thankful part 3

One of my favorite hymns is Count Your Blessings the chorus goes something like this:
count your blessings name them one by one
count your many blessings see what God has done
count your blessings name them one by one
count your many blessings see what God has done
Simple but profound.  As you sit down to your huge meal today think about everything you have, not what you don't.  Think about your full tummy, not going to bed hungry.  Think about the roof over your head, not that a tornado took that roof off last week  Think that you have money in your pocket to go shopping tomorrow,even if it's not much, not that you have none.  Think as you say grace you can't be arrested for worshiping even in your own home.
Everyone everywhere has something to be thankful for, go find yours.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE
Time for hot chocolate.

Give thanks

As the Christmas season races towards us at warp speed it's easy to let Thanksgiving slip by with just a quick meal and no real thought on what the day really means.  Just like everyone else I know I'm super busy with all the things I think I need to be doing.  I wanted to take a little time out this week to just look at all the things I am so thankful for.
God is first last and in between.  Faith has been described as belief in something you can't see.  I disagree, I can see faith in action all the time.  Last week Illinois was hit by devastating tornadoes near here.  You can't turn on a TV or look at the internet or a newspaper without seeing the good that has come from this.  People from everywhere are working together to help get the towns hurt back to some sense of order.  Even in this little town we rally together to provide Christmas gifts for all the children in the community who might other wise have nothing on Christmas morning.
I could write all day about what I think about God but in my heart God  is just something that I know without a doubt exists and I can see his hand in all things everyday.
Family comes next.  They are the most important people in my life.  I have said many times how blessed I am to have the family I was given.  I have not had a perfect life and sometimes my perfect family is not so perfect but I could not imagine a day without any of them.
Continuing with family my husband Andy has to be at the top of the list.  Who would have ever thought that a college girl from the big city and a small town guy, fresh out of the Army and with no real direction for his life would still be together after forty-three years.  No we don't always get along and the road has been rocky sometimes but we hang in there and know in the end the good will always out weigh the bad.  We decided long ago bailing was not an option and to keep going forward no matter what.  So far it seems to be working.
I can't write about AH without writing about my sons.  When I had them at twenty-five I could ever have imagined what life would be like years later.  They have grown into wonderful, caring hard working men.  They have increased our family by picking the best women to marry and giving us five terrific grand kids, who could ask for anything more.
OK I'm getting sappy here so it's time to stop but I'm not done being thankful yet.

almond bark

The variations you can make to this recipe are infinite.  Use the basic  idea and make it your own with the goodies your family loves.
2# almond bark, find it in the baking section it comes in white and chocolate
2C dried fruit I used cherries and apricots cut into smaller pieces
2C nuts I used walnuts
other small items like mini marshmallows, pretzels, M+M's etc I used chocolate chips
Melt the almond bark in the microwave or over a double boiler
Spread onto a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet with a lip on it
Add the fruit and nuts quickly and press into the bark with a spoon, let cool until it gets solid.
Break into large pieces, this freezes well or store in an air tight container
For a perfect gift layer between sheets of wax paper in a pretty tin

scarf attack 2

These pretty neck pieces could be called a scarf or a necklace, they fit both descriptions.  Other than the different crochet threads they are made exactly the same way.  The thing that takes the most time is cutting all the pieces that are looped onto the base.

Make a loose chain with a large hook approximately 60" long.  single crochet in each chain and slip stitch the end together.  Cut  pieces 6-8" long and half hitch four pieces at a time into the loops about 2" apart. You will need about 120-150 pieces. That's it your done.  To wear loop around your neck twice and adjust fringe pieces.

For this piece I used a variegated crochet thread  that went from greens to purple be sure to pull the knots of the fringe tight so they don't slip apart.

This uses a crochet cord called spangle, and a plain silver the same size, I bought it at Walmart and it is available on line.  The piece I had made for me just used the Spangle tread and it kept falling apart.  The solid silver gives it something to grip.  It looks like a bunch of silver chains when you wear it.  It never fails to catch peoples attention.

