Handmade printed pencil cases or makeup bags by Felicianation

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Hi! Long time no speak! I've been busy lately, with the summer always comes more face painting gigs, I love it, wish it was like this all year round! 

We're already creeping up on August though, so I know in my heart of hearts the fall will come creeping up on us soon enough. (I wouldn't mind so much except that after fall comes winter, and I may be a bad Canadian, but I hate winter!)

I've been working on some pencil cases, they also work well as makeup bags. I love the size of them, they can hold lots of pens and pencils (I love me my different pens!)

Stop by my shop at felicianationink.etsy.com to see more!

Paris pencil case by Felicianation Ink

Rainbow circles pencil case by Felicianation Ink

Blue skulls pencil case by Felicianation Ink

Patchwork pencil case by Felicianation Ink

Footprint pencil case by Felicianation Ink

Can't wait til my next post to hear from me again? Like my facebook page to stay in touch!

Handmade skull print t-shirt by Felicianation Ink

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What is that creative girl up to now? 

To be truthful, it's been rough lately. Adjusting to single mom life is not easy. 

Accepting that my old life is gone isn't easy either.  I haven't been as active in my small businesses as I'd like, I have good days and bad days. 

I've been working on some hand painted t-shirts, soon to be listed in my etsy shop: felicianationink.etsy.com

Thought I'd come share my latest tee here, let you know I'm still alive!

New Hand painted t-shirts from Felicianation Ink

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I suppose anyone who knows me would have known this was inevitable, but after designing fashion for women online, I started to get an itch... I wanted to get a bit more hands on!

The results? A new series of hand painted t-shirts, soon to be listed on Etsy at felicianationink.etsy.com 

I welcome custom orders - drop me a line through etsy or contact me at felicianationink@gmail.com!

Thank you for sharing!

Boxing week sale at Felicianation Creations

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Did he get it all wrong? Did you work like crazy to spoil everyone else and end up with a brand new kitchen appliance?

Well then it's time for you to take a moment to spoil yourself by heading to my shop for a beautiful, one of a kind creation that is handmade from polymer clay. 

My Boxing Day sale is actually a boxing week sale and goes until December 31. 

felicianation.etsy.com

With 25% off my entire store, it's the perfect time to get that box you've been eyeing, or even get a jump start on Valentine's Day, especially if you wanted to get a custom order. 

Because you work hard and deserve a "To me from me with love" gift... a guilty pleasure minus the guilt because... it's on sale, what's better than that?!"

More to see on my facebook page in the "Felicianation creations for sale" album... Still to be listed. You can contact me if the item you want isn't listed, or click the "request custom order" button from my etsy store to get the ball rolling. 

Thanks for sharing :)

This week at Felicianation

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Hey everyone! How have you been?

I know, I wanted to create columns. I said I was going to post regularly. Be on time...  But at least I'm posting!

I fell down my steps last Monday and probably broke my tailbone. I didn't go to the hospital since they couldn't have done anything anyway, but I've been in a lot of pain since. It sucks!

My fair on Sunday was disapointing to say the least and I'm feeling really stressed over our finances. I don't know how I'm going to pull of Christmas for the boys. 

Everyone keeps telling me how beautiful my creations are, but compliments just don't pay the rent and sales have been very slow. It's a good thing I have face painting, because it's been my lifeline. I was hoping to make my month of January from my November and December sales, but alas this hasn't happened. 

Still, I keep on trecking. A bunch of artisans from the Gatineau area have gotten together to rent a space in a mall in Aylmer called the Galeries d'Aylmer. 

We are only open for 15 days from December 15-31, but it's an amazing experience and I'm so proud to be part of it. I was so surprised to see the incredible work that was done to make the store really look like a store, not just a craft fair. Response has been great so far, customers are enchanted, and it makes me want to open this kind of store year round. I used to dream of owning a bed and breakfast, with this kind of boutique and a little breakfast-lunch restaurant. That still sounds fabulous actually, as long as I get to run the store and someone else runs the restaurant!

They've left a small area for us to bring in our material and work a little bit on site. I haven't gotten a chance to do that yet, but I seriously can't wait. One of my new friends is participating as well, and it's really nice to get a chance to spend some time with her. 

We met because we were members of various facebook groups for artists and artisans in the ottawa-gatineau area, and I saw her in person this summer when I was doing a facepainting contract in Aylmer and she was there with her beautiful glass jewelry. We'd chatted a few times and then got to do a fair together in November. She mentionned that she had a box polymer clay because she'd dabbled in it before deciding to go for glass instead... And she wanted to give it to me. Oh my gosh talk about Christmas come early. There are over 60 blocks of untouched clay in almost every colour of the rainbow. It's too pretty for words!  You wouldn't think so, but it's very heavy!

I'm also invited to go sell tonight, so I've been creating all week since a lot of my best stuff if currently at the Pop-Up store. Whatever doesn't go tonight will be brought to the store. 

Anywho, so that's my life in a nutshell right now. Though I'm not seeing the results I'd like, I keep on forcing myself to see the good side of things. 

My kids are healthy

I've reached 27 sales in my Etsy shop, Felicianation Creations 

I've reached 374 fans on Facebook. My page likes have more than doubled in the last six months

A post I shared through that page has now reached more than 5000 people and gotten over 900 engagement. That has never happened to me on facebook. (Even on this blog, my two most viral articles about current events reached a maximum of 2500 people... Though those numbers are much higher now but that's over time)

My google+ profile has been viewed over a million times. 

If you search google for Felicia Stevenson, Felicia-May Stevenson or Felicianation, it's mostly me. Clicking on images will show you almost every photo/illustration I've done or shared over the past 3.5 years

I've won a table at the Gatineau Business Show, which should be amazing for my personal shopping and assistant service. I've been wanting to push the business side of my services and this will be a great opportunity to reach my target audience. 

