Has it been a week since I posted? WOW!

This last week I think is a blur. I was getting ready for a 3 day craft show that ended yesterday. It was a profitable show for me and the crowds were there and they were buying. This is unusal for this area with the snowbirds not being back in town yet but I am happy.

After 30 years of mainly designing and making teddy bears, I am changing. The last two shows plus the traffic on my website says it is a time for change. I am sad about this as I really enjoy making the bears but the public doesn't seem to be going in that direction. So I will leave the teddy bears go for a while and concentrate on the dolls.

I like designing and making dolls and I always get lots of compliments and sales on the dolls. I will continue doing this with a new design every year or two and keep the dolls in my line that are my top sellers.

Now my big surprise is the traffic I am getting on the recycled and vintage dolls. This is right now, the way that I will be going. I enjoy finding a doll that has been played with and now has been discarded for something new and then cleaning it up and making new clothes and finding a new buyer for the doll. People are excited about seeing the doll they played with as a child and no longer have. They want the doll back. I am not sure why but it may be just the idea of a easier time in their life or they are at the age where they are now collecting the older dolls. Even the kids are wanting the dolls that may not be that old but are all redressed. This I was kind of surprised about because I thought maybe kids are not playing with dolls that much, but I guess they are.

So now from me you will see more and more dolls and I will enjoy the hunt in all the thrift stores, yard sales and anywhere else I can look and then bringing them home and making them all pretty again. Then I will probably be doing more doll and collectible shows and not as many craft shows but that is okay as then I will meet a whole new group of people.

Stay tuned as my newest adventure begins. I am excited and I hope others will be too.

It's Craft Show season!

Yes, this is the time of the year when I do most of my craft shows. Holidays are coming and people are more willing to buy that child safe bear or doll. I am now in full gear mode to get my shows going.

I have a show this weekend, then another in two weeks and then another two weeks after that. I use to be able to do a show every weekend but age has caught up with me and it takes a week to recover from a show. My mind thinks I can still do all the shows but my body just says stop you can't. Boy old age stinks sometimes!

So today is getting all my displays ready and all the table covers washed and ready and see what else has to be done with products I am taking to this show. Tomorrow will be packing everything into containers and packing the van.

Even with all this, I still am sewing today. I got a couple cute dolls at the Goodwill store yesterday and so I did one doll up yesterday and today will try to finish up the other one. Then the lady at one of the other thrift stores says she will have some other dolls ready for me to look at today so will probably make a quick trip down there is see what she has. I have to remember to take a couple of the dolls with me that I got from her when I go down there and show her what I have done with them. She wanted to see them.

So the next two days are busy and then the weekend will be lots of sitting and standing and talking to people. Hope for lots of good sales so I don't have to bring so much stuff home.

Happy Crafting everyone and for you who do shows, I hope you have great sales.

Sunday has been a different type of day for us.

Yep, Sunday has been different. It rained off and on all morning with lots of thunder and lightening and some beautiful double rainbows. This afternoon we had some thunder but the storms all past us and just went over the mountains. Living in the desert, we love a rainy day as we only get about 6 inches of rain a year so this was wonderful. It also made the temperatures lower. We were in the low 80's and it was nice until the sun came out in the afternoon and the humidity got to us and we had to turn on the a/c. The weather people are saying we could have the same type of weather the next three days. I think our fall has finally arrived!

Today was a bear making day. I know all you have been reading about from me is dolls, dolls and more dolls. I love doing the dolls and I have a couple more that I still need to dress but I also have a online show in November and the bears have to get done first. Wish I could show you what they look like but you will all have to wait until they go online on November 21 and 22. At this moment I have two completely ready and three more partly done.

Now I know that I will make my rounds at the thrift stores on Wednesday so you will probably see more dolls. The funny thing is that for years, I have been making and selling bears and they have always been my passion. Over the years I added rabbits, cows, pigs, mice and dogs to the mix that I made of craft shows. Most of these have now gone away from my stock. I also added soft dolls which I designed and they have always sold well. People like to buy handmade dolls. It has only been a couple of months with the recycled dolls and this is now my new passion.