Newest family member

When our beloved Snowy died a few months ago it was only a matter of time before we got a new cat, it was just too quiet and calm around here without a third kitty.  Meet the newest member of our family.  She is a four month old torti kitten with amazing gold eyes.  She is already getting comfortable in the house, using her liter box, playing and begging for treats.  We haven't named her yet, but are leaning towards Dusty.  She has a white under coat and her fur is tipped with pale grey and cream, looks like she was used to clean up the dust bunnies on the floor.  The very spoiled Harley and Callie don't know what to think of her yet, thus there is a lot of hissing going on.  Pets are like kids, you still love the others even when you add a new one to the mix.  We picked her out from the local animal shelter, where there were at least a dozen kittens waiting for a new home.  I wish I could have taken all of them.
If you want a pet the animal shelter is the best place to get it.  This cutie came with her shots, flea treatment, micro chip and spayed for $40, a small price to pay for the years of love and enjoyment she will give us.

partner

Happy birthday to my wonderful business partner, Kathy Cartwright.  When we started VCB neither of us realized what a steep learning curve and crazy ride it was going to be.  You balance my creative urges and wild ideas with calm and logic and try to keep me in line, no easy task.  I've enjoyed watching you develop new skills and I think you could sell anything with great success. I wouldn't even have attempted to start a brand new business  without you.  I'm glad our friendship has lasted all these years.  It's time to celebrate!!

quick flower arrangement

I love fresh flowers for the center of my kitchen table, but sometimes it just can't happen.  I don't use too many silks flowers in my house but I do love dried flowers at least until they start to dry out and shed.  I bought the cox combs at a local pumpkin patch, hung them upside down to let them dry.  I added some faux berries, eucalyptus and a pretty silver pitcher then set the whole thing on a damask napkin.  The whole arrangement took about 10 minutes, mostly because I hid the cutters from myself again.

scarf attack

When the wind starts blowing and the air gets colder I go into scarf making mode.  These are couple I've made recently.

The base of this scarf is a chain about 60" long slip stitched together to form a ring.  I then cut pieces of yarn 6-8" long and half hitched them approximately every 2".  I bought the yarn at the Idea Store for a dollar and used most of the skein.  It took about two hours to make, most of that was cutting and attaching the yarn to the chain.

This scarf almost looks like a feather boa and my cats think it is their new bed.  For the base of this scarf I made a chain from grey tee shirt yarn and attached the pieces a little closer together than the scarf above.  Easy.  The yarn is called eyelash and I bought a black and sliver skein to mix together.  I have plenty of yarn left to make at least two more scarves, I think I spent $6-7 for the yarn.

party on

Most of our family spent the last several days celebrating Dads 90th birthday.  We greatly missed those who couldn't come and hope to see them soon.  When you put 23 people in a small space for four days you might expect some general crabbiness and arguing.  All in all we were mostly well behaved, the great grand kids were angels and the grand kids and kids were perfect as usual, those of you that know us can stop laughing now.  We talked, solved all the problems of the world, shopped, junked and hung out at the science center in Ft Wayne.  There the big kids were as enthralled as the little ones. You haven't laughed enough until you have seen your 60 something husband and  almost 40 something sons go down a two story slide and come out the other end.  I decided I was much too old to punish myself that way. We ate our way through several pizzas, fast food, Mama's home cooking and took possession of the Biaggis wine room on Saturday night.  I love that four generations can laugh, play together, swap stories and memories so well.
The pictures are pretty dark and my computer geek isn't here to fix them yet, but enjoy.

the birthday guy, Mom and Katelyn

Rick and Cristine

Nathan, Barb, Jaydin and Chase

Rich, Brandi, Katelyn

Ron, Sara, Brendan, Kaylie

Matt, Hollie, Tyler, Braden

Paula, Brenie

My angels

Five Kings

Show time again

Vintage Cottage Beauty will be at the St Charles church in Charleston on Saturday November 9.  This is our last scheduled show for the season and we will be offering some great close out prices.  After the show we concentrate on filling special orders and making gift baskets.  At least we aren't so crazy then and can enjoy the Christmas season.

