Cancel the search party!

Yep, I'm still alive. :)

I never planned on letting my blog fall by the wayside but there it went, slipping away. If you've been a reader of my blog, you'll know that I had to do some revisions to change the direction my blog was going in. Part of it was my decision, part of it was something I was forced to do to protect myself. That started the lack of posts. After that, my life started getting super busy and I never had enough time in the day to post or even check on my fellow bloggers. :(

I finally had some time today and decided to sit down, dust off the blog and start again. I'm still not sure how often I'll be posting and it will never be like it used to be but it's here. Thanks to all of you who wondered where I was. I missed all of you too! I'm sorry for the things I may have missed in your lives while out of commission. I'll be doing my best to catch up on all the blogs soon. Until then...

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

There's a guy who calls himself The Sexy Vegan. He makes videos of himself cooking/preparing vegan dishes and he cracks me up. Now that the stores are starting to get Halloween items in and there are less than a 100 days until my favorite holiday, I figured I'd share his Spicy Pumpkin Soup video. Enjoy!

The Sexy Vegan - Episode #7 - Spicy Pumpkin Soup - watch more recipes and videos

I scream. You scream.

We all scream for ice cream! I was out running errands today and got a craving for the cold confection. Perfect for a warm summer day. I had to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things anyway so off I went. I never keep cold treats in the house and it's been awhile since I actually went down the ice cream aisle. I charged down the aisle past the giant tubs of ice cream and sherbet to get to the section that has the smaller sizes and I about died. Did you know that they make itty bitty servings now?! They even come with their own little spoon! They were only a dollar each and I just had to pick up a couple. I got one Starbucks and one Ben & Jerry's. What you see is what you get for your serving size (pic below). Nutritionally, it's not the best but c'mon, it's ice cream. Not exactly a health food. :)

Be sure to check out Ben & Jerry's Halloween section of their Web site here. You can see their Flavor Graveyard of their "dearly de-pinted", the spooky mansion, pumpkin patch, laboratory, library and more. They really have a ton to look at. In the library, you can read the history of Halloween and there are links to costume and magic shops, real haunts, etc.

Bunny love.

This post started with just a couple cute bunny pictures. Well, cute is good and all but we need scary and creepy too! Enjoy!

Above pictures courtesy of Cute Overload.
Below pictures courtesy of Photobucket.

Sunday Stealing: The Heretic Meme

This meme brought to you by:



1. Who was the last person of the opposite sex you laid in a bed with?

We'll call him "J". Gotta' keep this anonymous, ya' know.

2. Where was the last place you went out to eat?

IHOP

3. What was the last alcoholic beverage you consumed?

Cherry vodka with Sprite. Tastes like Kool-Aid!

4. Which do you prefer - eyes or lips?

eyes

5. Medicine, fine arts, or law?

Depends on the day.

6. Best kind of pizza?

Ham, mushrooms and extra cheese.

7. What is in store for your future?

One never knows. At least not until you consult the cards. hee hee

8. Who was the last band you saw live?

I'm not a big concert person but the last event was Gigantour where Megadeath, Lamb of God, Opeth, Arch Enemy and Overkill played.

9. Do you take care of your friends while they are sick?

Depends on how close of a friend they are. I have before.

10. How many songs are on your iPod?

We don't need no stinkin' iPod.

11. Where is the last place you drove to?

Well, that would have to be home, wouldn't it?

12. Where did your last kiss take place?

A friend's house.

13. What were you doing at 11:59 PM on Monday night?

I was at a friend's house. Not the same friend from above question. :)

14. Are you a quitter?

Not usually.

15. Who was the last person you had in your house?

The UPS guy.

15. What do you think about people who party a lot?

Depends on the type of partying.

16. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?

Depends on who I'm talking about it with.

17. What was the last CD you purchased?

Cradle of Filth "Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder"

18. What are two bands or singers that you will always love?

Can't say that there are any that I will always love.

19. Which of the seven deadly sins are you guilty of?

Do you really need to ask? :}

20. How is your last ex doing?

Not sure. They are ex's for a reason, ya' know.

