Well…. I have been so busy and there are many things to catch up on!

 First of all the mermaid girls headed up to CHA last month to hunt for new products and creative ideas for our classes and DIY event, we all were super excited and inspired! We met up with Beth Livesay from Stampington for lunch and she gave us the newest issues of Altered Couture and Apronology!

 Deb Hodge cover girl that she is ….her beautiful white cotton dress and matching apron was selected for the cover of Apronology! It is devine! and Rita Reade was also featured you can see her dreamy tea stained flea market apron inside the pages of Apronology too!

 On the way home from Anaheim I got a phone call from HGTV’s Design Star! ( thats a whole other story that you can read about on my personal blog.. http://debisdesigndiary.blogspot.com/)

After our trip to Anaheim we came back and brainstormed  for our next Mermaid Mercantile.

Our theme was DIY and we had classes in progress, craft supplies for sale and lots of demos!

Lisa Loria was painting on vintage wig heads, Rita Reade was teaching  some gals how to solder a vintage bottle. Gina was stamping antique silverware into glorious pendants,  Erin was wire wrapping,  Nicki and Kimberly were needle felting and I was teaching some lovely ladies how to make seashell letters and  a seashell tiara. Just look at their faces… don’t they look happy! I had never taught a class before so this was really a fun and rewarding experience for me!

Oh and did I mention that a week before our show we were notified that we would be photographed for Somerset life???? So there we were…. the sun was shining,  Jack was playing his guitar, and all of my talented artist were busy teaching and selling their magnificent handicrafts while Claire was taking hundreds of pictures of all the glorious goodies for sale.

 Laina had racks and racks of vintage clothing ,  there were oodles and oodles of the best hand made jewelry you have ever seen , handpainted cowboy boots, tempting hand made chocolates from Vonnie, Pam’s hand stictched pillows, the cutest cupcake aprons ever by Melissa Robinson, Kimberly made an apron from recycled mens ties… this apron was so cool I wanted to wear it like a dress! Rachel had vintage Barbie and sewing supplies, Tricia had the coolest crown and cameo wall hangings that would be perfect in my living room why I shoulda bought the pink and black one with the pom poms?…. I need it! Linda hand a booth full of repurposed furniture, Val Hebert came to us for the firsrt time with her to-die-for  felted sweaters pillows and goodies and there was more lots and lots more!

To top everything Beth and her crew of darling friends show up to shop, mingle with us and pull new goodies for Stampington! I had been telling Beth all about my talented group for months and to see all of their happy faces as they got a chance to show their work was a priceless moment for me. If you don’t already know this, I love handmade and especially handmade combined with vintage or repurposed materials. All of my vendors work with their hands to suport their families. when somthing is purchased from The Mermaid Mercantile you are supporting families and locally made, recycled art.

Beth went back to Stampington with all kinds of good stuff that we hope to see in up coming issues!

We will all get to see what they decide to publish this fall.

If thats not all… My issue of Porch arrived the day before our event.. Polly featured the Mermaids! If you have not ordered your copy of Porch you can do so at http://porch-magazine.blogspot.com/ this  is beautiful magazine created by people who want to highlight handmade and vintage treasures. So many great photos! Thank you Polly! 

Thanks to all of you who came, took classes and shopped! We had twice the turnout! It was so great to see all of you and meet new faces! We have some really exciting plans for our next show on March 28TH stay tuned!

Sincerely,

Debi