Crafty Tuesday: Duped?

So for this week's Crafty Tuesday I thought I would share with you the tales of a recent 'Renaissance Festival/ Craft Fair' that I recently took part in. Lauren had been invited to take part in the show when she was at another show. All the paper work sounded great. We had mistakenly signed up for an area called 'Mystic Moments'. The booth fee was cheaper but it seemed that the area was designated as a kids make and take section. Lauren explained that we were not a make and take table so they upgraded us, at no extra cost, to 'Equine Lane'. Cool. All the paper work explained that we would be listed in the advertising and promotions. Cool. There was a horse show there which sounded really cool.
Day of show. We get our sitters to the house... Not without incident but that's another rant for another day. We head out. Of course we pass up the place but not by far. We pull in and are told that we need to park and lug our stuff. The info had stated that we could park and unload right at our booth. Luckily it wasn't that far and they had provided a table so we didn't have to carry that. We get a good chunk of our stuff unloaded when we are told that we CAN drive to our booth and then park. They have box lunches waiting for us which is nice.
Set up started at 8:30. They wanted vendors ready at 11:30 for a noon opening. We were ready. Some people had gotten there at 8:30 but we had arrived around 11. A look around showed us nine other vendors... If you counted the the face painter (who was awesome!), the story teller (also awesome), the nurse who was there with a table promoting healthy eating (and yes they had to pay a $50 booth fee for the 2 days they had been there) and the people set up with hats and shirts promoting Raspberry Grove Equestrian Center which, in fact is in some one's backyard. It's beaultiful and they do train riders and apparently board horses. We were VERY glad to have only paid $25 for our spot. We were also VERY glad for our newly purchased 'tent' which was envied by the other vendors. It was hot and sticky. The flies were biting but I guess I wasn't tasty enough because they didn't bother me. The gates opened and we waited. And we waited. We became social and started chatting with other vendors and still... we waited. The 'show' itself didn't start until 4. The hope was that the crowd would come in about 3ish. They had done this on another Saturday a couple weeks prior. It had rained but we received an email that said that 200 people had wandered through. Well... Apparently that was a BIG estimate acorrding to the vendors who had been there the other week. They guessed closer to 75. That turned out to be a pipe dream for the Saturday we were there. The people who did come weren't really interested in our wares. We did sell some stuff but to other vendors. As far as that goes we met some great people and had time away from our kids. The vendors weren't supposed to tear down until 6:30 but we were all packed up once the intermission was over. Not sure if the owner even noticed since she never came around to see how we were doing...
I have mixed feelings because I did make a little money but I can't believe the booth fees they were charging for people to set up. PLUS they charged for people to come in. Oh well. Guess we won't be doing that one next year...

Crafty Tuesday on Wednesday

Sorry I'm late on this but I have been crafting my heart out that last little bit. Lauren and I have our first Farmer's Market gig on Saturday. Thank goodness for Lauren and her innovation. She came up with a swell stamp idea for our bags. Who knew you could this with carpet tape and foam letters? Ingenious. I can't wait to show you guys the great display she has come up with for our booth. I feel like such a slacker. I can't even come up with a bio for myself! I am busy making frames and boxes though. Hopefully something will sell. I will take some pictures of her incredible things and share them here as well. I love them all and can feel my envy of her talent growing with everything she makes! Curses on those with cutes and talent! ;)

Crafty Tuesday: Look Ma! I did somethin'

Here it is My Crafty Tuesday Submission. I love making these boxes and need to get on the ball and get some more made! I will be making one for a friend who won a contest I held on my FaceBook group page entitled Craft-Tacular. You should check it out if you're interested!

I have been using dominoes as a 'knob' to pull the lid open but I've also started using these great puddle stones. Not sure that's what they're called but that's what they make me think of. I love playing with the papers and seeing what combinations I can come up with. A lot of the time I won't even like how something is turning out and then all of a sudden I'll add one more thing and then that does it.

I think I'd like to try to make a cigar box guitar one of these days. I think that project will make me even more glad than I already am that I have a handy hubby.





Happy Crafty Tuesday!

Crafty Tuesday: Organization

Organizing is so not my strong point. I suck at it. I pull stuff out to organize it and end up looking through it, finding stuff I forgot I had and basicly just shuffeling it around. Welp, one of my New Year's Resolution was to get my craft stuff organized. I have begun the process. I even threw away a whole trashbag full of just junk. Throwing things away can be hard for me. I am part pack rat on both sides. My mom, although organized, has boxes of 'memorabilia' from I don't know when. She even inherited some of my Great Aunt's nearly 100 years worth of 'memorabilia'. My dad is the guy who finds it easier to go out and buy something new rather than try to find where that item is hidden. His stuff is not quite as sentimental as my mom's but it is no where near as organized. I, unfortunately, save memorabilia and then have no skills in keeping it in anything even close to an organized fashion.
I love to buy card stock and decorative papers. I have a thing for anything that looks like it belongs on a collage. After a couple of months I tend to forget what I have picked up here and there because it gets put on my shelving unit which, like my many organizational boxes and containers, was purchased to help get me and keep me together.
This is what it looked like:
No wonder I can never get anything done. I can't find ANYTHING! This is just the tip of the iceberg. I have stuff in boxes, bags and drawers. I make the claim that if I had my own space this wouldn't happen but deep down I know it would. After a couple of hours I was able to get it looking like this:Two shelves. Those two shelves contained a whole trash bag worth of crap! It is a work in progress but I think eventually I may get there. Last night I even worked towards getting my papers sorted out. Not sure how I am going to store them all but at least I'm starting to see what I have.
Wish me luck!

Crafty Tuesday: Or Where Did the Time Go and What Have I done?

So, I have to admit that on this Crafty Tuesday, doubling as Fat Tuesday, I have nothing really new to offer. I will share something a bit older. Something I have done in the past. I hope this isn't cheating.
This is a birdhouse that was commissioned by a friend for her mom. It has pictures of her cute kids on either side of it. I made it from an old cigar box with a sliding lid. It's been decoupaged... Of course. I adhered glass beads and little silver dragonfly beads to it. I wrapped the perch in a red craft wire. It's probably not all that functional but I think it makes a cute decorative piece for the mantle or wherever.

I've also started a FaceBook group called 'Craft-Tacular'. It's nothin' too fancy. Just a place for crafters to get together and encourage one another. I'm hoping that people will share ideas, tips, blogs, favorite sites and constructive criticism. I'm currently running a contest on it for anyone who posts something, ANYTHING, about crafting. I will choose a name from the participants and let them choose one of my treasure boxes. It's open to crafters everywhere so I hope you'll check it out and share your gifts with us!