Pelicans, mung beans, and pendants, oh my!

Well, we survived our first outdoor craft show!

It started out as a very windy morning and to be quite honest, I was getting really nervous- as we were setting up, everything kept blowing over and off the tables. I wasn't quite sure how we were going to manage. But we got a little creative with some painter's tape and booth layout and figured it out.

Here are some photos from the weekend.

This is me at the end of the day... you can't tell, but I'm actually really exhausted. My back hurt, my head hurt, I was tired of explaining all the jewelry. Ah, the life of an artist.

Some shoppers, checking us out...

These are my new pendant design. These are glass beads riveted onto a piece of sheet metal that's been textured, filed, and polished in a tumbler. I just love them ;-) Most of the glass beads are made by Nikki from Thornburg Studios.

Here's a quick glimpse of the booth. Needs some tweaks, but overall, a vast improvement from our last show!

Here was the hit of the booth design. Not the jewelry (though the tagua nuts were popular). But rather the mung beans. Only cost $3 for all the beans and they really drew a crowd. I don't think Pelican Rapidsians had ever heard of mung beans judging by the blank stares I got when I told them what they were...

All in all, this was our most successful show so far and we really had a ton of fun. Now I need to decide what I'm going to treat myself to for all my hard work... a flex shaft? a new stamp set? a drill press? hammers??? How's a girl to decide??

Hope you all had a great weekend too!
~B

booth design... bleh

Booth design.

It's probably why most people stay away from craft shows and just stick to online and house parties. We spend all this time, energy, and effort, (and put lots of love into) making our handcrafted jewelry pieces so that we can brighten someone's day or inspire someone with a word, a charm, a sparkle.

All of that, and we have to design a booth??

Okay, I'm putting way too much pressure on myself (some would say that is typical) for our upcoming show. But it's our first outdoor show, and I'm hoping a good one, and since our last one was sort of a bust, we really want to do well.

I've been out and about at art fairs this summer-- not to shop-- but to snoop. There are so many creative booth setups out there-- I've been really inspired, overwhelmed, and excited by the booths alone, so I'm hoping ours is halfway decent. I even had my husband take a photo with his phone of a booth I really liked, pretending he was taking a picture of me.

Here are some photos of the booth in progress (in my garage):

This will be the main focus- our silver fused pendants.

Tagua nut pendants laid in a tray of mung beans. We made a trip to the asian market. I bought three bags of mung beans and three bags of a yellow bean, can't remember what it's called. The guy looked at me funny. Not sure why?

My lovely new rings that I adore ;-)

This table has all our earrings and river rock pendants.

Sort of hard to get a feel for it without being able to see it up close, but if you have any thoughts, suggestions or ideas, I'm open! Our show is July 25 in Pelican Rapids so I've got time to tweak it. And obviously I will not be using these table covers and more of the jewelry will be velcroed onto the floor tiles ;-)

Thanks for looking and wish us luck!

Oh, and we keep meaning to update our etsy site-- one of two things that was posted sold (wow!) so there's just one lonely pendant on there. So, look for more on our etsy site after we get through this next show. If there's anything you're dying to see more photos of though, let me know, I'm happy to share!
~B

One Lovely Blog

I always get such great excitement when I look at my posts and see that someone commented on my blog post. But what an even greater surprise, when a couple weeks ago, I was picked by Catherine Witherall of Happy Day Art to recieve the 'One Lovely Blog' award.

First, I want to thank the Academy... okay okay. Now, I'm not really too savvy with all these blog awards, but I'm going to give it my best shot here since I'm just so darn tickled that I was chosen for this award. Seems prettty simple really.

To accept the award:

Post it on your blog and give acknowledgement to the person who awarded it to you. Now, pass the award on to 5 other blogs that you have discovered and contact them to let them know they've been chosen. Got it?

Here are the 5 blogs I've chosen to recieve this award, on behalf of the Academy...

Krysten Halek Photography Blog

Stacie Florer, Nomadic Creations

Zoa Art Blog

A Metalsmith's Journey

Freshie and Zero

They're all very unique blogs that I love visiting regularly. I hope you do too!