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12/31/13
I
haven't given up on my blog, just taking a rest - meanwhile
enjoy these pictures of my Xmas tree and a bonus.
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Tannenbaum |
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Although
quilling is my salient creative endeavor these days,
I do many more artsy-craftsy things. My Etsy shop is
filled with holiday decorations and my Xmas tree is
covered with them, all hand made (by me, except for
the tree topper, a clear-Lego design made by my son)
using a variety of techniques: lusciously-decorated
satin balls, crochet, needlepoint and cross-stitch,
plastic canvas, beading - some from kits or printed
directions, some originals (all my quilling ornaments
are original designs).
I
have been crafting ornaments for the last 4 decades.
Sadly, the early ones are lost, but I still have enough
to more than decorate a tree.
Take a look and enjoy!
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To
the left and and above it, decorated satin balls from
TheCrackerBox
dominate my tree - I have close to 100 of them, all
made since the late 1990s. In the upper left picture,
next
to the blue one with the draped beads (Chandelier),
is one of the quilled showflakes I sell in my Etsy
shop. In the center of the picture on the left is
a round needlepoint ornament (drum) and to the right
of that, a beaded candy cane - my kids and I made quite
a few of them in the early 80s.
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Above
- Santa made of seed beads on perforated paper; ornament
made of yarn needlepoint on silver perforated paper, both
made in the late 80s. |
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| Above,
left to right: Counted cross-stitch mini-bag with candy
canes (which are the same ones I put in there when I made
it in the early 80s!). Crocheted cover on satin ball with
pearls, ribbons and flowers. Embroidered lace around a
satin oblong ball. Raffia needlepoint on plastic canvas
- made in November 1987 when I was in Alaska on a work
assignment. |
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Our
stockings are counted cross-stitch (satin
lining) made in the mid 80s. They're hung
with silver stocking holders on a window
sill by the tree because we do not have
a fireplace. >
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A very ambitious project!
Gifts wrapped to form the parts of a snowman,
perhaps a little tipsy?!
The
wrapping paper has silver snowflakes on
a white background. The base is a square
box; 2 round boxes make up the torso and
head (I got the idea from a picture I found
on Pinterest using 3 square boxes). Wrapping
round boxes is difficult and balancing them
even more so.
Maybe
square boxes would have been okay... 
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There
were gifts in the flocked-paper hat (another
round box with an added brim) and in all
the tiny compartments (eyes and buttons)
which held little things like < the ornament
I made for my Lego-lovin' Steelers fan.
There were even a couple geocaching pens
in the nose and the crocheted (broomstick
lace) scarf was made from - of course -
Lego
colors! (See his Etsy shop here.)
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12/2/2012
Craft Fair
Christmasville,
a 4-day early-December event in my town (actually a city,
but town sounds more seasonally appropriate!), includes
a vast array of activities: parade, Santa's arrival (via helicopter!),
"village" lighting ceremony, carolers, performances
by community members and groups young through old, food events,
races and contests, and so much more (here's
a link to an article listing them all).
There
was also the Candy Cane Market, which was a craft fair/sale
(more than that, but that's what it was to me) overseen by
the Professional Business Women's Association. They did a
great job organizing it, advertising it, and getting sponsors,
vendors, and (most important!) shoppers. Ambiance was the
best I've seen in a long time (years) - no music blaring away,
no "entertainment", no extra activities - I could
actually carry on conversations with shoppers without having
to yell or ask them to repeat their questions, or have them
distracted by too much going on. Calm, pleasant, stress-free
for the participants. It was a market, plain and simple, no
distractions from what is, after all, the primary purpose:
to provde a venue for people to show and sell their wares.
Tons of kudos for the PBWA!
There
were more than 70 vendor tables, one of which my son and I
shared. It was a lot of fun and we sold a couple dozen items
between us. Here are some photos of our booth along with descriptive
comments.
We sold
ornaments and jewelry at our booth - my son's made from Lego
bricks (Christopher's
Creations - see the shirt I got him as an early Christmas
gift?) and mine made from Quilling paper (Barbara's Beautys
- no shirt for me becuase I didn't think it was a good idea
to have
"Barbara's Beautys" emblazoned across my chest!).
