Having a ball

"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way."   Babe Ruth

Not too long ago, fellow CZT Kelley Kelly shared a picture of a piece of scrapbook paper on which she had added her tangling. You should check out more of her wonderful work on her blog, but here's what she created on that scrapbook paper.

I thought it was beautiful and a great idea, so I immediately went through my stash of paper to see what I had. Unfortunately I didn't find anything appropriate. So off to the store I went to find some inspiring papers. I still couldn't find anything that I thought was as cool as Kelley's paper, but I selected several to bring home and play with.

One thing I picked out was a paper to make something for my son (all grown-up and a sports editor at a newspaper). Here's a picture of the paper.

Perfect for a sports fanatic, don't you think? I tangled, put it in a mat, and framed it. This picture doesn't show it framed because it would be hard to a take a picture without reflections.

I made it for my son's birthday which was last week, but I couldn't post it until now, because rather than mailing it to him (far away from us in Mississippi), I saved it to bring with us since we're visiting him for Thanksgiving. Didn't want him to see this blog before I gave it to him and spoil the surprise.

I'll soon be working on some of the other papers I bought and will share them here (if I like the results!)

Thanks Kelley for the inspiration, and happy birthday Josh!

If at First You Don't Succeed...Try Something Else

"An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail."   Edwin Land

A new tangle pattern, Quib, was recently released by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, and this week's Diva challenge was to use Quib in a Zentangle. Well, I tried....and tried....and tried again. I wasn't happy with any of them. I think Quib is a very nice pattern....when someone else does it. I've looked at the entries to the challenge, and saw some beautiful pieces. But for some reason, when I tried it, it seemed to fall flat. Wasn't quite sure what to do with it, what the next step should be after Quib. So...I gave up. At least for now. 

Instead, I decided to try another new pattern, Mak-rah-mee, by Shelly Beauch. I feel that there are some similarities between Mak-rah-mee and Quib, with them both being very free-form, flowing, rippling tangles. However, I was far more satisfied with the outcome of my efforts with this one. I added auras both inside and out of all the areas and this is what I got.

Then I decided to play with some color. I used Tombow Irojiten colored pencils to color the "strings" in my piece. 

This was a lot of fun to do, but I think I may like the black and white version better.  Maybe one day I'll try Quib again...after a little respite from it.

A Day at the Fair

"I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate."  George Burns

The big day has come and gone...the crafts fair. And was it a big day? Hate to keep you in suspense, but you'll have to read a little further.

I'll start with the positives. The weather was pretty good, considering the possibilities. My booth space was outside on a screened porch. Some spaces were inside, some in a screened porch, and some outside. I had asked for inside, but of course I didn't get that. We live in SC so I wasn't really worried about the temperature, but was worried about wind and rain. The morning started out quite chilly for us at this time of year, but it warmed up and was comfortable most of the day. Skies were partly sunny/partly cloudy, with no rain in sight.

I was told the space was going to be 4 ft. x 6 ft., which is much smaller than I've experienced at past fairs, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually bigger and I had room for a second table that I wasn't expecting to be able to use. Set-up was quick and easy as we didn't have to lug everything really far. I was very happy with my display...the way the card gallery worked out, and the racks my husband created for holding the wooden words I made.

My friends all came out to support me and I made some good sales to them. A big thank you to any of them who may be reading this.

Here are some photos of what my booth looked like.

 

Now for the not so good news. The crowds were not there. They came by in dribs and drabs. I blame it on the lack of publicity, as I saw very little advertising around town or in the local media. Other than my friends, I only made 3 sales. I sold, I think, a total of 49 cards, but more to friends than anyone else. Most people walked by the booth with barely a glance.

So the big question is...was it worth it? Would I do it again next year? I'm not sure yet. Based on sales alone, probably not. But a few people did show interest in taking a class. If I get at least a couple of new students because of the fair it will have been worthwhile. If not, I likely will not apply to do the fair again.

Now that it's done and over with, I've reopened my Etsy shop with my cards, and hope that maybe I'll get more business there than I did at the fair. In case anyone out there is interested, you can take a look at my shop here. Through November 24th you can use the coupon code BLOG5PCT to save 5% off any order of $20 or more.

If any of you have crafts fair experiences you'd like to share, I'd love to hear about them. For me, it's on to my next endeavor. Not sure exactly what that is yet, but probably planning some new classes to offer after the first of the year....for all those people from the fair who are going to be banging on my door!

Cruzing Around

"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it."    Henry David Thoreau

Well, the big day will be here tomorrow. The crafts fair I've been focused on for the last few weeks. With the last cards hot off the press, and everything packed up in the car ready to go in the morning (bright and early...way too early), I can take a deep breath and ...blog. 

For the Diva's challenge this week, the UMT (Use My Tangle), was MY tangle - Cruze. I was very surprised since I just submitted it and know there were already many on the list waiting to be picked. Of course I knew that I had to at least submit something to the challenge since it is my tangle, but being sooo busy this week getting ready for tomorrow, I didn't have much time. I finally sat down this afternoon and gave it a whirl. Although I haven't gotten the chance to look at what everyone else has done for this challenge (I will on Sunday, I promise), I did peek at just a few of them and loved what I saw. When I saw the beautiful tile that fellow CZT Cris Letourneau created, with Cruze in the round, I decided that's what I would try for this challenge. Here's what I came up with.

It's not quite as circular as I had hoped, but not too bad since I didn't use any guidelines. When it was finished, it reminded me of a Christmas ornament. That was not my intention, but I guess that's what happens after working on holiday cards for the last few weeks. 

I hope everyone had fun using Cruze for the challenge this week, and I can't wait to see the rest of the entries....Sunday. Off for some sleep now so I will be bright eyed and bushy tailed to make my fortune tomorrow!