Scarecrow Fest & Updated Booth Pictures

Happy Monday!

Well, the Scarecrow Fest was a bit of a flop, as far as making any money. BUT we  promoted the heck out of the co-op, and I also met the owner of Parkyka Farms in Kendall, NY, who was interested in carrying some of it in her gift shop! I met up with her on Sunday and sold her some snowman pins, country night lights, and a few other items. It was my first time selling “wholesale.” If nothing else, I made a great contact on Saturday and got the word out to the town of Kendall about The Carriage Place!

Check out the Partyka Farms website to read about the very cool “Country Barn Quilt Trail of Western New York.” Many barns scattered throughout WNY have these massive, hand-painted, “quilt” patterns on their barns. Each pattern has a special meaning. It’s really interesting!

Anyway, at the Scarecrow Fest, it was a pretty small space unlike my big show up in Potsdam. Here are a few pics. I had one table, and my friend June had the other.

I got this antique wooden tool box at an estate sale on Friday. I almost don’t want to sell it…it’s got a neat leather handle and big metal latch.

 

I love how the folk art pumpkin magnets look on the green enamel pan. I love displaying magnets on enamelware or those big tin stars!

After the Festival, I headed right over to the co-op to bring back some of the inventory. I rearranged and took some new pictures!

10 things on this table were Goodwill/Salvo finds. Can you guess which ones??

See that cool enamel coffee kettle with the colorful graphics (below)? Garage sale find last weekend! It’s so cute in person!!! The wooden table in front was also a garage sale find. It’s amazing what people want to give away for next to nothing!

There’s my suitcase display….love, love, love it!

 

It’s getting to be the end of garage sale/estate sale season so it’s time to gear up and power buy for the winter months. I am however LOOOOVING this Fall weather and all the Fall stuff that comes along with this season. It’s an absolutely beautiful day today in WNY. Hope you have a great week and check back soon!

 

 

Stamping Hang Tags, Skeleton Keys, and Possibly A PERMANENT BOOTH?!?!

Yes, I think I am about to take a plunge into the world of craft co-ops! It’s not 100% yet but I have spoken to the owner of this wonderful craft/antique co-op called Liberty Hollow, and am looking at a few booth options. I will most likely start small and if things work out, I’ll move into a larger booth!

THIS IS SO EXCITING! It’s been consuming my mind lately!!! Also, Liberty Hollow has a…how do I put this…”sub-par” website lacking a lot of basic information and design so I offered to re-do the website in exchange for a few bucks off my monthly booth fee, which the owner seemed very interested in.  I hope it works out; this place is right up my alley! It’s one of my favorite places to shop, and I know the place like the back of my hand! I’ll keep ya’ll posted!

In the mean time, I have acquired some really great new rubber stamps that I picked out especially for stamping my grubby hang tags. The first is a lovely little bird cage…these seem like they’d be great for Valentine’s Day!

I realllllly love these ones….skeleton keys, of course! They are my new obsession lately…not sure why!

I love the flower with the script behind it. It’s so….romantic.

And lastly is my favorite, a Victorian style woman writing at her desk…

I plan on grouping them together and selling them for crafts, scrapbooking, gift wrapping, or whatever your primitive little heart desires! I recently saw unstamped grubby hang tags in a catalog selling 5 for $5….gimme a break! I am thinking more like 5 for $1!

I attached a (reproduction) skeleton key to the tag for interest.

It was inspired by the pic below from Confessions of a Plate Addict. I am certain they are the same keys from Hobby Lobby!

I could make these all day! Not sure what to do with them though…they’re just so PRETTY. Hang up or use as bowl fillers perhaps? Do you like the homespun (below) or the ribbon (above) better? I usually prefer homespun for all projects, but I might be leaning towards the ribbon for these.

And the left overs became funky hanging ornaments!

The other project I worked on over the weekend was replenishing my stock of country tea lights. The little plastic flames are wrapped with masking tape to avoid getting the texture paste on them.

I textured a few of these little rusty stars to make small star ornaments. I love them as plain ol’ rusty stars, but couldn’t help experimenting here. Cute and simple stars never fail!

Well, I got my crafting fix…for now! The possibility of a real booth has motivated me. I am overwhelmed with ideas and to-do lists!!!

Have a great week everyone!

