We Live!

Just in time for Halloween we rise from the dead (metaphorically, speaking, honest). With 3 weeks to go for Luna Park and we left you hanging! What happened at Luna Park? How was the FabMo event? What's going on for the holidays? New products? New triumphs?

All is finally revealed.

A computer virus caught us off guard. It went straight through our apparently meager protection and the consequent pop up ads drown me every time I attempted to update a site or so much as log on to the internet to check my email. While Andromeda (my laptop) kept me apprised of in-coming messages and orders, our pictures are stored on the tower computer, CASS. Fortunately Crow swooped in to save us and after four days of wrestling with the Ad Monsters, she secured clear surfing and gave CASS a clean bill of health.

Luna Park Chalk Festival was fantastic. We were in a different position in the park, surrounded on all sides by vendors too. A wonderful array of customers came to visit us. Despite having a few hitches with our display (both tables broke!), this year was just as marvelous as last year. Pictures and a more thorough entry forth-coming in an up-coming post.

FabMo was interesting. The event was inside, held at the Elks' Lodge in Palo Alto. The majority of the vendors were selling fabric goods such as pillows, quilts and small tapestries / wall hangings. Due to the restrictions placed on what the vendors can sell there, none of our products featured on the site were on our table! Crow tried her hand at stuffed animal creation and Mr. Snuffles the Alligator was born. I'll write up more on this event too, though we only have limited pictures (forgot my camera in the mad dash out the door the morning of). 

Luna Park Chalk Festival / FabMo

3 weeks to go! We're working every day to create a plethora of exciting things to take to the festival. If you're in the San Jose area on 20 September, I hope you'll come by and see our booth. This year we have a wide selection of new items, including Luna Park exclusive gnomes and pot clingers. Pot clingers are creatures that grasp on to the edges of a flower/plant pot for some added decoration.

In addition this year we'll be participating in FabMo! It is a local gathering of crafters who sell their wares on 25 October, 2014. The FabMo organization gathers all the scraps of the high-end retailers, decorators and other places. These scraps, usually in the form of cloth but often tiles or other objects (like leather pieces!) are then sold or given away to artists eager to turn them into blankets, stuffed animals, card holders or whatever-they-want. Six years running now the FabMo Textile Art Boutique (or FabTab) gathers all the artisans who have benefited from FabMo's findings, to sell the wares they have created from these donations. The only requirement is that at least 30% of the materials used must have been found at FabMo.

Coyote's Blessings will be there this year with never-before-seen items. They will be featured exclusively at the FabMo Boutique. We have already gathered some amazing glass pieces, leather and tiles. Crow has an idea for a stuffed alligator. It is our second vendor event and we're excited, as you can imagine.

And, of course, we are stocking up the store with the anticipated holiday madness (the busiest time of year!). Be sure to order your cornucopias early and miss the rush.

Stay tuned for up-coming photos of our products and the introduction of a new butterfly style!

2014 Luna Park Chalk Festival

Its back!

I just registered us for the Luna Park Chalk Festival for this September. We had such a great time in the rain last year, we're hoping this year will be just as fantastic. If you happen to be in the San Jose area on 20th of September, come and check out the festival (and of course our booth). There will be live music, amazing chalk art on the sidewalk and a plethora of fantastic vendors with hand-made goodies to delight the young and old. I think there was some face painters last year too.

We registered much earlier this year, so hopefully our booth will be more in the center of the hub-bub and closer to the music. They had great bands last year. Even better, we have more time to prepare! If you've forgotten the details of the festival, and how awesome it is, here's a link to my original blog post about it: 2013 Luna Park Festival.

Mushroom Series!

For the Spring Collection we created gnomes and mushrooms (since they seem to go together so well). Though the first few started as random mushrooms, when I started to create a mushroom from the remaining yellow clay, I decided to look on line for inspiration. There I found Egg Yolk Fungus. Also known as the Egg Yolk Fieldcap, it is the first in our mushroom series. Click on the name for more information about this bright, but inedible fungus.

