Sunday, October 16, 2011

I stink at this whole blogging thing sometimes.

So here is the thing y'all. When you are a 'blogger', like a true blogger you keep up with the latest happenings, you keep your readers updated and all that jazz. That is my struggle. I read blogs every couple days, however for me to write a post every coupla days is almost impossible. I just feel like I don't have enough to say. So here I am trying to catch y'all up.

Last post I was telling you about Allison's birthday trip to California. She went, she loved it. She's back and she loves being a Carolina girl too. Thank God. I was so afraid she was going to go and see all of her friends and not want to come home. It was a great trip and she just loved seeing all her friends but at the end of the day that kid is a mama's girl and she missed her family and her room, her stuff and she likes routine ALOT and getting back into a routine is important to her.

Chris's parents moved here last week from California. They are staying with us for a bit until their place is ready. Gianna hadn't seen her grandparents in almost a year and that was just awesome to see how happy she was. Allison had seen them when we went to CA over the summer. It has been great to have them here and show them around our new town. We love it here and we hope they do too.

Yesterday was our second craft show. It was bigger than the last and super well organized, which was great. However it wasn't as successful as I was hoping it would be. The good thing was I got to share it with Heather. She brought her darling necklaces and headbands to sell. It was great hanging out with her and her girls. She is just such a genuine, sweet girl and I am so glad that I am getting to know her and that she lives here in this great little town.



Chris and his dad had built me a new display out of shipping pallets and I just love it. I feel so much better about going to the shows now, I loved the way my signs looked on it and it is big enough that it grabbed every one's attention. Too bad that it just didn't grab their attention enough to buy more stuff! lol.

So even though we didn't sell too much, I still felt like the day was a good one. There were a bunch of people who picked up our cards. I haven't really had any exposure here locally so people seeing my stuff and showing interest in it is a good thing.
I love that my girls are doing this with me too. Allison sells her beanies that she knits and Gianna sells her duct tape hair bows. It is a great bonding experience for us.

Today my in laws took my kids to get pumpkins. She bought me some potted mums to put by my front door too. They are so pretty and the whole thing kind of inspired me. I haven't done anything to our front entrance since we moved here. I just haven't even thought about it. But then I read all these blogs and all these southern girls really go all out for fall on their front porches. Well y'all know how I like to be considered one of them, so I had to step up and do a little something.

So first I added a little vinyl lettering to welcome my country guests, and my not so country guests too of course. I mean after all South Carolina is the home of southern hospitality (which speaking of southern hospitality we saw Paula Deen today at Costco!).


After the vinyl went up I felt like maybe I should actually put up one of my signs. Of the hundred and something signs I have made I have only hung up one in my whole house! Unfortunately it was night time so the pictures aren't great but I am really happy with how it all looks. I beefed up the whole look today and took new pictures.






Do you  see it up there on the brick? Like I said it was dark and the brick is dark so it just doesn't show up real great. Here it is close up-

Well folks I really am going to try to be better about updating my blog more often. Hopefully some really cool things will happen around here in the weeks and months to come so I have something good to write about.
Oh and by the way, I am offering a deal at my etsy store. If you want to see what that deal is go on over to my facebook page and like it. Thanks!


Tuesday, October 4, 2011

working like a dog!

That was me today. I have been working like crazy. For one, my in laws arrive tomorrow so I am trying to get laundry done and get ready for visitors. For two, I have been kind of lax with my etsy store lately because I knew I had all of these craft fairs coming up and I wasn't sure how it was going to work, if I have things listed and then I sell them at the craft fair, what if I no longer have those papers or can't get them? Well I just decided that I have got to show the etsy store some love.
With etsy it is all about the pictures. I am not a great photographer so this is kind of my struggle. I have a great camera, I just don't read directions very well. I just like when things are self explanatory. Camera settings are not. So I just set my setting to 'auto' and let it go. Whatever. I am trying. The problem is I have had several customers who have said to me 'oh my gosh, your work is so much better in person, the pictures don't do them justice'. Ugh. So I went to work today taking new pictures of many of my listings and adding several new items.



This is one of my new items. I made it for Allison yesterday since it was her birthday.. the funny thing is as soon as she and Chris both saw it they said 'oh that is super cute, are you going to list it?' I had not intended to list it but then I thought maybe it would be a good idea. It would make a cute prop for a photo booth at a sweet 16 party and it would look really cute at the gift table or cake table. What do you think? Do you think that you can get an idea of what it looks like by this picture? I don't know. In real life it's super sparkly and you can't see that here at all. Hmm..what to do.

