www.handmadelife.com

Hello all!

We are super excited to announce the grand opening of Handmade Life's all-new online store. It will now be simple, easy and fun to shop for your favorite Handmade Life treasures.

As an added bonus we are offering FREE shipping on all orders for the entire month of October.  Just go to www.handmadelife.com and enter this promo code: ALOHA2013 at checkout.
Happy shopping to all!!!

Mahalo,  Erin Powers
Founder
Handmade Life

Big Dreamers Never Sleep!!

Who says you need sleep?  This has been my dilemma for the past week as I had been ferociously preparing for my upcoming photo shoot.(which went swimmingly I might add.)  With my business growing at a steady pace I finally decided it was time to revamp my website with some professional photos.  ( Not that I havn"t done a spectacular job with my super cool iPhone photos.  Ha ha.)  Anyhow I owe a giant debt of gratitude to my friends for making this dream a reality. 
Let me just start by saying that photo shoots are not as easy as I imagined they would be.  The finished products are beautiful works of art that show a world of glamor.  But let me assure you the behind the scenes was a slightly different story.  With hair and makeup, destination locations and wardrobe changes the day turned out to be a lot of work; and let me just say I adored every second of it!!

We began our little adventure at Intrigue Design Salon where beauty masterminds Noel, Kim and Richanne worked their stoke of genius with hair and makeup.

Then off to our first location at Mauka Meadows. A extraordinary botanical garden located in Holualoa.  If you live in the Kona area or ever plan to visit, you should put this on you top priorities list!!

I can hardly wait to get the final product from the photographer!!

We ended up at the beach for the best sunset I've seen in months.

So Blessed!

All and all the entire day was a blur of laughter and hard work for everyone involved.  I would just love to say a ginormous THANK  YOU to all my breathtaking models Ahna, Jennele, Regina, Megan and Destiny for taking time out of there schedules to be there for me.  To Noel, Kim and Richanne from Intrigue Salon for working there magic with hair and Makeup. To Chelsea,  Owner of Savvy Butik and Tonya creator of Primal Artistry for allowing me to feature their awesome clothing.  And to Kim of Kaiea Jewelry for supplying her amazing Big Island earrings.  With out ALL of you none of this would have been possible and for that I am truly gratefull.  So thanks again lovelies for a great day!!

 

Photo Shoots

  A big thank you to Tonya from Primal Artistry for including me in her photo shoot.   Photographer Chelsea Abril from Kailua Kona is so talented and fun to work with, I can hardly wait to see the finished photos. 

 We did the shoot in the mountains above Kona called Kaloko... A magical place, I swear it could be 92' in town and a 15 minute drive up the mountain and its a crisp 65'. Large beautiful Ohia trees are wherever you look, Horses running, its Awesome!

 I love Primal Artistry's clothes.  Tonya's Hand dyed, hand Sewn garments are sew soft you'll never want to take them off.   Here's Tika showing off one of her skirts.

 Model Tika showing off one of Tonya's Tribal breast Plate Necklaces.

 Models Tika and Mandy rocking my Handmade Life Eco Clutches...

OUCH!   I don't care how many years I do yoga I don't think I'll ever be able to do this...

Tonya doing her models eye makeup.

Chelsea the photographer was nice enough to give us a sneak peak at what the pix might look like when there out of the edit room.

Cant wait to see the rest!

Since I'm trying to get back in the swing of bloggermania  I thought I would post a photo for the I heart Macro family so here's a shot of a zipper flower I created.   I love the colors in this shot, so rich and vibrant.  I'm big on anything with texture so it makes me smile to look at wool close enough to see the fibers.

Oh yea, and this was taken with my iPhone. 

Tootles till next time...

Keeping the ball rolling...

Well in the whirlwind that was the holidays I am back to say that keeping up a blog is not my strong suit.  Be that as it may I will do my best to check in with you all as often as possible.   So to recap on the past few months I thought best to do so in photos over the next couple of days.

December was a wonderful month.   I never knew how crazy holiday shoppers could be.  That being said I'm oh so glad they were shopping at my booth.   Next year I plan to be ready for the holiday craft show hype.