Ophthalmic Photography: Part II

I have been dying to get down and dirty with some crafting and getting some new projects posted on here, but work has been so freakin busy lately! By the time I get home, I am too tired to craft! So I figured…since work has been consuming me lately, why not share a few of the interesting cases I have been photographing!

These diagnostic images are interesting displays of how complex our bodies are, and become a sort of “abstract art.”  Some of these are quite rare conditions and make for very “eye-catching” images (pun totally intended).

This is a very complex case of a patient who, according to our MD, has wet macular degeneration along with an arterial macroaneurysm. There is blood both above and below the retina. The images are a color photograph complimented by an OCT scan. OCT stands for optical coherence tomography, and is a type of high magnification, cross-sectional imaging. The orientation of the OCT can be seen in the lower left corner of the inset. I love how the cyst of half fluid and half blood looks on the scan!

Shown here is some kind of crazy blood vessel abnormality…obviously!! I can’t find the dude’s chart or else I’d give a little more information on how the MD described this pathology. I think it’s just plain COOL! Super sharp, tortuous veins and arteries always make for interesting photos!

This patient has a very large tumor in his eye, seen on the right. This image is a mosaic, made up of multiple images shot on multiple planes of focus. The top of the tumor seen here is actually about 8-9 millimeters elevated from the retina…which is a lot in terms of tiny eyeballs. Unfortunately, this eye will most likely have to be removed.

This is a 9 mm OCT scan of a patient with a very rare disease called Vogt Koyanagi Harada Syndrome. It is typically seen in Hispanic, Asian, and Middle Eastern patients. It is an inflammatory disease which causes severe swelling and detaching of the retina. In a normal retina, the scan would be flat, without all of the gaps between the layers.

Here are two images, the right and left eye, respectively. The patient has what is known as “Bulls Eye Maculopathy.” It can result from hereditary conditions and also from drug toxicity, as seen with this patient (or so the MD suspects). It’s symmetry and similar appearance in each eye, when put back to back, is really neat!

This patient has “Solar Retinopathy.” This is essentially a small hole in the retina which results from staring at the sun! So, in summary, DON’T stare a the sun!!! You can really see the definition of the fine retinal layers with this black and white image.

Another interesting OCT scan shows a patient with “Foveoschisis,” which can occur in myopic eyes. It is essentially a shallow retinal detachment. I particularly like the positive/negative space effects in this scan.

This pathology is called a “Macular Star” for obvious reasons. The little yellow spots are little deposits of lipids, or fatty molecules that are in the blood. They can often create a star pattern, radiating out from the macula, which is the area of the retina responsible for central vision.

Spider webs? Nope! This is a high-mag image of a diabetic eye with tons of blood vessel abnormalities. There are even spots where the capillaries have closed off. This is the result of a diabetic patient who doesn’t take care of themselves or watch their blood sugars!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed these images as much as I have enjoyed sharing them. I am so blessed to have a job that I love, that directly helps the patients. I may take a million photos a day, but I never get sick of this stuff!!!

Country Themed Dollar Store Crafts

While the selection is better, large craft stores prices can be a little rough on the wallet. There are tons of supplies for general crafting at the dollar store; i.e. tacky foam shapes, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, etc. Those can be great for kids, but it gets a little tougher when looking to do primitive/country crafts.

Here are a few projects that I have done that involve dollar store supplies. A lot of these have been featured in previous posts, so the pictures may look familiar! All of the photos with a white background were found at dollartree.com.

Salt Dough Ornies & Cinnamon Applesauce Ornies

Salt, flour, cinnamon, and applesauce, wax paper – all of your main ingredients for both salt dough and cinnamon applesauce ornaments – can be found at the dollar store. The recipes can be found all over the web, I don’t feel like typing it out…hehe. I make cinnamon applesauce ornies in bulk – usually stars, hearts, and gingerbread men for the holidays.

A wonderful salt dough tutorial can be found at

http://andbabymakesfive-colleen.blogspot.com

This “snowman pop” I picked up at a craft show looks like salt dough. I definitely want to try this. A cute stocking stuffer perhaps?

Primitive Electric Tea Lights and Jar Candles

My best seller and favorite dollar store craft: electric tea lights! I recently found the tea lights on the right at a local Dollar Tree…. 3 for $1! I have found that they are as good the ones at the craft store, and last just as long!

