Preparing for the Bad Girls show in Fairbanks

Later this week, we drive north for our 12th annual Bad Girls of the North craft show in Fairbanks.  It's a long, long drive that takes most of the day.  We will leave on Thursday and get up early to do the show layout on Friday morning.

I made several small adjustments to my jewelry display last year, so I have no new display items for this year.  But I will change it up a bit so it doesn't look stale.  And most all of my jewelry is new and fresh.  There is one strategy change I will introduce, that I'll try to explain here.

One of my best selling necklace styles are my pearl mixes.  As a refresher, you can look at this post from a few years back.  The earrings that I make to go along with the necklaces are usually simple, single pearl drops, matching one of the pearls in the necklace.  They are sold separately from the necklaces, but I display them together.  It never fails -- there are always several customers who purchase only the earrings, leaving the necklace without a matching pair of earrings.  This year, I decided to make about 20 pairs of varied single pearls drop earrings for these people to choose from!  I will display them all together in a little basket.  Hopefully, this will prevent the lonely necklace syndrome.

We'll see.

Alaska State Fair -- The Weekend Report

Opening weekend at the fair is always crazy-busy.  The unseasonably cold cool weather and rain on Friday and Saturday made those days a little less crazy-busy than usual, but that's ok.  Sunday was gorgeous and warm.  The crowd was huge and in a buying mood.

I took this set of photos before we opened last Thursday.

These are our short sleeve t-shirts.  Love the colors we chose.

And our long sleeve t-shirts.  Not loving these colors as much.

Cindy's metal art is always a great attention getter.  We've already sold the sheep that you see between the 2 doors, the rooster on the ramp and one of the "Bad Dogs".

I have not yet eaten a pork-chop-on-a-stick, but I did have chicken-on-a-stick (from the same booth) last night for dinner.  It was steaming hot in my mouth, hence the stupid look on my face :)

You don't really want the whole list of stuff we ate during the first 4 days of the fair, do you?

Alaska State Fair

I've been very busy getting ready for the Alaska State Fair, which opens tomorrow.  Eek!  Our fair building is pretty much ready to do business, with just a few last minute details to take care of.  I managed to remember to take a few pictures of my jewelry displays in the booth.

Here's the main part of my display.  Above, you can see one of Cindy Shake's metal ravens, which have proven to be top sellers for us over the past few years.  They practically fly out of the building -- yes, I made a funny.  Below, I've displayed some of my hand knit scarves (on a cleverly disguised broom stick).

This is a smaller jewelry display area, which tends to be a bit dark.  I love the green lamp Carol contributed to the display.  Above is a view of our ceramic mugs, insulated travel cups and plastic water bottles (BPA free, of course).  The color selections on those items were wonderful this year.

Lastly, my earring display, with another metal raven for protection!  Off to the left you can see a snippet of our brand new lovely pink fleece vest.  We're hoping it will be a big seller for us.

I plan to share more photos of the inside of the building and of the fairgrounds in general. And my coverage of the fair wouldn't be complete without a photo of me eating a pork-chop-on-a-stick!

Featured Artist - Elise Strauss of Koi Creek Beadworks

Elise Strauss of Koi Creek Beadworks is one of the sweetest people I know. She is a lampworker extraordinaire and an outstanding jewelry designer. Elise had a booth at our Bad Girls of the North Craft Show in Fairbanks this past weekend. I think it was her first time showing in Fairbanks and I'm sure the crowd was as excited as I am by her lampwork. She creates amazing wildlife beads. Please check out her etsy shop and you'll see what I mean.