Craft Fair Booth Pictures

This was the booth at the craft fair.  I thought it looked nice. 

I thought I'd share!

The World Has a Sense of Humor

But luckily, so do I.

I celebrated a birthday Thursday.

It turns out to the be the same day as a neighbor of mine--discovered only by fluke when his son said "Dad, it's your birthday!" at the bus stop.  I was surprised, and offered my congratulations at having his birthday being the same day as mine (you know, 'cause I'm so cool  :) ).  Then his little one announced dad's age, as little ones like to do.

.....and I am 5 years older.

I have successfully become the oldest neighbor in a group of neighbors with kids, when I used to be the youngest.

Ha ha ha.

The craft fair was a total bust.  It started at 10, and we made a good amount of money in the first hour, and just as I was hoping that it would be the start of good things to come, the fair completely died.  By 12, it was a ghost town and I was just waiting for it to end.

I happened to hear from a lady behind me that the fair is "always" like this.  Needless to say, I packed up pretty much everything I came with, as did everyone else.  I have decided, that no matter how much I love the area I live in, I will only do shows in monied areas from now on.  I'm tired of  unpacking and then packing up my inventory.  I would actually, you know, like it to sell.

However, I think the booth looked lovely.  When my husband gets the pictures off of his phone, I will post them.

Then oddities of all oddities this morning, I woke to the sound of a rooster crow.

Beneath my window.

That should never be.  They are all locked away in the coop and I can't hear them except when I go outside to feed and let them out.

Every chicken that lives here was out this morning.  The back door on the coop was open.  I think I may have had a child come through here and open the door to look at the chickens and then leave it open.  A child that's not mine, mind you.  Unfortunately, sometimes the kids around here think that the animals are there for everyone to look at whenever, and just wander in and do what they like.  It's been a little issue, but I try to maintain my calm about it.  Thankfully, all chickens seem to be present and accounted for, even though they spent the night in an open coop.

That's just luck.  I'll be making sure all the doors are locked tight every night from now on.

And then, weirdness of weirdness.  Bella did something awesome last night or early this morning.

That stinker, Philip Johnny Bob!!!

I thought he had gotten to her right after the last little one she had!  I had a feeling.  She's been grouchy for weeks.  Snorty and snotty.  Yesterday, she built a nest, and I thought, "Ok, here it comes".  She pulled her hair out and all that good stuff.  But in truth, she nested after that first little one the last time, so there was a chance that it was a false pregnancy.  I have a New Zealand who nests all the time for no reason whatsoever, so I was weary and watching, but as I didn't SEE the mating, who knows?

She did!  This morning, as I was taking care of the chicken weirdness, I saw Bella standing next to her nest, which was closed up.  I thought maybe she was getting ready to deliver, or that she'd given up (like the last time she built a nest), when I did a little digging and inside was WARM.  Three beautiful dark babies are in there. 

I am pleased to say that they are seemingly healthy, warm despite the cold outside, and Bella seems to be caring for them.  Her nesting is certainly kick-ass.  The babies are so ugly they are beautiful, and I babbled like an idiot the moment I saw them.

I am a sucker for babies.  Non-human ones, mostly.

It's a little miracle.  She made some beautiful babies, and they are wonderful.  I'll be keeping my eye on her and her littles to make sure all is well, and hopefully they will grow up and get big and be hairy, as mama is a Jersey Wooly and daddy is an English Angora.  They should be interesting.

And I get the feeling PJB is proud, proud, proud.

And I will be reinforcing his outside fence a lot, a lot, a lot.

And it more than makes up for the crappy craft fair.

The end. ; )

How Jocelyn Got Her Groove Back

Her crafting groove, that is.

And maybe I got it back.  I feel like I may have, anyway.

To tell the story, I have to take you back 20 + years and show you a picture of a younger me.  You ready??

Not sure which one is me?  That's fair, since you've only seen one picture.  Here I am:

This was a long time ago.  Long, long long.  I was so young.  So, so young.  My two friends (who will remain anonymous so I don't get beat up) and I used to do the craft fair that was held in the middle school of our school district.  We made things like clothespin angels, cross stitch pictures, and painted ornaments.  Apparently we also made t-shirts to go with our table, but my memory's crap, so I only know that from looking at the picture.  I do remember it was a lot of red and green, and there was a heinous overuse of those ribbon roses from the craft store, but that's about all I can tell you.  However, funny enough, I still have things left over from those craft fairs.  Things that didn't sell, or that I liked so much I hid.  Every year they go on the tree and every year I think, I was so young.  So, so young.

