Ready, Set, Shop!

I'm super excited for my upcoming craft shows.  To date I have booked the three southern California Patchwork Indie Arts and Crafts Festivals.  I LOVE me some Patchwork.  Nicole and Delilah put on one heck of a show and I'm thrilled to be joining them 3 times this season!

Please swing by one of the Patchwork shows to say "Hello" to Lucky Zelda and meet super talented folks that are all local artists hand making their own wares.  You won't be disappointed!

All shows are on Sundays, rain or shine, 11am-5pm & free to attend.

CULVER CITY:  11/4, 8711 Washington
LONG BEACH:  11/11,  Bayshore & Appian Way
SANTA ANA:  11/25, Sycamore & 2nd Street

For those of you in the Bay Area swing by Patchwork's maiden voyage in your neighborhood!
OAKLAND:  11/18, Jack London Square, 98 Broadway

A Milestone, Of Sorts

Several years ago, not long after I opened my Lucky Zelda shop, a dear friend had some lovely, light blue satin ribbon custom printed with "A Lucky Zelda Original". (She also happened to be the recipient of the first Lucky Zelda purse I ever made, before Lucky Zelda even existed.) I LOVED those labels. I used them. All. Every single one. I stitched them into each of my pieces that ended up being shipped all over everywhere. Once those ribbon labels were gone I decided to get even more officially official and had iron-on custom labels printed to match my Etsy shop's banner & my business cards. I've got quite the little brand going!

After doing some research I chose a company in southern California (shop local, people!) to print my labels. Minimum order: 1,000. What?!?!?! Well, okay, if that's the minimum. They arrived shortly. My bright blue Lucky Zelda labels in two packs of 500. It looked to be an endless supply. Last week...I opened the second pack. I have officially made more than 500 items since receiving my "endless supply" and now have just under half left.

I love milestones, even silly ones. To me they serve as a point to stop & look from where I've come, what I've walked through, who has been with me all the while. They are also a nice pause to ponder what lies ahead; for me & for Lucky Zelda.

My Saddest Post

Many of you know about the origins of my business' name, Lucky Zelda. But for those of you who don't, I'll quickly fill you in:

When trying to come up with a name, I asked friends & family for suggestions. I didn't want my name to be in the business name, i.e. "Cate's Creations" nor did I want the name to be item specific, i.e. "Pretty Purses", as I wanted the freedom to make whatever I was in the mood to make. At work one day we were chatting about possibilities & I just blurted out, "Maybe I should just name it after my dogs, Lucky Zelda." The whole room had an "ah ha!" moment. Thus Lucky Zelda was born. It's always amusing when I'm at craft shows & people will call me Zelda, tell me about their grandma Zelda, sneak a photo of my banner to send to their Aunt Zelda. Once I had a man sheepishly tell me his dog was named Zelda. "Mine too!", I said.

I am an animal lover & come by it honestly, from a long line of animal lovers. Dogs have always been members of our family. I think they're one of God's greatest inventions. The dog.

My husband, Kaisara, & I got Zelda from a foster home April, 2001. We weren't in our condo for 2 months before it had a dog-shaped hole that needed filled and Zelda filled that hole magically. She came with issues & stayed a little neurotic but she's our first dog together & Kaisara's first dog at all. Road trips, camping, hiking, going to mom & dad's, all of it. If we could take Zelda, why wouldn't we.

Lucky belonged to Kaisara's sister & he came to stay with us while the family was on vacation. Once they returned, it was decided he would stay with us as he & Zelda were good company for eachother. In September 2006 we had to say goodbye to Lucky due to kidney failure & likely cancer.

I'm shocked that it's been that long. Wow.

And now after 11 1/2 years since we brought her home with us, we had to say goodbye last night to our precious girl, Zelda. 2 years ago she had a stroke in her spinal chord which she recovered from nicely but never came back 100%. She had been declining steadily, especially these past 6 months & last night she let us know, though full of life in many ways, she was ready to go. My heart is broken as I miss her terribly & do many things for the first time without "my moon" in orbit around me.

I will continue making my Lucky Zelda items, it will just be through tears for a while.

Good night, sweet girl. Thank you for being our dog.

My Day Was Made!

I received some great feedback from a customer this morning. It made my day!

My "goodies" arrived this morning - WOW, WOW! Absolutely stunning and beautiful and fit to perfection. I can see that you are a true clothes artist, Haute Couture workmanship. They fit on me like on the pretty lady on your webshop modelling them. Stunning! Thank you so much again and hope to be a client again in the future.

