Busy, Busy, Busy!

Whew! I finally got a few minutes to update my blog.

Between craft shows, Farmer's Market, 2 online shops and family functions, I've barely had time to relax. It's all worth it, but July is the busiest of the summer months. Last weekend was Sidewalk Days in Greencastle, PA. This year there were a handful of new vendors and we had a new spot on South Carlisle Street. I have to say I had a lot of fun this year and it was good to see so many familiar faces.

Next up is the farmer's Market in Mercersburg (1 date in July, 1 on August) and then the Cornfest in Shippensburg, PA!

Oh, and about a month ago we brought a new addition to the family home:


Our new little guy is about 3 months old now. We're still working on house training him, but so far he's doing great!

Mercersburg Farmer's Market this weekend!

This Saturday will be the very 1st Farmer's Market in Mercersburg, PA. Located on in the parking lot of the Mercersburg Health Center (next to Modnur Pharmacy), the Farmer's Market will run every Saturday from May 30th until the end of October from 8am to 1pm. The Market will be featuring locally grown fruits and vegetables, prepared foods, flowers, musicians and artists.

We will be vending 6 Saturdays over the course of the Farmer's Market this season. All dates will be listed in the Events section of my blog. If you are in the area, please stop by!

29th Annual Mercersburg Townfest - this weekend!

This Saturday I will be vending at the 20th Annual Mercersburg Townfest. This is our first year doing this event and I'm very excited!! I've heard a lot of great things about it, and from the looks of the vendor map, there are 2 full streets full of vendors.

Mercersburg Townfest
Saturday, September 29th, 9am to 3pm
East and West Seminary Street + a portion of Main Street, Mercersburg, PA.
you can read more about it and view a list of vendors here.

*Zen Creations will be located on West Seminary Street, around the corner from The Mansion House, 3rd space in, diagonal from Mix 95.1.

Also - check this weeks Mercersburg Merchant for our ad and coupon for Townfest!!

Summer Fun!

I decided to take a little break after having 2 craft shows in 2 weeks. It will be a few days until some of the supplies I ordered are in, so what better way to make use of this time than to have fun with the family!

First off, we spent the afternoon with my parents at my mom's work picnic. Zoe had a great time throwing water ballons and riding in the bumper boats.

Last night, we went to the Greencastle Fireman's carnival and met up with some friends. The kids had fun on the rides and we finally got a chance to hear the Borough Boogie Pickers.

I took some pictures of my newer pieces Monday night, so tonight I will be listed some new items, and at least one new item each day for the next two weeks. Keep your eye out for new items!

Sidewalk Days!

Well, another Sidewalk Days has come and gone. This year was certainly interesting! First off, we get there at 6:15 am to find that we have been moved from our spot in the square (our spot last year) to a spot up the street near Willow Tree Gifts. So, thanks to someone's poor planning, we had to make some major adjustments to our set up, going from a nearly flat space in teh street where we could use the entire 10 x10 space to a sloped (in two directions!) space where we lose a foot of our tent to the curb. Oh, and you haven't lived until you've had tractor trailers roll by your tent, about 6 to 12 inches from it!

Lance and I had to think on our feet and make the best of the space we were given. Using jewelry trays to prop up our tables on one end to keep things from sliding off and sitting out next to our spot (in the sun -- yikes!) instead of inside our tent. We had a lot of people tells that they thought we decided not to return this year since we were not in our spot from last year, but I was glad people bothered to look for us!

Overall --- despite the sunburn, tractor trailers and sloped space ---- I'd have to say we did have a great show, and I was pleased to find more people familiar with Etsy.

Summer Jubilee- July 4th, Waynesboro, PA

Here's a quick photo of my booth at the Summer Jubilee (July 4th). While it wasn't hot, it was rainy off an on all day. It didn't seem to bother all the people who came out, but it did make keeping things dry hard! LOL We ended up running to my mom's house and borrowing her red tent sides to keep my displays and tables dry.

This friday and saturday is the Greencastle Sidewalk Days.
More info on this event will be posted soon!

Getting Ready

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This Friday, July 4th, I will be doing a local craft show in Waynesboro, PA - Summer Jubilee.  This will be the first time Zen Creations will be vending at this event, so I don't really know what to expect.  This will also be the first time we will be using our new folding shelves that we bought at Ollies a few weeks ago.  I love them for 2 reasons, 1. they fold nice and flat - great for transporting them, and 2. they can hold 3 displays on each shelf. My displays were really tight at the last show, so this will allow me to display more goods in less space and put it at the customer's eye level.

Our new shirts from VistaPrint came in today. Very pleased with how they turned out.  Maybe I can get Lance to model the shirt and hat on Friday and post it here! My labels also came in today, so I spent about an hour sticking them on various sized white jewelry boxes. I think they add a nice touch, and hopefully bring customers to my Etsy shop in the future.

Still waiting on an order from Firemountaingems.com . Hopefully it will come in tomorrow and I can use the new displays I ordered on Friday.  Tomorrow night will be filled with packing up my displays, Lance packing up the car and organizing beads and findings to take and work on during the show.

Cross your fingers that it doesn't rain on the 4th!

Bad girl! Bad, bad girl!

This morning I got up, and one of the first things I thought, was, "hmmm, I don't think I've blogged in quite a while." That was the understatement of the year! I logged in this morning, and the last time I posted was over a year ago! Bad girl! Bad, bad girl!

So.... what have I been up to since the last time I posted? Lots of things!

First, I went back to work part-time, then gradually moved into full time. While the $$ is great, and allows me to invest more $$ into Zen Creations, it leaves me with only a small amount of time to actually create, photograph, list, promote, etc, you know, all those things necessary to run a business. At least I can take care of a few things at work while I'm eating lunch!

I revived my geocities page (thanks in part to the Etsy mini tool! -- love it!), sold off most of my pieces over the holidays, created a ton of new pieces + some old favorites, added a store on Ecrater (which still only has a few items on it) and added a few local events to my calendar.


First up, is the Greencastle-Antrim Sidewalk Days, July 13 and 14th, in and around the square in Greencastle, PA. I don't have my space assignment yet, and probably won't until thursday, but I am hopefull that I will have a decent spot this year. Last year I was only able to sell on one of the two days, and I'm glad that I have the stock and open schedule to add the second day.


I have been churning out the jewelry lately, trying to get a wide selection of pieces for this event. I'm really excited about the cubic zirconia pieces that I made last night. The colors are gorgeous, and they really reflect the light beautifully. Making my own earwires has also been a lot of fun, and has give me more options for earrings.