As I mentioned before I moonlight as a waitress when I'm not knee deep in fabric scraps.  This December my boss was nice enough to let me host a small event on the dance floor of our restaurant.  I am thrilled to say it was a great success.   Everyones booth was so festive I cant wait to turn it in to an annual affair.

Lulus Cocktails, Crafts, and Mistletoe

December 10, 2011

Me holding down the fort at my booth...

                             Tonyas booth from Primal Artistry with lovley feather accessories.

                                          Jamie with Kona Surf Swimwear... Oh so cute Bikinis!

As far as January and February go Life has been its normal kind of crazy.  Building inventory and conjuring up new designs for spring.  Here are a few in the store as of today.  More to come throughout the week

Hope all is well with everyone.



A Bib for a Birthday...

Who says grownups don't need bibs!   Well certainly not my bosses girlfriend. When I'm not creating goodies for Handmade Life Hawaii, I'm a waitress and a bartender in the service industry.   A few evenings a week I work at a little pizzeria called Bianellis, Owned by a good friend and Italian food genius George Goldstien.   The other night Georges girlfriend told me his birthday was around the corner and she new just what to get him.  A Bib!  After I stopped laughing I realized she was serious.  I guess she was tired of trying to get marinara out of his whites.  Anyhow,  Since it was his birthday I wanted to make it a little special.  She told me his favorite color was blue and she wanted his name on it.  So this is what I came up with.  

 My home is just riddled with plastic shopping bags so every now and then I recycled them by fusing a bunch together.  I thought this would be the perfect project to do so since it would make the bib easier to clean.  If you look closely you'll find a Ross dress for less, a Lowe's hardware store and even a Walmart shopping bag.

 I used any bags that had blue in them to keep the color scheme the same and paired it with some beautiful organic cotton for the back. A little embroidery around the name and voila.  A bib for a grownup!

I was a little nervous when she gave it to him thinking he might find the whole thing a little silly but to my delight he loved it!  Here he is Rockin out in his brand new bib!

And since it is Macro Monday I decided to use a shot of Georges Birthday Bib, So here it is.

The fused plastic has the texture of faux leather so soft  but surprisingly sturdy.

Don't forget to head on over to Studio Waterstone for more photos from the Macro Crew.

Hope everyone has a smooth start to a wonderful week.

A Celebration of Arts...

Today I was lucky to be apart of the Celebration of Arts Festival at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Hotel.

There were so many awesome booths. Locally grown food and amazing products all handmade in Hawaii.           

    I shared a booth with two oh so talented ladies Tonya Kutch of Kona Tree Hugger and Ahna Yapp of Altered Pieces.  Together I think we had a pretty snazzy booth.  

In the spirit of the Halloween season Tonya has been hand making from scratch the most amazing masks that have literaly been flying off the shelf like hotcakes.   Check out her selection Here.

 Ahna takes shirts from used and new and works her magic with the scissors to create true works of art .  Either buy one of her ready made creations or bring her that shirt that's just been hanging in your closet forever and she can make you any design you wish.

Next week we'll be at the Kokua Kailua street fair on Ali'i drive from 1:30 till 6 pm come of over and support local. Hope to see you there!

MACRO MONDAY AND A LITTLE RANT...

Have you ever worked so hard an something and felt like you were getting no where?  Like every word you say falls on def ears?  Lately I've felt like all my efforts to start this small business have been hitting that proverbial brick wall.  And then there was "The Breakthrough".  I don't know exactly when it happened per say but I came to a point this week where I made a conscious decision to change my attitude for the better.  Once I did that I began to notice thing just started to go my way.  I began to finish projects that were LONG overdue.  Made a few unexpected sales, (Smile) and even began to sketch a few new bag designs.for some upcoming shows.  I thank god for giving me the gift of creativity.  I pray I can catch myself when I begin to get discouraged and remember that nothing worth while happens over night.   This being said here's a bit of what I've been up to the past couple weeks.

A few clutches for the store...

           Thanks to Jenelle the best bag model EVER!

All should be in the shop by tomorrow.

Fingers crossed.

Oh yes,  I almost forgot my Macro Monday shot...

Check out the other great snaps at Studio Waterstone

                 Who says a great macro shot can't be taken with an iPhone...

My friend Lisa decided it was time I feng shui my home.  So to add a little life in the empty spaces she brough me fish.  Awesome!

Keep your chin up...