Mother Nature Weighs In

I know I've been gone a really long time!

But guess what! We have a "for sale" sign in our yard! We did it! We've had a couple of showings, but no one is interested, yet. I am trying to be patient, as we've only been listed for two weeks... but I am excited to get out of limbo!!!

With that said, I'll move on to my next story......

My buddy, Tronsgirl, and I had a two-day craft fair this past weekend. It was our first outdoor craft fair, and she found us a canopy, extra tables, etc. Also, it was a juried show, so we felt pretty good about getting in...

Next scene... We are set up. Hello! We are set up. Anyone out there????? There were only about 60 vendors (taking away a little of the thrill of being accepted). It was at the entry of a very popular festival--and everyone seemed pretty excited to get into the festival. They didn't really have time to look at crafts. It was very slow--the only thing that made us feel slightly better is that it was slow for EVERYONE. Not that we don't wish everyone else success--just that we knew not to take it personally. Or tried not to.

By 4:00 pm (after we had been sitting there for six hours) we had each made a whopping $22 (at least it was exactly equal so we didn't glare at each other in envy in our boredom and disappointment). The sky was looking a little cloudy. Our husbands, who had spent the day with the kids in the festival part of the event came back for a rest. Tronsgirl and I went out for a little walk to stretch our atrophied muscles. There were a couple of sprinkles, so we went back to our little canopy. Then, so suddenly, the sky broke open! It was like buckets of rain were being tossed on us, the sideways-super-windy-rain! Did I mention it was so so so cold? We were shocked! Tronsgirl and I were laughing in hysterics while our husbands tried to get the sides of the canopy down (it was too windy to do so, by the way)--so we just tried to hold the flaps that were already down, well, down. All of our jewelry flew off the tables. I remember the sight of my husband chasing my (0f course ruined) business cards out the back of our canopy. Tronsgirl's husband snapped me out of my shock--"hold down your stuff!!" I quickly threw the table cloth over what remained on the table, to keep it down (the tablecloth was very heavy with water at this point--certainly could keep everything down!).

My son, at a drier spot where we herded the three children, asked, "Is this a monsoon?" I don't know, I think monsoons are warmer.

The wind died down a bit and the flaps were finally able to come down. We stood there as the rain fell, in shock. Then, slowly, the sun came out.

All in all, it probably lasted less than 10 minutes. We were SOAKED through. Our shoes squished. We were shivering. My jeans felt like they weighed 50 lbs. Dejectedly, we started packing up into soggy boxes, with no rhyme or reason. Everything was tangled and soaking. Earrings all over the grass. I was pouring water out of my pendant displays. Oh my.

When we unzipped the sides of our tent, everyone looked shocked. Slowly packing up. There was a small "flood" in front of the booths across from us. They looked like they didn't know where to go, on their squishy little islands of wet crafts they had worked hours and hours upon. The poor woman next to us lost thousands of dollars worth of her merchandise. For her, it was a business, not a hobby.

We went back to Tronsgirl's house, which was near--got into THEIR clothes, put our clothes in the dryer and had a cocktail.

Obviously we could not participate in the fair the next day, so we decided to come back, hit the rides-part of the fest and have a cook out. Lemonade from lemons?? We stopped at the craft fair to check on it, and only about half of the crafters returned.

Thankfully all of my jewelry is OK!! BUT sadly, many of my displays are ruined--hurt to have paid for that when we didn't even recoup our entry fee! And of course I'll have to order more business cards. Lots of time and money spent on our set-ups, wasted and ruined. Tronsgirl did lose some merchandise, which is heartbreaking, indeed.

So... no craft fairs for a while, we have decided. And personally--I don't think I will ever do an outdoor one again. Now I will think about selling this house and getting a new one, summer vacation with my kids (only three weeks away!). I have things to list on etsy, so I will probably slowly add more to the shop. I have suspended my ArtFire shop.

But for now, I am taking a step back. Not defeated, but definitely soggy. I need some time to wring out.

The State of Craft Fairs

So, my friend Tronsgirl and I had a craft fair on March 14. It was our biggest one to date (our SECOND one together... ha ha!). It was supposed to be quite well attended, it had a good reputation. PLUS we got a corner spot, so we each got our own table!!

We had a lot of fun planning our set-up. We put our business cards in plastic Easter eggs with some candy.