These are our Etsy shop names.
(Feel free to visit us at BarbarasBeautys
and ChristopherCreation)
I
read (and noticed it about 2/3 of the time) that people see
what is at eye level first, so we created vertical displays
made from
3 foam boards - gray because the photos in our Etsy Shops
have a gray background - propped up on table easels with glass-head
pins to mount the pieces.
The Christmas
tree cutouts are from glittery wrapping paper, the sparkle
intended to draw attention.
Of
course, I used my computer skills for signage. We
pinned the ornaments on the display boards at home, very carefully
slid thiem into the same big bag the boards were bagged in
at the store, and took them to the venue where we simply set
them on table top easels.
I put a
couple packs of quilling paper up in the corner so people
could see what I use to make
my Beautys - later I opened a pack and let people "feel"
it. Most people had either never heard of
quilling before or told me their mothers or grandmothers used
to do it (I'm so old ).
A couple people asked if I teach quilling, so I might set
up some classes in January - share the fun!
Many items
were duplicated on the boards, stands and table - some people
"discovered" things on the boards, some on the ornament
stands, and some browsed through the pre-packaged items on
the table - and often "discoverd" more when they
looked at another place in our booth. I.e., people saw more
because of the multiple placement.
We shared
the jewelry board, using it to "divide" the table.
Because there are so many possible variations, we both customize
our jewelry - metal-tone, earring style, necklace length and
colors
of bricks or paper. Some customization is done on the spot
but some (especially colors)
has to be done at home and shipped to the customer.
(My sign
looked a little plain with just a name so I added a few quilled
elements. It was SOOOO nice to create something more "frou-frou"
than the earrings and ornaments I've been working on the past
few months - after the end of this year, I'm going to spend
a few weeks in "frou-frou" land!)
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Above: Dale (his middle name is Christopher) and his Creations.
His Lego
ornaments are 3" in diameter (not flat) and so could
not be hung on the tree-cutout on his board. We wanted
the symmetry, vertical display and sparkle, so he used
some of my crystal-glitter-on-plastic snowflakes, glued
colored glitter in the middle and added little store-bought
snowmen to them. Nice result but the tree looked sparsely
decorated, so he used more of the same snowmen to create
earrings to match each snowflake - turned out quite cute,
a nice set! |
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First there
were red-and-green
ornaments.
Then there were red-and-white
and green-and-white
ornaments.
Next there were red-green-and-white
tri-color ornaments.
Finally, my ever-conscientious son decided to make blue-and-white
ornaments for Hannakah, and red-green-and-black
ornaments for Kwaanza.
Never mind that there are no Hannakah or Kwaanza trees, he
would tell you,
there are many things that can be decorated!
The stand to the right of center in the picture in the above
picture revolves. Unfortunately, these Lego
spheres are too heavy for the stand, making it top-heavy -
it fell over 10 seconds after it was turned on. Sigh...
Clear Lego
"windows" make a tree topper. An artist's palette
(and then some) of posts/studs.
We thought
these stocking stuffers were so cute and clever they would
be gobbled up (punny!) - not one person bought one! Even at
only $1, they got zero interest!
11/5/2012
Sparkly Jingle Bells
I have
been preparing for a local craft fair on December 1, 2012.
My son and I will be sharing a table to display our jewelry
and Christmas ornaments, his made from Legos, mine from quilling
paper. Busy, busy, busy building up our inventories, but still
time to create something new.
On a recent
visit to the craft store (a regular outing these days!) I
found some small jingle bells in the same colors as my favorite
metellic-edged paper. That just screamed "new design"
so here it is:
These
are available in my Etsy
shop under this
listing. Etsy has a new element called "Variations"
- it allows me to have one listing for the different colors.
This is done via a drop-down box. I'm still deciding about
whether I like this - you'd still have to order each item
separately if you wanted different colors. Also, I am concerned
that people will think the listing is for all 3. Well, I'll
wait for awhile to see if it works or if I should just go
back to separate listings.
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