Monday, March 18, 2024
cat merchandisecatsDaily FeatureeventsmarketplaceOpen HouseThursday

Marketplace: Spring In-person and Virtual Open House!

My Open House tent in the back yard.

Join us for an In-person and Virtual Open House!

Sunday, May 2 through Saturday May 8, 2021

Because I’m crunched for time, I may have to curtail my blogging for the rest of the week in preparation for this event. I have so much to do after getting the car! But I’m so excited, and I’ll probably be sharing photos before and during the event.

In person or virtual, you’re invited to our Spring Open House, May 2 through 8! I’m busily working on the newest designs and products, like hand-stenciled doormats, suncatchers, masks, totes and accessory bags, and framed artwork.

I always feel bad that some of you who have been following me from the very beginning can’t be here for my open houses and other events. Often I have items I never list on my website because they sell best in person, and I always have discounts for people who visit.

Suncatchers

But I’ll include anyone who is interested and you can shop either in person or online, which means if you are nowhere near us you can still choose from all the stuff AND get the 25% discount I always offer at my open house events. If you are interested, please sign up for my Open House newsletter, information below.

For the safety of in-person attendees, it’s a week long so that people can spread out their visits and we can socially distance. I’ll have things set up in my house as well as my front and back porches and at least one of my tents in the back yard. For our friends at a distance, I’ll photograph or video the setups and share them through the week in other newsletters.

Boxed greeting cards on the front porch.

I spent a lot of the time I’d intended to use to design and make new things for this event and totally stock up for this and the months to come in purchasing my new used car. So right now I’m a little unprepared, and I know I’ll still be making merchandise all through the weekend and into next week. Over the past year I also changed over my studios and also changed the ways I made certain things to make them better products, and easier and less expensive to make, so that’s working in my favor.

Setting Up and Playing It Safe

Days and Hours
While COVID precautions aren’t as strict as they have been for the past year, they are still in effect. I wasn’t able to get a vaccine prior to this, so I’m using the setups outdoors where we can relax a little, and spreading out the times I’m open so that visitors can set an appointment and take their time, and be the only people here aside from myself.

  • Sunday, May 2 through Saturday, May 8, 2021
  • Noon to 6:00 each day, but you can make appointments before and after those hours if necessary. Because of unpredictable weather, and unpredictable wildlife, I will bring merchandise in from the tent and porches before dark.

The weather is looking good right now! Of course, it’s spring in Pennsylvania so we can never be sure.

Safety First
I’m also setting up for safety as well as comfort.

  • I am asking everyone who visits to RSVP with an approximate day and time so that I can do my best to have only one or two visitors or groups at one time and we can social distance. Please sign up for my Open House newsletter, below, or email [email protected] for other contact information.
  • Half of this sale is indoors, half outdoors, on my porches and under a tent.
  • I will be wearing a mask because I am not vaccinated, and I will be interacting with others who visit.
  • If you are vaccinated, don’t worry about wearing a mask unless you want to. If you aren’t vaccinated, please do wear a mask.
  • I will have masks, bleach wipes, hand sanitizer and gloves available for all visitors.
  • I’ll have the doors and windows open to allow for air circulation and to air from concentrating indoors. Please dress accordingly.
Masks and accessory bags

Shopping
You can shop online whether you’re local or not. If you’re local you can shop in person and return during the week as many times as you want, or shop in person and online. You’ll get the 25% discount on all your purchases made between May 2 and May 8 no matter how they’re made. You can contact me about something you saw in a photo or video, or if it’s not listed on my website, for more information. Remember that if an item is purchased in person it’s not taken out of my inventory online until I do it manually. I hope to do that promptly.

And you can Shop to Donate! My neighborhood’s cat rescue page is Cubbage Hill Cats, and in order to support the trapping and fixing and rescuing and assistance with food and medical treatment, I’ve set up a Paypal account to receive donations. The other administrator and I can dole out funds as needed. I’ll have a table of cat things, from tchotchkes to clothing to furniture, each item is $5.00, all of which goes directly to the fund. You can always donate more if you want to!

I will no doubt update with blog posts and send out other newsletters to give special details to you at a distance.

Sign up for a 25% discount!

If you shop in person, I give you a 25% discount on your entire order. If you shop online, you need a discount code. Either way, you need to sign up for my Open House notifications so that I can email you the information.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR MY OPEN HOUSE MAILING LIST!

Usually I send post cards because the cards are worth the investment, being far more effective than any electronic communications, but this time I just ran out of time to have them printed and send them. However, I’d love to be able to send you one for future open houses whether you are local or distant. Because I don’t want to broadcast my address to total strangers on social media I keep a list of those who have expressed interest and encourage them to share with friends and family. If you’d like to be on that list click this link and sign up! You can let me know if you want a post card, email, or both. I know sometimes it takes that much to get my attention for events.

Please contact me if you have questions. I look forward to sharing what I’ve created!

 

Marketplace

We won’t have phlox yet, but we will have a tent, and Mimi!

Take a look at other new merchandise and featured artwork.

Marketplace is a feature on The Creative Cat to share the latest coming out of my studio with my readers. Once a week on Thursday I feature something new in my “shop”.

Read about creating custom items

Find out more about creating custom items for your own home using the images you see here. Visit the “Ordering Custom Art” page to see samples and read bout how to order.

Find out about events and festivals where you can find me and my work.

Sign up for my e-newsletter (below), check the widget on the sidebar on my home page, or sign up to receive posts on Portraits of Animals Marketplace. I plan on plenty of events this coming summer in the Pittsburgh area.

It’s all done under the close and careful supervision of my studio cats!


Copyright

All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.


Subscribe to my e-newsletter

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© 2022 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Weekly schedule of features:

Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life

Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters

Tuesday: Rescue Stories

Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork

Thursday: New Merchandise

Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy

Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats

And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!

 
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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

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