Just a few images from our project today. The kids and I spent the afternoon at Ditto Kiddo starting on Christmas/holiday decorating. I love this window, but it's hard to show it in a photo (there are a few more photos here).

This afternoon we set out to find a couple tall skinny simple not pretty trees. Once we accomplished that we looked for ugly inexpensive big picture frames, which we didn't find. And twine ... the most worn looking available ... found that at the hardware store. And then tacky spray-on snow ... also at the hardware store. The kids kept looking at me like I was nuts and asking "what is this for again?".

The green trees are covered in spray-on snow (don't spray your sister in the eyes ... it burns, just ask C.), then sprinkled with white fake "snow", and then finished off with a bit of irridescent fake "snow" ... so basically I'm going to spend the next month cleaning itty bitty bits of confetti-like "snow" off the floors, because what child isn't going to stick his fingers in that concoction?

The frames are made from sticks the kids found outside and are bound with twine ... total cost less than $2 ... way cheaper than buying frames and making them look old and worn. I'm going to change the twine hanging the clothes up to fishing line, I think it needs to be invisible for the framed clothing to look right.

The goal was a more woodsy feeling snowy Christmas and I think we did it.

The next window is going to be pink/red/black/white. So far C. and I are going for simple elegance ... 3 standing mannequins and a few really big hanging ornaments. It'll be interesting to see what we end up with, it's seldom what we start out to do.



Oh yeah, the craft show. Friday, the first day, was good. It was slow customer-wise but I sold quite a bit to other vendors and their friends. I left feeling very good about things and ready to be crazy busy on Saturday. It wasn't. At all. I'm not sure what happened but the show itself never got the draw it needed to be successful. Most of the day there were no more than 8-10 shoppers ... and often less. Some of the vendors still did quite well, but I did not. I sold a few things, but nothing like I'd wanted.

Even though it wasn't quite what I'd hoped for I'm very happy about the whole thing. I left feeling confident about my products and eager to try another show. More than anything, it was fun. My mother helped out both days and we had a chance to talk without kids or spouses around ... and talk we did! The other vendors, and the show organizers, were wonderful, all so friendly. There was always a constant flow of chatter throughout the room as we all talked non-stop.

I'm not sure if I'll do this particular show again. One thing I decided is that I don't want to commit myself to a 2-day show without some idea of what to expect, mostly just because of the logistics of getting the kids taken care of and where they needed to be. So now I'm looking for other local shows ... I'm ready to do it again.

edited to add: I forgot to mention that I was moved from my table to 2 tables. It was wonderful to have the added 8' of space. I was able to put out all the handbags and lay out the quilts so it was easier to see them all (and I sold two of them!). Thank you Jackie!