That's me, at my table

WOW, was it a big disappointment! After subtracting my entry fee, I made a grand total of....

get ready for it.....

drumroll........

$21 stinking dollars!!!!

I chose NOT to subtract out the display items I purchased for the event, craft supplies, etc etc. That would have just been TOO depressing.

I know some craft fairs are just LIKE that (and truth be told, a lot of people are making jewelry these days!! The past two craft fairs have boasted too many jewelry booths! We even heard mumblings from the crowd about it this time!)--but I think it has more to do with the economy than anything. The good old trickle-down. And I GET it. With my low sales, I certainly didn't run around to other booths. I couldn't afford to, either.

And I think it supports me putting away the resin for a while. I can't put money into this when not much money is coming out. It is a bad time to try to start a "business" out of this. So I think I will really just try to go with the ebb, and wait for the flow. Focus on other things for a while. I have actually pulled out my first love, beadweaving, again. Those projects are more time consuming and felt like I didn't have the time to take for them--but with the low sales, I don't have to rush any product out! So in a way, that is a blessing in disguise, perhaps.

Tronsgirl and I have one more craft fair at the end of May. This one is TWO days (makes me tired to think about!!) and our first outdoor one. At a CHOCOLATE fest. I hope the air smells like chocolate (and the porta-potties, too. Urg.). If history proves, I have plenty in stock for a two-day fair. Most of my stuff is priced and ready to go from the time I put in before the last craft fair, so I shouldn't have to do too much to prepare.

Although it is juried--perhaps I am being hasty when we haven't even been accepted, yet...

Then I think it is a bit prudent to take a break from the fairs and let the economy catch up a bit.

Anybody else on the craft fair circuit with some insights?

Any Thoughts?

So.... as I was going through stuff, trying to clean clutter out of my life (you are talking to a certified pack rat here, the rattiest of the bunch!!) I came across a silverware holder... Well, I like the way it looks, and got to thinking that maybe it would somehow make a good jewelry display for my upcoming craft fair. I need more necklace display, and I thought I could hang them from it. I double checked my sanity with craft fair pal, Tronsgirl and she agreed it had some promise--tho' it is not quite ready as-is. I was thinking it would be cool to wire wrap some beads around it, but I think it also needs some sort of backing--makes my eyes cross to look at it from far away...... I will have to give it more thought, but any ideas or suggestions would be welcome!

Here it is with some sample necklaces. The metal pieces in back kinda bug me, and also would make it harder to put something up against the back....

Also, you can see how it looks so "busy" being able to see through it!

Here is a close up... I think the jewelry looks nice against the mesh.


Here is something behind it (obviously nothing I would actually use, it is just propped up) just to give you a clearer picture... and it just looks better, doesn't it? To break the space up? But ok, WHAT do I use, and how do I do it???? I did think about turning it around and maybe hanging some bracelets from the metal pieces, but it really doesn't give me enough necklace room then, and I really already have a nice bracelet display (and not a ton of braclets). Hmmmmmmm....

Craft Fair Hangover

Well, it is the morning after--the morning after the craft fair, that is!! My friend and I had a nice set-up, I think. Our work really complimented each other's. If you want a closer look at her items, check out http://www.tronsgirl.etsy.com/. That's her in the picture.

Unfortunately--she had a slip on the ice during the week, so I felt so sorry for her. She would sit, she would stand, but was having severe back pain. Not nice to have to sit all day at a craft fair with that kind of pain!

...Especially such a SLOW craft fair. There were MANY tables selling jewelry, and it was a slow fair in all. Perhaps the economy, perhaps people finished with their Christmas shopping already? (wish that was me!!) It was slow all over, so we decided not to take it personally! :-) My mom and sister came by to support us, which we both fully appreciated--they were our best sales, we sheepishly admit. But we will admit it so they realize how much their visit meant! I saw my aunt and my cousin's wonderful girlfriend, and that was really great, too.

We saw some good points--there were two instances where we helped parents trick their kids--they bought items on the sly while their kids were looking away, so that was really fun! A little boy that reminded me of my son kept coming by and petting the lizard pin I had out. I told him to just take it, but he turned up his sweet little boy face and said, "Oh no, I'll pay for it!" So the lizard went to a happy home where he will be treasured. Plus, my friend gave me a pin that looks SO perfect on my winter coat at the end of the fair when it didn't sell!!! YAY!!

