Category Archives: houston

Rescue Dog for Adoption: Home for the Holidays

Hi guys!

Slightly off-topic for today, we’re going to talk about animal rescue! Since moving to Houston, I’ve become painfully aware of the plight of abused, stray, and neglected animals. Hardly a day goes by where I don’t see a sad stray dog wandering through the busy streets of this city. There are many rescue organizations here trying desperately to make a difference, and they all rely on finding good homes for these defenseless animals.

Over the past three years, we have adopted two rescued dogs. They have truly changed our lives for the better. I honestly can’t imagine life without them at this point! Every time I look at our little doggies, I can’t imagine what could have happened for them to end up living on the street, and I can’t fathom how scared and alone they must have felt trying to survive. Adopting our mutts Leo and Penny is one of the best decisions my husband and I have made.

I’ve united with a local dog rescue organization, Pup Squad, as part of their Holiday Heroes program this December. We are trying to find homes for some of their long-term rescues, dogs who have been up for adoption for quite a while. These guys are ready to find homes for the holidays!

Today I’d like to tell you about Kaycee. I chose Kaycee because she reminds me a little bit of one of our dogs, Penny; she also sounds like an AMAZING dog because she’s very adoptable and easy-going!

Kaycee was found as a puppy wandering the rough streets of Houston near an apartment complex. She looks like some sort of shepherd mix, weights about 45 pounds, and is about one year old. Kaycee is already crate-trained, lease-trained, and housebroken! That is like, the miracle of miracles people (take it from someone who has had to pottytrain a 3 month old puppy)! She loves to play with other dogs and gets along well with all dogs and humans. She is already spayed and fully vaccinated.

how can you resist that face?!

You can read more about Kaycee here.

Kaycee would make a great addition to any home. She is already all trained and ready to go! Will you consider giving this sweet dog a home for the holidays? If you’re interested, please email Kathy at Pup Squad: KathyPupSquad@aol.com

Even if you aren’t ready to adopt a dog right now, please consider sharing, liking, emailing, or tweeting this post (check out the little buttons below!). The more we can share Kaycee’s story, the more likely we can find her a loving home!

signature

Bridal Jewelry Trunk Show

Come visit me next Saturday in Katy at a local bridal jewelry trunk show hosted by The Loken Group.  Only a select handful of local jewelry artists will be present, including Lazy Owl Boutique.  This is a great time to browse and order customized jewelry for your big day or for your bridal party.

***

FREE Bridal Jewelry Trunk Show Nov 10 from 2 to 4 featuring local custom and fashion jewelers, raffle prizes, wine & snacks. Brides, bring your mom, mom-in-law to be, sisters, friends – as many as you like!
Register (FREE) & get more info:
Hope to see you there!

Introducing Roundtable Goods

So, I know I keep alluding to this new shop in Houston I’ve been a part of lately.  It’s time I finally formally introduce you to Roundtable Goods, Houston’s new 100% handcrafted 100% local artisan marketplace in a homey little neighborhood we call the Houston Heights.

It all started when I was at a slightly less-than-fun craft fair in late April.  Some random woman from Etsy named Juanita came and found me while I was quietly manning my lonesome booth (located in a primo spot across from the men’s bathroom of course).  I had briefly traded a few messages with Juanita through Etsy over the past few weeks, but didn’t really expect anything to come of it. Maybe I have an underlying belief that everyone that sells things on Etsy is slightly crazy (including myself?), so when a very normal, happy-looking woman introduced herself as Juanita I was pleasantly surprised she had taken the time to seek me out at the show.

Juanita started talking about craft shows, Houston, new groups, and even the possibility of opening some sort of storefront.  Then, she said the magic words, “19th street“, and I think that’s when I fell in love.  To me, W. 19th Street is the perfect little Main Street USA of Houston.  One of the only spots in this ginormous city where, for a few lovely blocks, pedestrian shopping is still practiced.  Not only that, but there’s not a single national chain or department store to be found.  Smack dab in the center of a neighborhood that clings tooth and nail to its roots and history, it’s a small mish mash of funky and eclectic, trendy and modern, vintage and antique small local businesses.  And Juanita had her eye on a space for lease right on this very street!  I had never even really dreamed of selling Lazy Owl products in a storefront, let alone being part of one, but when I got the opportunity to be part of this I knew I couldn’t pass it up.

