New Addiction

I am now officially addicted to a new craft. I'm becoming one of those folks who fondles and drools over soft tufts of colorful wool roving. A year ago, I didn't even know what roving was. I blame KitLane, AngelKissesAlaska and a host of other Etsy friends who shall remain nameless. (You know who you are!) KitLane makes adorable needlefelted creatures. This one lives with me. AngelKissesAlaska is also a needlefelter. Her little acorns and squashes and pumpkins are so sweet! And, they have both been very generous with the advice and encouragement.

Actually, I've wanted to give needlefelting a try for over a year. I bought this kit last November, thinking I might actually finish it for Easter. Well, I finished it for Easter. Easter 2009. Last night, I finally opened up the cute little carryout container it came in and gave it a go. I'm pretty stinkin' pleased with the results! Wonder of wonders, it actually looks like a bunny. And it was supposed to look like a bunny! Now, I find this totally amazing, because I can't draw and I'm not all that good with the playdoh, so it was surprising to me that I could sculpt a respectable looking bunny out of wool.

This afternoon, I placed an order with The Felted Ewe. I ordered a foam mat (I actually removed the foam sole from a perfectly good pair of slippers so I could make my bunny), some beads to use for eyes and several different colors of woving. Lil' Kay wants me to make a shark, and I'd like to try some dinosaurs. Now I'm just waiting impatiently for my order to get here. I have some white roving left over from the bunny, but I'm not sure what to make with it. Snowman? Polar bear? Albino lizard?

But what are they FOR??

On my way to work this morning, I spotted this banner, and I simply had to stop on my way home and snap a picture. It gave me this lovely mental image of plastic baggies full of, well, nail clippings. But what you use them for? Are they good for mulch? Crafting? I'm not really sure...

Okay, so it was a sign on a pet groomer's building. It's the plural that is the root of the confusion.

The Big Day

It was an absolutely beautiful day for a craft show on Saturday! We could not have special ordered more perfect weather. We arrived at about 7:00 to stock our booth. (We set up the tent and tables the night before.) Officially, the fair opened at 9:00, but people were already trolling at 7:30. Just kind of window shopping. They were ready to buy when the clock hit 8:00, though! By the time 9:00 came around, we'd already made enough sales to pay for our booth rental!!

The number of people was absolutely astonishing. We were a little concerned that we would end up spending all of our profits on shopping the fair. No chance of that, as we could barely leave the booth long enough to go to the bathroom and get lunch! A little before noon, I finally dashed out to get us each a couple of bierocks. (I totally meant to take pictures of those, so you'd know what I meant, but we were hungry. And we kind of inhaled them.)

I made Jessica run out of the booth for a few moments to take pictures of the crowds. It really is the best craft show in Kansas. I got a chance to sneak out for a few minutes in the afternoon to look around a bit. So much amazing talent comes to this show! If you're a shopper or an artist within driving distance, you need to be here!

So, what were the top sellers? My sister's mini tooth fairy pillows (we sold all of them), my crayon caddies, Jessica's baby bibs, our sister-in-law's burp cloths, and we sold all three of the crochet monkeys that my mom made for the show. All three monkeys went to very enthusiastic homes. It was so much fun to see the two little girls and one big girl carrying those away in their arms!

Another highlight, I got to meet Beki of Pampering Beki! Meeting other Etsians is so much fun! I also had a couple other customers who "admitted" to knowing Etsy. One even said, "Are you on Etsy? I thought I recognized your stuff." How cool is that??

Things I wish I would I have taken a picture of:

The lady with the shirt that said, "I love Jesus, but I drink a little."

The kids in the walking taco costume. Everytime they came by, it was a different kid. And they were yelling, "Walking Tacos!" (If you don't know, a walking taco is a small bag of corn chips with taco meet, cheese and lettuce added to it. Kind of like taco salad in a bag. It's actually really good and pretty ingenious!)

The guy with spiky salt and pepper hair wearing a visor. It took us a minute to realize that it wasn't actually his hair. It was a hat!!

I did end up buying a couple things yesterday. I bought two foam pirate swords. One for Lil' Kay and one for Mr. Kay to defend himself with. They were $1.50 each! Big spender, huh? I also bought myself a Hello Kitty bottlecap bracelet. By the time we had a lull in the sales, we were just too tired and it was too hot to walk around and shop. Not really a bad thing, since the goal was to make money, not spend it!

We've got a couple more shows in mind to do before the end of the year. Even though we sold a ton of stuff, we still had plenty leftover. Apparently, my fears of not having enough were unfounded.

Today, the day after, I'm exhausted! I took a four hour nap this afternoon. But, it was soooo worth it!

