Craft Fair Booth Ready!

I'm ready for the craft fair season. I talked about buying an easy-up type tent from Walmart earlier. Then I went to yard sales and found my drapes and table cloths. My son, Ashby, made the table toppers out of paper and I already had the different displays.

Here my son and best friend, Gail, are clowning around in my booth. They will be the first to sell in my booth this Saturday.

Next, picture is me.

For 3 weekends in June (12, 19, 26), I'll be set up in downtown Asheville Art in the Park!

Check out the website for all the details!

http://ashevilleartinthepark.com/index_09.htm

Corn Starch

Hi, I found these boxes of corn starch in my mom's house several years ago. HOw many of you used corn starch over the holidays? The Cream Corn Starch box fascinated me as it looked really old, so I did some research on both brands. Hope you enjoy the comparision. (Check out the price on the Cream Corn Starch box top)

The A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company (referred to henceforth as "Staley") was the first major company existing today to begin crushing soybeans to yield oil and meal; they started in 1922. Indeed Mr. A.E. Staley was one of the first Americans to see the great potential of the soybean as a source of oil, meal, and flour.

Augustus Eugene (Gene) Staley was born on 25 February 1867 in a log cabin in Randolph County near Julian, North Carolina, on his father's 265-acre red clay farm.

Busy with farm work, Gene dropped out of primary school after a few years. At age 14 he successfully sold a wagon load of his father's produce in the nearest town. Soon he decided he liked selling better than farming, so he left the farm in 1883 (at age 16) and went on the road selling food products, including starch, for various companies. In 1898 he founded his own company, A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company?? in Baltimore, Maryland, and began packaging and selling "Cream" corn starch.

In 1906 he incorporated the company in Baltimore. In 1909, wanting to manufacture his own corn starch, he bought a plant in Decatur, Illinois.

1892--Argo corn starch is launched. The name, Argo, continues to be a source of much conjecture even to the present. It may have derived from the fact that customer price lists were printed in alphabetical order, and the name Argo would appear above then-competitor Kingsford's.

1899--Argo, Kingsford's and two other starch companies merge to form the United Starch Company, a forerunner of The Corn Products Refining Co.

1940’s--A 1940s Argo Corn Starch label features a recipe for corn-starch based Creative Clay, a homemade moldable material that children can use to fashion ornaments and gifts.

1964--A new corn maiden appears on the Argo corn starch package.

Information from http://www.soyinfocenter.com/HSS/ae_staley_manufacturing.php and http://cornstarch.com/about_us.html

Paintingpam was actually Painting!!

Hi, and yes, just like the title says--I was actually painting. In fact I'm getting ready for a show in Asheville so I am painting small 4 x 6 paintings of local views that visitors to our city can take home with them. I have thought of Looking Glass Mountain (on bottom left), Mount Mitchell, Biltmore House as a few places which I will paint. On the top left, is our family's favorite spot--Pilot Cove Slate Rock. What spots do you think of when you hear Asheville, NC??

Have a great week!

A great Surprise greeted me in my Etsy mailbox today---I'm included in a Treasury which is a group of artworks assembled by an artist. Thanks to SewUpscale.etsy.com for selecting me to be among this great collection. Here is the link:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=58224

Come back here and leave me a comment and I'll select a winner to receive a small painting similar to the one in the Treasury next Sunday.