Getting the Ball Rolling and a Holiday Open House

Sarah and I have long been scheming to embark upon some sort of crafty business endeavor. So when I up and moved a gajillion miles away we got motivated for a few minutes and starting planning a little. Then we moved through the phase of being too sad about being apart to discuss it, then we both started school with the kidlets, plus Sarah was in that I'm too tired and pregnant to give a care about anything stage, and I was living in a teeny rental downtown and was in that I'm too depressed to give a care about anything stage. So about a month ago we finally got back to the conversation and the good timing of it all was that a friend of ours decided to host a Holiday Open House. (Domestic Bias rocks, go check out Jaime and her mom!)

So we are finally getting the ball rolling on our new business endeavor. We have a website and an etsy shop, though neither have anything posted yet, so stay tuned for those at a later date. We have a sweet little logo that we (Sarah) drew up this summer. Though we still need to do a little tweaking here and there with it.

The idea for the name is basically this, everything that happens in our lives (crafty and otherwise) occurs at the kitchen table. Meals with our family and friends, schoolwork and projects with the kids, little ones playing play-dough or drawing pictures, budgeting with our husbands, chatting with a friend, paying the bills, sharing recipes, stories, ideas, snacks, drinks......and countless other things, and of course for both of us the kitchen table is generally where the sewing machine resides despite countless attempts to designate an alternate craft area. So there you have it "at the table" is officially underway.

For those of you in Portland who have a free slice of time this weekend head on over to Domestic Bias' Holiday Open House and support us and a handful of other crafty entrepreneurs with your presence. I certainly wish I could be there to help out and to hang out with all my fabulous friends who are taking part, but alas I just got to send a package to the party instead.

December 16th-18th 10am-7pm

7178 SE San Marcos Ave, Milwaukie 97267

Here's a peek at a few of the things I sent (and I apologize for the picture quality, I took them in the hallway in the middle of the night when I was trying to finish things up the night before I needed to send it all.)

Key chain mini-wallets just the right size for the basic necessities when you're out running errands.

Made mostly from upholstery samples from dear old SCRAP.

A few coffee sack notebook/journal/planner covers. I had more cut and ready to assemble, but after breaking 3 needles in one night I decided to call it quits. 

Hairclips that were super fun to make. The kids loved watching me singe the edges of the fabric with matches. If they ever burn down the house I'll have no one to blame but myself.

Some flowery felt hairclips, these ones are my favorites.

Some more that are a bit more holiday-ish.

.....and some more flowers, though I don't adore these ones quite as much. 

And some faux leather clips. I really wanted to find some cheap leather thing to chop up from the thrift store, but after no such luck I bought a tiny piece from a Jo-Ann's clearance remnant and experimented with that. I was okay with the way some of them turned out, but I definitely needed more time for tweaking these to my liking.