Mercersburg Townfest 2008

The day started out rainy and gray today, but it cleared up quickly and ended up being a beautiful day. This was our first year vending/attending Mercersburg Townfest and I have to say, this town really put on a nice little event. The local churches hosted breakfasts and lunches and the First United Methodist Church had rooms full of goods for sale, goodies to eat, music and a gym full of silent auction items. Outside on the streets of Mercersbug, there were vendors of all types, yummy foods, activities for the kids and music and dance performances.

I had the opportunity to meet Amy and view her absolutely beautiful jewelry up close. I especially loved her colorful chainmail pieces. I also got to meet another local Etsy seller - Mad for Needles.

Overall, it was a nice day, weather ended up being just right - not too hot, not too cold. Plus, it was fantastic to only have 6 minutes travel time to a craft show! Ahhh, there's nothing like tearing down, packing up, driving home and unloading only a few minutes later!!! I will post some pictures soon from this event.


Tomorrow, we have the alpaca event at Stone Meadow Alpacas. They have invited us to not only sell our line of Stone Meadow Alpaca jewelry, but our other designs as well. We will be there to set up at 9am and will stay unitl 4 - 4:30pm.

Alpaca!

Recently I was commissioned by Stone Meadow Alpacas to create some jewelry using their logo for National Alpaca Farm Days 2008.
Here's a sneak peek at the jewelry:

 

 

 

 

These items will on display and available for purchase/order from 9am to 5pm on September 28th, 2008 @
Stone Meadow Alpacas
14514 Hollowell Church Rd.
Waynesboro, PA 17268
- at 10am there will be a small talk on the Alpaca Fiber industry and a free alpaca product will be given away. For more alpaca industry talks, fun, food, a fashion show, and prizes visit 6 participating farms nearby during the weekend. Visit http://www.cvalpacs.com for more information and scheduling details.

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!!

Perez on Martha!

Yesterday, the Queen of All Media, Perez Hilton was on Martha Stewart. I subscribe to the RSS feed for his blog and I find myself taking short breaks from work several times a day to read his posts. (I know, I'm an addict! LOL) He's made a name for himself, and while some hate him, a lot more people must love him since his blog gets sooo many hits and comments every single day. Maybe it's a love hate thing? Either way, I love to read it and you have to admit, it's amazing what he's built for himself from blogging.

Here's the clip from the show so you can check it out and enjoy. He gives some great tips on blogging:


I also have to mention that his efforts to slim down & shape up have really paid off. He looks great!

New fall goodies!

I've been very busy the last few days, working on new pieces for my Etsy shop and Townfest. Here's a few of the new fall goodies in my shop!:

Fall Spiral Earrings


Coral and Carved Wood Necklace


Eye of the Storm Braclet


Falling Leaves Necklace

Getting ready

Yesterday I went for what will hopefully be my second to last chemo treatment for a while. My Dr gave me some great news - my counts are up from 74,000 to 118,000! So I have just one more treamtent in December and then hopefully I'll get atleast a year of remission out of this. Yippee!!!

While I'm off work a few days, dealing with my chemo side effects, I'm trying to get some new pieces planned out and hopefully finish some that are already in progress. My next craft show is the Mercersburg Townfest in Mercersburg, PA on September 27th. This will be my first year doing this show and I look forward to doing this show.

Boonsboro Days 2008 Recap

Saturday morning was gray and quickly turned to rain, but many sellers and shoppers still made it out to Boonsboro Days. I was glad we set up our canopy Friday night! We managed to get our area set up and ready to go before the rain began, and toughed it out as long as we could. Around 1-1:30pm everyong closed up shop for the day.

Sunday turned out to be beautiful, not too hot, not too cool. There were almost twice as many people there on Sunday as there was last year as well. We ended up making up for Saturday with shoppers and sales, and it appeared that everyone had a good time. In addition to the music, food and crafts, there was a classic car show, craft demonstrations and pony rides.

I took some pictures of my booth and one of my mom's booth. Check out her great fabric pumpkins!

www.flickr.com

Boonsboro Days 2008

I'm putting the final touches on a few pieces tonight and then we will be ready for Boonsboro Days. Crossing my fingers that the rain will pass up by and we will have beautiful weather. This is one of my favorite craft shows for both vending and shopping! I got to seet some of my mom's new pieces that she will be selling this weekend. I might have to buy one of her rustic fabric pumpkins!

