Made in NH Expo 2017 Sunday March 26

The final day of the Made in NH Expo 2017 was full of tradition, a shuffle, a parade, revelers, and all participating in Manchester's local happenings.  Clark came to support his daughter, Laurel, in the Shamrock Shuffle and was dressed to the "kilt" and I want to thank them both for allowing me to take this wonderful photo.  I'm sure they'll be surprised to be the main pic for my blog.  Thank you Laurel and Clark!

My first sale of the day was another great couple, Kylie and Miles.  It made me feel pretty good when they came back to me after checking out the expo and bought this curly maple heart with an abalam heart inlay.  Abalam is abalone glued in thin epoxy layers and sold in small sheets and is very beautiful. Thank you Kylie and Miles!

Stacy's mom wanted to brighten her day by purchasing a heart for her,  another curly maple with abalam.  That would brighten my day.  Stacy was a good sport and came back to my booth to let me take her picture. Thanks Stacy!

I love how this backpack looks on Kathy's back!  It's one of my favorites (is anything not?) and it came out so well and sturdy.  The material, outside and inside, is a strong thickness to support the weight a larger backpack like this might hold.  Thanks Kathy for letting me take a picture of your back, ha ha! 

Heidi and I worked together to complete her purchases at the expo with gift bags of mine to put them in.  I make different lengths and knots in the cords that are the drawstrings on my bags and usually they very easily can be shortened and knotted differently.  So, she chose the bags and showed me on another bag what she wanted duplicated on her cords, she walked through the expo and in about 30 minutes, she was leaving with her purchase.  Thank you so much Heidi for giving me the chance to fix what you wanted.

Kris bought a few items including my decorated little ornament gourd.  I make full-size birdhouse gourd arrangements for the holidays and I wanted to stir up some interest in them by using the ornament gourds in my samples for the vendor bags/baskets distributed in the expos marketing campaign.  Thanks Kris!

I made my sample bags with as much variety as I could.  Each had 4 different fabrics comprising the outside pieces and linings.

The gourds were a variety of shapes.  I practically laugh when I look at them they're so cute.

Drew bought Emilie this bag, bright green velvet on the outside and navy velvet on the inside.  It feels special inside and out.  I try for the most part to make the bags feel special to reach into, sometimes maybe satiny and in this case velvety.  She used it at the expo to put a few items in as she walked around. Thanks Drew and Emilie!

John, Ann and Cheryl Lee

Ann came to my table and walked away, thinking to myself that she didn't care for my items, only to come back in a few minutes with John and Cheryl Lee.  She had a specific size bag in mind that she needed for just a few things and we rigged the cord to go around her wrist (light bulb for me!).  I love the bag with it's clear heart beading at the bottom. Cheryl Lee bought my last large rosewood heart with curly maple inlay heart and a rustic "love" dremeled and painted red.  After finishing those hearts, they developed a slight curve which is a great looking effect.  Thanks guys! 

Heidi was my last sale of the day and as she gives me the thumbs up I would send it right back at her for the truly fantastic Expo with all the Exhibitors, Entertainers, all the Extras that seemingly goes off without a hitch (there's a knack to that) and to sign off saying how proud I am to be in the expo and to say you never know what you may see.....interesting! 

Thanks Renee and Sage!

Made in NH Expo 2017 Saturday, March 25

The Made in NH Expo 2017 on Saturday was a great way to beat the raw weather and have a great time doing it! As usual, the variety of items and wonderful vendors from around the state was outstanding.  Between the items, the entertainment, the food and libations, there really was something for everyone.

As you can see, the attendance was incredible.  Great for all the vendors to display and sell their products, clearly shown here on the empty shelves of Shannon's Better Than Average jams, jellies and sauces.  Their delivery of restocking came shortly after the picture.  How great is that!

My neighbor vendor, Shannon, from Better Than Average and her empty, but soon to be restocked shelves.  It's a good thing....right?

Thank you Kerry for being so accommodating both days.

I was lucky for the 2nd year to be able to spread out to a larger space.  Thank you to the management at Events NH and to Kerry, the author of the Thomas Holland series of delightful books (as you can see his sign next to mine), he moved to aisle 300 and allowed me to expand.  I'm very grateful.

Lou, from the Hug Patrol seen in the background behind him, started off my day with a good luck.  Doesn't he look soooo interested in my items...good acting!  And they really do give warm hugs, it's very comforting.

Neighbor vendors make the long hours during the day so much more enjoyable.  As well as the wonderful people from the NH Ambassadors that allow breaks for the vendors working solo in the booths.

Helen is one of the many wonderful ambassadors helping us single vendors out. Thanks Helen!

Amy, from Gunther's Goodies, is a great neighbor vendor with a lot of helpful hints.

Across the aisle Becca, from Adorned by Becca, is back at the Made in NH Expo after a long hiatus.  I'm sure they're glad she came back.  

And then there are the GREAT customers!

I love photographing couples and Dawn and Jeff let me take their pic.  Dawn bought this tote bag mostly for the dragonflies.  Thanks Dawn!

Thanks to Cheryl, who bought one of my show special bags.

Also thanks to Killian (what a great Irish name!) who purchased this curly maple with abalam shamrock, of course, and thanks to his mom.

Cristin came to visit me at my booth and I goofed up on posting her picture in my holiday blogs last Christmas, so Thanks Cristin for letting me take your pic and post now.

Thank you Donna for reluctantly letting me take your picture.  I appreciate it and I think you look wonderful!

As usual I'm pressed for time, but I'll be blogging about today, Sunday's, day at the Expo and having so much fun just like the Wolfman!

The Wolfman from Clark's Trading Post was here again this year.  Looks menacing!

Made in NH Expo 2017

DiZigns  Made in NH Expo 2017  samples were delivered to Events NH/Millyard Communication's office yesterday, a bit late because of underestimating my hours of work, but the finished product is just what I wanted.  

My first step is perusing through fabric and choosing all the matches.  The samples given to MINH to be distributed along with other artisan samples to local businesses, etc., are so important to me.  It is my ultimate form of advertising.  One thing about my bags is that the actual, physical seeing and feeling of them is what really sells them.  So I take the opportunity to mix all 4 sides, outside and lining, with a different design to showcase as many types as I can.  When I make small bags/samples, I can use some of the many small pieces I have to mix and match and as I've shown above, some beautiful pieces.

Last year for MINH 2016, I wanted to show my hearts off as well as the bags, so I had a new idea for Pearl of my Heart gift bags.

Before this design, my hearts were all 3 inch size.  This small 1.5 inch heart opened a whole new door for me.

This year I wanted to showcase my decorating of gourds along with the bags, so I included a surprise!

I saw these ADORABLE little ornament gourds and thought it was perfect for me!  So, in every sample bag is a gourd.

I will have these little guys for sale at the expo.  I have been trying to perfect finishing the larger gourds I decorate similarly to withstand outside weather and be  used as birdhouses (or I may be making some feeders).  So, I have coated these with the waterproof finish that I came to use for the larger outdoor ones which gives them a great, glossy shine.  Then I decorated them with tiny, tiny things.....so cute.  As with my bags, I wanted people to see the gourds and then fall in love with them.    

I love all these crazy, slightly different shapes!!

More updates will follow in regards to the expo, and feel free to visit the website:

http://millyardcommunications.com/index.php?src=events&srctype=events_list_blurb

check out the vendors, different facebooks pages and if you want to get posts feel free to like the pages.  Also, if you are interested, I began my blogging at last years expo (my first one) and you can see some of the fun you can experience.  The blogging has carried on to every show for me and it makes the event even better.