Whimsical Art by Felice Kite

I want to introduce you to Felice Kite!

 

Felice has a beautiful family ~ husband John and two gorgeous and bright teenage daughters.  She has a BS in Interior Design from Virginia Tech.  In addition to her interior design work, she began painting about five years ago.

Felice and I knew each other in high school and recently reconnected through Facebook.  Long story short, I commissioned her to paint a piece for my studio.  Here it is:

Isn't it awesome?!  It's SO me!

Then she transformed this cabinet:

...into this!

 

I love them!  So colorful and fun ~ I smile every time I walk by them!

Felice is such a doll, so cheerful and sweet.  And so thoughtful!  Look what she surprised me with when I went to her home to pick up the wall art and cabinet:

 

Eke!  The (doggie) love of my life!  Felice expertly and beautifully captured exactly what Twyla looks like.  Look at the painting next to the photo she used as inspiration:

 

 

And I absolutely love how she framed the portrait.

I could go on and on about how much I love the pieces she made for me.  Seriously.  But I'll move on and show you some of her other work...

She really enjoys creating word art like these pieces:

 

 

 

Painting pet portraits is a fairly new endeavor for Felice.  Since painting her first one about a year ago, she's sold over a 130 of them.  Look at these cuties:

 

 

 

 

Felice also shares my love of the ocean and finds lots of inspiration at the beach.  Her mermaid paintings are quite popular:

 

 

 

In the summertime, in July, you can find Felice at Carolina Beach Farmer's Market on Saturdays and at Kure Beach Farmer's Market on Tuesday.  A beach trip AND art ~ perfect!

 

Felice counts her wonderful family (including her parents and sister) and friends as wonderful supporters of her art and business.  She says, "How did I get so lucky?  I will chase this dream forever.  It is a great life!"

 

I feel very lucky to have reconnected with her!

 

 

Please head over to Felice's Facbeook page and give her a like.  And if you'd like her to paint you something special, just FB message her!

Occoquan Arts & Craft Show Results

We had a wonderful time at the 45th Annual Occoquan Arts & Crafts Show!

 

 

With a  crinoline beneath my voluminous skirt I couldn't resist vamping for the camera before the crowds arrived.

 

Our pink vintage refrigerator and stove really helped draw people into our booth.

 

 

Both of the appliances were full of aprons during transit which cut down significantly on the number of bins we normally cart.

 

 

Doing my best Vanna White impression...the stove displayed my pot mitts.

 

 

The crowds were huge and the weather warm and sunny.

 

 

We sold lots and lots of aprons to women of all ages, shapes, and sizes.

 

 

 

 

 

Sold a few pot mitts...

 

 

...Quite a few shower caps and sleep masks...

 

 

...And a record number of insulated travel flat iron cases.

 

 

What really made the show extra special was seeing so many friends and family!  My brother and his family visited (that's him on the left, goofing with Captain Project).

 

 

My step sister (on right) and niece visited too!

 

 

It was a great weekend for Retro Revival which makes me a very happy gal!

 

I am Show Ready!

 

I'm drowning in shower caps!  Not really, but this is what 100 of them looks like!

 

Just two more days before Retro Revival heads to the 45th Annual Historic Occoquan Arts & Crafts Show.  I'm so excited!

 

I'm well prepared with lots of inventory.  I'll have 232 aprons, 100 shower caps, 45 insulated travel flat iron cases, 40 sleep masks, and 60 pot mitt sets.  And I also have some exciting new display pieces and ideas for my tent (pictures soon).

 

If you're in the area, please come and visit me!  I'll be in tent #107 on Mill Street (that's the main drag, along the riverfront).

 

In the meantime, Twyla's going to help me out of the tub!

 

Insulated Flat Iron Travel Cases Product ReLaunch

Did I tell you that our daughter and her husband moved to NYC?  It's been their dream to live in the Big Apple and her recent job promotion made it possible!  Captain Project and I hopped on the train for a visit last weekend.

 

 

Guess what was in my vintage suitcase!  (Click here for the prior blog post on how I decorated it.)  My newly designed Retro Revival Travel Flat Iron Case, "Grab the Cab."

 

The new design is roomier and compartmentalized, yet still compact enough to easily fit inside even the smallest of suitcases and travel bags.  For this first-run of the new design (available in my Etsy shop), I used bright, fun travel motif fabrics.

"London Calling"

"Taxi"

"World Traveler"

The sleek design has two compartments ~ one side for the flat iron and the other for the cord.

I don't know about you, but I am seriously attached to my flat iron and it's necessary to take it along on trips, but waiting around for it to cool off before packing it is such a pain!  With my new case there's no need to wait ~ I simply unplug it and slip it into this heat resistant (up to 400 F/204 C) case and I have no worries about damaging the contents of my suitcase.

 

"Pack Your Bags"

It's the perfect travel accessory for the gal who considers her flat iron, straightener, crimper, or curling iron an essential part of her beauty routine.  Ideal for travel, the gym, your bathroom cabinet, school, anywhere!

6 Easy Steps to Updated Your Etsy About Page

I finally made time to update my Etsy shop.  I'm a little late doing this, since they added the "Check out this shop's about page" a while ago.

I'm still not very confident with this computer stuff ~ I'm easily intimidated by having to make changes, afraid I'll mess up and break a link or something.  I really shouldn't have worried about these changes because they were pretty easy and didn't take much time at all.

Here's how I did it...

1. Under the "Your Shop" link, I clicked on "Listings Manager" (upper right on screen)

2. Next I clicked on "About" under the "Shop Settings" (about mid way down on the left side of the screen)

3. I uploaded a picture of myself as the "Owner" of my shop and clicked the "Edit" option to write a little bit about my shop (this is all under the "Members" tab).  This took about 5 minutes.

 

4. Then I clicked on the "Story" tab, created a headline, something I think sounds engaging and interesting, and then spent about 15 minutes writing my story.  Initially, I was thinking too hard about what sets my shop apart from thousands and thousands of others.  Then I relaxed and just started writing and the story came naturally.  Duh!  It's MY story.

5. Loading my pictures and adding captions was the next step.  Culling through hundreds of pictures took some time because I wanted to find the right pictures that best illustrate what I do and what I make.

6. Finally, I added links to my Facebook page, this blog and my website.

Since launching Retro Revival, sales of my products have continued to climb on Etsy.  1,162 to date!  From day one when I spent just $.20 and five minutes to list my first shower cap, I've thoroughly enjoyed the process.  It's such a wonderful platform for selling and interacting with buyers!

If you haven't updated your Etsy shop's About page yet, here's a helpful link: https://blog.etsy.com/en/2013/3-questions-for-uncovering-your-creative-origin-story/

 

And here's the link to my shop's About page https://www.etsy.com/shop/RetroRevivalBiz/about?ref=announce

 

Have you updated your About page?  Do you have a tip you'd like to share?