Getting ready for the County Fair

Hello Y'all!!!!!     It's just about time to turn in for the night, but I wanted to hop in here and tell y'all what I have been up to this week.    Next week is the County Fair here.     It is still a big deal around here.    Lots of plans being made and lots of buzz going on.     It seems like every year I end up skipping down memory lane, remembering some of the good times.    Going to see the all the craft entries, all the carnival food, rides and games!!!!     Hardly anything any better.    I remember one year that my Aunt and Uncle and cousins from Indiana came home for a visit and it was fair week in Ky.    One evening when dad got in from work, Mom had all of 6 of her kids spit shined, cleaned up and ready to go.  My Aunt and Uncle and their 3 kids was ready and we all went to the Fair.     There is two vivid things I remember about that night.    #1.   All of us kids was gonna ride the Tilt-A-Whirl.     My Aunt decided she was gonna ride it too.      She was always laughing and she had this very unique laugh.    When the ride started, she threw her head back and started to laugh real big, mouth open wide, and all of the sudden, she threw her hands over her mouth!!!!     We had no idea what happened and when the ride stopped, we ran to her and asked what happened.      She said, "Oh, nothing, my uppers just almost flew out!!!!"    hahahaha      So help me, every time I think of her, that's what I remember and I crack up every time!!!     #2.   My cousin won a little ceramic fawn at one of the games and when we all got home, she gave that to me.     50 years or so later, and that little fawn still has a prominent place in my curio cabinet.      I had a Family and Community Education club meeting yesterday and we was talking about some of our favorite memories of the fair and most everyone loved the crafts, baking and canning entries.    One of the ladies said she loved the rides as a kid, while her sister could not even ride the Merry-Go-Round, it made her sick.     We was all laughing, but I'm sure as a kid, it kinda hurt that she didn't get to enjoy the fun of the rides.     Another memory that comes to mind was when my brothers had to go find Dad, Mom and I and they told dad how the shooting gallery was rigged.    Dad went to the shooting gallery by himself while we all stood away and watched what happened.    The guy handed dad a pellet or b b gun and dad took a shot and hit the target.    Took another shot, hit the target.    The guy asked dad if he wanted to buy 5 shots, dad said yes.    With slight of hand, pretending to load the gun, the guy swapped guns and gave dad a gun with a crooked sight on it.    Dad knew what he had done.     Dad told him he wanted the good gun, the guy said this is the good gun.    Dad said no it's not, you switched guns.     Dad finally jumped over the counter and got the good gun, jumped back over the counter and shot his 5 rounds and never missed.     He then turned around and called his 5 sons over there and said now, who got cheated out of their shots with the crooked sighted gun.     The ones of my brothers that had gotten cheated, got to take their shots over and get the prizes that they had indeed earned.    Dad told the guy he best be careful who he sets up to try to make a lot of money off of, because most of the people around here knows how to shoot a gun and can tell if the sights are off.    That guy really didn't like what dad had done, but he wasn't in much of a place to do anything about it.    Afterall, what the guy was doing was illegal and he knew it.     Ok, so that's enough of a stroll down memory lane tonight.

What I wanted to show y'all is what I have ready to put in the fair.     I say this every year that I really don't like having my crafts judged, but I keep putting stuff in the fair anyway.   Mainly because each item earns points for my FCE club which is then turned into real cash for our club which we then turn around and give it back to the community in forms donations to the non profit organizations.     So, that's really why I do it.     I do enjoy getting to work at the fair too.    I will try to enter some baked goods on Tuesday.     Monday will be the judging of all the arts and crafts and sewing items.     It's always a lot of fun.     Anyway, this is what I have to enter.     Most of it is not new to y'all.    Some of it is.     Hope you like it all.

This is the first of my items.    I done a blog post on the star in the upper left corner here back.     In the upper right corner is a wooden box about 3.5 x 3.5 inches.    I covered it with geli printed deli paper that was gifted to me by an amazing woman in the Kraafters Kommunity, Ms. Sylvia.    Thank you so much my friend.    I used the deli papers torn in to small pieces and then adhered to the box.    It turned out great.     I finished it with a shell, shell chips, glitter and clear wink of stella.     I'm proud of that little box.     In the lower left corner is a snow man button pin.    I think that is just adorable and I hope he wins.   hehehe      Then the lower right is my fall stamped card.    It is about 6 x 6,  a really nice size.

