Prairie Scraps

 About a month ago,  a good friend of mine suggested that I apply for the  Hearts at Home  opportunity to be on a launch team for founder, Jill Savage's new book, "No More Perfect Moms."  When I looked at the site and found that there were several things I had to do to qualify, I initially thought that it would take too much time to do, so I almost just clicked out of the site.  Then I hesitated, and decided, why not?   You can imagine my surprise, when I got notified that I was chosen to be on the launch team and that I could download an advance electronic copy of the book!  I've started to read the book, and am already ecstatic about the topic for this book: to get over trying to be perfect and "learn to love your real life!" Although it's too late to get involved in the Launch Team, never fear, there is still time for you to get involved in this great book! Sign up today for the  31 Day No More Perfect Moms Challen...

I am sorry for the gap in my posting, I have had a ton of things on my plate over the holiday season.  I hope that you and yours have a very blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year! Although I've been absent from posting lately, I have been pondering and planning for the coming year!  I am really excited to be sharing new projects that I have done with my MOPS group, new books I'm reading, organizing in the new year, and I've been selected to be on the Hearts at Home Launch Team for Jill Savage's new book!  Stay tuned for more soon!

We are down to just moments before our craft show!  Of course, we haven't had time to even get worried or nervous, because we are trying to get as many things finished as possible!   In an effort to get our layout down, we have a chalk outline in my friend  DeAnn over at Stampin' on the Prairie .  Fortunately we did this  (and took my own advice HERE ), because we discovered that our booth is really narrow!  It is 7 feet wide by 9 feet deep.  Doing a dry run has helped us think through the possibilities of what to do.  Unfortunately, our ladder shelf is going on the side of the booth instead of the back.  We are hoping to be able to go a little over our boundaries at the back of the booth, since most crafters here put their things only in the front of their area. On to more exciting things, I am getting some of my larger furniture items done, finally!  (I always work better under pressure, which in turn makes me a huge procra...

I've been busy getting things finished for the Grangeville Craft Show this Saturday.  I wonder if you are every truly ready, though.  My whole kitchen table is taken over with crafts, and things are stashed everywhere.  The true test of a marriage is the week before a craft show, I am convinced!  Anyway, I just wanted to share some of the things I am getting ready this week.  I found this idea from  Chipping with Charm .  I used some of the pages of an old Children's Poetry book and found pages that had to do with winter and Christmas.  The Bright page has "The Mitten Song" on it!  I almost hope they don't sell, since I love them so much! I love to hear your comments!  Let me know what you think.  Also, check out those blogs I love to link up to on the right column!

I have this rickety old ladder that I picked up for free at a rummage sale.  I think it has great character and have been using it to hold shoes in my bedroom since moving to the prairie.  Unfortunately, as nice as this idea looks on Pinterest, it just didn't work for me.  First of all, my shoes are not all heels, so the flatter shoes fall off if bumped.  Also, the bottom rungs are accessible to little ones, so I'm not sure I will ever recover all my shoes.  So as I'm getting ready for my craft show, I know that this ladder would be key to my display. Here, she is.  Doesn't she have great lines?  I even love all the  different paint marks on it.  Mr. Right thinks I hold on to it to annoy him.  He hates it.  It doesn't work and it stands there in our room and ready to drop a shoe at him!  So, I painted her. I have to admit, I don't miss all the markings and the bleached out color of the wood now that I dry brushed...

We have finally made it!  Me, my final post on the 31 Days Until a Craft Show  series and getting ready for my craft show this season and hopefully you, on your endeavor to be in a craft show.  This last post, I am just going to give you my last, unsolicited advice on getting ready to go and I will finish off with a link list of all my posts in this series. As you get ready, a few things to remember to do: Double check your contract to be sure the times, rules, and anything else to expect at the show. Arrive at the earliest time you can to set up.  I think it's better to have time to spare after you set up than to be running late and run the chance of losing customers.  Most of the other vendors often check each other's booths out before the show and may even buy from you if you are more set up and they can see things. (In other words, don't miss a sale!) Stand back and take a look - Are you pleased? Does it flow right?  Does the booth f...

Another thing that I highly recommend doing is a trial run on packing up the car. Here are some things to think about when you are packing up your car: Make sure it fits! If you have a large display, be sure that it fits into the car before the day of the show.   Start packing up your vehicle way in advance of the show, not just hours before.  This gives you time to readjust and to rethink how you might get things into the car. Don't make too many trips! If you live nearby, you may have an easier time getting things to the show because you can make multiple trips, but  if you've ever tried to park at a show when it's getting set up, you will know that you don't want to make too many trips and try to find parking. Have an order! Think about what order you need things out of your vehicle, also.  Don't put your display tables on the bottom, or you will need to unpack the entire car in order to get the display set up.  Try to make the tables and disp...

When I started to read this book, I had no idea that it was a fourth book in the series!  In fact, this was so well written, that throughout the book, the author, Mona Hodgson gave me hints that there was a story before this book, but I didn't feel like I missed out, either.  Well, I have to say that I was extremely curious to know what happened in the other books.  In fact, I usually don't read books out of order in series, because it gives the other stories away, but I didn't feel this book ruined the other books. "Twice a Bride" is based on Willow Peterson, a new widow and trying to put her life back together after an extended stay in the Glockner Sanitorium.  Willow sets about to follow her new dreams of being an artist, but of course, puts her life in the Lord.  Cripple Creek seems like a good place for Willow to put her roots down and recover from her love of her life's death. Trenton Van Der Veer, for the first in time in his life, has decided to ...

