From Bags to Drawers - A Studio Makeover Story

I'm a really big slob, can't clean for my life, and many would say that I'm a hopeless mess. As I've gotten older and my "artists" gene has become more pronounced the crazy disorganization has fully taken root within my home. I don't think it helps that I have 5 children (animals) under the age of 9 who's sole purpose in life is to destroy every surface of my very small home. Seriously, I think I have crayon drawings on EVERY wall - at least I can say it goes with the aura of the house :)

When I first began the many adventures of Not 2 Shabbey I was working down in my very sad basement. White walls, industrial shelving, boxes, and tubs kept me company. It was very hard to be creative in such a dreary place.  Soon though, as I became more and more successful, boxes and garbage just began piling up. In those early days - what a year ago ??? It was just me! And I was so busy filling orders that there was just no time to clean up after myself. So I finally had to seek refuge from the garbage and abandoned ship to my dining room table. There, I worked all week long - hoping and praying that my pieces wouldn't be broken by one of my children. Then, every Friday in anticipation of Shabbos, all the pieces and bags of supplies would be brought down to the basement only to resurface afterwards.



Baruch Hashem, within the past year my business has started to grow and is now beginning to flourish. No longer am I "Little Abbey Wolin" painting on her dining room table, but I have created a true honest to goodness company that pays employees and has a REAL business plan. And because of that, a new studio space was so vital to the productivity of the company. My WONDERFUL and AMAZING business consultant - Soshana Raff-  found me the best team of workers - Shoshi and Tali from Clear My Desk to come in and redesign the entire space. They not only did a fabulous job, but they intuitively knew what I needed. Here are some pics of the new studio :)

My desk in itself is so totally awesome. Buckets and drawers galore - I have a place for everything now. Each stamp is categorized and  every tube of paint has its place. I decided to paint one of my walls a darker purple - infusing the entire space with creative spirit.

My favorite place - by far is the wrapping station. Every ribbon is at my fingertips! It's so easy to wrap, ship, and package. It makes gift wrapping a breeze!

On the other side of the room is another work station for my assistant Heather. She has her own rack and shelves for paints and brushes. And then on the far wall is the "office" station for Natan our administrator.

There is just one thing you guys should know before I end this blog. This entire makeover happened just last week. During my CRAZY Pesach rush. How I got all the orders done and worked through the cleaning process - I have no clue. I am just so happy it's finished and that it is beautiful and above all else exceptionally useful. Now all I have to do is keep it clean. Thank God for Heather and my housekeeper. Without them, I think I would be lost in my own garbage.

 

So. I guess you could say that my new studio is  

"Not 2 Shabbey" 

What do you think? 

Do-It-Yourself Bag Of Plagues For Your Passover Seder

Pesach is around the corner and the time to prepare is upon us. I can only imagine the facebook posts that are already being displayed about the long hours spent in the kitchen cleaning, and cleaning, and cleaning.  However, I have a little secret to share with you……..I absolutely positively have no clue how to clean.  Somehow when God was giving out the cleaning gene, he promptly skipped me. For the first 10 years of my marriage I thought I hid it very well from my husband. It was right before the very first Pesach that I had to make on my own that it became rudely apparent that I lacked the fundamental skills of organizing and housekeeping. I quickly confessed my sins to my husband who matter of factly told me that he’s known for years!
Although God may not have given me the cleaning talent, he did bestow upon me an awfully good one. Creativity.  One of my favorite creative projects for Pesach is a relatively simple idea that I wanted to share with you.  Much like crafting guru Martha Stewart, I like making my bag of plagues from scratch since it gives over that homemade feeling you can’t get from anywhere else.  To get an idea of a home made one, watch Martha’s video here.  But instead of using the ingredients that she recommends, check out mine – I’ll guarentee they’ll be more exciting!
Here are the items that I like to put into MY Makkos Bags.