These particular ones have been coated with gold and brown texture fierro, a textured paste made by DecoArt (found at the craft store for about $6 a jar). I have however used plain cinnamon which I get at the dollar store. First I put a piece of tape around the base of the little silicone flame, so my cinnamon doesn’t get on it. Then, paint them with regular glue or modge podge, roll in cinnamon, and let dry. Once dry, re-paint with glue/modge podge to seal! The cinnamon technique works great, but I prefer the look of the texture fierro.

This candle was grubbied up using the cinnamon/glue technique.

These candles were found at the Dollar Tree. I used the same technique as the electric tea lights. This can be done to any glass item or jar candle. Same thing goes for these – dollar store cinnamon works great for a more rusty look!

Wooden Spoon Kitchen Decoration

You can get packages of wooden kitchen spoons at the dollar store (usually 4 per pkg) that can easily be painted and made into very cute country kitchen decorations. I spray painted them black, sanded the edges,  and finished off with a homespun tie and dollar store faux berries!

Silicone Dipped Bulbs – Christmas Lights and Country Night Lights

Hand dipping silicone bulbs looks like a daunting task, but is actually quite easy. I do this with night lights found at the dollar store and also with strands of Christmas lights. I scooped up a huge supply of plain white Christmas lights at the dollar store during the holidays to use all year round! The silicone must be bought elsewhere, but I found it real cheap at Walmart. To see how to dip silicone bulbs, view my previous tutorial here.

Turn these…

into THESE!

Christmas lights for Everyday Country Decor

As I said, I stock up on these after the holidays to use for a variety of projects. One simple idea (not a “craft” per say, but cute nonetheless) is to look for old bottles at yard sales or thrift stores, and put a strand of lights down inside to illuminate the colored glass. I got this blue house shaped bottle at a yard sale for 10 cents, added a string of white Christmas lights, and it looks so darn cute! This picture doesn’t do it justice, but I swear it looks awesome up on a shelf!

Another idea is to take small strips of homespun and knot them on the strand of lights in between each bulb. I have seen it/done it before but can’t seem to find a picture! Cute idea and super-duper easy!

Brown Craft Paper

The Dollar Tree has a surprising selection of brown crafting/wrapping paper that can be used for numerous craft purposes. The one on the far right has little gold stars, and is super cute – one of my favorites.

They also sell plain (without patterns) brown craft paper by the roll. I use this to make labels for my products like the one seen below. I use a paper cutter to cut 8.5 x 11 sheets that can be run through the copier. The Dollar Tree also sells a really great red gingham craft paper – the one that the snowmen are clipped to!

I use it to cover my craft table too, so I can make a mess and then replace it as necessary!

Brown craft paper gift bags are great for stamping.

Homespun Wrapped Candy Cane Ornaments

You get 6 plastic candy cane forms for $1…you can’t beat it! Simply wrap in homespun. I used hot glue to dab on the ends. Another one of my FAVORITE crafts of all time. This could be done with the large candy canes also found at the dollar store!

I haven’t tried these LARGE Dollar Tree candy canes, but I bet they’d look great!

Jingle Bells – As Bowl Fillers and Accents for Other Crafts

Dollar Tree sells all kinds of little jingle bells at Christmas time. I typically spray paint them barn red, navy blue, and forest green, tie a bit of homespun on the top for a little country flair.  I use them as bowl/jar fillers and tree ornaments.

This cute holiday candle decorated with these same (spray painted) jingle bells was found at re-purposed.blogspot.com.

Scatter around candles or mix in with your potpourri. Heck, plop a big wooden bowl on your table and fill it up with these suckers for a nice holiday center piece! A nice silver candle and bell display is shown here, by http://creativehomeexpressions.blogspot.com

A list of other craft supplies I have found at the dollar store:

• Small round magnets & clear gems/marbles (marble magnets)
• Styrofoam cone forms and balls (rag ball ornaments)
• Basic floral supplies (wire, moss)
• Baskets
• Mini terra cotta pots & spanish moss (country witch head)
• Jute
• Large Christmas bulbs (the old-fashioned looking ones)
• Small glass jars (use to hold potpourri, putka pods, cinnamon sticks, buttons, etc!)
• Buttons
• Glitter
• Wooden frames (to paint and distress)
• Wooden shapes for all kinds of crafting
• Super glue/basic craft glue

Visit The Dollar Diva for more great dollar store craft ideas!