Michigan's Otherside

I've been pretty busy lately so not much time to post here but I thought I'd pop in real quick to let you know that a blog post I wrote got published on a Web site called Michigan's Otherside. If you're interested in the paranormal, check out their site. To see my blog post on their site, click here. Purty cool, huh?


The below info was taken from the Michigan's Otherside Web site. They are symbols you may see while in a cemetery. Thought you fellow graveyard walkers might be interested.

Dove - The dove is a very common animal symbol, mostly because of its Biblical meaning. Usually holding an olive branch which refers to Noah from the Bible. Also a symbol of purity and peace.

Willow Trees - Grief, sorrow and immortality.

Closed book - Many represent the bible but they can also stand for a life completed.

Curtains - Passing into another existence. Protection.

Broken Column - Life cut short and life coming to an end. A very popular symbol in cemeteries in the 19^th century.

Praying Hands - Christian symbol.

Lambs - Innocence. Usually found on the graves of children and babies.

Flowers - Flowers have been used in burial ceremonies since the early days of civilization and before. Flowers have always held a soft spot in people. Their beauty and fragility is a symbol for life and love.

Fingers pointing up - A symbol of the soul rising to heaven.

Hands shaking - Matrimony. Sometimes there is one masculine hand and one feminine hand. Look at the sleeves of the hands. If there is no difference in the sleeves, then the hands are a symbol of being greeted into heaven or saying good-bye from earth.

IHS and IHC - Many times these letters are seen connected with each other. IHS comes from the first three letter of Jesus’ name using the Greek alphabet: Iota, Eta, Sigma. IHC stands for the same thing, but is Roman.

Broken branches - Life cut short.

Tree stumps - Life cut short.

Dead Spider

I've been window shopping lately and came across another Etsy shop that caters to those of us with spooky tastes. The shop is called Dead Spider - Curios and Dark Art. Here's a preview of what you'll find there. Head on over to check out the rest!

Macabre Magnets - $8.00

Witch Curio Potion Bottle Labels - $7.00

Premium Cauldron Stock Witch Potion Labels - $12.00

Strange deaths.

Now That's Nifty has done it again. They have a blog post with strange deaths from the last thirty years. Here are just a few entries.

This guy won my heart over...

1981: David Allen Kirwan a 24-year-old attempted to rescue a friend's dog after it fell into Celestine Pool, a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park on July 20, 1981. Despite numerous shouts from bystanders, Kirwan dove headfirst into the pool but was unable to save the dog. After managing to swin back to shore, he was helped out of pool, where his injuries became apparent - the exposure to the 200oF (93oC) water of the hot spring resulted in third-degree burns to 100% of his body and had also blinded him. After being led to the sidewalk, Kirwan reportedly stated: "That was stupid. How bad am I? That was a stupid thing I did." When one of Kirwan's shoes was removed, all of the skin came off with it. He died the next day at a Salt Lake City hospital. Although there have been at least 19 deaths due to scalding at the Yellowstone, this was the only known case where someone died after deliberately jumping into one of the park's hot springs.

I remember seeing a show about this...

1986: Over 1,700 people were killed almost instantly near Lake Nyos in Cameroon when a mass of approximately 100 million cubic metres of carbon dioxide that had collected at the bottom of the lake due to seepage from geothermal sources was suddenly released on August 21, 1986. The gas cloud immediately settled (carbon dioxide is heavier than air) and covered an area of up to 12 miles (20 km) from the lake, killing all oxygen-breathing life almost instantly - although the nearby vegetation, which consumes carbon dioxide and releases oxygen, flourished afterwards.

We all have our wishes...

2001: Bernd-Jürgen Brandes from Germany was voluntarily stabbed repeatedly and then partly eaten by Armin Meiwes (who was later called the Cannibal of Rothenburg). Brandes had answered an internet advertisement by Meiwes looking for someone for this purpose. Brandes explicitly stated in his will that he wished to be killed and eaten.

