Allison Franks (Hobbit.Town Jewelry)

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Fancy Seeing You Here!

Well hi there folks! I do apologize for the disappearing act, but October was a VERY busy month for me. Between work, art shows, crazy kitties and Halloween time I was on a nonstop roller coaster of activities! But I'm proud to say that I am finally back on track, all caught up and ready for more. :)

Now I know you've all been waiting to hear about my adventures so let's do a quick recap shall we?

1. RAW Artists invited me back to participate in their Fall "Encompass" show on October 17th. I had a blast working with RAW last spring and was thrilled to hear they wanted me back and jumped on the opportunity to do so. So I once again raised the $$ to participate (thanks to awesome people like you guys) and went off to Austin for another night of fun!

Here's a photo of my booth:


I was BEYOND excited to show off my new Sailor Moon table cloth and brought a bunch of cute toys to keep me company. I even ran into some old friends of mine!  


Overall, I had a blast! I had a great spot at the venue too because when the traffic by my booth was slow I could very easily see the stage below and got to catch some fun live music performances and a wild fashion show. I barely got to do anything last time so it was nice to experience a little of the fun this time around too. I'd say it was a win win situation! You can't beat making sales AND having fun while doing so am I right?

2. RAW artists nominated me into the top 5 jewelry designers competing for the title "Accessories Designer of the Year". Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the top 3 as I'd hoped... but hey there's always next year right? I've thought about it a lot and I'm not going to let it get me down. In my own personal opinion my competition seemed to have more of the "marketability" factor in the sense that while their products were original and handmade they didn't look too different from items I see in corporate stores. And I don't really want that anyways. I just want to have fun and create the stuff I love. So if that's the type of criteria they are looking for well then I'm glad I wasn't chosen, you know?

3. I participated in my very first convention as a vendor at Alamo City Comic Con Oct 25-27!! I'm going to start out with a disclaimer for this one folks. I NEVER expected to do so well in my life! I certainly found my niche and will be touring the Texas area next year fitting in as many conventions as I possibly can! Not only was it good for paying the bills, but it instilled hope that my business actually has a future! Seriously if I can pull this off I won't have to have a boring old job anymore! My dreams of becoming a business woman might not be as far away as I'd thought after all. :)

I shared my booth space at the con with my awesome friend Elizabeth of Zombies Go Rawr and together we realized that working together was a lot of fun! So now that I have a permanent booth mate to split expenses and fees with it's going to make things even easier for both of us! Plus, I think our products mesh well with one another. She sells handmade clay items that are along the lines of my work and include everything from zombie toast to jawas. And the both of us enjoy cosplay! ;)

Here's a picture of us from the con:


Aren't we cute?? Alamo City Comic con was really a blast, but it was also very exhausting. For me it was a 40 minute drive one way and I was up at 6:30am everyday, home by 10pm and then up till about 2am making new items for the next day. OI! I think next time I'll just try to make a TON more so I don't have to rush like that during the event, but I honestly never expected to sell as much as I did. Which is awesome news!

Some other awesome things that happened...

I met Heather Langenkamp, met some very talented artists and scored some bitchin' prints of their work, found a TON of fun little toys to craft with for the cheap, got to oggle so many people's cool costumes and chatted with Maude Flanders of the Simpsons for awhile who LOVED my stuff!!

Look she even signed this fun little photo for me. :)


Seriously, I give Alamo City Comic con two thumbs up and can't wait to participate again next year. ;)


4. Halloween happened! Now because of all my other activities during the month I will admit I didn't get to watch AS many horror movies this season as I normally like to... but I still did pretty good considering. I was kind of bummed at first because I thought I would have to work on Halloween, but I ended up getting out of that. Instead, I carved my first pumpkin ever! I know kind of sad at 27... but now I can check that off my list of things to do (haha). I also painted a few mini pumpkins, drank some yummy brews and watched like 4 horror movies. I didn't dress up or go out, but I really had a blast just relaxing and catching up on movies. I couldn't have asked for anything else. ;)

Carving my first pumpkin:


Even the kitties had fun! This was their first Halloween after all. :)

My little witch Luna being cute:


Zora sniffing her first pumpkin:


Everybody gather round!


And that wraps up October folks!! Pretty exciting huh??

Since November started I've been playing the catch up game and now that I've completed all my open orders for the moment I've been taking some much needed time off and just relaxing for a bit. You know watching movies, catching up on comics, cleaning the house that kind of stuff. Boy did I need that! It's been nice to have some me time finally. :)

Also, I participated in a small country art show last weekend in Sattler, TX. It wasn't a huge success especially when compared to some of the other shows I've been doing lately, but I still had fun and made some sales. That's all that matters right? Alright and that about sums it up! And now that we are all on the same page I'm going to be picking up where I left off. So get ready for more adventures, shop reviews and general shenanigans. It's good to be back you guys! ;)

3 comments:

  1. Very cool!!! Yes wow what a busy month! But a productive one, you had many adventures my friend!!! :)

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  2. So did you change you costume twice? that's funny :)
    Cats must love pumpkins..I couldn't keep Sophie away from the real pumpkin or the fake one ..I haven't put the fake ones away yet but he is going to be sad when I do.
    Im glad you finally did a blog I have been missing it :) now quickly go catch up on mine!!!

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  3. Oh I wore a different costume everyday!! And so did Elizabeth. :) We love dress up time!

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