Fall Sale 2012: Windy and Wonderful!

The Fall Sale on November 17 was a great success! The day was windy but sunny and we welcomed 
a record number of guests to the Pfafftown farm.

 the morning meeting

 First in line!

Many guests came early and by a few minutes after 10, the sale was in full swing!  Pottery was claimed, paintings were admired. Customers choose lovely jewelry, colorful bulletin boards, homemade holiday cards, handwoven wool and everything in between for themselves and the lucky folks on their Christmas lists.

So much to choose from!

Furthermore, the Whimsicals would like to thank our guests for the amazing response to Bra's N Boots! Last year, we filled 29 boxes to send to our service women. This year, we filled 79 boxes to the brim with lotions, soaps, chocolates, books, movies, magazines, and all sorts of other treats and goodies! We also collected enough donations to cover the postage for each box-- outstanding! Thanks to all who helped to fill the boxes with such wonderful items.

packing boxes for Bras N Boots

We also want to thank each and every guest for your support of our organization, and especially for your patience as we implemented some changes into this year's sale. Overall, we feel these changes improved our group, and we hope you feel the same! Thanks in particular to those who cheerfully waited in longer-than-average lines to purchase your goodies (we already have plans for solving this issue next year) and to everyone who chipped in our new $1 admission fee. This fee helped us to introduce the much-requested convenience of accepting credit card payments, and to provide our guests with food, compostable plates and utensils, live music, and rest room facilities. Most importantly, it allowed us to keep booth fees for our artists as low as possible.

As many of our guests know, Whimsical Women was founded many years ago in memory of one very special female artist, and as a venue to support and encourage new women artists to create and share their unique art. As a group and now a nonprofit organization, we are always changing and growing, but our mission to support female artists remains the same. We can't thank our guests enough for growing and changing with us so that as many artists as possible can create and shine. We welcome your feedback and suggestions as we continue to grow!

the Whimsical Sisters

A few quick notes--thank you to Tim Shelburne for taking the photos on this post! You can view more of Tim's photos from the sale here.  Second, if you are interested in becoming a Whimsical Women, watch this blog for more information, coming soon. And last but not least, someone has requested the recipe for Pumpkin Chili. If you are the chef behind this tasty treat and you are willing to share your secrets, please leave a comment on this post!

Finally, from all the Whimsical Women, thank you again for making our fall sale the success that it was and for supporting our art.

Fall Sale: four days away and counting!

"Catfish" by Tabatha Renegar

The Fall Sale is just a few days away, and the Whimsicals can't wait! We are looking forward to another wonderful sale as well as some exciting changes! We will showcase our art at a new location down in the front yard, offer more parking for our customers, and this year, for the first time ever, you can use a credit card to pay for all of your beautiful new art. Don't forget to bring your $1 cash admission fee!

 Pottery by Barbara Eure

If you're able, please also bring along some toiletries or other goodies for the second annual Bras N' Boots drive! Please see the posts below for more details on what to bring.

Whimsical critters and quilted monogram by Ginnie Conaway.

Ginnie will be offering custom quilting in time for Christmas!

Furthermore, artist Adriana Granados would like to share another way you can help those in need at the fall sale: to raise money for elderly victims of recent Storm Sandy, Adriana will sell custom artwork! Bring along a favorite photograph, and Adriana will turn it into a lovely piece of canvas wall art, similar to the pieces above. (For more sample pieces, click here). These pieces make wonderful gifts for parents and grandparents, and Adriana will donate 100% of her profits from these pieces to Sandy victims.

Necklace and scarf slide by Lisa McMillan of
Presence Jewelry Designs

Sunflower and heart by Beth Haas

We can't wait to see everyone soon!

Bras N' Boots Reminder, and Sneak Peak Take Three!

We are counting down the days to the fall sale! Here are a few more glimpses of the lovely items you'll see at the sale.

handmade soaps and gift sets by Judith Long of Long Family Farm Soaps

We are also looking forward to the second annual Bras N' Boots fundraiser at Whimsical Women!  We have addresses for women currently deployed all over the world who are anxiously awaiting care packages full of useful items to distribute to other service women.

Over the next few weeks, start collecting magazines, female toiletries, and books.  If you happen to be at Walmart or Target, packs of women's socks, soap, chap stick, and Luna bars are always care package favorites!

