Getting Ready for the Holidays

It has been a busy fall. As I look back I wonder where the time has gone. One minute it is September and school is staring and now we are putting up Christmas decorations.

I have been working on numerous projects. My mom decided this Christmas that all of our gifts had to be handmade. For me this isn't a problem. The problem is what to make. One of my sisters sent me a text saying my nephew had out grown his Iowa Hawkeye hat that I made him last year and that he could also use some mittens. I have never made mittens, so that would be a project that would challenge me, but with so many other projects, time may not be available.

I have been working on some basket patterns also. I had ordered supplies for a backpack and finally dragged out the supplies and pattern and got to work. The thing I have discovered with my last few baskets is that as I get to the top I tend to pull the reed tighter and the top cuts in. Sometimes this is desirable but for the last few patterns, it wasn't necessarily the ideal. At least each basket is unique and I seem to learn a little bit from each one that I do. Part of the problem is I hate to give them away or sell them once I put all the work into them. Plus some of them I don't feel are perfect, so hate to give away something that isn't perfect, but I guess that is what makes each one unique.

First Holiday Mart

I decided to try and sell my creations at a holiday mart. I found one that didn't have an expensive entry fee and worked into my schedule. The only part was that it was mostly commercial booths (Mary Kay, Avon, Tastefully Simple, Advocare, and the like.) Made a few sales (mostly woven hearts) but most people there were not interested in handmade items. Had a few people stop and look (most like the baskets and the owl hats) but most didn't seemed interested in much more. So next time, need to participate in one geared toward arts and crafts buyers.

Covered the cost of gas to get there and learned about how I want to set up my booth if I do it again. Life is about the little things and continually learning, at that I did!