A Late Entry into the New Year

It's 2009, can you believe it?! Okay, so it's been 2009 for almost an entire month now, but whatever. I sort of fell off the face of the blogosphere, and i don't really have an excuse for it. I'm a woman of few words, anyway. I have way too much stuff, so I've been spending a lot time purging my closets for stuff i no longer need. When i think i'm all done, i go back again and find more stuff, and i've been doing this since early December.

Until recently, i haven't stepped foot in a thrift store since August or September and vowed not to do so until i got rid of all of my unwanted stuff. If you check out my favorites on Etsy, you can see that most of it is all vintagey/thrifty stuff, so i was sort of torturing myself until i couldn't take it anymore. I'm trying to be more selective, though, and am trying my hardest to stay away from useless, albeit cutesy knick knacks that really serve no purpose.

I've also been working on stuff for myself, which is a rare occurrence. Mainly making and altering clothing and hitting up pattern sales to save and make in the future.

As mentioned in my last post, i completed some new screenprinted keyboards and boomboxes and they're now available in the shop. I also finished up a new batch of Baby Grand Piano Pouches, which can also be found on Etsy. There's one Baby Grand that i've yet to list, and it's made from a gray and white floral blazer that my mom used to wear in the 80's. To keep, or not to keep?

These and other items will be available next Sunday (Super Bowl Sunday!) at the R5 Punk Rock Flea Market @ The Electric Factory in Philadelphia. If you're in the area, you should stop by!

It's flea time again- UPDATE!

and i've been sewing sewing sewing like crazy. Hopefully people are still in need of gifts for giving, because i know i'm not anywhere near done my Christmas shopping.

The R5 Punk Rock Flea Market is this Saturday and i just got done sewing a huge batch of keyboards and boomboxes. "Huge" as in almost the same amount that i had to make for Fred Flare huge. Crazy!



I'll have some new bags, six new keyboard and boombox colorways, mini pouches, piano key/heart ornaments, and lots of other stuff.

Here's all the info:



***Jan. 26- The flea market has been postponed! It will now take place on February 1st at the Electric Factory, from 10am to 4pm. This is a much larger venue, so there will be lots more vendors...130 in all!

While sitting behind my mini fortress of a display at the Punk Rock Flea Market last Saturday (the photo above was the view to my right), i realized that out of the 5 times i've been a vendor, i've never actually attended as a shopper. Or browsed, for that matter. So, as i sat and peered out from behind my space, i noticed a woman walking around with ice cream cone salt and pepper shakers that i totally would've bought if i wasn't so tethered to my spot. There's nothing better than going through piles of someone's old junk, so i couldn't help but wonder what else was i missing out on. I did manage to score a sweet lamp from the table behind me, and for a mere four bucks.

Overall, the day went pretty well, but it was hot as balls for sure!

Dec. 22nd was the Punk Rock Flea Market, and as always, it ruled. I remembered a lot of my customers from the summer flea market and ran into a few Etsians while tending to my wares. I actually wanted to look around and purchase some stuff (shirts and prints by Outlaw Printing Co. and Pizzatron, who are clever as fvck and package their shirts in small "Pizzatron" pizza boxes with a fake cockroach on top (!!!), among other things), but was damn near trapped behind my table. I ran into Taryn from MyMy and she snapped the picture above, which i stole because i'm such a shyster, and because i couldn't get in front of my table to snap any pics myself.

Anyway, I hope everyones holidaze were super and that you're super psyched for the new year, cuz i know i am!

Color Saturated Saturday

Today, Ryan and I headed to Jersey to hit up the Goodwill and to go to a flea market. I didn't really feel like sifting through all the crap at Goodwill and almost immediately got all stuffy and felt gross. I did manage to find this crazy-colored plastic statuette of two kids looking like they're about to kiss. I love it so much that i might make it the official ILIKEITTOOTOO mascot. Not that i really need a mascot or whatever.



Apparantly it was an off day at the flea market because there weren't too many vendors set up. Some family members of mine had suggested i purchase a space to see if i can squeak out a few sales, but i'm not sure people are willing to shell out the bucks for handmade stuff when there are crazy bargains everywhere.

Even though Saturday wasn't the most bumpin' day at the flea market, i got a few things. Here's my haul:

Super strong plastic magnetic flower hooks:
2 packs of 8 Magnets


Large "Skull-Knocker" Earrings:


And!

An embarassing amount of Nylon stud earrings:
Dots, Teardrops, Flowers, Hearts, etc, etc, ETC! These will be added to my Punk Rock Flea Market deadstock earring inventory


Oh, i also got the newest issue of Craft: Magazine at this vendor who sells current and recent issues of tons of different magazines at a few $$$ off regular price. Sweet!

Reading PRFM today! Yesterday i worked on a bunch of tote bags, which meant i didn't get very much sleep. Between last night and the night before, i've only gotten a total of 3 hours! This is not unusual at all for me, though, because i tend to leave tons of things until last minute.

