My First Outdoor Market Season

I had always wanted to do the local farmer's markets and fairs but wasn't sure how my creations would sell at those venues. I limited myself to thinking my business was a craft show business even if I had the urges to expand to the spring/summer seasons. Well I took the dive this year. I found out that most of the popular markets start the application process back in February and March which is the end of my craft show season. By the time I looked into this in May, most of the markets were booked.

 I have managed to find a new market on Saturdays in Harmony, NJ. It is run by this extremely nice woman on her farm. There has been a different set of vendors each week since its start on June 1st. Most of them handmade vendors and artists which is nice to support each other. The struggle with this market is getting people there. Most people that stop by are looking for a flea market not handmade creations. I am going to give this market a few more weeks and if I am still not making at least my table money then I am going to have to say Good Bye.

On Sundays, I am at the Belvidere Farmer's Market (Belvidere, NJ). This is one that I debated on doing for quite a while because going to church is very important to Lily and I. One of my fellow church members approached me last week and asked me to give it a try. My only stipulation was that Lily still had to be in church so of course my church being the wonderful people they are made sure she was watched over in church. People really loved my soaps! My first day was a great day and I can't wait to go back this Sunday!

My biggest market this summer is the Warren County Farmer's Fair from July 27th through August 3rd. This is the market that I have always wanted to do but was afraid of having enough supplies and enough money for the table. The table is $180 for the week which is my largest fee of the season but worth it for the week. I have been going to this fair for the past 5 years with my family and there is always a large crowd no matter which day or what time. This is the one that scares me and excites me at the same time!

I don't have anything lined up for August yet because the large fairs, Musik Fest and Allentown Fair, start their application process well before I looked into it. I am excited about expanding my seasons to be a full year now and next year is going to be awesome!

The Struggle

As you can see I haven't blogged in days mainly because I have had some struggles going on in my life. Some of them family issues but most of them financial. I am having the hardest time keeping my daughter and I afloat which is a hard struggle for most single moms. I try my hardest to do the best that I can but sometimes it can feel like the best isn't enough. With bills piling up and my income being very little the past few months, I had to make the choice to pay some bills and not others. I have only been selling online for a short while with only a few sales, so one bill that I couldn't afford was my Etsy bill. I had listed over 250 items in my shop with only 4 sales which wasn't enough to pay the bill. I had just enough to pay my Handmade Artist monthly fee so that shop will stay open for the month of July. Please feel to stop by my shop on Handmade Artist: https://handmadeartists.com/shop/redshoeaffair

Thank you for all your support on my journey. 

Sixlets Candy are Gluten Free

As a kid, I loved candy especially anything chocolate. Well as an adult that hasn't changed much... ok not at all! Sixlets were a favorite when I was younger so when I saw these at Walmart in the Easter candy I knew that I had to put them in our Easter baskets. Yes at 31 I still get an Easter basket! As an adult I don't eat all the candy within a week, it is just a piece here and there. So now we are in June and I still have my Easter candy. Last night I got a craving for chocolate so I went to the Easter candy bag. When I saw that I had just one more pack of Sixlets. When I picked up the pack it caught my eye that it said gluten free. Not once, not twice but three times in bright letters it says GLUTEN FREE. This excites me because this is the first time I have seen a candy not in the special gluten free section that advertises it is Gluten Free. I guess it is time to keep my eyes open to more everyday foods that advertise they are gluten free at a responsible price not the inflated prices in the special Gluten Free section. Yummy Yummy Yummy!

In Need Of A Change

For almost a year now I have wanted to move away from the area that I grew up in but something has held me back. Everytime I begin to make my plans to move something has happened to prevent me from following my hearts desire of going some place where everyone doesn't know my name or my family. See I live in an area where I grew up, my parents grew up and my grandparents grew up so everyone knows everyone (for the most part) and I got out once but after I gave birth to Lily I moved back because I thought I needed the help. Now I am realizing I should have stayed away because I was happier being away. Lesson Learned that you can't change the past and wallowing in your sorrow doesn't help you today or in the future. So am sitting here biding my time until it is the right time for my big, amazing change. One day the chaos will subside and I will get to live out my dream of moving away and living some place new.

Have you ever wanted to do something different, change something but chaos held you back? 

Lily Dentist Appointment

No real posting today because Lily has a very important dentist appointment. She is getting a cap on one of her baby teeth. One of her classmates had gotten a cap a little while ago so she knows that she won't be the only one. The dentist has told her that she is getting a special princess tooth to help ease her fear. So in a short while she will be getting a special tooth so wish us luck!

