Days and nights spent getting ready for the bazaar, carrying and carrying and carrying stuff to and from, and the long hours at the stall itself all took their toll. It took days to recover from lack of sleep and plain tiredness. I had begun to get back into tidying up at home, packing, sorting, sweeping up glitter, finding where things should live etc when I suddenly developed a really sore lower back for no apparent reason (well, doing leg lifts with a roller under my back at the gym *might* have something to do with it… as do a few compromised discs due to lower than optimal bone density and a myriad of accidents in my recent and distant past). I can barely lift a coffee cup without pain. So all those packed and half packed boxes are now sitting in the living room/kitchen firmly planted on the ‘do later’ list and I have accepted that I now live in a permanent obstacle course.

And life goes on.

Meanwhile, since I’m having to take it easy (back to grooming but not lifting or bending apparently) I decided it was time to share some of the stuff I made for the bazaar. I think I mentioned that the plan was to use stuff I had on hand and not go buying new stuff for this project, though I did have to buy a few things here and there… ‘obviously’, says the art and craft supply addict.

This is my favourite. I’ll be listing this in my Etsy shop soon as I get my act together to take more photos, but I confess I do love it… Eh. It will be too late to post it anywhere before Christmas very soon…

I made quite a few wreaths. All different. Some were made using ready made wreaths I had on hand, others I made using wire. I do love working with wire… Embellishments were whatever I could find or make to create something pretty.

Using blocks of wood I created cute little ‘scenes’. Here is one as an example.

I made quite a few of these little paper mache houses, some I attached to wooden bases and added stones and some greenery to create a scene, others were kept as singles.

I even made cycladic houses on blocks of recycled wood and beach pebbles, with space for tealights.

The only piece of driftwood I had was converted into a decorative piece using air dry clay ‘trees’.

I made a few more trees – some out of leftover bits of bamboo I had from making a cute little tray a long time ago, others were made of clay and lace and mounted on sticks. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I ever shared that tray… hm…

I made quite a few varied tree decorations using various materials…

Glass jars made some very cute candle holders in different sizes. Of course those aren’t real candles, but real candles can go into them.

Bigger jars became small Christmas scenes using whatever I had on hand and small fairy light strings glued to the lids.

I had a new pack of plain white socks that became a gaggle of snowmen.

I do like wall hangings, so I made a few of those using whatever I had in my vast collection of ‘things to use one day’.

This one has to be my favourite and I’m glad it didn’t sell! Turns out what I like doesn’t always correspond with what people in Greece like…

Here are some photos of my stall at the market. My table was full of all kinds of things, including little hats with Ferrero Roche chocolates inside.

By far the biggest hit of the bazaar was Vincent. I should have charged money for photos with him – I’d be rich now! Here he is, all fresh and cute at the start of the market.

And here he is after, having accepted gazillions of pats from strangers, listened to LOUD Christmas music on repeat, and been forced to stay out ALL day and well into the night.

So, now we’re on the downwards slide towards Christmas and the new year. There is always much to do, but hopefully there will be time ahead to get it all done. And share.

z

I’ve booked a stall at the local christmas bazaar for the first time so I’ve been madly preparing. I helped at the bazaar the first Christmas I had on Paros but never had my own stall. Plus this is the first time I’ll be on Paros for Christmas in ages.

Since I got back from Athens I’ve spent all my time pretty much preparing for the market. Bazaar. Whatever.

Firstly, I had to bring all the craft stuff in from outside where I’d stashed it in plastic boxes for the summer, or up from the basement – moves necessitated by having to make space in my tiny home for another person to live (mom) for months.

Now mom is in Athens and happy to be back in her own home with her friends and neighbours around her, and I can convert my home back into a studio. Which I’ve done.

Well, to be more exact, I’ve mainly converted into a mess.

I brought so many boxes of paint, paper, fabric, glues, beads, wooden objects, stones collected from the beach, cardboard boxes and anything and everything you can think of out of storage and scattered them around every inch of floorspace that poor Vincent has to hop from one place to another. It’s an obstacle course in here.

Oh and since its been impossible dry clothes outside on the line (which collapsed last week) I’m also using my home as a chinese laundry.

Mind you, I did do a bit of organising and tidying as I went along, but mostly I just worked and added to the mess.

I brought an outdoor ikea shelving unit into the bedroom to hold supplies after spraying it pink just for fun. That is now holding a lot of paint tins I had outside for ages… well, the ones that hadn’t dried out already.

I used a few temu clear plastic bags to store my felt, wool and fabrics so I can see what’s in them and put them in the wardrobe which used to hold mom’s clothing. Mom’s clothing has gone into plastic boxes and to the container for safe keeping till she returns. Then I’ll do a swap. Again.

My life is about constantly moving things from here to there, back again, then a smidge to the left.

There’s still a ton to do, but until the bazaar is over my life exists in two stages: BB and AB. Before Bazaar and After Bazaar. Nothing will get done (other than bazaar related stuff) till AB.

Then I’ll tackle the house – Clean first: Sweep the floor of all the glitter and bits of fluff and paper. Mop spots of dropped glue or glued glitter off the floor. Put away materials, paints, glues and whatever into wherever their homes will be from now on once I figure that out. Take out the easel and canvases and start on some new paintings. Maybe make some more felted critters…

So much to do. Such a short lifetime.

And I’ll start on other home things… like removing the disgusting mouldy grout around the bathtub and replacing with new. Moving stuff from the basement (which smells of damp and mould) to the container to keep it safe(r). Plus countless other things I am too tired to remember right now.

And yes. I’m tired. Some nights I’ve been up working till 2 or 3am. Not on purpose. I just got into the zone and didn’t realise the time.

Anyway, later. I’ll be sharing stuff I’ve made for the bazaar and photos from the days/nights.

On a related note, I’m still going for a swim and aqua aerobics almost every day. The weather had been pretty amazing. Then, after weeks of glorious weather, we have rain on the horizon for the bazaar.

That will be fun.

z