From the Alley to the Marketplace

Hey Y’all,

I am writing to y’all with a mixture of emotions. I am glad, thankful, amazed, and dumbfounded. Yes, all those feelings at once. How can that be? Well, let me start a the beginning.

As many of you know we had a booth at Oak Alley this past weekend for their spring arts and crafts festival. (For those who want to know more about the plantation .... https://www.facebook.com/oakalleyplantation.)

We had spent a couple of weeks getting ready for the two day show, our first two day show! As the weekend approached we watched the weather closely, as we always do leading up to a show. We had originally planned to set up on Friday but had a change of plans. Very poor weather was predicted for Friday night .... wind and rain. Way too much for us to feel comfortable setting up on Friday afternoon. We decided to wait and leave early on Saturday morning to set up and prepare for the day of shopping.

We arrived at the beautiful plantation around 7:00 AM and were disappointed to find out we could not park in the vendor parking because it was too wet. Once we got to the grounds ... boy were we in for a surprise! Talk about WET and MUDDY!! Oh, NO! We ended up with a big sloppy mess. On Saturday shoppers were abandoning shoes to go barefoot. Yes, mud squishing between their toes and all. Oh, we determined that holding your arms out like bird wings and tiptoeing does not help your feet stay cleaner, nor does it keep you from sinking in the mud! It just makes you look silly! LOL

We quickly learned that we just had to work with what we had and what we had was mud. BUT we also had the most important fashion item you can have in that situation .... rubber boots! We were wishing we had a booth up front selling rubber boots because we could have made a killin’. Seriously. Many shoppers would have given their eye teeth for rubber boots!

To Oak Alley’s credit, they had their grounds crew out spreading mulch throughout the walk ways. They worked from 6:00 AM - 11:00 PM on Saturday spreading mulch. They got back on the job spreading mulch on Sunday at 6:00 AM. They worked like dogs the whole day. We greatly appreciated their hard work and expressed our thanks that day on numerous occasions.
Of course there were some “Negative Nellies”--there are always a few in every crowd--who wanted to vent to everyone in earshot, expressing their displeasure and disdain concerning the grounds. I am dumbfounded that they thought their negativity would get the mulch out any quicker. :( We did our best to ignore their negativity and stay positive for our sakes mostly, and for those around us. We decided it was what it was and we were not in control of the weather nor getting the grounds in a better state.

We know Oak Alley did not want the grounds muddy any more than the rest of us. I am sure they wanted everyone to have a pleasant experience. The few people I got to meet from the Oak Alley plantation were polite, friendly and helpful even in the middle of a trying situation.

We had an awesome time. We made some new friends, go to see some “new” friends from Frisco Fest at the San Francisco Plantation in Garyville, Louisiana, had some great food. Oh, I forgot to mention the food booths. The food was so good. And this is coming from the pickiest eater in our family. I had the crab cake on a bun with the sauce. It was so delicious I had it on both Saturday and Sunday! The Oak Alley pralines are divine! Dh had some sausage from the booth with the German food and said it was very good. He had the fried fish combo on Sunday and said it was delicious. Dd, the girl that she is, stuck with a burger and fries. The burger was more than she could eat!

Loading up after this show took about 3 times longer than normal due to havign to park so far away. We were so tired lst night we were almost sick. This morning when I turned on my radio I was so relieved .... Lifesongs radio in New Orleans (www.lifesongs.com) was having praise and prayer request day. It was so uplifting to hear some positivity going on ... not being positive just to be positive but because God is at work in our lives!! Yeah! He is in control, and thank God it’s not ME in control! LOL

Our plans are to go back to Oak Alley. We hope to see you there in the fall! We are praying and hoping for better weather but only God is in control of that!

I spent some time today gathering supples I need to work on more coasters. I have a big order to fill for a local gift shop. Plus I need to replenish for Southdown Marketplace in a couple of weeks. I had to get tiles, ribbon, felt pads, ink and much more. Oh, the goodies I have to play with now!! :)

I am looking forward to meeting and visiting with our customers and our neighboring vendors at Southdown. I hope to see you there on Saturday, April 12. https://www.facebook.com/SouthdownMuseum

God Bless,
Cindy

Weddings and Gifts

Spring is officially here and summer will be here before we know it. We all know that this means weddings! You are sure to find those gifts for the upcoming wedding season at Custom Coasters by Cindy. Brides love to receive a personalized gifts and any of the items I design can be personalized for the happy couple. Most designs can take a monogram and/or their wedding date.

Brides are also looking to give unique gifts to their wedding party. I work with brides to accomplish this. One idea is to order a set of 4 coasters and a trivet that matches or coordinates with each other and give this as a gift to each attendant. Several designs will work for both female and male attendants.

I am also able to work out a design for wedding favors to give to each person attending the wedding. As wedding favors, one design can be applied to coasters so that each guest in attendance receives one coaster as a wedding favor to take home to remember the special occasion.

The happy couple may want to order specially designed thank you gifts for their parents or for each other to commemorate the day.

Please give enough advance notice to work out a design and to have it ready for your big day, whether ordering for your wedding party, wedding favors, or for parent/bride/groom gifts. Pricing varies so please ask for a free quote.

