Private Party

A friend of Spunk's asked if S&S would come and set up our jewelry and accessories at her wine tasting party and of course we said yes!! We've never done a private party before and we had never set up our table either. We had designed and put everything together WITHOUT actually seeing it set up!

We got everything into the party in 3 trips - pretty impressive right? We got all set up and we think it turned out great! What do you think?

We thought it turned out so pretty and definitely a reflection of Spunk & Sass. Since it was a wine tasting party we brought a wine charm for everyone at the party...little did we know they would be super fancy and have stemless glasses haha. Oh well. We think everyone enjoyed the little "extra."

We brought our whole lot of wine charms. They are so fun and colorful! Sass's husband made us these really awesome stands to hang our necklaces on. They worked out so perfectly!!

The earrings display turned out really cute too! We thought it would be an easy way to display all the earrings and make it easy for people to browse.

We brought a few things from our new line of sewn things too!!

We also had some rings and wine bottle stoppers :) {sorry some of the pictures are blurry! the lighting wasn't so great :(}

We had a great time together and think it was a great first show of the year. We're very pleased with our product, the set up, the sales, and can't wait for our next three shows!!

It was a great experience to do a private party at someone's home and hope that maybe we can do some more in the future. We enjoyed meeting new people and just being able to sit, relax, and enjoy a Friday night with a bunch of other fabulous ladies!!

And of course, Spunk & Sass had to get a picture together in our matching shirts :)

{xoxo}

Spunk & Sass

South of Sheridan

Another day, another fantastic blog shout out! Go check out South of Sheridan for her sweet shout out about our Love Birds Necklace and a chance to enter her giveaway!!!

http://southofsheridan.blogspot.com/

EtsyHouston

We were profiled on one of our newest endeavors: joining EtsyHouston! There are a lot of really amazing artisits that are apart of Etsy and this is a group of us in Houston. We recently went to our first group meeting and enjoyed it thoroughly! Go check out the post:

http://etsyhoustontx.blogspot.com/2010/09/etsy-houston-profiles-valerie-of-spunk.html

T-shirt bag Tutorial

A a new part to this blog is that we want to bring you tutorials. We LOVE tutorials and find it to be a great way to learn. So we're going to find tutorials, try them out, and tell you how to do it! We'll also have some original tutorials from us too! Sounds fun right? We think so ;) The first one is how to turn an old tank top into a cute tote!

T-shirt Bag Tutorial

We found this fab little tutorial here. Spunk & Sass had a little craft day Friday night and decided to try the tutorial out. Let's get started...

Materials:

an old tank top

thread

pins

marking pen

fabric for flowers

buttons

needle

seam ripper

sewing machine

Find an old tank top...

Fold shirt so that side seams match and handles lay on top of one another. Measure up 5 inches from the bottom. Mark with lines and pin.

Sew a gathering stitch 1/4 in. above and below the marked line. Be sure not to backstitch.

Pull bottom thread on each side to gather. Once you have it gathered to your liking, sew a stitch down the middle of the two gathered stitches and along the dotted line.

Pull out both gathering stitches, so all you have left is your center stitch as shown above in the picture to the right.

Trim off the excess fabric 1/2 inch below your seam. Turn inside out and you're done!

Well almost...

From here you can add any embellishments you want! We chose to do yo-yos. You can buy a yo-yo maker at any craft store. We bought ours at Hobby Lobby. They are really easy to use and a great time saver.

Here's our finished product. What do you think?

{xoxo}

Spunk & Sass

Meet Sass

Who are you & what do you do besides "Spunk & Sass"?
I am a new stay at home MOM to the best baby in the world! J was born in February 2010 along with his older twin brother B. We lost his brother after loving him for 6 days in the NICU, so I'm throwing double the love into our strong little surviving man. So as my husband calls me, I'm a "home maker". I do the normal cleaning and straightening all day long as well as tons of cuddling our little man and getting him to develop into a smart little kiddo!

What is your favorite hobby?
Wow...just one? Probably my favorite hobby is to find new ones! I love researching a new idea to figure out where I can go with it. Right now I'm tiptoeing into sewing, very lightly:) I still love doing jewelry, it's just so fulfilling to see someone wearing one of our pieces and then to hear that they love it!

How did you get started with crafting and where do you find your inspiration?
I've always dabbled into crafting. I can't remember a time when I was growing up when I wasn't trying to figure out how to recreate something I saw. Having a mother, grandmother, and aunts that were the same way probably helped a bit too!

I love the outdoors, to look at them that is. I have horrid allergies. But nature I think is the best and most beautiful thing God gave us. So why not be inspired by it?

When and why did you decide to open a shop?
When Spunk told me about Etsy, I fell in love. I knew we needed to do something like this after all the dreams of opening our own store I had had. I believe that this was God's way of saying, try it! It can't hurt! So we did. And now look at us? Ha ha.

Do you have a favorite item in your store?
Wow...tough one! OK, here's a few...you can't really ask the owner to pick her favorite can you?

