A little late to the Party...

The Bead Soup Blog Hop Party that is.  I can't even remember now where I saw the link that got me started hopping through the March party, but it was AMAZING to see all the things people put together.  Lori Anderson at Pretty Things sets the whoe thing up.  Here's the link to check it out http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ .

I'm too late to get in on the summer party, but I will be on the lookout for the next one.  Besides the amazing works that people put together I also found a lot of really great bloggers who I will be following now.

Another beautiful day in Western NY, blue skies and breezes!  Got some more work done on the "yard reclamation" project.  Apparently I suffered some laziness out there for quite some time, so now it is time to reclaim some of the spaces that 3 foot tall weeds took over.

Get out and enjoy the weather! - Ali

A weekend in Connecticut

We spent Memorial Day weekend in CT with my brothers family.  Hiking, canoeing, fishing, eating and visiting.  Had a fantastic time, John and Nancy were great hosts as always!  Some pics below of our hiking adventures at Minehill.

Kids in the old iron ore furnace at Minehill.  This is where they processed the ore to separate it from the quartz.  Being a rock lover from way back it was neat to find all the discarded quartz still laying outside the furnace.

Old donkey trail that leads up the hills to the mines.  Donkey used to bring the ore carts up and down this trail from the mines to the furnace.   Quartz still lines the trail.

"Natural AC"  close to the top of the hill is one of the openings to the old mines.  The mist is the cool air coming from deep inside the mine, a very welcome treat on this sunny humid day! (Note how Jenna looks as if she is melting)  We hung out in front of it long enough to stop dripping before the hike back down the hill.

While we were there we also took Northwoods Creative Studio to The Elephant Trunk Flea Market in New Milford.  If you are in the area and have never been there it's a must for flea market junkies, you can see their schedule here www.etflea.com .  While we were there several crews were running around (literally) filming for HGTV.  If I recall correctly the show they were shooting for is called Flea Market Flips.  They appeared to be scavenging the antique dealers looking for things to repurpose.  I felt bad for one of the camera girls, she apparently forgot her sunblock and was lobster red by the end of the day :(.

We had lots of interest in new pieces we have been working on but only moved a few of them.  I think we would have fared much better if we had brought more inventory.  20x20 is a large space even if you park your vehicle in part of the booth.  Given my past show experience from other jobs I should have known better.  Our display looked underwhelming, lesson learned!
  
Lots of the lookers picked up our card so I have to promise myself to start getting at least one listing a day up on Etsy so they can find them there.  A look at part of the displays...

 See what I mean?  Looks a tad skimpy, eh?  Like I said lesson learned.  Next time, way more inventory to fill the space!  Plus we will set up here at home for a dry run to see how it all comes together.  

 Work is now being done to develop a much, much better display plan for next time!

Happy Creating! -Ali