Amy Kate just listed a few new bags for sale, click here to check them out!

This is a big deal folks! An unbelievably cool event is letting US have a booth, whaaaaaat?! Amy Kate will be there representing. If you are in the area, you need to go to this real bad. This is one of those things that is fun for the whole family, if you should feel the need to take them with you. Read more about the event at their website, here: http://makerfaire.com/detroit/2010/

Join us this Saturday during the South Park Walkabout for “Craftabout at the Walkabout!” Sam, the kind owner of Whistle Stop Bar, is a big supporter of us crafty types and is letting us set up in front of the bar from 6-9pm. There will be about 10 different vendors selling items ranging from pet accessories to jewelry to baby items to…well, lots more!

Come say hello and show your support by getting a drink at the bar (I know, I’ll have to really twist your arm) then wander around South Park and check out all the fantastic local businesses we have, many of whom will be offering specials and sales that night.

Go to this website to learn more about the walkabout and the neighborhood of South Park: southparkscene.com

And check out the happenings Whistle Stop Bar while you are at it…

Not what you want to see a few doors down from your hotel room:

A divine combination of coincidence, sheer will, and the ability to justify doing anything I really want to do, no matter how impractical, will land me in North Carolina in a couple of days.

Last month, while wanting to execute myself for ever saying I would create 40 new bags for Stef and I to sell at our spring craft shows, I was simultaneously reading “Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records”. I came up with a plan. A wonderful, horrible plan.

See, I am painfully in full on crush mode for the founder of Merge Records (and leader of the band Superchunk) Mac McCaughan. Well to be honest, I have been for years, but the combination of reading this incredible, improbable story of how Mac (I call him Mac) and his band mate Laura Ballance made a huge success out of a tiny record label, combined with the long hours of sewing and dreaming of how someday Stef and I would create a super empire of Made With Luv, and wanting to get the hell out of dodge as soon as the craft fairs were over smashed into a remarkable (go with me, this is the rationalization part) coincidence.

While stalking Mac’s blog, I saw that Superchunk, who rarely plays out anymore, would be playing in Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill. The virtual BIRTHPLACE of Indie Rock. Chapel Hill. Located in my favorite state in the nation, save one, North Carolina.

CHAPEL. FREAKING. HILL.

Okay, no, I’m alright. So, I decided; if I was able to get all I wanted done, and then able to beat my previous sales at this particular craft market by at least 150% (whatever that means, like I can do math) I would buy tickets to the show IN CHAPEL HILL, and go down and breathe the same stale, beer soaked air as Mac for one glorious night.

Thanks to much plaintive begging, I beat my goal by 2 hundred bucks. I then raced home, bought the tickets, and by this next Saturday morning; I expect you’ll be sending your congratulations on my recent bigamy. I plan on A) being offered a job of my own at Merge, B) breaking down just outside of Bowling Green OH, or C) having a legal document with both my and Mac’s name on it.

Marriage License….PPO…whichever. As long as it’s notarized.

I was out with my friend Daynanonymous the other day when she said something so awesome, I pretty much doubled over with laughter. Here’s a direct quote:

“Remember when we were young and would wear the sweatpants with the elastic at the bottom, but we’d cut them off and use the bands as scrunchies. So we’d be matchy?”

Um, no, girl, I do not. Because I never did that. But it got me thinking, what kind of creativity did you used to rock when you were young? I can’t remember anything interesting that I used to do other than slap my cheeks real hard and pretend I was wearing blush. I was boooring!

If you have any awesome memories you’d like to share, please post them in the comments!

Bring your family to this event at Mckinley Elementary in South Park on Saturday- last year it was really fun, with games, carnival rides, good food, an awesome band and fun activities for the kids. Don’t miss it!

I’ve lived in California for 14 years now, and in that time I have never felt an earthquake. Ok, well once I guess, but I thought the rattling apartment was caused by a big truck going down the alley next to the building. So that one doesn’t count, since I didn’t know what was happening.

Today, however, I was sitting in Whistle Stop, doing some knitting and chatting with my ladies, when all of a sudden I started swaying. I thought maybe I was in the process of having a “spell”, or a real live swooning moment, but then I realized everyone else had that same “wtf” look on their face that I was sure was on mine. The empty bar stool in front of me was shaking, the street sign and trees out the window were moving, and everyone was looking around nervously.