Blood

Now yes, Martha’s red cherry chocolate is quite delicious, but does it REALLY scream blood to you??? I don’t think so.  How about this Blood Putty for $.99cents- I will be my 8 year olds best friend when he opens up his bag, let me tell you!

Lice

For lice, if you really want to ramp up your Seder table give your kids each a small container of Glitter or Confetti

Beasts

For wild animals I personally love these wild animal bubble containers  which adds an extra layer of fun, but there are also these great wild animal toys that come in handy all year round as well.

Cattle Disease

These are seriously fabulous for Dever, Cattle disease, but if they really gross you out why not try the farm animal bookmarks which can be useful for the rest of the Seder or these relaxing sqeeze balls , all perfect choices.

Boils

Boils may take a little bit of work on your part. I would buy these sticky hands and draw small dots all over them, giving the hands the appearance of boils.  Cute right?

Hail

For hail I’m thinking ping pong balls.  Can you just imagine them flying and bouncing throughout your Seder!!!  HOW FUN!?! But if you are more of the reserved type you can get these reusable ice cubes.

Locust

For Locust you could go a little bit more buggier with these adorable snap & play bugs.

Darkness

For darkness your best bet are sunglasses which everyone has fun putting on and playing with.

Death of Firstborn

For the death of the firstborn these glow in the dark skeletons  are pretty freaky.

Frogs

Last but not least, your seder isn’t complete without some of these plastic jumping frogs!

How To Assemble

Now that all the contents have been ordered let’s discuss how it will be presented. Martha recommends using a wax bag, but any brown paper bag, or even white bag is perfectly fine. You can get them at any local grocery store. You can use these fancy craft scissors to cut the top off your bags, put each of the 10 plagues into a bag and fold over the top.   Attach the ribbon to the bag as well.


For the decorative paper that goes on top of the bag print out this coloring sheet on cardstock paper and give it to your children to color during one of the endless days before Pesach when they have nothing to do.  When they are finished (make sure their names are on it – don’t want to go mixing them up!) glue them to each of the bags.  It’s the perfect personal touch.
Of course, you can also buy a ready-made bag of plagues like this one if you’re short on time.


So while you are meticulously cleaning and scrubbing, I will be meticulously painting down in my studio bringing creativity back to each of your dining room tables.  Come and visit my store & choose something unique and special to enhance your Passover Table.
Share pictures of your Makkos Bags here in the comments or on our Facebook pages: KosherShopaholic & Not2Shabbey - we can’t wait to see them!  Wishing you all a Chag Kasher V’Sameach.
Not 2 Shabbey, Abbey & The Kosher Shopaholic, Shoshana

Personalized Hair Accessories - Giveaway Details!!!

Although I am a crafter at heart, the one thing I love the most is designing new and fun pieces. These headbands and ribbons were inspired over the holidays when I saw so many children wearing big "beefy" bows and headbands. I love designing new embroidery for yarmulkes and kippahs, and thought it would be cute on ribbons.

So there I am thinking about the embroidered ribbons and the next day in shul what should happen? In walks a little girl with a ribbon bow clip and her name embroidered onto it!!! At least I knew I had a good idea!!

What I love about them the most is that they are so simple and yet so unbelievably classy. My 4th grade daughter went to school today and wore her headband for the first time. I asked her if anyone said anything about her headband and her reply was "EVERYONE!" They all wanted to know where they could get it :) The same thing happened when I showed them to some post seminary teachers at my school. Squeals of delight! It was just so funny!

So I want to give a set away tonight to one lucky fan! Whose in? All you got to do is this. At 9:30 EST I will post a picture - you will have 5 minutes to tag the picture. If there are too many tags and it won't let you I will post an additional picture BUT THAT'S IT. Once the tags are filled the giveaway will close so hurry and don't miss your chance. One lucky fan will be randomly chosen as the winner!

