Cyber Monday Sales!

To celebrate Cyber Monday, for today only, we're offering FREE SHIPPING on all pendants and accessories in our Etsy shop, plus FREE SHIPPING on absolutely everything in our second jewelry shop on Etsy, Silver Squirrel!

The discounted beaded jewelry at Silver Squirrel is all one-of-a-kind, and I won't be making any more like it.

Since pint glasses are our biggest sellers, and shipping is a bit expensive, we thought we should offer discounted shipping to you guys. So, for the rest of the day, you can get HALF PRICE SHIPPING to the U.S. or Canada on all pint glass sets of 2 or more. That's right--shipping is actually cheaper if you buy 2 or more pint glasses, than if you were to get just one.

Don't wait! This sale is only going on for a few more hours!

We were going to save these Musical Heart Note recycled glass corked bottles until Valetine's Day, but I thought we should release them early. For a limited time, they'll be on sale for only $6 in our Etsy shop.

Fill it with your favorite candy and give it as a gift, keep one for yourself and put colored sand inside it, or use it as a scented oil diffuser. My brother-in-law designed the graphic, and we put it on these cute little bottles for his wedding.

(Discounts and shipping prices have already been adjusted, so there's nothing you need to do to get the sale prices. The shipping calculator on our website works differently than the one on Etsy, so if you order from BreadAndBadger.com, we'll send you a refund through Paypal, or discount your order before processing your credit card, depending on your payment method.)

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Thanks

I'm thankful for my wonderfully generous family, my supportive friends, and my kitty companions.

I'm thankful for all the amazing food that I'm still discovering, and learning to cook.

I'm thankful for my customers, who continue to support this little business that keeps on growing, which is still fun to work for.

I'm thankful for my dishwasher, which may be as old as I am, but it seriously cleans dishes without pre-washing.

I'm thankful for cardboard, because it's the best free cat toy ever.

I'm thankful for coffee, without which, life is not worth living.

I'm thankful for commercial shipping software.

I'm thankful for Portland, Oregon, for being the perfect place to live.

I'm thankful that robots have continued to allow us to live in peace for this long.

I'm thankful for Netflix, because I prefer watching tv shows as if they were trade paperbacks anyway.

I'm thankful for all the people and places that I can get recycled packing materials from.

I'm thankful for digital photography.

I'm thankful for reading in bed.

I'm thankful for webcomics, and art, and humor and imagination.

I'm thankful for all the new things that I'm going to get to try in the next year.

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1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse

I'm in a book!! It's pretty crazy to see a bunch of my products in a real live printed craft book, but it's even crazier that one of the photos actually has me in it! My fantastic mustache pint glass model, Zoe, (screenprinting helper and daughter of Salmon St. Studio owners) is also featured in the book, and I can't wait to give her a copy.

Garth Johnson's 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse book is a huge image collection of re-purposed crafty projects, products and art. There aren't any instructions for remaking anything in the book, but it's a treasure-trove of glossy, colorful inspiration.

 I would have bought this book, even if I wasn't a contributor. It's great for setting on the coffeetable (or in my case, next to my computer), ready to browse for a little creative boost. I've flipped through it a dozen times, and I'm still discovering new things I hadn't noticed before!

Check out Eye Pop Art's Recycled Record Mandala bowl on the left page here, which is in the same colors as the clock she gave me!

I love that this book includes such a wide range of projects, from wearables to installation art. I keep getting new ideas for furniture and decor items that I want to make (or shop for--let's be realistic, now). I really love the cinder block drawers on the left page above.

This book would make a perfect gift for any crafter, hobbyist, or consumer interested in sustainable design, and looking for some eye-candy. Buy your copy on Amazon, or support our local bookstore, Powell's.

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Recycled Tots Packaging

We're very lucky, here in Portland, because we have Carton Service. I've been stopping in there about once a week to get recycled packing peanuts, large shipping boxes and whatever other awesomeness I can fit in my car (I can't fit a whole lot with 2 enormous bags of peanuts in there). Carton Service buys and sells packaging products for shipping or moving, and I wouldn't be able to run my business without them.

When we package our glassware to ship out to customers, we use a lot of crumpled newspaper to fill the boxes. Last holiday season, we kept running out of newspaper to use, so we had to buy unprinted newsprint in sheets and rolls.

We discovered that Carton Service has rolls of unused plastic-coated paper, which apparently, came from a frozen tater tots company! This paper is fantastic for our packaging, and I always keep a spare roll on hand in case my newspaper supply runs out. We got this roll recently, and it weighs a full 60 pounds!! If you order something from us online during the holidays, don't be surprised if you find this recycled tots paper in your box.

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New kitten!

 

We adopted a new kitten! Somehow, I thought that having a second little ball of fuzz and claws would help us be more productive during this busy time of year. Really, the point was to occupy our other cat, Rupert, who's almost 2 yrs. old now. He hates playing by himself, and insists that we entertain him constantly.

