HOLIDAY CRAFT SHOWS

WHOA........can't believe it has been so long since I have posted! Man oh man where does the time go! I have been busy sewing and doing local craft shows so I haven't had much time to post. The first one was last weekend and to our surprise we did very well. It is a small one and we usually do ok, but this year we did really well.....yeah!! :)

Since Black Friday is coming and the shopping season is starting in full force I am sure many of you will be going to your local craft fairs. So for those of you who do go to them I think it is time to revisit the rules of craft fair shopping.....:) LOL! :) :)

TEN THINGS NOT TO SAY TO AN ARTIST OR CRAFTER  :)

10.” I’ll just get my friend to make one of those”

9.  “You know what you should make….”

8.  “Do I get a price break if I buy two?”

7. “I can make that myself.”

6.  “Why does it cost so much”?

5.  “How do you make this?”

4. “Will you donate your artwork to our event? We can’t pay you, but it will be great exposure.”

3.  “My nine-year-old makes this kind of stuff  too.”

2.  “Kids, this is what happens if you don’t go to college.”

1.  “I can buy that at Walmart for $3.99.”

So all of you who do craft shows how many of you have heard these??? I know I have heard them all more that once. :)  So if you do visit the craft shows remember the rules and thank you for shopping local!

HAPPY SHOPPING! :)

Craft Show

I did my first craft show of the season. It went fairly well. It was in the small town nearby (not that my town is so huge! LOL!) so my expectations weren't really high, but it did go better than expected. The spaces were a little smaller than I usually have so I couldn't put out all my product but we did get a lot of it out. 

I took the fabric bowls I have been making and did sell some of those which made me happy and some of my fall quilted items sold too. :)

My husband does woodworking and makes these cutting board and birch burl bowls. Both of these items do good in the summer, but during the holiday shows they do really well as people buy them for gifts and they didn't let me down. Sold several of them. :)

So....the first show is done. The next one will be in a few weeks so I am working on some new items for that one. More fabric bowls and I think I will do a couple of Christmas tablerunners and wall hangings. Well let's say I will "TRY" and get some of them made. :)

Have a great week! :)

START OF THE SEASON

Well tomorrow starts the beginning of the fall and Christmas shows I do locally. This is a new one in a town by me. Hopefully it goes ok. I have been working on lots of new items for this season. One thing I have been sewing my little fingers to the bone for is these fabric bowls or baskets as some people call them. I originally took the class on making these to make one for my daughter, but then I liked them so much I thought maybe people would like them for gifts so I made some more. I just kept making and making them! 

They just kept rolling off the sewing machine!

And then there were more!!

Hopefully they will sell well and I can make more! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Wish me luck! :)  

CHRISTMAS SHOW

Had my first of three Christmas shows last weekend. It went fairly well. Not as good as last year, but with the economy we were pleasantly surprised. This is the biggest show on the peninsula and people even come over from Anchorage to do their shopping because this is all handmade only. It is really nice to see all the talent there is up here.

This is my booth. I do all the summer and Christmas shows with my "market buddy". We have a large area at these shows so we can stuff a lot of products in them and it just gives the customers more room to move around. 

This is my friends side of the booth. She makes the most wonderful soap and they make candle and plant holders out of stones they find on the beach so hence the name SoapStonz. 

I really enjoy doing these shows and visiting with all the people. It is nice to see many repeat customers coming to find us to see what new we have. We are blessed with all the repeat customers we get. :)

Today is Cyber Monday so I thought I would have a 20% discount sale in my Etsy Shop. Just type in CYBER20 at check out. It runs through Tuesday December 3rd. I have lots of Christmas decor. :)


So what are your plans for this week? Christmas shopping? I am sooooooooooo far behind schedule. Normally I have all my packages done and shipped to my dad, but this year I am not even finished!! Toooooooooooooooo much to do and too little time!!! :) Well I better get busy getting stuff done! Have a great week! :)

BACK TO WORK

Did you miss me??? I was gone for a week and you probably didn't even notice me being gone. :)  We took a week off from all the hustle and bustle around here and spent a few days down in Las Vegas. My oh my it was HOT!!! One day it was 111 degrees. I thought us two polar bears from Alaska were going to die!! Did get to visit with my niece and finally meet my little great niece. What a cutie she is. She has had a rough road so far. She was born with a serious heart condition and  has several other issues, but what a trooper she is! Glad to be back home to the cooler weather for sure.

Volcano in front of Mirage Hotel

Well my summer market season has started. Have had a couple of weeks of them and it hasn't been too bad of a start. They weather has been wonderful which is out of the ordinary. Usually it is cold and raining, but we have lucked out....knock on wood it continues.

