Sidelined by the Swine Flu

I have been hit hard by the swine flu and strep. Not a pretty combination at all. I think that I caught it at my craft fair on the 7th because I was fine before then.

It has really put me behind for my biggest craft fair which is this Saturday (the 21st). I'm still feeling quite poorly and don't have any strength or energy. I guess I have to hope for a miracle so that I am well enough for the show.

I hope that none of you out there get this flu because it really is awful.

The New Tent

I know it has been awhile since I have written yet again. So much has been happening here on a personal level that it has been very difficult for me to keep up.

I wanted to share with you my experience with my EZ Up Dome tent. I really like it. It is very easy to put up and take down. At the craft fair it was raining all day and it did a good job keeping the water out and of course the domed top kept the water from pooling.

Because it was raining so much at the craft fair there wasn't a lot of customer so a lot of the other venders came by to talk about the tent. Most had never seen one like mine and were impressed by it. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I didn't get a picture but I hope to remember the next time it is set up.

Envelopes!

First I apologize for the absence from my blog. I had a period of illness that left me unable to do much of anything. I'm hoping that I'm on the mend enough to keep on top of things.

Another note is that the craft fair tent has arrived. Haven't done the trial set up yet but will be doing that soon to see how difficult and how long it actually takes to set up.

But this entry is actually about envelopes. Now I make and sell mostly cards as my business and it is something I really love. Now along with all the supplies needed to make the actual cards themselves I need to have envelopes.

So I have been making lots of cards and putting them up for sale on etsy and artfire and also making lots of cards for my upcoming craft fairs. I wasn't worried about envelopes because I had an unopened box of 250 sitting up on my shelf.

Today I decided I needed to start packaging some of my craft fair cards so I wasn't doing them all at the last minute. So I took the box of envelopes down from the shelf and opened it up only to find that there were no envelopes in the box at all. The horror of it all. So instead of packaging up my cards I had to spend time searching for a supplier to buy envelopes because my last one went out of business.

So I ordered 1000 envelopes today and that should last me quite some time. I guess the only real plus that came out of this was that I did decide to try to do this early and did discover the problem in enough time to get some shipped to me but it looks like I will be packaging everything at the last minute because I ran out. I will however be marking the boxes when they are empty so I know in advance if I have envelopes left in the future.

New Tent

Well I finally bought the EZ UP Dome tent and it should be here by the end of the week. I really hope it is a good one and will hold up for us for a few years. I hope that it is better in the wind and rain than the regular EZ Up tent that most crafters have.

We will have to set it up and take it down in the yard a few times to get used to doing it. I want it to only take a few minutes so we can spend most of our time setting up our products.

I am uploading Halloween cards today and Thanksgiving cards tomorrow so check them out!

Trip to the Craft Store

Today I took a little trip to the Craft Store. Well right there I knew I would be in trouble because I can never just go and look at things. As usual too many items found there way into my cart because they were on "sale".

Of course I already have enough stuff in my studio to open my own craft store but in my mind it just isn't new enough or cute enough as the new things are. Today my vice was scrapbook paper. I bought so much new paper that I didn't even have enough space to put it.

My husband is supposed to put up new shelving for me because I am already overflowing all the shelving I currently have. I think once it is up I will have it already half full before anything else new comes in the house.

Of course getting new paper does get my creative juices flowing so there should be some new goodies making it into my shop real soon. And I guess I really should use a lot of what I have before I buy anymore new things. It's good in theory but I'm sure it won't be the reality.

Oh and I still haven't bought the Craft Fair tent yet. Really need to get on that because my show is coming up quicker than I want to think it is. I guess I don't want to think that summer is almost over and fall is quickly coming.

I have been working on Halloween and Thanksgiving things that will be added to my shop at the beginning of next week. Then next is the new Christmas things. Will be listing those things in September.

Pre-made Scrapbook Pages

All Pre-made Scrapbook Pages are currently on sale in both my Etsy and Artfire shops. Up to 40% off. I have some unique pages for all branches of the military, police, firemen, wedding and more.

www.webescrapbooking.etsy.com

www.webescrapbooking.artfire.com

Craft Show Tent Shopping

I am currently in the market for a good craft fair tent. I have looked at a ton of tents it seems. I want to spend around $400 on the tent in the hopes that it will last for several years without replacing it. I know that Trimline has probably got the best tent but with shipping the tent would end up costing $1000 which is way out of my budget.

So it looks like I'm pretty much stuck getting an EZ Up tent. I have looked at a bunch of their tents and I am thinking of going with their dome tent which looks very similar to the Trimline tent and is within my budget of $400. I will probably be buying the tent this coming week because of how soon my outdoor fair is coming up.

Do any of my readers have any experience with this tent or do you know of a better tent that will fit within in my budget. Any comments or suggestions would be welcome. Thanks