I'm about to get a little Polly Anna here for a moment, so forgive me. Participating in this craft fair was a little emotional for me. Seeing people wearing "Not My President" t-shirts and "Nasty Woman" t-shirts made me tear up a little bit and it made me feel really lucky to live in a city where so many people share the same views I do about our president elect.

The other great thing about doing a big craft fair like this is seeing people's reactions to my work. Seeing people smile and laugh is really one of the best things about doing this. I am alone for most of my day and there is very little human interaction. To see a person's face light up and a smile cross their face validates my reasons for drawing and painting the things that I love to create.



This really sweet 9 year old girl came to my table. She picked up my sloth hugs card and let out a quiet squeal. She then saw that I had a print of it. She picked it up and gave it a hug! She looked at her dad with the biggest brown eyes I've ever seen and needless to say, he bought it for her. Seeing things like that just make my heart smile so much.

It's more than just the customers too. Seeing people that I've done this craft fair with for years is always so nice. Giving hugs and catching up is something that I always love. Especially after the year we've all had. I felt a lot of love at this last Crafty and it made me feel a little better about the upcoming year and our current political climate.

At the end of the weekend over 20,000 people came and I broke another sales record! I'd like to say thanks to everyone who came out and supported local artists and makers. I really hope I'm accepted again next year. Fingers crossed.

Okay, Pollyanna moment is over. Thanks for bearing with me with that!

I've been taking some time off since Crafty Wonderland, and it's been great! I've been busy wrapping gifts and doing Christmas shopping and really just enjoying the holiday season. I'm so grateful that I can do this. I remember working retail for many years and it was so hard for me to really take this in. Being in my feet all day, was terribly exhausting and it kind of made me dislike the holidays. I'm so happy I work for myself now and I can take a few days off.

I have been working on shipping my Etsy orders and I've gotten a couple of commissions this past week. I worked on 13 year old Gus last weekend. It's for a lovely lady's parents who are just in love with their little old pug. He's not doing very well so she wanted to give her parents something really special to help remember him when he's no longer around.

I like the texture of this portrait. The grass is made up of little brushstrokes of different colors of green. The flowers were really watery paint that I kept adding blues and pinks to.
I hope they like it and I hope that Gus gets to live many more years with them.