Getting Ready for Augusta Ky - Art in the Garden

Whew... this year my goal is to "brand" myself.  Not the painful kind with an iron, but the good kind..the kind that makes people recognize my show booth by the colors and how it is set up.  I started to do that last year with my cards and banners matching the colors I use on my website and blogs.

So far this year I have boxes (aqua) and brown bags with labels, new table covers in ivory and I am working on my displays and set up to reflect my style.  In an effort to not only save some money, but to make everything "match" the colors of my banner I decided to try to paint my old inexpensive neck forms.  You know the ones...those fake leather ones.  I had black and white in various sizes.  The black ones were still pretty good, but the white ones have seen better days.  They seem to get marks and smudges pretty easily.  I was at Lowe's and had a thought...why not spray paint them???!!!  So I bought an antique copper and a pearl ivory and came home and started to spray.

Well the black ones look fabulous now...

Exactly what I wanted a nice rich brown that sparkles just a bit in the sun.  They covered easily and dried quickly.

The white ones were another story.  The spray paint is supposed to prime and paint all at once, but some of those marks were not getting covered.  So then I applied a spray on white primer...my mistake of course wasn't allowing for drying time (who isn't in a big hurry to see how stuff comes out?).  The second they felt dry I added the ivory.  Big mistake!  Now they are all sticky and if you try to fold them down and stack them when you check them the next day they are all stuck together.  And when you pull them apart they look worse than when I started. Notice that I didn't post a picture of that mess.

So the wheels in the poor overworked brain started to turn again.  I need those displays for Saturday!  What am I going to do?  Even if I placed an order right now they won't be here in time.  So I trolled the internet and pinterest yesterday to get ideas.  The problem with that is I am easily distracted by all the other cool ideas in the show booths I saw.  Finally yesterday I thought, why not use paper and decoupage them.  I stopped at WalMart on my way home but they didn't have any ivory crepe paper.  I knew I had a variety at home but didn't think I had ivory.  So I gave up and decided to look for some today and tomorrow.  I looked in my stash today and woo hoo...there was an unopened package of ivory.  I ripped open the pack and crumpled it up because I wanted the stands to look a little funky.  A little spray adhesive, some patting and then I also added a few torn pieces to the surface and I LOVE them!!!

I like them so much I am not going to try to seal them.  If they get messed up I can rip off the bad part and add another scrunched up sheet.  It is hard to see in these pictures but they are the perfect shade of ivory.  I love that I was able to rescue my 4 year old el cheapo neck forms and that they will be unique in my booth.  I've never seen anything  like these...maybe I shouldn't share this with you all.  Nah, use the ideas..just make them your own style.

Happy crafting!

It's Gonna be a Busy Busy Summer!

Whew!  I've been creating like crazy...getting ready for a very busy summer/fall show season.  The month of May already had its' ups and downs with the weather playing a big part.  The plan was to work on Mothers Day at the Duveneck Art Show and I guess Mother Nature had her own ideas...rain rain rain!  The up side is that I got an invite to the Roebling Fest.  But I am getting ahead of myself....

June 2nd you should take a drive to Augusta, Kentucky for Art in the Garden



I'll be there with my nature inspired creations along with about 60 other artists.  Tour the beautiful homes and gardens.  Who knows maybe George Clooney will show up!

The next Saturday, June 9th, I will be at the first annual Wine Tasting and Art Show at Verona Vineyards. 

And like the crazy woman I am I will be at the first Folksiders Market in Rabbit Hash KY the next day, June 10th.  I was happy to be invited to be one of the artists that will be here on the second Sunday of each month.  Take a Sunday drive and shake hands (ok one hand one paw) with the Mayor!

I finish up the month on June 23rd at Roebling Fest.  Then I have a couple of free weekends...HA!  Like that will happen, I will be making jewelry like crazy for the July Folksiders and also for the Dog Days of Summer Art Fair  also in Rabbit Hash.  And it continues like this all Summer...September is busy busy busy and I will continue to add shows thru the fall.

Guess I better fire up the kiln and get busy.  Hope that you get a chance to come out and see me at one of these events and buy some jewelry!

REMEMBER....Life is too short to wear department store jewelry!