I think I'm finally recovered from our family reunion. Why is it we knock ourselves out taking care of things that 90% of the population never EVER notices? I can't imagine that one person noticed we swept the walls for cobwebs or that I scrubbed the dining room floor on my hands and knees to make sure it was really clean OR that I dusted the baseboards around the entire house.
R. and I basically nearly killed ourselves cleaning for the 2 days plus every night before the reunion. The family was here for about 6 hours total. The first guests arrived at 10:30 am and the last person left (except my sister and her husband) by 4pm. My sister helped me clean up and put food away then they were gone by 5:30pm.
Wow! is all I can say. I feel bad because we had some late arrivals and they left after 2 hours! They drove 2 hours, visited 2 hours, then drove 2 hours back! I can only think that it's because we don't have a TV in our living room and these people can't seem to spend more than 6 hours without one if there are football games on that day. I get 8 channels here and am very happy with that.
We made a conscious decision not to hook up cable, satellite, etc. when we moved in here in 2003. We decided that there is a lot more to life that sitting in front of the boob tube 24/7. We really didn't miss it after the first couple of months because we were too busy with the new house. Living in an apartment, there just wasn't enough to keep us busy most of the time. Now I usually don't have time to do much even on the computer!
Anyway, this has been the 1st weekend since the middle of September that we don't have to be anywhere or do anything on a time schedule. It's been nice. I ran errands in town yesterday and got a lot of those little items purchased that one just puts off because it's not a priority. Today I dabbled in the garden and cut back the roses a little. I was going to pull up all the @#%$# tomato plants that only bloom but don't make tomatoes. I found out that 4 of the 6 plants are just loaded with baby tomatoes. The largest one is the size of a golf ball, LOL! We'll see if they make before it turns too cold.
I missed the deadline (thanks to the family reunion) for the Ryan High School craft and art fair Nov. 6, so I'm looking for another venue for November. I'm still planning on Denton HS on Dec 4 so we'll see how things go. In the meantime, I'm still building inventory and looking at new ideas. I'll keep you posted.
Happy Crafting!
BKK
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
My Feet Are Wet
Well, I got my feet wet. Yesterday's show at the Peanut Festival wasn't exactly the resounding success I would have wanted but I learned a few things. That was one of the reasons I chose a local one-day show as my first attempt. I figured if I forgot anything we were only minutes away from the house and I could send the husband for the item.
We set up the booth in an "L" shape and learned that most people will not step into a booth. They view everything from the "safety" of the aisle and keep going unless they are really curious about something in the booth. People will step into a booth to examine small items and then will look at the other items. Next time we'll set up a table across the front and call it good. So much for elegant display set up!
I had gift baskets of kitchen rabbits all ready to walk out the door complete with ribbon and packing. Turns out they weren't very visible in the bags and no one could figure out what they were. I've decided I'm going to make a good inventory of the rabbits and just display them in piles on the table. If someone requests it, then I will package them in a basket onsite. It only takes a couple of minutes to do that and I figure if someone wants it, they'll wait (and pay!).
No one had a clue what the hat stands were even with a couple of hats on them! I actually had a person ask "Are those covers for crystal balls?" I know that this venue was not the right place for them but I wanted to see reactions. This sounds mean but OMG! these people were buying rocks! Painted Rocks but still- they were rocks! So what was I thinking trying to get them to buy velvet and ribbons?
I only had 2 people that really professed any interest and one actually gave a couple of good ideas on more marketing for them. One suggestion was to use the stands as a pin or brooch holder. That may be a good way to market them to the younger generations as most young women don't wear hats except ball caps. I think I'll try both ways at the next show and see what happens.
I had a sign for Black Kat Kreations hanging at the back of the booth. Almost every person that walked by (about 95%) actually read the sign out loud when they walked by. What's up with that? It got pretty funny counting who would and who wouldn't read the name out loud or at least mouth the words.
Another lesson: When you hang walls on your canopy, you can showcase your product very nicely but you cut yourself off from your neighbor vendor. In some instances I know this can be very beneficial especially if you have a noisy booth next door or a "helpful Hannah" but in other cases you may want a little cameraderie.
We actually packed up about 1/2 hour before the end of the show because everyone around us was packing up. I looked around at the other booths and either vendors were standing around chatting or already packing. We set up in about 45 minutes and tear down was approximately the same. We were just lucky it wasn't too hot since it was an outdoor show. There was a light breeze that only bothered items in the booth a little bit. (note to self: get sandbags for the canopy legs in case of heavier wind)
Because of the dental surgery I had 3 days prior, I took a thermos (so I thought) of corned beef hash for my lunch. I know it's not healthy but I could shovel it down without chewing much. My husband sat the booth while I slipped out to a quiet area where I could be as messy as I wanted without embarrassing myself. Turns out this insulated bowl doesn't keep anything hot but it turns it hash nice and cold. Cold hash is just nasty so I lost another pound yesterday! Dental surgery is great for a diet! I also have to remember to drink more water but I didn't want to deal with the Port a Potty visit that would result from doing so. I noticed I was a little dehydrated after we got home.
