What I Learned At My First Craft Fair

1.  DO NOT forget to get coffee before going in...because it's likely that there are no snacks/drinks available and I will have to bribe the granddaughter of the lovely but complete stranger selling fleece blankets and hats at the table right behind mine to run down to Cumberland Farms and hook me up..

2. Likewise, go to the bathroom as soon as I get there.

3. Get there earlier so I'm not setting up while everybody else has been set up for at least an hour.

4.  Don't spend half of what I make on other crafter's crafts.  Well, I guess half is okay, as long as it's not MORE than half.

5.  Bring that nice pedestal mirror I have so people can try on the flower hair clips and see how awesome they look instead of ripping the mirror off a beat up old makeup palette.  It would be more aesthetically pleasing.

6. People are super nice.  I met some great people and picked up some super cute things and even more exciting, I won a Coach Clutch in the raffle.

By the way, I did the craft fair to support the Connecticut Roller Girls Flat Track Roller Derby Team.  What a great group of broads! I also met some great girls who were selling crafts to benefit Crossed Paws Animal Rescue based in Wallingford, CT.  I ended up donating $100 worth of my square pendants to them to sell along with a lot of other donated items they had for sale.  Overall it was an awesome experience, I can't wait to do another one.

WTF Tuesday, Banana Spliff?

What the heck is this? I asked and lifted it up, to
find out.....

That it's a Rasta Banana.  A 6' long Rasta Banana with
heavy lidded eyes.

I completely understand why it was donated, but I am wondering where this came from. Was this won at an Evil Carnival? Did some guy bust his butt trying to knock something down with a softball to impress the lady on his arm with his Giant Stoned Semi-Racist Banana?  I can't imagine that it would exist for any other reason.  I would love your conjectures in the comments.

EXTRA CREDIT:  This book:

This cat is thinking, "She can stare at me all she wants
she will never plumb the depths of my feline mind!
Bwah hahahahah!!!! OK now she's beginning to freak
me out."

Neither of my cats would tolerate this bullshit.

I'm linking to Sir Thrift A Lot's WTF Tuesday.

Great Giveaway Alert!!!

Patty at My Life Under The Bus is giving away two of her beautiful etched bracelets -- Click HERE to see the gorgeousness and get all the details!!!!

Very Excited!!

As soon as the boys get home, we're packing some snacks, hitting the road, and going to....

THE WARRENSBURG 10 MILE GARAGE SALE!  I'm plotzing!

Lake George, NY is one of my favorite places on Earth - it's about 3.5 hours north of here, in the heart of the Adirondack National Park.  It's a wonderland of kitsch and natural beauty and we usually go once a year, even if just for a weekend.  When the boys were smaller they LOVED it there, mostly for the plentiful arcades on Canada Street.

I know tag saling isn't exactly their thing, but I'm giving them each $20 to blow on whatever they want.  Tyler is really into vinyl, I'm SURE there will be some there.  I am looking for Pyrex, of course, but I'm also looking for ugly lamps, one of those electric frying pans, cheap beads/craft supplies, and old magazines I can tear up for decoupage.

Best of all, we're staying at one of the classic hotels up there, it's off-season so it's reasonable AND it's prime foliage season!

I don't know how I can wait until 3:30!!!!

WTF? Tuesday - Ick

Let's keep the bathroomy-theme going shall we?

The above photo is not enhanced, and sadly you cannot see HOW urine-like the yellow water appears in the carousel horse snow-globe offered at the New Milford, CT Goodwill.

My big question is when something is this grossly discolored, why not just throw it out? Or donate it to a haunted house, if you want to minimize landfill?  Why force this foul marriage of cheese and gross on the unwitting public?  

I'm linking to Sir Thrift-A-Lot for WTF Tuesday? because I like to spread the pain.

I Heart Etsy

Etsy is a dangerous place for me. I can spend hours in an Etsy K-Hole before even realizing how much time has passed. I'm always delighted by the awesome things I find - I tend to geek out over photography and vintage stuff (of course) but I can't get enough of beadmakers and metalworkers.  Those are two things that I tell myself that I will "someday" learn.  Randy and I even looked into the start-up expenses for lampworking a few months back, but we don't really have the cash to lay out for the gear.  I would prefer to take some classes in both of these crafts before jumping in and buying a bunch of stuff, but have been to busy/lazy to seek out said classes, so for now, I just go from page to page to page to page until I realize I am supposed to be working!