Okay. Time to print out confirmation and directions, and then maybe i'll get at least 2.5 hours of sleep.

The bad thing about me going on vacation with my family is that the crafting momentum that i had going was put to a screeching halt. I have such a hard time getting back in the swing of things, but i've gotta push through it this week since i've got the Reading, PA Punk Rock Flea Market on Sunday.

After coming back from vacation, all i've been doing really is taking pictures of jewelry i made a while ago, and then listing them. Also, i just recently found out about the 1st Annual Reading, PA Punk Rock Flea Market which is on the 26th (ten days!), so i'm trying to figure out what i need to make before then.

Nothing really matters right now though because at 12:01, SUPERBAD is finally in theaters! And i'm so there. Unfortunately, i wasn't one of the gazillion people to see it for free, so i'll spend most of my day in anticipation while trying to get other things done. Hopefully all of the hype going around is true, but then again, i pretty much love anything Seth Rogen or Judd Apatow touch, the one exception being Talladega Nights which i really really hated.

PRFM Review-UWISHUNU.COM

Visit UWISHUNU.COM for Martin Brown's recap of the Punk Rock Flea Market.



One of the shots he took of my table is used in the write-up.
Sweet!

Somebody Call the WAHmbulance!

Saturday.
Punk Rock Flea Market.

This was the first time i was super prepared for an event and i actually managed to get some sleep the night before. I thought things would go smoothly, but of course, i get thrown a curve ball.

In the end, the flea market was definitely worth it. I did almost as good as during the holiday edition of the PRFM, which was a shock considering that summer just isn't a major shopping season. I met and talked to a lot of new people who were really impressed with the quality of my bags and sewing skills in general. It's incredibly rewarding to know that there really are people who can appreciate handmade things and it almost sort of makes me feel like i know what i'm doing. I got asked my most favorite question of all time- "Do you have a store?????????" And I recognized a lot of my customers from last year who stopped by, so that was nice, too.

Here are pictures of my table/setup. As you can see, i like displays. And bright colors. Duh.

Edit: I was just on Flickr and found the pictures that this kid from UWISHUNU took of me and my stuff. I look like i'm either mid-blink or high!

I Love Fleas...

Especially this one:

Saturday July 21st 10:00am to 5:00pm
At The Starlight Ballroom / Club Polaris (460 N 9th Street - Just Below 9th and Spring Garden)
All Ages - 21+ To Drink / $3 entry donation

THE PUNK ROCK FLEA MARKET - SUMMER EDITION

(100+ tables of vendors selling old records, clothes, art, music, food, junk, bicycles, stereo equipment, instruments, automobiles, tools, posters, furniture, computers, skateboards and lots of other stuff ! All proceeds go to making sure that all ages shows remain a reality at the first unitarian church !)

It's that time again for the bi-annual (twice a year) PUNK ROCK FLEA MARKET. R5's most popular reoccurring event/show/whatever (by far). They had over 2400 visitors and 100 tables of old records, clothes, art, music, food, junk, bicycles, stereo equipment, instruments, automobiles, tools, posters, furniture, computers, skateboards and lots of other stuff this past December. It's all going down at The STARLIGHT BALLROOM located at 9th and Spring Garden Sts - a big spacious venue - giving them ability to host over 100 vendors in one single room - including yours truly.
.
All proceeds raised will go to the purchase of necessary equipment and supplies to ensure that all ages shows continue to remain a reality at The First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia - mainly an annual payment for their liability insurance policy. Do not let the "name of the event" lead you to believe that it's just punk records, clothes etc. - it's a full on flea market with everything from furniture, to laptops / computers , to stereo equipment, to handmade apparel, to vegan treats, information from various non profit groups, book stores, artists selling their work, bicycles & skateboards and whatever else they can fit onto the ballroom floor at The Starlight Ballroom.

In addition to the normal flea market stuff there will also be a full bar and food service kitchen to make the day go by a little faster.

TAKE A LOOK AT THE SELLERS LIST :
http://www.r5productions.com/prfm.html

This week i'm gearing up for the First Annual Lancaster Punk Rock Flea Market. It's not as long as the R5 PRFM, but i'm interested in seeing how big of a crowd will turn up. Hopefully, i'll actually get some sleep the night before the flea market- I tend to leave a lot of things to last minute and end up not getting ANY sleep. It's something i used to do all the time when i was in high school and college, but now that i'm a little bit older, i don't handle it as well as i used to.

When it comes to blogging, i've been a slacker. It's no longer second nature to me, as i've grown to want to keep personal things to myself, but i guess it can't hurt to write about the things i'm experiencing as i try to build a little business for myself.

Last month i was featured at Best Friends in Phoenixville. Very cute and stylish little boutique where i met some really nice people who were excited to see the product of my handiwork. I didn't do too bad in sales and almost everyone who walked in (i was situated right next to the entrance) bought something, so that was quite nice.

This is one of our new friends with her new ILIKEITTOOTOO bag:

She also bought a black keyboard clutch and used it for her Senior Prom!