Such Amazing News

I am feeling SO blessed right now.  And I want to thank all my blog readers for their emails, and comments and encouragement after I posted my mock up craft fair booth.  I submitted my application before I left for Europe on August 10th, and the application was due August 15th.  I checked my email as often as I could to see if I had been accepted....and then my last morning (at the Amsterdam Citizen M hotel-so cool), I got an email.  

I GOT IN!!!!! 

I literally jumped up and down!  I got in to the Crafty Affaire Christmas Market!  There are usually between 20-30 vendors and I will be one of them!!!  So that was pretty awesome news.

Then I check Facebook.  And I found out that I won my booth entry fee!

Well I almost fell over!  Doubly blessed!  Not only did I get into the market but I do not have to pay to be a part of it!  I couldn't be more thankful for both of these blessings and I hope that people will like my creations and will want to take them home and love them as much as I do!

As you can imagine, any free time from here on out will be spent crocheting up a storm.  And researching the best mobile credit card service, and buying yarn, and crocheting, and making tags, and ok so I'm gonna be busy.

If you live around the Lower Mainland of BC you should definitely come check out the craft fair.  It's the Weekend of December 7th & 8th....don't worry, I'll remind you later!

Adventures in Bunting

And lemme tell ya, it was an adventure...like a 9 hour, all day crafty experiment.  I had been putting off making it because, well, I'm like that sometimes.  I knew I had to make it for my craft booth, and the application was on August 15th, except I was going to be on another continent, so I had to get everything done by August 10th....yada yada yada.

OK!  So first find a piece of cardboard and draw and cut out a triangle shape as your template for the bunting.

Next trace said template a million twenty two times.  Why 22 times?  Because that's how many letters are in "West Coast Leslie Designs"!  Note to other bloggers, pick a short name :)  Now that I think of it, a lot of my fave blogs have long names! 

Then I cut the triangle out but left an edge.  I knew I would either be sewing them or folding and ironing them so I wanted some wiggle room.

I literally cut these out for like hours....ok I was watching a movie too, but how else could I keep my sanity?  Once that was done, I had to iron them into lovely little triangles....  Did I mention I had to purchase an iron for this project...#notagrownupuntilnow

Up next was printing the letters.  Now a lot of carazy people out there would tell you to print the letters and then you could iron them on, or transfer them in some lovely way so they're pretty and lovely and perfect...ha ha ha.  Or you could be me and free hand them.  YES, you heard right, FREEHAND!  I based the font for my bunting on the font I used on my card.  Matchy matchy!

I traced the letters lightly in pencil first, and then went over them in sharpie. And I was able to erase the pencil from the fabric! WOO!

Slowly but surely it comes along

There they all are! Kinda weird seeing my name on a banner.  

Makes me feel kinda famous - just kidding

You'd think I was finished! Nope! Next up was sewing the fabric bunting onto the coral paper I used for my circle garlands on the front of my table.

I used 12 x 12 paper and managed to sew three triangles to a page.

This is, like, the third time this year I've used my sewing machine!  Go me!  Then once they were all sewn, I had to cut them out.  I did think about using plain ole scissors, but how much fun is that?  So I decided to use some craft scissors that have a similar pattern to pinking shears.  Never fear my sewing readers, I know you don't use pinking shears on paper!  Heaven forbid.

It also hides any imperfections.... what imperfections?

Once they were all cut out I sewed them together into banners

TA DA!  I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself.  And I think my banner looks pretty great!  I can't wait to show it off at my first craft fair this fall.  And if I don't get in, I will hang it in my craft room!

One Year of Wedded Bliss

Today marks our one year wedding anniversary.  I know many of you are probably excited for us, but it feels sort of silly really, because we've been together for 9 1/2 years.  We've lived together for 8 1/2 years.  So it feels like we've been married for a very long time.  I just have fancier jewelry now.

Today we are in Vienna.  Wow!  Vienna.  I mean I can't even believe it.  I am so blessed to be married to a man who loves to travel as much as I do, maybe even more so.

So on this day I will share with you some of my favourite wedding pictures.

Here I am enjoying my ham and cheese croissant.  I'm classy

Jill seems pretty proud of that cake.  And she totally should be!  
It looked awesome

Ew! ha ha ha

My Granny traveled over 1000 miles to be at my wedding

She's 81 years young!

I have the cutest wedding party!

 And the most excited!

 I don't know what's going on in this picture but I love it!

My cheeks were sore from laughing so hard during the speeches.

Ty and I didn't write anything to say, but I think we did a good job

I dance with a couple of cuties!

Like my pictures?  Credit goes to the very talented Randal Kurt

Check out his Facebook or his website

And my  makeup was done my the incredibly talented Leah Cuff  

She's on Facebook and her website!

My Craft Booth

Well I guess the title of this post is a little misleading! LOL  This is actually documenting what I created as a mockup booth for a craft fair I recently applied for.  Fingers crossed that I'll get in.  It will be my first craft show, AND it's at Christmas.  If you wanna send an little extra energy, prayer, good will, thoughts my way it would be appreciated.

Anywho, without further ado, let the photos begin!

This one is more colourful, that's why I added it :)

So there it is.  In all it's glory?  Or misery?  Any tips? Tricks? Things I can do better?  I'm really hoping to get a dress form that I can dress up and put a scarf on!  Also now that I'm looing at it, it probably needs more colour and or texture.  Maybe some lace or burlap on the front.  I have a burlap runner, but it's not really visible.  I'd love to hear your feedback, especially if you're a craft show pro!

Salad Sunday...from Europe

Ok so technically I'm in Amsterdam today, but I wanted to share these delicious cold rolls as part of my regularly scheduled blogging.  

What You'll Need

Veggies

    julienned carrots, cucumbers, red peppers

    snap peas

Cilantro

Rice noodles

Shrimp

Rice paper wrappers

Firstly you should make this peanut dipping sauce.  Why?  Because who wants to eat veggies wrapped up in a rice paper?  Well, maybe a few of you, but not this girl.  I literally make the cold rolls so I can enjoy this delicious peanut sauce!  Do it!  Then, boil your noodles.  It should take all of 5 minutes.

Then chop up the veggies.  

Then you're ready to put them all together.  

Get a pie plate and fill with hot tap water.  Quickly soak the rice paper wrapper for 5-10 seconds and lay it out on a large plate.  Fill with the delicious fillings and wrap like a burrito.

To do this, fold one end toward the middle. 

Then starting on the left side of the folded bottom, pull the left edge over the fillings and tuck underneath.  

Then roll to close.  

This will keep the bottom closed and everything in tight!

So when it's too hot to cook, I highly recommend giving these a try!

National Lampoon's European Vacation

Dear Try To Keep Up! Readers, 

Thank you for sticking through me this sporadic summer, tuning into new salads and checking out my latest crochet creations.  It's been a slice.  But I have to take a little hiatus - my husband and I are headed to Europe tomorrow!  We are flying into Amsterdam and then driving through Germany & Austria for a 2 week Bavarian tour!  I still can't believe it's happening.

This is one of the castles I'm going to in Germany! King Ludwig II's Neuschwastein castle, aka Fairy Tale Castle

Anywho, I won't be bringing my laptop with me so I won't be blogging about the trip until I get back.  BUT if you want to see what I'm up to be sure to follow me on Instagram!  I'll be posting pics from my vacay there to share with all of you (well, when I have free WiFi).

This is the medieval town of Rothenberg Germany! We'll be staying here for 1 night before heading south into Bavaria!

I hope you have a wonderful August and I'll see you at the end of the month!