Prairie Scraps

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 ...