My kids are so silly

So, I have noticed lately that my kids all have different, but very silly humour. In the top we see my son who asked me if we could play kangaroo and baby, so being an intriging idea I found my stretchiest pants (I used to use them as maternity) and tucked my joey in my pouch.
Here we see my 3 biological kids stacked up with the middle child (age 7) on the bottom, eldest in the middle (11) and the youngest on top (5) Now this is especially amusing as the 7 yr olds teacher last year tols us she had very little upper body strength... she really looks weak here doesn't she?
Now this is what happens when you put a cap of bubblebath in the jet tub, so my 11 yr old discovered. Looks like a lotta fun actually. Yeah my kids keep me busy and highly amused. You just never know what will come out of their mouths or what you'll see them doing next. I love my job. Well except for the laundry.

Shopping

I am officially done Christmas shopping!! Yay, woo-hoo!! and before the stores get insane too :)
This year I'm not giving near as many hand made items as I wanted to, I just didn't see anything at shows that I thought family would like, and anything good on etsy was big and too heavy to ship otr for me to afford to ship, which is even sadder. And the relates that I have given my jewelry to don't really wear it, so I dunno if it just isn't to their taste or if i missed what their style is somehow. Either way not this year, maybe next year I'll crochet up something for them, or birthday gifts.
So now i can concentrate on making a baby blanket for my new neice or nephew to come. I really hope my brother decided to give me a niece, I have 4 nephews, (1 from him and 3 on hubbies side.) but no nieces as yet.
Maybe I should catch up on laundry too..... sigh, it never ends with 5 kids.

Birthday Party

I'm ba-ack!

This weekend was BUSY!! I had parent teacher interview with my eldests teachers, and it wasn't good. She's very behind in her math, and her math binder is so disorganized that she's done 2 of the assignments twice. So we got the binder organized, and got her down to business and all caught up, phew!! The interviews with my step kids were much better, both are doing well, and Alyia is adjusting to kindergarten very well, even if she can't remember most of the kids names LOL!

Sat Adaira had her 11th B-day party which was a sleep-over, or rather a no sleep over. The girls were up allnight chatting and giggling as only a gaggle of pre-teen girls can. I always make a fun cake for the kids and this year I did a switch a roo for the 11th, the main course wasa 2 layer meatloaf which i frosted with mashed potatoes and filled with cheese. I even wrote happy birthday on top in ketchup and told the girls that we were having cake first since 11 is the same forwards and back. They were pretty impressed with this turn of events and then were amused when it ended up being meatloaf. The dessert I made was a 3 layer cke made to look like a hamburger, the middle layer was left un frosted as the patty and the filling was coloured icing as the cheese, relish and mayo and strawberry jam as ketchup, I used almond slices as the sesanme seeds on the top "bun" too.

Last night we did a bit of shopping and then i decided to try playing with polymer clay again. I made a couple warped faces and an eye cane that I rolled a bit wrong and the iris is not really round. I dunno how long it took Elaine to figure this all out, but I know it won't come quickly either.

I'll get better with more practice, and now that i am done with craft show season I might concentrate more this winter on learning the how to's.

Eastend

Well craft show season is done for me this year. luckily I managed to end on a good note this time :) Just before we left for it got an etsy sale from someone who was grateful to me for a small bit of advice I gave in the forums about her headaches. Kindness matters folks.
So where was my last and best show? The tiny village of Eastend. Yup, I did better in the first 4 hours there than I did in any of the cities i went to this year. Last year I did phenomenally well there and this year it was still very good, but not as good as last year. So I was happy. The local woman who makes wonderful soaps was there, but she's not focusing as much on the soap anymore, I did get 1 though. I was kept busy enough that I only managed to make 1 item and a custom pair of tiny earrings. I will certainly be back next year. While I was selling my jewelry, the kids were with my mom on the farm, and had a lot of fun too. That night we had supper and cake for my eldests 11th B-day. And my 2 yr old nephew finally knows me, and now thinks i might be kinda fun to play with, YAY!!! I love being an Auntie.
About my daughter... I am so not ready for her to be so grown up yet! The week before she out grew all her pants/jeans save 1 pair, so we had to go shopping, it was our first shopping trip in ladies wear stores and not childrens. Wow, even with only buying sale items it was pricy. and again last night was reminded that she isn't so little anymore. She is in scouts and the group went swimming, according to the leaders wh are chummy with my husband she and a certain boy were prfectl content to be off on their own chatting, rather than with the group. O_O oh no!! NOT BOYS!! I realize I am likely panicking ridiculously, and such, but I don't want her to be growing up! I'm not old enough to have a daughter almst as tall as my mom with a budding chest... OK damn it, I guess I am, but I don't have to like it. Darn kids.

Stuff I have made with Elaines beads lately

As promised earlier in the week I have photos of the jewelry I made with Tooaquarius' beads at the craft show in Calgary.

I think I could work with her beads exclusively for a long time and still be inspired and happy with them. With all the texture, colours and shapes she does in her beads, making jewelry with them is a breeze, they need very, very simple accompanying beads. I am amazed that there's no paint involved. 12 years of skill and practice really show through.

I might be keeping the ice blossom set seen below. and am considering keeping the Coffee Break set to the left if it doesn't sell before Christmas.