Hope you found this post helpful in saving a few bucks while working on your country/prim crafting endeavors. I don’t think I could survive without my local Dollar Tree. If you have any great dollar store ideas and/or crafts, I’d love to hear! Have a great week ya’ll!

An Invasion of Personal Space: The Giraffe Edition!

…You’ll see what I mean when you see the pictures below!

We just got home from a wonderful, sunny week in Phoenix, Arizona visiting Greg’s Mom and family. High 70′s and low 80′s all week…it was absolute bliss! The gorgeous mountains, cacti, sunshine were all refreshing and beautiful sights. One of the highlights of the trip was an African style safari ride through the desert where we had some up close and personal encounters with some giraffes, zebras, camels, and other African wildlife. It was unlike any zoo I have been to, as we were able to feed the giraffes and camels right out of our hands, and be within 10 feet of a heard of zebras! It was absolutely amazing!

This is my new friend “Pilgrim” the giraffe, walking along in front of a beautiful blue mountain scape…

Well HELLO Pilgrim, nice to meet you!

You want this carrot, you say?

Woah! Back it up Pilgrim! This lens isn’t for licking!

Pilgrim making himself at home on the safari bus…

And giving the tour guide a great, big, sloppy, SMOOCH!

A mama zebra scoops up the cookies we threw to her, and shows off her gorgeous stripes!

Isn’t Mother Nature incredible?

Ever seen a zebra smile? Me either! “CHEESE!”

Me hand feeding him a yummy carrot…how freakin’ cool!

Well, that’s all for now. I just had to share the up-the-nostril-giraffe-shots…you don’t get that view everyday!

As far as crafting goes, I have little to share. I wanna get my hands dirty this week though for sure! I’ll be back soon! Stay WARM!

 

 

The Perfect Grubby, Grungy Hang Tags: A Tutorial

Ok, so I think I finally have it down! The batch of hang tags I recently made came out so deliciously grubby!

Here we go! So start by getting basic hang tags at your local craft store. I don’t make any fancy mixtures – I use straight (very strong) coffee. The coffee was really hot so I put it outside in the snow to cool for a bit, so it’s a little easier to work with.

Tip: Seriously, wear rubber gloves! My hands were in the coffee for a very short time and it still stained my nails brown. I usually get down and dirty with my crafts, but for this project, I will definitely wear gloves next time!

Drop in a few tags and mix them around until the are completely submerged in the coffee. Leave them in for only a minute or two.  Leaving them in for a long time makes the little red enforcers fall off. One thing I have learned is that this process is not about how long you soak them, but about how long you bake them in the oven!

Once the tags are completely saturated, lay them out on a cookie sheet so they are not touching. Tip: Don’t shake off the excess coffee. I am convinced that leaving them really wet and saturated (see pic below) is the key to making them grubby. That excess coffee soaks right into the tags as they bake!

Cook at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes. The excess coffee should be absorbed by now and the tags mostly dry.

You’ll notice that one side is pretty grubby, while the other side isn’t. SO, the next step is to RE-DIP all of the tags in the coffee mixture and flip them over to bake on the other side. Bake another 15 minutes. Yes, this is time-consuming, but it works really well and creates a really great over-all grubbified effect! Enjoy the winter scenery while you wait…

Then…VOILA! Perfectly grubby, grungy hanging tags!

Use them for all your prim country projects, scrap booking, gift wrapping, or whatever else you can think of! The possibilities are endless! I think I might start by stamping a few with a great new skeleton key stamp I recently found!

That’s all for now. I am leaving going to Arizona for a week so I won’t be posting for a while. I hope to have some fun pictures to share when I get back. Happy crafting to all!

Organizing The Craft Room and Some Great Prim/Folk Art Goodies Acquired Over the Weekend!

It’s been a cold, cold few weeks here in Upstate New York…I mean REALLY cold! Here is the view of the back yard….it’s a winter wonderland out there! No kickball for me today…I’m just too sick. Damn sore throat just won’t go away. A perfect day to catch up on some blogging!

After looking out at all the snow, I suddenly got a great idea. Every now and then I get an incredible urge to dress my dog up in human clothes. It is an urge I simply cannot control! I’m not sure, but I think Paco enjoys it too. He’s such a good baby. Paco’s ready for a snow day! Tell me this doesn’t make you a little giddy inside!

Last night I decided it’s time to do a little organizing. Does anyone else’s craft area look like THIS?