Untamed Menagerie

I came across an Etsy shop called Untamed Menagerie a week or so ago and bookmarked a bunch of cool things to show you. Unfortunately, I'm just now getting around to posting and half of what I was going to show you has sold out! Good for them, bad for us. Check out their shop anyway though cuz' they're bound to make more and it's very reasonably priced, in my opinion.

The Intrusion - $18.00

Oktapous - Sold Out

Carpe Noctem - Sold Out

A Lady Ought - Sold Out

Pushin Daisies

I haven't been on Blogger much lately because life has been so busy! It's 3am on Tuesday (technically it's Monday night for me) and I'm just now eating "lunch"! Craziness, I tell you!

So here's just a quick post on something I've had bookmarked for awhile. It's a mortuary novelty shop called Pushin Daisies. Just what would you find at a mortuary novelty shop, you ask? Well, you would find chocolate caskets, ice cubes in the shape of a skull and crossbones, or a towel with an outline of a dead body. If you really like the skull decorating theme, you can even get the below item. That's right people...clean your throne with style! Enjoy, my morbid friends!

BS, nifty pics, an award and Frankenstitch!

My past couple blog posts have been about a situation where a fellow blogger won't leave me alone. Well, even after reading my last post, she sent me ANOTHER email. Since she obviously doesn't comprehend what I'm saying on here, I did reply to that email and said that if she tried to contact me through any method ever again, I would report her Blogger name on here. So far, she hasn't tried to contact me but she is still viewing this blog even though she said she wouldn't. I don't get what her fascination is with me, but it's getting old. Enough of her bullshit, it's time I give you guys something fun to read!

I came across a blog the other day called Now That's Nifty. There was a certain post that I just had to share. It's a post with cats dressed up in crazy costumes. Those poor kittehs! Here are a couple of pics. Click here to see more.




The other thing I wanted to mention today was an award that Diane over at Good Mourning, Glory! bestowed upon me. It's the Super Comments Award!


The people that I would like to bestow this award upon are as follows, in no particular order.

Cindy @ Twas The Brillig
Ghoul Friday @ My Ghoul Friday
Chris @ Frog on the Pumpkin
Carrie Mae @ Creepy Cupcakes
PumpkinBrain @ PumpkinBrain
Riverwolf @ IDiosyntocracy

Honorable mention goes to Halloween Spirit @ Orange and Black and Diane since you two already got it. :)

The last thing I have to mention on this post is Frankenstitch. What's that you say? Well, that's a cross-stitch gift that I had made for Diane as a belated b-day gift. She was so thoughtful and decided to send an ATC of it in to A Patchwork Of Flesh, which is a blog dedicated to art featuring Frankenstein. Here's the post on that site with my Frankenstitch and Trinity's drawing (Diane's daughter). Cool, huh? Diane even did a post yesterday on her blog where she mentioned Frankenstitch again. She's definitely giving me link love. :) Thanks, Diane!

To post or not to post...update.

I've tried to move past this but unfortunately, my dear readers, I must bring this topic up again. In my last post, I made everyone that reads my blog aware of a situation I had been dealing with that involved another Blogger. I included a message to this Blogger because I knew she wouldn't leave my blog alone. Apparently she didn't get the message though because she created yet another fake profile to attempt to leave a long comment on that post. Not only that but she attempted to leave a second comment wanting me to tell her if I got the first comment she left or not because she wasn't sure it went through. SERIOUSLY?!

Then she sent me a text message on my phone tonight. Geesh. Why are you obsessing over this? Do you really have nothing else going on in your life that you need to come visit my blog over and over and harass me? I'm never going to respond to your emails, blog comments or text messages. Just stop. In case I haven't been clear enough, OUR FRIENDSHIP IS OVER.

Did you see the comments other people left on that post? What you're doing isn't normal. Move on. Stop setting up fake profiles to try to contact me. Stop sending me text messages. Stop harassing me! I really don't know how much clearer I can be. If you choose to continue harassing me through any form, I may have to reveal your Blogger identity. Since you are not understanding what I'm saying, I'm hoping that the last sentence I typed will open your eyes. Why would I reveal your Blogger identity? What purpose would this serve? I'm hoping that it gets you to realize that this isn't some game or "experiment" as you called it at one point. Do you really want your readers to know you've done this? Note that I said I would reveal your Blogger identity, not your real identity. Stop before it gets to that point.

