Velvet Verbosity

Everyone has a mum, and I’d like you to meet mine.  I have an ulterior motive internet, but it is a noble one, I assure you.  (Hang in with me on this one, there’s bound to be tears.) You see, for years I’ve watched my mom struggle and sacrifice.  I’ve also watched my mother pour love into handmade things, and then break her back selling them at small town craft fairs for a quarter of what they are worth in material, time, talent, and quality. So I’ve decided to build my mother an Etsy site for her crafts.

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Scroll down to the last paragraph to see how you can help me spread the word to help get her shop off the ground.

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In fact, I’ve watched my mother work hard all her life, make sacrifices for others, and all for little reward, though she manages to be a happy little bugger despite the struggle.

I’m setting out to put an end to that struggle, today.  I want my mother to be able to R E T I R E!  I want her to create things she loves, and have them valued and treasured by other families who appreciate the craft.  I want to know that someone who has been nothing but hard-working, decent, and kind her whole life gets rewarded in the end.   I want her to grow old with a decent life.  Not one of indulgence, but for heaven’s sake, at least one of decent comfort, like heat set to no less than 65 degrees, and being able to buy a little something for herself now and then. Criminy!

Readers, I’m not asking you to buy anything out of charity.  If this were that, I’d just set up a donation box.  No.  I want to introduce you to my mother, to all that she has gifted me, and to her talent.   My hope is that you’ll feel inspired to pass this story along.  This is a story of a woman who is talented, but not technically savvy, and without the means to hire someone who is.  This is a story of a woman who lives in an area where monies are spent on four-wheel monstrosities that kick up mud, farm equipment, and big hair-dos, NOT beautiful crafts.  This is a story of a woman who doesn’t have it in her to be snobby or dishonest, and therefore undersells her talent and her time.  This is a story of a woman who has been creating things all her life, from hand-knit sweaters to hand-built pieces of furniture, and everything you can imagine in-between.  This is also the story of a woman who has sacrificed for others, gone without, and struggled through many hardships.  This is a story of a woman who deserves more than life has given her so far.  This is a story of circumstance.

One day, several years ago, I went to visit my mother, and she came into the living room with a large piece of cardboard.  She said, “I’ve decided to try my hand at painting, but I didn’t want to spend the money on a canvas until I knew if I had any talent.”  She turned the cardboard around and revealed an exquisite scene of a pond and gazebo with delicate swans floating on the serene surface.  This was her very first painting, and it was lovely.  It was on a piece of cardboard!

Internet, please!  Why is my mother painting on a piece of cardboard?

That’s where I come in, the daughter who didn’t say thank-you quite nearly enough.  I have enough technical savvy, and extended networks, to maybe give something back.  This is my chance.  So Mom?

• Thank you for always believing in me, even when I couldn’t.  Now it’s my turn to believe in you.
• Thank you for breaking your back, on your feet hours every day to keep us going.
• Thank you for making our crap-tastic apartments look beautiful with your loving hand; sanding floors, papering walls, painting, and building things even if all of it would be only temporary before we moved again.
• Thank you for always making me look beautiful at my most important events. Especially that pink hand-crocheted floor length gown for my third-grade spring concert that made all the girls turn green with envy.
• Thank you for biting your tongue all through the fashion-wreck of the 80’s.
• Thank you for holding my hand while I brought my own first born into the world.
• Thank you for teaching me a woman’s place is where she wants it to be.
• Thank you for teaching me what kindness is.
• Thank you for always leading by example.
• Thank you for Joni Mitchell (that’s a WHOLE other mom story), and Ayn Rand.  I needed them both for different reasons.
• Thank you for encouraging my mind and my talent more than my packaging.
• Thank you for the hand-made complete redesign of my room every few years to satisfy my favorite color fickleness.
• Thank you for teaching me how to use my reason, while keeping the connection to my heart.
• Thank you for letting me live my own life, but still being there when I falter, without ever saying, “I told you so”.  This is worth gold.
• Thank you for my wedding dress, my bridesmaids’ dresses, the flowers, and my god, all the planning and patience you put into a wedding you didn’t have your heart behind, but you did it all because you loved me, all the while weeping as you worked, unbeknownst to me.
• Thank you for letting me live through the teen years.  God knows anyone else might have knocked me out for being such a selfish sass.
• Thank you for always emphasizing how important family is.
• Thank you for celebrating me every chance you got.
• Thank you for loving my Dad, cause he’s pretty awesome-sauce too.
• Thank you for loving my sisters, my children, and theirs, because we are all better for it.
• Thank you for lending me your favorite shawl, knowing you wouldn’t see it again for months, because that’s the kind of sacrifices you always make for the happiness of your children, and it’s kind of ridiculous, and we’re kind of ungrateful wretches when you think about it.
• Thank you for knowing me better than anyone else, and knowing when I need you.
• Thank you for being there, every damn time I’ve needed you.
• Thank you Mom, for all of it.

