THE BEST TIME OF YEAR

OH YES....FALL, been a long time coming!!!
I'm not one of those warm weather fans, anyone who knows me knows this. Fall could come and STAY!

I have news about my business - I FINALLY decided to stop doing shows.  It's just getting way to hard to do the set up and take down. A show off property is hard enough but when it's in your home it really takes a whole lot of effort.  This is the first year we asked for help taking furniture and things out and shop displays and products up from the basement. When it gets to that point then it's time to stop what is taking you down.  But once the decision was made I felt a relief come over me.
I LOVE doing the show, making the products and seeing my wonderful faithful generous customers - oh my customers....they were so surprised at this revaluation but so agreed.

But that being said, YES, I will still make things as I go along.  Just when I feel like it...sell it...move on to something else.  I want to concentrate on making more of my Civil War era penny rugs and designing punch needle (they have taken a back seat lately).  SO ONWARD I WILL GO and happy about it.

We are trying now to get a vacation in the books.  Nothing big, nothing fancy - just go someplace we've put off for quite awhile.  Thinking it might be the New England states.  It makes us feel so comfortable going that route, seeing nature, antique shops, prim shops...oh what fun is ahead!!!!

This past Saturday was our last show.  We had a fantastic turnout and the weather was perfect Fall weather!!!
Looking at the pictures they aren't that great and it looks like stuff just put anywhere but in person it worked!!!
We had things in the family room, den, kitchen, bath and dining room and all the garlands and dried items were in our E-Z UP  tent. Plus some of the garden items were by the courtyard.

The pictures were taken right after finishing setup - then it was tweaking time...move this here and that there. 

LOL, I see the last remnants of my donut on the counter - and Doug still needed to put the Open flag out.

A friend of ours lets us come out to their place in the country and forge in their acreage for whatever we can find.  We love dried things!!!  We found tons of wild Rose Hips that I de-thorn and remove the leaves, then I bundle them up with kraft tissue paper and tie with twine.

Rose Hips all tied up

Doug is always in charge of the outside and I think he did a great job 'again'!!!

A dear dear friend always give us his dried grungy sunflowers...I LOVE THEM in displays.

Dividing up the cornstalks for all the fence corners

Bundling them up!!!

Corn all tied up for the fences

One thing I did different this year with the gourds was to dye some.

I used Mahogany leather dye, then Briwax....they turned out just beautiful.

A few I did with an undercoat of red then the Mahogany!
Depending on the natural color and patina of the gourd it made the colors come out all different.

So I don't really have a more to chat about because we have been so busy with the show prep this past summer.
I think blogging will get better now that I'm not tying myself down.

Happy Fall

Karen and Doug

An expensive week!

Do you have times like this when $$'s just fly out the door?

Well that was us!!

Our oven decided to stop working and when the service man told us what the part and labor would cost plus what we were paying for this visit we decided to just buy a new one. The cost would have been over $550 total so we just added another $100 and got a fantastic gas range/oven.  Always loved white but being we were changing and not sure how long we'll be living here we decided on stainless.

I seriously miss my flat surface for more things than cooking.  It was a substitute ironing space when I worked on my projects and a quick go over of some things to wear - it also held all my baking when it came out of the oven, like racks of cookies, etc.

Now I have to load up the counters with things but that's fine...baking is not high on my list these days anyway (don't need all those sweets!)

This particular style # by Samsung had the best consumer rating so that's what we bought. Very high BTU's on the burners so very happy for that and the oven has a 'dehydrator' mode....LOVE THAT. Used it a couple times already.  Oh and a 'proofing' setting.  LOVE THAT too! There's a griddle that fits over the center one.

I forgot to mention - it was just the oven that quit working - broiler still works and the burners...isn't that horrible to have a part cost that much?

I forgot to mention that Doug didn't care for the white microwave so he bought us a new stainless one...glad he did because as you can see by the second picture how unmatched it really did look.

Then on Saturday Doug finally bought his long desired 36" griddle!

He's seasoning it here (that's why the smoke)

He made 3 meals on it already - this is the first one.
Ham and hashbrowns!

Before we bought the griddle though we went to a flea market specifically to buy our mums - they have the best around and the prices are very reasonable.

We got these quite large ones 3/$40 ($13.33 each, can't beat that price for the size of them)

When we buy all our pumpkins and smaller mums next week we'll take those hangers off and put them where they belong.

That's all for this week

If you are in our area don't forget our In-Home Craft Show on Oct. 5th!!!

Karen

SO MUCH TO OFFER AT OUR SHOW!!!

Time is growing short till the Oct. 5th show.

I have been working non stop making more merchandise.

This week it was hand drawn gift tags and leaf/fruit wreaths among other things.

Our face pumpkins called

'The Rejects'

were so much fun to make - I made over a dozen a few weeks ago
and then last week a few more, plus some plain ones.

The ones that don't sell at the show will be posted here and on my
business FB page so if you want one speak fast

when they are posted because they will go fast.

Just a few of the finished products

I will be taking orders for these gift tags as of now.
Email me if you want to order.

Click on the sheep on the right side of page.

They will be available after our Oct. 5th show.

The 8 Snowmen/Christmas are 8/$16 plus shipping

The Willow Tree and Pineapple are $2 each plus shipping.

These are my designs that I draw freehand and paint.
No rubber stamps used!!!

There is soooo  much more than what I'm showing here!!!
Oh and don't forget all our wonderful
Gourd Garlands!


If you live close enough to attend our show here's the information.
It's not your 'granny's craft show with
crocheted doilies, dish cloths, jewelry...none of that!!!