  

punch glass chimes from Tabatha Renegar

Bras N' Boots will be located at the entrance of the Whimsical Women sale. We will have boxes ready to be filled as soon as the sale starts, so please feel free to drop of the goods before you begin shopping.

 

pottery by Susan Bang

If you are unable to donate goods, we will be collecting funds to help support shipping costs. Additionally, if you wish to personally ship a package, we will have boxes sealed, addressed, and ready to go a check-out.  Simply swing by and pick up a box and you can ship it out next time you are near a post office.  This will help alleviate collective shipping costs an allow you to place a personal message of gratitude on the box before it heads overseas.

pottery by Jane Williams

We can't thank our guests and fans enough for their incredible support of our artists and now our sisters overseas.  See you in less than a month!

 wrap bracelet by Suzi Cook

Bras N Boots 2012: An Open Letter from Captain Molly Mae Potter

Dear Whimsical Women artists and fans,

In the summer of 2010, I was deployed to Afghanistan.  It was right in the middle of the Presidential-directed “surge',” with thousands of troops pouring into the country daily and the height of the war effort in full gear.  While deployed, I found myself traveling to some of the most remote, destitute, and dangerous places in the country.  The comforts of home were long gone and the daily phone call home was what held my sanity together.  Occasionally I would make it back to my primary base to take a shower, eat a warm meal, and get some sleep. Fortunately for me, I would usually have a package from friends or family waiting for me there.

The care package was more than just a motivator and a sign of compassion from back home.. When I called home, I would spout out a list of things that I wanted sent.  I wasn't requesting photos or movies, rather I NEEDED basic necessities.  When I opened care packages, I welcomed nice soap, toothbrushes, women’s razors, shampoos and conditioners, good socks, Chapstick, women's deodorant, tampons, and hand sanitizer.  These were TREASURES because in a country full of war and men, people seemed to forget about the women.

I started placing my care packages in the women's bathrooms wherever I traveled around the country.  I would go back a few hours later, and everything would be gone.  All that would be left were small handwritten notes of gratitude.  The women were so happy and relieved to get female-specific care packages!  At one point the base I was at ran out of tampons, and another shipment wasn't due in for weeks--these care packages literally were providing the basic comforts of life for women in uniform.

In November of 2011, one year after I got back from deployment, I couldn't help but think of all the women still deployed.  That's where the Bras N Boots idea kicked into full gear. The Whimsical Women Fall Sale seemed like the perfect venue to collect goods and boy, oh boy was it perfect!  Guests and artists alike poured out with support. Thanks to you, hundreds if not thousands of women deployed around the world received a care package from Bras N Boots.

This year we are going to do it again! We will be at the 2012 fall sale asking for your help! Currently we have 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan, several Navy carriers with over 4000 sailors out to sea, and thousands more deployed to remote places all over the world.  Let's make sure the women in these troops are not forgotten!

Here’s what we are collecting:

New travel-sized shampoos and conditioners/toiletries
Nice soaps and lotions
Women's magazines
Women's sports bras

Women’s boot socks
Chap stick
Sunscreen
Hair stuff (hair rubber bands and hair pins/clips)
Women's shaving supplies
Luna bars
Clear nail polish (colored nail polish is ok if it is a neutral color)
Nail files
Hand sanitizer
Liquid hand soap
Tampons
Books and “chick flicks”
Calling cards
Notes cards/stationary to send letters home
Small frames to place family pictures in

If you cannot provide supplies, we also need cash donations to help with shipping.  Last year we had more supplies and boxes than funding to send out everything we collected.  Every bit helps!

Also, please consider checking out our Facebook page and becoming a member!  We will provide updates on the drive status as well as pictures of the recipients of your goods.

Thank you for your support and outpouring of love.

Respectfully,

Molly Mae Potter, Capt, USAF

Sneak Peak, Take Two!

Here's another sneak peak of some of the art you'll find at our fall sale!

From Linda Mace:

From Ginnie Parrish of Blue Frog Designs:

From Suzi Cook:

From Adriana Granados, Nut Ivory Art:

From Jackie Liggins, Organic Art:

From Edie Craig of Art Yarn Yummies:

From Barbara Brandel of Artworx by Barbara:

 

 From Catherine Kramer:

So many beautiful pieces of art--we can't wait!

Photos of Fall Sale

Click here to see photographer Tim Shelburne's photos of the fall sale! Here are some highlights: