As October comes to an end....

I'm trying to make lots of stuff for upcoming craft shows.
I finally finished Jacob's birthday thank-yous tonight. 

I made our November calendar/scrapbook page before November started!  I feel especially proud of myself for this small accomplishment. 

I am happy that Jacob loved his first day of "Gym & Learn" class today. 

I am getting ready for Market Day this Saturday and trying to decide if I can muster up the effort to put together a costume.  My guess is: probably not.  I'm not all that into Halloween, and comfort is important to me, especially when I'll be on my feet for oh, about nine hours straight!  But if you're coming to shop at Market Day, you should definitely wear a costume, if only to enhance my people-watching fun!

I can't believe that this Sunday is the last East Village Sunday Bazaar of 2011!  Time sure flies when you are doing shows every week!  And loving it, might I add.  But I'm looking forward to indoor shows for the rest of the year because....my tent is heavy!  And sometimes wind gusts are rather annoying.

I need to remember to buy some candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters Sunday evening.  I mean, I need to buy some candy that Jacob and Daddy will end up eating because we'll be out trick-or-treating ourselves.  We're obviously in dire need of fresh candy at our house, since I finally threw away the 4th of July parade candy a couple of weeks ago. 

I made flyers with my fall/winter show schedule to mail out to customers and hand out at craft shows and again, checking something else off my never-ending "to-do" list makes me happy. 

And now, I think it's time for some ice cream. 

I think this is the official version: Fall & Winter 2011 Shows

I'm pretty sure this is it: here's where I'll be the next couple of months.  Taking my show on the road a little bit this year, as in outside of the Des Moines city limits.  Very exciting, actually!

Sunday, Nov. 6: Fall Festival Arts & Crafts Bazaar, 105 W. 1st Ave. Indianola IA, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Friday Nov. 11(6;30 to 8:30 p.m.) & Saturday Nov. 12 (8 a.m. to 3 p.m.), Beaverdale Holiday Boutique @ Holy Trinity, 2926 Beaver Ave., Des Moines.

Market Day Black Friday!!  9 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Nov. 25 (duh!) @ the Kirkwood, 4th & Walnut, downtown Des Moines.

Saturday, Dec. 3: Small Town Country Christmas craft show, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Milo IA.

Saturday, Dec. 10: WHAT A LOAD OF CRAFT! 11 to 7, Johnson County Fairgrounds, Iowa City, IA.  This is a new show for me this year and I'm super-excited, because I have heard all kinds of great things about it from my fellow crafty-ites here in Des Moines who have done it before.  Can't wait.  I'm sure all of these shows will be a great time.  It's always fun to meet new customers and see repeat customers.  I've honestly never had a bad time doing a craft show.  That's one big reason why I keep doing them.  Pretty simple:  they are fun. 

So, tell your friends, tell your neighbors, your pizza delivery guy, etc:  shop local and buy handmade for the holidays.  It's a great way to "occupy Wall Street" and also support your local crafters, artists, & makers of wonderful, awesome handmade stuff.  And the person who opens said fabulous handmade gift will be genuinely delighted as well.  Everybody wins.