of bags to Dunn Bros yesterday. Yippee!!

Not sure how they'll be displayed yet -- the manager is still figuring it out. I'll stop in next week and see if they are up and let ya'll know.

Here's the address of the store, in case you're in the area:
Dunn Bros
7899 Main St
Maple Grove

And check out my adorable (if I do say so myself) business card/hang tag:

I think I'm going to need one of these ...

You may or may not know that my "real" job is in marketing and I have been doing graphic design for close to 10 years. My interest in experiementing with color palattes is part of what drew me to sewing in the first place.

Needless to say, I'm more than a little geeked out about this:

The Leitfaden Sewing Machine custom matches your thread to any fabric or paper using CMYK ink. You can read more about it HERE.

I need one.

Happy Apple is officially official

So, that meeting I was all sneaky-sneaky about earlier this week happened today.

And here's my first official Happy Apple announcement:

Starting next week, Happy Apple Design coffee bag totes are going to be sold in my local Dunn Bros coffee shop! I'll post the address of the shop once my display is up and finalized, so ya'll can head there and buy one of your very own :-)

I'm still feeling a little puke-y about the whole thing -- this whole being-in-business thing is kinda scary -- but I'm VERY excited.

Thanks for all the good-luck wishes!

I have a lot of sewing to do in the next week...

This is going to be a cah-ray-zee week!

I have my first official meeting for Happy Apple on Friday. Keeping the details on the DL, to save me some shame in case I totally blow it. But I'm super excited!

Now, just gotta print business cards & labels and find some hang tags in the next two days. Oh, and finish about 10 more bags. No big, right?!

Sneaky Peek of stuff I'm working on ...

Here are some new tote bags I just finished. They should all be in my Etsy store shortly. I also cut and started sewing nine more bags today, also heading for Etsy.

Let me know if you're looking for something specific and I'll see what I can do. This gigantic box is just a fraction of my stash. 

I'll also be adding fabric totes soon. Pics of those to come...

Craft Show Conundrum

I've been searching for options on where to sell my crafties and not having much luck. Figured maybe I could get some help here.

Craft shows seem a bit full of blue-hairs for my taste. And word on the street is they're a great way to make $15 in an eight-hour period.

Art Fairs seem a bit out of my league. I'm not a potter or a jeweler or a photographer. I sew stuff out of other stuff.

Farmers Markets seem like the best fit, but require a substantial upfront dollar committment for a canopy, table, chairs, displays, etc.

I'll have the new Etsy shop up and running within the month, but I want to meet my customers face-to-face. Interact with them. Let them handle the goods and be won over by my charming personality.

And in case it influences your input, my current crafty obsession is making tote bags from upcycled materials. I'm still making little girl dress (also upcycled) but figured one-size-fits-all totes make more sense for a larger demographic. Also considering wristlets and reusable snack bags.

Soooo...

Leave a comment if you have any brilliant ideas for me.

Oh how I love the Pioneer Woman!

Tonight, to offset the healthfulness of my Hungry Girl tuna salad dinner (more on Hungry Girl in a later post), I made Blackberry Cobbler ala Pioneer Woman. Yum.

Here's the recipe.
Blackberry Cobbler

Try it. You'll like it.

Happy Apple is BACK and better than ever!

So I'm back.

With a new web address and a different direction... a different outlook on life, actually.

A lot has happened since I launched the original Happy Apple shopping blog. Nothing I'm going to get into. At least not yet.

To sum it up, this past year has been about making life simpler, less cluttered. It's a long road, but it's been worth it so far.

THE CHANGES:

HappyAppleDesign.com will feature items I've been creating in my sewing room/bar. (It's pretty awesome. I'll post pictures some day.) There's nothing up yet. But just wait...

I'm maybe/possibly/probably attempting to get into some farmer's markets this summer. So, I'm sure I'll talk about that.

And 2010 marks the second year of my little vegetable "garden." I'm expanding from two pots on the deck to four. Crazy! I'm sure they'll be a little gardening stuff thrown in.

This is also the first year we've bought a CSA share. Looking forward to when our fresh veggies start in June. They have to travel a whole 30 miles from farm to our table. I can't wait!