 A close up of the box and I was hoping the wink of stella would show up better.     In hand it just sparkles and shimmers and shines, just like stella.   hahaha

A close up of Mr. Snowman.    The bottom button is 1.5 inches and the top is about 1 inch.    I used E6000 to glue the buttons to a really short craft popsicle stick  and the pin back on the back of the stick.   The hat is made from foam.    I trimmed the hat with a bit of silver ribbon and then painted the green leaves on and glued 3 small red gems to finish off the hat.    A little piece of red gross grain ribbon finishes that sharp little dude off.    He's ready for winter.

Upper left is my clay necklace and next to it is the clay earrings.    They are 2 separate entries.   Upper right is my machine embroidery specimen.     It is a tic tac toe game.    Love it.      Lower left is the  "Be still and Know that I am God" postcard that is ready for a friend.     Lower left is my mini wallet album.    Blog post and pictures to come soon on it, I promise.

This is the beautiful imperfection canvas, y'all have seen it recently.

This is my decorated bag.      I made it back in the spring.     I used 2 diff pieces of decorative paper and a hex punch in 2 diff sizes.     I cut a circle from a sheet of paper and glued the hex shapes to the circle after I inked the edges of each shape.    Then I used some bronze colored stickles and  made glitter spots all over the shapes.    I made a coordinating bow and glued a gold and pearl button on top of the bow and attached a pearl drop bead to the bottom of the button and made a small tag to finish off the bag.    I was really pleased with the outcome.

This is a finger crocheted scarf.      It is about 15-20 feet long and then you wrap it loosely around your neck.    The picture does not do it justice.    It is beautiful!!!!      In the center of the scarf is my sculpted tree of life necklace on an organza ribbon with a hammered clasp.

I don't know if y'all have seen this or not, I can't remember.     This is my feather canvas.     It was pre-printed and I painted it  and then used different colors of paints to decorate each feather.    You can't tell it from the background, but I water colored it, so it wouldn't be so white.    I really love this piece.

This is one of the two pieces I done here back.   This one is mine.     It is done on a piece of a cardboard box.    A flap to be exact.    I love it so much that I will be using flaps for more creative adventures.

This is what I have ready to go.    Then Tuesday I will do a little baking and that will be the extent of crafty entries for the fair.     If you get the opportunity to check out a county fair or state fair, go, it will be a real treat.

I want to leave you tonight with this question.     What do you see, the wrapper or the contents?     I know that we always see the wrapper first.     But, what makes you want to get passed the wrapper?     Is it because you know what's inside or is it because you can't wait to find out what's inside?     Are you ever disappointed once you get inside?     If I buy a can of pringles, I don't buy it for the wrapper, I promise.   (although being crafty, I can use it)     No, I buy it for the chips.    Sometimes we get to busy and wrapped up in what our wrapper "looks" like that we forget all about the contents.     Wrappers can be very misleading.     And sometimes, no matter how hard we try, our wrapper is still just really plain, nothing fancy or pretty or enticing at all.    But, you know what, the contents inside that nothing fancy wrapper can be amazing!!!!!     Lets face it, most of us are not beautiful on the outside.  I sure ain't and don't mind telling y'all that one little bit.    But.....I also know that God isn't interested with the wrapper either!!!!     God is all about the contents!!!!      He knows me!!!!    He knows my heart!!!!    He knows my motives!!!!     God is all about contents!!!!     Does that make you happy?    It sure does make me happy!!!!!      If we ever have to make the choice of wrapper vs content, I hope and pray that we choose content.     We could miss out on some amazing friends by overlooking the contents.

I hope and pray that each and every one of y'all have a wonderful night of refreshing, restful and healing sleep tonight.    I pray that tomorrow is a wonderful day for each of you.    I hope that you find something to enjoy tomorrow and maybe even a new friend too, by looking passed the wrapper to see the contents.     Till next time remember, God loves y'all and so do I.     hugs and love, Patty