Notes from the Show

I'm not sure I can even pick a spot to start telling you all about the show....Thank you all for being so interested and supportive. It was a great experience once I finally got going. Getting there was a ton of work, but considering the fact that I had just 10 days to get ready for it, I think we did all right. I signed up for next year already so I could have the same booth assignment, which would be fine by me because my "neighbors" to the right of me were just darling and I want to be able to see them again, they were so cute. Honestly, I made some good friends with some of the other vendors and they were incredibly supportive of me. In fact, when I sold my big mirror...my biggest sale....the other vendors applauded. Wasn't that nice of them? It was like being queen for the day.

Well, Becky, I didn't sell it all, but I did sell about a third of my pieces including the big mirror, the orange letterbox, and the small round table you see in the pictures. I passed out over 75 business cards, got two custom orders, three offers to teach classes, one offer to put my stuff in their place on consignment, and another connection with a non-profit organization. I also have a date to grout over the memorial plate of the house of 85 year old twins who live in town and hate the fact that their house has somebody else's name on the foundation. They said I looked like a clever girl who could make it "right" for them. I suspect I can fix it in such a way that the next owners will be delighted to uncover the house's history!

This show was put on by the hospital auxiliary, who also run one of the thrift stores that save their broken wares for me. Many of the volunteers came down to see my booth and what I do with their broken odds and ends. They were so excited to see what I do and have two more boxes of broken goods for me.

On Friday and Saturday, I brought a shallow box and a set of teacups to make decorative mosaic balls and some small trays as a demonstration. I think this brought more people into the booth than might have stopped otherwise and I actually sold a small tray as I finished grouting it. It was not yet dry, but the lady was very happy with it. This also passed the time.

Saturday proved to be a much better day for sales with 7 items going out that day. I was pretty happy with the outcome overall, but the other crafters told me that this year was quite slow in comparison and that they hoped I wasn't too discouraged to try again next year. They cited the economy and also the weather being so perfect all weekend as factors. This is a huge crafting weekend in our area with the biggest show being an outdoor one at War Eagle Mill. It usually rains at least one day of this fair, sending people to the indoor shows. Since it remained fine all weekend, the other crafters thought this might be a factor for the slowness.

With a year to prepare instead of 10 days, I have lots of ideas for next time. I learned a lot about the way the shows work and have some ideas of things I would do a little differently. All in all, though it was really fun to have face to face contact with people and see their reactions to my work. It was especially interesting from where I was sitting to see people stop and look at the small items in the green flower-box on the front of the orange door.

The van is not even unloaded yet. I have about a thousand things to do, not the least of which is getting my etsy store back in order. I am looking forward to getting my house and yard in order, catching up on church work, emails I haven't had time to read, and the like. I intended to sit around and do nothing today, but I might be too anxious to get things settled back into normalcy. I'm especially looking forward to having a nice meal with my family tonight. I've eaten all of my meals in the last 5 days off a paper plate, or perched on my lap, or in the car. It will be a novel treat to eat off a plate instead of smashing it for a change!