Local: MAP Photography

I love to support handmade and small businesses but it's even better to share stories of those you grew up with! Melissa and I have known each other since grade school and I am thrilled to be able to share her story with you:

Map Photo ... aka ... Melissa Arnold Photography started out as a hobby that grew in to a passion to capture life's special moments.

Melissa is a busy mom of 3 and a full time nurse. Her photography business began out of a love for the medium and turned into a way to help supplement her family's income. Melissa provides photography services for families, engagements, weddings, and has most recently added themed shoots to the mix, having just finished up a Trash the Dress shoot, proving to be the most fun so far. She is currently in the planning stages of creating a 1920's themed shoot, which should prove to be a very exciting moment for her business.

Currently booking fall family shoots, it is a wonderful season for photography with the bright colours, families look beautiful dressed in layers, colourful sweater, scarves, hats etc. She is looking forward to a successful fall season and 2011 Wedding Season.

You can view her Photography on Facebook or on her website.
She can also be contacted by e-mail at marnoldphotograph@hotmail.com

or by phone at 705- 742-3952 or 705 -772-7983.

Are you a small business or handmade business in the Peterborough or City of Kawartha Lakes area and would like to share your story? Just email me at kawarthabeads@gmail.com

Kawartha Beads....Have you had your eye on something?

If you are a frequent reader than I'm sure that you know that I have a big home party coming up on Monday. I had wrestled with taking my Etsy shop products or leaving them at home but of course, as with a craft fair, you never quite feel that you have enough stuff! Also, I did put my Etsy shop link on my posters/party invites for guests to view a sampling of the types of jewelry I create SO I will be putting my shop in vacation mode starting at noon on Monday Sept.20th and will reopen on Tuesday morning. If you have had your eye on something special now is the time to jump before the ladies at the home party saunter home with your treasure!

My Christmas Wish List!

There are so many great handmade items to be found online and of course I want them all!!!! I thought I would share my Christmas wish list with you (and hopefully some of the "right" eyes see it too!) Perhaps you will find a perfect gift for the holidays for someone on your list or a new fav for yourself!

Handbag in Fuchsia and Black Floral

French Vanilla Handmade Solid Perfume

Crafty Lady Scissors T-shirt

Local: Call for Vendors- Lindsay Ontario

One of my favourite shows to participate in every year is hosted by the local newspaper Kawartha Lakes This Week and is held annually at the Moose Lodge in Lindsay. This year the show will be held on Saturday November 20th from 9-2 and setup is usually around 730am. The call for vendors is in today's paper and when I spoke with the event co-ordinator this morning she let me know that spaces are already half filled! If you are looking to book your spot at this high traffic show call 324-8600.

Have a great weekend!

Getting Ready for a Home Party!

Hope everyone is enjoying having the little ones back to school! I have slacked a little on the blog posts lately as I have been super busy getting ready for a home party on Sept.20th. With a little under 2 weeks to go until the big event I thought I would share how I have been getting ready for the event in case you wanted to have someone host a party or have an open house in your own home.

1) Inventory: Of course I never feel like I have enough stock ready. The bonus to a home party/open house is that there is no other competition. People are there to check out your wonderful array of goodies and hopefully go home with their bags loaded with lots of your treasures. I am super lucky that I also have an incredibly talented mom so I am going to bring some of her things along to help fill up the space. If you don't feel that you have enough product or if you are looking to expand your market invite a crafty friend to do the home party/open house with you, especially if they make a different product than your own. This would be an especially great option for an open house and then they can invite their friends/family/customers as well.

2) Choosing a date: Sometimes choosing a date is the hardest part! For this particular event we didn't want it to be too close to back to school or Thanksgiving so we chose a date in between. Given that both myself and the hostess are in the restaurant business we also wanted to choose a day when the least amount of fellow employees would be working (thus a Monday). Of course your perfect day will depend on your customers and your own availability but it is something to think about when planning your party.

3) The Invites: This may vary depending on how close you and the party hostess are. In this case my hostess is a good friend and a complete computer "dummy" if you will so I sent out Facebook invites to all of our mutual friends on her behalf. I will send a reminder a couple of days before the party as well. If your hostess has her own Facebook account encourage her to send out an electronic invite and she can even link to your website as a "preview" of some of your items. You could also send out old fashioned paper invites which is a nice touch. Be sure to note accepted forms of payment for the event. I also made a couple of posters to post on the staff bulletin boards at the restaurant we work at, especially for those that will be coming from work and want a reminder of her address. Invite as many people as possible. There are always those who say they are coming and then can't make it for one reason or another.

If you haven't tried a home party or open house I highly recommend it, especially if you have never sold your work in person. It's great to see people's reactions to your items and which products are of greatest interest to them...oh and some extra $$$ is always a bonus! Check back on September 21st to find out how the party went!

Front Page Etsy Tags #16

Hope that everyone had a great week! Here are some the tags/themes that graced the front page of Etsy over this past week. Have you been working on revamping your tags in preparation for the holidays? They will be here before we know it!

• Rose Dust: Fall Color Trends (dusty rose, rose dust, champagne pink, beige pink, warm neutral, fashion colors, pantone, 2010, fall, autumn, mauve, pink, neutral)
• Turquoise and Red
• Pretty in Pastels (softs, pastels, light, pink, yellow, blue, lilac, vintage, colorful)
• End of Summer Green (green, harvest, end of summer, romantic, autumn, fall)
• The Moss Gardens are Overflowing with Love (moss, white, garden, nature, earth, organic, green, floral)
• It's Never Too Late For...Seafoam Green
• Grandma (grandma, kitchen, retro, nostalgic)
• Ivy League (green, gray, forest, fall, autumn, grey, college, university, back to school, dark, library, campus, books)
• Chevron (chevron, yellow, blue, red, black, white, stripe)
• My "new" home office...sigh..(office, workspace, aqua, blue, cool, soft, clean, pretty, feminine, light blue, white, cream)
• Autumn Fox
• Shelter...refuge...haven
• All About Love (birds, heart, green, wedding, love, necklace, ring, friends, french, xo, gold, silver)
• Soft (soft, pastel, blue, pink, green, shabby chic, romantic, floral, cottage, feminine)
• tumble dry (laundry, wash day, clean clothes, vintage, clothesline, clean, clothespin, apron, ironing basket, chores, soap, sunny day, lavender sachet)
• Too Late for those Green Leaves (red, orange, trend, leaves, nature, fall, rustic, harvest)
• Woodland Fawn

Some Fav's from the Etsy Shops of my Blog Followers!

Last week I shared some Fall Fav's from Etsy with you. There are SO many great items to be found on Etsy and I thought this week I would share some of my fav's from you...my blog  followers! I think that I am going to make this a weekly feature, as I have found so many new favourites featured on others blogs and I hope you can find some new beauties to add to your wishlist or for your holiday shopping. Enjoy! 

Poppies Fall Print by chanyeevon

Pumpkin Patch Button Bracelet by Clever Crafter

Vintage Stacking Tupperware from Modred12 Vintage