Prepping For My First Craft Show Booth Has Begun!!!

Hey guys!

I know it's been a loooooooooong time since I've posted on here, but I've been focusing a LOT of my energy on my day job. I am working with the Director of Business Process Improvement to build training documentation for my company as we haven't had a trainer or training team in quite awhile. My ultimate goal is to become said Trainer and be in charge of the training and documentation for the company, but it's taking a lot out of my mental time to be able to handle the tasks as a pilot training team lead in addition to doing my actual title the rest of the day. 

On top of that however, I have gotten a 2nd job at the place we (nearly) all know and love here in the states, Joann Fabric and Crafts, for many reasons:

• Employee discount (duh!)
• Happy stress compared to some of the bad stress at my desk job
• People interaction I don't get sitting at a desk, sometimes talking to people on the phone and my co-workers
• The moving around instead of just going home and sitting on my butt like normal
• Learn new things all the time about crafts and supplies
• Get paid to talk about something I LOVE doing already anyways!
• Opportunity to attend classes and learn even more
• First dibs on occasion on some of the AWEsome fabrics we get in

Anywho, I've only been doing that a month now, but have already have it benefit me in my little wanna-be craft business! You see, I could never really figure out where all the small craft shows and fairs were happening, how to get in touch with the coordinator to get a booth and especially didn't know anyone else that was going to these things!

A couple weeks ago however, I was cutting a bunch of fleece for a woman and she was chit chatting to her friend about spending her "craft show funds" on this fabric. So, I did what any intelligent person would: I asked her, "Um, soooo what craft shows would you happen to be talking about?"

She and I had a little conversation about it being a craft show a few months ago but also about a show coming up on 11/1/14 in my city and when I told her, "See, I can just NEVER find out about the ones that DON'T cost me $200+ for a booth!! How do you find out?!" she simply replied, "Oh, you have to start going to the shows to find out about more......(cue my face freezing in shock!)....I can email you the flyer if you'd like..?" I had to refrain from jumping up and down as I excitedly said, "Yes! That would be fantastic!! Thank you!!"

And there you have it folks! I have the information, have talked to the coordinator, gotten the vendor application form just about filled out and now all I have to do is send it in with the measly $50 it'll cost me for a full booth of 100 sq ft and TA-DAAA!!! I'll be attending my first craft show as a vendor EVAR!! 

Only problem is now... making sure I plan out whatever displays I want to use, I've talked with a friend about sitting at the booth with me......... UH OH!! I don't actually have that much stock to put out!!

I guess that just means I will be taking every opportunity (except for this past Sunday as it was my first weekend day off in a MONTH so you bet your patootie I sat there watching tv and napping all day!!) to make what all I can!!

On the roster/application I've got:

• Jewelry
• Clutches
• Purses/bags
• Scarves
• Perler sprites
• Miniature canvas art
• Embroidery hoop art - 3" - 4"

I already have all the jewelry I've made through the years without selling, and I have the clutches that didn't sell when I had that consignment before, plus the displays I'd made for both.... Now I just have to make some of the other items I listed up there and figure out displays, enough to fill what I can of a 100 square feet space!

This should be....easy?.........oh goodness.....

Getting Into Tablet Case Making

I have decided to try tablet cases next as a little break from doing my clutches. I have a 7" Nexus tablet myself and have many friends who have various tablets they use and carry with them all over and I finally decided I needed a case of my own!! Though...I didn't quite get the measurements right the first time.

**Disclaimer: I apologize for the pictures being in weird angles/directions. I cannot figure out why Blogger does this or how to fix it**

It looked pretty enough:

I got a nifty fabric for the lining:

And yet, it wasn't quite big enough for my tablet:

At least I have a pouch to store my new business cards in!!

Next, I worked with my friend Airon and guided her through making a tablet case for her 10" Nexus:

Nice, pretty silver dotted fabric for the lining:

A peek inside the front pocket:

 The front pocket is plenty big enough to store your charger, earbuds, etc:

A look at the tablet inside the case:

Look at the awesome!!: 

 I decided to try again in making a case for my tablet and tried a different pattern this time as well as something a little more autumnal:

Best of all, my tablet fits in this case!!:

Although, fits is an understatement. I have about an inch of room to the sides total:

And I have about an inch, inch and a half at the top: 

I'm not too concerned though as I'm trying to decide if I really want to cut this down for a more snug fit or if I want to keep it about this size and maybe add a pocket in the front so I can slip my phone and charger in there or what. It also is enough room that instead of trying to awkwardly handle the case while my tablet is in there, the extra space is a pretty good fingerhold for actually holding the darn thing while walking around!!

