Happy Earth Day!

Dropped my daughter, The Purple Rat off at the college this morning all dressed for Earth Day in her "Tread Lightly" t-shirt made of organic cotton, her locally made palm straw hat, a ring she made from newspapers, a beaded bracelet made from legos and another one made of paper beads. She is wearing her rat necklace made from a bottle cap. She has a bead in her braid she made out of fabric.

She is standing in front of a patch of Saw Palmetto which are native to Florida and in the background are Native Slash Pine trees.  The entire college campus grounds are environmentally correct.

Happy Earth Day Kelly!
Love,
Mom

Portable Graffiti and The Purple Rat do a craft show

Portable Graffiti and The Purple Rat do a craft show...

I have not done a craft show since 1990. So, this was an adventure. The tent and button displays, counters, banners, signs...my whole booth that I worked many years to perfect, no longer exists. So we just decided to wing it. We took our dining room table and just put buttons in tubs for people to sift through.

My daughter, The Purple Rat used the 2 chairs we brought with us and set an old board across them to make a table for her paintings and origami. I think it looked rather nice.

We stayed in the 100 degree heat all day and bought the most delicious Grouper Sandwich. We brought in $10.00 in sales, and spent $13.45 on a grouper sandwich and sweet potato fries to share.

There were even other Etsy shopkeepers there to talk to, which made for an enjoyable day.

We split at around 6 o'clock, I think; I don't wear a watch. And we got out and home just before the thunder, lightning and torrential downpour of rain.

So, all in all it was a lucky day. I had put my Etsy shop on vacation mode for the first time, and as it turns out there was no need to. As soon as I put the shop back to "open" I made several sales.

Moral of the adventure for me: Stay home and sell on Etsy. No more craft shows until I get back to the northeast.

[The rusty old "Stuff for Sale" sign was on a palm tree behind our tent.]

My Daughter's First Treasury

Hooray for The Purple Rat who was finally featured in a Treasury.

This Etsy Treasury called The Global Economy was created by Art Grants.

Thanks Art Grants for including my daughter's origami dollar heart with a quarter in it.

Congratulations Purple Rat for getting into your first treasury.

Fabric Buttons Coming Soon

Well, it's about time we took out this button press.

This machine has a funny story. Many years ago my brother was at a yard sale where a woman was discussing buying this machine. My brother knowing I make buttons, thought it was a button machine like mine that makes pinback buttons. He waited while the woman asked the seller questions and dickered over the price of $20.00. He followed her around hoping she'd change her mind and set it down. Sure enough, she decided not to get it. Knowing that my machines cost between $400 and $600, he grabbed the machine and quickly handed the seller a twenty-dollar bill.

He got home and studied the machine and wondered what the heck he had bought. Now he realized it was not a button machine like mine.

Since I already had 4 button machine in 4 different sizes, I didn't need one anyway. I was thrilled to have a totally different kind of button machine. I made several buttons and then the machine pretty much sat unused for years.

Yesterday my daughter The Purple Rat, decided to see how the machine works, and she proceeded to make some fabric covered buttons.

Watch her shop because she'll be listing fabric buttons very soon.

On the meantime you can get pinback buttons and mirrors at Portable Graffiti.

Featured Artist

You are looking at a photo of The Purple Rat. She has been painting since she was 2 years old.

See her artwork at The Purple Rat, her Etsy shop.