End of Trip

OOOH, it has been a long day. I am happy to be home and this is all I want to see and remember...nothing. Closing my eyes now........

Normal Girl

Craft Consumer Heaven Day 1

Today started the consumer show. Crazy craft people came from all over the country to this thing! There was a hall full of booths, some selling product, some doing free projects. It was packed and I think if you are a crafter, it would be much like heaven.

In our booth we made these button bouquets. They are pins. The crafters loved them.

We had piles of buttons of for people to choose.

Oh, the concentration!

Oh the cuties!

Recently, I revamped the history of the Blumenthal Lansing Company. It was kind of weird rewriting what they had without actually changing history. Guess it turned out OK, because they printed it out and hung it in the booth!

Day two of crafter tomorrow, and then heading home,

Normal Girl

CHA and the Button Ring

I spent the day making button rings with about 225 of my closest craft friends. Well, I just met them, but I liked them all. It was the easiest, fastest and coolest project on the show floor.

And once someone made one, she wanted to sit all day and make them. Some women would have made 5 or 6 if I had not cut them off. The buttons are fab. I don't blame them. Kind of.

And not one glue gun burn all day!

The best story of the day is that I had an interested sales rep from the company who learned how to make the rings, learned how to teach to make the rings, and then stood with me most of the day helping women at the table. He was young and cute and Dutch. The women flocked in. His English was really good, but once in awhile, he would ask me a word.

He asked what to call the thing we put the buttons on. I said "string." He asked me maybe 4 times and gave me a weird look each time. Finally he told me that string is a kind of underwear for women. Yeah, G string here is just string there, apparently. No wonder he could not tell anyone about the string!

Not everything translates well,

Normal Girl

Summer in the City

Hey from Chicago and the summer CHA (Craft and Hobby Assn) show! Had a great day and am leaving a quick post because my eyes are slamming shut. This is my cute little hotel room, it feels a bit European in flavor and size. The bathroom is so small, the toilet has to be on an angle in the corner to fit in the room.

I walked the show, pretty quickly....the show is very small and not busy. It is mainly a papercrafting show which is not my fav craft, but I still saw some beautiful work, and got a feel for some trending.

I would like you to see what a $3 bottle of water looks like. I tried not to think of the case of 24 bottles just like this that I recently bought for $3. Convention center robbery, what can you do?

I think the tutu is enjoying a trend upward. I keep seeing tulle tutus everyplace. Very girly and visually interesting.

Oh, these fabric flowers are all over the show floor. They are made out of any kind of thin, soft fabric. Some booths had really lovely jewelry made using them. I am labeling this trendy too.

I just liked this and want it for Girl World.

More tomorrow. I am working a make it take it in the button booth, making the cooolest button rings with whoever happens by.

Nighty night,

Normal Girl

Pendants to Support My Mission Trip

Thank you very much for viewing my necklaces. Any sales made from this post will go to my mission trip to Germany. Go to the Divine Design: The Hangar blog for more info and to follow our process.

Since these are all one-of-a-kind pieces, they will be sold on a first come first served basis. To purchase, leave me a comment at the end of the post telling me which item you would like. Make sure I have your email. We will discuss payment and shipping at that time.

The round pendants are $30. They are a little over an inch in width. Each have a circle of rhinestones around the glass nuggets, and are on silk cords. You will see bits of silver glitter in some of them. They each have a bead charm at the bottom as well as a small bead charm at the top.

The teardrop pendants are $15 and are also on silk cords. They are about an inch and a half tall and have three bead charms.

The silk cords are 40" in length. You can tie your necklace at any length, or wrap it around your wrist. The wrist thing is kind of trendy, try it!

Free shipping to anyplace in the US.

Thank you very much for taking a look!!

1. Red Lipstick. On a deep pink silk cord. $30.

2. Caffeine Queen. On a black silk cord. $30.

3. Love Laugh Lipstick. Silly... or is it? On a deep pink silk cord. $30.

4. SOLD Joyful Journey. On a turquoise silk cord. $30.

5. SOLD Blessed. On a grape silk cord. $30.

6. SOLD Tickled Pink. On a deep pink silk cord. $30.

7. SOLD Trust and Obey. On a green silk cord. $30.

8. SOLD Java Junkie. I admit I had a hard time photographing through the glass bubbles, but in person, the words are clear. On a chocolate brown silk cord, with little coffee bean beads. $30.

