It is Trollway Time!

Time for the Mt. Horeb Arts and Craft Fair.

This will be our first time showing there - attending has always been fun.

It will also be our first outdoor fair - so we have been investing in a shelter and display materials. Should be interesting - hopefully sales are good!

New Aprons - Painted!

In the Apron biz, there is a lot of competition. As a means of differentiation from the competition, I have been looking at making aprons that are not available in other Etsy shops. Thus..... Painted Aprons! These are, of course, handmadebydominique - one of my first attempts - call it fun, if not high art.

Perhaps I should starting making Cakes (again).

Long long ago, in a land far far away, I had my own cake decorating business. I stopped when we moved to Eau Claire. However.....

About a month ago, people have started calling me about baking a cake for them. How are they getting my number? I have never done that here, yet some how the internet thinks I do.

Very odd

This is Success

Woo Hoo! In only five days after starting this up, if you Google "Hand Made by Dominique", it brings up the Web Page Jeremie and Maria made for Dominique as the #1 (of over 1,700,000 results)!

Great Tag Line, courtesy of Jeremie and Maria!

Art Aprons

So far my aprons have been sewn aprons - my art is the selecting and assembling fabric, but not the actual creation of the fabric.

So my newest additions will be of three types - batik, painted (both hand and spray) and tie dye.

The problem will be cost of creation versus what people will actually pay.  I am seeing the beauty of Andy Warhol right about now....Is it art if it is produced on an assembly line?

First Sale on Etsy!

Thank you Sarah !  I made my first sale on etsy, and yes, it was to my sister, but it's a sale!  So now we know that the paypal system is working on site and that when the next 1,000 sales happen, it will all work.

Still have to figure out how we will market online our memory bears, but that is what weekends (and jeremie and maria) are for.

It's A Small Thing - someone "Favorited" one of my aprons on Etsy

No sales yet, but one Etsy user chose this chicken apron as a favorite - Hooray for small wins!

Memory Bears - Remembering Loved Ones

My newest endeavor is Memory Bears. What's a memory bear? I am glad you asked!

Memory Bears are stuffed bears that are made to remember a loved one who has died. Some bears have pouches to place a lock of hair, and some are made of articles of clothing or a special item that belonged to a loved one.

I made several bears from the flannel shirts that a friends father always wore -one for each of the daughters - an example is on the right.

I Have My Own Website!

handmadebydominique.com is it!

Thanks to Jeremie and Maria for making it work - you should work with them to!

It's mostly just a holding zone right now, but it links to my blog and to my Etsy site!

My First Etsy Listing

And it's an Apron!