Craft Show Schtuff

I had a craft show yesterday in Arlington, VA, and for as small as this venue is (only 10-12 crafters), it always amazes me how much traffic they get. It's a combination craft show & Malamute rescue fund-raiser bake sale & farmers market all rolled into one. It is historically one of my best shows each year, and this year didn't disappoint!

I forgot my real camera, so please excuse the cr@ppy phone photos. Here is my set-up:

The organizer gave me an end spot which let me grab a little extra space. I know it's not fair, but with those two card racks, you can't get to my tables any other way. I never set up the same way twice; this is a constant work-in-progress, even after 8 years!

Here is the second table:

I tried something different this time - I have a two-tiered set-up on that table! Here's the side view:

That's a shelf from a big box hardware store (under $5), and it's on top of some boxes I covered with another table cloth:

It was perfect! It let me put one of my Plexiglas card racks up high and left the front of the table for all my framed stuff. Oh, and I actually sold one of the ribbon wreaths! (whoot)

One of the vendors sells T-shirts like these:


(hee hee)

And the vendor across from me sells gourd art. She grows them on their farm, then makes them into ornaments and other items. Here's the one I snagged:

She burns the design into the gourd, then stains and paints them. Isn't this too cute?

Here's another one I snapped yesterday:

and here's some more from the ornament section of her Web site:



And a larger non-ornament gourd:

The best thing about these is they don't break! Nope! I know because there was a minor craftastrophe yesterday while setting up, and one of her display trees came crashing to the floor - gourd ornaments EVERYwhere. As we all ran to help her recover, we saw they don't break; they bounce! I found that cat one and called it mine. :D These would be perfect for anyone with small children, as they are not fragile at all!

I think you should contact her and tell her you want a bazillion of these for gifts this year. :)

In other news, I cooked my Thanksgiving turkey breast today since I bought it too early and it was fresh, so my place now smells fantastic. I'll wait until Thursday to eat it, but that's one thing done ahead. Most people make the pies ahead, but not me; I make the turkey ahead. ;/

I'm also back to my old trick of printing out 17 or 20 sketch challenges so I can be inspired to toss them when there's 17 more next week, but hey, maybe I'll actually do one or two in what's left of this afternoon. :)

Thanks for stopping by!