Meet The Vendor: Tamara Schellenberg of Big Woof Biscuits

Here is a little bit about Big Woof Biscuits from Tamara:

We love our pets, and we want to give them the very best things we can. Unfortunately not all food manufacturers have the same goals. That is why I started making my own treats for dogs. I use only ingredients I would eat and feed to my family... Because my dogs ARE my FAMILY.

I can tell you that these are always a big hit at Craftacular. Come pick up some goodies for your pooch on Saturday, November 5 between 9 and 2.

#durhamdogs #durham #pets #SWE #pta #NC #Dogtreats #handmade #shoplocal

Meet The Vendor: Lamesha Bilal of MeMe's Cakes & Pastries LLC

Guess what time it is! It's time to Meet The Vendor! 

MeMe's Cakes & Pastries LLC is a home based bakery that offers a variety of products. From cakes, custom cookies, cake pops and more. My name is Lamesha Bilal. I started my business 3 years ago and I'm based in South Durham. I take pride in offering the freshest products without adding any preservatives and also use high quality ingredients. We cater to all celebrations.
Thank you

Ok, those look delicious! Come and check them out on Saturday, November 5 between 9 and 2 at Southwest Elementary School in Durham, NC!

#craftfair #durham #drm #Vendor #handmade #shoplocal

Meet the Vendor: Barbara and Brian Nick of Nana's Attic

Hi All!!! It's that time again. Please give a warm hello to 2 of our returning vendors.

Hello.  My name is Barbara Evans Nick.  My grandchildren and great-grandchildren call me Nana, hence, Nanalove.  My husband, Brian Nick, and I own Nana’s Attic and make handcrafted things.  At the moment we only prepared with our jewelry, earrings, bracelets, watches, rings and necklaces.  I also make paper beads and some of our pieces are made using these beads.  Making paper beads is addicting but so much fun.

By the spring we hope to have expanded our inventory to include, handmade greeting cards, journals, mini books made of tile, soap and anything else that uses lots of color.

We hope you will visit us at Southwest’s Craftacular.  Its great fun and just might find some Christmas gifts for family and friends.  

See you there.

Warm hugs,

Barbara & Brian Nick

Nana’s Attic

bigganana@aol.com

Necklace made with handmade paper beads!

Winter bracelet on memory wire.

Just a few of the handmade earrings you will find for sale.

If you are interested in being an artist or vendor at Craftacular you will find all the forms here: http://www.swepta.com/craft-fair.html
#craftfair #craftacular #jewelry #paperbeads #handmade  #durham #NC #PTA

Headed Back With Craftacular 4!!!!!

The powers that be have decided that Southwest Elementary School in good ol' Durham, NC will INDEED hold yet another Craftacular Craft and Vendor Fair. It will take place on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016 from 9am to 2pm.
If you are interested in a table you can click here: Registration.  You can also click there to volunteer at the craft fair.
We want to make our 4th annual CRAFTACULAR the best yet. Tell your friends. Tell your neighbors. Tell people that you pass on the street.
As always booth rental goes directly to our school's PTA as do all the proceeds from the drawing that we hold each year at the craft fair.

You will find us at 2320 Cook Rd., Durham, NC near Fayetteville St.

Meet the Vendor: Holly Adkisson- Happy Skull Crochet

It's time to introduce you to another face you will be seeing at this year's Craftacular Craft & Vendor Fair.

My name is Holly and I'm not your typical stay at home mom.  I'm the quintessential nerd.  I love sci-fi and fantasy and spent a huge chunk of my life with my nose buried in a book. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I was discouraged by the lack of nerdy baby clothes and toys. Princesses were everywhere, but nerdy stuff was virtually nonexistent. So I set out to create my own. I am determined to provide nerdy stuff for all ages.  You may ask, why "Happy Skull Crochet"? The name reflects my love of skulls.  I've never thought they were scary.  They always look like they're smiling. As a seller of hats, I also guarantee my nerdy hats will make your skull happy!

I am excited about the craft fair! I'm going to have tons of stuff, including Pokemon inspired hats and key chains, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle inspired key chains, Link inspired hats, a whole line of hats inspired by Harry Potter, and much more!  Stop by my booth and get a coupon code to use online!

Check out my website here:
www.happyskullcrochet.etsy.com

Like me on Facebook to keep up with my current projects, happenings, and giveaways!

God Bless!
Holly Adkisson
HappySkullCrochet

Tell me your kids aren't gonna love these! I know mine will.

Keep It Local, Folks.

So, the beauty of an event like the Southwest Elementary School's 3rd Craftacular Craft & Vendor Fair is that it gives us as a community the opportunity to support local and independent businesses. Each person that has a table at the craft fair is some one trying to support themselves and or their family in some way. They are artists, crafters, food vendors and independent consultants. They work hard at what they do; be it creating something from nothing or promoting a product they truly believe in. 