This is the Lazy Owl Boutique area at Roundtable

I can’t exactly describe what followed.  Somehow, in the space of just two months, we went from a group of eager strangers with a totally raw, unfinished space to a collaboration of artists with a painted, fully-stocked handcrafted boutique open to the public.

Lazy Owl bunting necklaces

Juanita found a group of local artists with all sorts of talents.  We fine-tuned our business pitch and met with these ladies in late May, hoping that 2 or 3 would be willing to come on this adventure with us; I was totally astounded when over 13 of them jumped on board!  Our leased space was formerly a storage room for antiques – unpainted, old ceilings, concrete floors…the list goes on.  But with a lot of elbow grease (and only a small amount of yelling) we turned that space around in a matter of weeks.

Just a small selection of all the amazing goodies we have in the shop

We are a team of artists from very different backgrounds and even different cultures, some of us work full-time day jobs, some of us have children, and something different drives us all.  But our passion for our creative art and our drive to offer Houston something new and different really motivated us to bring this vision to life.  We are starting out slow – only open on the weekends for now – but we definitely have big plans and big dreams!

I am so proud of what we have all accomplished together!  I hope if you are ever in Houston you stop by Roundtable Goods on W. 19th Street.  You might even see me working behind the counter; regardless, you will see some wonderfully unique heartfelt and handcrafted treasures.

Spring Craft Show Display

As I mentioned (not sure if I did actually, let’s pretend), I did a craft show last month in Katy, Texas.  Setup was all day the Friday before the show started.  My craft show adventure weekend started out pretty stressful.  It was a really busy week at my day job, and my husband ended up having to work late on Friday (and all day Saturday) so I was flying solo nearly all weekend.  I left work as quickly as I could to go home to grab my tables and inventory and head out on the 45 minute drive out to Katy, during rush hour AND during a terrible thunderstorm.  Of course when I finally got home, my puppy had peed all over her crate.

By the time I made it out to Katy, I had about an hour to set up as much of my booth as I could all by my lonesome.  After check-in I found out my booth was not actually IN the main arena, but in a hallway…directly outside the MEN’S restroom!  The show director promised me this would be a preemo (primo? premo? is it even a word?) spot, so I decided to put a smile on my face and make the best of it.

Anyway, it wasn’t a super wonderful show, but it was my best yet (out of 3, still a craft show newbie here), and a great experience.  I met some other wonderful vendors, made some good sales, and handed out almost all my business cards.

Plus, I got to debut my new and improved show display (see past discussions of my display here and here)!  I graduated from 2 to 3 tables, with the addition of my vintage china plate tiered displays (that’s a mouthful!), and all my new titanium post earrings.  I also made a handful of colorful yarn wreaths to sell.  AND I got to try out my new VistaPrint banner!

One side of my display
Oh hello, men’s restroom!
Antique shutters, antique plates, yarn wreaths…
Handmade earring card display for my plated stud collection
Birdhouse display and antique printer’s tray display

Check out my tutorial for how to make my DIY ring box display here, and also an explanation for how I built my DIY earring card display here.

I’ll be setting up my display again May 19 at the Friendswood Fine Arts Institute’s Art in the Park!

Party like it’s 2012

Hello!  Welcome to 2012!  Obviously I did not intend on taking a nearly two-month long vacation from the blogosphere, but December and the holidays turned out to be busier than I thought.  I hope that all of you had a peaceful (and successful, if you are a fellow Etsian like myself) holiday season!

With the beginning of every new year, I like to follow the trend of setting some goals and coming up with a resolution or two.  This year I read an article about the 101 Things in 1001 Days Challenge.  1001 days is three years, so coming up with 101 goals in 3 years gives you the time and opportunity to do some serious long-term thinking and planning.

2012 Weekly Planner PDF by milas on Etsy

I then stumbled upon the awesome website, Day Zero, and decided to set up my very own 101 things list.  You can see my list here.  I still haven’t thought of all 101 things, I could only get about 80, so I have some room to grow.  I tried to come up with a mix of fun things I’ve always wanted to do and serious goals I need to do, along with a few things that I’d love to happen but don’t know if they are possible (like weigh 140 pounds…ha…ha….).

