Santa Make-Do

Hi all,

I'm in the holiday spirit and thought I would add my santa to the blog. I can't believe the holidays are so close. Where does the time go? I still need to shop for gifts but I might just make gifts for the family. It will save on money and also the craziness of the malls.

Our Cottage House

Hi all,
I'm sure you all have heard me mention us moving into a smaller place. Well I finally got pictures to show you. Here is what I call our cottage home.

What I love most about the house is the yard!!

So I decided to tackle the yard by raking the leaves.....big mistake. It will take me 2 days to do this. I even tried using hubby's leave blower. That thing is a pain in the butt and it was faster with me doing it by hand. Here is what I did today~

Here is what I have left to do. Maybe I might leave the rest to hubby! :-)
I'm exhausted and now I have to finish the laundry and cook dinner. Calgone....Take me away!

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

Hi all,
We have a winner for our Fall Decor set! I wanted to thank everyone who played our contest and get ready for another one coming soon!
So I hope everyone is doing well and getting their list ready for the holidays. As for myself, I finished most of my old projects and the next step is to get ready for spring shows. Yes, I know I just skipped over Christmas but I kind of want to get a head start on things.
Ok, I think I talked you enough, lets get to the winner. The winner of our fall decor set goes to.....

THE WINNER IS CYNDY of Craftystitchers!!! Congrats!

Done Craft Hopping (pics)

Hi all,
Well I'm done with my craft show hopping and I had a ball! Of course I wasn't able to sneak any pictures from inside the shows but I did alot of investigating. My main reason for traveling nearly two hours was to see if the shows were worth doing next year. Between the two of them, there was only one I felt was the better choice.
Let's start from the beginning...We have two shows~~
The Craftsmen's Christmas Classic Show which runs 3 days for $480.
The Virginia Christmas Show at The Showplace~~4 days $435.

Now between the two of them you would automatically pick the cheaper one since it has 4 days...right?!
Well...Here are the pictures of The Showplace Show

It had a good crowd of cars but the outside of the building sort of resembles a big flea market. This surprised me but I strolled inside and it was really nice. Santa was sitting in the chair near the entrance for the kids which is a great touch. The crafts were a bit mixed with buy/sell and handmade crafts. I saw a man selling socks on the far end near the food area which threw me off. But then I strolled along the rest of the place and there were a mixture of food and also a guy selling wine. The crowd was ok with plenty of elbow room. My only issue was that they had one bathroom/one stall on the left of the building. And another bathroom with only 3 stalls on the right. Now with the number of people in the place...they should have had more.
I did buy some pumpkin coffee but nothing else caught my eye.

Now let's get to the Craftsman Classic....this show was HUGEEEEE!!
It's at the Richmond Raceway Complex and they were loaded with cars.

At 10am the place was filled with customers and it was elbow to elbow. I kept bumping into people and saying excuse me. It was so big that I got lost trying to find the doorway from where I started and had to stop a few times to rest. They had jewelry makers, hats & scrafts, fine art, blown glass, wood furntiure and so much more. It was like shopping in a mall!
I found one lady who has a business called Kan do Crafts. She sold Door hangers which were 18" high and flat bodies of snowmen, santas, bunnies, frankinstein and witches. They were adorable and sold for $21.95 a piece and people were buying like hotcakes! Wish I could show you a picture of it.
Anyway, moving on to another booth that I thought was amazing..it was called Lamps of Notes. The booth had lamps made from musical instruments. I visit their web-site and here is a look at their wonderful work.

