Red Heart Yarn Giveaway and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!  I'm almost ready. I finished my last crochet order on Saturday and mailed it off and I haven't touched a crochet hook or knitting needle since then.  Since I still have baking and gift wrapping to do, I probably won't do any more projects until Christmas is over.  That hasn't stopped me from looking at yarn and patterns though.  I found a giveway for some free Red Heart yarn.  Go to http://www.allfreecrochet.com/sweeps/Red-Heart-with-Love-Yarn-Giveaway  to enter.  I must admit I've never used Love yarn from Red Heart, but winning a free skein would certainly get me to try it!  Good luck!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  I hope you have a wonderful day and spend it eating good food with family and friends.  I'll be hosting 18 family members and friends for the day.  Today has been a busy day baking pies, cleaning, etc.

November was craft show month and it went really well.  I had a table at 3 different craft shows.  Each show had wonderful vendors (I wish I could have shopped more!) and lots of wonderful shoppers.  I thank everyone who stopped by and purchased something from me or made an order.  I'm busy working away on all the orders!  I  was happily surprised that we had so many shoppers turn out and that they were willing to buy.  I noticed, however, that shoppers were looking for lower priced items and not interested in spending a large sum on one item.  A sign of the economic times, I believe.

I'm having free shipping on many items in my Artfire store (http://BrendasCraftStore.artfire.com).  The store is a little empty right now because I sold a lot at the craft shows, but I'll keep adding things throughout the month of December so please keep checking for new items for gifts or for yourself.

November Boutiques in St. Paul, MN Area

Craft show season has arrived!  Here in the Twin Cities, November is the busy month for craft shows.  They're everywhere--schools, churches, VFW's, community centers.  I love going to craft shows!  There is always such a great variety of stuff.  Last weekend was sort of the kick off of shows.  I had a booth in one in Rosemount.  There were close to 80 vendors and a lot of shoppers.  It seems people are watching their pennies this year and seemed to be more interested in practical items and not just decorative things that sit around and collect dust.  They also weren't very interested in high priced items.  And surprisingly, I didn't sell a lot of dish towels or dish cloths.  Headbands/earwarmers and scarves were popular. 


I was impressed with the quality of work and interesting items available.  There was one thing that bothered me, however, and I'd love to know what people (both vendors and shoppers) think.  There was a table which had earwamers similar to what I make.  I looked at them and picked one up and asked the seller what kind of yarn she used.  She told me that she didn't make them.  It turns out they were commercially made and she just resells them.  There were also a couple of other vendors who were selling the sock monkey and other animal hats, and their hats were commercially made in Nepal and China.  But none of these vendors were making that fact obvious.  You had to look closely at the tag on the item to see the "made in Nepal" label or ask.  I'm afraid many shoppers thought they were buying handmade items from local sellers.  Does this bother anyone else?  I always though of craft shows as just that--people selling their handmade crafts.  I've gotten used to the Mary Kay, Tastefully Simple, Tupperware and other such vendors, but their product is obviously not a handmade craft.  And I understand that some shoppers prefer to buy those types of products at a craft show instead of a home party or home consultation.  But the hats and such are more bothersome to me because it's not obvious that they aren't handmade by the person selling them.  They're the same item you could go to your local store and buy.  Would it be wrong to have these sellers clearly post that they are reselling a mass produced product and are not selling something handmade by them?  Or do we not care if it's handmade or mass produced?

There are 2 more shows coming up which you should check out if you're in the Twin Cities area.  Saturday, November 12, the Eagan High School Band Boosters is sponsoring a holiday boutique at the high school from 9am-4pm.  On Saturday, November 19, Faithful Shepherd Catholic School in Eagan, MN is having their holiday boutique from 9am-3pm.  Both are always great shows and have no admission charge.  Each has a concession stand and a raffle.

There's also a big craft show going on at Canterbury Downs the weekend of November 12.  It charges admission, but I believe it's a great place to shop.