Egg Yolk Fieldcap. Thanks goes to the Flickr photo.

Our version

Our series includes the classic Fly Agaric that red-and-white mushroom easily identified and oft associated with gnomes or fairies.As beautiful and interesting as these mushrooms are, like most red things in nature, they are inedible. Though not fatal to adults, they can cause severe stomach cramps and nausea. Best leave them to the Fey! Check out the Fly Agaric Review and Information for all your Fly Agaric needs.

Thanks to the Fly Agaric Org for this picture.

Our version

I chose the Indigo Milk cap due to the semi-deceptive nature. While the top / cap presents a pale "milky" color with a few blue splotches here and there, the underside / gills prove to have the most color.  The Indigo Milk is in the same family as the Fly Agaric.

Thanks goes to natureatcloserange.com for the picture.

Thanks goes to http://wildography.co.uk for the picture.

Our version - cap.

Our version - gills.

The fourth in our current Mushroom Series is the Clitocybe Nuda. This one is just cool because, who knew there were actual purple mushrooms? All right, all you knowledgeable mushroom fans out there might best me in your known information about these interesting fungi, but there are some of us who were amazed.

Thanks goes to www.asturnatura.com for the image.

Thanks goes to Natfoto for the image.

Our version

You will find these mushrooms (and gnomes) in our Garden Goodies category. They are on sale now - at "reasonable" prices (according to one gnome lover). Check them out! Feedback is always welcomed.


A couple of interesting pages about mushrooms in general:

• Tom Volk's Fungus
• Myco Tek Org
• Mushroom Info
• Mushroom Expert
• And... Reishi Mushrooms

Spring Collection Update

A short update on "the haps" around our store. Last time I told of the fantastic new set up for Coyote's Blessings in the form of a shelf at Philz Coffee Shop in Cupertino. Due to some internal issues, Phil  has put adding new art to their store on hold. What that means for us is over thirty homeless pieces! Fortunately Tina (from MVGS) is more than happy to feature our Spring Collection in her store. The collection should be installed tomorrow.

In other news, the store will be updated with items from the spring collection available for sale. Not all the collection will be on our site, so it will pay for locals to visit MVGS. Stay tuned for a store update tomorrow with chocolate coins, chocolate bunnies, prize winning rabbits and more!

Easter / Spring and a new display place

Spring has sprung, and Coyote's Blessings refuses to be left behind! Our Easter and Spring collection is just around the corner. Among those new items to appear in our shop will be four different types of snats, all good company for Love Snat (have you seen her yet? She's a beauty!). Crow is working on designs for pygmy-drase too. The Mountain View General Store will also be seeing new arrivals soon. 

Snats are not the only new arrivals in the store. We have two beautiful prints of amazing paintings. 

Tree

One of them was created by Crow- entitled 'Tree', this abstract calls to mind the roots and lower trunk of a huge tree. Or perhaps it suggests the swirls of an on-coming storm?

Blue Times

The second print is available for a limited time only - the deep reds and blacks of this print come from the painting 'Blue Times', a vintage painting created by my mom.

In addition to filling our inventory with the blossoms of our efforts and new flowers of the seasons, we have secured a new place to display (and sell) our goodies. Philz Coffee Shop in Cupertino has generously given us an entire shelf to work with. So, we're working on a wonderful Spring tableau for Corey and his team there. It will include some chocolate bunnies, gnomes, a chocolate-loving snat and all kind of new surprises. Be sure to check it out.

Not "in the know" about Philz Coffee? Check out their website: Philz . If you happen to be in the Cupertino area in the next few weeks, go to the Philz on Stevens' Creek, located at: 20686 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA ... and you'll get a chance to see our spring tableau, as well as some lovely wall art by Lynx and me.

