Wordless Wednesday - Pamper Yourself

Spring Craft Show & Omaha Bridal Showcase

As I mentioned last week, things have been a little crazy around here. Over the weekend I participated in both a large craft show and a very large bridal show. And I'm happy to report that both went well.

I will say that the craft show was a little slower than expected, but luckily I met my goals for the day. Traffic was great in the morning, but a little slow in the afternoon. I was hoping the nice weather would bring people out, but I think it had them at home thinking yard work. I've found that Spring shows are a little hard to predict, which is why I do very few of them. During fall shows, shoppers are all thinking about Christmas and gift-giving. But during Spring shows, shoppers may not have a specific gift-giving event in mind or may just be browsing for themselves. So they tend to do more looking than buying. But I have already received one order from someone who saw my cutting boards at the show, so that's always great!

The bridal fair was amazing! I was a little concerned that it was only 4 hours long, but by hour number 2, I could see why they didn't make the hours any longer. I was exhausted! By the end of the day, I had handed out about 250 wine bottle stoppers that had coupon codes on them. At least 300 brochures and even more business cards. I think I talked non-stop for 2.5 hours straight! And so did my mom!

 

It was also nice to talk to some of the other vendors after the show and have them comment that they wished they had a booth next to mine because it was always busy and drew quite a crowd. That really made me feel good since this was my first bridal fair of this size.

As you can see, I had a completely different setup for the bridal fair than I normally do for craft shows. I liked the white table clothes better for this show and loved how the wood looked on it. I had some new displays built specially for this show and they worked great to display my invitations and guest books.

Now comes the waiting game. Bridal fairs are just for advertising and networking, so time will tell if the show was as successful as I'm hoping. This is a very pricey show (compared to craft shows), so I'm excited to see the outcome and whether I will participate next year. I'll just be sure not to do back to back shows again...I'm still exhausted!

Life Lately

Life has been a little crazy lately, as I'm sure you can tell from my lack of posts. So here's a quick rundown of what's been going on...

First Spring Craft Show

 Along with filling regular orders, I've been restocking things that sold out last fall for my upcoming show on Saturday. After my last show last fall, I just put everything away so I could focus on Christmas orders. I didn't take inventory and didn't realize how low I had gotten on stock! Still hoping to get a few more pieces ready before the show (isn't that always the case!).

First Big Bridal Fair

Back to back craziness this weekend! I have my first big bridal fair on Sunday. There will be 450-600 brides attending with their entourage! I'm both excited and nervous at the same time. My display will be completely different at this show than any of my craft shows. I'm working on last minute pieces for displays and last minute giveaways and flyers. Luckily my mom is here to help me prep and will be here to help me with the show!

Family

Speaking of my mom...my parents have been in town for the last week and a half. And when my parents are in town, I try to spend as much time as I can with them. That means I get all my work done, but things like my poor blog fall to the side.

My grandpa has also been in the hospital for a few weeks now. Every time we think he's showing progress, he takes 3 steps back. So that has been weighing on my mind and I've been trying to spend time with him when I can as well.

New Laser!

To end on a good note, I also ordered a new laser! It will be here the week of the 16th and I'll have training the following week. I am beyond excited to have a bigger, more powerful laser! I can't wait to get it up and running. I better start clearing a space for it!!!

I hope things aren't quite so crazy in your neck of the woods! And I hope you're all enjoying some nice weather. I'm so glad this week has been sunny and warm!
Stay tuned for updates on all these upcoming events!

Almost Wordless Wednesday - Furball

My furry little man...getting his hair cut tomorrow!

Aquamarine - The Color of March

Today's Friday Features are brought to you via an Etsy treasury. This beautiful hue of blue is the birthstone of March. I had a great time finding all these beautiful features and I hope you'll enjoy!