Each person has their own reason for doing this. For some, it's about making a little extra fun money. For others it's a way to support their families. Their work helps put food on the table while often times allowing them a schedule that allows them to stay home with children or another that may need their help. Whatever the reason, they work hard at what they do.

Countless hours are put into building their business. Time spent promoting themselves, their art or their product online. Not too mention creating art or displays for shows. Time is spent talking to people. They spend time talking to themselves, convincing themselves that they can do this, that others DO value their work. 

I know this because I am one of these people. I have bounced between selling my own art as well as being an independent consultant for a direct sales company. For me, I get the most joy out of creating and sharing my own work. It's just what works for me. I know how hard it is to suck it up and put yourself out there. I know how quickly the wind can go out of your sails when a show does poorly but I also know the buzz you get when a show goes well, when your items are selling or at least getting oohed and ahhed over. I know the sweat, tears and stress that goes in to this.

Because of this I want to make this show the best show it can be for all those involved. Support local and in doing so help support your community and our school.

I hope you will fill up your cars and trucks with all of your family and friends and take the time to come out and see us on Nov. 21, 2015. It means a lot to a lot of people. It means a lot to me.

I shall hop off my soap box now and leave you with this:

Meet The Vendors: Bags By Betty 54

Now comes my favorite part of the blog, introducing you all to the people who will have tables at Craftacular Craft & Vendor Fair. Today I would love for you to meet Betty & Danielle of Bags By Betty 54!

Hi everyone! We are looking forward to being a vendor at the upcoming Craftacular in November! We are busy working on new items to have at the sale but wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves to you!
Our shop name is called BagsByBetty54. We have a shop on Etsy and will also be on the new Handmade by Amazon which will be launching this fall. You can find our shop at: www.etsy.com/shop/bagsbybetty54 
The shop is named for my mom; Betty; who lives in Michigan. I'm her daughter, Danielle, and I live in Burlington, NC. My mom loves to sew and quilt. She creates everything you see in the shop. I handle all of the shipping, communications, and shop setup. She comes to visit us in NC about every 6 weeks because I have a 3-year old daughter that she loves to spoil and play with! We both love to travel and visit Florida and Disney World as often as we can! We sell baby toys and quilts, table runners, casserole carriers, and purses. Everything is one-a-kind and cannot be replicated. This makes for a very unique, special handmade gift. We are looking forward to meeting you all in November at the craft fair!
Thank you!
Betty & Danielle

I hope you will all stop by their shop and check them out. There is some REALLY cute stuff there. Also make sure to stop by and say hi on November 21 at SWE's 3rd Craftacular Craft & Vendor Fair!

I'm So Excited And I Just Can't Hide It!

I am getting so excited! Every day when I get the kids home from school we check the mail and a little cheer goes up as the kids announce how many envelopes there are that say SWE PTA Craft & Vendor Fair on them. I love it! I love the response we are getting.
If you have been thinking of joining us as a vendor keep in mind that space rental goes up on October 1. Right now a single 8 x 10 space is only $35 on October 2 that same space will be $45. If you are a parent of a Southwest student you get a $5 discount.
Although spaces are filling up we still have some room. Please share with anyone you know that might be interested. Every space we rent is money that goes directly to our PTA and school. Plus, every space we rent is another vendor donating a prize to our raffle! That's good news for EVERYBODY!!

http://www.swepta.com/craft-fair.html

Things Are Starting to Get Real

Things are really starting to fall into place for this year's Craftacular! We are starting to get a ton of inquiries about spots for the craft fair. This year should definitely prove to be the best one of all. If you know of ANYONE who would like to participate in this year's Craftacular Craft & Vendor Fair have them contact us at swecraftacular@yahoo.com or send them directly to the website http://www.swepta.com/craft-fair.html. We are accepting applications for artists, crafters, entertainers and direct sales companies. All the money earned from the renting of spaces goes directly to Southwest Elementary School's PTA to be used for all sorts of things that the school desperately needs.
Another way we make money at the craft fair is through a bucket raffle that we hold during the event. Each of the vendors offers a prize to be raffled off. Raffle tickets are $1 each OR, our more popular option, $20 for your age in tickets. It's a lot of fun and we always have some wonderful prizes.
Keep watching this spot. Shortly I will start featuring vendors so that you can see exactly who will be selling there wares this year.

Tell your friends!!!!

Check This Out!

So, I have created a fun new flyer for this year's Craftacular! Here it is:

We would love it if you shared this with anyone in the area that may be interested in having a booth at our craft & vendor fair. Booth spaces start at just $35! You can get a $5 discount if you have a kiddo at SWE.
You may also notice that you can color this sheet or have your little people color it and then post it to your favorite social media site with the #SWECraftacular. You can also share it directly on our Facebook page which is right HERE.
Would love to see what you come up with.
If you want a link to the forms and FAQs you can do that HERE.


