the Helmiplaneetta and Leimailutaivas 2012 fair

The hand out and this year's paper entry bracelet.

The "Helmiplaneetta ja Leimailutaivas"-fair is a small fair arranged by a few craft shops that deal in beads and scrapbook supplies. Held in Masala, which is about 8 km from where my parents live, it's one of the perfect excuses for a beader to head homehome for a visit.

Last year, me and Emma went to this fair for the first time. We had no idea what to expect, and since Emma's back was really bugging her back then, we just went to see what all the fuss was all about...

... and then Emma sat, waited patiently and crocheted while I wanted to look at everything at least twice, and waited/crocheted some more while I asked people about this technique and this type of jewelry finding...

I got a lot out of it. Truly, I did.

Emma got at nearly three crocheted apple circles out of it, so she had a good time too.

And we had a great discussion with some nice ladies from Lahti (150 km from Masala...) who also had a marvelous time at the fair. We even got to help them, a bit, since one of them asked from which buyer I had bought that and this?

:)

Now, this year, since we already knew what we were getting into, we took (again :P ) some lunch with us and browsed around.

That took four hours.

Yes.

Four hours.

And we had a great time. Made even better by the fact that Emma's back held strong until the very end. Oh, and I used up way too much money. But that "what I bought at the fair "-post will have to wait.

Emma at the car, outside the Aktia-hall.

People shopping.

More of the Aktia-hall.

Sinelli actually had stamps carved out of wood!
They were hysterically beautiful, for sure.

A new store!
Helmiprinsessa is actually going to open on the 13th of February,
so this was really really new. We got an invite to the opening :)

At Villakeiju, you could try your hands
at scrapbooking a 'dress up card'.

AND THEN WE HAD LUNCH!
Thank me for that, and boy were we hungry.
Picnicfood was a real treat after seeing half the fair.

Food tasted so good, and then we continued with our looking.

Oh, and a completely new technique for me!
Making encaustic art, using beeswax and heat.
Looked relly cool (I mean, hot :P ) and the cards
that Minttu here made were real professional.

Paper beads, at Design Mim.
They had a lot of other things there too,
but they happened to be the only store selling paper
beads at this fair, so I just had to show you that.

And last, but not least, the lottery.

Yes, the lottery. Going by the number on your paper bracelet, they draw two lucky winners of a 20 € gift card; one for a scrapbook shop and one for a beadshop. We didn't win, but that was okay. Because we had already had a great time anyway :)