Last Night Update - Post Avenger Marathon

Fear not good citizens! Coyote and Crow have not abandoned you. Forces beyond our control have kept us from those who read these words. We have but this day subdued the vicious and most insidious creature - our garage!

The garage safely vanquished, I now resume the important task appointed me - writing humorous but information blog updates.

I blame the Avengers movie and cartoon series, and too much exposure to Captain America.

Verily, for shame that the Valentines' season passed already without a single sentence written by Coyote's Blessings. January slipped away in a flash. We did not update the store in time to reveal our new hearts and stars window clings, heart pendants, and Crow's newest snat - Love Snat!

Pictures are forth-coming. Expect them soon! Pictures of the new additions to Coyote's Blessings - not our garage. Too horrible a sight for the eyes of our gentle readers. I will update this post and create a new one formally introducing our new friends.

Mable The Monarch

While working on descriptions for our new critters, I discovered the story behind the monarch's inspiration.

Crow's story:

High school. P.E. class, it was out on the tennis courts.

While we were in the middle of practicing our serves, I saw this monarch butterfly float by. I had to stop the ball from being served to not hit the butterfly. About thirty seconds after, I saw two more float by. I heard a commotion to my left, and turned. There was a cloud of monarchs going through the tennis courts. A lot of the people were ducking and running so the butterflies wouldn’t hit them but I just stood there going ‘wow, there is a cloud of monarchs going by’. There were about a hundred in the courts. It took a few minutes for them to pass, so we could start up our tennis lesson again. They did this for five days in a row, so either they were flying in circles or there were five different groups.

I felt like I was standing in a black and orange fog bank. They were so dense I had trouble seeing the sunlight. Only a few of us were brave enough to stand there. I expected that many wings to make noise, but it was silent. Well, they were silent at least.

It was an oh-shiny moment. It was amazing and exciting.

Making Good on a Promise

As a concerned businessman, I want to ensure my customers are happy. As a nice guy (and a concerned businessman), I am willing to go that 'extra mile' for customer satisfaction. I decided to include a case study of a returned item from someone who used our return and repair policy to their benefit.

One of our featured Guest Artists, Russell Boone created two gorgeous glass sculptures for us. They sold rather quickly. When you see the pictures (below) you will probably understand why. They were also featured in a blog post introducing him a few months ago. Kat Phipps bought both of them for herself, and waited with excitement for them to arrive. Only to discover they "melted" in the shipping process. I directed her to our return / repair policy and reminded her she only needed to pay the shipping / handling for their return. We pay for the out-going mail.

We received the melted items in the mail a few days into December. Thankfully, Kat is patient. She graciously allowed us to wait until after the holiday madness to fix them. This is what we received in the mail.

In the foreground, you can see the melted glue well.

Holiday season over, I repaired the broken pieces. Here is one of the items that Kat received in the mail yesterday:

If it is broken, we will fix it! Or replace it, at our discretion. You pay the shipping here and we'll pay the shipping back.

Welcome to 2014!

A good friend of mine said "Let this new year be yours!" We should take that message to heart and embrace the freshness of 2014 with all the wonder and curiosity of a child. Onward to the fascinating! Allow the mundane to be just as interesting as the unusual. Consider the snowflake or the leaf, view the butterflies and robins with new respect. Imagine the life you wish to lead, and lead it.

Though spring is still a few months away, the mention of butterflies is an excellent way to introduce our two newest Clay Critters. Please welcome Mable the Monarch and Ophelia the Owl. Mable is based on a female monarch butterfly.

Ophelia is designed using models from our local burrowing owl residents. Though Crow considered Owlowiscious; however his name is likely copywritten by Hasbro.

Another butterfly - based on the Red Lace Wing - is coming soon! Anyone have suggestions for a name?

Other new items in our store include a card holder, two snats, Sylvan the sea turtle updated, two new painted pots to add more variety to your garden and several more caterpillars. We have so many varieties of caterpillars it is hard to show them all in the inventory. I think I might start a caterpillar database to show case the ones we currently have!