This has been a very difficult summer for me with the business. My primary Farmer's Market has made some major changes which have resulted in loss of revenues. I ended up withdrawing from my second Farmer's Market for a variety of reasons. The only really good news is that I picked up a new Farmer's Market in a fantastic small town that has worked out great. In a few days I plan on telling you more about this town because it is super place to spend a weekend.
My last 3 craft shows of the year have been about as bad as they could possibly be. Two were completely rained out and the 3rd, well I think there were more vendors than customers. I understand much of this has to do with the economy but gee whiz it sure is frustrating and depressing. I have had real difficulty in buckling down and working on anything to do with my soap business. That doesn't mean I haven't been busy though. I just wouldn't call it work.
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The 1st thing I did was put together some wreaths from gingerbread men I had made from white glue and cinnamon last year along with some other ornaments I made and some I bought. What do you think? They actually smell better than they look. I have some of the gingerbread men ornaments that I made when my kids were small (My twins are now 32) and they still have a faint fragrance. I also sliced up some not so sweet oranges and some leftover lemons and threw them in my dryer and added them to the wreaths as well as to the 12 foot strand of gingerbread/cinnamon men orange slices on our Christmas tree.
My next project is one that I have been waiting almost all summer to work on. I guess the Altziemers is setting in because right now I can not remember where I actually bought the table but I do know I did not pay very much for it. How do I know? Because I have been financially strapped all summer and could not afford to pay very much. All I know is that I have never seen a gate leg table made like this and I love it.
The table's top was definately battered, bruised and terribly abused and took a great deal of patience and elbow grease to strip and sand down to the original wood. Now I love painted finishes, especially distressed finishes but this beauty needed to have her glory be shown. I just wish I had thought to take pictures when I had her outside in the light where you could see all of her true beauty, but I didn't and I am truly sorry about that. I just could not wait to put her in my dining area and just did not think about showing anyone else, so I apologize for the quality of the photos because I don't have any windows in my very small dining area.
One thing I love about my table is that when it is folded up it takes up very little room but when both arms are extended it will actually seat 10 people. Now that would be quite a crowd in my dining area but still possible.
My next projects were making and finishing off these blackboards. I actually have 3 blackboards but my batteries died and it is 4 am and the stores around here don't open until 7 am. I will just describe the 3rd blackboard until I get it listed on Artfire. It is the same size as the first board pictured here. I have to say I
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love the finish on the light cherry blackboard but the paint finish on the 3rd board is beautiful. It is a color wash mixture of blue/green almost a turquoise. I am guessing that it is going to be difficult to get a good picture of the actual color because if you look at it from different directions it seems to be different colors. Both it and the light cherry blackboard are 21.75" X 15.5"
My next project was the picture frames. This was one of my favorite, mainly because I have tons of pictures of grandkids & kids and tons of frames. My problem is deciding to let some of them go to the Artfire shop to be sold. I have forced myself to leave these two available and I promise I will make more in different sizes and types if anyone shows any interest in them. The 1st one is an antiqued and distressed frame with a pieced burlap mat made for a 5"X7" photo. The way this is made you could actually center a smaller photo and use the brown matting as a background and have your photo still look great.
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The next frame is also an antiqued and distressed white frame that has a base coat of bright red and then has been treated with a specialty treatment that gives your wood a faux antique crackled look. I have created a toile mat from a elegant red & white oriental toile. This mat is made for an 8"X10" photo.
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I am just getting started so I hope you are patient. I think I may just show you a couple more today and save the rest for another day so I won't bore you or wear you completely out.
I was very fortunate this summer and was given a number of cabinet doors by a great guy who used to sell them and was going out of business. Among the regular flat paneled doors he had a very (very) small number of small 4 light doors which I fell in love with. I knew immediately what I wanted to do with at least one of them and I did it. You can't see it but it is actually hanging on my wall in the dining room/area.
I love old/antique and ornate keys and locks. Unfortunately I had never thought of a way to display them until I saw the 4 light cabinet doors and it instantly came to me. I have enough keys and locks to make a dozen more but I don't have the doors. To be honest, I have been dreaming about finding an old 10 or 12 pane window or door to do this to but I doubt if I will ever be that lucky.
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Like I said, I haven't made any soap lately but I have been busy. Maybe if I did these full time I would get tired of it, but I really wonder. Perhaps in the next few days I will get back and show you some more of my projects.
If you see something that you are interested in and I haven't listed it yet on Artfire, feel free to email me about it at PigeonCreekSoaps@insightbb.com
1 comments:
Your new creations are looking great! Happy Holidays :)
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