Craft Show Season is Almost Here

My how time flies!  It's almost Halloween!  And it's almost craft show season.  Fall is my favorite time of year.  I love the beautiful fall colors, crunching through the leaves and the weather.  We didn't have a lot of pretty color here in the Twin Cities because all the leaves just seemed to blow off the trees right away.  We had a stretch of really nice temperatures though. Now the temperatures are cooling off and it seems winter might be working it's way here. Fall inspired me to do some autumn themed dish towels and of course Halloween themed ones.  Some of the autumn ones were even featured in a treasury on Artfire!  You can see that here:


  http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=collections&op=details&cid=28939

I'm also the featured artist for October on Kris Miller's blog.  Please check out her blog and her other featured artists.
http://www.dustpanproductions.com/News__Events.php

I also tried another Halloween item--a candy corn pillow.  It was fun and easy to do and is a cute Halloween decoration.

 
I've also been busy doing some custom orders for customers.  It's been fun and I like it because it makes me try things I might not necessarily have done.  Here's one of my creations:

With craft show season coming up, I've been burning the candle at both ends trying to get enough made so I have a good showing at the boutiques.  I never feel I have enough or have the right stuff.  I've been trying to make some of the ruffle scarves I talked about in one of my earlier posts, but I keep selling them as soon as I make them!  (Good problem to have.)  So now every one I make I'm just going to keep and not show it off or list it in my shops.  Hopefully then I'll have several to take to the shows.

I also want to get a few hats made and some neck warmers and wrist warmers.  I spent a little time collecting some new patterns so now I want to take off of work and go home and crochet!  Does anyone else ever feel like that?  I'll also have some jewelry, dish towels and dish cloths at the shows.  A couple afghans.  I never did get around to socks and slippers though.  But I'll get there eventually!

I'll be doing 4 craft shows this season.  The first one is November 5 at Rosemount High School in Rosemount, MN.  The second is November 12 at Eagan High School in Eagan, MN.  The third is November 19 at Faithful Shepherd Catholic School in Eagan, MN.  All of them run from 9am-3pm.  If you live in the Twin Cities area, please stop by. There are always great crafters there and concession and lunch sales.  They even all have a raffle.  The money raised goes to support the choral program at Rosemount High, the band program at Eagan High, and various activities at Faithful Shepherd--all great causes. 

Then in December I'm traveling to Ft. Scott, KS to visit my sister and we're going to participate in her local craft show the weekend of December 3-4.  The show runs Saturday and Sunday at the local high school.  So if you live in the Ft. Scott area, please stop by.  I understand it's a great show!

The only bad thing about being in November craft shows is that I don't get to go to any shows myself!  November is a big craft show month here in the Twin Cities and I'd love to go check them all out.  I encourage everyone to go check out craft shows in their area this fall and holiday shopping season.  There are always so many great items to buy for yourself or as gifts and the money raised by the sponsoring groups such as schools and churches is really helpful.  And there's nothing better than supporting your local crafters and helping the economy!

What Happened to Summer? Or What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Summer's over. And once again I don't know where it went. I should have so much more done! After all, I had a whole summer. We should have gotten more yard projects done. We should have traveled more than just a two day trip to Wisconsin. And I should have a lot more crafts done.

Instead, we basically just maintained the yard. It pretty much rained the entire month of June. Then came July with record heat and humidity. And by the time August rolled around we just didn't care anymore.

My husband was out of work for 3 weeks while our state government shut down. Unfortunately, my job was really busy all summer and my boss was gone for the month of July, so I couldn't take time off while my husband was off. Hence, 2 days in Wisconsin.

And then my crafts. I did many things, but not all the projects I dreamed of. I never did get a special project done for the State fair. I did do a couple things for the county fair though. I also started making some items for a local boutique and that's really exciting. Sales in my on-line stores have picked up and that's exciting too.

I know I'm not the only one who thinks summer went too fast and didn't get everything done. But I feel sad. I want more playtime. I want more travel. And I want more more accomplishments.

But fall is a beautiful time of year. And maybe we'll fit in a fall vacation. And I'll get all those new projects done before craft show season. And maybe.....

A Fun Blog to Check Out

I've come across a fun blog to check out.  It's called Artsynina.  She does a Friday shop hop where you can link your on-line shop for others to check out and you can check out some great shops.  I've seen some really nice work through it.  Go check it out!  http://artsynina.blogspot.com/

Ruffled Scarf with Red Heart Sashay Pictures

In my last post I talked about the scarf I made using Red Heart's Boutique Sashay yarn.  Well, I've finally gotten some pictures taken and here they are.  I've also listed it for sale in my Artfire shop at http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/3722889.