To my actual Blogging friends: I have things I'd rather be blogging about but at this point, I feel that this needs to be addressed. I thank all of the readers who left kind comments for me. They were very appreciated! I'm sorry that you have to deal with this when you could be reading cool blog posts. :) I'm sure you understand why I'm addressing this now though. Thank you for your support.

To post or not to post.

Prepare for a long but important and serious post.

When I started blogging, it was a way for me to talk about things that I couldn't discuss with people in my life. Issues I have with family, friends, personal parts of myself. It was an online diary. A place where I could truly be myself and not be judged. If someone didn't like my blog, they didn't have to read it. Most of my interests, my belief system and who I am is not mainstream. While some people enjoy what I have to talk about, others choose to mock and ridicule and I just don't want to deal with their negative backlash. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all and leave my blog, please.

You may have noticed that I don't talk much about friends and I've been keeping my blog a bit more on the surface than what I used to. There are many reasons for this. One is that I've come to realize that people I know in real life may visit my blog once in awhile. I wouldn't want them to be hurt by the way I feel about things even though it would be nice to talk to them about it. Unfortunately, I've tried talking to certain people in the past and they didn't want to discuss these things. Most people I know would rather pretend something never happened and move on. I'm the type that wants to talk things out and resolve them as long as both parties are being rational. I've been editing my past blog content to eliminate things that may hurt someone or bother them. I've saved all the info and may open a private blog someday to be able to talk about these things.

About two weeks ago, I had a situation happen with a fellow blogger. I wasn't going to mention it on here because I felt the best way to deal with the situation was to move on and not waste my energy on this negativity. Yesterday, this person decided to start stuff up again and now I feel like I have to address it here.

I won't be saying who it is or what blog is theirs because that's just starting trouble. I will say it's a "she" but that doesn't give anything away because most of my readers are female. Nothing I say in this post will attempt to give away their identity.

This person started out as a friend that I met through the blog world. Eventually we began to communicate through email, postal mail and by phone. After awhile, I realized this was not someone I wanted to be friends with. There were many reasons that I decided this and I won't talk about them here because I don't want to give away this person's identity. I'm not that mean. I had tried to talk to this person and explain some of the things that were bothering me. Unfortunately, they didn't understand where I was coming from and I knew that things would never change. It was at that point that I decided to just end the friendship. I did this through email clearly stating the reasons why I was doing it because I didn't want to end the friendship and not have them know why. I didn't feel that I was harsh but the email I got back shocked me.

She attacked my character, my art/crafts and things about me that I had shared on this blog. She swore, called me names, etc. It was not the response I was expecting. I thought we could handle this like adults but obviously not. Think about personal parts of yourself that you have only shared with a couple people. Now imagine those people mocking what you shared. It's a low blow and not necessary when it has nothing to do with why the friendship ended. I wish I could explain in words how cruel this person was trying to be to me.

I recently did a post on how short life is. I choose to rid myself of negative people/situations whenever it is possible. Life's too short to deal with the bullshit. This is why I wasn't even going to post about the situation at all. Yesterday, this person began posting anonymously on my blog. I had a feeling it was her because of the location that showed up in my Feedjit and she was typically coming from her blog. I responded to her comments cautiously, in case it was her. Then she emailed me last night and I knew for a fact it was her because the email address had her boyfriend's info in it. Plus the "story" that she tried to recreate for this anonymous identity didn't add up. I responded to that email carefully. I received an email back where she confirmed who it really was and then she proceeded to start attacking me again. I really wish I could show you all how horrible the emails were but I won't do that. It's catty and immature and would give away who this is. Needless to say, I have not and will not ever respond to her emails that are of that nature.