Sunshine!!

Look at that! Isn't it beautiful? I'm talking about the forecast for Saturday. The day of our first HUGE outdoor show, and they are forecasting sun, nice temps and no wind or rain. However, I know we're not out of the woods yet. This is Kansas and the weather can turn on a dime, but I'm pretty stinkin' hopeful.

I stitched up a few Itsy Bitsy Bags last night, but I have to admit that I think I'm done sewing. I'll have about 20 Itsy Bitsy's, and they tend to not sell as well at shows as they do online. I think it's because people are able to read my descriptions and see the photos of how they can be used on Etsy, so they "get it". Weird, because they are one of my bestsellers on Etsy!

So, I'm going to concentrate on packing everything up, and then cleaning the house. I have a babysitter staying with Lil' Kay on Saturday, so I really need to make the house presentable. Right now, it's embarrassing! What can I say? I'm a crummy housekeeper under normal circumstances, but I've been production mode since June. No time for cleaning. Must sew.

Phew! I am so excited about this weekend. I just got an email from my cousin who says she and her daughter are planning on coming down for the fair. It's the most anticipated craft fair in this area every year, so I'm constantly talking to people who will be there. That just makes the excitement and nerves and butterflies intensify! I love it!!

Eerily Composed

I finished up the last of the crayon caddies this weekend. Okay, I admit there are still a few cut out that I didn't get sewn, but I'm done. I think 62 crayon caddies is plenty. I'm tired of sewing them, right now, so I'm done. No sense in getting totally burned out.

Now, I'm getting ready to start on Itsy Bitsy Bags. I've got a bunch of them cut out and interfaced, so it's just a matter of stitching them up. They go pretty fast.

Last night, I put price labels on everything and packed them into their tubs. I'm kind of startled at how prepared I seem. I keep thinking that I must be forgetting something. Could it be that I'm getting the feel for this craft show thing? Ask me again how prepared I feel on Friday.

1 Week From Today

Our big craft show is one week from today! As usual, I am working on getting lots of last minute stuff done. Last night, I stayed up late and stuffed and rolled 50 crayon caddies. I cannot believe how long it took! Don't they look impressive all piled up like that? I'm pretty excited to have so many done. When I bought 48 boxes of crayons this fall, I really didn't think I'd be using them up so quickly. In fact, I need to go buy more crayons today! I still have a few more caddies cut out and ready to sew. I should be able to finish those this weekend.

Looking at my mountain of caddies, I realized that I don't have very many girlie ones finished. I made a concentrated effort to make sure there were plenty for boys, because I know how hard it can be to find a special something to take home to your little man when you're at a craft show. So, I've got pirates, dinosaurs, trucks and camo in that stack. But there are also a lot that are gender neutral - sports, animals, sock monkeys. There are still some pink ones that I need to finish up.

Look at what a mess it makes when you open 50 boxes of crayons on your couch! I promise to clean this up today, but I wanted to take a picture first.

So, what's left to do? I need to make some more Itsy Bitsy Bags. Those go pretty fast, and I actually have quite a few cut out and ready to sew.

Jessica and I are planning to do a mock set up this weekend, so we can make sure our displays fit in our tent. 'Course the weather here in Kansas is totally rainy, so I'm not sure how well that's going to go. On the other hand, if next weekend turns out like this weekend, we're going to need the practice setting up in the rain. I'm supposed to run by my friend Bobbi's house this morning and pick up the tables she has graciously volunteered for us to use.

Then, it's just a matter of gathering, labeling, organizing and packing. No doubt, I will be a nervous, excited, exhausted woman all week long!

Does this make us bad parents?

For the record, it was Mr. Kay's idea. I just took the photo.

Another of Edition of When You Give the Camera to Your 5 Year Old

Scenes from Godzilla. Okay, I may have helped him set up a few of these shots, but it was his idea!

Marketing

My sister Jessica and I decided that we wanted matching shirts to wear in our craft booths this fall. So, we headed on over to trusty CafePress and designed one with our logos on the back and our names on the front. They arrived today! Cute pink ringer tees, and they are soooo soft! Thought I'd model mine for you on the blog this evening. (Please ignore the wrinkles. I took it out of the package and put it on! I promise I won't be so wrinkled at the show!)

Here's the musician in action. He sat on our front porch with a shoebox at his feet, playing and hoping folks would throw money in the box. He wasn't getting much response, so he started yelling at the people playing volleyball in the park across the street. "Hey! You want to hear some music? Come over here and bring your money!"

So, he didn't make any money today, but do you think if I set him outside my booth at craft shows, I could bring in more business?