It’s been a busy year so far!

Posted //// 2 comments

baby!

Hello, lovelies! So things have been pretty quiet over here on the blog because I have been SUPER busy lately. Earlier this year, Danny and I found out that I’m pregnant! In September, we will be celebrating the birthday of our little boy. We are so excited and can not wait to meet the little guy!

After we found out we were expecting, we decided to bump up our wedding to June 15th!  We are having a casual wedding ceremony and pig roast reception at a farm in Wisconsin. We decided that we didn’t have enough on our plate so then we started house hunting! (Crazy, I know!) We found an adorable two flat in Lincoln Square next to some beautiful parks with plenty of bike paths. We will be moving in late June.

A year ago, I had no idea that I would be getting married, having a baby, and buying a house all within a few months, but I have never been happier. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family members that are happy to help us as we start our life together.

Aside from my personal life being so full of exciting changes, a lot has been happening with Kissen Studio too. On June 23rd, I will be participating in an Etsy and West Elm sponsored pop-up shop along with ten other Chicago-based artists. I have also started selling pillows at The Haymaker Shop in Andersonville. I have a few more surprises in store for this summer that I can’t wait to tell you about. Stay tuned!

Daily Candy Feature!

Posted //// 2 comments

Words can not express how excited I am to share the news that Kissen Studio is being featured over on Daily Candy today (OMG)! Check out the post here or click on the image below. Thank you, Daily Candy!daily_candy_feature

Head Start

Posted //// Comment

planner

I just placed an order for one of these cheery 2013 planners by Julia Kostreva! It took me nearly two hours to decide which color to get because they’re all so lovely. I decided to go for the yellow because the design reminds me of my logo and it’s a color that I use a lot in my work.  I can’t wait to start planning out the next year.  Exciting things are coming up!!  Do you have anything fun planned for 2013?

 

I did it!

Posted //// 2 comments

My first craft fair weekend bonanza is over and I somehow survived to tell the tale! Over the past two months, I have been working my fingers to the bone and it has definitely paid off. I met a lot of wonderful artists, saw some lovely friends (thanks for all of your love and support, guys!) and learned some pretty valuable lessons. I was so lucky to have Danny’s help the entire weekend.  It was so nice to have him there to help me with sales and keep me company.  I certainly couldn’t have done it without all of his help!

I was super nervous the first day about how people would react to my work. Would they think it was too expensive or not well made?  Would people even stop at my booth when there are so many other amazing things there?  There was definitely some awkward small talk and sweaty palms involved, but after the first few hours I was able to relax and I had a great time. One of the most important lessons I learned was to wear comfortable shoes.  We weren’t able to sit down at all during the show and our feet were just aching by the end of the day!

I brought around 70 pillows with me to the fair, along with several hardcover books, softcover books, and bracelets.  I had no idea what kind of sales to except from such a high traffic show.  I ended up selling around 10 pillows, most of my hardcover books, and lots of bracelets! I was really surprised at what sold and what didn’t. At times, the fair was so crowded that people were coming into my booth just to escape the madness!

When I started making pillows, I had imagined my target market to consist of mostly women my age and older, but I had so many children and teenagers lead their parents into my booth!  I was also really surprised by the number of guys who stopped to look at my pillows.

One of my favorite parts of the fair happened at the very end when the crowd died down and a lot of the vendors started trading their goods.  I was able to trade pillows for some Christmas presents, which was really awesome. I do have to admit that I’m a little sad that our tradition of Renegade photoboothing is probably over, since we both weren’t able to leave the booth at the same time!

My goals for the weekend were to overcome my fear of putting myself and my work out there, meet some people, and have a good time.  I accomplished all three and my sales were pretty great on top of that! It feels so good to have this experience under my belt and I’ve already sent in applications for fairs coming up in the next couple months! Expect a lot of new Etsy listings within the next week.:)