Cecelia and I have been feverishly getting ready for our big sale this week.  We're going to be at Frontier Days in Swift Current -in the Stockade building.  Come visit us if you happen to be at the fair -we'd love to see you!  We'll be there on Friday the 2nd and Saturday, the 3rd.  
  
We've only been to one craft sale/trade show thing before, and it was a really small one, so we are feeling a bit crazy (well, I am at least) and stressed about getting ready for this show.  Between getting our products packaged and priced, figuring out creative and functional displays, and making sure we'll have enough stuff to sell, it's been a bit of a whirlwind around here (not to mention my family is having a Christmas-in-July type get-together the day before!  Eek!).  So I've been slacking a bit in listing new stuff in our shop.  After the weekend I'm planning to get down to some photographing and posting, and hopefully making some new and fun things!  


I found this really great blog about craft sale displays, and it's been a huge help for getting my brains organized and thinking about all the details.  Check it out if you have a chance.  


Craft + Show Designs


Hopefully our booth looks inviting and fun too!  We'll post some pictures after the event.  Happy Canada Day all!

I think there's a bit of a generational gap when it comes to the whole handmade thing.  I love my grandparents very much, but we don't always understand each other.  For instance, they don't really see what is so great about making things from reclaimed stuff.  Maybe it was the circumstances in which they grew up and living through the 1930s when they had so very little, not just because they were poor, but also because there was just less stuff in the world.  There wasn't the endless amount of cheap plastic crap being generated like there is today.  When I told my grandma about this business I've started and how I am focusing on using post-consumer materials, she asked me sceptically, "Do you think it will sell?"  I love what I am doing and I feel that it is important.  I believe in taking some power away from big companies and I love having a part in reusing and repurposing some of the stuff cluttering our world.  I like the idea of owning things that were made by hands, with unique thoughts towards design; I enjoy knowing that no matter how many of one thing is made, when it's made by hand, none is exactly the same.  Frankly Grandma, I do hope it WILL sell.

I don't know what it is about other people's stuff, but I am VERY interested in it.  It's wierd, because my sister is totally grossed out at the thought of having something that someone else once used, someone SHE DOESN'T KNOW.  And my husband hates going to thrift stores with me, claiming the smell alone turns him off.  But for me, it is an addiction, a pasttime, a PASSION.  Garage sailing, thrift shops, auctions: they are glorious and exciting treasure hunts for me.  I don't know WHY the used appeals to me so much, maybe it's my love of a good bargain, or the thought that something amazing is waiting for me.  To understand my interest in all things used, perhaps it helps to say that I am jealous of Ottawa's garbage collection service.  Apparently real people still pick up the city's trash, instead of machines, which allows it's citizens to leave ANYTHING outside to be picked up and taken away to the dump.  My heart turns with sadness at the thought of the junky furniture and other bits being hauled away, when I could so easily rescue those strays and restore them to greatness, if only I lived a little bit closer...  I got to garage-sailing for an hour this past Friday.  It's always such a triumph to find one or two little things that catch my eye.  I got a blue glass bowl ($1.00),  muffin tins (50 cents!!), and a couple boxes of old envelopes and cards.  Every now and then my Grandpa (maybe it's genetics -he is a total garage sale enthusiast.  the man can BARGAIN) finds me some awesome vintage cards, and the ones I got on Friday are very similar.  I love the frilly edges, the old-fashioned illustrations, and the font of the writing.  I wish they had dates on them, but all they say on the back is "Lithod in Canada."  Don't suppose anyone has a clue about dating old cards??


Only 4 more days and I get to go sailing again....
M.

Congrats to Erin Graas, our June giveaway winner!  We will be in touch with you for delivering your Sleepy Owl notebook.

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