Things you learn.

The craft show was very fun and the sales weren't bad either.  I want to thank St. John's Church of Dover, Indiana.  They were very friendly and made the experience so pleasant.  I have never been at a craft show where they bring you a lunch menu and if you would like to order they deliver it to you.  Wonderful group around us and great customers.

We were inside but it was beautiful weather.  Sunny and very warm for this time of the year in Indiana.  It made it hard to think of snow and Christmas.  So the holiday items I had worked on did not sell very well.  I have not been doing the craft shows for very long but I have learned that you never really know what will be selling that day.  With Halloween over I almost did not to take my spider creations but at the last minute I chose to grab them.  I am so glad I did.  I sold several different spider creations but it was a conversation with a nice lady that taught me something I wanted to share with you.

The lady pointed at one of the spiders and said, "oh look a Christmas spider."  She told me she wasn't sure how the story went but that spiders are really the reason we put tinsel on Christmas trees.  That made me very curious so when I got home I did a search and here is what I found.

                                            

The Christmas Spiders

Once upon a time a long time ago.   A mother was busy cleaning her home for the most wonderful day of the year.  The day they decorated for the celebration of the Christ child.  Not a speck of dust was left.  Even the spider webs were wiped out of their cozy corners sending the spiders fleeing for the attic.

T’was Christmas Eve at last!  The tree was decorated and waiting for the Christ child to visit and bless the home.  The poor spiders in the attic were frantic because they would not be present for the Christ child’s visit.  The oldest spider suggested they creep back down and peek through a crack.  Suddenly the door opened a wee bit and the spiders scurried into the room.  Their eyes weren’t accustomed to the brightness of the room so they crept closer to the tree for a better look.  It was so beautiful they began to climb over and around every branch of the tree until they had seen every pretty thing the mother had so carefully hung.

But every where the spiders had crawled left a web.  The Christ child entered to bless the home.  He looked at the tree and smiled.  He loved the little spiders for they were God’s creatures too.  He thought of the mother who had so carefully cleaned and decorated the tree for her children and He knew she would not be happy, so He touched the tree and the webs all turned to sparkling silver and gold!

Ever since we have hung tinsel on our Christmas trees, and according to the legend it is considered good luck to include a spider among the decorations on the tree.

(This is a folk legend from Germany and Ukraine)

 Sometimes it is chance and brief meetings of strangers that can bring a blessing into your life.  I do not know this woman's name but I want to thank her for sharing this with me.  It has brought me smile and I will not look at a Christmas tree or tinsel in the same way again.  I am sure it will not make some of you like spiders any better but it is a reminder that God loves all creatures.

Picking Myself Up and Dusting Myself Off

It is time to pick myself up and stop dwelling on the last festival.  My sister and I set up at Levi Coffin Days in Fountain City.  There were no big mishaps for us and Murphy's Law was not hanging over us like our last festival.  The problem was there were few people buying.  The weather was beautiful and there were many people walking about but they were not interested in what we were trying to sell.  Although we were not selling a neighboring booth was doing very well.  He was selling cutting boards.  Yes you read that right.  Cutting boards.  I am happy for him.  I am glad someone was doing well.  He was a nice gentleman and I enjoyed talking with him.  He explained he was laid off sometime ago.  He use to put in kitchen counter tops.  He had a friend still in the business.  That is where he got the pieces he cut and rounded the corners and made into cutting boards. He was selling them for $15 each or 2 for $25.  For me $15 for a cutting board is high but people out that day was grabbing them up like they were the next BIG THING.  It was amusing to watch the discussion that went on over what color to buy.  This was a big lesson that you just never know what is going to sell.

I have been spending a big portion of my time lately working on a new set up for my next craft show.  With our businesses being new my sister and I are trying to keep our costs down.  For our next show we decided to share a 6ft table.  She does crochet so her items are larger and bulky and I have smaller things but much more of it.  Like I said before I do not want to go out and buy a bunch of things to use for display so I am trying to be creative with what I have.  The best way to use the space is to build up.  So I have taken a display board covered it in green.  When I first started covering this I tried using paper.  It was tearing and would not lay the way I wanted it to.  My next trip to the store I went to the fabric department and found this fabric on sale for $1.50 a yard.  It was cheaper than the paper I had first tried to use and worked so much better.  I glued it to the board using Mod Podge.  I made the two side panels into earring displays and added hooks to the center panel.  I already had the crates you see holding the necklaces so I decided to use them instead of placing hooks all the way down.  This is still a work in progress.

Another thing I am using is a table arm that I have for my dog grooming table. I knew I could add this to any table and it would give me a place to hang some extra items.  I decided to cover a couple of pieces of cardboard and make another display area.  I am unsure if I will add hooks to the boards or cut holes in them.  I may even choose to go with one large board instead of the two I am showing here. Closer to the date of the show I will cover the arm with Christmas paper or with fabric to make it look better.  I need to groom my dogs before then so I can't do it now.lol

The craft show is the first weekend in November so I still have some time.  Along with finishing this I am happy to say I will be trying to create new things with clay.  I now have my own little oven and the other things to start creating the things I want to work with.  I decided to do this because I often cannot find the things I want to work with in my area.  I will post once I have completed my first projects with the clay.

Now lets get back to the holiday at hand.  Halloween!!!!!  Since we moved into our home outside the town I have missed not decorating the house for all the little trick-or-treat ghosts and goblins.  It has been a treat for me this year to create Halloween items for my on line store at Storenvy.  You will find Halloween sets, skulls, ghosts and spiders, lots of spiders.  Meet Ice Princess.  She is one of the adjustable spider rings you will find waiting for you in my store.  You can get to my store by clicking the Harmoniously Tangled Storenvy button at the top right of this page.

Stop on by my store and see if we have that special item to make your Halloween costume fantastic this year. Need something in a different color?  Special orders are always welcome.

Hagerstown Jubilee Days

Harmoniously Tangled was basically born April 5 of this year when I launched an internet store over at Storenvy.  My first debut in a public setting was the fourth of July weekend in Liberty, Indiana.  I am excited to say I will be setting up for my second festival this Friday in Hagerstown, Indiana as they celebrate Jubilee days.  I will have the good company of my sister Lisa with her crochet items from Creative Kitty Crochet.

One of the things I noticed from my first festival was the poor little boys who had to endure their moms or sisters stopping to look at my handmade jewelry.  My Attitude charms helped entertain them for a bit but I knew I needed to find something little boys might find more interesting.  While networking my business I came across a wonderful page, Dandelion Ivy.  Here I found little creepy, crawlers that might catch a boys attention.  Be sure to go into the photo albums and click on the Spiders.

After seeing these wonderful little crawlies I needed to know how one might create them. (wink; I had a pretty good idea but it never hurts to look for directions.)  It didn't take long to come across this helpful page, Create a Wire and Bead Spider.  So I spread my bead boxes on the table, grabbed my wire and got down to business trying to create these little wonders.  Here are a few that I finished.

Not as wonderful as the ones over at Dandelion Ivy but I think they will work and it helped to reduce my bead population as well. LOL  I did get a bit carried away and created these.

They are on the large size but if they don't sell I can always take them off the ear hooks and sell them.  This was a fun project.  You may want to keep these guys in mind for a rainy day project or for a birthday party.

Now with that project out of the way it is time for me to rest.  If you happen to be in the area of Hagerstown, Indiana on August 19 & 20 come look us up.  We would love to meet you.
Happy Crafting Everyone.