I "Favorite" a lot of stuff, some of which I do intend to purchase when I have a little extra.  One thing I recently bought myself (and am so glad I did) is the below pendant from New Hope Beading :

I had "convo'd" Caroline about one of her pendants, which was the periodic table symbol for silver and asked her if she could customize the same idea for me, but the element Mercury, because...well, I'm Elemental Mercury!

And look how cool it is!  I had big plans of making a funky cascade with a multi-beaded strand for it, but couldn't wait to wear it so it's on its original leather cord (and yes, that's the geode from the gem/mineral show I'm wearing with it, I think they look cool together).

Caroline makes personalized charms, mother's necklaces and bridesmaids jewelry and has some very cool pendants that she has designed and stamped. She was lovely to work with, as well.

On the selling side, yesterday someone purchased one of my flower hair clips, and I'm almost sad to see it go.  I keep all my hair clips hanging from wide ribbons pinned to my inspiration board so they brighten up the studio while I'm working.

I'm crazy about these earring wires from Blue Moon Beads

I've been known to throw in a free gift with purchase sometimes. If someone purchases vintage sewing notions from me, I'll add a little extra vintage something from my stash, and lately I've been making coordinating earrings for the flowers for my customers.

I think they turned out cute and I hope she likes them.

I don't even know what kind of flower this is
supposed to be, but I'm digging it.

I also made a bunch of new fall flowers for the shop that I still need to photograph and upload.

I happened to find some black roses with black leaves and they cracked me up, so I now have black rose hair clips as well as some cream colored roses and bright orangey-yellow mums.  This purple bad boy is all mine, though, I totally love it.

As much as I wander around Etsy, I know there's something like approximately 800,000 sellers.  Do you have a shop? Do you have a favorite shop? Have you bought something lately that just tickled you hot pink?  If so, hook this Etsyholic up and post a link in the comments, because I can't get enough!

Been Busy Hookin'

That's right!  I've been crocheting my butt off, that kind of hookin'.  I found a great website offering free crochet patterns am working on my first crocheted sweater.

I want to use the funky yarn
as a scalloped trim for this super
square neckline

I've stuck to hats, flowers, scarves and fingerless gloves until now, but I'm feeling brave and going for it.  If it looks horrible, I'll just unravel it and make some more hats.

We took the weekend off from thrifting because we had scheduled a college tour for our high school senior - road trip to Long Island!  We toured SUNY Stony Brook - Tyler is undecided as far as majors go, so we're looking at schools that offer a broad base of majors/minors.  I'm not crazy about the drive into Long Island from Northwestern CT.  It ended up being an all day thing - especially once I used the smartphone after the tour and used a GPS to find us the closest "Guitar Center".  The boys like to go in and try out all different kinds of amps and guitars even though they have PLENTY of their own at home.  I like to go into the acoustic room, but this time I sat in the car crocheting and listening to the horrible Yankees/Red Sox game.  Horrible because I'm a Sox fan. I also did a GPS search for a bead store, but other than an AC Moore, there wasn't anything nearby.

I prefer to go to independent bead shops when I look for beads - I find the most unusual beads that way and I have a Michael's near me, and any Michael's you go to is exactly the same.

I keep hoping I'll run into another Off The Beaded Path.  Off The Beaded Path is a great little store in Great Barrington, MA.  I also like Beadworks in Norwalk, CT and A Bead of Roses in Newtown, CT.

Whenever we strike out to check out a college, I will be looking for local bead stores, thrift stores and Guitar Center/Sam Ashes.

Last weekend I met up with my dear friend Jon and his partner Gib in Niantic, CT.  They are the KINGS of the Flea Market and always find the greatest stuff which they then make even greater.  I am in love with their patio.

Note the vintage metal chairs/tables that they painted in
super bright colors

I could literally live back here, this hammock was a total motivational
suckage unit, I had the hardest time ripping myself out of it so I
could join everyone for dinner, despite the awesomness of dinner!

They have all kinds of magic hanging from their trees

I am hoping to go to a few fleas with Jon before the season ends down in his neck of the woods.

The big news is I've signed up for MY VERY FIRST CRAFT FAIR in November.  I immediately panicked thinking I certainly don't have enough product and need to start making stuff pronto!  The burns on my fingers from the new glue gun notwithstanding.