The Saint Anthony Park Fair...The Real Deal

Well, here we are at the fair. The rain has not yet arrived. The booth looks similar but we have nice new Katsui banners with washi paper letters at the front of each table, a few new lanterns and some lanterns hanging on trees outside of the tent, which lent a welcoming feeling. One serendipitous bit of decoration were the trees that were pressed against the roof. They lent a translucent Oriental feeling that was quite magical. The vases were also lined with washi paper. I am obviously fond of washi paper. It is so beautiful and almost like cloth.

Ah friends! What would we do without them? They gathered near our booth to chat and the rain did not keep them away. They pitched in to help with any need, brought us food and hot coffee and even bought our jewelry! We felt well taken care of.

I got on a Frida kick. Here she is, adorned with copper, gold baroque pearls, and turquoise rondelles.

And here she is donned in tropical splendor. I added some crocheted flowers, some vintage plastic flowers and assorted vintage fruit, moon glow beads and vintage German glass beads. 

I was really pleased with the way this bracelet turned out. Simple and elegant. It sold right away. It has a piece of vintage rhinestone jewelry superimposed on a Victorian steel-cut belt buckle. The chain was a handsome vintage "scroll" chain. I need to do some research and find out what this kind of chain is called. I wish I had more. Time to go estate-saling!

We made gathered flowers out of a stack of cool vintage fabric that we recently acquired. We like to offer things at all price levels and we sold these for $5.00

By now, things are getting a little chaotic. Each year, I wire glass, plastic and wood charms for children and sell them for two dollars each. I give them a free metal ball chain to hang them on with each purchase.  Isn't that the deal of the century? The little kids love them but the funniest thing is the young teenage girls. They come to buy them in droves! I swear we made a hundred dollars in two dollar sales. I initially put them all at the back of this table...big mistake. They kept migrating forward and sitting on the flowers!

And here I am, putting finishing touches on a few things as we are opening. Or maybe I am just sitting while everyone else works! At the front of the table is a huge bowl of candy for the little kids (and big kids). When it rained, the remaining half bowl was a gooey mess. Into the garbage they went!

I love doing the fair, and our annual holiday open house, but I am not sure I could do the whole fair circuit. So, we will just have to move our things to our Etsy store as soon as we have photographs. We will keep you in touch. 

-Suz