Christkindle Time

Well another year has passed and we are back to Christkindle opening night in Mifflinburg. This is the time our town turns into an authentic German street market. After 18 years of being outside in a small hut during this festival we are now happy to stay nice and warm inside our store. On this night, December 12th the temperature was a whopping 19 degrees outside and you can bet we were glad to be inside! The Christmas season is upon us and it  doesn't seem possible another year has come and gone so quickly. To all of our customers and friends, Guy and I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We will see you in the Spring when all is thawed and Easter is on it's way..until then..good night.

Baby it's cold outside!

Yes, it is cold outside so that means one thing..it's the Christmas season again! Has another year flown by already? Maybe I've been asleep all year and just woke up. Wasn't there a fairy tale about that, no wait that was Sleeping Beauty. No sleeping beauty here, just a stressed out middle aged woman covered with paint, a dazed look on her face from lack of sleep and no idea what the day of the week it is! If you go back to last years blog at this same time it's pretty much the same story. It's belsnickle time as we are busy in the studio trying to get ready for the Der Belsnickle show in Boyertown Pa.This show has us traveling on Thanksgiving so I hope someone is open for dinner that night. Dec 12, 13 and 14th brings us to Christkindle Market here in Mifflinburg. We will be at the store where you will find our new Christkindle Star ornament this year along with several new Belsnickles and other goodies. Join us for hot coffee and coco, cookies and goodies. Here's a picture of some new works!

Hold on tight..Here we go!

Well it's been a long long summer. For any of you who have been in touch, you know the studio has been closed all summer.Starting back in the Spring, Mifflinburg has been going through a road reconstruction. This project has closed the road in front of our store since March. I guess you could say this has been a forced vacation for us, probably one we otherwise would never take! During all this time off  we have been working mainly on orders for 6 ft belsnickles. Now that Fall has arrived my work has turned to Halloween and getting the store ready to open. As of right now I think I'm ready to roll. We will open tomorrow9/7. We still have the construction going on but the end is in sight. Soon we will start gearing up for ....oh no is Christmas coming again! Oh my, where did the year go? I feel like I lost several months.....and I did. Hold on it's gonna be a bumpy ride!

See I can't even get this picture straight!

The Tumbling Peas!

                             TWO SHOWS NIGHTLY AT 6&9!

It's Circus Time!

It's that time of year, mix Cotton Candy, Snow Cones, Roasted Peanuts, hot summer days..what do you have? The circus is coming to town! This week I found an old mold we had made of a creepy clown candy holder. He opens in the back and has a rusty  wire handle. I'm also working on the set of wooden circus animals pictured. The road construction project goes on as usual in front of the store so we are trying to keep busy in the studio. The six foot belsnickles are well under way and hopefully we will start the paper mache  on them soon. Well back to the workbench, I have the tumbling peas to finish, you can view their  circus act here soon!

I'm Driven To Drink!

As some of you know we are going through a major road reconstruction in our downtown. Chestnut Street that runs through our downtown is closed for six weeks and that's  if  PENDOT stays on schedule. The entire length of this project is 9 months. Parking is non existent at this point so our town has become a ghost town. Some businesses have closed for the duration of the project, some have relocated to other towns. We are going to try and be open on Fridays and Saturdays. The rest of the time I am rambling around in the studio trying to find a  a direction to keep me busy. Yes, I could be making belsnickles but it's to hot. I don't feel much like Halloween quite yet so my afternoons are sitting at my workbench, twiddling with paint brushes, sketching ideas and watching Turner Movie Classics. The green guy pictured above did manage to crawl out of my head this past week. My husband asked me what it was...I think it represents me trying to deal with the construction ...I'm taking votes!

Oh Crap I guess It Has Really Been Awhile!

Well what can I say, I had every intention of getting back to this blog sooner! Looks like I haven't been here since April..Oh my! This seems to be the time of year we do basically..well nothing. I guess because we work our ass off during the fall and winter seasons so by the time summer  rolls around that's our vacation from work time! The stores still open and I'm tinkering in the studio with stuff that has otherwise has been on hold. This is the time I mess( very technical term) around with ideas that have been rattling around in my head for awhile like the pie pictured. He's a jolly fellow with a spun cotton nose. I guess you could say The Life Of Pie! I wish I had taken some pictures so you could have seen how he was made. I have to remember to start doing that! In other news, the big yellow Belsnickle was sold to The National Christmas Museum in Paradise Pa. We are now starting on another one for the same museum and one for another customer so I shouldn't say we aren't busy! Mifflinburg is now undergoing a large scale road reconstruction project that has closed our downtown. We have known this was coming for the last several years but non the less we are unhappy. If by any chance you may be planning to stop by the store, give us a call and I will tell you where to park in back of our shop...we  do have a rear entrance. Well until I return....keep checking!