An Event!

Looking for a day trip? There is a very interesting event taking place on August 24th and 25th (2013) at Whispergreen Farm in Carlisle Ontario (L0H 1H0).  A craft show meets pioneer festival is the best way I can describe it...old fashioned, family friendly, eco friendly skills, wares, displays, and demos at their finest.

This link is for the full list of vendors that will be at the show - all from Southwestern Ontario, and almost all Etsy vendors (I am including a link where possible so you can shop even if you can't get to the show).
                               There is going to be:

a canoe maker,

 garden and folk art,

 quilts

pottery (that would be me) - AtTheCrossroads,

upcycled clothes,

 dolls by TheFancifulDoll (I am more than a little in love with this one),

 baking (yes, please),

 preserves,

fantastic embroidered pieces by embroiderwee,

jewellery made from classic books by TheUnwrittenWord

soap from OnABranchSoaps,

rustic and primitive pieces (this is a stack of pebble and cork coasters) from Rustic Revivals,

a period seamstress, steampunk, a blacksmith, stained glass, photography, candles, painting,cool drinks, and more.

There are demonstrations (all of the following pictures are from last year's show, with permission from Julie of Rustic Revivals - from their facebook page):

There are activities, story telling, buskers, games, contests, and costumes. 

 

Here is a link to a post on Ontario Rural Routes with maps, links, pictures and reviews.

I apologize to any vendors I have missed.  Leave me a comment so I can find you and I will add you in!

And here is their poster so you can "Pin" it, if you wish.

Tent weights...

...for craft shows and for camping.

I haven't done an outdoor show in years, but last year when visiting Artwalk I saw so many of the vendors tents blow over in the wind that I decided I needed some tent weights for my upcoming show in August.

I have seen people use cinder blocks, buckets of sand, jugs of water, work out weights, and pvc filled with cement.  You could purchase a variety of different weights (google it if you wish...the variety is pretty amazing), but you know me...I'm all about using what I have on hand.  Here is my version:

We have just finished replacing some metal and brick pillars on our front porch with wooden columns, so my husband generously offered to cut the pieces of pipe into 2 foot lengths for me.  They were already heavy as they were so I thought they would make a good start.

I had this bag of concrete left over in the basement from some other project,  I do believe it's about 3 or 4 dollars if you have to buy one.

The only thing I had to buy was this package of eye hooks.  I bought the biggest I could find, and a package of 5 cost about $4.00.

 I only mixed enough cement to fill one pipe at a time since I didn't want to mix the whole bag (the instructions are printed right on the bag if you haven't done it before).

I scooped the wet cement into my piece of pipe.  Make sure to use something long to tamp it down as you go.  You want to remove all of the air pockets and make it as heavy as you can.

I let the cement set a little before inserting the eye hook.  Give it a little jiggle to make sure all of the cement forms down around the threads.  In the picture above, the second one from the left is most solid.  In the future, I would sink them all that low.  The other ones can't really be pulled out, but they do wiggle a tiny bit.

The weights will be getting a test run on our "dining pavilion" (the canopy I will be using for my craft show) when we go camping in a few weeks.  That should determine if they are heavy enough as they are or if I need to make some more.  For the actual show, they will be wrapped in burlap or fabric and tied shut with a ribbon - you know, to make them look pretty.

For those of you anywhere near the area, here is a list of vendors that will be at the show.  There are going to be pioneer games for the kids as well as music and buskers and demonstrations of old-fashioned skills.  I'm quite looking forward to it.

Linking up with: Homemade Mondays over at Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity
                         From the Farm Blog Hop over at Fresh Eggs Daily
                         The Backyard Farming Connection

Graduation Prep Part 4 - Centerpieces

For those of you who are new, this series is about decorating for a school event (in this case, grade 8 graduation) on a very limited budget.  I'm a true believer that you don't have to spend a lot of money to have a nice event, and that a little effort can make those dollars stretch a lot farther than buying a bunch of cheap, decorations that make very little impact.


The tables we will be using for the event are your standard folding rectangular table (usually seat about 8).  I'm going to lay 3 pieces of ribbon (from my stash) lengthwise along the table, and then in the center, there will be one of these "lanterns":

along with a large pinwheel and a potted plant with a glittered pinwheel in it (groups of 3, right?).

 

 These are the little potted plants that the pinwheels will be in...they will be wrapped in matching paper the day or two before so that I can still water them for the next two weeks.

Originally, the plants were going to be significantly larger - I was thinking a nice flowering plant - but then something happened.  The money for graduation dinner (each family pays for their own dinner - the school pays for the students) and the money for the year end class trip was STOLEN!  The money was due, turned in, locked up, and the STOLEN all on the same day!  suspicious!!!  So, needless to say, the "decorating money" shrunk even more.  So instead, I dug these up from my front yard and potted them up in little pots I had in the shed, and will camouflage that with some pretty paper. 

I know most of my readers can tell how to make this little "lantern" just by looking at it, but for those of you who are new to crafting, here are the steps:

 Wrap a piece of jewellery wire around the jar (don't cut it yet) and twist it together tightly until the short end is all used up.

