Hope everyone had their seat belts fastened since it was a very bumpy night that lasted 2 years!  Fortunately I was in a good position and the increase in on-line shopping was really great & kept me busy!   But now we're back to "normal" and in-person shopping popular again--so I'm looking at what shows to do (confirmed shows are June 4 in Gig Harbor, WA, and GeekCraftExpo on Thanksgiving weekend in Seattle--so some gaps to fill. Maybe.  Factoring in the cost of travel & distance, just not sure.  I am hoping San Genarro does return to Georgetown in September--that is a really fun event and I enjoy vending there.   And have more places to show my revamped booth decor!

But besides making guitar straps for orders, and creating new ones for stock--and eventually getting them listed--am working on items for the show in June--more wallet styles, coin pouches, and other small & giftable items--though missing the Mother's Day prep, I hope can appeal to Father's Day gifting!    For various reasons, I had to pull out of La Conner Guitar Festival (on Mother's Day weekend) this year, but I will be there next year!  

And not only making, but investing in a lot of new leathers for wallets, tote bags, guitar straps (base and layering options).  Have found some amazing new finishes from an Italien tannery that will appear in some shoulder bags and wallets...  and premuim veg tanned hides for gutiar straps.  My goal is to also try some unique dye techniques for the first time--to date I've only worked with factory finished leathers.

But along with the more expensive leathers--all my leathers have gone up in price--double digit % increases in some cases!  Yikes. And costs to sell on-line and shows have gone up, so I'm still figuring out all my price adjustments so I can still offer a great value, but not lose money in the process!

And new business card design ordered!  And resurrecting my AcousticNeedle.xyz domain--used to be hosted by Reverb, until they stopped offering site hosting in 2020.  For now just trying to point to my main site, bansai8creations.net (hosted by Etsy), but also just assessing the value of a separate site.   But will be nice to have the laser cut wood veneer business cards I made when I launched Acoustic Needle for La Conner Guitar Festival useable again!!

So I better get up into my studio!