Mini Gallery; Black Friday Etsy II by SweetlyFallen

Thank you to SweetlyFallen for sharing this treasury!  

Visit her shop HERE!

What are your purchases for this wonderful day <3

Mini Gallery; Over The River & Through the Woods to Grandmothers House We Go... by MollysMuses

Big thank you's to MollyMuses for submitting this treasury!  

Visit her shop HERE!

Who are you spending you Thanksgiving with? <3

Trunk Show Nov 30th & Dec 1st!

Etsy Lab Rats Team is hosting a virtual trunk show!  

What does it mean & how do you participate?

There will be many of our teammates offering deals online in real time (you have to be there to get the deals).  Some will even get on their webcam so you can meet the artists "face to face".  No, you don't need a webcam.  You can just spy on us ;)

You do need to sign in to your Etsy account.  The event will begin at 8PM EST on the 30th & 1st, if you get there a bit early you can get a good seat & chat with everyone in the room.  To find us... you can click on the Community tab, then Virtual Labs tab, then join us in the Moon Room (click the orange box).  Don't click on anything until the page loads fully, you might get kicked out & meet the error hamster... if this happens just try again.  You'll see a lot of little avatars in the white squares, click on an empty square to "take a seat".  Once you've taken a seat you can type in the chat bar at the bottom.  

Sit back & enjoy the offering of all our teammies :) 

What will WE be offering?  You'll have to join us to find out!  

Mike & I will (hopefully) both be on webcam on December 1st, so come on out & support the shop!  

We'd really appreciate it :D

THANK YOU!!!

Voila! A complete gas kiln!

Yay!  It's all finished up & looking beautyous!

So here's the final pics of the build.

Mike cutting a hole in the ceiling...

I climbed up there & cut out the supports & framed some of it in.  No pics of that... it was mostly my legs hanging out of the hole.  Mike was too busy (thankfully) spotting me to take pics.

The stack from the outside...

The regulator...

Mike made a little barrel stove for the barn to keep us warm this winter.  We were burning the paint off before we brought it in.  It's all installed & working wonderfully <3

We also got 1000 pounds of clay!

All put away in the studio <3

We weren't able to fire any ware this weekend.  We don't have enough to fill the kiln.  Mike did run it empty for a few hours to dry it all out & prep it.  It works so well!  I can't wait to take some pics of it all full of happy little pots.  I've even been throwing a little!  

The next question is what glaze colors should we make? :D

Our 2nd Year Etsiversary Giveaway!

December 17th will be our 2nd Etsiversary!!!

We are very excited!  It's been a long road.  Sometimes paved with many successes.  Sometimes paved with crippling lulls and "Why do we do this?" days.  What keeps us here?  The drive that we all have to create.  The knowledge that I know we can succeed.  Maybe it has been just that... that we have stuck it out for almost two years that convinces me that this is what we want to do for the rest of our lives.   Eventually we will have our own shop on premises.  A physical location.  We can sell & teach & foster more creativity.  

We are very lucky and happy to have an outlet for now that is a bit more low key, until we are ready to make that final push to our goal.  That goal in my mind is very very close.

I'd love it if you would help us celebrate our 2nd year online.
We'll be doing a wonderful giveaway, a mug & journal!
And here's how we'll do it...

For each step leave a comment, it will count as 1 entry.  

We'll choose a winner on December 17th.

Follow us on Twitter & tweet "Happy 2nd Etsiversary @nightowlcraft! Join the giveaway! http://bit.ly/afGMSB" and you'll get an entry, leave a comment.

Add our shop to your favorites, leave a comment

Join the newsletter, leave a comment

Like us on facebook, leave a comment

Follow the blog, leave a comment

Submit a mini gallery, leave a comment

Submit your mini gallery...

How?  Like so...

Step 1.  Create a poster sketch of either 9 or 12 shops.  They can have a theme, or not.  I'm just looking for some really awesome looking collections.  Bring your A game!

Step 2.  Email me the listing numbers.  nightowlcraftworks@gmail.com  If you'd like to add a screenshot I'd appreciate it... but it's not necessary.

Step 3.  Wait for me to get back to you letting you know if I've accepted the submission.

Good luck... you're name may soon be in lights!  OK... maybe not lights, but the title to the post ;)

Check out our previous submissions...
Guest Curated Mini Galleries

*the fine print... I will post to your Etsy shop in the blog post & make sure your shop name goes in the title.  Don't have a shop?  That's OK.  We'll talk :)  It's all about spreading the love <3  If you submit a sketch I may rearrange it if I deem it necessary for the look of the blog, but I will do my best to keep the submission original.

Questions?  Shoot me an email or leave a comment!

Gas lines are all in...

The door is all trimmed up & closes wonderfully!

And the burners are all plumbed...

And the tank is delivered...

The beginning of next week the regulator goes on & the tank gets filled.

We finally got the stack pipe, so guess what we'll be doing this weekend?  

Hopefully we won't get soaking wet & I can take pictures :D

Wish us luck!

Speed Networking for Creative Thinkers and Doers

What is this?  Here's the run down, it's kinda like speed dating... but NOT!  My artsy friends and I were having a cup o' joe at a local coffee shop, we were sharing ideas and websites and what works for us.  It was such a wonderful night & there was so much great energy Frank Juarez wanted to share that with others.  He contacted me and asked if I'd like to collaborate to work to bring creative's together to share ideas and network.  I was absolutely excited about the idea!  Spend more time at my fav coffee shop AND meet new peeps and gab all afternoon?!  Sh'ya!

So without further ado... the details...

             

How often do you network with others? When you have an idea what type of action do you take? What types of social networks would be appropriate to reach your audience? 

Are you looking for fresh ideas? Do you want to learn from the experience of others? Do you want to share what works for you?

Speed Networking for Creative Thinkers and Doers is an event, which will provide you ways on how to get yourself out there by spending 2 to 3 minutes with each participant and sharing what you do to live a creative and self-rewarding lifestyle. Topics can range from social media outlets, branding, online market places, and so on. 

Essentially, the first and only round is to break the ice amongst the participants. Once the round is complete, we will then begin to socialize amongst one another to learn more in depth about they found interesting or wanting to learn more of. 

Where: How often do you network with others? When you have an idea what type of action do you take? What types of social networks would be appropriate to reach your audience? 

Are you looking for fresh ideas? Do you want to learn from the experience of others? Do you want to share what works for you?

Speed Networking for Creative Thinkers and Doers is an event, which will provide you ways on how to get yourself out there by spending x amount of time with each participant and sharing what you do to live a creative and self-rewarding lifestyle. Topics can range from social media outlets, branding, online market places, and so on. 

Essentially, the first and only round is to break the ice amongst the participants. Once the round is complete, we will then begin to socialize amongst one another to learn more in depth about they found interesting or wanting to learn more of. 

Where: Paradigm Coffee + Music 

1202 N. 8th Street

Sheboygan, WI

When: December 5th from 1PM to 3PM

To participate, email Frank Juarez at effjayprojekts@gmail.com to register. 

Participation is free. 

RSVP by November 18th

organized by EFFJAY PROJEKTS and NightOwlCraftworks

Don't worry about bringing a pen & paper, we've gotcha covered ;)

I gotta Feeling (Black Eyed Peas Cover) Beef Tea String Band

I haven't posted in a while, so I'm putting up this wonderful video!  The dude with the gee-tar is my friend's husband & the person who taught me a bit about playing my bass.  I hope you enjoy the vid until I can get some content to slap up here :D