Stocking Stuffer idea #7: Stitched felt sticky note holder

 

There's just over a month to order the Handmade Holiday stitched felt ornaments that are in the Holiday Catalog. I've gone through several packs!

 

 

I used the last of my felt ornaments on sticky note holders that are my stocking stuffer idea for today. The holder is 3-1/4" x 6-3/4" Gumball Green card stock, with a 3" x 3" square of Snow Festival dsp on top.

 

Today, I'm grateful for music. It makes me happy! Right now I'm enjoying singing along to my Adele CD while driving my van back and forth to Puyallup.

 

 

Here's a look at the booth I'm sharing with three friends at A Victorian Country Christmas, which ends Sunday. We offer a wide variety of handmade goodies!

 

 

Today was the first day of the show. There was a steady flow of foot traffic. I loved chatting with Janie and Flo - thanks for visiting! I was kept busy moving things around as items have been purchased.

 

 

I sold out of my hot cocoa packets today! I also sold lots of hand-stamped cards, stocking stuffers, and chocolate frames.

 

 

In this shot, you can see the gorgeous, fresh cedar boughs Kim cut for us from trees on her mini farm. Our booth is directly across from the entrance to the theater. It was fun listening to the show today - a mix of music and comedy. I hope you'll be able to attend!

 

 

How cute does Barb look with Santa? I took this photo after setting up the booth Tuesday. Barb was nice enough to help us out. When I arrived at the booth today, a few elves had been added around Santa.











I've started a NEW blog just for big craft shows and festivals

 

My best bud, Kim, and I have created our own business name and a blog to go with it just for big craft shows. We're calling ourselves B2 Crafty Gals (for our last names - Blais and Becker). We use Stampin' Up! product to create handmade items. Our first show was this past week - the 5-day Tacoma Holiday Food & Gift Fair. It was the longest show we've ever done, and we learned a lot!

 

 

This show is one of the biggest on the West Coast. There are more than 630 vendors (including one of my American Ink team members - Cheryl!) and 40,000 people in attendance.





Here's a look inside our 10' x 10' booth. We received TONS of compliments. In fact, we were joking that if we had a dollar for everyone who said how beautiful it looked, we'd be rolling in the dough! We offered retired SU! product, along with items made with SU! product - ribbon wreaths, purses, totes, home decor items, tags, a stamp and ink spot tag kit, card kits, quilter kits, scrapbook albums, and more!

 

I think the coolest part of our display was this ladder. Kim made shelves for it and we sold a lot of product off of this! It was a great focal point and it holds a lot. We had quilter kits, holiday paper ornaments, fabric, washer necklaces, home decor, purses, stamps, covered notebooks, and more on this ladder at any one time.

It was great visiting with Cheryl and her grandma, Sonja. Kim and I were sending people to Cheryl and vice-versa. Cheryl not only recruited, but got 57 people signed up for holiday ornaments classes! How cool is that? She offered a lot of really cute items with candy and things like cocoa and apple cider packets, tea bag holders, snowman soup, decorated Tic Tac treats, and more.

This photo shows an old window frame of Kim's covered with chicken wire. It makes a fun display for things like these purses and ornaments. Our booth was all shabby-chic/vintage furniture and suitcases Kim and I own. It really stands out among the regular 8-foot tables many vendors use. Even though we made money, we decided we probably wouldn't be doing this show again without a few changes. It was a lot of work, and time away from our families.

Kim in our Tacoma Holiday Food & Gift Festival booth - Day 1

That said, we may be doing A Victorian Country Christmas at the Puyallup Fairgrounds Nov. 28 - Dec. 2. The days are longer (10-9), but we'd split them up between us and a few of our downline, and we plan to share a large corner booth with a couple of new vendor friends we met this past week. I'll keep you posted. :-)

If you're interested in keeping up with us and our bigger craft shows, please bookmark http://B2CraftyGals.blogspot.com and visit us from time to time! In the meantime, have a wonderful week!

Adding texture to your card, and fabulous final day of the festival

I love texture! These two cards use embossing folders (page 189 of the SU! Catalog), as well as designer paper on the buttons above, and Vintage Trinkets and ribbon with linen thread on the card below.