I continue to come up with more ideas for new projects and am excited about new products to be launched in 2015... Stay tuned!

I have wonderful amazing parents and great friends, and have made some amazing business connections

I won best kiosk and best customer service at a large fair I participated in this year 

Apparently 2015 will be the year of money for me. Geez I hope that's true. I resisted the arts as a career choice as a teen because the whole starving artist thing never appealed to me. Being broke sucks. Worrying about bills, rent and food is exhausting on its own, add Christmas in the mix and it's enough to drive a girl nuts!

Made in Quebec: Spotlight on Audrey Boucher

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Quebec is a beautiful province, and the culture here is unique and rich with talent, which is why I've decided to create this weekly column showcasing some of Quebec's most talented artisans. 

For our very first instalment, we will be focusing our spotlight on Audrey Boucher (born Caron.)  She is a 26 year old wife and mother of two "tornadoes" as she calls them (at ages 3 and 8 months, I can believe it!)

She is also the proud owner of Folie Plastic, where she offers all kinds of items for babies and tots, and has even started creating for women as well. As she puts it: "mothers deserve to be spoiled too!" You'll find unique bibs, blankets, bags and much more in her shop.

Audrey's designs have grown to include gifts for mom too :)

When asked what motivated her to start her own business, she tells me it all started when she was pregnant with her oldest.  She could never find baby products that lived up to her expectations. She was looking for a mix of natural and ecological materials, but with a funkier, edgier style. Since she couldn't find what she was looking for, she whipped out her sewing machine and started making the items herself.

Beautiful pumpkin embroidered bib

"But why Folie Plastic?" She laughs and tells me she was "plastic Berta" when she played roller derby, so she just added a little "craziness" and Folie Plastic was born. Her slogan is in french, but loosely translated, it's "unique and fun creations for babies and mommas that rock".

It's important as a seamstress to offer something unique, as it can be hard to stand out in a crowd, but Audrey has found a way to do so by offering different mixes of organic, natural and ecological materials. She also uses bold fabrics and colours that speak to the edgy, stylish mom. She's recently even purchased an embroidery machine, so she can offer even more personalized items, which is one of the shop's strengths.  She started designing and making her own items in the spring of 2011 and a few friends wanted to order. Then a few more, and it just snowballed until she decided to start a Facebook page and went public the same year. She had been working at it part time until recently in September when she quit her day job to concentrate on her growing business. 

My personal work space is my oasis, so I always wonder what other people's studios or work-spaces look like.  When asked about hers, Audrey bursts out laughing "it looks like a war zone!"  She's had several shows in a short time, has several orders and a new collection to prepare... She admits the studio could use a little cleaning, but it looks amazing in the pic she sent me. 

I asked her to tell me about her process, I wanted to know what inspires her, how and where it all begins... She says her kids inspire a lot of her products, so I would say the old adage "necessity is the mother of all invention" applies here!  She mentions she also gets inpired by materials and prints.  When she falls in love with the colours, texture, print... Inspiration just follows: music in her ears and material running through her fingertips...

Organized and efficient, she hasn't had too many blunders with the business.  She says her worst mistake was leaving to send a package and forgetting it on the table. Not bad, considering that sounds like something I do daily! The worst thing that's happened to her since starting the business was uncovering a case of plagiarism. Finding her own photos, right down to the descriptions and her own slogan on another person's website!  She wrote to the person and they took it down, but they never even responded. She felt hurt by the lack of respect for artisan's work. As she says "we put our hearts and souls into our creations, and we grow attached to them, it's so hurtful that someone would just steal them and pass them off as their own!"

Audrey being silly

She seems very happy with her life, you can sense a quiet contentment emanating from her. She says almost every morning is a magical moment, when she sees her three "dudes" faces.  That their smiles are her biggest source of joy. 

As an artist, her favorite moments are when she receives postive feedback from her customers. She feels so proud and it's always a source of great joy. It feeds her passion and pushes her to keep going. She mentions that the first few times she or her products were recognized were very exciting too. I believe it, I thought it was really cool when she mentioned she already knew my blog (I'm semi famous! - not!)

Amazing work embroidering this beautiful dear

Bad luck isn't going to stop this baaad mamma, no way! On the way to her very first fair, already as stressed as anyone who's ever done a first fair would be, the car broke down, filled to the brim with her stock. She made it there in one piece and a little rattled but enjoyed herself very much. She decided to return this year and got hit by another car on her way there! She laughs it off and says you know what? If I'm accepted again next year, I'm still going. 

That's right Audrey. You just keep on trucking. You're well on your way to making it to the "top" you see yourself at in five years.

I had only two last questions for her before we ended our conversation:

What's your wildest dream? "To sell to a celebrity!" 

And your worst nightmare? "That my kids lose their creativity as they get older!"

Bah, with an artist as a momma, I don't see that happening anytime soon!

Thank you so much for your time Audrey! Be sure to check her out, show her some love by following her or ordering from her shop. Perhaps an early Christmas present?

Polymer Clay Jewelry by Felicianation

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Only two days (I guess it's really one day by this time of night) to go until the big art fair, so I wanted to share some of my exciting new creations with you. Well, I think they're exciting anyway, so I hope you do to!

Tired of that ugly chain your ID pass hangs off of at work?  Why not replace it with a statement necklace that adds some punch to your outfit?

A little steam punk inspiration...

All of my remaining items will be available on Etsy following the fair on Saturday, but feel free to drop me a line anytime if you'd like to order a custom piece!

Drop by facebook and like my page at http://www.facebook.com/feliciamaystevenson