A job well done (if I do say so myself)

In April I attempted my first craft show. I was so excited about it. I planned. I worked. I worked some more to make sure I had enough inventory. I was ready. And anyone who knows me, knows I'm never READY for anything. I tend to fly by the seat of my pants until the very end.

This is picture of my booth at the show. (That's my beautiful friend Brandy posing.)

I had lots of different stuff to sell, and I was really proud of the display, especially the banner I made for the table.

THE SHOW WAS A TOTAL FLOP. There was a torrential downpour ALL DAY. I really think the only people who came to the show were the little old ladies that didn't have anything else to do that day. The traffic was pretty much non-existant and most of the traffic that did come to see my products were other crafters with too much time on their hands.

However, it was not a total loss. I made some really nice contacts from other crafters that were way more experienced than me. Especially the ladies of Wire Alchemy. They are craft show pros, and were more than willing to share their wisdom of the business with me. They were so open and inviting and gave me all sorts of tips for making it to a show in a semi-compact car. They paid me a huge compliment by telling me that my booth didn't LOOK it was my first show. Yay, that's what I was going for in all my compulsive and obsessive planning. They even went one step further by asking me to make them a banner for their booth at shows. I WAS FLATTERED to say the least.

We made a deal and I made the banner. I enjoyed it so much, just knowing that another crafter asked me to do this for them. (Did I mention that they're craft show pros?)

I'm super happy with it, and I got a fabulous email from them letting me know how much they liked it as well. Thanks ladies for the fabulous 7 hours of chatting and learning, hope to see you in the craft show circuit soon!

Family Vacation

We took a trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota last week and man, was it a blast.

It was so nice to get away with my boys and have some time alone for fun and relaxation together! It was also nice to not hear "Mom, can we play Star Wars" every 3 and a half minutes. For four days! We instated a 'no electronics' rule for the trip and it didn't seem to phase anyone, especially the 6 yr old in the car.

We stayed in a great little cabin for the first two days just outside of Keystone, which is the closest town to Mt. Rushmore. It was roomy, had a kitchenette for us to fix our own food, and they had a great little fire pit, for smores of course. The owners of the property, Tammy and Rick are the nicest people, and were super helpful with our visit to their area. Their dog Chester was a friendly greeter and kept a watch over us for our stay.

We did some fishing, (didn't catch anything).

Then went to visit "the heads" as Mr. Big calls them.
We visited Sylvan Lake and fished some more (still didn't catch anything). After we tired of practicing our casts, we took a hike around the lake. The most beautiful lake I've ever seen!
We then moved on to Hot Springs, where the Mammoth Site is. How amazing! I'm not even a history buff or science geek, but I found it fascinating!

Lots of silliness ensued on the trip, and it was just a great time. Can't wait to do another family road trip somewhere. I've heard rumors of Yellowstone coming up next...

Did you hear that?

It happened at 11:36 pm here at the Johnson house. The angels sang because I FINALLY got the computer up an running. YAY!!
Posts of the craft show and trip coming soon....

It's not what it looks like

Well, apparently it's not the modem. I don't know what it is. It's about to become shrapnel on the street after I throw my computer off the roof.
The IT Guy at work said that I might have some MALICIOUS SOFTWARE, whatever that means. He suggests I reinstall the whole operating system. That means that I have to TAKE OFF all of my pictures (does he realize how many I have???) and other important stuff I need to keep. I need about 48 more hours in this week.

We're back but broken...

We're back from our family vacation, and I'd love to show you pics, but my modem has died and I'm waiting on a new one.

Hopefully in the next couple of days I can tell you all about our trip, and my first craft show, with pretty visual aids.

Happy Birthday!!

Label on YBR Quilt
Originally uploaded by quayandco

Today my Aunt Kathy turns 60. She wanted to do something special since she's never celebrated any milestone birthdays before, but things didn't go as planned. Such a special birthday deserves a special gift, so I made her this quilt, sent a book and a little piece of chocolate. Now she can relax at home and celebrate her birthday under some home made birthday love.

Holy jewelry pouches Batman!

I've been working in the sweatshop craft room making jewelry pouches for an upcoming craft show. Lots and lots of jewelry pouches. Like, eleventeen hundred of them.

Well, really I only have about 20, but I can't tell you how tired I am of sewing circles