Check out this website for more information about Boonsboro Days and the history of the Boonsboro, MD area.

Boonsboro Days:
September 6th & 7th
Shafer Park,Boonsboro, MD

-We will be located near the rear of the band shell in Shafer Park. Last year we were between country/primative crafts vendor (my mom) and a candle vendor; across from Cedar Ridge Soaps. My mom's country/primitive crafts will be in the tent right next to our again this year so be sure to check out her stuff!



SPECIAL OFFER: Mention my blog and get 10% off your total Zen Creations purchase at Boonsboro Days!

Pretty little pearl earrings

I've been busy this holiday weekend, finishing up pieces for Boonsboro Days. Last night I made several pairs of these pretty little pearl hoop earrings and I was so pleased with how they turned out, that I made a second set for my Etsy shop.

Here's a littl sneak peek:

 

 

 

 

I have 6 different colors in this style, which will be added to my shop over the next few days.

Boonsboro Days & Mercersburg Townfest

Boonsboro Days:
September 6th & 7th
Shafer Park,Boonsboro, MD

-We will be located near the rear of the band shell in Shafer Park. Last year we were between country/primative crafts vendor and a candle vendor; across from a soap vendor. SPECIAL! Mention my blog and get 10% off your total Zen Creations purchase at Boonsboro Days!


Mercersburg Townfest:
September 27th, 9am to 3pm
Downtown - Mercersburg, PA
- more information will be posted later.


Also, I have added an events section to my blog to post a list of upcoming events. This will be updated as events are added.

Finally!

Well, it took me longer than I would have liked, but I finally have several of my newest pieces photographed and ready to list. I listed on pendant necklace earlier this week, my current favorite:


Here's a sneak peak at another pendant and a pair of pyrite earrings that will be listed this week:



Boonsboro Days is coming up soon too! I just found out that I will have the same spot as last year, so I'm very excited about that!

Treasury & new items

Created a team treasury today at lunch:


Still working on new designs. Tonight I'm going start taking pictures of the finished pieces and get them ready to list. Watch out for more new items soon!

On a Creative Roll

Well, my plan for last week and this week was to list several of my newer pieces.  So far, only one of these items has been listed.  The reason for this is last week I received a shipment of beads, and ever since then I've been on a creative roll. It's one of those times where you have so many ideas and the materials on  hand, and all you want to do is create all day long, never want it to end.  Too bad I still have a day job! LOL

I will be going out of town Sunday to Wednesday, taking a little vacation with my parents.  Before I go, I'm going to list a few of these new pieces, including a dazzling little Swarovski crystal ring.

A Nice Surprise

I have been looking for another event to vend at in August, since I can't make it to the Mercersburg Lion's Club event  (due to a wedding up north). Today that information came right to me - the answer was sitting in my mailbox!  After spending the last year and half searching out every possible craft show and community event in this area, it was nice to have someone actually send information to me. 

At this point, I had figured that August would be devoted to just making pieces and keeping my Etsy shop updated -- prepping and stocking up for fall shows and home parties.  This event looks to be perfect, table fees are very reasonable, location is about 30 minutes from home, show is 1 day and ends at 2pm.  Tomorrow I need to call and get a little bit information.

Now I just need to get my butt in gear and start making everything that I've been sketching and laying out these last 2 weeks. 

Downtime!

Everyone needs a few days off sometimes! After being so busy with my last 2 shows, and planning/having Zoe's birthday party this past weekend, I decided to take a few days off to recharge and catch up on some of the little things.

Most of my new supplies have come in and I already have tons of design ideas swimming around in my head. I also have quite a few new pieces, either finished, photographed and ready to list, or almost done and ready to be photgraphed in a day or two.

Keep your eye out for new designs soon!

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.

41st Annual Greencaslte-Antrim Sidewalk Days!

Greencastle-Antrim Sidewalk Days
July 11 from 8:30 am to 8:30pm
July 12 from 8:30 am to 4pm

Over 100 vendors will be at this event, located in and around the square in Greencastle, PA. My space will be located in the northwest corner of the square, near the First National Bank.

If you have some time this weekend, please stop by and check out this event!

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!