The crazy thing about this was how it just kept GOING. It’s one of those things that you kind of expect to be over by the time you realize what’s happening, but this one just kept going and going so long that even the jaded natives were like “Seriously? Usually they are over by now!” and you start to wonder if you should go outside or hide under a table, and how many snacks do you have in your purse, exactly, in case you get buried in rubble for more than an hour?

The whole thing probably didn’t last more than a minute or two, but long enough to give me some serious motion sickness. I was queasy for about two hours. I hadn’t planned on drinking today, but my rattled nerves were so glad this happened while I was in a bar and could easily grab a stiff drink!

Recently, Erin Caudell, a powerhouse in the Flint revitalization scene, asked me to speak to a group of neighborhood leaders that are partaking in a urban renewal initiative here. She asked me to speak about entrepreneurship, and a group I am a part of called Flint Handmade. This is how it went:

Hello Everyone. I am Amy Kelsey, I am speaking to you tonight as 1/2 of the business that I do as “Made with Luv” and 1/4 of the team of Flint Handmade, a craft collective here in Flint.

I am a stay at home mother of 4 who is also running a miniscule crafting empire with one of my best friends, who now lives in California. What started out 2 years ago as crafting a unique baby gift for a friend has developed into a small business that I could not be happier with. I make and sell purses, accessories and home décor items, both online and here in the community. It’s exciting, challenging and very rewarding.

One of the biggest challenges I faced when I took on this idea is one that almost everyone has in common. Their boss. When you work for yourself, you are facing one of the toughest CEO’s you will ever know. This is a person who unsympathetically expects you to be able to overcome uncomfortable working conditions, all for the success of the company. When you work for yourself, you are subject to the same kinds of unforgiving demands that you would find in any office, with one big difference. As an employee, you actually care about the success of the company. You will work harder than seems fair, even to you. You will sacrifice showering, and free time, and lunch breaks, and still manage to feel guilty about your work ethic. Your downtime, when you get it, is spent kicking yourself over the things you didn’t get done, and you tend to forget to recognize the high quality of the work you did do. In short, you will find yourself to be a tyrant.

That being said, you also have to face another monster. The employee. As your own employee, you will face lack of motivation, stubbornness, and a general rebellious attitude at times. You will have to encourage yourself, when sales aren’t there to do it for you. You have to overcome boredom and the nagging negative voice in that back of your head that shouts everything from “you aren’t good enough” to “Look! There’s a squirrel!”

But the rewards of building something with your hands and brains and very spirit are so exhilarating that you will never be sorry, if you doing something that you love. You will go to bed tired, vowing to take a long break, and wake up with an idea that motivates you for an entire week. Just when you feel frustrated, someone unexpected takes notice, and you have to look at what you, YOU, have done through their eyes, and even your worst critic (yourself) has to see that it’s pretty cool.

And you are never alone in your own business, if you are doing it right. The more outside help and feedback you pursue, the better off you will be. Social networks, personal contacts, community programs, even just friends and family are priceless. One thing leads to another, your enthusiasm catches the eyes and mouths of others, and you are surrounded by people who support and promote you in myriad ways.

For me, one of my biggest support structures is the Committee of Flint Handmade. Flint handmade is a committee devoted to promoting, through craft markets, social circles and other various events, a spirit of creative commerce here in Flint. We put on two very popular crafts markets along Saginaw St in the spring and winter that have been very important to the success of many vendors, including myself. Beyond that we have brought an awareness that the act of buying local, and especially handmade, since it is a direct way of supporting local commerce at grass roots level, is not only important, it’s fun.

We sponsor a monthly craftLab, where crafters of every skill level are encouraged to come together in the act of doing what we love, in the process making and strengthening contacts to our peers and community.

Seeking out resources to support and promote a business are crucial, and there are many out there, in fact the supply seems unlimited. I look at the home business as the last frontier in a way, kind of an old west where you can be the sheriff. At your disposal are the internet, with it’s myriad of marketing opportunities and customers, and a community that needs your entrepreneurial spirit as much as you need it’s support. If you are willing to work very hard as your own boss and your own employee, see and use the resources around you and just believe in your own abilities, I believe your success is a guarantee.

Thank you, Erin for asking me to speak, and thank you all for listening.