The Big Show.

Before I go on about the show this weekend, I HAVE to thank my friend, Karen Rassmussen for being my support system throughout the show. She helped me with transactions, gave me lunch and bathroom-breaks, and knew from reading my blog all about my crafts and was doing some serious representin’! Thank you, thank you Karen. Look how pretty she is behind my table! She was amazing.

Another thanks to my super-buddy, Gia Roan, for being the FIRST to show up at the show and brought me coffee and a chocolate-cream-cheese muffin! Is that a friend or what?!

And so…my first craft show is under my belt. It was one of the longest days of my life! The night before, Mr. Wonderful took the kids to the beach in the motorhome overnight so I could get up and out really early without disturbing anyone. Wanting to be at the church for set-up at 5am, I somehow awoke to the clock reading 6am. I flew out of bed and ran around in circles freaking out, doing what I could to make the best of yesterday’s hair and make-up (I gotta tell ya, I didn’t look half bad!), trying to call the organizer’s cell to let her know I’m running late (no answer), brushing my teeth frantically, only to look up at the bathroom clock that read 12:57am. Uh-huh, I accidentally changed the alarm clock instead of the alarm. Nice. There I was…almost impossible to fall asleep again, I finally did and woke up to the real alarm completely dragging, red-eyed and ugly.

Once to the church, set-up took a couple of hours and then I took a look around at all the booths. Turns out we all got the same memo about embellishing bottles. Ha ha. Seriously, there were some killer booths. I have never been in the presence of so much incredible creativity in my life. The best part was that every person selling at this show was nice, friendly, happy, and happy to be there. It made my first experience a complete joy. I didn’t sell much but I gained gobs of knowledge.

And get this! SEVERAL women came (I’m not kidding- TRAVELED-)to the show because of my blog!!! Shut up! Two of them took my picture (In my mind I was pretending it was the paparazzi, ha!) I was so flattered, I almost fainted. They were SOOO nice! I am convinced now that I have the NICEST blog readers in the world. One, Whitney Beard, came just to buy one of my journals, as IF! Just look at HER blog! ! It’s in my nature to hide behind the anonymity of my blog and the in-person attention nearly killed me, though I was glowing for hours. The only problem is that I was too dizzy from the excitement of it all to write down names. By the end of the day I was so pooped that once I came out of my self-induced coma I couldn’t remember who they were! So if you came to the show…EMAIL ME! I want to thank you again!!

Here are just a few of the great vendors at the show. There were many more, but I kept forgetting to go get pictures!

Wonderful Eileen, the show promoter.

My friend Barbara who made and sold ocean themed tiaras. They were stunning with the light of the stained glass window showing through the details.

Marilyn’s crafts and displays blew me away, check out her website!

Remember Jane Carney? She was a kick! What a great woman. Her booth is where I spent my money. I can’t divulge too much as the recipients of my purchases are two of my favorite little blog readers who happen to live with me. But, for me, I picked up one of her little pin cushions that I’d been salivating over since featuring her on my blog.

And of course Nicole. How gorgeous is this woman? She is so delightful, and it shows in her work. Did you see the feature on her when I was guest mom over at DesignMom? Click HERE!

Now that it’s over, I’m sitting on boxes of goods. I’ll contact those who showed an interest in the journals, sell the rest on Etsy soon, and send bottles to my sister to sell at her store. I’m not sure if I will sell at another show, probably, but I think I will at least always enjoy being a part of this one, if for nothing else, the promoting and shopping!