DIY Kid's Summer Scrapbook

DIY Kid's Summer Scrapbook

Lily and I have lots and lots and lots of plans for this summer to have fun. She had asked to create a scrapbook but scrapbooking is expensive so I came up with this budget friendly way to record our fun each day this summer. The scrapbook is made from things I had laying around the house including a gift box top, stickers and ribbon. I want her to have a journal of what we do that she can look back when she is an adult and remember the fun times we had.... now my challenge is to make each day unique so we have something to write about in the scrapbook!

Materials:

Gift box top/bottom or cardboard that you can color

Stickers

Crayons/Markers

Paper (I used computer paper)

Ribbon

Scissors/Paper Cutter

Hole Punch

Directions

1. Cut the edges off gift box then cut in half and punch with the hole punch. (I used a 3 hole punch)

2. Trim your paper to fit your cover and punch holes in the paper

3. Decorate your cover. I used stickers I found when cleaning Lily's play area last week and since the A's were missing I used a crayon for the As in the word vacation.

4. Tie the ribbon into the scrapbook holes and your finished! Time to start to record your summer fun!!

Happy Father's Day to All the Single Moms

As a single mom, we play mom and dad everyday so why shouldn't we be recognized on Father's Day? We most definitely should! Not to take away from the dads out there that wonderful because I do have friends that are wonderful dads. Some single moms are by choice, some are forced into it by the father's choice and some are thrust into it by a horrible tragedy but at the end of the day we are still Single Moms that are Single Dads too. Single moms on a daily basis do the duty of both a mom and dad. We do all the cooking, all the cleaning, homework helper, bathtime, playtime, disciplinarian  and everything else a parent must do times 2. We also get the joys of the fun times that the dads don't get to experience like special cuddle time, boo boo kissing and special dates that only a mommy and child can have. So we play only be one single mommy but we are both mom and dad in action so Happy Father's Day to all the single mommies!

50% off Super Saturday Sale

In celebration of the kids having their last day of school after another successful year, I am having a 50% off sale with coupon code LastDay13 in my Etsy shop! Don't forget that for my blog readers I am offering free shipping in addition to my Super Saturday Sale with coupon code BlogLovers13. Since Etsy doesn't allow for multiple coupon codes at a time please leave the other code in the note to sellers and I will refund the difference. Have a great Saturday!!

Free Shipping for Blog Readers

Since life has been so busy this week with all the graduation activities, Lily's first dentist appointment and trying to find time to work and sleep, my poor blog readers have suffered with late posts or no post yesterday. So today, tomorrow and Sunday you can receive free shipping in my Etsy shop. If you live in the USA, Canada, France, Russia, China or anywhere else in the world you can receive free shipping with coupon code BLOGLOVERS13 which can be combined with my Super Saturday Sale!! 

I hope you all have a great day as summer approaches very quickly! 

Being an Artist is a Job Too!

Now that I am expanding into selling at outdoor markets, I am experiencing a different crowd of customers. This customer is looking for a good deal for the product that they are buying  while enjoying a nice day out. In this economy everyone is looking to save a dollar or ten which includes me. I love going to the outdoor markets to buy fresh fruit that is cheaper and better tasting then the imports at the grocery store. These customers are friendly and love to chat about what you are selling but then they want to negotiate the price of your product. Pricing and selling in person is so different then selling online because you are looking at your customer in the face. Even when I started selling at craft shows 6 years ago, I had a hard time selling to people in person because I was so afraid that people didn't want to pay my prices. 

I had a mentor that sat me down and gave me a lecture on how my skills are a job. My job deserved to be paid just like a cashier, construction worker, lawyer or anyone else that has skills that receive an income. Each of us that create our own items and sell those items are artist. We have rent or mortgages to pay, car payments, insurance payments, food to buy and more which entitles us to get paid just like everyone else. So don't lower your standards or underestimate your skills by under pricing your creations. It has been a long process for me to understand this and I hope that you do as well.  

Gluten Free Recipe Website

I came across Carla's Gluten Free Recipe Box while searching for recipes on Pinterest. Yes my latest obsession.... Pinterest. Well I fell in love with her website! All of the recipes are gluten free and free! You can find anything from drinks, breakfast, kid friendly, allergen free (nut free, lactose free etc), low fat, low sodium, holiday themed, vegetarian, international dishes and more! This is a gluten free gold mine! There is a recipe for everyone! 

I was really attracted to the vegetarian recipes because of Lily's choice of being a vegetarian. I haven't had a chance to try any of them out yet because we have been so busy with shows and other life ordeals but tonight I will be attempting one of her delicious recipes... now to pick one!

**Get Up and GO Update: With my week being so busy with shows, school ending and life I didn't have alot of time to work out but Lily and I took lots of walks. Also, I began using my stairs that go up to my studio to workout. Stairs kill my legs but are great for leg and butt toning! 

