Craft Shows, custom orders and knitting....

Last night's craft show wasn't really a very good one. Despite a pretty good job of promoting by the organizers, the turnout was pretty weak. I made more than my table fees, which is a lot more than some of the vendors did, so I really shouldn't complain. But in the scheme of things, I probably won't return again next year.

Last night I did hear about a few horror story shows recently and it seems like the economy might be taking it's toll on the public's discretionary spending and gift budgets. I had tons of compliments about my creations, but many people seemed to be just viewing. I did hand out a lot of business cards, so hopefully they'll remember me when it comes to a last minute gift or stocking-stuffer items.

Next up, (hopefully) is the LEH Secret Santa's Workshop 2 day show next weekend. I still haven't heard anything one way or the other about the show and I kind of expected to be included since the show is sponsored by the PTA (and both my sweetie and I are members), but I've emailed with questions and have yet to receive a response. Hmmm

I still have a few custom orders to fill and the custom order for personalized ornaments and pendants will end on December 7th (it may last a couple days later, if I'm all caught up, but no later than 12/10)

I'm still knitting like a crazy-lady, as my scarves continue to sell. I want to thank my good friend Christine for sending me a few skeins of wonderfully soft yarn. The colors are brilliant and I can't wait to use them in a creation. I'm very tempted to treat myself with a new scarf (more than tempted...LOL) Thank you so much to Christine and Catalina for these beautiful yarns!!

Til next time....

R

Okay, let's try this again. Last night's blog about searching for beach glass resulted in disaster. Between trying to get a couple crafts prepped and my 4 yo waking up crying from a nightmare and the blog was supposed to be saved for proof-reading.
Now let's try to make sense of it all...


On another note, a few months ago I did a Beach Glass 101 blog and later had an article published on the internet about beach glass. Last weekend, during the New moon, the moon was at it's closest point to earth during the month and the tides were extremely strong. The moon caused the tides to push the waves farther up the beach during high tide than usual and pulled the water back much farther than usual during low tide. The result was a great deal of ocean debris was left behind for those willing to search through the piles of shell fragments, while braving the very cold mornings and windy, chilly afternoons. I went with my 2 sons in the afternoon on Weds and we found the beaches filled with fisherman, trying to land a large striper bass (this is close to the end of the striper bass run and the area's contests are coming to a close) We found the beach littered with shells and shell fragments (not to mention the garbage left behind by a few fisherman who obviously don't care much about the environment... hopefully they wasted their time on the beach and caught nothing but colds...LOL) but we found only a couple pieces of beach glass worth keeping. We arrived too late for low tide and probably to late in the afternoon, as it was tough to spot beach glass with the sun going down. I returned by myself on Saturday, the day of the New Moon, and went to my secret spot which has yielded some rare colors in the past and hoped to have more luck. It started off slowly, as the beach where a couple of beautiful gems were found this past Sept was totally void of beach glass. I continued to the North and came up with very little luck, only a couple of common browns and they weren't even very nice. For some reason I turned to the South and doubled-back and I found huge deposits of shells with beach glass mixed in. There wasn't anything special about these pieces, as they were mostly browns, with a couple of nice greens mixed in along with the occasional whites. A few pieces were really chunky and well-rounded, with a couple pieces being jewelry quality. I also found a few very nice shells that were intact and not often found on the beach in this condition, along with a small piece of Amethyst beach glass. In all, about 30-35 pieces that were worth taking home and I only covered 2 or 3 blocks worth of beach in 2 hours. The ocean debris was that dense!
The entire family came back with me Saturday afternoon, but we went to another spot and again found little worth keeping, before heading back to my secret spot. I spent most of the time trying out my new camera and taking some of the beach glass jewelry pieces you see in my Etsy mini to the right, while my sweetie and the boys looked for beach glass (well the boys spent much time playing with someone's dog that was out for a stroll w/ her owner) We only had a very small handful on keepers, mostly browns again. Saturday night the moon looked HUGE in the sky and I hoped for a better Sunday.
Because Saturday morning was so bitterly cold, I waited until about 10am to hit my favorite spot... again.The New Moon didn't disappoint me and I travelled over the same few blocks I covered the day before and this morning's beachcombing prove fruitful again...I found a decent number of greens, browns and whites, along with 2 chunky pieces of Cobalt Blue and both pieces were found within a block of where I found my 1st two pieces of Cobalt earlier this summer! A stroll along the edge of the ocean on the way back, just as the tides were receding (much further out than I can ever recall seeing) turned up a couple more chunky browns and 3 large pieces...2 partial bottle necks and a large brown piece that is "L" shaped and very thick. One of the pieces is a white-ish, green-ish piece that may have been a coke bottle, the other was a green bottle neck piece. So, in addition to some more cool shells, a few of which will possibly be used in a jewelry piece, I added the 3 large pieces and 26 smaller for the day... and all in the same 2 or 3 blocks that I searched for about 2 hours the day before!!
I can't wait for the Moon to help my beachcombing again!!

Craft Show schedule and Beachcombing during the New Moon

Eagleswood, NJ- Friday 11/30- 6:00pm - 10pm at the Eagleswood Firehouse. Admission is free and Santa will be making an appearance from 6-8.
My shop will be mostly inactive for this show and I'll be placing whatever is left back in shop on Saturday morning, along with a few new items.

