craft fair!

I have been working like a crazy woman this week to prep everything for a craft fair a friend and I are doing together tomorrow.  And amazingly enough, I was done packing the car barely an hour into naptime today!

I have 30 pre-made shirts and onesies (an assortment of Thanksgiving- and Christmas-themed, plus a couple of "stud muffin" onesies thrown in for good measure!), 6 "sample" shirts and onesies so I can display other designs I can offer, 4 nursing covers, 2 pillows, 4 vinyl pocket bibs, and 18 flannel burp cloth sets.  Whew!  Some of this is inventory from my Etsy shop, and some of it I made particularly for this fair.  Whatever doesn't sell this weekend I'll put in my Etsy shop so hopefully I can move it one way or another!  I also invested in a garment rack from Walmart...it was very reasonably priced and I love how it has wheels on it.  My hubby put it together last night in about five minutes.  :o)

Once I was done packing the car, I decided to try out a new design I've had in my head for awhile. 

I am thrilled with how it turned out!  I'm going to take it along with me to the craft fair; I'm hoping displaying this sample along with a football onesie and a baseball onesie will help catch the eye of prospective customers. :o)

At least this way I know I'll be prepared when March Madness comes around!  :o)

pinspired: painting with kool-aid

This morning my son and I tried a new idea I keep seeing on Pinterest...painting with Kool-aid!!  We experimented with both name-brand and store-brand.  :o)

I eyeballed a couple of tablespoons' worth of each flavor in the muffin tin, then attempted to instruct my almost three-year-old on proper painting technique (in this case, it's recommended they first dip their paintbrush in water, then in the Kool-aid powder).

My kid tends to stick with one color at a time....and at the moment finger-painting is out.  He doesn't mind getting messy, but he prefers paintbrushes right now.  I painted with the other colors to see how they turned out.

After he saw that, there was no turning back.

He usually ends up messing with the water when he paints, so after awhile the colors got a little diluted.  I did notice that the store-brand flavors (lemonade and grape) were less vibrant then.  But the name-brand flavors (cherry and lemon-lime) stayed pretty bright.  So it might be worth investing the 20 cents a packet for name-brand (as opposed to 12 cents for store-brand!).

So what's the verdict?

I think he likes it!

Pros:  Cheap.  Easy.  Vibrant colors.  Smells AMAZING.  

Cons:  Some colors dilute easily.  Might stain skin and/or clothing (my kid didn't use his hands to paint, but did get some on his face.  None of it got on his clothes from what I can see so can't make a call about how washable the Kool-aid is).  Since it smells good, some kids might want to eat it (which isn't terrible, but you'd have to teach them that not all paint is edible!).

All in all, we both really liked this activity and will definitely do it again!