These cards were on display boards at Convention 2012. I love the different edges and materials used, as well as the colors on these cards. They're so fun!

Today was my last day at the Kitsap Arts & Crafts Festival - and the best one! Of course, having Kim there was a blast. We have so much fun! We chatted and laughed while Kim put together at least a dozen stamp sets. The weather was HOT! A local demonstrator named Valerie (Hi!) stopped by to say "Hi." We had people buying retired stamps, M&M cello bags (the punched bears at the top were more popular than the turtles), embossing powders, card stock, cards and more. Kim sold some of her super cute SU! fabric purses. The banner Kim and I put together for the front of the booth was quite the attraction for people too! We'll have to make a few more for our booth at the Tacoma Dome for the huge 5-day show October 17.

If you're one of the new people I met in Kingston during the festival, I'll see you soon at one of my classes! Just click on the My Classes tab above. I have everything from Stamping 101 classes coming up, to a technique class and 10-card class. All supplies are provided, so you just show up!

If you see anything you'd like to order, please click here to start shopping! You may search by category (stamps, paper, punches, etc.). You'll receive $25 free if your order is $150+.

Happy Stampin'!

Stamped and ribbon flowers with fun and quirky people

My favorite part of this card is the piercing. Stampin' Up! is offering an Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack in the catalog with three templates for $7.95. The templates coordinate with framelits, punches, and edgelits. This Field Flowers card also uses Baja Breeze seam binding, the Apothecary Accents Framelits, and the Large Scallop Edgelit. The card itself is Summer Starfruit.

I took these photos at Convention 2012 on a display board. I liked these two cards because the main element is stitched grosgrain ribbon. See how the loops of ribbon make the flowers on the card at the left? Then the whole chevron background on the card at the right is ribbon. Pretty incredible, eh?

If you'd like to order ribbon, Edgelits, Framelits, or any other Stampin' Up! product, please visit my SU! Online Store.

It was a long day at the Kitsap Arts & Crafts Festival. I arrived at 8:30 a.m., because the Farmers' Market was set up in the same park and started earlier than the festival. I got home just after 6:30 p.m. Fortunately, I only live about 15-20 minutes from where the festival is held. The Farmers' Market is amazing. One guy made huge, beautiful bouquets of flowers for only $25! The produce looked delicious, and there was such a great variety of vendors - from homemade soda and kettle corn, to dish flowers, welded iron animals, fleece shawls, baby clothes and homemade soaps. The weather held out all day. We didn't get any rain, and it actually got quite warm!

I sold retired stamp sets, punches, skinny cello bags filled with M&Ms that have a punch animal (bear or turtle) at the top, fabric personal tissue holders, cards, and glitter. Many of you have asked for more details about my booth. The cost is $175, with proceeds going to student art scholarships. I went through a stack of business cards today. Kim and I met many fun, campy, super nice and quirky people today... many of whom will be showing up at my clubs and classes.

It's been really nice having Kim hang out with me. She showed up around noon with a delicious and healthy lunch (thanks again, Kim!), and gave me time to roam the market. I also had visits from my fellow Poulsbo Lions Club members and some of my SU! downline, which was really nice.

Tomorrow's the last day of the festival! Come on down. I'm sure there will be deals. The succulents lady next to me is dealing on entire flats! I've got terrific sea glass jewelry on the other side. The hours are 10-5 p.m.

Happy Stampin'!

Flowers at convention & my Kitsap Arts & Crafts Festival booth

Look at all of the pretty flowers you can make with Stampin' Up! fabrics and card stock. They're amazing. We were shown a HUGE flower by Carrie Cudney at Convention 2012. I plan on making a few of those. They're just too fabulous!

The flower at the top right is made with a circle punch. The inside holds three vintage designer buttons.

The displays were so cute, with chalk-drawn frames around things like these birthday party favors with little jewelry tags.

I love what I do, AND I love this yard flag. There are two other flags to change out, too. I got this at Memento Mall at Convention. The stake unscrews into three pieces. This one is outside of my Stampin' Up! booth this weekend at the Kitsap Arts & Crafts Festival in Kingston (by the ferry terminal).