Both shows were withing 10 minutes of each other and I loved seeing all the wonderful booth displays. Yet if I had to choose the show, I would pick the Craftsman Christmas Show. I figured if at 10am on a Friday the place is packed and people driving in by the car loads then image what saturday would be like.
Well I'm off to get my day started and work on some spring crafts. They have a spring show at the raceway in March and I want in!! :-)

CRAFT SHOW HOPPING

Morning all,
Today I'm going Craft Show Hopping!! I found two craft shows today right around the corner from each other. They are both in Richmond,Va which is about 1 hour and 40 minutes from me. I can't wait to see what the area has to offer in crafts. One of the shows is through the Gilmore Promotors which is well known in my area.
So I'm off with camera, Duncan donuts & coffee in hand. :-)

FALL CONTEST

Hi all,
I'm in a spooky kind of mood today. Want to decorate the house with spider webs and all that halloween stuff but I'm sure hubby would go nuts. So I thought I would have a Fall Contest instead!....Here is what I'm giving away--My Scarecrow Lady with this candle holder!
Just leave a comment or follow me for a chance to win. The more comments the better!

New Home & Craft Room

Hi all,

Well I was almost ready to get things to the shops when hubby decided to do a switch-a-roo on me. We made the decision to downsize our 3-bedroom home and move into a 2-bedroom home. The transition was a big change for me because I had to pack up all my crafts and prepare them for the big move.
Needless to say that the house wasn't ready in time so we had to put our things in storage and stay in a hotel for about 3 days.

Do you know my crafts, displays and all craft related items fit into a 8 x 10 storage unit! It was nuts and I'm still taking things slowly out to fit into my now little craft room. When I mean little...lets just say that I have just enough space to create and type. All my finished items will need to be stored in a bin and kept in storage. Now that is tight!!
Here are some pictures of my new craft room. Needless to say, I have work to do.
Oh I was able to get two boxes out to one boutique for the holidays. Still have 3 more boutiques to go. :-)

Getting ready for Craft Shows, Shops and Boutiques

Hi all,

I finally got the crafting bug back and getting my butt in gear for the craft shows. I never realized how much crafts I actually had until I pulled out all the totes. WOW! I think I need to get some of this stuff in stores, shows and boutiques. Here are my totes:

New E-Book Available

Hi,
I'm sure you've guessed what I've been doing. Yes, I finally finished my first book after 5 years of procasinating about it. I can't believe I waited this long and could kick myself in the butt. Yet it gave me time to pursue other craft projects and have some times to reflect on what shows to do next.

The book is called "Breaking Into The Craft Show Circuit" and covers most of my 22 years of doing craft shows. Needless to say I have enough gab in me to come up with another one in say a few years. Or maybe sooner depending if I get my butt moving and keep loads of red bull handy. So if you get the time stop by Mulberry Crafters Magazine and grab a copy. (Click on the banner below to visit the site)

Winner of our Bunny Contest

Hi all,

I want to thank all that became a subsciber and also joined my blog. I'm happy everyone loved my Daisy Bunny. Well Daisy is ready to go to her new home.....And the Winner is Mary of Marmmies Mammy's and More!! Congrats Mary!
Don't worry I plan on running another contest soon.

For the past week I have been working on new dolls and spent some time getting them in order. Here is a peek at the doll bodies and boy it was a job getting all the legs and arms to match. lol

Bunny Contest

Hi all,
I've been working on a few more new crafts and thinking about spring. I just love easter candy and bunnies! So I thought I would run a special Bunny Contest.
Sign up for a chance to win Our Sweet Daisy Bunny~
To enter our contest: Two ways which are joining our blog and sign up for my email listing. This double's your chance of winning!

New Year and New Beginning

Hi all,

Yes, It's been awhile since my last blog...shame on me but I have a good reason. I'm opening up a craft & gift shop!!! YIPPEE! It's been a while but it's done and I'm so excited. The grand-opening is tomorrow! I know so much excitement in one day....I just can't contain myself.

So you know that this means.....yep I have to post alot more and keep everyone informed of all the great things going on in the shop.
I want to first say Welcome to my new vendor Candi of CandiLicious Candles! She makes the most mouth watering candles I've ever smelled. And her prices are even better. Candi makes a variety of candles all done with 100% soy wax. From tea lights to candle tins....she has it all. Stop on over to her site and take a peek at www.candiliciouscandles.com

Well I better get some rest...I have a big day tomorrow. And don't worry I will show plenty of pictures of the store.

Hugs & blessings