 Decide how long you want the handle to be, and then cut the wire (using wire cutters, not scissors) about 

1 1/2" longer.

 Add some beads to the handle - the beads you want for both sides...all at the same time.

 Slide the end of your wire under the piece of wire wrapped around the lid.

 Twist it together and then slide half the beads back over to the second side.

You can make them all the same if you want, but I was using up beads (white, black and blue) to match the party colours.  Then just add your sand (or rocks, or glass beads, or even coloured water) and add your candles.

Total tally for the 24 "lanterns":  $3 and change for a bag of sand

       -the jars were free - my family and friends have been saving spaghetti sauce jars for the past year or so

       -the beads were from my stash thanks to my dear sister

       -the candles I found at the dollar store ---25 candles for a total of $6.25

Total for the potted plants: $1.00 each roll for 2 rolls of wrapping paper that I am hoping will do all 28        plants, and some potting soil (about $3.00 worth) from a large bag.

The downside is that in the last month of school, the grade 8 class usually "pays it forward" by doing a fundraiser for next year's graduation.  This year, they are going to do 3, but all of that money will be used to replace the money that was stolen.  So, one person's actions have actually affected 2 years worth of graduating students at least.  On the bright side, the principal is hoping this will be a life lesson in "resiliency".

Linking up with: Keep Calm Craft On over at Frontier Dreams

                         Eco Kids Tuesday at Like Mama Like Daughter

                         Creative Friday over at Natural Suburbia

Craft show Prep - background

Otherwise known as "drawing attention"...

If you have been following my series on craft show preparation, you may remember that my next craft show is an outdoor event.  I was looking for something that would draw interest all the way to the back of my booth, and I figured these garlands should do just the trick as they will hopefully move a little in the wind, and catch they eye with the motion.

 I plan to safety pin them to the top back corners and drape them down (kind of like an inverted rainbow).

 

I really enjoyed the pompom garlands I made for the cake table for my son's upcoming graduation so I thought I would do the same for the show.  Just a bag of monotone pompoms from the dollar store threaded on to quilting thread.  I made one using a torn book (too ripped to be used at the school's used book sale - it's Star Wars, by the way).  I trimmed each page to remove the margins, and folded them in half around a long piece of yarn (for extra support) and ran them through my sewing machine.  I may still paint a watercolour leaf or something onto the pages to kind of jazz them up a bit, or cut out a shape from the inside.

One is a ribbon, one is twill tape.  I had originally planned to iron them smooth, but I really like the way they look kind of "scallop-ey".  The last one is leftover felt run through the sewing machine.  The pennants are 2" wide and 4" long.

The fun part about these is they are quick and inexpensive so you could easily make them up to change the look of your display for different events.  I think I'm going to do one with jingle bells for my pre-Christmas shows, and I'm thinking fall leaves strung together for a fall show. 

These are all neutral for the specific show I am doing...all tents, tablecloths, etc are to be white, beige or neutral colours, so I am continuing on with that.  I am thinking of making a set in all greens to use at other shows.

The sky is the limit here...do any of you have a backdrop you change out for shows?  Or a pinterest board of ideas you would like to share?

Around the "farm"

I stayed home from work yesterday due to a whomping headache.  In the afternoon, though, I was able to go meander about the yard to see how things were coming along.

 The peach looks like it is doing very well.  It is so loaded with tiny fruits I had to take some off so the branches won't snap.  It's the first time I have had to do it and probably didn't take off nearly enough so I will revisit in a few days when I can handle it again.  I know it is good for the tree, but I also know that so many are going to get bug bites I want to have something left to eat.

 The first red strawberry.  Just one.  Yep - I ate it without sharing.

 Elderberry blossoms.  My first.  I look forward to tasting this.

 The first haskap berries.  I ate one of those too.  Delicious.  More like a grape than I expected.  I was expecting it to be like a blueberry.  I look forward to this growing over the years as this year there are only about 8 berries on it.  The other one right next to it has not a single one.  Not sure what that is all about.

 The wild blackberries that I transplanted into my garden a few years back are doing better than anything else.  They are loaded with berries, which is exciting because the best jam I made this year was black currant with wild blackberry.  I hope to repeat it this year again.

 After years of trying and failing, I think this may be the year that we actually get some ground cherries.  This is the most advanced I have been able to get a plant so far.  I have TWO of these seedlings that have survived so far.  Not sure why I am having so much trouble, but I bet over the years I have planted over 100 seeds and this is the best to date.

 I planted spiderwort last year when finding out that it is actually edible AND the flowers can be used for dye.  The plants are loaded with blossoms, and although I would normally be rushing out to harvest them on a daily basis to use, this year, I have accepted the reality that I won't have time to dye anything with them, so I am enjoying them as they are. 

 As is this tiny tiny bee...

I have been focusing on the fruits and vegetables for the last couple of years, so it is always nice when an old friend comes back year after year.

What's happening in your garden/ homestead/ farm this week?

Linking up with: How does your garden grow? at Backyard Farming Connection