As most of you guys know, myself along with my MIL are organizing a 100% Handmade Faire on April 20th of this year. This explains for my lack of posts, because it's keeping me busy as ever.
Anyway this Handmade Faire is juried, 100% Handmade, and is going to be completely awesome. We already have over 50 Vendors (and nearly 20 on the waiting list) though our application deadline was April 20th, the applications continue to fly in, it's heart breaking turning some of these people down, I really wish they'd gotten to me earlier!
The good news is, everyone is welcome to participate in the goody bags. I'm want to have at least 50 goody bags, but ideally I'd like to have 100.

Here's the nitty gritty details:

This Handmade Faire is to benefit the Natural Resource Education Foundation, and we are a registered 501(c)(3) charity. We could provide you with a donation letter for your taxes for what you donate, so you can write it off. I'm not being too picky about what we are accepting really, as long as it's some kind of promotion, but no business cards alone. Whatever you send has to offer something to the recipient. Once we have everything together we'll mix and match into 3 categories:

Door prizes - any item that can be a sufficient door prize by it self!
Smaller items, that we will group with other small items for a basket style door prize
Small items in a quantity to be put into goody bags
Business Cards, Coupons, Promo's, samples, etc for the goody bags. (We are encouraging people who are only sending business cards / a promo offer on it to include a door prize, or something to make the cards relevant to lots of the shoppers!)

Some ppl are sending 20, some 50, some 100. Obviously the more you send the more advertising it is for you hehe, so I'm leaving that up to the individual!

The soft deadline is April 10th, but the Faire is April 20th, so the sooner the better!

If you are interested in participating -contact me through here, comment, or email me.

I've totally revamped my site, if you check out: www.OriginalAbbie.com you'll see a completely redecorated, hopefully easier to navigate and shop website!

You will find me this year at the Handmade Faire in Waretown, NJ. This is an awesome, handmade only event. All vendors are hand picked so you know the products will be fantastic! This is April 20, 2008 - just in time to find some great Mother's Day presents! I know I'll be bringing some cash along with having my own table there!

The first of my Holiday Trunk Show's went very well last night. A fun time was had by all! I'm all set for my show tomorrow - the Green Trading Post from 12-4 in Southampton, NJ. The great thing about scheduling shows back to back? I get to be lazy and leave my stuff packed up hehehe. And then Thursday is the Holiday Trunk Show at my house, and if yesterday was any inclination of Thursday, I think it's going to be a great day!

Abbie

Good news! I'm having a contest and everyone with a blog can enter! All you have to do to enter is write a blog about my site: http://shop.originalabbie.com and then leave me a link to the entry in the comments on this entry. For every 10 entries, there will be a winner of a $10 gift certificate to my shop (plus free shipping)......if I get 30 entries there will be a "Grand prize" winner of a pair of earrings. You can enter once per blog - so if you have 2 blogs, you can enter twice but it can't be an identical story, change it up a bit
Contest ends December 11th which is 2 weeks from today - and also soon enough to have the item shipped to arrive before Christmas. The shipping will be on me as well!

So - write a blog about this us, then leave me a comment here with a link to your blog!

How will I determine the winners? I'll look for craftiness in the entry, as well as checking my website stats to see if anybodies blog makes my top referrer list....so go for it! And tell your friends! Your odds are 1 in 10, that's not bad!

And feel free to hyperlink this image:
http://originalabbie.com/AbbieShopAd.gif

Abbie

Today is apparently something called "Cyber Monday" This is the first year I've heard of such a thing. Cyber Monday - is the internet counterpart to "Black Friday" where, online retailers kick off the "official" beginning of online shopping season. This all seems like a little bit of a stretch to me, but hey, who am I to judge? I've been around the internet for some time now, and I've never heard of this before.....I've been on the "retailer" side of things for past Holiday seasons too....and I've been Christmas shopping online for years.

Well, there ya have it folks. It's Cyber Monday - so do some online shopping! I've added a new pair of earrings today....."County Claire" earrings....some beautiful green glass earrings that are just beautiful. They are the perfect color to add some holiday cheer to your outfit for Christmas or St.Patrick's Day! And, if you're like me, and green is your favorite color - then they'll match a plethora of your outfits!

Jewelry is one size fits all - so it makes a great holiday present!