My new addiction. Somehow, I don't even feel guilty :)

Calgary

This past weekend I made the journey to Calgary (5 hr drive) To do a craft sale with Elaine of Tooaquarius. Sadly the show was poorly managed and co-ordinated. The information I got on the show was to expect thousands of people, 2 fireplaces would be lit, a Canadian idol singer would perform at some point and so on.
Ok there were VERY few people there at all. I always bring my beads, wire and hooks, and a good thing or i would have collapsed of boredom. I actually left with MORE inventory than what I arrived with. So i don't have to make anything for next weeks show in Eastend. Elaines beads are an awesome distraction for any jewelry maker, and i made some lovelies with my time. Will post pics later, honest!!
The show manager forgot 2 of the vendors, and so the fireplaces were blocked to make room forthe overbooked show. which also meant we were crowded in . The singer never arrived either. Also glad I brought lighting, it was rather dim in the room we were in.

So show wise it stank. But I got to have a good visit with a friend, our daughters who are also good friends got to spend 2 days, and 1 night together. (my hubby watched them at his brothers house during the day and the girls had a sleepover at E's.) And I got to play with a bunch of fabulous beads. I'll be postings pictures later. And we got to eat at some wonderful places. If you are ever in Calgary and want a fab breakfast go to Coras! OMG the crepes are HUGE and are the most yummy crepes i have ever had! So there is was the good the bad and the yummy.

Moose Jaw

Yet another craft show has come and gone. And once again I take a loss, the other repeat vendors of this show say it's the worst they've ever seen it, attendance is low. Lotta people very interested in my craft and comments od "oh, really? Wow I've never heard of crocheting wire. I can barely crochet yarn, wow!" and then they look/ inspect half the table, call friends over to look, ooh and aahs and then they walk off. All of this is not making me confidant that i can make a go of a big show in Calgary coming up.
So, spendmore money I don't earn to buy another table, lighting, and such and plan to get fabric and props to up the ooh and aah value of my displays... am I crazed? likely. How long will Icontinue to pour money I don't have into this? can't say for sure. R says to keep trying next year as well. we shall see. I'm too stubborn to to just quit. plus what else am I gonna do with all this wire and beads?
But I did manage to do some great trades for Christmas gifts, including an autographed print from Glen Scrimshaw. It was a very warm and happy atmosphere, just no-one is feeling Christmasy yet coupled with the economy doesn't lend to a great selling show I guess.

So the next 2 weeks will be busy making stuff to fill the new tables and refiningmy displays!

Saskatoon Craft Show

Well I am back from the weekend show. I took a loss, which is sad, my first big show and all. However I am told by the other sellers who have done it before that this year had the worst attendance they've ever seen. I am told that usually it's so busy you don't get to sit down. I got to make a few things. I got great comments from the people who did come, pretty much no-one had ever heard of crocheting wire. A lot of, "hey whomever, you gotta come see this, this woman crochetes WIRE!" If i hadn't needed the sitter and travel expense, I would have barely made my expenses. But I only brought in enough to cover the booth fee and sitter. oh well let's hope the other shows work out better for me. I did have an interesting visitor, a very drunken woman who knocked my scarves over, grabbed at my bracelet display and generally scared me. She then went to the booth behind me and my neighbor and nearly fell through the curtain upsetting said neighbors display. Where was security? The other intersting note was that the other neighbors were from my home town, and her little brother was a rather nice boy I crushed on a little. You never know who you'll meet at these sales!
Got a few pics of my display here, note that I crocheted my sign too!

AHHH!!

I am feeling slightly frustrated just now and decided to drop everything and chill for a minute.

My first BIG craft show is in 3 days, so I am very busy trying to get ready. Hubby has called me 6 times today, "can U do this?, That? and don't forget to other thing" Kids had today off school, so it's been " M-O-O-om, can I do this, ot that, I'm hungry, why can't i eat a school snack now? I'm bored, and I need this that and some other stuff!" AHH, no, you are grounded again remember, then you should have eaten lunch, because I said so, you have an entire basement full of toys go play with them!

So it is now 5:00 I made 2 necklaces and matching earrings all day. Go me, I quit, not worth the effort. Now i get to find the step-kids stuff they need for tomorrow, and make sure all kids have clothes for the week, do the dishes, call the sitter, mend the sign that the kittens climbed (NOT happy) and TRY to get the damned sewing machine to hem my table cloth so I can iron it. make up a things I need to bring to the craft show list, and start packing said list up.

Why doesn't the laundry fairy visit my house?

Not the blog I wanted to post for the week, but there it is the life of a SAHM crafting addict.

Yahoo!!

Busy day today, go here, go there do this. my etsy shop just sold over $300.00 US, which is about 340 Canadian I think, (have to check the Paypal. ) So i am thrilled, did the happy dance and everything. The buyer is Canadian which is even better and a return shopper which is even more great! I will have a lot more crocheting to do now to prep for Craft shows coming up.

I will be in Saskatoon on the 17th and 18th of this month, and in Moose Jaw on the 24-25th. then i make a big journey to Calgary(AB) for the 7th and 8th of Nov and the 15th I'll be in little old Eastend. Phew!

looking out the window i am seeing a lot of snow. SNOW!! veryone knows it isn't supposed to snow until halloween night!! Sheesh, silly weather.

In the begining....

Ok, so I decided to make the move and become a blogger. Decisions decisions, domains, friends, creditcard useage, websites, fees, GoDaddy, blah blah blah! Makes my head spin. So I am going to try it here again. I had one almost a year ago and poof, after a couple weeks, it suddenly refused to recognise me. I waited a few days thinking it was a system thing, nope. And I can't use the name I had for it either, so it must still exist somewhere out there all alone and unreachable. So sad.

I don't have time for a really thoughtful entry today, kids, creations to create, supper, laundry, bedtime ect tomorrow, maybe. Tweek my settings and all that boring techy crap.