This was one of our first sales. The Live Now Necklace. I just love it.

This is one of my newest favorites we make. The Love Bird necklace.

Do you keep any of your things for yourself?
Of course! I was at the pediatricians the other day with baby j and a lady commented on my necklace and it just made my day to say, "It's from our store!" I think I smiled the rest of the day, after handing out business cards to the entire waiting room.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Well, with a new baby I could easily say there is none. But as I said before he is the best baby ever, I am partial, he sleeps through entire night and takes good little naps. So the minute his head is down I'm doing something I enjoy. I always take a few minutes to look up new tutorials of ways to improve what I'm doing then if time does allow I head to my craft room downstairs {video monitor in hand} and start doing what I do!

What is your favorite food?
Inexpensive Mexican Food...Celayas anyone?

Tell us something interesting about yourself.
Wow...something interesting...I'm really pretty boring. I think it's interesting, for me anyways...I love to organize, so I always dreamed of having a house that was fully labeled with bins and drawers and shelves...pretty boring huh?

Meet Spunk

Who are you & what do you do besides "Spunk & Sass"?
Howdy! I'm Spunk :) I'm a mid-twnenties, DIY addict that works 8-5 as a marketing manager for an engineering firm. My full-time job has me on my toes as I develop my firm's marketing department (I AM the marketing department) and show the world what great work my company can do.

What is your favorite hobby?
Currently I'm addicted to sewing. I can't get enough of it and I'm always trying something new. If I'm not at work or doing something around the house, you can almost always find me sitting in front of my sewing machine -- that has now set up shop in my formal dinning room! I also really enjoy reading and am currently in a book club with some friends from college.

How did you get started with crafting and where do you find your inspiration?
My family is pretty crafty so I imagine my exposure to it started really young. For as long as I can remember I've been crafting, whether it was coloring, making felt puppets, playing with construction paper or painting rocks. Yes...I painted rocks :) In college I started making jewelry for fun and that just evolved, as it continues to do now.

I really find my inspiration from my surroundings. I take everything in and I read a lot of blogs too. I just love crafty blogs. {You can find some of my favorites over to the right} A lot of my inspiration stems from something I want! I love to see things and try to make a version of my own. If I can make it, I'd rather do that not only to save money, but because I have a really good time doing it.

When and why did you decide to open a shop?
When I first found out about Etsy I knew I wanted to be a part of it. Sass and I were always having "craft days" where we would work on little projects, especially jewelry. Once we knew about Etsy, we started dreaming about the idea of having a store. It stemmed from the want to do it and from so many people telling us we should sell our creations. After much thought (and a little bit of cash), we decided to open up Spunk & Sass designs in August of 2008.

Do you have a favorite item in your store?
Oooo that's a hard one. I really can't pick one (go figure) so I'll pick two...

The birds nest ring in black

and the love birds necklace

Do you keep any of your things for yourself?
Yes! Absolutely! {Guilty as charged!} I am out and about a lot, so I figure if I'm wearing my goods then it's one) free advertising and two) a chance to pass our business cards. That's how I pass out a lot of cards. You just can't beat free advertising!

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Spare time? Que? Just kidding {kinda}...Spunk & Sass keeps me pretty busy whether I'm making orders, inventory or trying out new products i.e. product testing. As I mentioned earlier, I'm also in a book club, so I do read quite a bit. However, if I'm not working and I'm not doing things for S&S, then I'm most likely spending time with my husband :) I love just hanging out with him!

What is your favorite food?
Hands down, Mexican food. I love me some enchiladas or fajitas. We're really spoiled with Tex-Mex down here and I just never get enough. I could have it every night for dinner and be one happy chica!

Tell us something interesting about yourself.
Interesting...I did beauty pageants when I was younger and I can flip my tongue completely in half without my teeth :)

Welcome!!

Welcome to the grand unveiling of

Spunk & Sass designs
the blog!

We are are so excited to bring you this extension of Spunk & Sass and to be able to connect with our fans in another way besides Etsy and Facebook. We hope this becomes a "go-to" blog for inspiration, news, tutorials, and all things crafty.

First and foremost we would like to thank our fans for all of your amazing support over the last year. Spunk & Sass is officially 1 year old and we couldn't be happier. Without your support and dedication to our brand, we wouldn't have what we do today and certainly couldn't bring you this new little blog. We owe our success to you and extend our thanks times a million!

Stay tuned for questionnaires by Spunk & Sass themselves so you can get to know us better. We hope you enjoy them!

Welcome to Spunk & Sass designs, The Blog! We hope you'll browse around the site and check out our tabs. We're happy to have you! Last but not least before we introduce ourselves, here's a few helpful links...

We're social!
Facebook - become a fan!
Twitter - follow us!

The store

and of course...
the blog :)
http://spunkandsassdesigns.blogspot.com
{you can put that into your Google Reader!}

Be sure to check us out online and stay tuned. We have lots of fun things in store for you!

xoxo
{Spunk & Sass}