Burning Up the Nursery?

I was trying to figure out how to make sure that my wee little doors and the trinket chests could be recognized as being done by me.

The Flower Petal Faeries were easy, on the very bottom petticoat layer, I have hand written in the nurseries initials, the year and the faerie's name.

All of the packaging was easy as I just ordered rubber stamps with the company full name and the logo. So everything paper gets stamped.

Now back to the wood products! My husband suggested looking into some type of branding iron?? Off to the good ole internet I went. I made contact with Brand New Industries Inc. and with the help of Alyssa, I approved a branding plate. It took a bit to figure out exactly which branding iron would suit my purposes the best (in case I ever wanted to get a plate made with the company name on it).

But here is the final product. A big thank you goes out to my husband who was kind enough to do all of the branding for me....that is 80 faerie doors and 60 trinket chests (yes, more on their way in the mail).

It's a dusty job!

Well I managed to get 18 doors sanded today. Was able to sit in the sunshine and work away. Had Hubby take a few pics...not the best side of me lol. But cool that I can post a few pictures of the doors being completed. And yes, I was wearing all of my safety gear: safety glasses, dust mask and gloves :)

Close the Door by Teddy Pendergrass

Figured this blog should be set to music....so I chose this song by Teddy Pendergrass, I hope you enjoy it:

Close the Door by Teddy Pendergrass

So obviously today's blog is all about doors! Doors and even more doors. 

A massive thank you goes to hubby for cutting out my latest batch of wee little faerie doors.

We ended up with 13 of larger doors and 48 of the smilers one!! 

And that's a whole lot of doors.

So now the rest of the work is up to me. 

These doors will all need to be sanded down. Next they will be coated with out 

Varathane Diamond Wood Finish Outdoor Water Based sealant. 

Here are the pictures of the doors in the 'raw'. 

As you can see there is a lot of character and markings on the wood. 

I can't wait to see them finished.

Again thank you to Freund's Building Supplies for the donation :)

Wow....a New Year already!

Looks like I have been a little negligent in my blogging.

Well 2011 ended with a huge a success :)

I attended two local craft fairs in November and December.

The one held at Aurora College (November) was a great learning experience.
Firstly a big thank you goes to my husband for helping me set up and for keeping me company. Secondly a big thank you goes to my bestest friend Debora (even though she was sick) for bringing her smile.
I was given only a small table and was only able to lay things flat in trays. I can understand why no one knew what I was trying to sell. Unfortunately I had no sales for the gift bags but it was hard to display them and I don't think that no one really knew what they were all about. Mind you my stuff is pretty eclectic for the small community that I live in.
The Faerie Doors went better but again they were hard to display as well. Due to the small nature of the items I had to keep them covered up on a tray. I was successful in selling 5 complete doors sets though.


The second craft sale was held in December at the Metis Hall. It was a better presentation and I definitely used the first attempt as a learning tool. This time I had a massive table. My husband had gone a cut down tree branches to help with the display. As well the Flower Faeries were available individually for sale. I think my packaging was 1st rate and really helped. I even remembered to add in business cards.

The saying my husband came up with is "Enchanted Pathways lead to Faerie Doors". What a great way to sum up my little company :)

I will no longer be making the gift bags except for family. I loved doing them but would have to figure out a way to market them better if I am to continue making them for the company.

What does 2012 have in store....

Well, I will be expanding my little company.
I just finished revamping my workshop after a bit of an expansion for work space area.
I will be adding cloth faeries, cloth/porcelain faeries and cloth DRAGONS!
As well as tea cup faeries! More explanation on this one to follow.

I am in the process of creating new business cards as I know have a Facebook page and Esty account for Enchanted Pathways. I will no longer be using the picture of the flowers but will design my logo around the swirls and fancy font :)

I have purchased many new items for the company...too many to list and show but I will show a few over the next few days as I would like to thank certain sellers/ artists that have helped me create the vision for my company.

New Year's resolution...be a better wife, continue to be a Mom and Amma Emm (to little Rebecca and baby #2 due in March), try to keep up with a full time job and to make Enchanted Pathways a successful business :)

Faerie Doors

Well thank you to Freund's Building Supplies for allowing us to go dig through their weathered forgotten wood in the 'back forty'. I tried my best to use the Dremel but alas my hands weren't meant to use power tools :(  So thank goodness for my wonderful hubby :)  We managed to trace out a few doors and get them cut. After lots of sanding the next step was to stain. So the pictures you see below are from the design/concept stage all the way the completed dried second coat of stain. The doors are measuring approximately 6" x 3.5". Wood widths are varying depending on the type of wood. I am trying to have them cut so all the character of the wood remains.