Preview and 20,000 views

Okay, I didn't get a chance (...forgot...) to finish up the post I had planned for today, so this one is sort of cheating.  

Here's a preview of the next post:

However, when I popped on here just now to put this (preview) post up, I happened to notice that my blog has now passed 20,000 views!  It's sitting at 20,063 to be exact, at the time of my typing this. 

That's pretty cool and I thought I'd expand a tiny bit on this little one picture post by mentioning it.  ;)

Motivation Monday - Decide, Dream, Persist

Another Monday has found us and, as always, I hope it is a great week for all of you!  

The first pictures are from Jack Canfield, a great motivational speaker.  I came across all three of these during the past week and had to share them.  The last picture is, sadly, my weakness a lot of times.  Though I wouldn't say that I completely give up, I do put things on hold - quite often, and sometimes for a looong time.  I'm working on that though - always.

Show and Snow

The vendor show was day before yesterday.  Preparations were... spotty and as a result I was fairly frantic the day before, and in full out freak out mode the morning of.

Longer story short, I did make it to the show and got everything set up.  The setup was helped along by the arrival of some friends who found me with random things strewn across the table and 1/2 hour until the doors opened.  (they had also brought me breakfast and coffee - which was awe-some)

Here's how the table ended up looking:

I had it mostly divided up in the two businesses.  One side was for Horse Tender Studio - my crafts.  Primarily what I had available were: dream catchers, cross necklaces and charms, some of the tatted ornaments, and greeting cards.

The other side of the table was for Cut By Light - the laser products.  I had out some ornaments, desktop plaques, candle holders, float holders, and a bunch of laser cut craft supplies.

I had wanted to go for a bit of a festive/seasonal look so I'd found the artificial pine picks and the cute miniature tree at the (fantastic) 100 yen store.  I had also found the bamboo baskets, wooden easels, and acrylic business card holder there  I think the table ended up looking pretty good.  

The show went well; I sold some things, took a few custom orders, and talked to several people about possible future orders.  On the crafting side of things, I was surprised that the most popular item I had there were my dream catchers!  I sold several of them and everyone who saw them was excited about it.  "Oh look, dream catchers!"  Kinda makes me wish I hadn't left the majority of my dream catcher making supplies back in the States - haha.

Now I'm in recovery mode after the stress of getting ready, getting there, and being in "meet the people"/business mode for several hours.  I dare say I feel like I've become a bit of a hermit here so far.  This was my first public event here and the first vendor event since the Stock Show back in January.  I was very nervous about it, but I had fun and am already looking forward to the next one.

This morning we woke up to this:

We've had a couple of small snowfalls, but this was the prettiest morning so far.  I'm so excited that the snow has arrived!

Almost A Report

The vendor show yesterday went well.  I had planned to do a bit of a report on it, but the day has gotten away from me...  So I figured in the meantime, I'd share a quick picture of my table there:

Quick Post From The Vendor Show

I am here.  It is going very well!  :)

(more later...)

Bonsai Update

It's been a bit since I've posted anything about my little bonsai trees.  I was on a waiting list for a bonsai class offered here and in the meantime have been trying to "wing it" myself with books and a few little trees I'd found at a local home improvement type store.

I was finally able to join the class back at the end of October.  When I signed up, I was told that the instructor would give a couple of plants to start with.  My first class, he gave me eight tiny bonsai and a pretty ceramic pot!

During the first class, I learned about using wire wraps to train a tree to grow the way you want it.

My very first wired tree, wired and styled mostly by the instructor

I also learned a bit about pruning, styling, and why moss is bad.  (but I love moss!)

In my second class, I did my first transplant, moving a baby tree from a temporary plastic cup into the ceramic pot I'd been given during the first class.

I learned about the care of a newly transplanted Bonsai, they should be in "ICU" and very carefully cared for for a couple of weeks afterwards.

At the second class, I also bought two more (tiny) pots from the instructor.

In the third class, I did some plucking of fall foliage, and another transplant: of the azalea that I'd pruned and wired in the first class.  It now lives in the tiny blue pot that I'd bought in the previous class.

I was also given my own shaped bamboo stick - an important tool that can't be bought, only made - and during class I did the finishing work on it (sanding and smoothing/shining).

Also, one of the other students brought in a box of ceramic bonsai pots and was selling them for only $2 each.  I bought several of them.

I learned that the brown pots are un-glazed and that they aren't unfinished, as I had thought.  I was told that it is believed any evergreen (pine, juniper, etc.) should go into an un-glazed pot.  I don't have any evergreens in my tiny forest yet, but I do want to have some, so I bought the brown pots too.

Unfortunately the next class is this Saturday, the same day as the winter vendor show I've been (madly) preparing for this week.  I ordered two bags of soil and also asked the student who had the pots last time to bring me a few more of them.  Hopefully I'll be able to slip away from the vendor show to pick up my soil and pots.  I've been wanting the special soils for a little while now.  Since I now have plenty of pots and a bit of know-how, I should hopefully be able to do my own pot changes and get the rest of the little ones into better homes.

As for the trees that were my real starters, they are doing okay.  My favorite, the Chinese Elm, is in winter mode, having dropped all of its leaves - just like the full size trees outside.  I wish I'd gotten pictures of it in fall foliage, they were bright yellow and very pretty.  Alas, time got away from me, so I don't have a pretty autumn picture, just the winter phase:

My other one, still unknown type, still has its leaves.  I'm not sure if it's an evergreen or just slow to shed.  I'm thinking it might be a type of evergreen.  I will most likely take it to class at some point and see if they know what it is.

I'm enjoying my miniature forest and looking forward to doing more with them.

Airbrush? Airbrush!

Okay, so I've been hemming and hawing, back and forth, about getting an airbrush - for years and years.  Jeff's dad is an (amazing!) artist and I've picked his brain a few times over the years - and sadly forgotten a lot of what he's told me - as far as his advice on airbrushes.

I've looked at airbrushes many times and stood there contemplating if I should take the plunge and get one to try it, but I've  always decided not to.

Today I went out with a friend to look for some display options for our vendor table on Satrday.  One of our stops was at a thrift store, where I found this!

An airbrush for $10...  seriously??

Cautiously (and skeptically), I opened the box.  Surely it was used, maybe even missing pieces... still, for $10 maybe it was worth getting as an experimental tool.

After removing the instruction book, warranty card, and parts catalog, I saw this:

It is apparently brand new.

My friend even pulled out one of the tubes and she pointed out that the parts inside are still packed in cotton.

I closed the box and only then noticed that it is a Paasche.  I've heard of them.  So as an added bonus, it wasn't an off brand, "Bob's Airbrush" or something, haha.

Okay, SOLD!

Even better news: It has the instruction book, "for beginners"  Yep, that's totally me; I've never airbrushed anything in my life.

Whee, I'm excited!  We even have a small compressor already that we use with the laser...

I'm pretty sure I remember Jeff's dad saying that a dual action airbrush is better.  This one is a single action.  However, for $10 I now have a brand new airbrush to experiment with and see if I'll like spraying things or not.  ;)