Thanks in advance for sharing and helping us get the word out.

Book Harvest

Book Harvest will be joining us at SWE PTA's Craftacular Craft & Vendor Fair on Saturday, Nov. 15 from 9 to 2. If you live in the Durham area and are not familiar with Book Harvest you should be. It is a great organization dedicated to getting new and gently used books into the hands of kids from low-income families who may not otherwise have access to books in their own homes. These kids are even given the chance to choose what books they want for themselves. The books aren't chosen for them. This can give a kid a real sense of power and an eagerness to read what they, themselves have picked out.
Book Harvest has a variety of programs available to help disperse the books. They have Book Babies, Books on Break and Community Book Banks. You can find out more about these programs HERE. The thing is, they actually need books to be able to GIVE books. If you have them, feel free to bring your gently used children's books with you to the Craftacular event to donate to Book Harvest. They take books of all reading levels as they give books to kids of all ages.
This is truly a great way to help out the community right here in Durham.
Stop by the Craft Fair and say hello!

We Love Our Libraries!

I love libraries. I think they are wonderful places. They give people chances to read things they may not be able to otherwise. I know I couldn't afford to buy all of the books my kiddos and I are interested in. It's very important for kids to have access to books of all sorts to help inspire that love of reading. While you are visiting SWE PTA's Craftacular Craft & Vendor Fair on Saturday, Nov. 15 from 9am to 2pm, please stop by the table that will be set up by the Southwest Regional Library and check out what your Durham County Library has to offer people of all ages.
Here is a link you can check out if you are too excited to wait until Nov. 15 to see their offerings.
http://durhamcountylibrary.org/location/southwest/

Meet The Vendor!

This is where I get to introduce you to some of the vendors that we will have at our SWE PTA's Craftacular Craft & Vendor Fair that will be happening on Saturday, November 15, 2014 from 9am to 2pm at 2320 Cook Rd. in Durham not far from Southpoint Mall.
The next vendor you will meet is ME! I am Cheryl. I am an Independent Consultant for Jamberry Nail Wraps.
First a bit about myself.

That's me with my rug rats. They attend Southwest Elementary School where the fair will take place. They love the school and their parents (that's my husband and I) love the school. That's why I feel that events such as this are important. The money earned goes back to the school to help with programs and items that directly affect my little beasties.
As for Jamberry, I started selling it to help make some money for my little family. I had never thought about Direct sales before. Well, I thought about it I just didn't think it was for me. A friend introduced me to Jamberry Nail Wraps, which are these cool vinyl sicker like things that you apply to your nails with heat and pressure, and I was hooked after trying them. These things can last for almost 2 weeks on  your fingers and 4 to 6 on your toes. You don't need any special equipment. A hairdryer will do.
Here is a link to my website: http://cnavalinsky.jamberrynails.net/

Make sure to check me out at Craftacular. I will be having a drawing at my table AND you can find out how to host your own party at home or on Facebook.

And the Applications Begin

I am so happy to say that we already have applications coming in via our PayPal site. I am really excited about this year's event. I can NOT wait to see what wonderful items will be available.
One of the things that we do at the Craftacular Craft and Vendor Fair that is a big hit is our raffle. Each vendor will be supplying an item for the raffle. Last year there were some amazing things on that table. Again, money earned in the raffle goes right back into the school.
Stay-tuned because I will soon be gathering bios of our vendors so you can meet them before the event and plan your shopping list accordingly.

If you are interested in joining us as an artist or a vendor you can find all if the forms here: http://swepta.weebly.com/craft-fair.html

We Need Artists & Vendors!

Please join us for this amazingly fun event we have planned as a fundraiser for our school. We have learned a lot from last year's fair and can't wait for you to join us this year to make it even bigger and better!
If you are interested Click HERE for all the forms that you will need.
Please note that any direct sales companies such as Avon, Mary Kay, Tupperware, etc. will be limited to ONE representative based on a first come/ first serve basis.
And, just in case you are wondering, we already have a Thirty-One representative.

As we receive applicants I will feature artists and vendors right here on this blog.

We're Back!!!!

Here it is... The news you've been waiting for... We will be having our 2nd Annual Craftacular Craft & Vendor Fair on Saturday, November 15, 2014 from 9am to 2pm.
We learned a lot from last year's fair so we hope that this year will be even bigger and better. We are still planning on having food trucks, tons of vendors, entertainment and a raffle.
All the money we earn will once again go to Southwest Elementary School's PTA so that we can do some wonderful things for our school like help towards updating our schools technology.
We hope you will join us either as a vendor or a shopper at our event.
For more information on becoming a vendor please feel free to shoot us an email at swecraftacular@yahoo.com

Stay tuned for more information on getting a booth or participating as a food vendor or entertainment to come tomorrow...

