Well, this past weekend was my (our) first craft show. I would not call it a complete success, however it was a great learning experience and proved to myself I can do it! In that sense, I would say we were successful. First off, the show was only about 30 vendors in this Ukrainian Catholic Church. Most of the people that came (all 150 or so) were quite older, and just didn’t seem to be interested in purchasing anything! Not from me, not from any of the vendors. It was beyond slow, but like I said before, the experience was a good one. I am now prepared to take on another show, to put myself out there again and again.
 

Dustin was incredibly supportive through the whole process, telling me how proud he was of me over and over… especially during the two days we sat behind our completely dead booth listening to what sounded like Ukrainian Ska music on one side of the room and Carribean Steel drums on the other… yes, it was interesting to say the least. So, again, we’ll chalk this one up on the side of experience. 

Here are some photos from the weekend. And oh, did I mention? My cousin got me into a show this Friday at an Art Gallery, hopefully more of our crowd. We will see how that one goes! Enjoy! 

My “wibits” and a tshirt pillow. We sold one of the plaid guys.
Made from an old pair of Dustin’s pants. The others are made from
thrifted or donated old fleece blankets.
 

Close up of the Wibits.
My little sister wants this one. 

My $5 Display rack from local thrift shop.
Gave it a quick coat of white, looks good as new.
I think it was originally used to house sewing patterns. 
 

Detail shot on the display rack and cards. 
 

Extra Gocco cards for sale. Picked up the blue metal container
for .69 cents at my local thrift store. I have another matching
SUGAR one that is quite larger for .99 cents. I love the color.
 

One of my new designs I created for a Gocco Swap.
I love this one so much. I think I’ll make it into a tshirt!
 

Make these from glass chips and magazine/junk mail clippings and a little felt.  

Detail of one of the shirt designs.
 

 Tiered Dessert Tray I made from thrifted and donated vintage items.
 

This is what I first saw when I walked into the church. LOTS of sausages.
 

LUNCH! Those potato ravioli type things were SO YUMMY! Pyrohys? 
 

Dustin thoroughly enjoyed every bit of his food. 
Isn’t his hat great?  
 

I’m excited for the next show. I hope things pick up. I did get a lot of great feedback from other wonderful vendors at this show, so that was very encouraging. Oh, did I mention, we definitely spent more at the show than we made! But that’s ok. We found some great vintage items. I’ll share those next week. Until then… HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! 

Just wanted to share 2 new Gocco cards with you. Printed these Friday of last week. I’m really happy with how these turned out. They should be up for sale in the shop by the end of the week! (Please excuse the photos, they are not the best)

Here they are, drying on my patio table that is currently in the kitchen… hm, long story… moving into a much smaller place. You know how that goes.
 

“Hello Love” is pretty straightforward. I made this design while flying home from San Francisco.
 

“Tank You” was inspired by my little sister, Amaris. She wanted to draw something that I could use on the Gocco (she thought it was so cool) So, I asked her to make something for a thank you card. She accidentally wrote “Tank You” so I had her draw a tank that I ended up modifying and simplifying to use for this card! I love how it turned out. 

The only thing I want to change is to modify the cards to have rounded corners. I bought a corner punch that I thought would work, but it ended up being more ornate than I realized. I thought it was just a rounded corner… not so! Ah, well, I’ll keep searching. Until then, you’ll have pokey corners!  

My first Gocco print.

For my birthday this year I received my first Gocco machine from my fabulous husband. Honestly, although I was so excited to start printing, I have been very intimidated by that little machine. I have seen all of the wonderful things others have been creating and psyching myself out a bit. Not sure if I would be able to create something I’d be happy with. 
 

The inks. How pretty!
 

Well, I got up the nerve last night to try it out. Armed with a plethora of inks and ready with my photocopied design I had made earlier, I set out to attempt my first batch of note cards. I cannot even describe how excited and pleased and giddy I was as my first print was revealed!! I am so far beyond hooked to this machine! Can’t wait to create some more designs. 
 

Gocco screen after cleaning and cleaning.
 

My question to you seasoned Gocco-ers, how do I get these screens clean!!?? I’ve tried and tried to get this screen clean by using the screen cleaner, windex… blotting and blotting. However, as you can see, I couldn’t get it all off… or even half of it off! Any tips on how to clean these bad boys? Also, can I reuse this as is? I think I got all of the ink out of the design on the screen.
 

FYI: I will be putting a batch of these notecards in my Etsy shop soon! Will keep you posted!