Well speaking of Allison's bday...she got a big surprise. Three of our friends in CA went in together and bought her a plane ticket to come visit this week! Oh my gosh that girl was so excited!! I am freaking out a little bit about putting her on a plane by herself but I am so happy for her that I am going to just have to take a xanax and get over it! lol. Here is what she looked like when she opened the little box that had the plane ticket in it-
My what big eyes you have!
Gianna was a little bummed that her sister was going to see all of her friends and she wasn't, but I am so not ready to put both of my girls on a plane together without me. Allison is ready but I think if she had to take care of Gianna it would make her nervous. So next time Gianna and I will go alone, just the two of us. Plus this way she gets time with her grandparents all alone. See win/win!

Well if you have any comments or suggestions about the pics I would be glad to hear 'em. Oh BTW, have you noticed that I kinda lost my southern drawl? Shoot. I better get to workin' on that. See y'all later!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

October is here!

This is just going to be a quick post, just wanted to write a little about our first craft fair and some other things that have been going on around here.

So yesterday was our first rodeo as they say. The girls, Chris and I all packed up my car and his truck and headed over to the site where the craft show was being held.



 Of course Olga (our name for Chris's gps on his phone) gave us the wrong directions so we got a little lost at first, but after a little while and a phone call to the place we found it. I didn't have super high expectations for this show as I knew it would be a smaller one. I was kind of looking at it as our 'practice round'. I thought it would be a good chance to get the booth set up and see what we would want to do different next time.
Allison all ready to make her first sale! (oh my gosh, how about the guy in the background totally grinning like I was taking a picture of him! hahaha)
For goodness sakes, how could you NOT buy a duct tape bow from this girl?
Set up went pretty smoothly and we were up and running in no time. The weather was p.e.r.f.e.c.t., a little chilly but just beautiful. As a matter of fact the sun was shining so much that all my pictures came out with such a glare that I don't really have any of our cute booth.
Here is a shot that you can kind of see the corner of the two tables. It was a little crowded but everything looked pretty good. (I sold that Halloween sign in this picture! yay!)
Here is my little business card holder and my new business cards, I think they look pretty cute!


Gianna made the first sale of the day! She actually ended up selling 6 bows, which I thought was pretty good since we were at an old folks home. Our next fair is at a school and I have a feeling she will do even better!
One zebra bow...$1.00
She was so cute, as soon as she made the sale she grabbed her notebook so she could keep track of what she had sold. She and her two girlfriends are doing this together so she wants to make sure she is fair and keeping track. I love that kid!

So those are all the pictures I really have. It was a great experience and I am so looking forward to doing it again. I was really excited because while we were there a lady was passing out fliers for another show Nov 4th and 5th! woo hoo! I am going to be on the craft show circuit before long! I love that my girls were there sharing it with me and that they are learning to be little entrepreneurs. I think it is so good for them to have a sense of pride in the things they are making, to get out there and meet new people and to spend quality time not only with me but with each other. Allison is getting older and will be out of the house and in college before we know it, I want to them to have as many memories together as possible.

Today was a good day around here too. I woke up early, before anyone else and jumped in the car and did something I have never done. I drove to Krispy Kreme (the hot sign was on!) and got a dozen donuts to surprise the kids (and Chris) when they woke up. Then we spent the morning cleaning up and doing laundry. My in laws get here in a few days so I wanted to make sure we had as many chores done as possible.

Then it was time for football. Our favorite thing to do around here on game day is hang out and eat snack type food all day, no real meals just appetizers. So I made sweet fire meatballs (will have to do a recipe tutorial on those, they are simple and good!), some chili queso dip with homemade chili and we went by Allison's work and picked up some pizza. We spent the rest of the day eating, dancing (that might have just been me) and enjoying our day together. It was a wonderful weekend. I needed it too. Last week was a bit rough for me and just having my little family around me was just what I needed.

Well I am going to sign off for now. I will have more to write tomorrow. It is the big day. Allison turns 16. Holy moly. It just kills me. I am so proud of this girl. I hope tomorrow is as special as she is. I can't wait to tell y'all all about it.