Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Halloween DIY


These cute Halloween decorations can be made very quickly and very cheaply. They are simply used bowling pins (donated to me by my local bowling alley) cheese cloth, black paint pen, mod podge, and   brown stain. It is as easy as it looks. 
I simply draped the cheese cloth on the bowling pin for the ghost. I did put a dab of mod podge on his head to keep it in place. And his face is on the bowling pin, NOT the cheese cloth.
The mummy is wrapped in cheese cloth strips with mod podge painted on the bowling pin. After it was wrapped up I dipped a paper towel in some stain and rubbed it all over the mummy to make it appear to be dirty.  Simple and fast!!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Cider Days Topeka, KS 9/24-25/2011

I had high hopes for Cider Days. I had heard this was a HUGE event and thought surely out of the sheer numbers of people I should have a successful show based on the numbers. At this show I joined forces with several friends. My friend recently opened an Etsy store, HeatherMelody, selling her beautiful jewelery. This was her first craft show so I went as support, and because she thought she couldn't fill an entire booth. Hind sight being 20/20, she shouldn't have invited as many people to join her in the booth as she did, because the space was not as big as we thought it would be. Now that she has layed out all of her product and displayed it she now has the confidence that she can fill a booth by herself!

Anyway, on to the review of Cider Days. There were a lot of people there.  There was a high potential to do very well, but we missed the boat. Our display set up on Saturday was horrible. The booth looked crowded, we had 4 people trying to man a booth that could have been handled by 1 person, and we had a giant board displaying the HeatherMelody jewelery that covered up the fact there was a table behind it. Despite all of OUR mistakes, the administrators of this craft show also made several mistakes.

The quality of booths allowed to be inside the Expo center were mislead to us. We were told there would not be food allowed inside... there was. We were told everything was to be handmade... it wasn't. There were several booths near us with items made in India and China. I know that some people take a store bought item and personalize it or add a little something special to it, which is a touchy subject to some people. The hard part was that there were several booths selling hair flowers and headbands like we were that had their marked at 3 for $10, well if you are making a quality product, there is no way you can sell it at those prices. So we were under cut quite a bit with these less than handmade booths.

Other complaints we had about this show were we still haven't received a receipt for tax purposes, when it came time for tear down the expo center workers were in the way taking down the dividers. Those people were getting PAID to be there, we were not! Let us tear down our things BEFORE you start cleaning up for your job! They also didn't have the consideration to get out of the way when we would pass them with arms full of things. RUDE!

This was a two day event, Saturday was filled with people, but Sunday was basically customer free. It turned out that there were several major events and other big craft shows in Topeka that weekend that may have taken potential visitors away. Since we are not from Topeka we didn't know about this other events until we got there.

As we visited with other vendors during the day on Sunday, because there was PLENTY of time, we found that they were also not happy with the goings on of the day and the weekend.

Even though this event turned out to be a financial disaster for the 4 of us, we learned invaluable lessons from it. Who knew there was such a thing as a show that is too big? Not Me!! I also know now that being in a jewelery booth with my unique items (I spy bag) might be a little tough on sales, unless I bring my item to the front of the booth. People have seen tons of jewelery in their lives, but they may have not seen an I spy bag before. Lessons learned and now it is time to go on with more shows and improve! I love learning and improving! Biggest lessons learned for me? Topeka is a cruel mistress, and has always mistreated me, so I will NEVER do a show there again! Lesson learned! :)

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Giveaway!!

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 I have a very CUTE giveaway to tell you about! My sister in law has started a new Etsy store and blog to accompany it and to kick start the store she is hosting a giveaway! She makes some very cute rings, hair accessories and pendants for a necklace! Head on over to this blog, or this blog and enter the giveaway. Right now your odds are good, because she is just starting and so there are very few entries! Gaining entries is very easy also, just like her pages on facebook!! Her things are darling, and I know you'd all love to win one!! Tell your friends!!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Interested in Hosting a Craft Group?

I am so excited about Makia that I can't help but share it here! I love to make crafts, but I also love when I have a pattern to copy. I'm not too good at coming up with original ideas. Makia Creations is a company that sells craft kits!! Everything you need to make a super cute craft comes included together. I'm talking any paint, brushes, stain... everything you need! It is so awesome! Anyway, I have become a craft group leader with Makia!! This means that if you were interested in hosting a craft group with your friends, you can use my code to get wholesale prices, also if you are the host, you get a free craft kit!! It is so fun to get together with your friends and have a productive night out! Of course treats along with it are also fantastic!! You can visit Makia and see what cute craft kits they currently have available. New ones are constantly being added! If you find there are project you would like to do, gather some friends and figure out quantities. Once you are ready to order you can type in 056stefanie and apply my wholesale discount to your order! If you host a group, email me and let me know so I can make sure you also get the free hostess kit of your choice. Once you have hosted a craft night with your friends, and decide you love it, you can become a craft group leader too! Tell them Stefanie Cornwall sent you to them! :)  Let me know if you are interested, it really is such a great idea and so exciting!!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

I Spy Bags

Dogs $10 CLEARANCE

Flannel Baseball $11

Sassy Purple Flowers $11

Love in Spring $11

Glittery Brown and Teal $11

Big Blue Polka Dots $11


Brown with Blue Paisley $11

Green with Pink Polka Dots $11
Simple Grey and Blue Flowers $11


Flannel Baby Ducks $11


CLEARANCE $10 KU 



CLEARANCE $10 K-State 

Corduroy Spring $11

Adding some Pizazz and Extra Life

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Since my daughter start preschool, she has been a little bit harder on her clothes. Recently two pairs of her jeans came home from preschool with holes in the knee. I did NOT want to go buy new pants since I'm pretending spring and summer is right around the corner. So I needed to bring these perfectly good pants back to life!! The solution was to take her to the store to pick out her favorite patches. On the wrong side of the pants I put a jean patch over the hole. I then added an assortment of patches on the actual hole, plus all over the rest of the pants. I didn't want to make it very obvious that I was trying to hide a hole, so by scattering patches all over it looks like I was just adding some pizazz to her pants. She loves it, and I don't have to buy her new pants! Win, win!!

Friday, February 4, 2011

SALE time!

Go check out The Purse Place store to see the awesome sale going on. Since I am moving, I want to lighten the load by having a sale! It's our biggest sale yet, with ALL hair accessories at 18% off! Check it out, tell your friends and let's get shopping!

*** Sale runs February 5 - February 26***