Come One Come All!!!!!

Tomorrow is the day we've been waiting for. The Craftacular Craft & Vendor Fair will finally be taking place. Here is an over view for the day:

There will be even more due to the fact that we had folks knocking down our doors even after the deadline. Some of those people didn't sign up in time to be included in the program. We are still very grateful for their participation.
Hope to see you there.

It's The Final Count Down...

I can't believe that in just a few short days we will finally get to enjoy the SWE PTA's Craftacular Craft & Vendor Fair. THIS Saturday, November 23 we will get to see the labors of all our hard work. Don't get me wrong, there's still A LOT to get done but we will get there and it will be awesome!

The one thing we still need is YOU. We need people to come out and support the wonderful vendors and artists that we are STILL adding to the list. We need you to come and show some love to the food trucks who are graciously coming to spend the day with us. We need people to come and purchase raffle tickets and try to in some fantabulous prizes. We need you to come out and applaud for the entertainers... ESPECIALLY for me when I put on a Thanksgiving/Hanukkah story time. We need you to come out for the camaraderie.

Please join us this Saturday, November 23 from 9am to 2pm at Southwest Elementary School, 2320 Cook Rd., Durham for the

SWE PTA's 

First Ever

Craftacular

Craft & Vendor Fair

If you don't I will probably take it personally. No pressure though. ;) 

Meet the Vendor: Denise Simpson

Everyone will be gussying up for the holidays. This seems the perfect booth to stop at for some wonderful accessories. Please meet Denise Simpson.

1. What is the name of your business?
 Oh So Cute Bows By Denise
2. What will you be sharing at this event?
  I will be sharing handmade hair bows, Christmas hair bows, bottle cap necklaces, reversible  jumpers, unique hair bow holders.
3. How long have you been doing this?
 I started May 2013. 6 months
4. What is your favorite thing about doing what you do?
I love making new hair bows for my customers.
5. What is your favorite book?
I don't have a favorite book. My favorite author is Nicholas Sparks. So I try to read all his books that he had out.
6. How can people get in touch with you?
You can get in touch with by email (dmsimpson@triad.rr.com), facebook (Oh So Cute Bows By Denise) just look me up, phone call (336-337-9068)
7.Is there any piece of trivia about you that people may find interesting or amusing?
 I am a mother of twins. I have a girl and boy who are 4 years old.
8. What did you want to be when you grew up?
 I wanted to be a lawyer when I was a kid.
9. What is your favorite animal?
 I don't have a favorite animal.
10. DO you have any hobbies?
 My hobby is I love to scrapbook.

Meet The Vendor: Gail Aiken

Here is yet another of our wonderful vendors for the upcoming CRAFTACULAR Craft & Vendor Fair.

1)      Your name and the name of your business

Mrs. Gail Aiken, CEO of  J.A.S. Event Consultants,  LLS

2)      What will you be sharing at the event?

I will have Holiday Baskets. The products in the baskets will be well known AVON products since I’m an Avon Representative as well. I will have different types of gifts sets for women and for Men. Also, you will be able to order other gift items for Christmas. 

3)      How long have you been doing this?

I have been creating different types of crafts for ten years now even before I began my business.  I’ve always love being creative.  I’ve done Christmas Ornaments, Ladies Jewelry, Knitting, Crocheting, and Latch Hook items.

4)      What is your favorite thing about doing what you do?

It’s very enjoyable creating craft but even more enjoyable watching the customers pick out what they like. Also it’s great to just make things for my family and friends as gifts and see their faces light up as they open it!

5)      What is your favorite book?

The Bible

6)      How can people get in touch with you?

My cell number is 919-949-0919 and my email is gamom14@hotmail.com

My new website is being redone at this time, so just call me!.

7)      Is there any piece of trivia about yourself that people might find interesting or amusing?

When it came to my education, it was all about getting the education to work as a professional in Business. I graduated with honors in Business Management and minor in Retail Management, but I truly wanted to major in the ARTS.  I really wanted to be a Singer and Actress! But I did as I was told, I end up getting a job at IBM when I finished college and I’m currently out on a Medical leave from being a Project Manager at IBM.

8)      What did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a Singer!

9)      What is your favorite animal?

A dog

10)   Do you have another ‘real world’ occupation or hobby?

Yes, I’m also currently CEO of my own Home Base Business.. The Company by the name of 5LINX has given me the opportunity to make extra money to pursue my creative passion. I want to be able to do J.A.S Event Consulting full time one day and with the residual income I’m making from my Home Base Business with 5linx, I know I will be able to do that!!.  Ask me how.