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!

Thanksgiving With Friends

Last weekend we had a special Thanksgiving with friends. It's become somewhat of a tradition to have "family holiday" meals at Adam's house. It started in June when it was decided if a turkey wasn't cooked soon it might go bad. So Adam decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner in June. Everyone brought side dishes and we went around the table and said what we were thankful for. Pretty awesome. And then we decided that we needed to do this more often! And I just happened to have a ham in the freezer that needed to be cooked, which led to Christmas dinner in July. Complete with a white elephant gift exchange and ugly Christmas sweaters. :) We were going to continue through to holidays but then real life caught up with us all. So this past weekend we decided to have the real Thanksgiving meal at the appropriate time of year. 

We ended up with 12 people once Jackie arrived--biggest turnout yet!

The funny thing about these dinners is it always makes me feel like we're playing grown up. And I seriously think it's because nobody's parents are there! It sound so strange but I just really love that there's another great group of friends who all like doing things like this. And really over half of the people in this photo I've met in the last year! How fun is that? 

Tyler was in town from C-bus! And there's my lovely roomie of course.

I have now had 3 Thanksgiving dinners in the past week (friends, work, and family) and I've not had Turkey at any of them! When I was preparing my turkey today, the only thing I could think of was how big the breasts were, and how the turkey probably could barely even walk because it's been genetically engineered to grow breast muscle faster than its bones can grow to support its body. Of course I don't know that about this particular turkey, but not knowing is all I need to know. 

Can you believe there isn't any meat on this delicious plate? 

After dinner the boys went and bought some dice and tried to teach us Bunko, which is supposed to be a really easy game. 

But only about half of us actually understood the instructions (whether this was due to the wine or the explanation I have no idea). So we resorted to the perennial favorite--beer pong in the basement. :) Is there a traditional Xmas dinner in our future next month? :) 

Charity Auction

I donated my first item to a charity auction this week. I made a set of 10 cards--a couple holiday, just because, birthday, etc. Check them out at the link below!


Bidding for Good


Once this auction really starts going I'm anxious to see if anyone really wants to bid on my item! I also gave them about 40 business cards they'll set out with my lot on the actual day of the event. Hopefully that generates lots of new interest in the business. 


Which is going really well! The last 7 days have been my busiest yet. Biggest single order to date, the most orders all within about two days. It was crazy for a bit while I organized how I was going to get it all completed. But I did it! (With a bit of Brian's help with the biggest order of 60 cards) 


Which means now I'm ready for more orders! The holiday ones are going really well. Make sure you get your orders in early! Here's a lovely more non-traditional card. It's simple and modern--and a tree with baby blue glitter! :)  

And who doesn't love snowflakes? In hot pink!! They're non-denominational and send more of a "Happy Winter!" message. 

The Etsy store is full of card designs. Mix and match for a custom holiday card set!