As you can see I have taken over the basement. This is only one corner…it actually extends around much of the perimeter. It’s nice because I don’t have to worry about being neat, as I would if I were upstairs. However, lately, it has gotten a little out of control. After a few hours of unpacking boxes and bags, cleaning, and organizing….it now looks like this! Please ignore the messy carpet…my last job is to vacuum!

A freshly covered crafting table is so….satisfying. It makes me wanna make something!

I organized the supplies I have gotten over the last few months into bins of future projects.

1. Old Christmas bulbs: to be painted with sparkly modge podge to use as jar/bowl fillers and ornaments.

2. Large metal jingle bells: to be spray painted barn red, forest green, and possibly Americana blue, to be hung with homespun!

3. Wooden discs and mini wooden clothespins: to be spray painted white and made into snowman face pins, magnets, and clips. Some of my best sellers at the show this past Christmas! Thinking about giving gingerbread men another try too.

4. Electric tea lights: to be grubbed up with texture fierro!

5.  Night lights: to be disassembled, bulbs dipped in silicone and turned into country night lights.

So, moving onto the great stuff I acquired over last weekend while I was visiting home! I have to say thank you to my mom’s friend Beth, for sending over a huge box of antique and folk-art style goodies for me to have. THANK YOU BETH! It’s so very thoughtful of you!!! I LOOOOOVE everything!!! Here are a few of my favorites out the box!

This antique Santa is my favorite new Christmas decoration!

Here he is lit up!

This has to be my favorite primitive witch ever! My mom tried to confiscate it, but I wasn’t letting her go! Nice try Cath!

Look at the awesome details in the face, shoes, and pumpkin she is carrying!

This great Americana piece is so charming…

Check out this facial detail. I think it’s such a wonderful piece of folk art.

I don’t think I can sell these items…I adore them too much. Thanks again Beth!

That’s all for now. Check back again soon! I have been working on some new sets of marble magnets using some slightly different supplies which I need to photograph still. I’ll get em up real soon. Have a great weekend ya’ll!

My Attempt at Marble Magnets…How FUN!!!

After two weeks of dog sitting, I am happy to be home and get my hands on some craft supplies and go to work. I haven’t done a whole lot since the New Year, so I was itching to play around with some new ideas, as seen in my last post. I decided to try the marble magnets first. They are SO much fun, but I must say they are going to take a little experimenting to get them just right.  I like the way they came out, but the perfectionist in me feels there could be some improvement. I used the tutorial found at Not Martha, but here is my experience!

You’ll need:

Clear decorative marbles – make sure they are not the iridescent ones. I found these at Michael’s.

Silicone Sealant – I could not find this at the craft store, so I went to Home Depot and found this DAP brand adhesive. It worked great! I do want to try super glue gel, as recommended on another random site. It think it would dry quicker, which would be nice.

Magazines or scrapbooking paper for your designs – I had bad luck finding little pictures in magazines so I turned to some scrapbooking paper that I had lying around. It worked great because of it’s heavier stock.

Magnets – I found these at the Dollar Tree.

Scissors – for obvious reasons. As stated at Not Martha, a large hole punch would save a ton of time!!!

Toothpick – to apply small amounts of silicone sealer to the top of the magnet.

A tip: Don’t bother using the large marbles. They are not as clear as the small marbles. It is hard to see in this picture, but images appear tinted brown through the marble. Look closely at the whites behind each marble and you can see the difference. It’s very obvious in person. Also, all of the big marbles had major defects on the back and would not create a clear image. Oh well…lesson learned!

I was going to use a small button to trace a circle around the image I wanted to cut out, but found it’s just as easy to use the magnet itself to trace. The edges of the pictures seem to stick out a lot once the marble is in place, and I don’t like that look. It helps to cut the picture slightly smaller in diameter than the magnet, as seen above. I applied a small amount of silicone sealant right smack on the top of the image and pressed on the marble. Oh I LOVE that part! Seeing the glue spread out under the marble is most satisfying. I had NO problems with bubbles at all.

Here’s my first set…not too bad for a first try!

And my second set! See how the paper sticks out a bit on the edges? This really annoys me. It can’t really be avoided because the magnets are almost the exact size of the marble. Maybe finding some smaller magnets would help? Also, once they are up on the fridge, it’s not noticeable at all.

