Sweet Stella Designs at the MTV Movie Awards!

My birthday was yesterday, and besides going to dinner with my parents, I didn't get very much time to relax...I was busy running around like a crazy person and doing last-minute wrap-ups for my MTV Style Lounge contribution. That's right...I just shipped 75 of my necklaces to be included in gift bags in the Style Lounge at the MTV Movie Awards!

Hmm, how did I get such a sweet gig? Well, it's through one of my favorite companies, The Sampler! They help promote indie artists, designers, and business owners. Alison and her crew were invited to participate (for a fee, of course!) in the Style Lounge, where celebrities can pick up cool swag at the MTV Movie Awards. The Sanpler will be offering a huge tote with all kinds of unique handmade goodies in it.

Here are some photos of what I made:

Everything looks fabulous with a silver bow.

Pendants inspired by pharmacy and biology!

So I have no idea if my participation will pan out in to anything, but I'm hoping for the best! If anything, it was quite the lesson in organization, mass production, and timing.

City Sampler Press!

City Sampler: Columbus received some nice press on the Craft: Magazine blog the other day!

Be on the lookout for an article in the Columbus Dispatch on Monday, April 7th. And listen for me and some other awesome Sampler contributors on the CD101 Morning Show on Wednesday, April 9th at 7:15 am. In case you don't know, you can find CD101 on the radio at 101.1 fm in Columbus. You can also listen LIVE at CD101.com!

Remember, the Columbus City Sampler goes on sale on Monday, April 7th at 9 am EDT! Get it online before it sells out at www.homeofthesampler.com.

Columbus City Sampler: Get It April 7th!

Columbus, Ohio, USA: The Independent Arts Capital of the World -- Indie artists, crafters, and small businesses are creating amazing works right here in Columbus. Consumers can receive a representative sampling of their work by ordering the Columbus City Sampler for only $20.

The Columbus City Sampler will go on sale April 7 at www.homeofthesampler.com/city/columbus.html.

Inspired by City Samplers from San Francisco, Brooklyn, and Boston, Columbus Sampler curator Amy Neiwirth wanted to showcase the incredible talent in our own capital city. “This is a wonderful way to highlight that creative, do-it-yourself spirit we have in Columbus,” Amy says. Working with Alison Gordon of homeofthesampler.com, Amy helped organize the Columbus City Sampler by seeking contributions from fellow artists, crafters, and indie business owners. The City Sampler is an exciting venue for these individuals to promote their original creations, events, and services while showcasing the city of Columbus. Those who purchase the City Sampler are in for a treat that is well worth the money.

The Columbus City Sampler features contributions ranging from buttons to earrings to small prints and more. Each City Sampler will include a selection of items from the following contributors: Adam Brouillette/Little Red Men; AmyD; An Artful Note; Anne Holman Jewelry Design; Bead Noir; Betty's/Surly Girl Saloon; Bootleg; Chop Chop Gallery; Couchfire Collective; Crafty Beavers; Jennifer Sadler Designs; Kiko Kreations; L. Cabanero Designs; Lisa's Paperdoll; Locura; Lucky Kat; Lusterbunny; Made in a Treehouse; Moogan Creations; Out of the Pink Sky Designs; Patrice Lehocky; Rivet; Sharon Bell/Dirty Booty Clothing; Spacedog Studios; Sparrow Design Works; Sweet Stella Designs; What the Rock; Wholly Craft; and Yumi Yumi.

About The Sampler: The Sampler is a marketing & promotional tool for indie businesses. Each month, independent crafters, artists, shops, ‘zines and record labels who run web-based businesses send samples and promotional materials to a contribution pool. All the samples are photographed, posted to the site and then are portioned out, packaged and sent to Sampler subscribers, other Sampler contributors and members of the media all over the world.

Past contributors to The Sampler have received national attention in ElleGirl, CRAFT, Adorn, Bust, Venus, and Readymade magazines, as well as in indie blogs such as Craftster, Rare Bird Finds, Modish, and IndieFixx.

City Sampler: Columbus

City Sampler: Columbus (a special version of The Sampler) will feature items exclusively from crafters, DIYers and awesome businesses from Columbus and the surrounding area!

The Sampler is going local! We're creating samplers that focus on business from specific cities, towns, and regions! Along with the samples, we'll be providing all kinds of fun and interesting information and materials about the cities we're featuring!

The Sampler has spent the last three years distributing the very best handmade and indie communities have to offer. It has been really great collecting items from artists, crafters, musicians, and alternative publications all over the US, and the world! Now we'd like to try to go local - and we'd like you to be a part of it!

City Sampler: Columbus will be a new and fun way to experience both the city and The Sampler. We'd like to invite you to send us samples of your work or your product along with some promotional items, so that we can distribute them to people who are interested in supporting local businesses!

There are many benefits to contributing to the Sampler, and we know that the City sampler will provide you with an equally great opportunity!

If you send us Samples - the minimum being 10, the maximum being 100 - you may also send us 100 promo items for the City Sampler, which will reach 100 fans of Columbus (and the surrounding area) culture! You may also include an unlimited number of promos for regular issues of The Sampler, which reaches 500 subscribers and members of the media each month! For more info on contributing and promos, please see http://www.homeofthesampler.com/contributors/tips.html

Your Samples will be photographed for The Sampler website, and mentioned in the City Sampler Guide we will include in every City Sampler! So even if you only send 10 items, your business info will appear in all 100 City Samplers.

