Welcome to Photograbee!

Author: Jan Groh

  • Rising costs in 2026

    Alas, I just ran my numbers from my eBay sales tonight (12/31/25), and yikes, I’ve eaten a LOT of shipping costs! What you all may not know is the average cost to me has been from $5-$8 USD~! (All domestic US shipping so far – I have to sell more before eBay will let me graduate to shipping internationally. I’ll get there slowly!) And it’s not getting any cheaper, sigh.

    Between that and eBay’s steep fees, I’ve eaten a lot of costs, and it’s not sustainable. Yet, I know everyone is struggling too. And yes, I know about other platforms. I will slowly check them out as I can, but right now, eBay best suits my needs as a disabled artist. (I can’t meet much “demand” yet.)

    I will either raise my prices enough to cover the shipping costs better, OR stop offering free shipping on any new listings after this in 2026 sorry. I have to. The numbers don’t pencil out otherwise.

    I know, I don’t compete with the much more affordably mass-produced cards some others are offering on eBay. Remember, mine are handmade by myself, the artist and photographer, with my own photographs. I’m literally personally mounting every photo on every single notecard. It’s rather painstaking, despite how simple it looks. But people sometimes gasp when they see them in person, seriously.

    The colors and detail are so crisp, I’ve had people pay me more than asking price at some shows which is encouraging. But, if you knew how little I was making on eBay, you’d probably suggest I both raise my prices AND charge shipping!

    But I will do either one, or the other, not both, to keep things as affordable as possible while not losing my shirt in the process.

    I also just launched a new coupon code for 10% off to help at checkout starting 12:01 a.m. PST on January 1st: NEWBEE10OFF. (That would read “newbee10off” in lower case, but I think you have to keep it in upper. I just wanted to clarify the difference between the number 10 and the word “off”.) It’s good through January 31, 2026.

  • More markets in 2026 already!

    More markets in 2026 already!

    Fry me for an oyster, I thought surely everyone would take a long nap after the holidays like all good hard working bees, and probably not rustle up any markets until like March but boy was I wrong! And how, smile.

    I’m now already booked for TWO markets, in January and February 2026 respectively. I’ve added these to my Show Schedule page, but I’ll list them here too in case anyone is actually reading this blog. Be sure to follow me on any of my socials below for latest updates at all times – sometimes there are last minute changes or corrections.

    I’m laughing as I type this – I thought I’d probably do hardly any craft shows or markets as I was slowly spinning things up last July 2025. (I was left stranded at my last show in 2011 right before I stopped walking in January 2012 from my EDS onset cascade.) Boy was I wrong! Lol. Silly Jan – this is Portland! Home of the super creative and crafty folk. (Including me.)

    Find me next at:

    • Radical Harvest Craft Faire Sat/Sun 1/10 and 1/11 from 12-5 pm at Allgood Brewing Co 2425 SE 35th Pl, Portland, OR 97214. Free entry, food, drinks, crafts, clothing swap and fun. Bring the kids!
    • Spot Market Valentine’s Day weekend Sat/Sun 2/14 and 2/15 back in the Lloyd Center (details TBD). Likely 12-5 Saturday, 12-5 Sunday as usual but I’ll update once we know. Also free, kid-friendly, with complimentary beverages (wine and jamaica tea) and an hourly raffle. This market is always fun.

    I seriously did not expect to be doing regular markets, but since finding so many indoors and doing so well so far, I’m managing. I don’t need a tent for these, and I’ve found a way to wrangle a couple of small tables that are sufficient for my needs.

    Yes, I’m always completely wrecked after, but, that’s my life with EDS. I could lie in bed, or I can get up and bust a move and meet all you great folks instead. I much prefer the latter, since I’m gonna be in pain either way. (Yes, I have to recover from the latter to be sure. I don’t share that bit, it’s pretty boring – I lie moaning in bed, struggling to re-arrange all my bones back into their proper upright positions. Tray tables are much easier, I promise.)

    A la prochaine. Jan 12/30/25 (Happy New Year!)

  • Winter markets I’m attending 2025

    I just hatched an Upcoming Shows page to share my growing winter market schedule with you all as I suddenly started to get booked up! (I had to do some juggling for a minute as some of the markets collided with each other, phew!) Keep up with the latest news always on all my socials here:

    Anyway, in case you don’t find that page, know that you can catch me THIS weekend,Saturday December 6th at Woodmere Elementary School for their Winter Bazaar 11-5. Located at 7900 SE Duke, Portland, OR 97206. Free, we have warm refreshments and a raffle and a scavenger hunt too! Park in front of the school off Duke, enter in the middle, and find loads of super crafty and talented artists and vendors in the cafeteria, and ALSO in the gym! (Don’t forget the gym! – I’ll be just left of the gym entrance after you enter.) I’ll be debuting my first 5″x7″ prints too ($10 each), thanks to the kind staff at Art Supply Store (formerly I’ve Been Framed) on SE Foster who helped me find proper packaging. (Thank you!) Come and see!