I think I will go out and get some new scrapbooking paper and try some more soon. I want to make these as gifts for a bunch of people…the themes and ideas are really flowing!!

That’s all for now. Hope everyone had a great weekend. We are covered in snow here in western New York, and it just keeps on coming! Stay warm! Oh, and if you decide to try these, I’d love to hear about them!!!

2011 Crafting Goals: Craft Tutorials From Fellow Bloggers That I’m Dying To Try!

I’ve had that itch to craft lately…and BAD! But, I am across town dog-sitting for some very adorable pooches, so no crafting this weekend. I decided to post my “2011 Crafting Goals”…which are basically some tutorials that I have had bookmarked on my computer for ages that I want to try. I am gonna try to accomplish some, if not all, of these by the end of the year!

Not Martha: Marble Magnets. I find that magnets sell very well, and are a great gift idea for anyone. I love the simplicity of these, yet they are so charming. I have seen sets of magnets like this sold in some rather high-end stores, so I think they might be a fun new product to add to the craft show.

Our Big Earth: Bottle Cap Ornaments. Similar to the one above, this tutorial would make for great magnets! I like them as ornaments, but I think I’d like them even better as magnets. I think the rippled edge of the bottle cap makes an awesome border some mini-vintage art. Not sure where this magnet obsession is coming from. I guess it’s because they are easy, fun, and everyone loves them!

The Graphics Fairy: Halloween Fabric Art. You really could take this idea and run with it…using all kinds of great graphics, monograms, country phrases, or holiday themed vintage art like the Halloween ones shown below. This website is one my favorite places to find wonderful antique and vintage art of all types!

And Baby Makes Five: Sparkly Snowmen Salt Dough Bowl Fillers. I have had my eye on these bowl fillers for quite some time, and I am DEFINITELY gonna try them this year. I for sure want to try the sparkly snowmen – see the amazing little 1/2 circle snowman faces on the second picture down! The possibilities are endless…I’ve been keeping my eye out for new cookie cutters just for this reason!

Preferably Prim: Homespun Raggy Prim Christmas Tree. I love anything wrapped in homespun, and stumbled across this cute little tree at Preferably Prim. It reminds me of homespun rag balls, but way cuter! I love the addition of the rusty star on top.

Bakerella: Cheesecake Pops and Mint Oreo Truffles. I know, these aren’t really “Craft” goals, so much as “Baking” goals…but I had to throw them in. I love this website and have often wanted to try many of the delectable treats featured there, but of course I never got around to it. I VOW to try both of these recipes. As you know I recently made the regular Oreo truffles which came out so amazing, and to try them with MINT is just….genious!!! I’m drooling now…

Last but not least are these cool rag ball ornaments, but I can’t remember where I found them. I just saved the picture in my “ideas” folder and forgot about it until now. I love this twist on traditional rag balls…with writing on them. It’s so elegant, yet still country. I’m officially keeping my eye out for fabric with writing on it…I’ll keep you updated!

Oh, and one more thing. I decided I don’t wanna do “Simple Pleasures Sunday” anymore. Yes, I still think it’s really neat to acknowledge the simple pleasures in life, and not take them for granted. I just don’t like being on a schedule with the blog…I wanna post whenever I feel like and not be obligated on Sundays. Ya know what I mean?

So anyway…what are YOUR crafting goals for 2011? Anything fun?? Please share…I’d love to hear!!

Oreo Ball Deliciousness

I had some of these delicious Oreo balls at our family Christmas gathering (thanks Carol!) and ever since, I have been craving more! So since one of my New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight, the first thing I did on New Years Day was run out to Wegmans and buy Oreos and the rest of the supplies to make them! Not off to a great start…oops…

You’ll need:

1 pkg of regular Oreos

1 8 oz. pkg of cream cheese

Melting chocolate of your choice

Wax paper

Since I am such a classy baker, I smashed up the Oreos in a ziplock bag using this wine bottle. Hey…it worked, didn’t it??

Then add the cream cheese and mix in using a blender or by hand, until smooth. I used this handy-dandy NINJA blender thing that Greg’s mom got us for Christmas and it worked GREAT! I suppose a food processor or regular blender would yield the same results.

Roll into small balls and place on a cookie sheet.I LOVE recipes that are inexpensive yet make such a large quantity! Place in fridge to chill for 15-20 minutes so the balls are a little more solid and easier to dip.

