Oak Tree Festival

After working (volunteer) at the Thrift Shop on Saturday, I went across the street to the 15th Annual Oak Tree Festival on Main Street in League City. There were several vendors, and I visited with a few of the artisans. Darn it, though, I didn't have my camera with me. But I did get business cards, and permission to share their e-addresses.

I met Allie Demers. She makes baby slings, girls hair bows, aprons (in adult and children's sizes) and some other fun things. Allie has a web shop at http://www.alliedemersdesigns.com/. She had already sold out of her aprons, so I didn't get to see them first hand, but from the pics on her web shop, they are very nice, indeed.

I also met Kiza Moore, who makes cute, cute things for boys, girls, babies. You can visit her shop at http://www.froglovesmonkey.etsy.com/. Her shop is empty right now, as she took all her goodies to the Oak Tree Festival, but she will re-offer them soon. Suspense!

Now I'm going to give a shout out to What Squeaky Shoes! I have to admit that at first I did not intend to share with you about this vendor's wares as they were not handmade by her or her family members. But they are quite ingenious. They squeak when the little one walks, but only if she/he walks correctly -- heel to toe. Plus you definitely know where your little one is while she/he is wearing the squeaky shoes. I suspect they could be a "get-even" gift for grammy to give to the little one, which might not be so appreciated by the little one's mom. But the squeakers can be disabled, so sanity might prevail after all. You can find them at http://www.whatsqueakyshoes.com/.

VEST TOTE 3

I found the cutest vest at our church Thrift Store. St. Christopher Thrift Shop on Galveston Street in League City, Texas. When I saw it, I immediately thought about our Ally Hardick, who organized and runs our church community garden. I talked about her in a previous post. She's an awesome young woman. Anyway . . . when I saw the vest I thought of her, as the vest is a "harvest" vest, which had already been embellished with buttons and threads and the like. So, I made a vest tote from it. And this was before I spent some time visiting with Ally at the craft fair last week, and before she shared that she was looking for a bag for her garden stuff. I'm hoping she enjoys it. I figure that even if it's not the right size or if it's just not her style of tote (we all have our own style, you see), that she can use it as a prop in promos she does for the garden. Just a cutsy, fun little vest tote.

CHURCH CRAFT FAIR #2

Following up on the church Craft Fair, I wanted to show you one of my purchases -- well, there's actually two items that I purchased from Faithful Designs by Susan Hearn at beliefnrec@yahoo.com. Wonderful coasters with faith-based stamps. I love them. Here's the pics.

CHURCH CRAFT FAIR #1

Wow. July 12th was my last post. Things are getting back to normal -- whatever that is. I'm working at the Thrift Shop that the Women at my church own/run, and that has kept me pretty busy. My husband is recovering nicely from a terrible illness and surgery, and my mom is feeling better. Whew. Deep breath. I finally returned to sewing, new posts of YAYAMADE coming soon with new creations.

I met some new artists this weekend at our Church BarBQ. We had a craft fair for the first time. It was small, but some wonderful artists were there. I want to put in a plug for a couple of them -- well, more than a couple.

There's Sand Dragon Creations by Carol Jenkins of Galveston, TX. She has wonderful aprons and doggie scarves. And what a variety of fabrics she sported this weekend! You can see Carol's designs at http://www.sanddragonh2o.etsy.com/. Even if you don't cook or have a pet, these would make great gifts this Christmas.

I'd also like to put in a plug for our own Ally Hardick. Ally is a little ball of fire. She works tirelessly on our church's community garden, which produces organic vegetables that are donated to Interfaith Caring Ministries' food bank in the Clear Lake/League City/Bay Area, Texas. She is also responsible for putting together "The Hope Cook Book for St. Vincent's House", a wonderful cook book that sells for a mere $20, and all proceeds go to St. Vincent's House in Galveston. What I didn't know about Ally, and learned this weekend, is that she is a gifted artist. She has an etsy shop where you can see her wares. My favorites are the face charms she makes. So creative! She's at http://www.gigifoofoo.etsy.com/.

I've got more to tell you -- more artists to share with you. But I'll have to do that later. MHGS is here and we're going to go do something fun.