Thanks!
Abbie

So instead of going out and waiting in line at 5:00am on Friday, I got productive and made some jewelry on Friday. I'm listing it in dribs and drabs, because I do have a lot coming up - 2 house parties and an art show - "Holiday Shopping at the Green Trading Post" - click for directions - that one is on December 2nd, a Sunday from noon to four. It is a joint event between Pinelands Preservation Alliance and the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, and a portion of my profits will go to them. I will be there with my creations along with Pinelands Folk Music Center, and Anne Marie Woods with her Pinelands Art. Shoppers will also be able to take guided tours of the circa 1753 farmhouse and grounds - the Pinelands Preservation Alliance Headquarters. There is a visitor center, where there is an exhibition of Robin A.Jess: Pinelands Botanical Art prints at the bishop Farmstead. Click here for directions.

Well.....today I listed my Christmas Earrings (newest listings are at the bottom of the page) They're called Hang a Shining Star...from "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" They would be the perfect addition to your beautiful face for Christmas cheer, parties, and outings, heck, even if you *are* out standing in line at 4:00am in front of Best Buy to get that Wii for little Timmy this year (I can't knock it, cause I did it last year lol, not one of my proudest moments) these earrings will bring some cheer, even if they won't keep you from getting frostbite, at least you'll look good and festive!

Ok, 20 minutes until Sean's EMS duty crew ends, with any luck he won't have any calls and we can head out at 6 to hang with some friends
Don't forget - tonight and tomorrow I'm still running my Black Friday Sale - spend $15 get a free magnet or mirror of your choice!

Abbie

Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone! We're headed out to a full day of yummy turkey & mashed potatoes. The good news is, since I wasn't the one baking like a maniac all week - I had some time to make a few new pieces of jewelry! I'm debating whether to list them or hold them for my Holiday Parties - since there's one next Friday the 30th at my mom's house, and one December 6th at my house I'm not sure if I should list things - or hold them back. I'll decide soon! I'll probably list at least a few of them.
Tomorrow is the dreaded Black Friday.....I'll be staying in and working on my jewelry, hopefully my package arrives so I can get started on my new line! I've ordered a bunch of supplies from different people, and all but one has arrived - an integral one though, so I need that last one to get started!

In accordance with the craziness that is this weekend - I think I will succumb to the insanity and run a special here.... how does free mirror or magnet with any purchase over $15 sound? To claim this prize, once you've completed your sale go to the "contact me" page and tell me which design you would like, and it will appear in your package! Try to do this immediately after your purchase, and be sure to give me your name and email so I know which goes with which!
And the best part - you don't have to get up at 4am, fight traffic, freeze, and wait in line for it! You sit in the comfort of your home and have your tea while you shop!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
I'm off to have some Turkey!
Abbie

A new Category has been listed! Bracelets! My wrap bracelets are listed, so be sure to take a look, and do some shopping! I've also set up a special category for my special edition items, right now it's only listing is the Ivory Snow Princess which is a stunning set, absolutely breathtaking in person. A great accessory to your winter wardrobe.

If you are local, I've also set a date for my Holiday Trunk Show which will be on December 6th, from 5-9, you can stop by anytime you can between those times, it's just a wandering type of thing - come when you can! I'll have all my artwork and jewelry set up and on display for you to do some browsing and holiday shopping. If you're in the area and want to stop by, come on by - we'll have wine, cheese, light snacks....so it would be great to know if you're stopping by, but it's not a need - if you can, you can! Hope to see you there! This is a great chance to get some low key holiday shopping out of the way - if only we could always shop with wine and snacks!

Thanks!
Abbie

Hello!
I've added some new Jewelry! I've been a busy bee - though the shop is not completely launched, I figure I'll just add things as I can and pretty soon it'll be all done. It's all set for ordering and stuff - you can pay with paypal, or a credit card. You do not need to have paypal to place an order - you can just enter credit card info.
I've been a busy little beaver lately, I made a ton of new earrings and a few bracelets as well - also - a special edition "Ivory Snow Princess" bracelet and earring set that I haven't listed yet - but wow, is it gorgeous.
So, check out some of the new additions to the jewelry category - all earrings so far. Bracelets , necklaces, and pendants to follow as soon as I stop fighting with my camera and get some good pics of them!
Hope you're all feeling the holiday spirit!