A couple weeks ago, when our friendship ended, she had said she would never visit my blog again. Well, I could tell that she was visiting based on Feedjit and then her anonymous postings happened and she also started deleting negative comments that she had left on my blog before. I know that she'll probably read this. If so, I want to say...

Just leave me alone! Please, move on and stop with everything. Stop attacking my character and making me into this person that I'm not. Enough with the lies. Please use your energy on more positive things. There are so many causes in the world that you could be spending your time and energy on. Our friendship is done and you know why so don't try to make it into something it's not. Just stop.

Alexander Jansson

I've shared some of Alexander Jansson's work before and found a few more pics in my archive that I wanted to share. I find his work to be beautiful, dark and magical.

This piece is titled Dimanche.

Geraldine

Under The Surface

Life is short.

I was back near my hometown last night. I don't get over there very often and figured I'd swing by the local cemetery to grab a couple pics. My cousin's headstone is in the cemetery I went to.

Ben died sixteen years ago in a car accident at the age of 18. From what I remember (I was 14 years old), the accident happened the week before his high school graduation. His girlfriend was driving them home from school and I believe they were following friends. They were driving on a curvy road and Ben's girlfriend lost control of the car and they went into a corn field. Ben's girlfriend was wearing a seat belt. He wasn't.

There are many images from that accident and the week after that I will never forget. There is one that I will mention here. The local news was doing a story on the accident and one of the pictures they took was of the corn field and school books were scattered around. It was just so sad.

Ben's brother accepted his high school diploma on his behalf. I can't imagine what that must have felt like for him. He was closer to my age. Now that I think about it, he must have relived that moment when he accepted his own diploma years later.

When my cousin was buried, they had one of his senior pictures engraved on the front. I've shared pictures of his headstone and others below.

Please remember to buckle up when you drive. It could be the difference between life and death.

A random headstone pic. I loved the effect at the top of it.

Another random pic.

My cousin's head stone with one of his senior pics etched in.

The poem etched into the back of my cousin's head stone.

To dump or not to dump?

I was going to do something I've never done...a link dump. I've decided against it though. Instead, I'm going to be giving you gothy/creepy/cool stuff to check out over days instead of throwing it all in one post. Some things just deserve more attention than a link dump. :)

The first find is:


This company specializes in perfume oils and they have some pretty unique options. Below are some of the scents I came across.

June Gloom 2009 - Bright summer flowers, fresh herbs, and a bit of citrus rind dampened by the scent of morning mist and rain.

Pink Plastic Flamingo - Pink sugar-crusted marshmallows, dandelion, and sap.

Blood - Essence of dragon's blood resin, thickened with myrrh and cherry, with a trickle of clove.

Burial - The Dark Side of Earth: deep, brooding forest scents, including juniper and patchouli. The scent of upturned cemetery loam mingling with floral offerings to the dead.

They even have scents based off of Neil Gaiman's work as well as Alice In Wonderland scents. The March Hare smells like "A twisted teatime tart: apricot and sweet clove". Yum!

According to their Web site, they open an actual shop on every full moon. If that falls on a weekday, they open from 7pm to 10pm. Sounds magical, eh? They do tend to joke a bit on their site so not sure if that part is true. This part is true, however...

With the exception of the products that contain honey, their items are vegan. They are all cruelty free. This is the best part, in my opinion.

They do tend to be a bit pricier but that's because you're getting a concentrated oil, they use really good ingredients and don't test on animals.

The second find I have to share is for all you gamers out there. I was closing out of a game the other day and saw this ad. I thought it was fake but when I looked it up online, it was real and pretty freakin' awesome. Check it out...


You can get Mana and Health potions. They're energy shots that are stocked full of vitamins! To get more info on what they're all about, click here. I plan on buying some once I have some moolah to spend.

More cool finds to come soon!

Sunday Stealing: The Finish The Sentence Meme

This meme brought to you by:


1. I've come to realize that my last kiss... was with a person I will never forget.

2. I am listening to...this beautiful music...



3. I talk... in my head more than I do out loud. Typically I'm the listener in conversations.

4. I love...many things and hate very few.

5. My best friend/s...love me for who I am, not for who they think I should be.

6. My first real kiss...was with a boy who I still see occasionally. I remember putting Dr. Pepper chapstick on before kissing him. Silly, the things that we remember.

