Black Friday

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Black Friday, which refers to the Friday after Thanksgiving, which officially is the start of the Christmas shopping season. Thanks to the Macy’s Day Parade, which originated in NY City in 1924, once Santa Claus appeared at the end of the Parade, stores would begin to decorate, and people would start their shopping for Christmas. Tradition seems to move on though, as it seems each year stores start decorating earlier and earlier, and each one tries to outdo the other offering tremendous sales to draw the people to their particular store. The term “Black Friday” started sometime during the 1960’s, as many people tend to take the day after Thanksgiving off, and the sales begin. Not only are stores competing for business with their sales, but some start opening as early as 4 and 5 am.
Yes, I admit I was one of those nuts who ventured out at 5am with my son to join thousands of others rushing to take advantage of those early sales. After a quick cup of coffee, we barely had time to comb our hair and dress, before we headed to Best Buy, one of the biggest electronic stores in the US. My son bought a 42” HDTV (high definition TV), which now takes up half of his bedroom. We met some friends who were also out at that ungodly hour shopping, taking advantage of the “Black Friday” sales! By 7am, after standing on line after line, we finally were done. It is a strange feeling to leave the store to great the sun just waking up. After all that energy, we all took off to the diner for a big breakfast.
The Bloggers, one of my favorite teams on Etsy, not to be outdone by all those competing stores, are holding our own version of "Black Friday". Each shop is offering sales from today, Friday 11/28 to Monday 12/1. Hopefully we will have as much success as some of those stores today!
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H a p p y H o l i d a y s ! !The EtsyBloggers HOLIDAY S*A*L*E* is going on from Black Friday thru Cyber Monday!!That's Friday 11/28 thru Monday 12/1!!See a list of the 50+ shops having a SALE: http://etsybloggers.etsy.comH a p p y S h o p p i n g ! !☆:*¨¨*:★:*¨¨*:☆:*¨¨*:★:*¨¨*:☆:*¨¨*:★:*¨¨*:☆:*¨¨*:★:*¨¨*:☆☆ ; ;:* ¨¨*:★:

Triumph and Tragedy Quilting Project Resumes!

Last January, what started off as a basic conversation on the Forums, turned into an idea about doing something special to commemorate the many historical Triumph’s and Tragedy’s that have affected a lot of us during this past decade. From there came the idea of assembling a quilt, which would involve many here on Etsy, by having each person who signed up, submit a quilt square that they felt either inspired or affected them personally. When I first opened up this idea to those on Etsy, I had a great many positive responses. I received quilt squares from Scotland, the UK, Alaska, and many states located right here in America; square’s ranging from Women’s Suffrage, The Oklahoma Bombing, Breast Cancer, Sept 11, 2001, Global Awareness, Adoption, Campus Shootings, and Pope John, just to name a few. As each person submitted their square which would become part of the quilt, I posted a picture of the block, as well as a write up of why that particular idea was chosen by the specific quilter. To view all of those submitted, or are unaware of the project, you can reference back through my many blogs which started last January 2008.
About two weeks ago, I received a convo from Gayle Williams, whatshername.etsy.com, whose beautiful contribution was called “American Has Heart”, asking what happened to the project. Sadly to say, that more than half of those who originally had signed up, had other commitments, and a few health problems. This left the dilemma of having too few quilt blocks to complete the Project. When I relayed this to Gayle, she immediately contacted her friend, Adriana, whose shop is, FabricCrazy.etsy.com, and asked her if she was interested in helping finalize our Project. Adriana immediately responded to me and asked if she could do a square on Katrina.
The picture above is of her finished square, which came out beautifully. The devastation of Katrina has a special meaning to Adriana, as both of her parents lived in Gulfport, MS, and survived the tragedy that befell many others. Coincidentally, Adriana was speaking to her parents on her cell phone when the storm hit their home. After that brief call, all lines were lost do to the storm and she could not get in touch with her family; not knowing whether or not they survived. After a week, when she finally heard from her parents who lived just blocks from the beach, they stated that what they saw in the aftermath was worse than anything they had seen during World War II while living in Holland at that time. Adriana and her family came to this country when she was just 5 years of age. So not only is this square by Adriana a beautiful tribute to those whose lives were lost due to Katrina, but also a tribute to her parents who managed to survive this great Tragedy.
Thanks to Adriana, I am now able to complete the project. With the help of Marion Lake, mademarion.etsy.com, we have already assembled the squares for the Triumph Quilt; and now can finish sewing together the many memorable squares received for the Tragedy Quilt. Once that is completed, Marion and I will begin the batting, backing, then quilting for each Project. What was once just a thought will now be the completed Triumph and Tragedy Quilting Project. Again, thank you to Adriana for that final bit of help, and to all those (not forgotten) women on Etsy for their beautiful contributions.

DIY Magazine Interview - Nov 2008

DIY City Magazine Blog

MagdaleneJewels

Today I want to introduce you to Pam of MagdaleneJewels.etsy.com
Sara: Please tell me a bit about you and your background.