The Color of March

Aquamarine...The Color of March Enjoy these finds from the Blogging Business Artisans and other talented Etsy members. https://www.etsy.com/teams/10615/blogging-business-artisans

Blue Ocean Earrings, Wave Earrings, Turquoise Blue Earrings, Lampwork Earrings, Beach Earrings, Beadwork Earrings - Tranquil Waters GlassRiverJewelry $28.00	Glass Drawer Knobs with bubbles in Light Blue and Silver toned Hardware (CK16) DaRosa $6.25	Icy Light Aquamarine Earrings Sugar Sparklers Small Swarovski Crystal Icy Light Aquamarine Diamond Rhinestone Stud Earrings Mashugana MASHUGANA $18.50	Spiral Deluxe Ribbon Lei - Purple Blue White Crown Sennet Hawaiian Aloha Lei - Graduation Gift Wedding Favor - Ready to Ship StalkingTheWildSnark $35.00
Robin's Egg - Aqua Glass and Bali Beaded Sterling Silver Earrings BeadedTail $14.00	Love Romance Kiss Print from Original Watercolor Painting - Watercolor Illustration by Lana Moes LanasArt $25.00	Light Blue Goose Nagoire Feathers, 10 Loose Feathers HeartyArtSupplies $2.15	Handmade Natural Aquamarine Engagement Ring 7mm Round Aquamarine Engagement Ring and Half Eternity Band Set in 14K White Gold InOurStar $582.00
Light Blue Customized Insulator Light- Ice Blue Insulator Pendant Light Blue Pendant Light Industrial Pendant Lighting Whitall Tatum light DivineDiscoveries $98.00	Polka Dot Throw Pillow - modern, mod, midcentury, turquoise, teal, pillow cover, housewarming gift, 16x16, 12x16 TheRoomKit $18.00	Sand Dollar Necklace Beach Jewelry Turquoise Blue Light Blue Sea Jewelry Ocean Beach Wedding Unique Gift for Women - Antique Brass Necklace OstaraMoonJewelry $39.95	Beaded Bracelet - Turquoise Blue Shell by randomcreative on Etsy randomcreative $15.00
Sunset Birds Light Blue Summer Scarf Spring Scarf Futurerity2 £8.00	Earrings: Turquoise Hoops AntiquityTravelers $42.00	Blue Satin elastic Garter Lace by the yard PruittSupply $3.00	Light Blue Euro Sham 24x24 26x26 plus 5 other sizes oversized pillow huge Zipper pillow cover blue lumbar cover Pillomatic $16.00

Powered By Toastie Studio - Etsy Tools

We Love the Classics

Last week was a little bit of an exciting week. Jesse and I bought another car. And not just any car, but his grandpa's '39 Chevy! This is something that Jesse has always wanted and when his grandpa decided it was time for him to get a different classic car, we knew right where his old one was going! The whole thing happened kind of fast. We found out on Tuesday that he might be selling it and by 9am the next day, it was in our garage!

I love all the details on this old girl!

As some of you might have noticed, we have a thing for classic cars :) My first car, which I still own, is a 1963 Rambler Wagon. We also have Jesse's dad's '68 Chevelle and one day I'll also have a '50 Chevy pickup that is my dad's.

So when a classic car show came to the city, we headed up on Friday to see the sites.

As I mentioned, my dad has a '50 Chevy pickup, so my favorites at shows are always the trucks. This '48 has had some MAJOR work done! Man was it gorgeous!

And I'm always excited when I see Ramblers at shows. You don't see many of them around anymore. And wagons are even more rare. This one was just a sedan, but I loved all the Rambler decals and designs :)

 

I love all the fun, creative ideas people come up with!

Sip, Paint and Be Merry!

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to hang out with some of my favorite in-laws/friends. We all got together to do some painting and drink some wine...what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon :) We took a class at a local studio and learned how to paint this awesome horse you see above.

This is something I've wanted to do for quite a while, but was scared as to what my finished piece would look like! So I thought I'd show you some of the step-by-step pictures of my painting. Because trust me, if I could do this, you can too! They walk you through the whole process, but everyone's paintings looked so different in the end.

We started with the background, leaving space for where the horse would go.

Then we started to sketch. Here are some of the in-process shots of my horse coming to life.

Shading is something I've always had trouble with, but the instructor was great about walking us through and helping us individually to get the look we were going for.

The funnest part (in my opinion) was adding the tail. All the wild strokes and fun colors!

Then we were told to sign our painting. Of course I wanted to sign mine in pink :) So I added some new color to my palette and while I was at it, added some pink stokes to my horse's main and tail too.

This was such a fun day and I loved the whole atmosphere of The Painting Barn. We got to drink wine, listen to fun music and create a "masterpiece" as well :)