9. Peace Love & Rock. On a green silk cord. $15.

10. Chocolate Junkie. Who isn't? On a chocolate brown silk cord. $30.

11. Popular. You know you are! Or you love the song from Wicked. On a green silk cord. $30.

12. SOLD Glitter Girl. Includes a crown in case you are the Glitter Queen. On a deep pink silk cord. $30.

13. Peace Love & Bling. Rhinestone charms are raspberry in color. On a deep pink cord. $15.

14. SOLD Blessed. On a turquoise silk cord. $30.

15. Popular. On a black silk cord. $30.

16. Fun Flirty & Fabulous. On a turquoise silk cord. $15.

17, Trust and Obey. On a green silk cord. $30.

18. Tickled Pink. On a chocolate brown silk cord. $30.

19. Peace Love & Bling. On a turquoise silk cord. $15.

20. Live Laugh Lipstick. On a grape silk cord with a huge crystal charm. $30.

21. Fun Flirty & Fabulous. On a grape silk cord. $15.

22. Red Lipstick. On a black silk cord. $30.

23. SOLD Glitter Girl. On a turquoise silk cord. $30.

24. Joyful Journey. On a deep pink silk cord. $30.

25. SOLD Peace Love & Chocolate. On a chocolate brown cord. $15.

Thank you for your interest and your support!

Thanks Dad

Normal Girl: My garage is leaning. How can I fix that?

Dad: No, it isn't.

NG: Look at it, there is a gap at the bottom.

Dad: It is not possible for the garage to lean, it has huge joists. The garage door still works, it is not leaning.

NG: I got out the level and held it to the wall, it is definitely leaning.

Dad: You are seeing things.

NG: Remember that time when you could tell me something and I would believe it just because you told me so?

Dad: {big grin}

NG: That day is long past.

Dad: I could get a chain, hook it to the tree and to the garage and then it would not lean anymore

NG: Thanks Rube Goldberg, but it is leaning toward the tree.

Dad: What's for lunch?

If you know how I can fix this problem (the garage, not the Dad), please tell me,

Normal Girl

The Sugar Coma

Yes, this was crazy. My sister invited the fam for birthday ice cream and cake. She had delectables.
I brought a birthday cake.

And the birthday girl got into the act by making two cakes herself. Yes, two.

Do you think we had enough kinds of ice cream?

Ah sugar, we love you so. Happy Birthday Mom!

Normal Girl

Silly Bands?

You have seen these right? Silly bands. These belong to niece 3. They are the latest thing. As you can see, kids collect them by the dozens.

Every time I see them, I laugh. A couple of years ago, my team made a presentation to the company I worked for at the time regarding silly bands. We had a source, they were cheap, looked like fun, why not? We were looking for dollar items to sell to Michaels. They seemed perfect to us. The marketing department, with a huge lack of vision, said they were useless and could not figure out why anybody would want them. HOOT! That company is now out of business.

Just goes to show you that useless is not always useless.

Normal Girl

All Buttoned Up

Finished up my button jewelry for my friends the button girls. I don't work much with wood, being a glass artist, but it was fun to do something with these wood buttons. I like the roughness of the distressed wood combined with the shiny beads.

I made four of these buttons, two in each color and stitched them to a jacket. They are only decorative, but I really like the 3D-ness of them. I think they would invite comments when worn.

Fun. Next!

Normal Girl

Buttons and Felt

I am working on some projects for Michaels, using some new buttons from Blumenthal Lansing. I am doing some jewelry, but made this purse this afternoon as an addition. This was made out of black felt. Super simple construction, but kind of cute. And really inexpensive.

Really like the big button, it is sort of distressed. I like getting to play with the new stuff before it goes into the stores, like a sneak preview!

On to Jewelry,

Normal Girl