They are made by the BEST hair accessories company on the market and embroidered by the BEST embroiderer I have ever worked with. The quality is fantastic and the price is totally reasonable. If you don't win one tonight don't worry! You can always get them here and just as an added bonus for the next 24 hours only, use promo code BOW10 and receive 10% off your hair accessories purchase.

Good luck to everyone!
Abbey

Gray vs. Grey

I have a confession to make........

I'm a really really really really bad speller. 

Truth be told I love to read, but for some reason the words that I read and the books that I seem to consume on a daily basis have not really impacted my success as a speller. My husband on the other hand, is a GREAT speller, but never reads. GO FIGURE. As an English teacher you would think that I could spell, but I can't. And just one other side point...don't you hate it when you're doing homework with your kids and you keep repeating the same word over helping them to spell it, L.I.T.T.L.E., over and over and over again till you're like.....wait...is that really how you spell it?!? 

But this time I KNOW I AM RIGHT. Gray is spelled G.R.A.Y. - so then why do so many of my clients and so many arts and crafts supplies spell it GREY.....Could I be {GULP} wrong???

I decided to go and look it up on the oldy but goody site GOOGLE. Was I perhaps the only one with this color spelling issue??? 

It seems that there is a true controversy at hand in regards to this color; or should I say colour? Because as you guessed this is a spelling issue that descends from our "ENGLISH" roots.  According to Google Answers, the two words have almost the same meaning in all cases, and g-r-a-y is simply an American derivation of the original British spelling g-r-e-y.

So now -  just so we are clear:

Gray is a color. Grey is a *colour*

I do want to point out that I did see another interpretation for the difference in spelling that perhaps may be very interesting to all you other artists and colorists out there. According to a very comprehensive color chart provided by Clorford.com (a trusted resource on color swatches) grey and gray are actually two different "color swatches".

Grey	Gray

A survey conducted both in the U.S. and England, many people believe grey is an actual color perceived as the hue of "silver", and gray is a sliding scale of values from black to white. 

 So there you have it. 

The next time you're faced with the choice of spelling the word "gray," feel free to go with whatever spelling best suits you at the time. I think I'll continue to use GRAY, just because it's been so lucky for me in the past.

But now I'm curious what do you chose? GRAY or GREY?  Comment below with your answer and make sure to add your email address and an exclusive holiday coupon code will be emailed directly to you, because we all know the winter is kinds gray..... isn't it?

I think it will have to have the word GRAY in it, don't you?? Wait, or should it be GREY? hmmmmmm......

OH! And how much will the savings on the coupon be? Well isn't gray a little bit of white and a little bit of black? The great thing about gray is that you can make so many values by adding different percentages of colors... sometimes it's even 50/50. So I guess you'll just have wait and see what type of "value" you will receive in you GRAY/GREY coupon code :)

Happy Shopping!

 

Giveaway Rules!

There has been lots of buzz on the internet lately about Facebook games - what is and isn't allowed. To be on the safe side I am moving my giveaway announcements to my blog. For all of you that are new or are playing the game for the first time here's how it works...... 

Before I launch a new line I want to get my fans excited and buzzing about the new pieces. So I set up a giveaway contest where my fans get to win the new products FREE!

Basically, I will post a new picture into the giveaway album and the fist person to TAG or SHARE (depends on the instructions for the night) the picture and comment DONE below the picture will win the product. Not strings attached - the customer doesn't even pay shipping!

There are a few guidelines though......

1) You can only win once in a giveaway contest. Husband and wife teams have won in the past, but it has been a controversial situation.....

2) You may not win for yourself on with someone else’s name. This applies to one person who may have 2 facebook profiles.

3) I will only accept DONE comments after the picture has been published to my wall. The photo as well as your comments are time stamped. Some times fans eager to win a product will refresh the album and the picture will come up faster, but it will not have been published yet and their entry will be eliminated. Refresh my fan page and you won't have a problem :) 


The GIVEAWAY SEASON is about to start and I am so excited. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!

If you have any questions, please comment below!

Make Meaning And Soooo Much More!

