This past weekend, I got the kids out of the house and taking them to the Christmas Market at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. The little one was just happy to get out of the house. The older one was enticed by the promise of food items. I was hoping to find a few things with some local flavor to bring back to the ohana when we head back later this month. The setup reminded me of the Count Fair I grew up going to every year. We didn't have anything equivalent on Oahu, so my kids were a bit surprised to see rows of exhibitors. I could tell by the look on their faces that I had about an hour to wander around.
The first stop we made was to grab a sample from Bater Chocolates. Oh. My. Goodness. The fillings were AWESOME. (And they were nice enough to hand us enough chocolate for the kids, who were more interested in the chocolate wafer than in the fillings.) Yummmmmmmmmm.
We also stopped to talk to a wood turner who makes ingenious wooden catapults and crossbows. Since it was late on the last day of the event, he was pretty low on inventory so I got a card. I definitely plan on picking up some of Sir Launch Alot's awesome toys to bring to Hawaii. After checking out their website I thought it was HILARIOUS that in addition to making catapults, pirate pistols, and other cool toys, they also make dressed up rats to launch. Gotta love people who enjoy creating new things.
The first purchase of the day was a nifty little "planet sculpture" from One Million Roses. (I wasn't able to find their website.) Both kids are fascinated by this little contraption... which is about impossible to find when you have a 9 year age gap and their very divergent personalities. As I do some wire wrapping in my jewelry designs, I can definitely appreciate the work and patience that goes into making one of these contraptions.
The next purchase was a pair of adorable pink fleece Kitten Mittens made by 32 Degrees. They were pretty expensive but the guy in the booth let me inspect the pair pretty thoroughly. They're well made (in addition to being cute) and even though I am pretty good at sewing, I quickly recognized that if *I* made her a pair of mittens it would be spring by the time she actually had any. (I'd show you a picture but she dropped one at day care yesterday. Cue meltdown.)
After that, my daughter went on a bit of a bender, wanting clippies, picking up a stretchy bracelet with HUGE acrylic beads... my crafty mom persona took over and I was like, OMG HOW MANY CLIPPIES AND BOWS HAVE I MADE YOU THAT YOU REFUSE TO WEAR???? And I AM NOT PAYING THAT KIND OF MONEY FOR A STRETCHY BRACELET!!!! Meanwhile, my food oriented teen aged son was getting discouraged because he was drawn to several booths in search of samples only to discover they were gourmet dog treats. Anyway, after a few no's, I could tell the natives were getting restless, so I attempted to bribe them with a bag of caramel pop corn from Jody's Gourmet Popcorn. We see them quite regularly over at Hunt Club Farm, and I like the product. One picked a candy coated popcorn, the other picked kettle corn... I got the caramel corn (which I already scarfed down yesterday while working on new Etsy listings). That bought me about 10 minutes. We stopped to look at some other jewelry artists. Although my own skill level is pretty high, I'm at the point where I have so much material on hand that I really don't WANT to make everything I want. In particular, I really enjoyed meeting the folks behind Mystic Silver Glass, whose work included some terrific lamp worked beads, fused dichroic glass and hand blown glass beads made from recycled wine bottles... and tons of silver work, which you know I love and appreciate! Anyway, the work was beautiful and I totally admire the work that goes into using recycled materials, but the kids were getting restless. I took a card and will keep an eye on their website for some of their dichroic glass earrings.
So that's what I managed to see and do in 50 minutes at the Virginia Beach Christmas Market. I know none of these vendors and did not receive any compensation or price breaks in exchange for a review. In all honesty, I mostly wrote this blog entry so I'd be able to find these vendors again when I've made a decision on what goodies to have shipped to Hawaii so I don't have to carry it on the plane. What, you thought this was for your benefit? :) Just kidding.
Please visit our Etsy store for Hawaiian beach glass jewelry, limited edition artisan jewelry and more!
The first stop we made was to grab a sample from Bater Chocolates. Oh. My. Goodness. The fillings were AWESOME. (And they were nice enough to hand us enough chocolate for the kids, who were more interested in the chocolate wafer than in the fillings.) Yummmmmmmmmm.
We also stopped to talk to a wood turner who makes ingenious wooden catapults and crossbows. Since it was late on the last day of the event, he was pretty low on inventory so I got a card. I definitely plan on picking up some of Sir Launch Alot's awesome toys to bring to Hawaii. After checking out their website I thought it was HILARIOUS that in addition to making catapults, pirate pistols, and other cool toys, they also make dressed up rats to launch. Gotta love people who enjoy creating new things.
The first purchase of the day was a nifty little "planet sculpture" from One Million Roses. (I wasn't able to find their website.) Both kids are fascinated by this little contraption... which is about impossible to find when you have a 9 year age gap and their very divergent personalities. As I do some wire wrapping in my jewelry designs, I can definitely appreciate the work and patience that goes into making one of these contraptions.
The next purchase was a pair of adorable pink fleece Kitten Mittens made by 32 Degrees. They were pretty expensive but the guy in the booth let me inspect the pair pretty thoroughly. They're well made (in addition to being cute) and even though I am pretty good at sewing, I quickly recognized that if *I* made her a pair of mittens it would be spring by the time she actually had any. (I'd show you a picture but she dropped one at day care yesterday. Cue meltdown.)
After that, my daughter went on a bit of a bender, wanting clippies, picking up a stretchy bracelet with HUGE acrylic beads... my crafty mom persona took over and I was like, OMG HOW MANY CLIPPIES AND BOWS HAVE I MADE YOU THAT YOU REFUSE TO WEAR???? And I AM NOT PAYING THAT KIND OF MONEY FOR A STRETCHY BRACELET!!!! Meanwhile, my food oriented teen aged son was getting discouraged because he was drawn to several booths in search of samples only to discover they were gourmet dog treats. Anyway, after a few no's, I could tell the natives were getting restless, so I attempted to bribe them with a bag of caramel pop corn from Jody's Gourmet Popcorn. We see them quite regularly over at Hunt Club Farm, and I like the product. One picked a candy coated popcorn, the other picked kettle corn... I got the caramel corn (which I already scarfed down yesterday while working on new Etsy listings). That bought me about 10 minutes. We stopped to look at some other jewelry artists. Although my own skill level is pretty high, I'm at the point where I have so much material on hand that I really don't WANT to make everything I want. In particular, I really enjoyed meeting the folks behind Mystic Silver Glass, whose work included some terrific lamp worked beads, fused dichroic glass and hand blown glass beads made from recycled wine bottles... and tons of silver work, which you know I love and appreciate! Anyway, the work was beautiful and I totally admire the work that goes into using recycled materials, but the kids were getting restless. I took a card and will keep an eye on their website for some of their dichroic glass earrings.
So that's what I managed to see and do in 50 minutes at the Virginia Beach Christmas Market. I know none of these vendors and did not receive any compensation or price breaks in exchange for a review. In all honesty, I mostly wrote this blog entry so I'd be able to find these vendors again when I've made a decision on what goodies to have shipped to Hawaii so I don't have to carry it on the plane. What, you thought this was for your benefit? :) Just kidding.
Please visit our Etsy store for Hawaiian beach glass jewelry, limited edition artisan jewelry and more!
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