Open Studio Tomorrow!

Yay its time for an open studio!!!! Come by tomorrow between 1pm and 9pm and have a visit, check out the studio and treat yourself to little pretty!

Studio is located at 7 Friendly Lane in the Village of Millbrook. 845-392-5618 or info@manictrout.com for more info...

Open Studio this Thursday!!!

I have moved the Open Studio's to Thursday afternoons/evenings and this week is the first one, yay! If you're in the area, please come on by and hang out for bit...

Rhinebeck Craft Fair

If you are going to the Rhinebeck Craft Fair this week end, I will be there! Not as Manic Trout though so don't get all excited...I am assisting an amazing woodworking artist and will be in building A at the end of the middle section. Hope to see you there!

Is pleasant weather too much to ask for?

Its not raining. Its definitely not snowing. In an evil twist of fate the sun is shining and its 100 degrees out! The first warm Saturday of the year and its so hot that its suffocating outside. Its too hot to move...and the humidity is 49%. Do you realize that I live in the North East and its early June!?!

Needless to say, there are no open studio guests storming down my door, so I have been trying to keep myself occupied until 5pm, when I get to go swimming.

Meet Mr. Crabby...no, not my mood, my new necklace...


He will be available this week...along with other animals I have been turning into neck adornments. This is my version of lemonade.

Open Studio this Saturday!!!

Open Studio tomorrow! The sale will be going on at the open studio too, yay!

First Farmers Market of the year and 7 Friendly Lane!

Tomorrow is the first Millbrook Farmer's Market of the, yay! It is also the first Saturday that I will be on the porch of 7 Friendly Lane...



Please come and visit if you're in the area, as an added bonus to local shoppers, there are exclusive pieces not available online, so drop by to see these special goodies!

I have tricks up my sleeve!!!

I am having a ball working on some new designs...most likely I'll be adding new things mid May. I am also working on both my Etsy Exclusives and some stuff that you can only get if you live nearby and visit me this summer when i spend Saturdays on the porch as a way to steal customers from the farmers market two blocks away...it will awesome!

I almost forgot...Open Studio tomorrow

I have posted and emailed all over the place, and almost forgot to let all of you know about the open studio tomorrow! In honor of Mother's Day I have invited the lovely and talented Randi Sue Forman to join me with her vintage textiles and knit goods, perfect for gifts...so stop on by for a sugar fix and to visit us!

Open Studio this Saturday!!!

Yay, its time for candy and cheese at Manic Trout!

Spring is here and Manic Trout is celebrating! You are invited to the April open studio, this Saturday from 10 am - 5 pm. As usual, there will candy, cheese & plenty of eye candy. Bring your friends and spend the day hanging in the Manic Trout hatchery, hope to see you there!

Allergies and Easter Candy

That is what my week has consisted of. Although it took me until Wednesday to realize that it was already allergy season for me. As my birthday was the day before Easter this year, my mom presented me with a mountain of my beloved Cadbury creme eggs...this happened once in prep too, as a result one of my friends called me cadbury for years! Anyway, I have been slowly eating my way through them all week, perfect timing to be all fashionable on Monday, although with my allergies I have hardly been eating, so I guess it all evens out.

Other then that I have just been prepping my tush off for the Bendels Open See. I have line sheets all ready and I think samples that well represent my work...now I just have to go.

One long weekend is upon me...a meeting at 4 and then work until most likely 1:30 tonight. Saturday my good friend Jono has a show that I cannot make, but will at least be able to pop into before work...Sunday I have to go the restaurant in the morning to do the dreaded end of the month inventory...then get my car inspected and washed before I leave for nyc. I will meet up with Gilly...and hopefully my long day will have made me tired enough to go to sleep, as I am then getting up at sparrow fart to go stand in line all morning. Then the 5 minutes will happen that could change my life. I will then lounge around nyc for a while until dinner at 6:30 with my friend Bryan, who is one of my favorite people in the world. Then finally I will get home around 11 Monday night.

I also have a show next Saturday! Woo Hoo, I bet if you come you can score a Cadbury Creme Egg! Speaking of Saturday April 5th...If you are in the Chicago area, please tune in to CBS 2 Chicago at 8 am to catch Manic Trout Necklaces on TV in a segment about eco friendly jewelry!

Catching Up

Slowly, ever so slowly, I am getting caught up...there is so many little bits that just add up to a mountain of tasks if I don't keep on top of them. The end of the month also brings filing, processing and inputting of all sorts of stuff...perhaps I should try to do this at the end of each week, no? Sadly, I still have not sat down to design any thing new in a bout two weeks, how sad is that? Well, after I get all of the new stuff added to the web site, and the newsletter out I can focus on that. I did just update the press page...well kind of...I have the covers up, I am still missing the scans...but I'm getting there one bit at a time.

I have an open studio going on, but I told so few people that I am jsut enjoying a god reason not to leave my studio all day...and I had to get up early too...imagine that! The weather has also decided not to be kind to me for two months in a row, as its pouring out!

Planning ahead

So I was just putting together some new postcards for shows...yes, i have finally smartened up and made a generic post card that has all of the dates for upcoming shows listed for the entire year...which means I just reorder when I run out, I already have shows listed in case you cannot come to the next one and...I am prepared ahead of time! I know, I'm waiting for the pigs to fly though my studio right now...I may be an insanely organized person...but I usually push right up to a deadline, I am never done early...I live for procrastination.

