Country Living Fair, A Story in Pictures!

Great weather, Great show, Great Pumpkin Patch!!!

The Great Pumpkin Patch!

My wonderful mother in law Janice and her fiance' and all around great man John decorating hundreds of bags for the packaging. I got a TON of compliments on their awesome work!

Eric doing "research";) 

Some of my displays, after all the hard work I was happy with how it turned out!

That arrow has red glitter all around it. I am just saying....

I waited until the last minute to get my hotel and was a little nervous about the Residence Inn dowtown. It rocked! It was really close to the venue, had a kitchen so I didn't have to leave my hotel after the I got back and was SUPER comfortable! This was my view from the 14th floor, I highly recommend it!

After deciding to go it alone for the show this year, here is what I learned:

1. You are eventually going to have to use the restroom. Make friends with your booth buddies and pray you have friends as nice as Maryellen Kim of TwistStyle to send over her sweetheart of a cousin Carly to relieve you.

2. Make sure your credit card system works. As much as I love Square, my swiper wouldn't work and I had to key in all of my sales and if you do that they hold your funds for 30 days. (am in the process of getting that worked out)

3. While doable by yourself...it's more fun with a buddy, which is why I am starting the begging and bribing process to get my hubby to go to Atlanta with me;)

Ain't too Proud to Beg.....

As you all know, Country Living Magazine is throwing it's Fair in Columbus, OH this weekend and I am busy as a bee making a ton of jewels to take KSho on the road. They are having a contest, if you "LIKE"  my picture....I win! Here is the link and I'd love it if you could take the time to vote, I'd like even better to see you in Columbus!!! Here is the link:
(feel free to re post this on your blog's and facebooks and beg for me if you'd like;)

http://pinterest.com/pin/198299189813787839/

P.S. Dad....you'd better do this or I'll report you;)

What To Expect...At Country Living!

I have been busy making jewelry for the Country Living Fair in Ohio. Just 2 weeks until I leave! Here are a few designs that will be making the trip with me!

Skull and Pearls Necklace/Bracelet

Hand soldered and stamped Inspiration bracelets

Hand soldered and wired Tree of Life necklaces

Recycled bullet necklaces (and earrings!)

The hand wired Clover necklaces with Chalcedony

Too many other designs to even post. A ton of one of a  kind pieces made with vintage finds, clover earrings, gypsy earrings, leather cuff bracelets! Oh my! Have to get back to it!

It Was in My Own Backyard the Whole Time....

Every year I promise myself I am going to be cool about Country Living. No worries, stick to a schedule, make a certain number of favorite designs and add in some new ones, stop making jewelry on a specified date a couple of days before the show to give myself some downtime.  And then I loose my shit and I start frantically making jewelry and freaking out about everything I have left to the last minute like cards, boxes etc... Then comes the self doubt. Will people like what I have? Do I have enough in different price points. Are my pieces something Country Living Magazine readers would like. Inevitably I start looking at everyone else's jewelry online and have massive design envy.  As I was hyper ventilating yesterday and trolling Pinterest for display ideas (never mind that I have awesome displays that were put together by a ridiculously talented designer) I came across...my own.

These wooden necklace displays were made by my husband and painted by me. My friend Tasha (who makes amazing pottery see:here) took some great pictures at the first Country Living Fair I did in Ohio. As I scrolled through the photos I saw how amazing the booth my friend Wendy Umanoff had designed looked. Sometimes what you are looking for has been there all along!

 

Earrings hanging from a Wendy Umanoff designed found door display

Necklace display

My booth in Atlanta last year (booth design by Deanna King of Strawberry Fields Flowers and Finds)

Pretty, Pretty Butterflies.....

I have been busy as a bee making as much as I can for September's Country Living Fair in Columbus, Ohio. I am SOOOOooooo exited to be doing both Ohio AND Atlanta this year and am trying not to get too overwhelmed by the amount of sparkly pieces I want to make. I try to give myself a deadline of a few days before leaving to I can clear up last minute details like pricing and packing but there is always just one more style of earring I want to make and I inevitably end up working until the last minute. Last week was the first of a couple of butterfly weeks. I hand soldered the bezels and then collage butterfly's, glitter, book pages etc. to create the focal pendants. If the chains on some look hand soldered...well that because they are. I learned that little trick from Stephanie Lee and you can too with her up coming online class!  That's all for now...back to the the messy studio!

I Wanna See You Sweat....

I did it! I went up into my attic space where I solder stuff. It was hot. 'Nam in the jungle hot. I think I sweat off 5 pounds and all the smoke from the solder probably wasn't super healthy, but I did it. I have about 8 handmade bezels ready for my collaging and butterflies waiting to be mounted. I had every intention of getting right back on the horse today but when I took the little white poodle out for her morning walk I was greeted by a steamy, swamp-like swelter at 7 am. If I can't get no satisfaction from the heat at 7am, it ain't gonna happen!

On a "stuff on my list that didn't get done" note, I didn't book my hotel for CL or finish the bird's nest. In my defense I was dehydrated and my husband offered to take me to dinner, soooooo.....! It's totally fine, I'll sleep in my rented mini van. I kid, it's on for today, after yoga. Ommmmmmmm......

Destination Procrastination...All Aboard!!!

With Country Living Ohio fast approaching I have left myself all of August to stock up for the Fair. Sounds like a lot of time...in theory. You see I am not one of those organized, tidy, go get em kind of girls. You'll find no "lists of things to do" tacked to my almost empty inspiration board, no clearly defined schedule to my days. I know a lot of very successful women business owners wake up at a certain time, get dressed, brush their teeth and get to work on specific projects for the day. I am more of the wake up, have coffee, throw on my yoga clothes (for an actual yoga class, although the chances they get changed before bed are slim) skim facebook and various blogs, take the dog for a walk and then get down to the business of making jewelry. I am just having a hard time getting inspired. It's almost August, it's hot as all get out here in Virginia and I feel as if I have ALL the time in the world to prepare for Country Living! (I have read a scandalous number of books) In reality, I'll keep on making jewelry every day at a snail's pace, realize CL is a week away and go into crazy, stressed out mode and make jewelry for 24 hours straight. That's  my jam! That's how I roll! So for today I am going to book my hotel, read my new Jewelry Affaire for inspiration and finished a bunch of bird's nest necklaces, solder and set butterfly collage necklaces. Maybe if I write it out, I'll actually do it. Stay tuned tomorrow for my progress report! What do you do to get organized? Any advice will help and I promise to at least try it.