-D. Bellettre, Republic of Ireland

Work, Travel, Sew, Work- A Retrospective

I haven't posted since April & I find myself wondering why: April/May is the last big push at work to get the last couple of shows up & running all the while prepping for the Patchwork Indie Arts & Crafts Festival in Santa Ana. A few short days after largest Santa Ana Patchwork show to date, I, along with the husband, & two other couples were on a plane headed to Fiji. Amazing. The husband has amazing family there with amazing hook-ups and we lived like kings for 11 days. Of course, there was some fabric shopping to do in between zip lining through the rain forest, outrigger canoeing & simply being still (which isn't so easy for me as some of you may know). I went to a fabric & clothing manufacturer & was able to watch them wood-block print their beautiful designs. What an enormous process with such a beautiful finshed product! And yes, I brought some pieces home with me. While on holiday I was blessed to have received several custom orders. The timing could not have been better as I am off of work in the summer. So, these last few weeks I kept myself busy completing several of my aloha shirts, 3 purses, a 1940's style wool pleated wrap skirt & a 1950's wool dress. The last 2 items just shipped early this week to the Republic of Ireland, which is an exciting first for Lucky Zelda. Those custom orders along with some much needed work room maintenance kept me busy during those off months & now I'm back at work. Looking forward to the months ahead I'm excited for what lies ahead for Lucky Zelda. I'm hoping to participate again in Patchwork in a larger way than ever before and there's a possibility of Lucky Zelda being featured in an event that would be brand new & exciting for me. Hopefully more on that to come. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, he's a little photo of one of the custom pieces from my summer's work.

Don't Miss These Shows!

Lucky Zelda is joining Patchwork Indie Art & Craft Festival this May for the 7th time! It was a great show when I first joined as a vendor so many years ago & since then it has grown into an amazing event now with 3 locations. Though Nicole & Delilah have gotten a huge fan base for their great shows, Patchwork remains a wonderful, friendly atmosphere, for vendors & shoppers alike. I look so forward to these shows twice a year & can't believe it's almost that time of year again!

Do your handmade shopper's heart a huge favor & plan to stop by at least 1 of these great shows this season! Of course, visiting all 3 is best since different vendors are at each one. It's not just the same show 3 times. It's 3 GREAT shows that are similar in feel but have different things to offer.

Keep in mind that the Santa Ana location (where Lucky Zelda will be selling) is at a new location!

So mark your calendars. All shows are 11am - 5pm, rain or shine:

May 20th
Long Beach, Marine Stadium
Bayshore @ Appian

May 27th
Santa Ana, Downtown
NEW LOCATION***Sycamore & 2nd St.***

June 10th
Culver City, Helms Bakery
8711 Washington

See you soon Patchwork lovers!

New Pieces for New Shows

Trying to diversify my Lucky Zelda line, I've been adding more retro styled clothing to my inventory. This, of course, has been great fun for me as a professional pattern maker & seamstress for live theatre. I've been using real vintage patterns as well as patterns I've made myself. I am striving to produce items that will be consistent with the Lucky Zelda look. Beautiful, well-made by hand, retro styles that will look great together. I want my Lucky Zelda clothes to look great with my purses & accessories

Of course if I want my customers to take my Lucky Zelda clothing with them, they will want to try them on. To solve that issue, I (along with the most supportive husband) have created a great looking, private fitting room, complete with full length mirror. What a fun project! I'm so please with how it turned out.

Along with these new items, I am hoping to continue to take these new pieces to new shows this year. A couple of weeks ago I participated in The Pink Parlour in Arcadia for the first time. My fitting room proved to be very helpful & I was so pleased how many people were eager to try on my retro clothes!

I am now waiting to hear if Lucky Zelda has been accepted to Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles for the first time & to return to Patchwork Indie Arts & Craft Festival in their new Santa Ana location.

So while waiting, I'll keep doing what I love & am so blessed to do: sewing beautiful, high quality items that I am proud to put my name on.

Wish me luck!

Lucky Zelda is New in These Parts

I was looking for some new shows to do this upcoming season and I found a great one! On Sunday, March 25th, Lucky Zelda will be at The Pink Parlour. Located inside at the historic Santa Anita Racetrack at 285 W. Huntington Drive Arcadia, CA 91007

The Pink Parlour Festival, is a unique one-of-a-kind event that caters to women of all ages. This festival was conceived with the purpose of celebrating the creativity of women. Our objective is to unite women, while bringing together the collections that they create...The world of crafts have evolved and this a great opportunity to be a part of The Pink Parlour Festival, all the while promoting your business in a fun and exciting atmosphere. Our concept has been to spotlight women and promote community involvement.

I've been making more retro clothing over these past few months so I've added a fitting room inside my booth. But rest assured, the Lucky Zelda products you look forward to seeing will still be there.

I'd love to see you there! You can purchase presale tickets here at Brown Paper Tickets.