Microwave the chocolate melting chips for 30 sec intervals, stirring in between, until melted..or use a double boiler if you wanna get all fancy. Dip Oreo balls in melted chocolate using a fork to drain the excess, and place on wax paper to harden.

I drizzled blue/milk chocolate on top for decoration. Just put the melted chocolate into a ziplock bag, cut the corner off (very tiny bit, to make a thin line) and drizzle away! They look like a hot mess right now…but once you put them on a plate and break off all the little excess pieces of chocolate drizzle, they look gourmet!

YUM!

Hope everyone has a FABULOUS New Year’s weekend!!!

Doggie Holiday Outfits

Happy Holidays everyone! Hope it was as nice a reprieve from work for everyone as it was for me…boy is it tough going back to work after 7 days off! I went home and visited my mom and extended family that I haven’t seen in a while, and it was great! Very relaxing. I’ll never be too old to have my mom send me home with tupperwares full of holiday leftovers, cookies and treats!

Not a whole lot going on on the crafting front. I still haven’t opened up any boxes or organized any left over inventory from the craft show. Same thing happened last year…I was in crafting overload for months and then after the show I didn’t touch it forever. I tend to get back into it in spring and summer once I can get out there and start garage sale-ing, flea marketing, and am able to work outside more.

What kinds of crafts have ya’ll been working on??? Or have you been too busy with the holidays, like me??

I have a real problem…I love dressing my dogs up for holidays. Here are some cute pix of Buddy and Paco I had to share.

Buddy in his candy cane antlers…that he LOVES to wear all of 5 seconds before he shakes em off….

Side profile

Paco with his snowman antlers. He loves them!

They may not look happy, but inside they are bursting with joy and excitement! LOL!

Well I just wanted to pop in and say HI since I have been really bad about blogging lately. It’s so much fun…when you have something to blog about! The crafting will commence soon, once the holidays die down, I promise!

 

 

Thrift Store Finds…Both Xmas AND Halloween!

I found a bunch of neat thrift store goodies right before the craft show a few weekends ago and never got around to posting them. I just have to share…I found some REALLY cool stuff! I get a strange high when I am in a thrift store and find something really cool…I feel like I won the lottery! I am all about vintage Christmas ornaments this year, and I found these guys:

Love this cute little elf with a big pointy hat! My friend Christine said he was really creepy with those black eyes…lol….but I still really liked him. A lot of vintage ornaments/dolls/cartoons/etc. seem to have a certain creepiness, if you really think about it, with their big eyes and strange little faces! Personally I find them endearing and love these unique, strange characters!

A couple of cool vintage reindeer…

And a tilting Santa candle. The lady who bought it said it is very hard to find these old Santa candles…??? Anywho, I got all 4 of these guys for $3 and sold them each for at least $3 a piece!!!

As you know by now I drool when I see enamel ware of any sort. I found this neat ladle that I used to display some night lights at the show. I just love the red rim on the white. It’s got a real neat retro look. See it hanging there on the right:

Another enamel pan that is a brilliant orange! Okay, so I already have this exact same one but I had to get it because I want to do a Fall/Halloween show at some point, so I am always on the look out for orange and black items. For $1, I’m doin’ it!

Speaking of Halloween….check these out!!! Not something you expect to find at Christmas time, but I HAD to have em! The detail of the illustrations is great, and they are pretty solid…ceramic (or whatever normal plates are) and not plastic which I originally thought when I saw them from afar. LOVE THEM!

Do you get the feeling you’re being WATCHED?

 

Haha…that’s all for now. Now that I am done with the craft show and am not in psycho crafting mode as I have been for the past few months, I probably won’t be posting as often. Hope everyone is enjoying this FABULOUS holiday season so far!

Craft, Food and Wine Show 2010

The craft show went GREAT! With the help of my trusty friend/accountant/maintainance woman Christine, we sold about ¾ of the items and made about 20% more money than last year! There was a record 4000+ people who went through the show this year, thanks to the addition of food and wine, which drew in many more customers than previous years! Here are some pictures from the show! (be prepared…I went a little overboard with the pictures…)

Grubby tea lights and mini snowman clips…sold out!

All cinnamon shapes…sold out on the first day!

Sold ALL but 5 or 6 candles! They were hit!

Signs…not so much. The same thing happened last year. I only sold a few. I do have a few people who want to buy some for Christmas gifts, so that’ll be good.

