For all the artisans in here. I just learned of this site and magazine which may be of interest to those of you who sell at craft shows. Check it out and see what you think. Hope it's helpful.

Sounds very interesting and something I could use in the very near future.

Many thanks!

Mmmm.....am I missing something? Because I didn't see any name or place or website.......

Kate

Oh my GOD, what a boob.......if it had arms, it would have smacked me...I'm so sorry....

Which brings me to this wonderful little "perfecting" story that someone passed along to me....which I will now post in the wrong place.....but it's really good! REally!

There was a couple who used to go England to shop in a beautiful antique store. This trip was to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially tea-cups. Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked "May we see that? We've never seen a cup quite so beautiful."

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the tea-cup spoke, "You don't understand." It said, "I have not always been a tea-cup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me, pounded and patted me over and over, and I yelled out, 'Don't do that. I don't like it! "Let me alone," but he only smiled, and gently said, "Not yet!!"

"Then. WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. 'Stop it ! I'm getting so dizzy! I'm going to be sick!' I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, quietly, "Not yet."

He spun me and poked and prodded and
bent me out of shape to suit himself and then......Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. 'Help! Get me out of here!' I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, "Not yet."

When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh,that felt so good! 'Ah, this is much better,' I thought.

But, after I cooled, he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Oh, please; Stop it, Stop it!!' I cried. He only shook his head and said. "Not yet!".

Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering what's he going to do to
me next?

An hour later he handed me a mirror and said "Look at yourself." And I did. I said, 'That's not me; That couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful!"

Quietly he spoke: "I want you to remember, then," he said, "I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up."

"I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled."

"I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked."

"I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life. If I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with
you."

The moral of this story is this:
God knows what He's doing in each of us. He is the potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us, and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will.

So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to "stink", try this.... Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Potter.

Nice story, Kate

Its a wonderful story DreamrKate...absolutely. Do you know where it originated? What a great story.

I'm so happy to see you posting again. I sent you an email checking on you. We've been worried! So glad you are back.

JJ

KAte, good to see you back and thanks for sharing. Please go to the travel section and share about your trip so some of the ladies who live in PA can help.

Meredith, did you go to the site mentioned above? I thought it might be helpful for you, Maggie, Kate, and all the other artisans in here.

Kate, I have to offer you a very special thank you because as a new member of the Central Christian Church I am to speak at the Exhaltation service with several other new members. I couldn't figure out what important thing to talk about BUT now I know. I will relate the story you have shared about the tea cup....Wonderful story...Thanks again.

It's so nice to be missed. There wasn't anything wrong with me, I've just been engrossed in my fundraising efforts which have taken me to take up residence in my garage.

Fund raising is such a slow thing. I wish I had really started last year, but as always, the things you find out about yourself, or the things that God tries to teach you... all come when they're supposed to, NOT necessarily when you/I think they should.

As I've mentioned, this is my girl trip to New York so we've been trying to get cold, hard cash in our pockets.

I'll post about our trip on Travel.... may we all move to adjourn there.

Kate

This is a good publication but its scope is more nation-wide than I need. I subscribe to a similar magazine called Crafts Fair Guide, which concentrates more on West Coast shows, especially California.