New in my Etsy shop: handmade bracelets

 I've been posting a few sneak peeks of my latest Etsy product for a while, but now I am really excited to officially announce that I'm selling handmade jewelry now!

I make them with safety pins and beads in a few different sizes to accommodate different hand/wrist sizes.

Right now there are 16 different styles to choose from. I ship them for free to customers in the United States and they're fun to wear.

This is only the beginning of my new line of handmade wearable art, so stay tuned to this blog for updates. In the meantime, please visit this link to order your bracelet today.

Saturday Solutions: display ideas for vendor fairs

* I wrote this before the pandemic began, with the intention of posting it Memorial Day weekend 2020. Some of the items in this post may be discontinued now, but maybe you can find them on eBay.

 

 

 

As the weather warms up and the days get longer, the season of outdoor vendor fairs is here. As I wrote in my post about creative art displays for gallery shows, many times the traditional options are overpriced. And after paying to rent space at an event, you might not have much money left to invest in displaying your wares.

Here are a few items that could be useful for displaying all types of merchandise:

IKEA VIGGJA Tray stand

Design Ideas Franklin Desk Riser

IKEA NISSAFORS Utility cart

Here are some more specialized displays:

For Book Fairs:

IKEA VIVALLA Tablet stand

Mind Reader Brown & Green Edition Five-Shelf Bookcase

IKEA ISBERGET Tablet stand

IKEA  BRÄDA Laptop support

For Jewelry Display:

Umbra Prisma Jewelry Stand

Trigem Jewelry Stand

Umbra Poise Two-Tiered Tray

IKEA KVITTERA Serving stand, 3 tiers

IKEA  GARNERA Serving stand, two tiers

Yamazaki Tosca Accessory Trays with Mirror

Yamazaki Tosca Accessory Stand

Yamazaki Tower Earring Stand

For Clothes:

IKEA MULIG Clothes Rack

IKEA RIGGA Clothes Rack

For Pop-Up Shops:

Design Ideas MeshWorks Utility Grid Unit

IKEA NIKKEBY Clothes Rack

Pro tip: to save money on these fixtures, whenever possible, contact the manufacturers to see if they will sell them to you wholesale if you send them a copy of your resale license. You should be able to save at least 20%.

Saturday Solutions: a fast and easy way to make your own customized workout video

 

I came of age during a time when exercise videos were very popular. From Tae Bo to Buns of Steel to The Firm, there were plenty of options for working out at home in front of the TV. Now is a good time to do that again if you don't feel safe going back to working out in a gym yet and don't want to spend a lot of money on a Peloton. Sure, there are lots of workouts on YouTube, but you can also create one just for you using things you probably already have.

Here's what you need:

• animated GIFs of the exercises you want to do
• audio files of your favorite music to work out to
• simple video editing software (whatever came with your device)
  

*optional: a cloud storage file to save your video in so you can watch it anywhere

When you put your GIFs into the video timeline, copy and paste them for every repetition of the exercise. If your goal is to do 10 reps, put 10 copies of the exercise in the timeline.

 

If you need to change sides, use some animated GIF editing software (or your video editing software, if it's an option) to flip the GIF horizontally. 

 

It's also useful to add intertitles with directions prompting you to change positions so you don't miss a beat.

 

Add a soundtrack using your favorites from your workout playlist. You can make your video as long as you need it to be. You can  have a warm-up and a cool-down, and put the exercises in the order you like to do them in. Once you're finished making the video, you can upload it to the cloud and have access to it wherever you go!

I actually did this because I realized, after buying a stability ball, that I couldn't find my books of exercises for it. But now that I have my own custom video, I like it so much better than flipping through a book!