Lily's Kindergarten Graduation Day

Today is an exciting day in our house... it is Lily's Kindergarten Graduation Day!! She is so excited after a year of moving and switching schools, making new friends and learning lots of new things like reading, writing and math. After a summer of fun she will be moving onto First Grade!!

Here are pics of her day:

Being silly for the camera

Getting ready for Graduation

Laughing it up!

More Silly Faces

Receiving her Certificate

Hooray!

The Caterpillar she made in class

Getting ready for  the Ceremony to begin

The Life of a Single Mom

So I was going to take Sundays off but I feel like I need a day to talk about the life of a single mom. Life as a single mom has its ups and downs but most of all it is a learning process that every parent, every person can take something from each day. A single mom plays mom and dad, good guy and bad guy and friend and parent. Every day is a challenge when you try to find the path to be the perfect parent... the perfect single parent.  We have the challenges of disciplining our child/children, finding time to clean the house, play with our child/children, work and find a little bit of me time. Oh and don't forget time for a love life... haha! Each day also has its great moments like when we have cuddle time, the random I love You, craft time and making dinner together. So Sundays will now be dedicated to a little insight into my life as a single mom.  

Graduation Sale Today Only!

My Super Saturday Sale this week $10 off $20 or more! You can get up to 50% OFF your total!! In honor of my sister graduation High School this week and Lily graduating Kindgarten on Monday the code is GRADUATION13

Come find a great graduation gift for your graduate!! 

A Cat Like Curiosity Blog Giveaway

Hey Everyone and Happy Friday! This is the blog post from A Cat-Like Curiosity Blog in which my Black and White Show Your Love Handbag is being given away! Please enter to win that or many other amazing prizes!!

Hey there people and Happy Thursday to you! I hope you're having a great day, wherever in the world you may be.

Today is the day for my Curiously Gorgeous Giveaway for June! SO exciting. I have lots of lovely prizes up for grabs and there will be a winner for each prize! My lovely sponsors have been very generous in their giveaway items and I have joined in too. There will be eleven winners altogether - just because I love to spread the giveaway love as far and as wide as I can :) So just enter the individual rafflecopters for  a chance to win each prize :)

So, let's get our party on people - here are my lovely sponsors giveaway prizes for you (just click on the pics to visit their stores/blogs):

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No rafflectoper for me - just leave me a blog post comment telling me something that's making you happy right now :)

Giveaway is open from 6th June until 10th June. Good luck everybody!!

Belly Ache Day

As you can see by my title today, I am taking a bit of a sick day. With IBS I never know when my belly is gonna act up and give me problems which today is one of those days. Part of it is the stress of my show last night that ended up being a flop. Never good on the body when you put many of hours into preparing for a show that doesn't amount to much of anything. So I am going to try and relax for the day. 

Have a great day and smile :)

Meagan

Faith Over Fear Inspirational Wednesday

This wall plaque was recently given to me because it was my colors without realizing I also collect quotes. I love quotes because words are so strong. Words can change a person's life. You can read something and smile, cry, become angry or be inspired to do something great!

The quote "Let your Faith be bigger than your Fear." is something that speaks to me because being a single mom that works for herself is a scary thing. The days that I have doubts about what I am doing, I just keep faith in God and in myself that I am doing the best that I can do for myself and for my daughter. Faith is not just having faith in God which most people think when they hear that word. Faith can be in anything you believe bigger then yourself. Faith can be in other people. Faith can be in yourself which is something you should always possess because you are wonderful!

So go through your day having faith that you are doing the best you can for you and let go of your fears. 

Van's Gluten Free Blueberry Waffles and A Free Workout Website

Today on the Gluten Free Food review is Van's wheat-gluten free blueberry waffles! What is easier then popping in a couple of frozen waffles to eat in the morning? Eating those yummy gluten-free waffles! This is an easy thumbs up from me. I love blueberry waffles and pancakes so I am quite critical but the taste was really good. Not to much blueberry and no gritty texture that I seem to get with most gluten-free products. My only complaint was the it took a little longer to toast then my frozen setting on my toaster which I am glad I felt them before adding my syrup topping. I suggest that if you like blueberries then you should try these!

Now for the Get Up & Go weekly update!

This past week went really well. I have been getting my butt outta bed at 6am which is a HUGE thing for someone that is a night owl! I haven't been able to really walk as much as I wanted to but it was difficult to breathe outside with 90 degree weather. I did find a free workout website that has over 100 workout videos from cardio to Pilates to much more. The website is Fitness Blender and the videos are from a 1 (easy) difficulty to 5 (kick your butt) difficulty. I have really enjoyed the Pilates workouts so far. I have ordered a dance workout dvd through Netflix that I will be trying out later in the week. I hope you are all living healthy and getting up to GO GO GO!