Little Egg Harbor, NJ 12/ 7 Santa's Secret Workshop- 4:30pm - 8: 30pm at the Little Egg Harbor Middle School on Frog Pond Rd. Sponsered by the LEH PTA

LEH 12/8 Santa's Secret Wksp 10am - 2 pm
This show is always very well attended by students and their parents, along with the teachers.
My entire shop will most likely be closed for the 2 day event. Whatever I have remaining will go back into my shop Saturday night when it reopens.


On another note, a few months ago I did Beach Glass 101 blog and later had an article published on the internet about beach glass. Last weekend, during the New moon, the moon was at it's closest point to earth during the month and the tides were extremely strong.
With moon pushed the waves farther up the beach during high tide than usual and pulled the water back much farther than usual during low tide.
The result was a great deal of ocean debris was left behind for those willing to search through the piles of shell fragments, while braving the very cold mornings and windy, chilly afternoons.

I went with my 2 sons in the afternoon on Weds and we found the beaches filled with fisherman, trying to land a large striper bass (this is close to the end of the striper bass run and the area's contests are coming to a close) We found the beach littered with shells and shell fragments (not to mention the garbage left behind by a few fisherman who obviously don't care much about the environment... hopefully they wasted their time on the beach and caught colds...LOL) but we found only a couple pieces of beach glass worth keeping. We arrived to much past low tide and probably to late in the afternoon, as it was tough to spot beach glass with the sun going down.

I returned by myself on Saturday, the day of the New Moon, and went to my secret spot which has yielded some rare colors in the past and hoped to have more luck.
It started off slowly, as the beach where a couple of beautiful gems were found this past Sept was totally void of beach glass. I continued to the North and came up with very little luck, only a couple of common browns and they weren't even very nice.
For some reason I turned to the South and doubled-back and I found huge deposits of shells with beach glass mixed in. There wasn't much special about these pieces, as they were mostly browns, with a couple of nice greens mixed in along with the occasional whites. A few pieces were really chunky and well-rounded, with a couple pieces being jewelry quality. I also found a few very nice shells that were intact and not often found on the beach in this condition, along with a small piece of Amethyst beach glass. In all, about 30-35 pieces that were worth taking home and I only covered 2 or 3 blocks worth of beach in 2 hours. The ocean debris was that dense!
The entire family came back with me Saturday afternoon, but we went to another spot and again found little worth keeping, before heading back to my secret spot. I spent most of the time trying out my new camera and taking some of the beach glass jewelry pieces you see in my Etsy mini to the right, while my sweetie and the boys looked for beach glass (well the boys spent much time playing with some one's dog that was out for a stroll w/ her owner) We only had a very small handful on keepers, mostly browns again.
Saturday night the moon looked HUGE in the sky and I hoped for a better Sunday. because Saturday morning was so bitterly cold, I waited until about 10am to hit my favorite spot... again.
The New Moon didn't disappoint me and I travelled over the same few blocks I covered the day before and this morning's beachcombing prove fruitful again...

I found a decent number of greens, browns and whites, along with 2 chunky pieces of Cobalt Blue and both pieces were found within a block of where I found my 1st two pieces of Cobalt earlier this summer! A stroll along the edge of the ocean on the way back, just as the tides were receding (much further out than I can ever recall seeing) turned up a couple more chunky browns and 3 large pieces...2 partial bottle necks and a large brown piece that is "L" shaped and very thick. One of the pieces is a white-ish, green-ish piece that may have been a coke bottle, the other was a green bottle neck piece. So, in addition to some more cool shells, a few of which will possibly be used in a jewelry piece, I added the 3 large pieces and 26 smaller for the day... and all in the same 2 or 3 blocks that I searched for about 2 hours the day before!!
I can't wait for the Moon to help my beachcombing again!!

Less than 30 days until Christmas... Craft Show updates

Thanksgiving has come and gone and now we're rapidly heading towards December. Less than 30 shopping days until Christmas and I'm about 35% finished shopping for everyone. Okay enough dreary news... on to the good stuff.

Etsy has remained slow, though I did make a sale since my last blog update. It was to a member of the Yuwie site I blogged about a month ago. (it's like myspace, but you can make money by viewing pages...lol, I'm on a 5 year plan before I extract my 1st check) A new online friend bought a pair of earrings, so the extra work I put in at the site has started to pay off and since I'll be shipping her earrings tomorrow, hopefully she'll love them (don't you always keep your fingers crossed that the buyer loves your item when they have it in their hands?) and post about the great earrings she bought from ETSY. Hopefully, we'll get even more customers shopping at the site!
Speaking of ETSY... my sweetie and I invested in a camera...finally! I'm still in the process of photgraphing the entire shop and editing the pictures, but take a look at the difference! It was well worth the money.

Craft Shows-

Nov 30- Eagleswood, NJ Firehouse 6pm -10pm Free admission.

Dec 7- Little Egg Harbor, NJ- Middle school (directions to follow this week) 4:30pm- 8:30pm
Dec 8- LEH Middle School 10am- 2pm- The 2 shows are sponsered by the PTA and are very well attended.

til next time!
R