I love you.   There will never be enough words to tell you how much.  This is for you.

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Ok, you with the wet eyes, back to logistics for a moment.

My mother crafts primarily with recycled, vintage materials, in Shabby Chic, Cottage, and Victorian styles.  Right now, many of her crafts have been sold, or are out at craft fairs (where they will sell for far too little), so when I proposed this idea to her, all she had on hand where some handmade lavender sachets.  There are only two up at the moment, but I will be adding more over the next few days.  Not that these aren’t adorable and delightful for those who love girly, romantic, nostalgic frou-frou stuff!  Just that there will be more.  I hope for there to be lots more over time.  Handmade ornaments, stockings, and wreaths for next Christmas.  Delightfully sweet little romantic kibblets for Valentine’s Day.  (Don’t ask me what a kibblet is, I just made it up while thinking about tiny kitten faces, and tiny vintage buttons, and cherubs with pink cheeks.  You’re welcome.)  Hand-bags, and various other what-nots, along with special orders.

How you can help:  In the meantime, I’m hoping that all of you will visit her shop, leave her a note of encouragement, share this story or her shop through your Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and Blog account.  The gift I want to give my mother is the gift of getting her stuff out there, helping it to gain a following and attention, so that she can focus on doing what she does best: creating and making art.

If this happens, my blog will have served a wonderful purpose.

P.S. I’m excited to announce that the shop will have one-of-a-kind Christmas stockings up next week!  Just in time.  Whew.

P.P.S. I’m ALSO excited to announce that this post is now part of the Loads of Hope Blog Carnival, and if you haven’t yet experienced Blog Nosh, you really really should.

With love,

Check this out.  Is this not the coolest laptop pillow you’ve ever seen?  From Intelligent Forms Design, who’s philosophy is to “provide unique lifestyle tools that merge environmentally responsible values with innovative performance and aesthetic impact”, this is a design company shooting straight for my heart.  Being environmentally responsible doesn’t have to hurt and it should be just as cool as trashing the earth the way we have been.

I found these when Googling for a solar charger for my Macbook Pro.  The small Canadian company that makes these pillows also makes a solar “lounge table”.  Essentially it’s a solar coffee table that charges all of your electronics from cell phones to laptops.  The laptop pillows (there are three designs) are all made with sustainable materials and are designed to be highly functional.  The above design keeps the heat off your legs while allowing for cooling ventilation.  The “log” design holds your laptop in place and even gives you a wrist rest for comfort.  Smart, sexy, functional, and responsible.  What’s not to love?  But you know what I love most about this company?  They use a Mac to model their goods.  Because Macs are sexy, that’s why.

Last October, before I moved the blog over here to its own domain, I discovered Wendy Drolma (formerly known as Wendy Klein) and her amazing hand crafted leather masks on Etsy.  Since that time, Wendy has moved to a new website too!  She asked me to be so kind as to change my links to her.  I thought I would go one better and re-introduce the blogosphere to her handicraft.There are a few things I like about Wendy’s mask work.  It goes without saying that she is superbly talented and that each mask is a work of art.  Aside from that, she doesn’t seem to be bound by narrow vision.   Her masks span from the elegant to the dark, from the sensuous to the disturbing.  She has also come up with a unique “over the ear” bead design that holds the mask to your face without having to be tied behind your head.

