Pumpkin Eater

Happy Halloween!!

My sister took this picture a couple of years ago. She finally discovered what was eating her pumpkins! All week a little pile of chewed pumpkin kept growing until finally this little bugger could get inside the pumpkin. I'm sure he enjoyed quite the meal!

This picture makes me wet my pants laughing every time I see it. I guess I'm simple that way. But what a shot! How lucky was she to catch the bandit in the act?!

I hope you and yours have a very safe and happy Halloween. I will be hanging out with my two little nieces tonight. Then we have the big Picture the Impossible Gala to attend once the kids go to bed. Ooh! I'll take a picture for you of the masquerade mask I created and show you next week!

Halloween Parade!

Each year the school near our house sends all the kids out on a Halloween Parade in their costumes! This was my dose of cute for the day! The whole street was filled with laughter and vampires, witches, Storm Troopers, and cats. Adorable!

Here is my niece:

(Don't fall out of your chair because I managed to blog twice in one day!)

Craft Shows Galore

I’m sure you’ve been waiting with bated breath for the craft show update. So wait no more!

This year I signed up for three craft shows in the span of two weeks. Crazy, I know. But we pulled it off. The first was at St. John’s of Rochester, the second was a fundraiser for the Victor PTSA, and the third was at St. Rita’s School. It was our first time at all of these show so I didn’t really know what to expect. All three were very well attended. Overall, I am extremely pleased with how we did.

I was honestly surprised to have gotten in to the St. Rita’s show, as it’s one of the biggest, most well attended craft shows in town. As a jewelry vendor we sometimes don’t get spots because the jewelry spots get filled up early. Maybe it’s because my jewelry isn’t beaded whatnots… it’s different. We were also extremely lucky to have gotten a spot in the gym. Some vendors were in these tiny classrooms. They had three or four booths in these rooms and if there were more than five or six shoppers in the rooms you couldn’t walk around. So I think the traffic in the classrooms wasn’t as good as in the gym.

The location of our spot was excellent - in the middle of a short aisle near the back door where people were coming in. It’s always good to be near an entrance, I think. Spot location is a big factor in your sales totals! We had our best show total ever at this show – beat our last one by a whopping 33%!

My booth consists of domino pendants, Scrabble tile pendants, domino Christmas ornaments, and a few checker keychains. The feedback from customers and the just-looking folks was great. I lost count of how many times I heard the word “clever” about my work! Several shoppers also placed custom orders in addition to their purchases.

The craft show business is still new to me. This is only our second holiday season doing this. I still get all ecstatic that people like my work enough to part with their cash for it. My feet have not really touched the ground yet after the last show. Words cannot do justice to the feeling of gratitude I have for being an artist and all the good stuff it brings my way. People like my work and took it home with them and are giving it as gifts to people they care about. How cool is that?!

We have one more show this year unless I can squeak into something else. Our next show will be at the Irondequoit High School on Cooper Road on Saturday, November 28th from 10 AM to 4 PM. Hope to see you there!

It’s Been A While…

I’m sad to see that I have not been blogging. I have been really busy. It is fitting that Picture the Impossible is the last thing I blogged about as that is the thing that has literally taken over every waking moment of my life for the past month and a half.

There have been web games everyday. There have been photograph challenges, video challenges, and recipe challenges. My sister and I have spent countless hours doing weekly scavenger hunts and deciphering documents from The Watchmaker. I have learned so many things from this game like reading source code for websites, making, editing, and uploading videos to YouTube, solving very cryptic puzzles and clues, and reading Morse code. This game has brought me closer to the city I live in, and I have learned a lot about its history. Most of all this game has taught me how to picture the impossible by being so very challenging. It has forced me to be open to any possibility. I have come away from it with a better sense of myself and my strengths and abilities.

This photo is my entry for the "Rochester Innovations" challenge. The photo had to include things that were invented in Rochester, NY. My entry included the reclining shampoo chair, Gannett newspapers, a box camera, French's mustard, and roll film. Did you know that bloomers, pipe cleaners, Fanny Farmer candies, copy machines, and Ray Ban sunglasses were also invented in Rochester?

It’s not quite over yet. There is still a week of puzzles. But the points are cut off for the big prize on Wednesday night at 6 pm EDT. The big prize is that the top 150 players get two tickets to the Gala on Halloween. It’s a semi-formal/formal masquerade ball. I’m making my own mask for the Gala! Can you say "feathers"?!

I am currently in 38th place. This is only because I was late doing two puzzles and lost points for it. Otherwise I have completed every single challenge placed before me from making a PhotoSynth of a horse (to which I cannot find the link) to making a seriously silly video theme song to the tune of Y.M.C.A. with two total strangers who are also playing this game.

Picture the Impossible has taken over such a huge chunk of my time that I am going to have withdrawal from it when it’s finally over on Friday. I don’t know what I did with all my free time before this game started. Oh, yeah, I did things like make and list items on Etsy, kept up with housework, saw my hunny, and had a sense of sanity. So it will be interesting to see how things go starting on Sunday after the Gala. My brain could use a break.

In the midst of all this business I also had to get ready for having three craft shows in the span of two weeks. One was on a Monday and then I had one on each of the two following Saturdays. The last show at St. Rita’s in Webster, NY was our best show total EVER. I’m thrilled. People bought my dominoes, Scrabble tile pendants, and domino ornaments. They liked my stuff. I’m on cloud nine. It’s so very validating to have people like what I do. My sense of purpose is renewed. Also my "To Do List" is filled up because the shows emptied out my Etsy shop. Several custom orders were also placed at the last show that I have to get going on.

Ok, I have written a short novel here to try to get you caught up on my doings and what nots. I hope the rest of your day is fantastic!

Check out my newest creations at my shop at InMyHeadStudios.etsy.com. I have some Halloween pendants that you can still get in time if you order today. They have free shipping!