Sunday, October 30, 2011

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!! :-)

Friday, October 28, 2011

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. :-)

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

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!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

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. :-)