We picked this little muffin-face up at the Humane Society a few days ago, after a thorough screening to make sure she'd have the energy to keep up with Rupert and wouldn't be afraid of him. We named her Triana, and she's a dainty little thing at 3 months old.

The two of them are pretty fascinated by each other, and are getting along fantastically. They chase each other, play with shoelaces together, and Rupert likes to lick Triana's head. She's already a lap cat, preferring to sit in someone's lap to anywhere else in the house. We're getting a lot of work done, I swear.

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Housewarming

We've now reached that point in the year when Sean and I are completely incapable of cooking, washing dishes, laundry, or ourselves. So it's a good thing we had our housewarming party a few weeks ago, back when we had time to vacuum the kitchen carpet.

I don't think we've ever had that many friends over at the same time before! It's such a great feeling to have the space for kids to run around in, and adults to talk or sit or eat food, or whatever adults want to do. We had a fabulous evening, and can't wait to have another gathering. Thanks to everyone who made it, and super huge thanks for all the gifts. We loved your company, but fancy food, beverages and thoughtful home decor were extra appreciated.

The psychedelic clock is an Eye Pop Art original, hand-painted by our friend, Christine, on a recycled vinyl record. We keep changing our minds about which room of the house it should stay in, since we want one in every room! I love that the copper paint is metallic, and gives an unexpected shine when you're walking past it.

Mary of Lolly-tots gave us some prints of her newest artwork, which have taken up residence next to the seagreen glass hen on a nest that I discovered at a thrift store as we were painting the house. Our plans are still in the works, but Mary and I are working on collaborating this spring on a new project! Stay tuned for more details...

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Wholesale Updates

Last year, all I wanted in the world was to have wholesale accounts to sell to. It would be great to ship out a whole bunch of stuff at once, and then get a big check for it. For some reason, it was really hard to find stores that wanted to carry glassware at first. Over the year though, we've added quite a few awesome shops to our list!

Just this past month, we've gotten swamped with new requests from stores (and coffee shops!) across the country. I'm thrilled that there are so many brick and mortar stores supporting handmade businesses! It makes me even happier that they'd like to support mine.

The only problem is that these orders are wiping out all of our holiday inventory that we've been stocking up on. I've already hired our first independent contractor to help us out, and there may be more in our future. Even so, we've had to change our wholesale ordering policies and cut down on the products that we're able to make. We also decided not to accept any new wholesale accounts until we can reevaluate our situation in the springtime.

If you've ordered from us in the past, and would like to restock for the holidays, please download our latest order form here. If you own a shop, and want to add our products to your shelves for the first time, we'd really appreciate it if you contacted us in the spring. If you just can't wait that long, we can work out a discount for you, but we won't be able to give you our standard wholesale prices.

We'll be adjusting our wholesale policies and prices again in the new year, as soon as we're able to catch our breath!

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Motivation

My favorite way to get inspired is to talk to new people. I have a lot of friends who run small crafty businesses, but it's nice to get a new perspective by bouncing ideas around with people in a different field.

Today, we had lunch with Rich Stevens and Meredith Gran, who are both self-employed webcomic artists. (If you're not reading their comics--Diesel Sweeties and Octopus Pie, respectively--then you should be. Also, buy some of their stuff while you're at it.)

It was really refreshing to hear what other artists are doing to expand their businesses. There are a lot of opportunities for merchandising, cross-promoting and collaborating. Rich is a fountain of ideas, and I came away feeling excited about creating new products (as opposed to feeling overwhelmed and stupified by my options, as I have been).

I feel guilty that I haven't released new designs this fall, like I'd wanted to, but too many things came up this year that effected my plans. I'm storing up energy this winter like a fat, hibernating bear, only without the restful part. The holidays are going to kick ass, and I'm hoping to be revitalized come springtime.

I've been focused on keeping my business really specialized, and I'd like to expand into some new projects. Exciting new projects. Projects that involve other people, new art and whole new product lines. I hope next year can live up to my expectations.

[I mentioned recently that I was working on a secret art project, and this robot pint glass was it. I stole Rich's Clango artwork from his website, and turned it into a sandblasting stencil to make this gift for him. I plan to make more gifts like this for other people that I admire. All in due time.]

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A Real Mustache Mug

Can you believe this?? I scored this mug while shopping for other reclaimed mugs at the Goodwill today. It's a classic mustache mug (made in Japan), with a protective bar for keeping your mustache dry while you drink your beverage. I've heard rumors about these, but hadn't seen one until today.

Oh, and speaking of mustache mugs, I just listed a couple coffee cups and espresso demitasse cup and saucer sets in our Etsy shop, and I'm working on adding more soon. We're not taking any new wholesale orders anymore, so that should give us some time to work on filling the shop for early holiday shopping.

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Fan Art

♠ BOO
Originally uploaded by gbot

This is so brilliant, I'm sad that I didn't think of this myself. A customer bought a mug from us, then turned the skull and crossbones artwork into a jack-o-lantern for Halloween! Then she took some incredible photos.

Thanks, Geniva!!

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