If you have a "normal" life that has to go on, this might be more of a reminder for you, but  when you are getting ready for a craft show, you have to keep working on all of your project.  Make many more and make a variety of things. At this point in your preparations, you house and work area probably looks like this: Beautiful solid wood frame I'm going to paint and put a wire in to hang pictures by a clothespin. Small run of the mill bulletin board that I am going to transfer  a  French print on. This is my favorite.  The picture doesn't do it justice, because it is really long, about 3 feet.  I am painting this shiny black and making it a chalkboard.   This frame is wonderful!  I'm debating keeping this one a mirror, but I think there is a scratch in the middle, so I may have to turn it into a chalkboard too.  I may go for a teal frame. This is just a glimpse of the 8 foot table we set up just outside my...

I think this is one of the most important steps of the craft show (besides making all of your goodies) and that is to have a dry one of the set up.  Mark out the exact dimensions of your booth with tape and actually set up your display, before you get to the show!  In fact, if you have a place, like a shed or a garage, that you can have a Dry Run setup for an extended time, do it. Doing a Dry Run will give you an idea of how big your booth really is and what it will look like.  I remember going to a craft show and setting up all my things the night before, which we had the option of doing and having the time to really digest what my booth would look like. The next morning, I came in early, thankful that I wasn't rushing to get things setup and lo and behold the lady with the booth across the aisle from me was frantic.  Frantic to get her things in and extremely shocked.  She couldn't believe how small her booth was and that her display ...

As you're getting ready for your craft show, don't forget to promote yourself!  I know that the craft show organizers should be doing their share in spreading the word, you should also promote the event to your friends and family members as best you can! The nice thing about asking your friends and family to come, and spread the word for you is that they also are great customers, especially for you!  Here are some of the places you should consider spreading the word through: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Yahoo Personal Email Texting Blog about it! Flyers - hand these out everywhere you go. (You can ask the organizers for some.) The more people that attend the event, the better your sales will be, so don't be shy about letting people know that you'll be there.  On many of these venues, you can even include a picture of some of your items that you will be selling to bring up interest! So here's my promotion: Grangeville Holiday Craft Show When: ...

Now that you are getting your craft show items made, I'm sure that your house has been transformed into an interesting craft explosion, especially if you don't have a craft room just for doing crafts in.  And if you don't have a ton of storage area to put all your items to sell, you are looking for some ideas on how to store them. Of course, there is the old fashioned, box them up and put them in storage, but I try to be a little more creative with that.  (Ok, I don't alway trust that our storage is going to be dry and safe from harm.) My best advice is to hide the items in plain sight.  Here are where some of my items are hiding being stored in plain sight: I am using that vintage suitcase that I did Over HERE .     I am using this suitcase in the corner as one of my decorations in my living room.  At some point, I may have too many decorations, but hopefully that won't happen until we are closer to the craft show! This is a chair I have r...

As you begin to   Make the Crafts  and  Make the Display , you will want to be thinking about how you will be packing your items up into your vehicle to get to the show.  Some may be fortunate enough to have a trailer or a pickup truck, but most probably will be trying to fit everything into a mini-van, or a contained vehicle. This is similar to what I am working with.  It has a lot of space when all the seats are put down, but it still does limit me to how much I can get into it.  Some items, I just may not be able to make because they may not fit into my vehicle.  Fortunately, I am doing the show a few blocks from my house, so I could possibly make more than one trip. If you are doing a craft show farther away, you may want to either cut back the size of the items you make, or come up with some way to bring the items to the craft show.  I've seen people pack things into a camper or into a trailer.  I would hesitate to do an...

This post is making me stumble a little.  It's been snowing for a couple of days now, and I just can't get some of my painting done right now.  I had these great plans to have things underway for actually making my display, but the snow has put a snafu into my plans. I have two older ladders: one I got free from a rummage sale and the other happened to be my Grandfather's.  They are nice wooden ones, the free one doesn't work too well, but I figured with boards put across the two of them, it would stabilize enough to hold my display.  I was going to just brush white paint on them, to give them a more uniform look to them. I have four large crates, two I am leaving wood with their Chinese writing on the sides, the other two need to also get the white wash treatment that my ladders are getting.  Along with these crates, I have two old wooden saw horses that I plan to use.  I am not going to change these, they have a little bit of green to them...

Well, are you ready for Part 2 of Display ideas?  I have them in no particular order, and also can't get everyone that's out there in this post, but I am trying to give you as many different ideas as I can.  I am doing my very best to credit the sources for these pictures, but what I find is that when people put their pictures in flicker accounts, I can't link them to the person.  Trust me, I want very much to give the person credit for their picture and their work. Pink Lemonade (not a direct link to blog post) I love the idea of using a dresser, but this would be large to move into a booth.  The only worthwhile use for it would be to sell the dresser, too. Go Monkey Designs Booth I love the hanging purse display and the buckets with the boards in the display.  Great use of height again. Sugar Bee Crafts What a great idea to attract people to your booth, plus you can change it because it is chalk. Sugar Bee Crafts This one has a great ide...

I have to admit, this is probably one of the most exciting part of getting ready for a craft show - the pictures of display idea.  Go ahead and admit it, you really don't care about all the business of getting ready, but you can't wait to see the pictures of other people's craft booths!  Of course, I can't show you all the pictures out there on the internet, but I have been pinning a ton of them in expectation of this post, so I will share them with you now.  Please give a shout out to those that I am using for idea.  I will be giving a link to each of their posts so you can look closer. Oh, I will be taking two posts for the Display Ideas.  I figured this would be more than one post worth.  Be sure to check out all my other posts that I have done in this series:  31 Days Until a Craft Show . Recyclart  Wouldn't these pallets work great for hanging things on and giving height to your booth?  Not only that, but they are free! Suns...