I would say I had fun but would have like to have sold more than some magnets. My poor husband who toted everything (my dentist said I couldn't carry stuff and raise my blood pressure for a couple of weeks) was exhausted and needed a nap once we got home. I really think that some of the nap attack was related to boredom. But still, it would have been nice to pack up less to bring home.
One of the first things that occurred after we set up was someone ran around passing out flyers for a craft fair in 3 weeks. We are discussing this right now and think we'll do this one. We'd like to try an indoor set up this time. I also have my eye on one in November and another one for December 4th. I think that will give us a good idea whether this is something we really are going to pursue. I also want to look closer at selling some of the items on Etsy. I can't decide if I want to do that because it entails shipping across the U.S.
I need to get busy on the next project which is readying the house for a semi-annual family reunion. My house was volunteered for it and I've got a lot of cleaning to do since I haven't done anything but wash dishes and craft for the past 2 months. LOL!
Time for my breakfast....I just love Malt O Gruel!
Happy Crafting!
We set up the booth in an "L" shape and learned that most people will not step into a booth. They view everything from the "safety" of the aisle and keep going unless they are really curious about something in the booth. People will step into a booth to examine small items and then will look at the other items. Next time we'll set up a table across the front and call it good. So much for elegant display set up!
I had gift baskets of kitchen rabbits all ready to walk out the door complete with ribbon and packing. Turns out they weren't very visible in the bags and no one could figure out what they were. I've decided I'm going to make a good inventory of the rabbits and just display them in piles on the table. If someone requests it, then I will package them in a basket onsite. It only takes a couple of minutes to do that and I figure if someone wants it, they'll wait (and pay!).
No one had a clue what the hat stands were even with a couple of hats on them! I actually had a person ask "Are those covers for crystal balls?" I know that this venue was not the right place for them but I wanted to see reactions. This sounds mean but OMG! these people were buying rocks! Painted Rocks but still- they were rocks! So what was I thinking trying to get them to buy velvet and ribbons?
I only had 2 people that really professed any interest and one actually gave a couple of good ideas on more marketing for them. One suggestion was to use the stands as a pin or brooch holder. That may be a good way to market them to the younger generations as most young women don't wear hats except ball caps. I think I'll try both ways at the next show and see what happens.
I had a sign for Black Kat Kreations hanging at the back of the booth. Almost every person that walked by (about 95%) actually read the sign out loud when they walked by. What's up with that? It got pretty funny counting who would and who wouldn't read the name out loud or at least mouth the words.
Another lesson: When you hang walls on your canopy, you can showcase your product very nicely but you cut yourself off from your neighbor vendor. In some instances I know this can be very beneficial especially if you have a noisy booth next door or a "helpful Hannah" but in other cases you may want a little cameraderie.
We actually packed up about 1/2 hour before the end of the show because everyone around us was packing up. I looked around at the other booths and either vendors were standing around chatting or already packing. We set up in about 45 minutes and tear down was approximately the same. We were just lucky it wasn't too hot since it was an outdoor show. There was a light breeze that only bothered items in the booth a little bit. (note to self: get sandbags for the canopy legs in case of heavier wind)
Because of the dental surgery I had 3 days prior, I took a thermos (so I thought) of corned beef hash for my lunch. I know it's not healthy but I could shovel it down without chewing much. My husband sat the booth while I slipped out to a quiet area where I could be as messy as I wanted without embarrassing myself. Turns out this insulated bowl doesn't keep anything hot but it turns it hash nice and cold. Cold hash is just nasty so I lost another pound yesterday! Dental surgery is great for a diet! I also have to remember to drink more water but I didn't want to deal with the Port a Potty visit that would result from doing so. I noticed I was a little dehydrated after we got home.
I would say I had fun but would have like to have sold more than some magnets. My poor husband who toted everything (my dentist said I couldn't carry stuff and raise my blood pressure for a couple of weeks) was exhausted and needed a nap once we got home. I really think that some of the nap attack was related to boredom. But still, it would have been nice to pack up less to bring home.
One of the first things that occurred after we set up was someone ran around passing out flyers for a craft fair in 3 weeks. We are discussing this right now and think we'll do this one. We'd like to try an indoor set up this time. I also have my eye on one in November and another one for December 4th. I think that will give us a good idea whether this is something we really are going to pursue. I also want to look closer at selling some of the items on Etsy. I can't decide if I want to do that because it entails shipping across the U.S.
I need to get busy on the next project which is readying the house for a semi-annual family reunion. My house was volunteered for it and I've got a lot of cleaning to do since I haven't done anything but wash dishes and craft for the past 2 months. LOL!
Time for my breakfast....I just love Malt O Gruel!
Happy Crafting!
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