Pam: I am the person behind “MagdaleneJewels”, Pamela Baker; although my kids and all their friends call me Pammy; on Etsy, I am know as Mags, MJ or Magdalene. Now about me personally, I have been single for many years, raising 3 children, Kelly, Keith and Ryan who now, as adults, have grown into their own person. My daughter Kelly has been married for 2 years, of which I have a few pictures from her wedding on Flickr. I have lived in Scarsdale, New York for my whole life (moving exactly one mile when I was married). I was raised by my grandparents, who were the nicest people, and were always accepting of anyone they met. I think that is where I get my easy going personality from, never judging anyone, accepting them for who they are.
S: How did you get into arts and crafts?

P: For as long as I can remember, I have always had a creative nature within. My first memory is of my little 6” high sewing machine, which I would create my own doll clothes. No pattern for me, I would just lay my doll whatever fabric I had (sometimes my Grandmother’s beautiful silk and lace blouses) and just cut away. To this day, I still do not know how to use a pattern. As I got older, I started embroidering, crocheting, knitting, and quilting; all of which I taught myself and still love to do. Actually, I didn’t start designing jewelry until about two years ago. Truthfully I didn’t even know what a crimping bead was; but somewhere in my mind it was something I wanted to attempt. The first time I walked into a bead shop and saw all the beautiful colors of crystals, I was hooked. My favorite shop, located in Nyack, NY, which is a 15 minute drive going across the Hudson River, not only has the most beautiful colors of crystals (ones I can’t find any where else), but Judy and Grace who run the shop, have both been my mentors. I use Swarovski Crystals for most of my pieces; I love the various reflections the crystals give off when gleaming in the sun.

S: Do you sell your work? What inspires you when making your jewelry?

P: Although I have a shop on Etsy: MagdaleneJewels.etsy.com, I primarily do a lot of custom orders, and craft shows. Recently, I started showing my work on YouTube; creating my own videos, which has also increased my custom orders: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uM69mwGjq8 (don’t forget to turn the volume on!)
It is hard to explain where my inspiration’s come when designing one of my pieces. There are many days when I look at the beads sitting there, and just can’t decide what I should create. Then somewhere in my head I get a vision of something; colors and design all worked out for me. I immediately set to work creating the vision I have. As my children will tell you, it is not uncommon to find me at 4am sitting in bed beading away. At times I will also see a beautiful pendant on Etsy made by one of my friends there, and immediately know what I would create with that piece. Of course, I have to purchase the pendant first, and anxiously await to receive it so I can start working on what I have envisioned with that piece.
S: I know that you are a very passionate crafter, often highlighting other causes through your craft blog…why is this work so important to you?
P: For those of you who read my blog, MagdaleneJewelspjk.blogspot.com you will find my main passion, which is writing. Thanks to Sara, from Sara’s Crafts of Texture, I have had many articles published. I usually have to be totally passionate about what I am writing about. About 10 months ago, I started a quilting project called, “Tragedy and Triumph”. My main objective, which I have written about often, is to bring to light the Tragedy’s and Triumph’s which historically have affected so many of us in this generation. The quilt is made up of many quilted blocks contributed by Etsy quilter’s. They have designed a quilt square either commemorating something which may have touched them from their own personal experience, or something that may have affected all of us, whether “Tragic” or “Triumph”. I hope to have this project finished within a few weeks. I have also been quite involved along with another Estian, Diane Clancy, in bringing to everyone’s attention “The Orphan Act”. This is a Bill which Congress tried to pass this past April, which would affect almost every artist: painter, quilter, jewelry designer, photographer, etc. whose work they may put on the internet. If this Bill was passed into a Law, it would negate any of these artists to own their own work. Unless we buy “copyrights” to our own work, it becomes the property of anyone who chooses to copy or use it for their own purpose. After many petitions being circulated and many articles making people aware of this Bill, as of August 2008, “The Orphan Act” has been shelved.
S: Do you have any other interests?P: In between all of this, I am also member of a local theater group as their costume designer, as well as having had a few small parts in some of their plays. One could say it is a family tradition. My mother joined this same theater group in the 1950’s. When my daughter joined about 8 years ago, as an actress and stage manager for many of their shows, it was only natural that I would follow their footsteps into the theater. One can kind of say that I have joined forces in my work, while designing the costumes, I have also designed jewelry pieces for some of the actresses to wear on stage.

by: Sara Millis of Sara’s Texture Crafts.
Post Metadata
Date
November 8th, 2008
Author
diycity
Category
DIY with Sara
Tags
accessories, designer, diy, DIY with Sara, etsy, jewelry
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1 Comments
The Filigree Garden
1
What a pleasant surprise to see my Etsy team mate and her lovely jewelry featured here! Nice to learn more about Pamela.November 9th, 2008 at 6:52 pm