I don’t want to tell you everything here.  Visit her website, which is itself mysterious and alluring, and check out the various designs, along with an interesting interview with Wendy.

I know we’re almost in February, and that oft dreaded holiday is just around the next bend, but I’m still basking in the pile of gifts I and my children got for Christmas. That put me off shopping for a while. Sorry I’ve been negligent in my Etsy duties. I hope you know I still care.

With all fronts on economy surrendering and throwing up their white flags, I won’t be doing any shopping anyway, but hey, a woman can still look can’t she? Besides, how I can I deprive you all of my latest handmade finds on Etsy. That would just be wrong.

By the way, I love the “connections” search feature on Etsy. I find a few things I like, then I get to see who else likes it too (and that makes them automatically cool in my book) and what else they like. That’s how I found these stupidly cute kitten wallets. True, I might not buy one even if I did have the money because I’m not sure my reputation could weather such cuteness, but YOU might want one, or know someone else who might want one. Come on. They ARE stupidly cute! Handmade of canvas and wool by Bubbledog, you can also visit www.bubbledog.com

A mere 17 days until Christmas and you’ve still got gifts to buy. (We’re not even going to go into how much shopping Velvet Verbosity has left to do.) Not to worry. I still have plenty of gift ideas to share, and with the days counting down, I’m just going to get right to it. Here are three funky little gadgets for the techie-geek in your life. If he/she is THE techie-geek in your life, than you get to call him/her “geeky-sexy”. Come to think of it, these little tech gems are pretty geeky-sexy themselves! Shop on!

For your traveling geeky-sexy, sexy geek.
A mini travel alarm clock.
Self contained, built in flashlight, teeny, sleek, and uber cool.
$25 from the MoMa Store

This USB 2.0 hub has it all.
Functionality
Style
Usability
Style
and
Style.
And it’s pretty cool too.
Also $25 from the MoMa store.

Welcome to the Sweet Edition. Hey. Guys? Over here. I’m over here. You know? I can dip my lips in sugar too! Now pay attention. It’s not everyday that Velvet Verbosity shares her fab shopping secrets with the public.

Dear readers, I ask you, is there anything more delightful than the sweets of the holidays? My sweet tooth says, “No Way! Nothing more delightful!”

Let’s get this sugar-fest started with a Christmas classic. (Sorry, this post will be slanted toward Christmas, it’s true. Call me politically incorrect, or get yer own blog!) Candy Canes!

Do you love someone who suffers from winter blues? If you could bottle the sun and give it to them as a holiday gift, you would, wouldn’t you? Wait! You can! For $44 you can bring sunlight to your favorite seasonal depressive. You have GOT to check this out.

If there’s anything cuter than pixie hats, it’s penguins.
Come on, penguin daddies suffer bitter cold and harsh winds to
protect their one precious offspring and they come
dressed to impress every day!
This little fella is safe for newborns and safe for your wallet at $16.

I’ve always been a fan of the Waldorf style dolls.
I can imagine I would have adored one or two of these
sweet little Wee Pocket Babies ($7.50) when I was a girl.
Each doll is custom made to order by germandolls of Etsy.

If you didn’t like the hip Tall Bear, you probably prefer these
more traditional stuffed critters from The Land of Nod.
Even my 15 year old loves these guys.
$12-$24

The great thing about hats and mittens like these
is that young kids will love them because,
“OMG, I can wear a monkey on my head” and older kids
will love them, well, because, older kids are just so
cool they know where it’s at!
These sets are from Garnet Hill with a price range from
$24 - $50

Finally, a bright take on some classic games.
Make 5 is a two-player game for 8 and up.
Travel sack and self-contained makes it great even for the car.
$20

Stay tuned. There is still so much more to come!