There was the question of the knot around the bow though. Per the directions I was using for the pattern, the knot seemed a little big and because of this, it wasn't constricting the bow itself enough to keep the fold lines:

I know it's maybe a little hard to tell the difference, but I did a little hand stitch on the backside of the knot to shrink it down about an inch to keep the middle of the bow tighter and I feel this helped make it look much better:

 I can't wait to use this fabric some more as well as make some more tablet cases!! The next thing I do will definitely be a case in the same style as Airon's case, only, in a fabric similar to my first attempt but with butterflies instead of flowers. I'm so excited to get it done and start using it!!

Craft ya laters!!

First Consignment Display - Easely Amused

Last night, I went down to Easely Amused so that I could (finally) get my displays setup to try to sell in Bridget's shop for my consignment deal. I was so nervous that when I got there and started taking my displays and pieces out of my bag, I was shaking and probably talking too fast and even dropped things 3 times!! I was just so nervous about how she would react to my displays along with just the fact that I was finally getting a professional display in a local shop!!

That slowly eased however as each item I pulled out of my bag, whether it was actual merchandise or display, she loved! She ooh'd at my colorful clutches, she aah'd at my jewelry, she wow'd at my clutch display and she 'neat!'d my single necklace displays I painted. 

I'm not sure exactly what I expected, but I was very excited when she seemed to appreciate every little detail I'd been so particular about and had taken the time to do! From the hot glue on the back of the jewelry boards so she didn't poke herself handling them, to the butterflies I punched and used as my price tags, from the printed out inventory sheet we both got a copy of, to the bags I provided for her to put jewelry or clutches that were sold in with a business card in each one already!

Needless to say, I'm very happy I took the time to make it look as nice as I could as I'm sure if she loved it, anyone else who sees it should like how I set it all up too... right??

If anyone's in the Austin, TX area and likes painting or just having a good time with friends, you should totally check out Easely Amused on South Lamar:

Well, you tell me what you think, yeah? :)

Entire display as I left it and what it will stay for at least a week.

Close-up of bracelet and necklace display using painted art canvas flat board on a wooden art display easel.

Clutch display with the handmade display risers and business cards in their little holder.

Close-up of earring display using painted art canvas flat board on a wooden art display easel.

Main row I'd originally planned for with the exception of shelf change altogether.

Close-up of the colors I painted the single necklace displays.

I used a couple of wrought-iron looking single art display easels for these two.

Far left with necklaces, bracelets and 2 single piece displays above.

Middle display with all my clutches in the shop at the time.

Far right with earrings and 2 single piece displays above.

Card design I ended up going with and printed 230 of. I am plenty stocked!

The single displays before I pained the 3 layers of paint on front along with the paper bags with handles for bagging a sold clutch and chevron paper bags for jewelry sales. The flat canvas boards came in a set of 3 for about $8 and the 2 easel stands I got sitting next to them. The paper pack on the far left is what I used to punch my price tags for the jewelry and clutches as opposed to using those little pre-strung tags or using stickers.

What the canvas boards look like without jewelry and hooks covering. I completely forgot until I got there that her lobby furniture is about the yellow I used as the base layer!! I just got 1/4" screw hooks to screw into the board for hanging jewelry and where the screws stuck out the back, I just hot glued over and did a solid layer of green on the back to cover the print they come with.

For the clutch display, I used the basic idea from Senn & Sons:

I used a LOT of hot glue to make sure all the pieces stayed and were as sturdy as I could get them.

I added a lip to the front so hopefully it would keep a clutch (maybe 2?) from just sliding off the 'shelf'.

I added a bracer piece in the back to give it more stability. The only thing I might change would be adding a base so if I used this type of display at an outdoor show, I can put little beanbags in the bottom to keep it from knocking over.

My first attempt at covering didn't quite work out with some gray cotton... You can see the hot glue lines really easily and it looked bad, worse in person than in the picture.

Found some awesome soft fleece material I never used for its intended project and had enough to cover the front...

...cover the sides with adding a little folded flourish for aesthetics...

...and put a panel in the back to cover the hot glue and hide the secret of how I made this!! Also, this would be visible from the window side and I didn't want it to look messy!

