Door Hangers for Vendor Events

 I have been focusing a lot this past few weeks on door hangers.

With Fall here and Halloween just around the corner, these below

have been my main focus.

However, I did manage to throw in a few Christmas trees here and there.

Here is after I freehanded the design with pencil,

and cut it out.

The basic shape.

Booth #555

                                     

I've spent 15 years at the craft mall and in all honesty, the sales have just been declining too much to ignore.  Even though that's still my favorite thing to do in life, I will find a way to keep doing it all, both online and off.

But I am moving to mainly online sales and craft fairs and craft booths for a while.  

 I've spent so much of my life, buying and reselling and I will not stop.  

It is what I love.  Along with making whatever crafts that I feel like at the moment as well.  

It's just what I love.

And I'm going to continue.  I just need to venture out into new ways to keep doing so.

So here comes more craft fairs and vendor events in my future.

 I have missed going to the craft mall on a steadier basis already.  

It was so fun to see what people would walk around and grab and look at that I made or redone with my hands.

But I get to see that on the sales sheet still, at the end of the moth.

Do ya'll still have a physical craft booth anywhere that is still profitable?

Or are ya'll mainly all selling online now a days?

WATERMELON SLICE DECORATION

Super easy and cute decoration craft here.  

WATERMELON SLICES 

from wood hunks.

I simply had the idea one day when looking at a stack of wood we have out back.

Here's some of how we stack it.

Well, a couple of the little end pieces were laying on the ground and it looked like a few hunks of watermelon to me.  

So I grabbed it, cleaned it off and painted it up like so.

I just used acrylic craft paint in the craft section of Walmart. And I just used any red and green I had on hand.

And after painting on some red like that, I took a sponge brush and dabbed on the green to the "rime" and had to water it down a it to get it to soak in good enough.

And in the pic, you can see I dabbed on some blackish brown for the seeds and came back in with a touch of white to make them stand out.

As you see, any shape of little hunks of wood will basically do.

Just paint'em up and sit'em on your porch in a cute tray!

Happy Crafting, see ya'll next time,

~Lisa

DIY PRIMITIVE GINGER BREAD MEN

Hey ya'll!
Here's some cute hand-made gingerbread men that I've been recently making.

I sell most of these online on ebay rather than in my craft booth at the local co-op.
Not sure why more tend to sell online, but they do.
Guessing more crafters out here, like me, online looking for things to make :-)

And in case ya'll wanna give a batch a try, here's how I make'em.

Okay, you'll wanna gather your supplies.
You can either make this out of a self hardening clay (which is ready to go) or salt dough that you'll have to make and bake.

Here's my cinnamon salt dough recipe if ya'll need it.
NOTE: Not needed if you are using a clay that self hardens.

Cinnamon Salt Dough Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• ½ cup water (sometimes you add a bit more)
• 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil (this makes it a little more flexible, and is optional)
• half cup cinnamon

I mix it all up in a bowl, adding a bit more of water, if needed. It should be firm but still good and flexible.

Knead it for a bit and get it all mixed good. If you want colored dough, you could easily add food coloring or something natural like coffee or tea. 

When it's ready and easy to manage, I take out a candy mold with the gingerbread men shapes. Keep in mind this craft is endless with shape opportunities! Thankfully, I am a collector of candy and cookie molds.

Just press in the amount of  salt dough or clay needed into your shapes, no coating spray needed inside, by the way. It just makes them sticky.

Press firmly, trying to get out all air pockets and wrinkles in your mix. And then easily pop them back out. 

As seen, I've found that the clear plastic candy molds work best. This way you can see it as you are molding them.

If you used self hardening clay, just sit them aside and let them dry for 24 hours then decorate.

Look close, not all of them come out perfect. But that's okay with primitive crafts.

I like some a bit different and older looking.

If you used the salt dough recipe,

Then it's time to stick them in the preheated oven at 300* for about 45 minutes. Sometimes more, sometimes less. It mostly depends on the thickness of the salt dough. The just take them out and let them cool.

Here's how I finished my batch above off after they dried.

I took some apple barrel paint in burnt umber, a very wet paper towel, and dabbed it on the gingerbread man.

The added water gives it an old appearance when it dries.  Take a closer look at what I mean.
Oh, and I had also taken some burgundy red and dabbed on some cute heart buttons down the front.
And two little dots for eyes.

And to seal them, I used some basic, off brand, elmer's glue. I had to cut a slot in my bottle cause my top was glued shut and would not even twist off for nothing. That's why I have duct tape on it below. To seal up my cut. lol.

Put a good amount on it but don't make it too thick, it will gaum up.

Here they are staring to dry. They will appear a lot darker.

But they lighted up as they dry.

And wa'la~ 

Here's a batch of some cute little gingerbread men ready to go for crafting needs or decorations.

They also look cute sitting around in a bowl as bowl fillers with cinnamon sticks and such.

EACH MEASURE approximately: 1.5  inches in height each x 1.5 inches in width each.

And just think how cute these would be as bigger ones! You can even put a hole in them before they dry to use as hanging Christmas ornaments or tag add-ons to spruce up gifts!

Endless ideas for the little Ginger Bread Men!

And when I can keep them in stock, you can find them here online if ya need some.

Hope ya'll liked this little Ginger Bread man craft!

See ya'll next time,

~Lisa