I welcome you to create a Day Zero list with me to motivate yourself to meet your goals for the next three years.

Here are a few of the items on my list, many of them pertaining to Lazy Owl Boutique.  They say you should make your goals quanitifiable and specific, so you can see I chose a specific number for many of them.

– Learn how to sew
– Cook a meal in the crock pot (I’ve told you I like never…cook)
– Paint every room in the house (ouch)
– Go to the beach (yay!)
– Learn Italian
– Go to Italy (TBD in a later post!)
– Cook 10 recipes from Pinterest
– Make 150 sales on Etsy (hopefully over the next 3 years, this will be possible, so far I’m at 10 out of 150)
– Write 50 blog entries!  Here we go!
– Sell at 5 craft shows (hopefully more)
– Make 30 things from Pinterest
– Read 75 books
– Eat at every Pappa’s restaurant (it’s a Houston thing)
– Make an ottoman/bench out of our old coffee table
– Eat on our wedding china at least twice (since we’ve never eaten on it at all)
– Bake 10 different types of cupcakes, yay!
– Be on the frontpage of Etsy 5 times (I’ve managed to get on it once this year already!)

So, now you can follow along with me as I try to complete this goals over the next 1001 days.  Let me know if you decide to make your own list, and we can share.  I need more ideas for goals!

First craft fair experience

Sorry it has taken me so long to update about my first craft fair experience.  Last week (on Halloween), we picked up a stray dog.  We could not keep him since we already have 2, one being a newly rescued puppy, so I spent the week desperately trying to find an adoption/foster program that would take him in.  EVERY no-kill rescue program in the city of Houston was at max capacity.  Just when I thought we were going to have to send him to animal control (and basically sign his death warrant, as he was a big black pit mix), I found a friend in Baton Rouge who would give him a loving home.  AMEN!

Moving on to a totally unrelated note, here are pics and a review of my booth from my first craft show on October 29.

I had paid for an outside booth, and luckily the weather was nice, although a bit chilly.  It was the first weekend of colder temps in Houston this fall.  As you can see, thanks to the suggestions from yall, I did cave in and make a small sign.  Obviously it’s nothing special, just paint on a piece of blue poster board, but I figured this sign was better than no sign.  I’ve already devised a better banner for my next show, so have no fear.

I made a few last minute changes to my set up, and put my printer’s tray of crystal earrings on the taller table rather than the small card table as planned.  The sun was shining into one corner of my area, and I wanted to try to put the crystal earrings in the sun where they could really sparkle!

Necklaces and stud earrings were displayed on my card table…That’s a mannequin from Pottery Barn, a Goodwill frame with hooks and fabric, and another Goodwill frame with twine strung across the back and mini clothes pins to hold up my earring cards. If you want to read more about the making of my earring displays, check out this post.

Here’s my booth as a whole.  As far as my experience went, my day was SLOW.  I was really excited to be there and excited about my booth display, since I worked so hard on it…but I quickly realized that this show did NOT have the right audience for me.  It was the 40th year of this show at an established Episcopal church in a suburb of Houston.  The crowd was about 80% ages 60+ ladies.  Nothing against the older crowd, they just weren’t into my stuff.  The tupperware ladies were the booth next to me and they were selling like hotcakes (however I did overhear their total revenue at the end of the show, and they didn’t make much more than me, mostly because everything they sold was from their $1-$3 bins).

It was at least a learning experience.  I made back about three times the booth fee, but that still wasn’t much.  Most everyone that bought something from me was one of the few young moms there, buying something for themselves or for their daughters.  My rosette stud earrings were popular for the daughters and I sold mostly those.  Much to my surprise, people were most interested in the rosette studs and my button rings.  People just love buttons.  Unfortunately, I didn’t make many of my button wire rings large enough to fit the fingers of the older ladies (I generally make them sizes 5-7 to aim for the more youthful Etsy crowd who for some reason seem to have smaller fingers haha).  I didn’t even list any of the stud earrings in my Etsy shop until after the show, so I was surprised at that.  I had assumed that my old hollywood crystal jeweled earrings would be the biggest crowd pleaser, particularly in my white printer’s tray display, but not very many people looked at them.  I am thinking it’s a little early to build a hypothesis though based on this one show, but it’s definitely important to see how customers actually interacted with my products in person.