 Well, there you have it. My displays and the entire setup!! What do you guys think?! I took so many pictures because I was just so darn excited about having a public setup that I maybe took too many pictures, but hey, gotta document my progress, right?? I wish I could have taken window pictures of how they'll look from the street, but her sign was up and I didn't want to take off too much of the duct tape she was using to keep it on out there. Maybe I can get some pictures next time I show up.

I'm pretty excited about the change of shelving though and the fact that she hasn't found vendors to fill the other shelves. That means I can at least put another couple clutches at the top of my display (the other shelves were only 15" tall and 4 clutches are 16" tall...) along with maybe making more displays for other pieces to put on the 2nd shelf, at least, until she finds other vendors to showcase. I told Bridget that I was looking into making tablet cases and clutches with a detachable wrist strap and a 2nd whole-side pocket so that you could put your phone or bigger items on the other side in the clutches and she seemed as excited as I am, so those may be next on the plan!!

Now I get to take a break tonight for a show bf and I are going to with friends and then I get back to work tomorrow on the last few clutches I cut fabric for last month and start planning what I want to do with the rest of the fabric I've bought since then. I also need to figure out what I want to put up in a friend's dojo who's going to make a shadowbox display box and I get half of it, 18"x36"!! I've also been advised to check out another local store about 15 minutes from my day job's location that does consignment of local vendors to see if I can setup a consignment deal with them too!! I will definitely keep you guys posted though!!

Craft ya laters!

Monthly All Girls Craft Group - July 2013

This month's craft day was small due to a lot of stuff going on for people. Airon had homework and projects to do for her classes, Michelle's working on getting their house ready to show/sell and lots of other types of things.

We did have one though, even if it was just my mom, Sarah and me. 

Sarah was working on some cross-stitch type Kleenex boxes and a jeans casing for her chain link belt she wears when she takes walks to encourage a little more cardio burn (didn't get pictures unfortunately).

My mom wanted to make another badge lanyard for herself:

The only part I did for her was to finish it off with a crimp bead, thread protector and crimp cover! Looks good!!

I haven't been able to get all my displays done and pricing and all that for my consignment deal yet so that's what I was working on some more. I got the rest of my price tags strung (punched cardstock with a couple of punches I have, will show you guys those later ;) ) but also painted the single necklace displays:

I had painted a couple of flat canvases yellow and then swirled green and blue on the background to add a little flair and measured out and drilled holes for the hooks sometime last week. Saturday I went ahead and got all the screw hooks in the boards and hung the jewelry I plan on giving her on them:

Once I get my whole setup done, I will show you guys the finished products as well as what the display looks like all setup in the Easely Amused shop! 

I can't wait to finish these guys and get to the next item(s) on my list!!
This was definitely a smaller group this time around, but it meant that we got to sit there and chit chat the whole time. 

Here's to next time!!

Craft ya laters!

Getting ready for my first shop display!!

Ok, we had our All Girls Craft Day for June last weekend and I said I really wanted to get the blog post written up and posted here... but I've been more distracted in the evenings than I planned getting more clutches sewn to put in Easely Amused's store on MY shelf!! 

Therefore, until I can get the rest of those pics off my camera and edited to post here, I give you clutch pr0n!!

New fabric!! May only be 1 or 2 clutches though... we'll see!

More new fabric!! Can't wait to see these together as a clutch!!

Sexy ladies...?? ;)

I still have about 6 more I want to make along with price tags getting put on these as well as on whatever jewelry I choose to put up in the window. Then I need to figure out displays which I think I'll have to make myself but I kinda want to try and keep with the fact I'm setting up shop in a painting studio. I want to use canvases to display the earrings, necklaces and bracelets, make them almost little pieces of "art" on the canvases and also maybe have a tray with some loose pieces.

The clutches oddly enough are a little harder to figure out because as much as people have suggested to just splay them out in a fan... they'd be laying on the shelf and not visible from across the room. What I would like to do is have them sort of stadium seated, prominently displayed so that they're visible from across the room. I am thinking of using this idea and just making it smaller, with steps that aren't as deep so only 1, maybe 2 clutches fit on each step, and have little lips so they don't just slide off:

The (awesome) DIY can be found at Sen & Sons

I'll keep you guys updated and definitely show you what I come up with and how the shelf looks when I'm all done!! I hope to be ready to take it all down to setup Monday night, 7/1/13, but we'll see how that goes...

Craft ya laters!!