Countdown to Saturday (5 days)

Before my first holiday show each year, I go through the bowels of the craft closet and dig out my box of remaining holiday cards from the previous season(s). Then I go through them to see what I have and figure out how much I need to do before show day. Since I'm mostly in catch-up mode this year, I did this activity yesterday. My show is Saturday. Do the math, people. That's 4.38 days to get ready for a holiday show. Eeek!

Just because I do my farmers market every weekend for 5+ months does NOT mean I'm ready for a craft show. I had a conversation with BR#2 yesterday about this very thing. Sure, my car is packed with about 2/3 of what I'll need, but setting up for a farmers market (read: customers are coming to buy tomatoes, and craft vendors are incidental) versus setting up and preparing for a Holiday Craft Show (read: people are coming to buy crafts) are two very different activities. You need more stuff; you need holiday stuff; you need to look professional; you have a bigger space and you should use every inch of it to your advantage; you need to work on presentation - what will draw people into your 8x8 or 10x10 space? See? Very different.

So as I went through my box of holiday stuff from last year, I tossed aside the tea bag holders, since they still contain a piece of chocolate and a tea bag that are now both a year old. Ew. I may be able to salvage them and just replace the innards, but not today. I rummaged through the cards to remind myself what I did last year, and two of them had me going to the craft room to make more.

So today I made 8 Christmas cards ala The Crooked Stamper. Here's the first one:

I first made this card last year, using my Basic Grey Figgy papers, which were a year old then. I'm still working on them, too. I figure I have about 5 6x6 pads of this paper, so I may never actually run out. Ever.

I made 4 of these, so I also used up 4 of those buckle things from my stash. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

Next I made 4 of these:


Still with the Figgy paper, and I also broke out one of my new Large Scallop Nestabilities, though I'm not sure it's right for this image. I used a few inches of retired Cranberry ribbon, because I could, and it needed something.

I also made 12 more bookmarks like this one:

This is some of my hoarded SU Pomegranate Satin Ribbon, and OMG, is it luscious! I started cutting lengths of it, when all of a sudden I hit the end of the spool and I'd cut 12, so that's how many I made. I did not plan this activity as far as the numbers. Sometimes I do like to go with the flow. ;)

My stash usage here, in addition to that spool of ribbon, was (1) 12 of those faux gems for the centers, and (2) 12 beads for the weighted end. I tried to get a close-up, and this was the best I could do:

I'm all out of the Filigree brads I used last year, and this was all I had that I thought would work. Ah, well. So these are all bagged and tagged and in my "don't forget to take this stuff next Saturday" pile. It's the only way I can manage to remember things - by putting them in a "don't forget" pile as soon as I think of them. The last thing I need right now is a longer mental list!

Next I hope to make some Fall-themed cards with my new stuff from SU (still in the box ... what part of "behind" has not been clear here?) I also plan to get very crafty every night this week, staying up late into the wee hours of the morning if I need to. I.will.be.ready. I will.

Yeah, we'll see how this goes. I'll be sure to let you know.

Thanks for stopping by!