Blessings,
Cindy

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Hello Y’all,

I hope this turn toward the Spring season, and actual springlike weather has you excited! Many of us are turning thoughts toward outside project–yard, garden, spring cleaning and outdoor fix up’s around the house. That is a good thing. However, we don’t want to be all work and no play!! LOL

How about planning a weekend getaway at Oak Alley next weekend? On Saturday and Sunday, March 29-30, Oak Alley is hosting it’s 2014 spring arts and crafts festival. Here is a link with more information: http://www.oakalleyplantation.com/spring-arts-crafts. There is a small admission fee but I believe it’s well worth it.

At Oak Alley I will have some items geared toward those “spring fever” thoughts, some items geared toward Easter, and of course, we cannot forget about our favorite teams, LSU and the Saints. Draft day for the NFL is coming up early in May. You want to have a reminder of your beloved Saints right there on your table, desk, or dresser all year long!

Of course I’ll ample other designs to choose from if these themes do not suit your fancy ... fleur de lis, travel, Paris, flourishes, cowboy boots and hats, tractors, Indian Motorcycle, and more. Many have a vintage theme or classic design that will work with most any decor.

Administrative Assistant’s Day is Wednesday, April 23. Flowers wilt and lunch or chocolates are soon eaten and forgotten. Recognize your administrative assistant with something that lasts year after year.

We know that the end of the school year brings plenty of gift giving occasions and you want to have those gifts on hand as they arise. What occasions do you have coming up?

The end of the school year means teacher appreciation. This includes your child’s school teacher, piano/voice or other music teacher, sport coach, tutor, etc. Don’t fall into the trap of giving another “themed” gift to the teacher based on his or her subject matter ... an apple-, sport- or music-themed gift is old news. Give a unique gift that your child’s teachers and tutors will treasure for years to come.

Graduation time is approaching as well. Surely you’ll be recieing graduation announcements in the mail. You will want to commemorate the graduate’s special day with a unique gift. Why write a check or give cash when you an give a present they will long remember and treasure?

Our products work well at housewarming and hostess gifts. The end of the school year is a common time for families to move or host parties. Treat your hosts to something special, something to celebrate with long after their special event is over. When your friends or family upgrade their home, you’ll want to help fill that space with love by giving them a gift that is pretty and practical.

Start your spring gift-giving list now and visit me at Oak Alley or my website at www.customcoastersbycindy.com. You’ll find the perfect gift and make someone happy! As always, locals in the Houma/Thibodaux/Morgan City area can call me at 985-381-3154 to arrange local pick up or delivery.

Sincerely,
Cindy

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Crafting Good Time

Hello everyone! I wanted to report that we had a good day yesterday at Frisco Fest in Garyville, Louisiana! Saturday we were there for 8:15 and the show began at 9:00 AM. At the end of the day we left at 5:00 PM, all secured and ready for more work today. However, the rain we had last night was more than the property could take, at least for a craft show. It was a slosh pit! LOL

We found out when we returned this morning (Sunday) that for the first time since Frisco Fest began, it was a rain out today. We immediately began packing our stuff, fortunately nothing was damaged. It was all washable and many things just needed to be air dried. We were able to spread out everything and it will be good to go. Of course everything will be double checked for quality and make sure it is top notch before our next show.

It was our first time at Frisco Fest and we had an enjoyable Saturday there. Saturday seemed to have a slow start but things began to pick up around lunch. The weather cooperated wonderfully as well. We were overcast a good bit of the day which provided some welcome relief from the sun. The temperature was not too hot, not too cold.

Craft show season here in south Louisiana is cranking up, Frisco Fest being our 2nd so far this season. I am not sure about the rest of the country but not too many people plan craft shows here in the summer ... too much of the 3 H’s .... heat, humidity, hurricanes! LOL August and September are our most active hurricane months so we have to be aware of the added risk when planning events, or planning to attend events, during those months.

Last year we did about 8 or so craft shows. We have enjoyed them and have gotten down a system for packing/unpacking. There is quite a learning curve when beginning a new adventure, including working as a vendor at craft shows. We learned today, too, even though we have been doing this just over a year ... bring some “Pierre” boots. LOL That is what I call rubber knee boots, often called “shrimp” boots down here in south Louisiana. Often shrimp boots are white but, of course, being a girl I have to dress them up a bit. My Pierre boots have leopard spots. (I got mine at Joe’s Boots in Houma, in case you’re wondering. They have other designs as well.) We also decided we need slickers. We were blessed today that we packed during a lull in the rain. I am sure our time is coming where we have to pack in the rain ... we’ll be ready with our rain boots and slickers when Murphy’s rule comes to roost! LOL

I had some very nice neighbors at Friso Fest, Michael’s Pickles. They had some very good cranberry pepper jelly. It was very tasty. If you ever see them at a craft show or see their products at a grocery store, check them out on face book at Michael’s Pickles. Oh, they will be at Oak Alley in a couple of weeks!

We have 2, possibly 3 more craft shows we plan to attend this spring. We are looking forward to them and LOVE meeting our customers and fellow vendors. It is fun to work solo in my studio at my Creation Station but I am thankful to get out and do a crafter’s version of a meet and greet, craft shows! :)

I hope you’ll come out to our next craft show in a couple of weeks at Oak Alley. The great folks from Michael’s Pickles were telling me about their awesome experience there last fall and boasted about how it was a quality event. I hope to see you there!

In the meantime check out my faceobok page at www.facebook.com/customcoastersbycindy or my website at www.customcoastersbycindy.com.

Blessings,
Cindy