All 3 wooden ironing board displays…gone!

The antiques sold very well. There were other craft booths, but none with antiques. Both vintage scales sold the first day! I love them for kitchen decor.

Christine and our mascot Melanie! Mel sure did draw in the people to our booth…I learned babies are a good marketing technique!

No one bought any of the little candles I enhanced with the texture fierro (brown and green ones along the bottom). I was surprised, because I thought they were really cute! Oh well.

Sold all but one of the country night lights.

I am an antique bottle junkie, and probably sold 1/3 of ‘em.

The vintage reindeer and santa went too…wasn’t sure about those guys. I love vintage Christmas ornies! Probably do more of those next year, if I can find them. I got those at the Amvet!

All the lil snowman magnets…sold out!

The penalty box was directly behind my booth space…SCORE! We used it as our little nook…or ‘office’…hehehe! The ledge made for a great transaction area, plus being a few inches off the ice made a HUGE difference in us not freezing out @$$’s off like last year! I am going to request the same space again for next year…it was SO awesome!

There’s one of my Craigslist scores…the tea cart used as a display.

Homespun candy canes and pins…sold out!

The drool queen!

I thought Christine was going to beat me because I sold all of my ironing board display pieces! In place of them are Christine’s little TV trays drapped with fabric.

The trip home was pretty funny. Even though we sold a ton, the truck was full of all the display stuff. Christine took one for the team and was wedged into the front seat with the boxes that wouldn’t fit in the back, along with my brown bag full of wine I bought. lol. Thanks Teeny…I luv ya!

Hope everyone is weathering this snow alright. It’s coming down like crazy here in western NY. Hope everyone had a great weekend! Thanks for looking…I’ll be back soon!

Christmas Wagon Wheel

Well, it’s that time! I leave for Potsdam tomorrow and set up for the show at 3pm. I have the truck packed and am ready to go! Of course it’s snowing like the dickens…just my luck!

I wanted to share this last-minute project with ya’ll…this wagon wheel decorated with silicone-dipped christmas lights. I got the wagon wheel at the Christmas Tree Shop of all places! It’s a wooden reproduction obviously, but still just as cool as the originals and for projects like this. For the bulbs, I mixed silicone with cinnamon – to make it warmer and rustic looking, and dipped each little bulb individually…and yes, it took forever. I did this while they were hung up along a clothesline in my basement so they wouldn’t touch or get messed up while curing.

Cool, huh!?

The lights are tied on with jute, because I didn’t want them to be permanent, just incase the lights stopped working at some point and needed to be replaced. I was gonna use staples originally, but I didn’t want those ugly metal staples all over it…yuck.

I thought this would be an eye catcher set up in front of my booth. If no one buys it, I will happily set it out in front of my house for Christmas time…because I love it!

Well I will be out of town for a few days at the show so there will be crickets on the blog front until I get back. Then I will flood the blog with pictures from the show! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Tying Up Loose Ends: Ragball Ornies, Snowman Pins & Scrap Wood Signs

The clock is a tickin! With the show less than a week away, I’m trying to finish up all the half-finished projects I have lying around my disaster of a craft area, which by now has taken over the entire basement…sorry Greg. Hehehe…

I’ve had a huge bowl full of these homespun ragballs sitting around that I was going to sell as bowl fillers. I’ve recently seen them hanging on Christmas trees which looks awesome, so I added a hanger to each one so they can be sold as ornaments. Even the huge ones are very light weight and would hang just fine. Can’t wait to display them hanging up on the tree.

Remember how I said I was going to make snowman pins next year? Well…I had made a bunch of these snowman faces to make more magnets, but at the last minute, I decided to make em into pins instead! I love the way they came out, and you can even sort of see the sparkle in this picture!

I use this “Dazzle Tac” glue whenever I am making pins, because it secures the metal pin backs. They will NOT move or fall off. I have used hot glue for this in the past that the metal part pops off with even the slightest pressure…no good.

The little signs were made with scrap wood and a sharpie paint markers. I saw this saying once and always loved it…because it’s TRUE! hahaha. I am generally not a fan of hand-written signs; I prefer stencils or stamps. But with the black wire to hang it and a little homespun tie, I think they are kind of cute!

Remember this guy from the thrift store?

Here it is painted and distressed! Love it!

Well that’s all for now. Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend…I know I am!