Hey guess what??? I have been asked to do guest blog articles for By Your Hands Blog! I am so excited to contribute to this blog. They have some really good posting so I am honored to have been asked. Now I have to come up with some good articles for all the followers. YIKES!! Hope I can do this. :)  Come on over here and join me. :)

Also wanted to let all of you know that the Old Farmhouse Gathering is having an Americana Challenge where you can vote for your favorite shop and you have a chance to win a prize so when you get a chance just hop on over here and check them out.

 

 

Well I better get busy and get to sewing to be ready for the market again this week. Hope everyone has a great week! I have a new recipe for you to check out. Just in time for those summer BBQ's. :)

SUMMER MARKET STARTING

It is that time of year again. Can't believe it has been a year already! My local summer market season is starting this Saturday and the good old weather man says it is suppose to be sunny and 60 degrees which is unheard of for the opening day of the market. Normally it is cold and rainy and we are all sitting in our areas with coats, hats and gloves on. I sure hope he is right!

I will only have one market a week this year as the one in the nearby town is not happening this year. Last year the city said they were going to remodel the park that we used and we couldn't have the park this year and of course are they going to do that now.......NO! Too bad because that park was right by the river where all the salmon run so in July we had lots of tourist coming to fish and stopped by to see us. I did fairly well there. :(

I have a few new items I am taking this year. I need to come up with new stuff as the locals always stop by and if you have the same things they just walk by you as they already know what you have.



These bags did really well at the Christmas shows and I sold the few I had last summer so I thought I would make several different colors and see how they do.  



I did a few springs shows that weren't very good, but these really sold pretty good so I am hoping they will do good this summer.



Going to try some mug rugs also. I don't have the Alaska one's made yet, but that is my mission for next week. The tourist don't show up really good until the middle of June so I should have time. :)

My husband worked all winter to get his supply of cutting boards done as last year for the year (which includes the Christmas shows) he sold 178 cutting boards so he said he didn't want to spend all summer making boards like he did last summer. :)


My hubby does three different designs of boards. We call these "mutts" as there are several different woods in them. :)

 

 

So hopefully the season will be good. Will have a hard time topping last year as that was amazingly successful, but we will see.

 

 

Also wanted to remind you to visit the Old Farmhouse Gathering Team Summer Celebration that is going on right now. Just click here to join us. :)

 

 

 

 



Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend! :)

 

SPRING MARKET

Well I did the first market of the season. It was a spring market and the first of its kind around here. The Chamber of Commerce was doing it and it was by invitation.

I was so happy to be invited to do this, but unfortunately it was a flop. :(  Not very many people came and the sales were really bad. I don't think it was advertised very well as so many of the people said they didn't hear about it and only saw the sign out front as they were driving by. And the bad thing is that sign was made by one of the vendors that he did overnight to get people in the next day. Like we always say "you have to let the people know you are there!"

Anyway I did have a good time visiting with people again and some of the vendors are my summer market "market buddies" that I hadn't seen all winter so it was good to see them again and visit with them. We are all getting anxious for the summer market to start. Hopefully it will be as good as last year was.


I took some of my new items to this show and my coffee cozies did well so I am thinking they may do good this summer. Actually need to make more so I can fill the basket back up!

Also took a couple of my new mug rugs that I am working on. Had comments on how nice they were so I am hoping the summer crowd will like them too. Also had lots of comments on how pretty my tote bags are. Hoping I can whittle them down too.

 

I am going to do a "Women's Shopping Expo" in a couple of weeks at the high school so I hope that goes well. First time I have done that one so maybe since I will be new they might like to see new items. Even if I don't do that well it is always fun to visit with people. That is why I like doing the summer market so much as you get to visit with people from all over the world!

 

Also on a weather note.......I know that I complain about the weather up here all the time as usually it is pretty crummy, but I thought I would let all of you know that we are getting close to 3 weeks of blue clear skies everyday!!!! That is unheard of around these parts!!!!! Of course that means it is 10 degrees below our normal temps so the snow isn't melting, but the sun is just wonderful. I can actually sit on my back porch in the sun and not have to have my coat on. YEA!! :)

 

 

 

Well need to get busy finishing up some sewing projects for the summer. Oh ya...got to make more coffee cozies. :)

 

Also wanted to tell you I am going to be doing a giveaway for my one year blog anniversary next week so stay tuned for that! And as always checkout the new recipe I have for you. :) Thanks for stopping by.