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!

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?

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.:)

Woohoo! All of my embroidered pillows have been marked down 50% until Tuesday, November 27th.  Get started on your holiday shopping!

Here’s a sneak peek of my mock booth set-up for the Renegade Craft Fair next weekend! I am really pleased with the way it turned out. Our dining room table is a little smaller than the table that I’m going to use at the fair, so I didn’t lay everything out.  I also have two galvanized steel bookshelves and some huge baskets that are going to be loaded with pillows. I found the amazing vintage spool placeholders at BHLDN and wrapped them with some ribbon and twine that I have also incorporated into my product packaging.  The boxes for the books were a World Market find and I was so happy to find that they were the perfect size for my books and they are made to stack. The gold polka-dot burlap was a last-minute find from Jo Ann’s and I decided to throw some confetti on top of it to add more splashes of color.  I can’t wait to see some of you next weekend!

When I was looking for inspiration for my new business cards, I stumbled upon this tutorial by Danni of Oh, Hello Friend.  I love the interactive aspect of the cards and I thought it would be a great way to give attendees of future fairs a surprise coupon for my shop.  Danni has some of the best business card roundups and tutorials I’ve found, if you’re looking for inspiration!

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Happy election day, friends!  While you’re waiting in line at your polling place, have a look at these amazing election-themed prints and cookies. Have a great day and don’t forget to vote!

Hello love doves, do you remember me? I can’t believe I haven’t written a blog post in three weeks!  Every night I’ve been coming home and making a beeline for my sewing room and I have the pillows to prove it!  I’ve also been working on some new goodies to sell, which I’ll post about later.  It’s hard to believe that the fair is only a month away! This is my first really big craft event and there are so many decisions that need to be made. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that it will be a great experience. I am really looking forward to the face-to-face interaction with potential customers that you usually don’t get by selling goods online.  I can’t say that I’m not nervous, but I think it will be such an amazing learning experience.  As far as blogging goes, I am back in full force!  Well, I’m at least going to try to be better about it than I have been.  It’s so good to be back!  What’s new and exciting in your life??

Kraft Pouches + Sprigs

Braided Ribbon + Tiny Bow

Popsicle Stick Tags + Gold Flags