Boutique at the Barn Reprise

  I was not going to do any craft shows this year, the time and energy that goes into a show is not proportionate to the profits recouped at a craft fair.  However; a friend said she would do it if I would do it...pressure. I started thinking along two lines of thought; first, The Boutique at the barn was really fun last year, I enjoyed the experience thoroughly. If I had gone this year as a customer instead of a vendor I know that I would have been looking longingly at the vendors wishing I was there. Second, there might be repeat customers from last year who will be looking for me this year and I really want to keep the Miss Moss Demi-millinery in people's mind as a place for fabulous, custom, handmade hair adornment.

So this year I approached it differently.  My goal is not to make money (but I do hope to pay for some Christmas gifts) but to keep up exposure and to show what I can do in the fabulous world of millinery.  My goal is to get at least one (hopefully many) custom orders.

 I didn't do much other than order supplies until after Boba Fett's baptism and then I worked every day for a few hours.  Last year I worked for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, for 3 weeks.  Instead of volume I concentrated on a variety of hats.  I finished 2 days early and now I am just sitting about waiting for tomorrow.  Nice.

The Miss Moss Demi-Millinery will be at  Boutique at the Barn , tomorrow Saturday, October 29th from 10am -4pm at Fallbrooks Farm on Jackson School Road in North Plains, Oregon.

 I look forward to seeing you there!

The Wedding

How did I like the wedding? 

I loved it.  

I don't know what there is to say that hasn't already been said but I will add a few comments.

The Dress:

Best. Wedding. Dress. Ever.  

Better than

 

Grace Kelly's, possibly better than 

 

Maria Von Trapp's in the Sound of Music. 

The uniform: 

Nothing says "I am the future king of Great Britain" than a red uniform.

The Flower Girls' Dresses:

I happen to be making a flower girl dress for Nutmeg this month.  Don't be surprised if it has puffed sleeves, box pleats and a scalloped lace underskirt.

The Abbey:

Loved the trees.  I think we should all start investing in potted trees for weddings.  It's going to be huge.

The kisses: They were adorable and we waited long enough for them!

The service:  I am glad that it was religious but it was so boring and long!

The Queen: 

 

Darling. Perfect.

The hats.  50/50. About 50% were cute and 50% were hideous.  Only a handful were as awesome as the one I wore to the viewing party.

Criticisms: I would have liked to see Kate smile a LOT more during the walk/ceremony/service  she seems like a charming gal not too terrified by the spotlight so I can't understand why she wasn't grinning from ear to ear on her wedding day.  She smiled in the carriage would it have killed her to do it in the abbey?

I also expected more of Camilla's ensemble.  Her 1920's era coat was not flattering and after her smashing wedding hair ornament 

 

I was hoping for something as stunning.

Heels.  I would think that someone would have taught the Royals and royal relations how to walk in heels.  They all looked SO uncomfortable and bow legged in them. Kate, Pippa and Her Majesty excepted.

 And as someone commented on Facebook "The York girls should not be let out unsupervised."

Demi-Millinering for Spring

Just a reminder that over at the Miss Moss Demi-millinery it is spring and it is time to order your special pieces for Easter and Spring!

 

These are my naughty bunnies, hand knit, soft and cuddly just right for tucking into an Easter basket for all ages.  You choose the color any color (not limited to what you see here) and I will even include a tiny carrot or mini head of lettuce.

Also don't forget to order custom spring hair ornaments!

The Tax Man Cometh and Revealeth and I Attempteth to Decideth

We had been waiting for tax time to tally up all of the nickels and dimes and pennies I worked so hard for to help make ends meet as we dealt with having a house on the market for 8 months and paying off the debts incurred just to get that same house ready to sell and then take it off the market.

Just let me say now that I am not complaining, Starlings is worth every brass farthing and needle pricked fingertip.  I am so happy that all of the work I did was merely an amendment to all of the providing that Moose does for our family.  I am so grateful that the Lord has been so bountiful in the blessings he has poured out upon us.

So, anyhow....We were adding up all the pennies and the result was extremely depressing.  The sum total of all my hard work, tears, sleepless nights and bloody fingers was...well really not a lot.  I can not bring myself to type it out.

 Let's just review the many hats of Samurai Mom this year.

Home Stager, Organizer and Cleaner, 10 months in duration 24/6  Profit? Many negative dollars.
Job Hunter,3 months Profit?  Child neglect and loss of self worth less several
tanks of gas.
Contract Seamstress, 2 months for $125 and the privilege of being fired.  I was not hurt but offended (I thank my friends for being as indignant about the situation as I was.)
Blogger for about 11 cents a day.

Needlework Instructor for 2 months - actually profitable but very difficult to maintain a steady stream of income, also, a really fun job.

 Demi-Milliner;  9 months, I actually made a very, very small profit.  I probably earned 40 cents a day.  


And finally, Nanny.  This is where it is at kids.  Snuggling and hugging a baby all day long (well part of the day,) knowing she is getting loving care and being able to pay off bills.

And so after that pitiful display of the actual $$ worth of an energetic, hard working, talented, college educated, fairly young, trained seamstress and designer where does that leave me?

Well, obviously I am going to keep on with the babysitting gig but will I hang up my demi-hats and hat making supplies?

I just don't know.  I had a lot of fun demi-millinering but it was also purpose driven and a lot of work with very little payoff.

I really enjoy dreaming up hair confections but maybe I should just dream them up for myself and Nutmeg and our friends.

I sit here wrestling with the decision because tomorrow I have a tutorial coming out on Sew Mama, Sew!  Hopefully this will get lots of really crafty people who can make hair ornaments for themselves to my site and maybe 1 or 2 who won't want to bother and pay me to make one for them.  Probably not, but being on Sew Mama, Sew! is really cool so it is almost like being famous and we all know how I love the spotlight.

So what do you think?  As it stands I have a bit of fall inventory, very few supplies, a website, a Facebook page, some fun pictures, 2 wigs, 2 styrofoam heads, some darling business cards and $5.

Part of me says to scrap it and just focus doing all the fun things at Starlings that I haven't had time to do because I have been working so hard.  But the other part of me says not to give up, keep plugging away and one day I will be the next Coco Chanel (she started as a milliner in case you didn't know.)

Don't forget to check out the tutorial tomorrow.  Here is a sneak peak.

What is a "Demi-Millinery?"

I have been keeping a secret from this blog. 

 

For the last year I have been developing a little place I like to call "The Demi-Millinery."  The Miss Moss Demi-Millinery is a place where I design and craft and sell hair ornaments.

I have so much fun in the demi-millinery and I can't wait until November 13th when I will be packing up the demi-millinery and setting it up again at the Boutique at the Barn. 

I have been out of the craft show scene for a while now but I am ready to jump back in with both feet.

Please stop by The Miss Moss Demi-Millinery to watch it grow.  I have a lot of millinering to do, an appointment for photos and am looking for someone to help me with a logo and cards.  I am expecting great things.

If you are in the area stop by the Boutique at the Barn and say "Hello."