7. Love is...complicated, yet so simple at the same time.

8. Marriage is...an arrangement I do not wish to enter into.

9. Somewhere, someone is thinking...how many licks DOES it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

10. I'll always...be true to myself and get rid of negativity in my life, if it is within my power.

11. The last time I really cried was because...some people have truly hateful souls. Some people don't care about hurting people/animals and think that they have a "right" to do it because they are better than them. They think by bringing someone/something down that they bring themselves up. It does just the opposite, in my book.

12. My cell phone...kicks ass. It's black with a blue light up LED.

13. When I wake up in the morning...I think about what has to be done that day.

14. Before I go to bed...I put lotion on. I've read that it's best to moisturize at night when your body is resting. Not sure if it's true but I love falling asleep to soothing scents.

15. Right now I am thinking about...having to work tonight. It's hot out!

16. Babies are...fine for other people but not for me!

17. I get on Myspace...when a friend sends me a message. I just don't use it like I used to.

18. Today I...finished reading the latest issue of Gothic Beauty magazine. Great issue, as usual.

19. Tomorrow I will be...well rested cuz' I don't have to work. :)

20. I really want to be...a piano player as well as many other things. One day at a time.

An award and cemetery pics!

Halloween Spirit over at the Orange and Black blog has awarded me the Gourdqueens Scream Award. What a fabulous looking award it is! Thanks, friend!


According to her post, this particular award is to be shared with anyone whose blog you just love. Whether it's their art, their interests, the things they share, you just simply love to visit their blog.

Some of the people who I list below may have already gotten this award before. I'm trying to pick those that haven't gotten it yet though. If you've gotten this award before and you're on my list, this just means you've been Super Awarded! So without further adieu and in no particular order, I bestow this award on the following bloggers.

Cindy @ Twas The Brillig
Chris @ Frog On The Pumpkin
Diane @ Good Mourning, Glory!
Diane @ Wouldn't You Like To See Something Strange?
Catherine @ Suburban Vampire
Laura @ Laura and Her Favorite Things...

Yes, Diane is listed twice. That's cuz' she has two very different blogs that I like for different reasons. : ) Thanks to all of you for having wonderfully interesting blogs!

Now for a few of the cemetery pics that I took the other night. Enjoy!





UPDATE 6/23/2009: PumpkinBrain awarded me the Gourdqueens Scream Award too! Thanks!

Peace!

I was out and about today and as I'm driving, I happen to notice a giant peace sign in someone's yard. I was on the phone at the time and had way too much to get done so I went back tonight because I had to take a pic. It's not every day you see something like this! While I had my camera, I decided to grab some other shots. I took some at a local cemetery but those will be on a future post. Enjoy!

There is an ironworkers factory downtown and this is one of the big metal piles in their yard. It was all shiny in the sunset's rays.

Outside of the factory, they have a bunch of metal sculptures.

I don't think I've ever seen one continuous cloud like this?

The anticipation was killing me!

I've been wanting to share a pic of a recent project I completed for my blogging friend, Diane. It's a belated birthday gift. Really belated! I wanted to keep it a surprise so I refrained from posting a pic here that she would see. : ) Below is what I made for her. I painted the frame silver hoping that was pretty neutral for her decor. Cute, eh? To check out her very sweet blog post about it, visit Diane here.


Check out these cool miniature coke bottles I won from a giveaway! They came all the way from Singapore! I think that's the farthest away I've ever gotten mail from. Very cool. They came from a lady named May who makes the cutest tiny things. To check out her blog, click here. Thanks, May!

Two more awards for my corkboard!

I got the Makes My Heart Smile award from Cindy @ Twas the Brillig and the Slithy Toves.


She said I made her smile when she saw my crafts. Awww. That makes ME smile. : )


I got the Love Ya award from Eve @ Through Eve's Looking-Glass.


