Catch up Post 1

Hi Everyone,

Wow where does the time go? I have not even had a day off since my last post and yet I still cna't seem to get caught up.

Our Grand Opening was on Oct 19th and we had a great day with lots of new customers coming through the door. We had a free raffle with 15 goodie bags and I still have one that I will have to hand deliver to the winner. (I didnt call her) Could it be you? Well let me give a hint....I will be delivering your goodie bag with the other stuff you asked me for. So if you asked me for some stuff recently, and you were at the Grand Opening, it just may be you getting the delivery.

Our outdoor sign is done. Thank-you to Artist and friend Lydia Hildebrandt for the design and all of the work to paint it. I would like to thank my wonderful hubbyman, Tom for installing it and a thank you to Sandra for helping me hold it, as we stood on the edge of the truck tail gate, while Tom hooked it up. Whew! glad we only have to do that once.

An update on the cats:

I continue to feed them daily, (another reason I want to come to the shop everyday) and have made progress with the little one. I have given her the name of Pumpkin Annie Pie. She now lets me pet her and pick her up. I have shown her her reflection in the mirror and now she seems to like to do that everyday. She definitely has the makings of a "Diva".
Momma cat is still slow to respond to touch, and she still hisses at me, and has even swat at me (and drawn blood) but at least now she will come inside to eat. I call her Hissy Missy Momma.  Old Tommy (aka Denny for Dennis) is a bit friendly and he does get a bit of food too. Sorry no picture of him yet, but he is definitely Pumpkin Annie's dad, he is a very large orange tabby.

Our young artists. Any of the younger children that come through the store receive a free paper pack. Here are some pics of our young artists. These pics will be posted in an album on our facebook page with out names or personal information. Please do not tag these photos in anyway unless you are the parents.

2 more vendors to tell you about:

As I mentioned, I am a little bit behind and trying to get caught up. These vendors are at the shop since near the first day but I had not yet posted anything about their booths.

Cathy Shellenberg (from Steinbach) makes handmade cards, and notebooks recycled from product packaging. Her cards are whimsical and delightful and a mere $4.00 per card. The note books are amazing and only $3.00 each? How does she do it? The note books are selling fast (Cathy can we have some more please) and will make fabulous stocking stuffers for Christmas.

Sylvia Lomax, (from St. Pierre ) is a multi talented artist and painter. I can not even begin to tell you how detailed her work is, you really must stop by the shop to see for yourself, sorry but my pictures do not do justice to her incredible workmanship.

Dibbs, Features, and New Stock:
From time to time I will post pics on Facebook and it will be of donated items that just came in and in an effort to move things quickly I may offer you the chance to "Dibb" on it. If it is in the free room and I tell you it is a "Dibbable item" the first person to leave a comment will have the item held aside for pick up. Sorry it is first come first serve, and it is up to you to be quick and on the watch. I guess I should also mention that it is to be held for picked up within one week. If you are prepared to pay the shipping I could mail it out to you. PayPal account required for shipping charges.

Lorie was able to pick up this nativity star from our first dibbs post. Whooo hooo Lorie!

"Features" will be items that have come into the shop and are available in the free room. These are items that come in larger quantities and we want to move them fast so that we dont get overloaded. It is not easy to offer someone dibbs on these types of items but if you message me I could try based on the pics.

Here is an example of a feature item, we received 3 huge boxes of binders, all sizes and colors. Most are in very good shape and could be easily decorated for repurposing. Also, did you know that binders are a great source for what I call "preemo" chipboard? Yeah, if a binder doesnt cut it as a binder, I cut it up! And if it is one of those plastic thin binders without a cardboard base, that plastic goes through my sizzix die cutter machine very nicely. I can cut some pretty fun shapes and designs.

We still have lots of these binders available so please stop in when you have a chance, there might be more items you will leave with all for free.

New Stock posts will be to show you what has come in from any of the vendors and artists in the shop. I haven't started this yet but will try to get that going this week. These will be posted directly to Facebook and I will post the prices of these items and a basic description. If you want to purchase any of these items you can by messaging or commenting on Facebook. You can also phone or message me directly.
Same rules apply, held for pickup within one week or mail out is possible with shipping charges and a PayPal account.

We will also from time to time post pics of what you missed out on. Yep, sometimes things come in the shop and are sold before we can even put them out for sale. We will call these "While you were snoozing" LOL okay maybe that's a little mean, but our stock is changing all the time and we want to show off a bit. :)

One last thing, a downloadable album for images.
On Facebook, you will find a photo album called Downloadable Images (on The Artist Pivot Page look for Albums). These are images and photos that I own copyright to, and I offer them to you to download and use for your art and craft creations for free. Here is a sample of the images I have posted there so far. These are some fall leaves that were everywhere at the back of the store. I realized that they would make a fabulous background for art or scrap booking. I would love to see what you create with these images. This album will be updated from time to time with new images.

You can also download these image directly from this blog post however the resolution will not be full size as on Facebook.

There is so much more to show and tell, like another new vendor, Marc Gilbert, the Christmas Room, another major feature item, and upcoming classes, but I have to go take pictures of the latest stuff. So I am now headed to the store for another full day of sorting and I will try to post part 2 of this catchup post tonight or as soon as I can. Don't worry, it wont take as long this time.

Thanks for stopping by!
kim

Monday my other day off...... eye candy for you

Hi Everyone,

Okay so I spent all day Sunday at the store sorting  and organizing in the sorting room. So now I should be able to work in there to process items that come in. Sure right? LOL

So today, Monday, is supposed to be a day to stay home and work on some paperwork and a few things around the house, but that didnt really happen.