I get by with a little help from my friends

Since I have been obsessed with the preparation and attending shows, I did't have a clue about what to write  this week.  So I decided I would let you know a few things that go on behind the scenes at Vintage Cottage Beauty.
Our family and friends, who were our first guinea pigs when we started making natural beauty products, are why we have a business today.  They loved our products so much they wanted to give us money for them and insisted we start a business.   They have sampled, critiqued and told us how they felt good or bad about what we make.  They have taken pictures, made suggestions, made product with us, bagged, tagged and packaged.  They have driven miles with us searching for ideas and going to shows.  They have fed us, schlepped food and drinks and worked our booth so we could have a break.
When it came down to crunch time for the last few shows I put out the word that I could use some help.  That's all I needed to do.  I had friends come and help with all the work that goes into preparing for a big craft show.  We had two big shows back to back with only a few days in between to make replacement products.  Our husbands pitched in with label and business card making, packaging, missing meals,and helping set up and tear down.  There would be no VCB without a little help from our friends and family.

Our booth at the Assembly Hall.  I don't like the blue back drop it looks cheap, but the space was wonderful

My partner Kathy, she is calm and organized, I don't know how she puts up with me.

Kathy calls herself our chief guinea pig, she almost never misses a show and is always bringing us food and booth sitting.  We named the pink grapefruit soap after her. because she is lively and sweet.

Nina is also a  guinea pigs booth sits and has given us many great product and show ideas.  She did craft shows for years and is a wealth of great information.  We named our lemon sage soap for her because she is wise and bright.

happy birthday

I don't usually post on Sundays but this is a very special Sunday.  Today is my father, Richard Kings' 90th birthday.  I have been so blessed in my life to have been given the family I have.  I have a great brother and sister and the best parents anyone could possibly have.
My father was strict, he expected us to mind and to do our best in anything we tried.  He served for decades in the Navy, first in WW2 and later moving his family all over the world, where ever the Navy sent him.  A few tours of duty saw him on a ship most of the time and his family thousands of miles away.  I'm sure that had to be tough. He has never stopped learning, graduating from college in his 80's and just recently purchasing and mastering his new Kindle. Although times were hard sometimes, we never went without any of the essentials.  As we got older if we wanted something bad enough we had to work for it.  We were taught to love God, keep our faith, do what we were told with out argument(something I often failed), respect our elders, work hard, keep learning and to always cherish our family. I would have to say my mother is the heart of our family but my father is definitely the glue. Not every one gets to celebrate birthdays with their 90 year old father, so let's party on.  Love you Dad!

Adaptability

Every business expo and craft show we set up VCB for is a little different.  We have to be flexible to the size of the space as well as the amount of product we will bring.  Space is always crowded and sometimes the planners don't take things like walk space between the booths, or needs like demonstration of your product into consideration.
Here are a couple of our space layouts we have used recently.

One vendor butted up against the other.  This kind of arrangement is difficult for us to work since we stand and let customers smell or try our products.  We need to be able to get to each side of the booth and behind the tables frequently.  On the up side this was at  a hotel and they provided the  tables, chairs and table coverings.

We use a lot of lifts and levels to show off our products, they add much more display space

Outside show on a windy, rainy day.  We had a great amount of space but the weather was a big variable.

I love the small bakers rack on the table, that and the stacking shelves really show our products off.  We always use black table covers and add color with the purple and lavender bandannas.  We put our product names and prices in frames, I cover the signs with clear contact paper so we don't have to worry about glass breaking.

This show we were doing with another friend so the large bakers rack  and a clothes rack made a great display for her knit and crochet products.
The last show we did, somehow the spacing got messed up.  We had paid for an  8X8 space but they had put too many vendors in  the row .  We were in the middle and ended up with only 5 foot of customer accessible space and played bump butts with the vendors on each side all weekend.  We tried to be as polite and accommodating as possible with as much good grace as possible but they knew we were not pleased. If we had been bitchy, angry and gone around complaining all weekend we probably would not be asked back.   It was still a successful show and I guess in the end that's what matters most.