(Inside A Black Apple)

Red & White

A Very Happy Christmas to you!

1.) Christmas deer pin - a present from one of my favorite little girls
2.) The makings of bootleg filling for my faker Candy Cane Joe-Joe's
3.) Parcels getting ready to fly back East

I love how much my favorite color combination shows up this time of year!

This was my first year not returning to the East Coast for Christmas, and staying here in Portlandtown with my gentleman and my gentleman-cat. It was bittersweet, because it's hard to be away from our families and friends back home. At the same time, it was nice and simple and sweet to be here in our chosen city, with our own little tree in our little house.

And it was extra nice not to leave this friend behind...
especially when he's obliging with the holiday neck-wear.

Warm and merry wishes to everyone!

That Looks About Right

- Christmastime at ye olde Black Apple homestead -

Amidst the pretty holiday things, keen eyes will spot:

- A pile of little packages waiting to go out
- A giant Uline box of mailers
- A Josiah working away very hard !

The shop has been put to sleep for our annual Christmas break, and we're getting the last orders out the door today.
Then it's just baking, present-wrapping, Rudolph-watching, and toddy-drinkin' for me!

Reading Aloud

Ahoy there!

Well, it's been a few good days betwixt posts, hasn't it?
Crafty Wonderland this past weekend was, well, wonderful (thanks so much for all the pals and sweet customers who came to visit). My mama's visit was so, so nice (lots of hustle + bustle, but also some shopping and good eats!).

And my Powell's signing was really fun (thanks to all the nice folks and friendly faces who joined us for the evening!)

Photo: Lucy Berkley, photo bunny extraordinaire

Lucy snapped some cool photos with her IPhone at the reading/signing.
Pictured above, I am hopefully not rambling too terribly much and talking about my book, answering questions, etc.

Undoubtedly, the best Q from the Q&A came in two parts, from two crazy-cute little boys.

Little Boy #1: "Do you play soccer? Or, um, any sport at all?"

Me: "Not really, because I am terrible. It's not for lack of trying, though. I played softball when I was little and I was just too bad to keep it up!"

Little Boy #2: (presumeably, a follow-up question): "Why are you so bad at sports?!"

Me: "That's just the way it worked out. Hopefully I ended up being good at some other things, so it evens out."

Then I signed a bunch of books for some very kind people.
It was such a fun night!

Tree + Crafty Wonderland

Yesterday I made sure to take my own advice (namely, #10), and so we set aside the afternoon to fetch and decorate our tree. As always, there seemed to be a curiously plentiful amount of little mushroom ornaments in the ornament box.
When did I procure all these mushrooms?

If'n you're not too hypnotized by the glow of your own tree this weekend, please come visit us!

We'll be at the Crafty Wonderland Holiday Sale at the Convention Center in Hall C (a different hall than last year, so I wanted to make sure to give everyone the heads up!). Here's a vendor list and map o' the sale. Look for us in booth #118, next door to The excellent Berkleys.

This is going to be a big, busy weekend - my mom is coming in to town for a visit, and then my Powell's signing is Monday. Goodness gracious!
Happy weekend to you!

The Unsuspecting Business Lady

Hello there!
I am happy to be able to point you over to my very own Business Lady post which is up on Design Sponge today. Please hop over and take a look!

It's a list of ten tips for cottage-industry and tiny business owners, like myself and many of my friends, to make the holiday season go as smoothly as possible, and I hope it's at least a little bit helpful.

  

Truthfully, it's still a surprise to me that people ask for my advice, or consider me a Business Lady. But I realized as I was thinking up these tips that I have accumulated some bits of advice here and there (usually through trial-and-error, or whatever way is the hardest way to learn things). I've often felt woefully unsuited for the business-y side of things, because I always thought of myself as an impractical, dreamy creative. Through the aforementioned trial-and-error, paying attention to what works and what doesn't, and with a great deal of reliance on simple intuition, I've learned so much.

It has been a neat and surprising process to see over the last five years that, slowly but surely, I've become an unsuspecting business lady - in my own small, funny way.

Recipe Cards!

I'm just so jazzed about these little guys, and I wanted to be sure I got them into the shop sooner rather than later so they'd be order-able for Christmas...

At long last, Black Apple recipe cards:
I've wanted to make these for so long, and I finally promised myself that I'd make them in time for this holiday season. I think they'll be so sweet as stocking presents, and a good little extra something to give with a cookbook or a kitchen gadget!

The dancin' food & friends in the "Kitchen Party" set come 15 to a packet, and they come to you tied up in peppermint string with a funny little strawberry card on top.

Fair warning, though: they're reeeally easy to give away.
Kind of dangerously easy. I keep wanting to tuck them into letters and packages and give them all away to my pals! They're just so small and cute.

Get your dancing apples and cupcakes and milk cartons in the shop now!

The last week was such an insane flurry of catch-up from Thanksgiving and trying to stay on top of all the holiday orders (for which I'm very grateful), we've been so happy to catch our breaths this weekend. I've got some cinnamon roll dough rising right now, and only a few things on my to-do list for this Sunday afternoon.

As much fun as all the hustle and bustle can be, the moments of calm in the month of December are so dear and lovely!