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The Merchant Company

Posted in Crafting, Environmental Consciousness, Home Decor, Knitting, Painting, Portland, Sewing, Social Consciousness, Vintage + Thrift, tagged maine on November 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

♥

If you live in New England and you haven’t been to The Merchant Co. yet…

then you are sorely missing out. I love, love, love this shop. Essentially, it’s Etsy in a brick and mortar storefront form. The premise is, local handmade and vintage vendors purchase a table, display their goods, and the shop owners keep an eye on things while the vendors are away making more lovely stuff to sell!

The aesthetic is lovely. Comfy organic cottons, mid-century home decor, eerie taxidermy design, fancy flea market finds — they’ve all got a home here. For several years now, Ryan and I have been doing handmade Christmases. Really, they kind of evolved into handmade + vintage Christmases. We won’t buy anything new for someone as a gift because the excessive packaging, questionable company practices, and overwhelming carbon footprints that are by-products of the current consumer world makes us feel a little dirty when we give them our voting dollars. So instead we find unique pieces that are made by hand or treasures that have had many lives before, and gift these. And, The Merchant Company is probably going to be our first stop for Christmas shopping this year.

So, if you’re in Portland, or elsewhere in New England, you’ve simply got to set aside some time to check out this great little corner of the city. Have a peek at their website first, and then become a fan on facebook. You won’t be sorry!

There’s my advice for the day

xx.

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Picnic Music + Arts Festival 2011!

Posted in Crafting, Home Decor, Knitting, Music, Painting, Portland, Sewing, Vintage + Thrift, tagged 2011, festival, lincoln park, maine, music and arts, picnic, portland, summer on August 27, 2011 | 2 Comments »

One of my all time favourite annual events (right up there with Thanksgiving + the 4th of July!) is the summertime Picnic Music + Arts Festival!

SO. MUCH. FUN.

♥

All handmade and vintage, it’s essentially Etsy in a park. Speaking of Etsy, this seller had a booth, and I can honestly tell you that her work is just as beautiful and perfect in person as it is in her photographs. I was thoroughly impressed.

Here are some of my other favourite displays, booths, and shots from our quick little visit:

I so wish that we could have spent more time! There was so much going on in the city between this and another festival, and the weather was gorgeous, but Ryan had to work and we had no money to spend.

Every year we say we’re going to plan better next year, ha! We’ll see how things are when the Winter Picnic rolls around.

Have a lovely afternoon!

xx. Julia

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Setting Up Shop

Posted in Crafting, Home Decor, Knitting, My portfolio, Painting on February 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

So, Ryan and I have decided that it just isn’t worth beating around the bush any longer. I want to have a profession that encourages my creativity, offers me the freedom to choose my own schedule, and gives me the sense of belonging and responsibility that I never got when I was working for someone else. So whether I’m destined to fail or succeed, I can’t keep holding off on my dream of being a shop owner, and I am now pouring myself into my shop whole heartedly.

With my dear partner’s blessing, I’ll be dropping one of my shifts at the group home, and focusing much more on the success of Jeeze, Julia! Since I’m still not sure what medium I like to work best in, or what people will be looking most to buy, for the first year or so I’ll just be listing everything I make and find, while I keep tabs on what seems to give me the most satisfaction to make, and is at the same time something that people want to buy.

I have a list going now of tasks to accomplish to help get things in order for business. Today I was so happy to create a fancy little sheet that I will use to track my expenses, my income, and the meager total of my business account (which currently is just a tin on top of our book shelf), and it will hopefully soon be enough to turn into an entire bank account. Here’s what the little darling looks like:

And just to give you a taste of the shop if you haven’t already moseyed on over, have a look at the items that are currently for sale. If you’re interested, I’d certainly encourage you to head that way and make a purchase. I will need all the help I can get in accomplishing my dream. ♥

Paintings:

Couple Kissing Acrylic

Frost Acrylic

Clothing:

Bodycon Skirt

Convertible Knit

Kitchenware:

Floral Juice Glasses

Percolator Set

Accessories:

Hair Bow

Knit Headband

Home Decor:

Teacup Doodles

Vintage Radio

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Winter Picnic 2010

Posted in Crafting, Environmental Consciousness, Knitting, Music, Painting, Portland, Social Consciousness, Style, The Holidays, Upcycling on November 29, 2010 | 3 Comments »

Pals!

Since the first Picnic Music + Arts Festival, I have been simply enamored by the feel of the entire affair. Local crafters and vintage collectors come together to share space twice yearly in Portland, and the feeling is always jovial and pure (especially since the winter Picnic is smack dab in the middle of the Holiday season)! Due to past successes, this December the event will be two days long! Please, don’t miss out on this opportunity to have yourself photographed with a Yeti and get a huge chunk of your holiday shopping done all in the same spot. You may never get another chance…

I’ll see you there on Saturday, December 11th, or I won’t on Sunday, December 12th! Details are here!

Photo from PicnicPortland.com

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My Second February Sale!

Posted in Crafting, Knitting, Painting on February 24, 2010 | 1 Comment »

I know it seems modest, but for the longest time my sales were so sparse that I didn’t even bother keeping track of them. For the past few months, however, I’ve been managing at least one sale. For a craft as involved as those that I engage in, plus carrying on two part time jobs, each item I make takes a couple of weeks to complete. Therefore, I’m pretty excited that it’s already going this well. At the beginning of the year, my goal was not to worry about sales at all, but first to stock up my shop with lovelies & then wait for the buyers to come. Requests, I have found (while a bit more stressful because each person has certain expectations) are an ideal way to construct items. It forms a real relationship between the buyer & seller, & makes each piece individual & beautiful. I am so thankful to have been blessed with plenty of requests lately. & I owe the ladies who have asked me for pieces a thousand times what they have paid, for they have given me confidence & experience that is worth much more than the dollars or articles exchanged.

With that said, I am excited to start seeing a bit of a profit! Yesterday my Jeeze, Julia bank account statement read $2.28, but today it’s up to $32.28 thanks to Katye! Soon, perhaps, I’ll be able to actually start an account rather than my monies being housed in an old tin can (maybe not for a while yet, but a girl can dream). And with each purchase my monetary gain goes up just a few dollars here & a few dollars there, & sure it dips a veritable amount every time I purchase materials, but from here on out it should never be empty!

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