Catching Up...Or Trying To

Announcement: JBird's Garden Etsy shop is currently closed but is scheduled to
reopen the first of June

My how time flies! I just haven't been able to sit long enough and concentrate
on only one thing for awhile now. But the big show is now behind me (more
on that later), my arm is beginning to feel better and the splint is now a part
time thing (ummm...tendinitis...for several months) and it's just plain time to
sit still and write! So here I am.

First I want to share with you the fantastic new ring display put together by
my very handy guy - Randy. This worked out so wonderfully I want to show
you all the process involved in creating this awesome display. First we start
with the base. I purchased a bamboo silverware tray from TJ Maxx ($8.00)
with an extending tray.

Once I had that Randy measured and cut high density foam - used for
insulation- to fit in each of the trays. This was not without a period of
trial and error. The trick was to find some type of material that once
cut would have enough give to hold securely the individual rings,
but enough give to easily remove and put back. This ended up our final
choice.

Once these were in place, slits were cut horizontally in each piece. The tip
in this process is to check your ring sizes before cutting the slits to be sure
they would all fit once placed in the cut slits.

After all this was done we used a stretchy black jersey fabric (found at
JoAnn's on sale for $2.99 a yard) to cover the foam. Here I want to stop
to provide one word of advice - PATIENCE! Wrapping the fabric and
tucking it in so all blocks were covered smoothly took a little patience.
But as you can see here...it can be done!

Finally Randy added little metal rods in each slit to keep the fabric in
place while the rings were pulled out...put back in...and pulled out again.
At the street fair I was just at this past weekend (more on that later) there
were no less then 300-400 people who tugged on these rings in a matter
of two days. The display still looks (minus about 80% of the rings) like
it did the day Randy presented it to me. What a guy huh?!?!? :)

So I hope you all find this display to be as cool as I do!


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Next I really want to say what a BLAST I had at this past weekend's
Hessler Street Fair! Fun fun fun!!!

The Hessler Street Fair, is an annual spring tradition in Cleveland, and
raises funds to preserve and maintain the neighborhood. The Hessler Street
Fair is a festival with arts, crafts, food and music attracting more than
10,000 visitors from all over northern Ohio to our corner of the world
each spring. How fortunate JBird's Garden was to be there!

Here are a few photos from the weekend's festivities. Unfortunately I
didn't get to leave my booth often due to the massive amount of business
I was doing. But take a look...you'll get the idea...

(These last two pictures were borrowed. I tried to find the photographer but

couldn't. Thank you)

The photo below was taken Sunday morning 9am...

This next photo was taken at noon the same day!!!

And lastly my granddaughter Olivia - and the drum circle!

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And although I sold out of most everything I had at Hessler Street Fair...
here are a few new pieces. See you at the next show!