I love this space. It looks much bigger than the 10' x 10' size that it is. My idea to go with a boutique look at shows this year has really paid off. The shabby chic furniture holds a lot more than the 6'  and 4' tables I used last year, and I have more room inside my booth. Also, the lush green grass is much preferred over the dirt and crabgrass at last year's location. My BFF Kim helped fluff the booth. She's doing a great job keeping me company. We really have fun! Kim has cute fabric purses for sale and is bringing some die-cut card stock ones for Saturday. The Farmers' Market is at the same park Saturday, so I'm going a bit earlier (9 a.m.) to take advantage of that foot traffic. The festival - and live music and beer garden - will continue till 6 p.m.

Back to my booth: The designer series paper banner out front really draws people in because no one else has anything like it. One of the banners has an aluminum, chevron-embossed butterfly on it. It's really cute! We used Velco dots to adhere the banner, which makes it easy to put up and take down each day. A walking path is directly in front of my booth, perfect for people walking to and from the ferry, as well as those shopping at the festival.

Yep, it's pretty hard looking at this kind of view all day. *wink* In addition to getting a new club member today, I met the owner of a new tea shop in Poulsbo, as well as a Seattle folk singer (Hi, Ally!) who performed for us today. I sold out of headbands, with an order for more, and sold pinwheels, stamps, catalogs, and handmade cards. Life is good!

Stamp show photos & Monkey Challenge #109

What a long day! There was a lot of driving and lifting and setting up, but I think my Stampin' Up! booth looks fabulous. Look for a few photos at the bottom of this post. Because it's time for another A La Card Monkey Challenge #109: Pure Joy + Sketch.

My photo didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped and it's getting late, so this will have to do. I stamped the popsicle from Mouthwatering in Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder and Calypso Coral on coordinating designer series paper. I also used each of those colors in linen thread for the little bows at the left. Simple, but sweet, I think. And, at least for my kids, with the summer coming up and many popsicles in their future - Pure Joy!

How cute is that elephant? If that isn't joy, I'm not sure what is. So you've seen my card. Now it's your turn! It's a simple sketch - just three rectangles with a sentiment (and you can add whatever embellishments you like!).

Now I promised some photos of the booth Kim B. and I are sharing all weekend.

Pretty cool, huh? Our booth is just inside the front door! We have loads of stamp sets (wood and clear mount), jumbo wheels, and much more. Hopefully you can come down to the Puyallup Fairgrounds (Pavilion Building) to take it all in and buy a bunch of stuff!

Here are ribbons, fabric personal tissue holders, mini albums, paper purses and notecards, stitched felt, black jewels, and glitter. 

Here's a stamp lamp I made using a mason jar. It holds two full stamp sets and is an actual working lamp. I also made the Twitterpated fabric flower headbands, and some chalkboard tags. The Twitterpated-covered oatmeal container and the tags were ideas I gleaned from Pinterest. I store hair clips with fabric flowers inside the oatmeal container.

Kim B.'s green door looks great with four ribbon wreaths I made on it.

I've got cards to add tomorrow in the card racks. My van was so packed with furniture there wasn't room for the containers of cards. Kim's purses are clipped onto the chicken wire frames with clothespins, her small resin table covered with new catalogs next to her tall card rack.

I made four chicken wire frames (a few were hanging on the lattice screen), but most of the room is filled with stamps. We had stamps everywhere. They were in bins Kim brought that made it easy for everyone to flip through the sets to easily grab the ones they wanted.

Kim and I received so many compliments on the set-up because it was so different from every other booth.

The next event where I'll have a booth will be the last weekend in July at Kingston's Mike Wallace Park on the waterfront. It's the Kitsap Arts and Crafts Festival.

My booth at the Kitsap Arts & Crafts Festival

My friends and my kids helped me set up my booth at the 52nd Annual Kitsap Arts and Crafts Festival in Kingston yesterday. It was the first day of the festival. It was fun! I met loads of people, enjoyed a great sandwich, and some live music. The vendors around us are great people too.

This is just another view of the booth. I've got Star Albums, Flip-Flops Albums, Top Note Brag Books, purse giftcard holders, nugget treats, and two-pocket purses with four notecards each, in addition to retired stamps, punches and ribbons. Swing by if you're in the area! It's supposed to be a nice low-70-degree kind of day tomorrow. I'll be there from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.).