    Then I’ll be at the Clackamas County Gleaners Christmas Bazaar NEXT Saturday Dec 13th, from 10-4 pm 13821 Fir Street, Oregon City, OR 97045 (just off 213)*. Free, not sure if there’s a raffle, but pretty sure we’ll have refreshments. Dress warm, it’s in their unheated warehouse where they sort all the gleaned food they save for hungry families in the area. This is an amazing program that literally saves tons of perfectly good food from grocery stores that would otherwise be tossed. I’ve seen it, and it’s amazing. (I’m picky, and don’t like anything too old, and I was blown away by what they saved back in 2019! If you live in the area, you should check them out.)

    *Note this is a change to the previous address I had (I just caught the update on Facebook! Eek! It was 13895 before, and now I have to update all my marketing materials, sigh.) Onward…

    Then, last but not least (for now), on Sunday 12/14 12-5 pm I’ll be at the Spot Market in the old GAP store space in the Lloyd Center Mall next to Macy’s on the second (middle) level. (Not at the east end by Marshall’s as my flyer mistakenly read, sorry, my bad!) They have killer refreshments (wine and hibiscus tea) and an hourly raffle for all shoppers that buy something. The Food Court 5000 may come through once or twice too – they’re a dedicated bunch of joyful mall walkers who start up in the 3rd level food court and cruise around the whole mall with loud jazzy music!

    There’s lots going on at the Lloyd Center that whole weekend, so don’t be too distracted, and forget to stop by and see us! :)

    a colorful floor plan showing the Spot market in the old GAP store location next to Macy's in the Lloyd Center
    Find the Spot Market by Macy’s on the second (middle) level of the mall

    Hope to see you here or there! Jan – December 5, 2025

  • The sleeping bees are coming to eBay and more! 11/1/25

    The sleeping bees are coming to eBay and more! 11/1/25

    I’m still awaiting confirmation that this Friday’s Halloween Thrifty Night Market is a go – the organizer has been incommunicado and is not yet advertising as of today, Wednesday 10/29. But… regardless, The Friday night Halloween Thrifty Night Market is now ON too! (She just responded finally right after I first posted this! She had to wait for the venue confirmation.)

    So, local Portland beeps (bee-loving peeps) can snag these new cards from me IN PERSON THIS FRIDAY, Halloween, 5-9 pm at 623 SE Washington Street in Portland, Oregon.

    A dark goth and punk style flyer from thriftynightmarket_ on Insta sharing the Alt Night Market on Halloween with Y2k, Goth and punk themed vintage items and more Friday 10/31/25 from 5-9 pm at 623 SE Washington Street in Portland, Oregon. (Flyer is a little hard to read.)

    The entrance is down the steep ramp at the end of the grey building, (to the east), by the monthly paid parking lot. (Parking for us is on street only sorry, so plan a little time to hunt for a spot as we vendors are going to be using the closest spots to set up.) It’s right off of SE Stark, and Grand. Close to the streetcar, if that helps at all.

    Daytime photo from kitty corner across the interestcion of SE 6th and Washington showing the non-descript grey building where the nightmarket will be. A large thumbs up emoji, and arrows point to the entrance highlighted in yellow toward the back (east end) of the building on SE Washington. Text labels show the street names, and N, E, S, W directionals. So it's clear where to go.
    Find us here

    AND I’m going to start listing the Sleeping Bees duo of cards I just shared in my last post on eBay starting November 1st too! (I was just working out shipping details.)

    Their origin story is so hilarious! I dragged myself to my community garden last July 16th (it was around 95F that day – too hot for me and the garden) to water my poor thirsty plot, and slid over to the Gaillardia (red and yellow blanket flower) patch as per usual. But I only had my phone camera on me, as it was so hot. (I live in the same range as butter: when it melts, I melt.)

    Anyway, that’s when I encountered the FIRST image below, where no less than six longhorn bees were snoozing sweetly away in a perfect circle around the center of a single Gaillardia flower blossom, swaying peacefully in the breeze. Totally unbothered. Bums up. Shown here:

    Photo of a notecard made with a photo of six longhorn bees sleeping neatly and sweetly away around the center of a red and yellow Gaillardia flower.
    Sleeping sweetly July 16th

    I snapped several shots and took a little video to prove this was NOT Photoshop nor AI! (I rarely use either, honestly.) I’ve shown the video at multiple markets to great effect.

    So I swore I’d return the next day with my Nikon Z50 to see if I got as lucky again. Well, the laugh was on me! Because there was not one single bee sleeping sweetly away in any fresh fully open Gaillardia blossoms like the day before – oh no. That would be too easy, Jan. You had your chance yesterday!