This award is bestowed on to blogs that are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Please give more attention to these writers.

Thanks to both of you for the awards!

Updated post.

Just a quick note to say that I updated the bookmarks post with better pics. My camera likes taking outdoor pics better than indoor ones!

It was a learning experience.

My first craft show wasn't all I hoped it would be. We got there an hour early to set up and we were originally told there would be 75 spots reserved and that the craft show was going to be in one side of the park and a fleamarket on the other side. Then we found out that there were only going to be 35 crafters total. After all was said and done, only 12 spots were filled with crafters and then 3 with fleamarket stuff. It ended up raining half the time so I don't know if people cancelled because of the rain or what.

There was a historic home tour going on during the time of the craft show, which brought in people but most of them had white hair and weren't interested in the kinds of crafts I brought. That may sound bad but it was true. I only had one younger girl come by and she thought the frames were cool but she didn't have any money cuz' she didn't have a job. (She was someone that was there selling fleamarket stuff.)

I had a booth with my cousin and she ended up bringing a ton of garage sale items, which I didn't know about. When we had originally talked about the setup, I was going to bring a card table for my stuff and she was going to have a couple card tables and a long table for her stuff. She said she was going to have one box of garage sale items and that her long table would go lengthwise so that we'd share the front of the booth. When we got there and looked at the setup, she decided to put her long table along the front, which seemed okay at the time because I could put my card table on the side and I figured I'd get traffic from that side and people would see my stuff when they were walking by the front.

She ended up having huge displays on the front table that blocked my stuff pretty much completely. (Pic below.) She had three sides of the booth and two of the sides were along the sidewalk so they got most of the attention. All in all, I had maybe 10 people walk on my side to even see my stuff and a few of those were fellow crafters. Most people that walked by our booth didn't even know I had a side.

A couple hours into it when some people started coming through, I mentioned to my cousin that people couldn't see my stuff and she offered to swap sides with me. Well, the other side had a big tree blocking half of it, so it didn't look like a good option. It was actually so obvious that I wasn't getting people that the crafter next to us came over and suggested that I put a couple things on the front table. After that, my cousin gave me a small bit of room to put two picture frames and a bookmark up front but by that time, our "rush" was over and I was ready to pack it up. When I do a craft show in the future, I'll be sure to stand up for room in the front because that's always the most reliable spot to bring people in.

I ended up selling one frame...to my cousin, which was nice of her. I told her that if she really wanted one, I could make one customized for her but she really liked one of them already made so she bought that. She ended up selling jewelry and a scarf to a couple of her family members that came by and she sold one necklace to a regular customer. The rest of what she sold was books from her garage sale pile and food that she had brought (pop and cookies). I looked around and none of the crafters were doing well. Looks like most of the sales went to the fleamarket items, which I guess I can understand in this economy. Us crafters aren't selling our stuff for dirt cheap because we're factoring in our time, effort, and cost.

There was a guy there selling homemade wooden bowls, etc and it was his first craft show too. We talked for a bit about our experiences and we're both going to try again in September. Since I'll have so much time to prepare, I'm going to come up with a whole smorgasbord of stuff and I'll be damned sure I get a decent display area. : )

So what went wrong? Here's what I think:

• Not many crafters so we didn't attract much of a crowd.
• They combined crafts and fleamarket stuff, which made the craft value go down.
• I didn't get a decent spot to display my product.
• The age of the crowd.
• The weather. Most people don't go out to craft shows when it's raining.

Now some pics for your viewing enjoyment. : )
The below pic is of my product where you can see that the view from the front was obstructed.

The below fountain was across the street from us. It's such a cute park.

This was a gazebo also across the street on the other side of the park. You can tell the craft show was in a small town!

This was a monument in the middle of the park side that we were in. Behind that is one of the historic homes that was on tour. Normally this home is an adult foster care facility.

UPDATE 6/25/2009: My cousin and I talked about the booth set-up and she ended up giving me some cash back from what I had paid for my portion of the booth. We now know better how to do things for next time!