Best of all, I got an uninterrupted (we joke that being MORE interrupted at a craft fair would have been beneficial!! ha ha!) day with a dear friend whom I don't get to spend a whole lot of time with on a regular basis.

Though we feel discouraged (quite! at least me!), we'll try again. I heard another crafter mentioning a fair in March that we will check out. But for now, with the fair over, I get to spend some time focusing on Christmas and my family. My etsy shop is full, my ArtFire shop has enough items, I'm going to scale back on "pimping" my shop on Twitter--it is time to enjoy this season of family, friendship and love! The sales, well, they'll wait.

Diversify

The kids' Thanksgiving break started today, and we are having a delicious, delightful pajama morning. They are playing together nicely (for the most part), and it just feels like bliss... how I imagined life when I daydreamed about becoming a mom! I know this could change drastically with a cross word (or worse) among the two, so I will enjoy the peaceful moment, however short the moment might be!

Well, I have been hearing a lot about "diversify" on the news as of late--although it is not QUITE the same (ha ha) I have decided to expand a bit and have opened another shop on Art Fire (http://www.artfire.com/). This is a handmade site like etsy, and it is in its Beta stage, which means I can go along for the ride while it is being developed. There is lots of feedback and interaction with the developers in the chat areas. Although it is a little buggy, like a Beta OUGHT to be, I like it so far. And as much as I love etsy, it really seems saturated right now. I like being one of fewer members on ArtFire. And the way they talk about it on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/) it sounds quite up and coming....

Anyway, if you'd like to check out my store on ArtFire: http://www.loveofbeads.artfire.com/

Other selling news, I have a craft fair coming up on December 13 with my etsy (college friend) Tronsgirl (http://www.tronsgirl.etsy.com/) and we are working out our displays. I picked up these fabulous "gems" (for lack of a better word) at Michael's yesterday to decorate the table. I must admit I was glad to have an excuse, as I was just DRAWN to them. My kids are in love with them, too--so much so that I had to put a rule "only hold them at the table" so they wouldn't go walking off never to be seen by me again!

We still need a table covering--a little more important than the decor--ha ha--but we'll get to that. Tronsgirl has picked up some cute decorations from the Dollar Tree--little Christmas trees. And of course we will have our jewelry displays as well. I'll be sure to post how that all turns out.

For now, another Diet Dr. Pepper, and I will curl up in my robe (we'll see how LONG I can stand staying in my pajamas!!) and just enjoy this wonderful motherhood!

Slow as a Snail Saturday

Wow, I am having trouble getting motivated this morning! I don't know what it is!


Last night I went to my friend's house--a different college pal. She is the Queen of Rubber Stamps, tho' she will tell us she hasn't done it in forever. But she has a lot and loves them (they are her vice, we all have one! At least...) and spent some time stamping notes to stick in with my etsy sales. I am also running a promotion that if a buyer lets me know a purchase is a Christmas present, I will include an organza bag and blank gift tag so the wrapping is all done--so she has a tag punch and we stamped some tags. What a pal! There was lots of laughing and catching up as well. She made the BEST popcorn, I couldn't stop eating it... her secret was Orville Redenbacher's Popping and Topping Oil (http://www.orville.com/products_oil.jsp#products). I did NOT check the nutritional label (she assured me it was horrifying). Some things are best left just to enjoy... Here she is stamping for me with her daughter looking on!

She also generously is letting her heat gun live with me for a while! I have some plans with shrink plastic and embossing powder. I will elaborate when I actually get a chance to work on it! AND I got to sort through her scrapbooking scraps for my soldered pendants. She asked if there was ANYTHING ELSE from her house I wanted to take home. She is funny like that. Ha. Ha.

I have one more layer for my snowflake resin pieces. I am feeling a little nervous about popping them out... the mold seems a little resistant to the one finished one I tried to get out. I will continue. Either the plastic is not quite resin friendly--or I just need to let them cure even LONGER than I expected in this cold weather. I sure hope they work...

I realized I won't quite put the resin away, I wanted to do some sports related resin pieces for younger girls to have ready for my craft fair in mid-December. I'll have to head to Michael's to get some more resin before I start that, though. I really AM feeling ready to put it away for a while, but feel I should really finish that thought. I am planning to put little soccer ball, basket ball and ballet stickers in them. My friend mentioned above gave me the idea.

Hmmm, best get moving! All of this talk about what I need to do is getting the blood flowing (and that last dose of caffeine might have helped, too!).