Anywho, that's not the point.  Back in those days, I loved to craft.  I did anything and everything--those corn husk dolls that were made out of that horrid untwistable twisted paper, stenciling pretty much anything that didn't move, cross stitch on Aida cloth, clothespin stuff, painted wood, things with pine cones and pompoms, and one year I painted an entire plaster village for my mom for Christmas.  That was fun, and I can still remember sitting at the table in the kitchen, just painting away. 

But as I got older, I didn't do that anymore.  There were other things to do.  I turned from crafting to decorating my room, then later, decorating my house.  And there was lots of renovation.  I still cross stitch (on linen--the Aida has gone the way of the dodo), and crochet and embroider and stuff, but sitting down to make things really didn't happen.

So when I decided to do this craft fair on Saturday, I made soap and baskets and other nice things.  But then I went to Michael's for something and got inspired.  So I crafted again.  Along with the soaps and baskets and lovely things at this fair this year, there will also be:

 

Ornaments

 Crocheted snowmen

 



It's like a little snowman mugshot, isn't it?

"We didn't do it, we have an alibi!"

"We want our lawyer"

 

Felt trees that are jingle bells:

Salt shakers that are snow globe ornaments:

Another mug shot picture.  Ok, which one of you is the pepper?

 

"Not me, I swear!"

I thought those were pretty clever, I have to admit. 

 

And then, because I got on this snow globe kick, I had an "inspiration burp", and made a larger version:

 

 

Some traditional,

 

 

 

And some not so traditional.

Ooooh! Terrible picture!  Yeay!

 

 

I love the front detail on this one

So along with the soaps, I have some crafts that I think are really lovely.  What will anyone else think?  I guess I'll find out on Saturday. 

So did I get my crafting groove back?  Maybe.  You tell me, but it was very therapeutic.  I didn't enjoy the HUGE mess on my table for days and days, but I did enjoy creating again.  It was a nice break.

Sometimes it's nice to go back to our "roots", isn't it?  It was good to go back and find something I thought I'd lost.

And I didn't use a single ribbon rose. 

Yeehaw.

Where HAVE I Been????

Good question.

I've been cleaning, working, trying to put a dent in my humungo to-do list, filling orders for gift baskets, and trying to get my -ahem-stuff together.

Some days it works, some days it doesn't.

In the meantime, I am prepping for a craft fair next weekend, so there's soap all over the place again, as well as crafts and baskets and a whole lotta lotta.  See?


Cotton Candle Mats--yep, I made them!

Bath-to-go: a soap and a hand crocheted cotton washcloth

Finally figured out liquid hand soap.  WOOHOO!

Almond Poundcake soap.  I want to eat it, it smells SO good!

Candy Cane

Cranberry and Fig

So busy, busy, busy.   And next week is my birthday!  And my daughter's, too.  Did I never tell you that she was born 2 days after my birthday?  I did now!  So I haven't really had a birthday in 11 years.  But that's ok.

I will be back more often, I promise.  I just need the dust to settle a little bit more.

Take care!

Now For Some Fun

Goat Coats

 



Is your goat cold??

Is it going to be 20-some odd degrees tonight?

Or is your goat just a glamor puss?

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So genuine, they smell like basement.  That's vintage!!!

The trick of the design is that they look like a blanket with a hole cut out for the head.  But there's so much more to them!   There's a tie which helps hold the coat on!

Not to mention, adds a bit of fashionable "snap" to the ensemb.

The chic!

Don't believe us?  Please listen to what our celebrity endorser has to say.

"Hello there.  I'm David Bowie.  You may remember me from such films as that one where I played a troll king or an ogre king or a fairy king or whatever it was.  Possibly there were muppets in it too.  Anyway, I was glamorous then, and I'm glamorous now."

 

 

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Thanks, Mr. Bowie.

Well, I think that settles it.  Call now.  Remember, your goat WANTS to look beautiful.  Your goat WANTS to be warm.  And your goat knows more about fashion than you do.

Goat Coats!

Good for play, lounging, and stuffing your face in your feed trough.

Goat Coats. 

 Glamour on the hoof.(TM)

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