So anyway, while I was going though photo's I came across this one form the photo shoot with the divine Tara Wing and had to share, its so pretty. I do have another shoot planned for this spring...which I may even star in myself...imagine that.

New freak Like Me Necklaces!

Well, they are coming soon anyway...but at least I have them made and photographed!



I have been working like a mad woman this week trying to get caught up on stuff around my studio and on my desk. I have a bunch of new pieces that are coming by this week-end...



I have been previewing them for the past week or two, so there will not be any surprises, but exciting none the less.



All of these new goodies will also be available at the open studio I am having on February 9th, just in time to buy a gift for your lucky lady love or even yourself for Valentines Day!



You can find the line of Freak Like Me Necklaces at Manic Trout.

Yay, new jewelry is coming!!!

I am super excited! I know, you've been all...when are you gonna give us something new Sierra, lets get to it already...well it took forever to get the ideas to formulate to where I wanted them to start to go and it finally is happening, so here they come. I will start posting the new work next week, as the biggest of all Hallmark holidays is really close and I am having a big open studio on the 9th, so I must get into the production groove.



I am feeling color right now, so prepare yourself for a heavy saturations of luscious hues. The few first few pieces are a handful vintage lucite button rings, in a new array of colors, and two necklaces made with antiques brass and candy colored Czech glass.



I should really just give up and admit that I have a candy addiction and therefore most of my jewelry looks like you could eat it.

Open Studio Saturday Jan 12th

I am having an open studio tomorrow from 10-5 and yes, there will be candy and cheese!

Happy New Year!

I have fully enjoyed my mini self imposed vacation for the last week, but I have been itching to get back to work! I am very excited about this year, as always plans change and ideas evolve...so a few of my plans for 2008 may already have been altered. I though I might as well share a few of my goals for the year.

* Manic Trout open studios/trunk shows have been doing well and will continue on a monthly basis...the next one will be on January 12th.

* Continue to grow wholesale accounts

* Work with manufacturer to create higher volume of some lines, as well as recreate vintage pieces to reduce the amount of limited availability pieces

* Continue to create a higher end/couture line

* Add more One of A Kind pieces to the collections

* Increase online advertising

As well as things that I want to do, I realized that my planned move to Brooklyn in July may have to wait yet another year...I am enjoying being an artist in the Hudson Valley at the moment and want to become more involved here right now...plus the thought of having to shut down for a few weeks to move my studio terrifies me.

Oh and speaking of news...Manic Trout is currently in CosmoGirl Prom and Teen Prom on news stands now...woo hoo!

One day until my first open studio!!!!

I am so nervous about tomorrow! I ended up not telling much of the public at large and trying to keep it to friends and customers, so I should know every one there, but then I keep freaking out that no one will show up. I have been prepping all week and last night I even made cookies...if you know me well, or have been reading this blog long, you will know that I rarely cook, so the fact that I baked all evening is just shocking! Well now I have to vacuum...another feat I rarely do...ok, I need to do stuff...if you're in the area, I hope to see you Saturday!

Naughty Blogger

I have not posted in almost a week!!!!! I would apologize profusely, but I think that thanks are more in order as I have been so busy filling orders and restocking stores that I have not had time to sit down and jot out a few notes! You would be very pleased to also find out that I have been trying to socialize and actually have a tiny bit of life...and oh yeah, I remembered last week that I had to buy presents for my own family. The last few days I have been trying to clean up my studio as the chaos of holiday shopping lifts and all I have left is my open studio/trunk show this week end to prep for. Fortunately, I had a few requests for studio visits recently, so a shopping table has been set up since last week. I am now just cleaning up and making a grocery list. I am looking forward to the next week of relaxing, before I start prepping for Valentines Day, Prom and the Wedding seasons. It feels good to stop and take a few deep breathes every once in a while.

Snowed In

I think I am going to be snowed in today...it seems I have a great deal more to do then I wanted to admit anyway...so here I stay. Although I do have to run to the PO and to get my hair cut...but I walk to those so they don't count.

I did update my blog roll today...woo hoo, more ways to procrastinate!

Don't forget...December 22...Manic Trout...10 - 5...candy...

A surprise of a day

Today was one of those days when you dread waking up...you think its going to be the most miserable day, right from the start. But, as luck would have it...today has been surprisingly good. It actually began improving before I went to bed when a couple of international orders came in, as I just made international shopping easy on Manic Trout, I have been pleasantly surprised at how well its gone! I woke up at a someone reasonable hour, a shock I know! I had a local magazine call and request images for an upcoming issue, a close friend stopped by, I went to lunch with my mom and was able to catch up on the phone with a few girlfriends. I managed to get out a pile or orders that came in this weekend and even get some office work done.

I do not have to work tonight as I thought I would and so the whole night is blissfully ahead of me to make jewelry...as this is more goodness...a new customer picked up her 4th, 5th and 6th necklaces she bought this month and asked to have more ready at the Studio Trunk Show. AND my necklaces have been flying out of a local boutique...and they want more! I have also booked appts for private shopping prior to the show...so basically I need to leave my computer and get to work...I leave you with two words that a good friend of mine says that perfectly sum up my how I feel right now...Yehaw, yehaw!