PHOTOS: Holiday Shopping Under Way in Ankeny at Santa's North Pole Craft Sale

While shopping at Santa's North Pole Village Craft Sale on Saturday, Ankeny's Sherry Amos and her children found that perfect gift.

For their dog.

A vendor at sold pet scarves. After browsing a few designs, they settled on a handful of favorite sports teams.

Dressed in Iowa Hawkeyes T-shirts, it was no surprise who the pet's favorite team was.

For nine-year-old Hayden, the scarves were the end of the line. His patience had worn off.

"I don't really want to be here," he said, with a grin.

Sherry laughed.

"He'd rather be at home watching TV. Not hanging out with the girls, shopping," Sherry said.

In addition to the pet scarves, Sherry said the craft sale was a great time to shop for some ideas.

"I'm looking for a few little Christmas gifts, for co-workers, that kind of thing. Plus get some ideas for them," she said in a half-whisper, pointing down to her kids.

, as craft vendors from the Midwest brought their best to the table.

Handyman helps first craft show to be a success

As his wife ventured into her first craft show experience, craftsman Nolen Forsythe of Oskaloosa volunteered his woodworking skills to help.

His wife, Linda, was using Saturday's Santa's North Pole Craft Sale to guage whether or not her sewing skills would serve her well after she retires next year from the Mahaska County Highway Department.

Suffice it to say, the Forsythes, with help from their daughter, Lisa Alvarez, had sold the majority of their inventory by 1 p.m.

"It's been a great experience," Alvarez said. "It's a good turnout."

Alvarez, a business owner in Lincoln, Neb., makes doll accessories, such as shoes an bags. Linda sews the clothing, as well as makes mattresses and other cloth items for doll houses. Nolen, with his background in carpentry, designs and fabricates the woodwork items.

"This is what I do for a living," he said. "I've been making things for our grandkids, we figured I ought to make it and sell it. That's kind of how it got started."

Saturday's success was reassuring, Nolen said.

"I'm sure we'll be back next year," he said. "People are already requesting we come back."

Ankeny craft fair serves as an annual reunion place

For a group of Forest City High School alumni, the annual Santa's North Pole Craft Sale isn't only a place where thousands of Des Moines area craft lovers go to peruse handcrafted snowmen and lighted Christmas wreaths. It's also a place that holds a bit of sentimentality.

"We all meet once a year, and this is where we meet," Folkerts said, as she purchased a large painted water jug from a Nebraska couple.

She quickly purchased the water jug in part because of the painted snowman on it.

"I love snowmen," she said, "and the fact that it was hand-painted is unique."

That colorful hat lady

One of the more colorful and unique exhibits Saturday at the sale belonged to a spirited hat designer from Wisconsin.

"We heard about the craft fair because our son lives in Ankeny and is a physical therapist here," said Joedy Simonsen, a vendor from Racine who makes children's hats.

"He suggested that we come and give the craft show a try, and we did and we're very happy to be here," Simonsen said.

Simonsen retired from a public relations firm and found she had too much free time on her hands.

"I decided I needed to be a little more productive," she said with a laugh. "So as I watch 'Law and Order' on TV at night, I make children's hats. And even though I don't wear hats myself, I have five grandchildren, and they love to wear hats."

She figured maybe other people's children and grandchildren would like to wear them also. It turns out, as her hats were walking out of Northview Middle School fitted neatly on little heads, she was right.

"We've been very popular today. We've been selling very well, and I'm happy about that," Simonsen said.

Direct to you, from the Sand Hills

Most outsiders may wonder what northwest Nebraska has to offer. For art vendors Dale and Jody Lane, there is plenty.

It's where they get all their best art supplies.

While Jody fixes up and paints old junk, turning it into artwork, Dale is busy rumaging for new projects, finding different pieces of refuse that can be turned into display art.

"My husband goes and gets all the junk," Jody said. "I paint it and he cuts all the wood items."

"We're all American-made, and we're pretty proud of that," Jody said, adding that they only use material that says 'Made in America'.

They've found enough in their hometown of Ord, Neb., to keep them in business for about 20 years.

"We go around the country and do this," she said.

Most art enthusiasts, she's found, seek different colors and styles in different parts of the country.

"Like now, since we're in the city, no one is really interested in tractor art," she said. "But in the small towns they like that."

As she answered questions, she remained busy personalizing different artwork for customers.