My First Craft Show

I can't believe it's all over!! A (very short) month of preparation has come and gone and culminated at the Milford Craft Show this past Saturday. Running on approximately 4 hours of sleep, Brian and I managed to sell about 30 cards and not kill one another after spending over 8 hours in an 8 ft. by 5 ft. space. 

Here's me at my booth! Isn't all the color coordination fun? :)

I spent SO MUCH TIME planning how I wanted to lay out my booth and display all the different things I had to sell. And I think I'm really happy with how it all came together. If I had had just a couple more feet it might have been a little better. I'm thinking of getting an 11' x 5' space next year and upgrading a couple feet. We'll see. :) My other ploy with getting a larger size booth is that by default I'll have to move to another location (I'm hoping for one closer to the main entrances!! We were buried at the very back of the school). 

The most handsome and supportive husband ever!!

I still have issues with really putting myself out there and supporting the business. I always feel really awkward. And I'm not a shy person! So it's kind of weird. But Brian did a great job of encouraging people to take a business card and telling them about my blog, etc. Thank goodness for him! (I was put on notice, however, that in the future he will happily help me set up and tear down for every single craft show I do...but sitting there for 8 hours is a little out of his realm of supportiveness in the future hahah).


Here's some more of my setup: 

One of my most brilliant ideas for sure: taking all my craft supplies off this thing and hanging up all my kid quote cards in rainbow order! (each color is generally a different quote) It spins and was so much fun. 

This card spinning rack to hold my Christmas and holiday cards was wonderful. I am so glad I paid ridiculous shipping to get it in time! Made me feel professional. :)

One of Brian's more "artistic" shots with my sign blurred in the background. The payment sign was the topper for my Christmas tree (who's ornaments were appropriately color-coordinated with my booth of course). 

And finally, I got a custom order at the show! My customer liked a Bible verse I had framed, but wanted it in a different color scheme to give as a gift. Here's the final product. I really love it!

The parameters were: sky blue, grey and crimson. That's it! Love that kind of creative freedom. 

To all the family and friends who came to support me--THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. Your happy, smiling, enthusiastic, supportive faces are literally what kept me going all day. When you're around booths that are selling like crazy (even to other vendors before the craft show officially started!!) things can get very discouraging to say the least. And without you all I honestly wouldn't have sold anything! (Hah! You think I'm joking but I'm not!!). You all are truly supportive of all my ideas (no matter how crazy) and I really appreciate you all. 


P.S. If you're new to the blog, WELCOME!! We're also on Facebook, so pop on over there and "Like" our page. Thanks for your support!

First Craft Show

Hi everyone. It's been a long weekend! Tabby passed away at noon on Friday. It was, without a question, her time. But it was incredibly difficult. It felt like I cried for two days straight. And then I took a long nap after I got home from bringing her home to dad's. And I felt a little better when I woke up. And then I felt a little better Saturday night. And today, for the most part, I can talk about her and the whole vet experience at length without tearing up really. So thank you for all your kind thoughts and messages and texts. They have really helped! 


My super exciting news is that I got a spot in the Milford Craft Show! I emailed to get on the wait list soon after I started my business, and was told that the wait list was full and to try again next year. So I was bummed but learned quickly that registration for all the winter craft shows are due in the summer. (Who knew!!!) So I figured I'd have to wait a whole year to get in on any of that which was really disappointing because I feel like I really need some sort of mental pick-me-up about the business right now. And then maybe a week ago I got an email saying there was a spot open! And I jumped on it. 

A bunch of cards lined up to dry!! I'm about 2/3 of the way through with the ones I've started so far. So maybe 80-90 cards finished already? Soooo many more to go. 

The craft show is next Saturday, December 4th from 9am-3:30pm. This short notice has given me very little time to prepare for my very first show and I have so much to do! I ordered new (full-size!) business cards, a sign with my logo on it, a table skirt that matches the plum color in my logo, lots of new supplies to make a bajillion cards. And now I have to make an insane amount of product to potentially sell. I'm fairly certain I will not be breaking even on this first adventure because of all the investing I have to do to get my booth/display ready. But that's perfectly fine by me. I am so so so excited about seeing how my cards do to a massive audience. I'm going to have the most of holiday cards, then lots of kid quote cards, and finally my Bible verse cards. I'm thinking of getting some letter stationary made as well. And I'm hoping to have several sets of teacher cards (there are 30 mini-cards in each set!) finished as well. 


Oh, and just for fun I picked up another proofread from F+W that's due next Tuesday and we're hosting our first Thanksgiving next Thursday... sometimes I seriously wonder how I actually live my life and get it all done. It's absolute insanity. But I'm not even freaking out. When I think about the next two weeks I can't do anything but laugh. Because it's such ridiculousness that nobody in their right mind would do that to themself on purpose! Except me apparently. But I'm excited for the challenge. And Brian will be out of town this weekend so I'll have plenty of time to work on cards in peace without distraction. :) 


And tomorrow I have to just let myself relax, as scary as that sounds. My mom got Brian tickets to see Music Man for his birthday, and a PF Changs gift card! So dinner and a show for us tomorrow night which will be much needed. 


Also, totally unrelated, but we have two tickets to the Rusty Ball, which is this Saturday. Brian is now going to be out of town so we're trying to sell them. They're worth $60 each, we'll give them to you for $50 each. Each ticket includes 4 drinks (beer, wine, pop, water) and the Rusty Griswolds will be performing all night. It should be so so so much fun. So contact me ASAP if you're interested in those. 


Hope you all are having a great week so far.