    No – they were all clustered up on the tattered petals of a bedraggled spent (mature) Gaillardia blossom, also swaying gently in the breeze, looking like a biker gang after a bender! Lol! Ahh… I laughed so hard! That’ll teach me – ALWAYS have your camera on you, silly! But, if you don’t, the best camera (as always) is whatever you have on hand at the time the image presents itself. (Yay for quick reflexes.) Here’s that image I’m calling “The After Party”:

    Photo of a large notecard with a photo of a gang of longhorn bees dangling from the tattered petals of a bedraggled Gaillardia flower. Looking like they were on a bender.
    The After Party 7/17.

    Ahhh… people love both images separately for different reasons I’m finding. As well as the pair together, for the contrast. (I have all three sizes available now.)

    I’ll try to get them out to Crystal Heart Boutique ASAP too- 269 E Main street in Hillsboro, Oregon. I’ll do this by next Tuesday Nov 4th latest, maybe sooner. (That’s the next First Tuesday Art Walk in Hillsboro by the way. Just one block off the MAX Blue Line 3rd street station. Super easy!)

    Anyway, they are here! And soon they can be there – with you – too!

    PS I’m lining up multiple holiday markets, but not all are confirmed yet. Some may get confirmed at the last minute so stay tuned on my socials (see links below) for late-breaking updates. (I try to keep this up to date, but don’t always succeed.) Cheers.

    Jan and the Sleepy Bees October 29th, 2025.

  • Catch the Sleeping Bees at Spot Market 10/12/25!

    I always bring a pack of my small photo notecards with me when I’m exploring potential markets and stores. And almost every time I go out. It’s so hard to convey their incredible colors otherwise.

    I did just that, when I headed out to find the new to me “Spot Market PDX” in the Lloyd Center Mall in NE Portland, Oregon yesterday, Saturday the 11th. Silly me, I didn’t read the notice closely, and ended up stumbling on an entirely different but equally wonderful small artisan market – the Spectrum Market, for the LGBTQIA community. It was also wonderful, so many great artists with loads of cute and useful things, and whimsy. I highly recommend it! But, being straight, they weren’t so interested in me.

    It also took me over 30 minutes to realize this wasn’t the SPot Market! Which uses a lot of ladybugs and spots for their marketing. Indeed, the vendors and market manager confirmed it was upstairs as they began packing up at 5 pm.

    So I headed upstairs, and lucky me, I caught the last hour of the Spot Market after I found it all the way at the east end of the mall, near the old Marshall’s store (near NE 15th) on the left. And I bumbled in again. And met some more wonderful vendors and artisans. Who all raved about my cards. And even bought one!

    But I kept sharing my sleeping bees photos from last July, with the sweet shot and the “After Party” shot cued up in my photos (after I found it again – I take a LOT of photos all the time)! And then they announced there were two vendor openings the next day (Sunday Oct 12th). And the lovely watercolor artist I was with nudged me to inquire. I did, and they said “come tomorrow!” Boom! that simple! (Well, I did show some of my cards.)

    I was so inspired by this wonderful development, and the interest in my duo of sleeping bee images, that I stayed up way too late tonight (last night), and went ahead and developed the images and produced the first cards featuring them shown here:

    Photo of a notecard made with a photo of six longhorn bees sleeping neatly and sweetly away around the center of a red and yellow Gaillardia flower.
    Sleeping sweetly July 16th
    Photo of a large notecard with a photo of a gang of longhorn bees dangling from the tattered petals of a bedraggled Gaillardia flower. Looking like they were on a bender.
    The After Party 7/17.
    Photo showing a pair of small colorful photo notecards, one in portrait view the other landscape featuring the sleeping bees from the other two shots.

    I haven’t even been able to update my online catalog just yet, things are happening so fast! I’m not unhappy – just trying to keep up! I feel a bit like the bees in the “After Party” shot in the middle above, which is the shot I got the next day after I went back with my Nikon to try catching them sleeping sweetly again.

    No dice! Lol. They gave me the finger, and were ALL clustered on that poor bedraggled Gaillardia shown. Not a one was in the still fresh flowers that were still available. Oh no. Nope. They looked like a biker gang on a bender, giving me the bee finger! That’ll teach me to forget my camera! Ha ha!

    As I told someone again, the best camera to have is the one you have on you when the opportunity (shot) presents itself. Don’t underestimate your phone cameras folks! You can see the results are nothing to sneeze at!

    Speaking of which, the images above aren’t the best because I had already packed up my spot light that helps brighten them up. I’ll try to produce some new, better ones soon, hopefully. I’ll also try to get some up on eBay right away too.

    Oh yeah, you can also get Multnomah Falls from me IN PERSON! Else just at Crystal Heart Boutique in Hillsboro for now. Cheerio.

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