So here are the pics from my day off:

2 very dirty stinky bunnies, I removed their clothes and added them to a tea dye bath that I was making in the washing machine. The dye process was to include many yards of white ribbon that had been made in to bows for a wedding (I think). Also had an old wedding dress and veil that were very distressed already and very musty. I figured I would dye them too and if they didnt turn out they would get cut up for art. At the very least I am hoping to salvage the distressed wedding dress into a store prop. But back to the bunnies...

Here are the bunnies, and yes they are doing the back float so dont worry they can breathe. I was very careful and nothing was agitated just gently swooshed around with a wood stick.

Ribbons and veil on the line drying. The ribbons are a very light tea stain that will be perfect for an upcoming tag class I will be doing. The veil did not do so well, but again these pieces will be used in my tag class. Tag class is 20 shabby chic shipping tags all supplies included for $20.00. I will be doing my samples very soon.

More ribbons and a few pieces of cloth I had thrown in the mix. One cloth took on a very orangy coloring. I wonder if something reacted that was in the cloth?

My bunnies are very soaked and very distressed (only in colour). They seemed very happy to be sun bathing in the nude. :)

The wedding dress stained very nicely and will make a lovely distressed prop in the store. Not sure where yet, but I am happy how it turned out. I hung it from the wire frame that Tom made for our vine.
Its really cool hanging there but a bit eerie.

So After all the washing and hanging, I went out to the garden and picked a bowl of yellow raspberries. I think I ate as much as you see in the pic and will share the rest with Tom. They are delicious and I was surprised that they made it through the frost we had. If the weather holds up okay I should be able to pick another bowl in a couple of days.

I also spent an hour trying to coax Lulu out of our tree and finally had to get out the ladder to go get her. No sooner down and she ran right back up. Then I let her get down herself the second time. Sorry no pics I wasnt thinking about pics at the time.

Then Lulu came in the house and decided she found another new toy to play with. Ratty was outside so this time I know who the culprit is.

A quick lunch, PJ toast and tea! Yum!

Then taking the labels off these lovely blue bottles. Its a real pain getting the glue off these bottles even with olive oil, had to do them twice. I am sure the glue could be put to really good use for medical purposes. Like glueing incisions or gluing small limbs like fingers or toes back on.
Really I would love to get some of this glue.
I cleaned 7 bottles and still have 7 more but that will have to be saved for another day. Its an ugly job.

Then I washed a sink full of flowers and leaves. Some things just should not have a bad smell but they do, and the water was pretty dark when I was done. 2 rinses and some drying time and they will be ready for return to the store.

Next, went and brought in the dryed items but the bunnies are going to take a month to dry. I will leave thes out for the rest of the day and then try to dry in the dryer. Dont they look cute? LOL The staining is looking really good.

Okay so last but not least, one tuckered out playful kitten still needs to sit on my lap for a nap. Lulu misses me when I am gone. She always runs to meet me as soon as I come home.  It makes me sad for those cats at the store. Maybe someday they will own a lap too.

She purrs like a little motor....

Okay thats it for this post. I will take more pics tomorrow at the store and try to update again tomorrow night.
Gotta go make supper for the Hubbyman!

Our Feral Cats

We found this momma and her sweet little girl almost the day we started to move in. I think they are the "town strays" and include an ugly alley male cat that I only see once in a while.

I have been feeding them since day one and Lydia and I are now both feeding them.  I have a small wooden bin that Tom moved to the wall in the back and he cut a hole and filled it with straw. I dont know if they have slept in it but the food was gone from the dish I left inside.

Momma will only let me get about 2-3 feet from her and then she starts hissing. The little one will be more adventurous very soon as she often gets closer but if I move slightly she runs off.

Momma is a bit beat up probably from fighting, and I can see in the little one's ears and they look very dark so I am guessing some serious ear mites.
It's gonna take some time but once I can get to them I will look into getting some basic health care for them.
If anyone wants to donate some food or some vet gift cards for treatments, we (Lydia and I) would certainly welcome the donation. And if anyone is thinking adoption in the future, again we would welcome the offers. In the mean time, we will kept them well fed.

I luv that some customers are just so intense.....

Some shoppers really get into their purchases and choosing the right item can be intense....very intense.

So many choices, what's a girl to do? She finally did choose to stick to her first choice and went with the purple one.

I can only hope that she will be a regular customer in the store. I can't wait til she gets an actual allowance!

Friday morning van was full from Thursdays pickups

A clanging cacophony that rattled in the van all day Thursday and then again on Friday morning on my way in.

These 2 Santas went straight to the "Free Room"

Sorry but they were already taken home by closing on Friday night.

What I came home to on Thursday night.

Okay this may not be exactly Artist Pivot related, but this is what I came home to Thursday night. Hubby was sleeping and the critters were busy....no one took responsibility....so I can only guess who started this and I am betting on my sweet little Lulu. But Ratty was right in there having a ball!
I got to clean up after the party, and hubby saw the pics in the morning.....maybe he was in on this?

New Vendor on Thursday

Hi Everyone,

Here is a pic of our new vendor Darcia Barnabe. She is local from St Pierre. She creates these lovely colorful hats for all ages. She says that with 3 boys she needs to find a way to "get her girl on" by making pretty hats and little girl clothes. Ohhh I have my eye on the gray and brown hat! You can find her in the fibres/fabric room.

We have 2 more new vendors but I havent taken the pics yet for their booths. (had a busy Friday Night and Saturday all day). I will take pics on Tuesday and post soon after.

Some signage is done

Hi Everyone

WE are starting to get our signage and hours done and posted. It has been a good week. The response has been very good. We now have 28 facebook likes whoo hoo!!!

Here are some pics of our signs and hours. Yes I blocked out my phone number because I dont want to be getting calls from half the internet.