...and the winner is....

Alison Matchett! Alison wrote the following comment on my Facebook page:

Contest Submission! I would stuff the clutch with the Tim Hortons grind I have to take to work in order to have a decent cup of coffee!

Alison is my co-worker and she's referring to the coffee she has to bring to work because we don't have the best stuff to drink at the office ;) I put all the contest names in my toque in case you were wondering how I picked!

Congrats Alison and thanks to everyone who played! If you're looking for more lealou goodies, visit my etsy site here.

Grey Peony Clutch

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a slight obsession with grey... enter the grey peony clutch... get it here if you like grey too!

***also be sure to enter the contest... it closes on Thursday, October 8 @ 11:59pm!***

one year and a contest!

So it has been one year since starting up my little lealou shop and I'm excited to share some new things I've been working on. But first... to celebrate my one year anniversary, I'm having a little contest giveaway!


This is called The Fall Leaves Clutch and you could be its owner! How you ask? Become a fan of my Facebook page and leave a comment telling me all the things you would stuff into this thing. If you're already a fan, be sure to leave a comment because you're eligible for the contest too! Now I know some of you don't like Facebook, so if you don't have an account; just leave a comment here and I'll add you to the contest.

The contest closes one week from today at 11:59pm (if you're still up that late!).

---

on to the new stuff...

This is Kaite my 'little' sister.


She's about 10 feet taller than me and I can fit both of my feet into one of her shoes which makes her perfect modeling material dontcha think?

She's holding the Fall Leaves Tote. If you like this little number, trek on over to my shop for a peek. There are more goodies over there that I'll feature on the blog this week and next.

Happy Thursday and don't forget to enter the contest!

~lealou

red tent blues

I had my first official craft market last week and it has taken me this long to talk about it because it was SUCH a bummer. Well the actual craft sale was a bummer; the company was not. It was held in a little neighbourhood unknown to me really, which is strange because I've lived in the city for so long and in many different neighbourhoods.

It didn't help that there was torential rain for the first part of the market. No that didn't help. But I managed to snag a nice red tent from a vendor through work so that was helpful. It was ginormous and we managed to squeeze about 3 other vendors under the tent with us. The other problem was there was construction right in front of the market along with a sign telling people to use the other side of the street. Not good. To top it off there was a festival going on down the street, which we were told would be HUGE driver to our market, but really it was quite the opposite because were about 2 blocks too far east of the festival to make a difference.

And maybe it just wasn't the right market for my stuff. I sold one thing and it was to my friend that I used to work with (thank god she bought something!!) BUT I have to say that the actual DAY was quite fun and a good experience (lemonade out of lemons right??).

First off M stayed with me at the sale. I thought it was funny that he wanted to stay at a girly market, but he was so helpful and admitted to having fun during the day. Also my sister K was there from the beginning and then my other sister S showed up and stayed the whole day. They were all so supportive and the marketing gene that we all got when we were born came out in full force because from the beginning they were throwing around tons of ideas on how to bring more people to the market and to my booth. I love them all so much for that.

Anyway I paid for two more market days which kind of sucks, but maybe it'll be better next time. Maybe I'll look into adding more colour to my craft stash because this time around I focused on LOTS of yellow and grey (my favourites!) and perhaps people are into a bit more colour. Who knows.

So enough blabbing and complaining! I posted some pics below from the day:

Getting ready with K


The construction (and the nice "parking spot" that M scored after he talked "construction" with the workers...)

The goods


K showing off the goods

Two of my sales people ;)

My sister S showing her crafty pipes

My very happy customer V

a little obsession

Can I tell you how "busy" I've been in the past little while? I say "busy" because all of my "free" time has been used up with a little series of books written for teenagers... Ok I'll just come out and say it: I'm obsessed with the Twilight Series of books. There's something about a vampire love story that really makes my heart flutter. I told C not to give me the books -- it's just the worst time of the year to be head over heels with something other than sewing (don't the Cullens know I have Christmas presents to make???). Ok enough of that.


I have been sewing I guess. A week or so ago I did my first ever little craft event. I offered to set up a table to sell my stuff at the market bazaar at work to help raise money for United Way. Although there weren't a lot of people passing through, it was a really great experience because it got me out of the house and away from the computer. The best part was to see people I knew from the office "You made all this stuff?"


The Clara Clutch

I managed to sell a few things, but I still have lots left so I've put it all up in my shop. I can't really guarantee it'll get to you by Christmas, but if you're reading this from Ontario you'll get it for sure (some of you may even get personal delivery from moi!) And to keep with the theme of the original purpose for making these things, I will be donating 10% of all sales to United Way until after Christmas. How cool is that.


The Zoula Zip

View the rest of the items here

This week I'm dedicating my time to making the rest of my gifts for my friends and family. There isn't A LOT to do (who am I kidding) but it is still stressful (really, I love the pressure). I'm not sure if I'll get back on here before the holidays so if I don't -- Happy Holidays! I can't believe it is here already to be honest with you -- it really crept up this year.

later gaters
~lealou