Craft show countdown.....

Well one week tomorrow is my first show....am I ready, no not yet? will I be? I hope so... am I nervous, a little. Do I have enough stock? well that I can't answer.

Questions I keep asking myself and hoping to find answers to but in the wake of it all, I do enjoy creating and sometimes I just can't stop. My kitchen table studio is plastered right now with paper supplies, painted things that are finished but need something added to them or something sewn on like the tops of my canvas stockings. The list seems to be growing and somehow I feel like nothing is getting accomplished. A little anxiety setting in but I guess it's a wait and see kind of deal.
This year I had to do something a little different than what I had been doing, just painting away then dropping items off to an Open House and then at the end pick up what didn't sell. I did HomeSpun Hill for years but Evelyn decided to drop the vendors and just keep things in her store  so I had to find other avenues.
So back to the routine of sitting inside buildings and actually meeting and talking to people as they scan the booths etc. I don't do Ebay or Etsy I just do shows to give me a bit of money over Christmas and that is all I do. To do what I do takes many long hours and I would hate for it to become a job, I wouldn' t enjoy it as much either.
I can't believe how the weeks are flying by, here it was Monday and I was thinking of all the things I wanted to get done and here it is Friday already, Monday is just a blur now.
I did get some more things painted and I will quit my ramblings now so you can take a peek. My next post I will be showing you my tea light cards that you can give as a hostess gift or something to someone as a special thank you or for someone that is hard to get something for. I have to finish those so here goes my painted items.

 This is a dinner plate painted with this cute snowman angel pattern , the wings have a bit of glitter on them and sparkle when the light catches them.

 These are Post it Note holders I painted up. Hubs cut the pieces out for me and then I put them together and painted them. The bit of twine is just to keep it held together in transport. I think these would be great for teacher, bus drivers or anyone gifts. My fav is the little santa elf with the Wish List. That is a Prudy Vanier pattern.How lucky to find some Christmas Post it notes at the Dollarama. I think they add a nice touch with the bit of colour on them, don't you?

 And below I have had painted forever it seems but had to get the wooden balls for my dowel to hang the canvas on. This is a cute pattern from Terrye French. It is an older one I have had for ages but finally decided what to paint it on. If you are reading this Mumsy, that bolt of canvas has come in real handy this year. :)

 And below, I don't know if this is supposed to be a wood paddle or what but I took a dinner plate then drew the handle out and attached it to the circle on my transfer paper and cut the wood out and painted this cute snowman from Renee Mullins. I just had to paint it on something he is so darn cute and that face just makes you smile.

So as you can see I am not wasting much time these days and nights. The workshop has been closing rather late these past few nights but things are winding down a bit.
Stay tuned and I will be showing some paper goodies in my next post.
Enjoy and thanks for stopping by.

I was picked as a Ginger Gem

Wooohooo, remember my Ginger Gem GC71 Random Redhead post about creating something using inchies and I made inchie houses? I was 1 of 7 selected artists as a Ginger Gem. I am so happy.
I am allowed to display their Ginger Gem banner til the next chosen Gems for their next challenge
Thanks so much Gingersnap Creations for allowing me to enter one of your challenges. Those little houses have been given to someone who really liked them and loves Halloween.
For anyone wanting a challenge and there are many to choose from go to Ginger Snap Creations blog for details.
Back to work....
=^..^=

Corner bookmarks and Little altered houses

Show time is approaching faster every day and one of my shows is a new one to me and I am taking some paper crafts as well as painted items. I saw these house shapes out of wood on Artchix Studio site and thought gee those are beautiful and I had scraps of wood from various projects I had been cutting out. What a great idea to use those scraps and not just end up tossing them afterall wood is getting expensive to buy these days.
So here are a few, these are just nice little shelf sitters and something to look at and make you smile or give you some inspiration just when you need it. I have a few more houses that aren't shown here but this gives you an idea of what I did. Some of the images I have used are Artchix images and some I got from FlickR.