All items must be received by March 30th, 2008. Please email contribute@homeofthesampler.com with your submission ideas, or with any questions you might have about the Sampler!

You can also contact me (Amy) directly in Columbus if you have any questions or would like to contribute. Artists, crafters, musicians, business/restaurant owners, etc. are all welcome to submit materials.

Holiday Sampler!

Yes, it's almost that special time again... Sampler time (December/January Holiday Sampler)! For this round, I decided to make 50 samples of colorful, iridescent glass bauble rings and hairpins. They are so bright and colorful and will add some whimsy to any holiday party outfit.

Be on the lookout for these goodies in the Holiday Sampler, which will most likely go on sale in late November at www.homeofthesampler.com.

Busy.

My favorite person in the world moved to San Francisco on Monday. We cooked some yummy dinner on Sunday night (amazing garlic pan-fried asparagus!!) and just enjoyed each other's company.

It's a good thing I am ridiculously busy, or else I would just mope around all day.
Upcoming projects include:
1) Finishing work for Tiny Canary *indie design market* and getting last-minute supplies for my table.
Here is a preview of some of the new goodies that will be for sale at the Sweet Stella Designs table at Tiny Canary (On Sunday, November 18th only!).



2) Labeling my December/January contributions for The Sampler and mailing those out
3) Working on my thesis
4) Helping with centerpieces for my school's Scholarship Dinner
5) Keeping up with my Etsy site

Here's a project that I am very excited about:
I will be collaborating with Lori of Midsummer Muse to make some adorable gift sets for the holidays. Pictured is the first set: Golden Autumn perfume oil and vintage Lucite and Swarovski crystal earrings.
We will be debuting the gift sets this Sunday at Tiny Canary in Columbus, Ohio!

Change of Plans

I was supposed to grab some dinner with Patrice tonight, but she had to cancel. That works out well, because all I really feel like doing is slothing around the house. I hope I get my energy back soon, I was feeling pretty awful this morning.
The other night, while I was working on my batch of goodies for The Sampler, Randall snapped some funny Polaroids of me and the cat. Here are the photos in a nice little still-life set up.


And here is a nice shot I took of my mug of tea (which I have been drinking abundantly lately).

Decisions & Questions

Well, I've been away from my computer for 3 whole days and I feel like I have been disconnected from a limb. Ok, not really. I did make another sale on Etsy the other day (hooray!), so it looks like things have been picking up. I'd like to think that it's due to my contributing to The Sampler, but it's hard to say for sure.

I am going to start working on my Masters' thesis project this week. No joke! It will be a collection of autobiographical short stories and comics. With any luck, I will have my Masters in Art Education by the end of Spring 2008!

I had to say goodbye to some old friends tonight: my Converse Chuck Taylors from college. I am pretty sure these were my original Chucks from college (we are currently in "round 3" of Converse replacement). They are so gross and dead. It was time. *sniff*

On the Adorn Magazine Blog!

So...I just stopped by Barnes & Noble to pick up Bust and Adorn magazines (and I got to see AmyD's lovely ad in the back of Bust, yipee!)
And then I was looking online at the Adorn magazine blog, because I saw that The Sampler (which I've been contributing to), has now started posting their Samplergram there once a week.

And I saw THIS.

Ahhhh, it's my stuff!!
On Adorn's blog!!!
I was just looking at their magazine!

I just did the most embarrassing dance around my apartment, scared the crap out of the cat, and made my boyfriend think I'm insane. Teehee.

Mid-September Musings

Today, I finished a pendant for a fellow teacher who wanted a gift for her daughter-in-law. Inside the silver frame is an image of an Israeli stamp with an illustration of Rachel (from the Bible/Torah). The pendant is filled with a glassy resin.


Stella has decided that the weather is getting cool enough to resume napping on the bed. It might be annoying (especially when she chooses to park herself right where I'd like my feet to go), but she's so darn cute.

"Meowsers! Get that camera out of my face, woman!"

I have sent off my October contribution to The Sampler. This month, I made 25 little chocolate chip cookie magnets out of polymer clay. Don't they look good enough to eat?

September Shout-Outs!

Hooray! My September Sampler contributions were mentioned in two indie design blogs this weekend. Check it out:
Indie Fixx
Enamor

Package Design

Oh how I love putting adorable objects in cellophane bags!

Here is my 25-item contribution for The Sampler (September). I am excited & curious to see if contributing brings me any sales or press.

The Lynn & Pearl Alley Markets (where I have been selling my creations all summer) are contributing a basket of items for the American Cancer Society's auction. Here is my item to represent Sweet Stella Designs!
*Don't worry, my shop name and url are on the back!*

Sampler Sampler Sampler!

I decided that I will be contributing to The Sampler for the month of September! Hooray! I will be contributing 25 of these cute little apple hairpins. Note the very excellent packaging that I designed myself! I am getting quite good at piecing things together in Photoshop.


Anyone have any positive Sampler stories? I was thinking of including a coupon with a code for a *surprise* free gift with any purchase, just to see if people who got the samples decided to buy something from my Etsy shop.