busy bee

Stayin' busy these days, kids. I'm working my butt off trying to get ready for Troy Night Out this Friday. My mom and grandmother are the featured artists this month in the rear gallery. They'll both be showing off their paintings, although they also dabble in other art forms, too! The entire calendar is booked for 2009 in the gallery. We have a wonderful group of artists this time around and I'm so excited for you to see their work!

"Nest" by MaryEllen Robinson (my mom)

"Bluebird Family" by Helen Stopera (my grandmother)

I'm still working on the menu for Friday night, although I should say right here and now that there will no longer be dip available for sale. Honestly, it scares the shit out of me despite the fact that my insurance company has given me the thumbs up to sell it. I know that the food I sell is clean, made with fresh ingredients, and stored at the proper temperature, but I worry that someone will get sick from something else they've eaten and blame the illness on my dip (and potentially sue me). Either that, or they'll leave the shop with the dip, walk around for a few hours or leave it in the car, and eat it after it has spoiled. It would be impossible to prove whose fault it was, so I'm just cutting it off right here and now. I feel awful because I loved selling it and people certainly love eating and buying it, but everyone will have to just be happy with snacking on it once a month for TNO. I'm preparing my speech now because I know I'm going to have to tell that same sad story about 123,465,432,065,746,320,999 times on Friday night when people ask me why they can't buy it. Bummer.

I've also been working hard on some jewelry. I've made 36 pairs of earrings, three bracelets, and I'm working on necklaces as we speak. Talk about hooked! Unfortunately, I went from bringing my camera with me everywhere I go (as I've done for several years now) to forgetting it just about every day, so I have no pictures thus far. I will, though. This is exactly why an Etsy shop would never work for me. I never take pictures of my work. Anyway, I've got eleven handbags on the bench in various stages of completion, and I plan to crank a few more out before Friday. The coffee sleeves are almost done after finally getting enough snaps in my furry little hands to finish them. AND, the mini clutches, headbands, and snap pouches are all done, too! Whew! I'm pooped!

If you're planning to visit this Friday, I've marked all of the adult t-shirts down, and you can take an additional 40% off the ticketed price. Certain select soaps are on sale at 50% off. The last remaining Christmas ornaments are 15% off. And about half of the children's items will be 40% off, thanks to the CPSIA.
Speaking of the CPSIA, I've been thinking about what kinds of new things to bring in to take up the space of the missing kids stuff after the 10th. I found a marvelous Etsy shop where one can buy bird houses, bat houses, bee houses and butterfly houses out of reclaimed wood, and painted in the sweetest candy colors or left raw and beautiful. I've ordered some of those just in time for Spring. But aside from that, what would you like to see at The Paper Sparrow? If you've shopped here, have you noticed something missing? I'm open to any suggestions you might have.

Hope to see you Friday!