The Art Fair

The art fair was rained out.

Don't be too sad though, because it was a VERY FUNNY experience.
All in all, I would rate it one of the silliest days I have had in a really long time.
On an everyday scale, it rocked!

Let it just be known that I stayed up until 1:40 am finishing my precious cards for the fair.
YAWN!

I was up at 7:15am, packed and ready to go by 7:45am.
My friend, Dawn Peterson, picked me up about 8am, and we headed about 15 minutes up the road to the historic fort and town where the fair was being held.
We did our initial unloading and setup before realizing we did not have the awning Dawn's husband had so willing purchased the night before to keep up from getting our skin fried off by the sun.
Luckily, Holly Cook, our other card-making compadre, was still in town, and was able to pick the awning and bring it up before the actual art fair started at 10am.

The set-up was easy, and our cards were nicely displayed.
About 10:15am, the first perusers were eyeing our wares.
All of the reaction was very positive.
It was nice to see people actually be interested...and very good for our (fragile) card-selling egos.
We were even asked for a business card for someone to sell the cards in a shop (which we can't do using copyrighted stamps from Stampin' Up), but it was still a nice compliment.
All 3 of us sold a card, which was nice.

About 11:15, it started to rain.
It was a light drizzle, and we moved a few things and covered some others so that our cards wouldn't get wet in the short sprinkle that was surely going to finish soon.
Within about 10 minutes, we had praised Jeff (the awning buyer) profusely, multiple times.
And then, the true downpour began.
And the awning started to leak.
And the rain was blowing in sideways on our long-labored over cards.
We were shocked and frustrated that the weather report had not prepared us for THIS!

Dawn ran for her van, got DRENCHED in the process, and brought it close enought we could put all of the cards inside to save them from the rain.
It was a very good plan.
By the time we were done transferring them all, all 3 of us were soaked, pretty much all the way through.
But the cards were safe.

We started talking about when we would feel good about leaving the actual art fair, rather than trying to wait it out.
It didn't take too long for us to make the decision that it probably wasn't going to stop raining any time soon.
It was raining and hailing at home...15 minutes away, and the storm was headed into the mountains we were in.
And the rain would lessen for a couple of minutes and then intensify again.

We started packing the remaining soaked items (our lunches and chairs) into Dawn's van and Holly's car.
As we were huddled under the lowered awning, getting ready to fold it up, we heard the rain intensify yet again.
We were all laughing at that point, not wanting to duck out of the shelter the awning provided, yet getting dripped on nonetheless by the leaky seams that had now been drenched for over an hour.
We finally did a countdown, ducked out at the same time, and yanked the awning cover off, folded the awning legs up, and jumped into the waiting cars.

All the way down the highway, on our way back home, we laughed.
The road was running with rain run-off deeper than I had ever seen it.
There were large rocks and lots of dirt being washed onto the road all the way home.
And we were wet and cold.
2 3/4 inches of rain fell in the 3 hours that it rained.
The 3 hours that we were outside, at an art fair, unprepared for the most part, for that rain.

We decided to go to lunch...had a great time, then went back to get our product sorted and check to see what had been lost to the rain.
A couple of envelopes were casualties, but other than that, everything was ok.

We did decide an outside venue wasn't the best idea when your product could be wholly ruined by a change in the weather.
We also decided we were all game for a second go-round.
Although next time we'll have a little more warning.

I did get 43 cards made in 3 days.
That alone is amazing.
And a wee bit crazy.

I'll be recovering most of the week.

The Last Card (EVAH!!)

There it is, the last card for this weekend.

I don't plan on repeating that hole in the pink cardstock, but other than that...I'm DONE!!!
Well, actually, I'm not DONE, I need to cut and put together the rest of the cards in these last two designs, but that's the easy part.

Hallelujah!

Thanks for sticking with me.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

There's the next card. I'll move the two brads to the white side, and produce as many as I can. One more to design, and then....whew...I'll breathe a little easier.

This was crazy to commit to in a week's time.
Although I wonder if I actually work better under pressure.
I'm definitely feeling the pressure.
My kids have WAY overdone their movie quota this week.
And I'm tired 'cause I went and worked out again this morning.
And that 9:00 o'clock bedtime?
It hasn't happened.
11:00pm, to bed, up at 5:30am...I feel it taking it's toll.
It was really nice to "sleep in" until 7am yesterday, and I really did feel self-indulgent not getting up earlier.

