my first craft show

Well I've been putting off this post for a while now. The show was in the beginning of December! But I knew I'd get to it eventually.

My first craft show. Ever since I started selling my things on Etsy way back in 2006, I've always wanted to try out craft shows too. I'm not really sure what took me so long and how/why I finally got my shit together and made it happen this past December. Either way..it was quite the experience!
I recruited two of my friends to help, and also a third friend and her boyfriend who stopped by for a little while, but couldn't stay the whole time since they don't live very close. The two friends who live near me were a lot of help. We brainstormed, made my banner, made pretend cupcakes. Lots of fun. At the craft show, I had one of them handing me packing supplies and the other taking the money. I can't imagine how people do this alone!

The show was in Philly, which I think was great for people traffic. But it was also snowing that day..pretty hard, so I don't think as many people that would have showed up did. Either way, I had a nice flow of traffic the entire day!
It was really interesting to be face to face with the customers too. A lot of my customers were moms and young women. That's who I've always focused on marketing to, so it was nice to see that it's working.
It was also interesting to see what got the most attention. Out of everything on my table I was surprised to see my bird earrings sold the best. And I was also disappointed that barely anyone noticed my Plini candle holders. I think I just need a better display for them. I'm learning!


The pocket kitties also sold really well. I think they made good little extra add-ons for gifts or "stocking stuffers". I made more for the shop as well.





I was on my feet all day. We had one chair, but I was just so pumped. It was great to meet the other sellers there too. I recognized a few of them from etsy and other places online, which I thought was pretty cool. And my other friend Maria was there selling her artwork with the gallery she helps run. Some other friends stopped by to support and say hello too. I thought that was really sweet of them.

Some things I've learned...

-people prefer pendants WITH necklaces
-getting up and rearranging the table when there's a lull makes people come over
-always at the least say hello to people
-'2 for..' deals work!
-accepting credit cards is a good idea
-talking to too many friends hanging near the table makes the customers leave
-no matter how hard you try to fold your table cover to keep it from getting wrinkly, it'll still be wrinkly as hell

Ok, that's all I have for now. The craft show went exactly as I had hoped overall. It was successful, fun, stressful and it went by really quickly! I can't wait until I do another. I actually had a few customers ask me when/where my next show was. To which I replied, "uh...er, umm...uhhh". I hadn't been prepared for that type of question! I was living in the moment of my first craft show. Hadn't really thought about the future. But now that I know this is something I'd like to do again, it's time to seek out more shows!
I can't imagine doing this without my "helpers" though!

craft fair preparations

I finished my banner for the craft fair the other day. My lovely friends helped me tediously cut out lettering which I then ironed on with some "stitch witchery" stuff, which annoyingly enough was just as tedious to deal with as cutting the letters out themselves. I'll have a photo of the banner soon. And some others of my other craft table display elements. It's coming together super cute!

For now...here's a photo of just a hint of the things I'm working on to sell there. I have a TON of goodies that I haven't listed in my Etsy shop. I also plan on bringing my Etsy stock with me, so if you're reading this and have seen something in my shop that you were thinking of buying, now's the time to buy before someone else possibly snatches it up!

one month until the craft extravaganza!

It's going to go by in the blink of an eye. I've been really slacking with my promoting and blogging and marketing, etc etc, so on and so forth. There's so much to do in preparation for this craft fair I'm going to, that I just haven't had the time to do much of anything else! I'm thankful I have three wonderful friends who have agreed to come and help me. The craft show is December 5th, so I'm assuming after that date is over, I'll be able to get back into the swing of things.



These are the promo items I made that all of the vendors were asked to contribute for little grab bags to be handed out to customers who come to the craft fair. I have my business card, a teeny button, a little Plini head charm, and a special coupon. It's a secret!

Aside from my craft fair prepartations, I FINALLY got my website up and running. It still needs a bit of work, but it's definitely to the point now where I can show it to people and not feel the need to have to tell them "oh don't worry, I still have to fix that" "don't look at that page" "that'll look different, I'm still working on that". I have to add a few more links and fix the background...maybe rearrange my little gallery page. But I'm really happy with it! Thanks to Lou, of course, for all of his help and patience with my dumb questions about html and ftp.

http://www.jamieferraioli.com

craft fair action

Crafty Balboa....I'm in it. You coming?