 
And these are corner bookmarks that I made from Splitcoast Stampers tutorial newsletter that I receive. These are a lot of fun and just make me go wild with ideas. I have quite a few of these made. I hope they sell for me and I will probably make some of these for gifties at Christmas. I had fun using my edge punchers and my Cuttlebug for making flowers.

The above corner bookmards I encorported inchies into. What a great way to use up those paper scraps and if you do them assembly style they work up quite quickly.

Thanks for dropping by.

All comments are welcome.

=^..^=

Pictures of my trip to Victoria BC

As mentioned in my previous post I was planning a trip to see my elderly father who lives in Victoria British Columbia. Dad lives in an extended are facility and has dementia. This trip was unlike many that I have gone to see but this one was a little harder since I hadn't seen dad in almost 3 years and I knew what to expect but this time was a little different. At no time did Dad call me by my nickname or my name, he did a lot of smiling and sometimes depending on where his mind was at he even looked scared or agitated. I saw days of happiness, days of frustration and the day I arrived it was like I wasn't even there. This disease is aweful, you always hear about other families that have a family member who had or has it but when it hits home it sure takes you aback. Makes one think about how you live your life and how you treat others and how you would like to be treated especially in those elderly years.
I can say that my Dad is well looked after and well loved by his health care team. He is shaven every day, clean clothes and the nurses just love him. Often I heard that " he is my favourite" . That being said I know in my heart even tho there is a lot of distance between us that is he in the best place possible with people who are knowledgeable about Dementia and Dad is living with the utmost of dignity.

It was a very busy kind of trip, not really a holiday although I did seem to find a morning to head on down to Chinatown. I love Chinatown but over the years the stores have changed a lot but the one alley way was still there and held some special little shops that I like to wander in.
Fan Tan alley is what I am talking about and here you will see this long alley way and the first door I came to although I am not sure it was even a shop but I didn't recall it being there before I just had to take a pic. This red door with Chinese characters carved into it screamed at me to take a picture of. I am not photographer and I tried my best to get it all in, the alley wasn't very wide so I couldn't really stand back and get it from top to bottom. Anyways I did find some rice paper napkins to play with in my artwork for ATC's and  cardmaking and some neat Chinese papers with floral designs. It didn't say use for Oragami but I am sure that is probably what it is for.

                                                       
 Gateway to Chinatown (above pic) I was there early, I guess most shops don't open til almost 10 and I was there around 9.

  Chinese School, years ago I was in this school and not sure it is still in use but don't you just love those lanterns?

                                                                      Fan Tan Alley

 The Red Door, click on the pic for a larger view to see those Chinese Characters carved into it. Not sure what all the notes and things hanging on it but I am sure it was for some reason. Made it look kind of junky but oh well, loved the door just the same.

And this is me, my dad's older sister lives in an apartment close by and this walkway goes all the way down to the shoreline, this is part of Victoria Harbour where the Cruise ships come in.

Since my return from the trip  I lost a week of creativity for my shows I have been busy this week making bookmarks, corner bookmarks, more inchie Christmas houses for tree ornaments, next I am doing an idea I got from ARTCHIX studio and I cut out some wooden shaped houses and I am in the process of decorating them with mixed media.
That reminds me, Jackie at the warehouse for Artchix Studio I have been in touch with for an order. I was going to pick it up there while I was in Victoria but because of my appts and schedule I had only 1 day to pick up and Jackie was so nice, she will ill and was going to make a special trip back to the Warehouse but she was willing to drop my order off for me at my hotel. So Jackie this is a huge cyber thank you for doing that for me and I sure hope you are feeling better.
Well that being said I had better hit the kitchen studio again and keep going. Time ticks away, lunch runs into dinner time which runs into evening then bedtime at 11. The workshop closes every night at 11pm no matter what I am in the middle of.
Til next time, thanks for dropping by.