Autumn Festival

My neighbor, Cara, and I headed down to the Autumn Festival in Omaha a couple of weekends ago.  It was CRAZY.  And it was the third day…so I can only imagine how busy the first couple days were.  Cara is a craft show regular, so she suggested a strategy.  We start at one end and hit every aisle, so there wouldn’t be a chance we’d miss anything.

We saw a lot of vendors with Christmas decorations of course…so many beautiful little ornaments and sparkly goodies.  Lots of hand lettered signs and different mantel and home decor.  Of course so many cute little baby onesies and baby Christmas outfits!  Christmas was definitely a main focus of the Autumn Festival.  I would have loved to see a couple more booths with tote bags/purses.  I think they’re relatively easy to make and with the right fabrics…well, I know that I’d pick up more than one.

I loved the Viking statue we found…and this is a beautiful photo/painting of Riomaggiore, one of my favorite cites in Cinque Terre, Italy.

We found a great booth that turned old tires into colorfully painted bird feeders.  They just added mesh to the place where the rim would have been and punched holes in the base to hang the tire from a tree.  Cara bought the cute one with bees on the mesh.

Another booth included a self-starting fire wand – the magnesium came with a flint attached so you could start a fire anywhere – even in water.  I really thought about this for my sister…it seems like anyone who drives long distances alone could use this during the winter months.  But I did the classic craft fair move…I thought I’d see what the rest of the festival had to offer and forgot to come back for it!  Which is why I recommend grabbing the artist’s cards when you hit a booth you like – it will not only be a reminder for you at the end of the show, but if you can’t stop thinking about it….you can usually contact the seller and see if they have an online shop (likeGoodsmiths)!

There were a ton of pottery shops…all beautiful with great colors.  But the one that really caught our attention was the dragon shop.  The artist created all kinds of dragons doing all kinds of activities. There was a dragon that was laying down whose curved tail could hold your rings.  And a couple great dragons who held incense and a coffee cup – so when they were lit, it looked like they were huddled over a warm cup of espresso.  My favorite piece was this papa dragon reading a story to the little dragon…I have a soft spot for dragons and reading. :)  It was obvious a lot of detail and attention went into making each dragon with its own personality.

 We also found a sweet shop that sold dog collars that could be embroidered with your pup’s name right on the spot.  In honor of the big ISU win that Friday night (GO STATE!) I got my two dogs coordinating cardinal and gold collars.  Don’t they look handsome?

Send us a photo of your favorite craft festival find.  Or tell us about that one piece that you wish you’d bought…the craft that got away!

Happy Hunting~

Brooke – Brooke@Goodsmiths.com

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