The crafting guru that I am, I just had to check out the latest in paint-your-own stores. Nestled in the heart of the Upper West Side, Make Meaning is a new twist on an old crafting concept; people + crafts = hours of enjoyment. Not only do they offer painted pottery, but they include glass fusion, soap and candle making, jewelry making, and card/paper crafts. There is an entire area of the store dedicated to retail shopping as well as an in house cafe just in case you need a quick fix. The loft on the second floor boasts extra seating room for guests as well as the classroom and party room.

I started my trek into the city this morning with slight trepidation. I was nervous about the the parking situation, but in the end, I found parking, literally across the street from the store! For 2 hours it cost me $6 - for city parking I thought this was GREAT! With my 3 kids in tow we gleefully walked into the store. I was met by the nicest and most informative "ACE" (Arts and Crafts Expert) who showed me around the store and demonstrated the process of most of the projects. Of course my kids immediatly went to the painted pottery area. What is with kids and paint??? "Don't we paint enough at home???" I asked them. I was so jazzed and ready to do candle making, but no my kids wanted to to paint. GO FIGURE.


I have never seen them so engrossed in an activity before. OK, maybe when they are tuned into a show, but this was amazing! For 2 hours straight they were invested in their projects, it was awesome! Here are the draw backs though. First off, I really really wanted to do something too.... My fingers were just itching to craft, but because my kids were working with such delicate pieces I felt the need to be near them, especially my little one Zac. The other drawback is that it was very $$$$$. Not only are you paying for the craft which most are in the mid $20 range, there is an additional $12 studio fee per crafter. To break down the pricing for you, Zac painted a small hippo for $12. Miles painted a baseball bank for $24 which was also the same cost as my daughter Juli's heart box. So in total for the pottery pieces it equaled $68. To me, an avid crafter, these prices are very reasonable, however on top of these prices, there was an additional $12 per child who painted so in total it cost $104. YIKES! This was NOT a cheap activity, and if I had known that all my kids wanted to do was paint ceramics I would have found a place closer and cheaper, BUT I really really loved the store!
 

 
Personally I want to go back on a Tuesday night with friends or my hubby. They have 20% off for threesomes or moresomes :) The bar is open and it just looks like so much fun! I want to do the candle making and I still haven't given up hope that I will learn the art. They actually have an awesomely simple way of creating funky chunky candles. Put chunks of candles into a mold add candle toppings and then pour melted wax. Out comes a super awesome candle creation!

I would also like to try the glass fusion area where they have specific kits for creating a variety of projects. You can make rings, cuff-links, platters, plates, and even mezuzas! There was another family next to us who were all working with the glass pieces and some of their creations were unbelievable.


All in all, my kids had a great time and I would definitely go back again. but for now I think tomorrow we will hit Barnes and Noble. My 2 older ones will read while my Zac will play with the trains, and best of all I'll pick up the latest book in the Maze Runner Series.   Oh, and I just found out that Turtleback Zoo is only $1 after 2pm on Tuesdays (shout out to Lisa) so I think I will be hitting that up too.


Happy Crafting!
Abbey

YAY! 800+ FANS!

You guys are awesome! And to show my appreciation I am giving away one of my favorite pieces to one lucky fan! In order to win this set of (6) wine glasses here's what you gotta do.

At 8pm tonight I will be posting this very picture up in my NEW giveaway photo album on my facebook fan page.

1)Tag yourself in the photo

2) Comment on this exact blog that you tagged yourself and tell me which is YOUR favorite color in the rainbow tree collection.

Once we have hit the maximum tagging on the photo the giveaway will be over. DON'T WAIT! because you only have one chance to play. I will not be posting anymore photos - and guys this one is going to go fast.

Once the lucky winner has been chosen I will check to make sure they have tagged the picture on facebook and commented on the blog.  I will then post the results in the comment section of the blog page - so keep a lookout!

GOOD LUCK!

-Abbey