Sleeping Dogs Studio

And the winner for the lovely set of four mug rugs is:

Trixie Mail (triangle50@yahoo.com)!

Please contact me via carolyn@sleepingdogsstudio.net with your address, and I will get these off to you in the mail ASAP!

And this is not yet the end of our foray into Chris Gustin’s world!  She is a cat-lover as you may remember from a past post…and I asked her to give us some information about her studio cat Pike, which I will share with you tomorrow.  It’s a sweet story, so come back to check it out!

There will be a new Give-away (our 15th since the start of the year!) on Sunday, May 2nd (can it possible be May already?!?), so tune in for that as well.  Have a good weekend!

Now that I’m in the Studio full-time, part of our business plan is to add additional store outlets for our merchandise.  We’d had some initial success with that when it was part-time, and had found six great stores to showcase our products.

When the idea of making art our livelihood came about, I sent out some inquiry e-mails to additional artisan galleries and we were lucky enough to gain ten additional outlets that way.  I was thrilled to see that the interest was truly national in nature – stores wrote back from Colorado, New York, Florida, Maryland, and Illinois.

As I became full-time, well honestly?  I panicked!  Was sixteen stores enough to live on, in addition to our Art Fairs and Etsy?!?

Known for jumping in and “fixing” things ASAP (sometimes to my detriment!), I immediately opened another online store on an up and coming Etsy look-alike, named Artfire.  I’d heard great things about it, and liked their format, and ease of use.  A good move, I thought!  But doubt remained – was it enough?!?

So finally, I sent out another inquiry e-mail, thinking if we could get to twenty stores - just four more! - we’d be set.  Here’s where the lesson comes in – be careful what you wish for, or you just might get it!  The response was overwhelming – we got requests not from four more stores – but from ten! 

Suddenly, we are looking at supplying 26 more stores in addition to our two online outlets and the Art Fairs.  Wow.

The lesson does NOT end there, though – in many ways, it was just beginning, as this was unexpected, but still very good news!

I should have been more prepared that people would love this work as much as we do, yes.  I should have been prepared to get good responses from people as we did with our first series of e-mail inquiries.  But am I going to make certain that each and every one of them gets their orders on or ahead of time, even if I have to pull all-nighters to get it done?!  HECK, YEAH!

The bottom line?  Sometimes what you wish for comes true in a way you didn’t imagine – and it’s YOUR job to make it work – for you, and for those who depend upon you.

Enough soapbox!  Don’t forget to sign up for Chris’ give-away – deadline is tomorrow, and I’ll announce the winner after 5 p.m. ET!

As all of you know, Chris has kindly provided the “mug rugs” for this week’s give-away.  She is a very talented weaver of many desirable items, including rugs, scarves, towels, wall hangings, purses and totes and ruana wraps.  Find out more about her and her very successful business below…

Q:  Where did you come up with the name for your business?

A:  When we lived in Nebraska, I decided to open a craft and gift shop and couldn’t decide on a name.  One day, my husband and I were driving in the country and discovered a deserted homestead which offered untold hidden stories in the empty buildings and sparked our imaginations.    The shop became “Homestead Gallery and Craft Supply” and the old homestead became my logo…Fast forward 10 years…we moved to southwestern Indiana and I wanted to open a smaller version of my shop, carrying just weaving, supplies and gifts.  We built the studio and named it Homestead Handweaving and then renamed it Homestead Weaving Studio.

Q:  What do you most enjoy about being an artist?

A:  I enjoy being able to work with colors and textures. I love taking chances with color-combining and developing uncommon colorways. When I design a rug, I often lay the materials out so I can shift them around until I’m satisfied with the result.

When I make a wall hanging,  I rarely sketch out anything before beginning to weave, mainly because I’m not good at drawing. Instead I envision the piece in my head, making mental measurements, and then try to recreate that with the fibers.

Q:  Can you tell us a little bit about how you started your business?

A:  When I was very young, my mother bought me a potholder loom. I loved weaving on it. I made so many potholders that I had to resort to going door-to-door in our subdivision selling them for a quarter to get money to buy more loops.

When I was in college, I had the opportunity to take weaving classes. Then in 1970, I was hired at a weaving school in Pennsylvania where I bought my first floor loom. I began weaving items for sale, calling them “Crindi Creations” … In 1971, I moved to Boulder, Colorado, worked at a weaving shop, and continued to grow my weaving business. The next move was to Nebraska where I opened my first shop in a downtown storefront.

As you can see, Chris is a valuable addition to the local artist community – as a reminder, you can see more at her web site: www.homesteadweaver.com.  Thanks so much for your give-away contribution, Chris!  Readers, be sure to sign up to win before this Friday at 5 p.m. ET!

The other day, I was going through old files, purging and shredding, and I came across Owen’s adoption papers.  I had forgotten that his name at the Shelter was “Socks”.  And I realized that before “middle-age spread” set in (he’s just big-boned, I swear!), he was actually a very svelte, little dog!

Here are some scans to prove it, from when he was about five months old, in spring of 2003 – I swear in the one with my husband, he’s laughing…

I am so pleased to be able to present you with another fantastic give-away for this week – a gift to you from Chris Gustin of Homestead Weaving Studio, from Brown County, Indiana.

If you’re like me, you carry around your cup of tea or coffee, always worried about leaving those ugly rings on your wooden furniture!  These “mug rugs” , which are approximately 4″ X 4.5″, are perfect to avoid that problem, and provide not only a functional, but also a beautiful way to keep your furniture safe. 

Chris has had her work recognized through the Indiana Artisan program,  a state-wide program to establish a brand that gives meaning and recognition to high-quality, Indiana-made goods.

Her handwoven rugs are wholesaled to shops across the United States.  You can see her at work in her 1,500 square foot weaving studio (constructed primarily of native Indiana poplar!) near her house, and also on her web site at: www.homesteadweaver.com.

 Her studio not only houses lovely yarns and fibers for her work, but also is home to a variety of looms, spinning wheels, and other weaving equipment.

You’ll get the chance to learn even more about Chris as she answers your questions this coming Wednesday in our Guest Artist spotlight.

In the meanwhile, sign up to win this set of four hand-woven “mug rugs” by submitting your e-mail, and the words “Give-away – 4/30″ in the comments.  As usual, you will need to enter by 5 p.m. ET on 4/30 in order to be considered, and the winner will be selected at random. 

A special thanks to Chris for her generous gift to our readers!

My husband and I used to love Emo Phillips, who was a very unusual comedian way back in the 80′s.  He has several jokes in the top 100 jokes of all time list, and is truly brilliant.  I pulled some of his act up on “You Tube” for my son the other day, however, and he was not impressed that we had liked Emo so much…

But every Friday, I think of him, because he tells one of our favorite jokes.  It goes like this (please don’t continue if you haven’t eaten dinner yet!):

“I had to go to a potluck dinner, so I made potato salad.  As I put it on the table at the party, I realized that a cockroach from my apartment had fallen in.  Before I could get it out, a lady saw it and screamed.  Thinking quickly, I yelled, “We have a winner!”.

Tasteless but funny.  Kind of like Emo’s 80′s haircut.

So – “We have a winner!” (no relation to the cockroach, we’re moving on now!).  And our winner this week is Sally!  Sally, please get in touch with me at carolyn@sleepingdogsstudio.net and give me your home address, and I will get the Harlequin frame out to you immediately.

All of you who missed out, don’t despair!  We have a guest artist again this coming Sunday, who will have a new and terrific give-away that you can sign up for then – in the meanwhile, Happy Weekend!