Did you survive the Thanksgiving weekend? We had a fantastic weekend full of friends, family, and the Pop-Up shops. Wednesday was a blur of activity — shopping for last minute Thanksgiving stuff and then setting up downtown for the shops on Friday.  My precious sister and her boys were AMAZING to help me load up all the furniture to get downtown. It took no less than 3 carloads to get it all there. I couldn’t have done it alone, that’s for sure.

Thursday was delightfully laid back and full of delicious food. We spent the majority of the day with Simon’s family and stopped by my parents’ for a bit before heading home. I had to be at the shops bright and early at 8am to be ready for all the Turkey Trot traffic. I parked my car on the west side of the park and made my way on a beautifully crisp morning and I felt this sense of happiness. Being downtown, walking to my little shop under the shadow of the Devon building — it was idyllic.  Then at 10am, the ice rink opened and the traffic was steady from there on out.

I had a smile on my face all day Friday and Saturday. SO MANY of my friends and local blog readers came out to support not only me but all the other fantastic local vendors.  Blue 7, Full Circle Bookstore, A Date with Iris, Sara Kate Studios, and Urbane were fantastic neighbors and they’ll remain at the shops for the rest of this first session.  (Additionally, you can check out the rest of the revolving shop schedule at the Myriad Botanical Gardens’ site.)

I’m not gonna lie — it was a LOT of work to get all this pulled together. Not having an actual brick and mortar location to pull from, I had to figure out what furniture we would need for display, not to mention all the inventory we’d need to fill a 12×12 space. But I feel like it turned out pretty well. It was light, bright, colorful and fun — it was the perfect Pencil Shavings Studio space.  And my little white Christmas tree was the perfect display for iPhone 4 cases — all the kids that stopped by LOVED it.

I sold a ton of personalized platters, small trays, iPhone cases, and notepads — people were definitely in the stocking stuffer and impulse shopping mood.  For the next session, I’ll definitely have more iPhone 4 cases and paper products.

The view from the space was the best, especially as the sun went down. Oh! And did I mention that Simon got us a room that night at the Colcord? We jokingly called it the Pencil Shavings Studio hospitality suite.

Allison also has a giftwrap station set up. I thought her display was so creative.

At the end of the weekend, both Simon and I were exhausted, but happy. It was a fantastic experience and I cannot wait to be back in December. Mark your calendars, OKC shoppers — I’ll be there from December 6th-7th but I won’t be taking any custom orders. It will only be readymade items and stocking stuffers.

Again. Big huge thanks to my husband and my sister for being such awesome helpers. I definitely could not have done any of it alone. And to each and every one of you who stopped by to say hello and that you read the blog, etc., THANK YOU. Thank you for reading, thank you for supporting. This girl feels so honored to have been a part of it all.