Light of Hope Holiday Craft Market 2024

 

Last weekend I was in Claremore again for another craft fair. This time I shared a table with Kristi Woods, who had bookmarks and handmade cards as well as books. Kristi really knows how to set a table up nicely! The Light of Hope Holiday Craft Market was smaller than the last craft fair I went to, but I had fun and I did sell a few books. Our table was in the front, a little apart, and we had some great conversations with people who stopped by. Kristi's new book 101 Prayers for Military Wives has an interesting QR code bumper sticker that she's trying to get on cars in all fifty states, and I know it's now being sent to two states that weren't already on her list.

We had a third person helping out at our booth the whole time, which was extra fun! My son was an enthusiastic salesman and said he really enjoyed being there. Here's a selfie of the three of us getting ready for business. I was happy to have my "apprentice" along for the ride. A couple of other friends also came to see us, but I didn't get any more pictures after the beginning of the event. 

Westside Craft Bazaar 2024

 

This Saturday I had a great time at the Westside Craft Bazaar in Claremore! My friend Renee' La Viness and I shared a table and each sold several books, even though we ended up placed in sort of a back corner. There were booths throughout the whole elementary school building, and I'm not sure everyone knew they needed to wander around to see everything. Eventually word spread, though, and since it rained quite a bit we were much better off in a back hallway than we would have been outdoors. I think it went pretty well, overall, and also that my children's books and Renee's holiday coloring book made us ideal table mates. Some of the other booths were also really fun to look at--I think my favorite was the one with a laser engraver to customize wooden objects on the spot, but there were also fancy soaps and birdhouses and coin banks and Christmas ornaments and recycled book art and tons of adorable crocheted animals. One booth near us was all gourd art, which was pretty cool and not something you see every day. And now that I know how much I like them, maybe I'll go to more craft fairs in the future! 

Mayetta Pioneer Days 2024

 

I had a rather eventful trip to Kansas last weekend, for the Oct. 5th Mayetta Pioneer Days celebration. My family was supposed to meet up and share a booth space, but my parents didn't make it there due to surprise health issues (all appears to be well now, but not in time to make it to the party). The rest of us managed to have fun anyway. Here's a picture of me that morning at my newly-set-up book table, wearing my sunbonnet because it was Pioneer Days. The sun came out later on, but so did the wind. I tried taping my book stands in place, but in the end I had to take about half of them down and just lay the books flat so they wouldn't keep blowing over. I did sell several books, so that was nice, and I gave away a lot of advertising bookmarks.

Here's a picture of my kids watching the rope spinning demonstration. None of my still shots from that turned out--maybe because I didn't realize my flash was on, which slowed down the shutter speed--so I took a screenshot from the video I recorded. The rope spinning demonstration is always my favorite activity at Pioneer Days.

The battery for my phone didn't last through the day very well, so I couldn't use it to take photos of the parade at the end. My aunt let me borrow her phone to get a few shots, though, and I like this one of my kid waving at a float. It was a busy day that didn't exactly go as planned, but I was definitely glad I went.