Have I ever mentioned that I am not a morning person?
Truly a self-declared , complete and total night owl.
I guess one of the amazing things about us, as adaptive creatures, is that even our tendencies can be changed...if the pay-off is strong enough.

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens at this art fair tomorrow.
If nothing else, it will be a joy to hang out with my awesome friends.

See ya...

This and That

The 4th card...I'll make 12 of these, bringing my total to 24. I hope to create 2 more designs, one a birthday card, and the other an all occasion card. I'll post pictures of them too. I thought you'd like to see my injured Thomas as of yesterday morning. He had a run in with his 11 year old brother on the trampoline on Friday night. Those brusies were turning beautiful colors yesterday, and are even more yellow today.
Yesterday afternoon, we were at a friend's house for about 20 minutes. Thomas decided to jump on their trampoline. He fell or slipped and hit the metal frame, as he was getting off. That cut (scroll down to see it) under his eye was gaping about 2mm open. Definitely something that needed to be treated. It doesn't look bad in the picture, but that's because it got glued shut. He's home from school today so I can keep an eye on it. He's been a trooper...but I have yet to decide if the benefit of the glasses outweigh the liability it presents to the soft tissue surrounding them. This makes the 4th or 5th cut Tiny has sustained by falling with glasses on. (Although this was the first that needed medical attention.)

Needless to say, yesterday afternoon was not spent making cards.
This is funny. It makes me smile. This is my family watching a video about pancakes.
They all sing along, and shout what is happening next...very funny, and I couldn't resist capturing it on camera. We have our own little video of the family sing along too.

I miss all of my daily blogs I read...so if I haven't commented this week, it's just because of my choice to walk the line between sanity/insanity a little more than usual.
I'm hoping next week will be back to "normal" (whatever that may be!)

Clarifications

I did Curves for the first time this morning.
At 6am.
Which meant I left my house about 5:45am.
It was VERY dark.

I was a little nervous, but I found the whole thing to be enjoyable.
Very doable.
I'm excited.
Not too much...and only about a minute or two on each machine, and on the aerobic stations in between, so no time to get bored with the whole routine.
Twice around the circuit = a 30 minute workout.
And the best part, because it is a wellness option, Pat's work pays for half of the membership, and the rest of the fee is taken from the next 6 months of paychecks.
Really about the most painless way to join a fitness program there is.
And I felt good all day, and had energy to do a lot of things.

Oh, and that 40 inches is combined from all over my body.
So, 3 inches from my arm + 5 inches from my bust, etc...is what I am looking to lose.
And the pound equivalent is rather high, so we'll just leave it at the inches for now.

I got 12 cards finished.
They actually look a little off color-wise in the picture below, but you get the general idea.
I am happy with what I have accomplished.
Now I just need to repeat it for 3 more days, and I'll be very pleased.

The hardest part is coming up with new designs...that's what I'm working on now.
And being exclusive in my brand usage as I make an individual card.
When you sell them, you can only use one brand at a time...and I usually mix my Stampin' Up and Close To My Heart stuff.

So, a busy day...
and I've got to turn in.
It's 9:10pm for crying out loud.
I'm never ready for bed this early.
I guess all things must change.
Bedtime is the first in this new routine to jump forward 2 hours.

See you tomorrow.
After my 2nd workout.
At Curves.
Just in case you didn't catch that earlier.

Cards

This one (blue and green) is my favorite.

This actually has a Christmas tree on that white square in the center.
I really like the way this one turned out too.

Too simple??

Busy, Busy, Terribly Busy

I'll blog quickly...because I haven't forgotten you, but I'm so BUSY!

Last night at FHE (we have it Sunday night due to Pat's college class on Mon. night), we discussed plans for the week.
It looked like a relatively calm week.

In talking with a friend of mine last week, we had discussed making cards for an art fair this weekend.
We have no idea what the response will be...but we are going for it!
That means EVERY SPARE moment will be dedicated to making cards to sell on Saturday.

I'm both excited and scared...I'll post some pictures of the cards here when I am finished with them...wish me luck.

I also signed up for Curves for Women this morning.
I'm commited to 3 days a week, 30 minutes at a time...with a goal of losing a total of 40 some odd inches.
I need to do this for my health and stamina.

My house is fairly clean, but I want to finish up some clutter spots...

So I've got lots to do...and I will miss the "extra" time I usually spend here, but hope the end result is positive!!

Toodle-lo!