I also got some experience using Square, which went very smoothly.  About half my transactions were via credit card, and Square deposited the money in my account within a couple days.  No problems there!

Finally, I got an opportunity to just step out of my shell for a day, which I’m sure I really needed.

Stud earrings display above.

Pictured below are my old hollywood style earrings displayed on an antique printer’s tray, a shutter from re-Habitat, and a wire file folder holder from Hobby Lobby.

I’m really looking forward to my next show.  Since I created SO much inventory for this past one, I won’t have to bust my butt over the next few weeks making things.  This one will be December 3 & 4, two whole days, and I’m thinking the demographic will be more my speed, at least I’m hoping!

Please let me know what you think of my booth display and if you have any suggestions for me!

Preparing for my very first craft show

Ahhhhhhhhhh.  Saturday I’m vending in my very first craft show/fair/festival/whatevs.  I’m pretty scared.  I’m a pretty socially awkward/shy person, so I’m also pretty anxious about just putting myself out there and interacting with *strangers*! Haha.

As you may know, I’m an avid researcher and reader for any topic I’m unfamiliar with.  Thus, I’ve been scouring the blogosphere and Etsy forums and reading all about how to prepare for a craft show.  Other than just general nerves, I feel like I’m as prepared as I can be.  I’ve had the tables set up in my living room for about 2 weeks now.  I’ve set up my Square account and practiced swiping credit cards.  I’ve got $100 in cash change.  I’ve got receipt books, an inventory spreadsheet and a clip board, handheld mirrors, a vending apron, table risers…probably more stuff than I’ll ever really need.

The past month I’ve taken my inventory from about 45 items to 240 items (wowzers!).  I’ve also been diligently working on creating displays and a table setup as cheaply as possible.

You’ll notice the keyword here is “cheap”. Since I’m just starting out with the craft show circuit, I’m not ready to invest a bunch of money in my displays just yet. I’m looking for inexpensive ways to build a nice-looking setup. Here’s my practice setup thus far (I haven’t ironed the table cloth yet so please ignore the wrinkles!). 

Here’s a summary: I’ve got a 4 foot table on the left with a printer’s tray that my helpful husband spray painted white and screwed in tons of little half inch brass hooks.  I hung crystal earrings of various sizes on the hooks.  On that table, I also have a little metal file folder holder and an old little shutter, both used as earrings displays.

The table cloths are just cheap full size bed sheets I found in a neutral tone.  I bought a little cheap lace tablecloth to spice up the crystal earrings table.

My main 6 foot table has all my stud earrings on the right (hopefully I’ll be listing some of these in my Etsy shop soon).  I bought the frames on this table from Goodwill for cheap and spraypainted them per my color scheme.  The one in the center is actually a memo board that I re-covered with some neutral beige fabric.

You can see the ring box I discussed making in this post in the center of my table.

The memo board displays all of my bunting necklaces, and the blue frame on the left has hooks on the top to hold my other necklaces (again, installed by my handy husband).

earring holder craft showI’m hoping the unique printer’s tray earring display will catch customers’ attention. 

earring card display
For my earring cards, I used a thin, spray-painted frame and hung rows of heavy twine across the back. I stapled the twine and used mini clothes pints to hold up the earring cards. I’m pretty happy about how this one came out! I used a wooden spice rack to display extra cards on the table top as well.

 

I found the little wire ferris wheel at Goodwill and used it to hang my charm earrings.

For the pricing signs, I got tiny-sized canvases from Hobby Lobby, spray painted them brown, and hand painted pricing info in lime.  It was quite difficult grouping over 200 items into just a few price ranges, but I really did not want to price each item individually as I thought it’d just be too time-consuming.

Editing to add: I got my frames and memo board to stand up by using those metal picture frame holders you can get at Hobby Lobby or any craft store. They are generally sturdy enough to support these light-weight frames.

What do you think?  Give me your feedback!  My biggest worry is that I do not have a SHOP NAME anywhere on my table! I mean, I have my business cards out, and I had bought a large canvas to paint Lazy Owl Boutique on, but there’s just no room to put it out on the table so I gave up….hopefully it’s not too big of a deal.  I’m thinking if this whole craft fair venture is successful, I’ll order some sort of professional banner with my name and logo and everything.

Wish me luck yall!