3rd Show

Thanksgiving weekend is our big show - three days, black Friday thru Sunday. Part of the contract requires the vendor to work 12 hrs. I manned one of the front registers Friday for 6 hours and there was a huge line from 10 to 2 - very busy, lots of sales. 80.00 to 120.00 was average, some as big as 500.00. People are buying - whether they are buying my stuff is something else. :) Of course my customer base is more limited, more people will buy a snowmen then a girls dress or boys tie. I did get to do a bit of browsing and picked up a few small gifts and of course delicious fudge. :) Here are a few photos of the booth. I'll let you know next week how we did in sales when we get our tags back.

1 in a Million

I took a few photos today with my craft show partner and her girls. We wanted a few ad shots to print and display with our products. This is by far my favorite. She's wearing my skirt and that makes me smile. . . also finding a location that is green with water here in Arizona is a huge deal! :) and I've reconciled myself to the fact that for every photo shoot I do, I'll probably only get one shot I really like. . . unless I actually learn how to use a camera. (did I mention my last photo shoot I forgot to clean the lense and there was a smudge in EVERY picture!!) But for now, I'm happy just getting lucky once in a while for a 1 in a million shot.

Second Show

We gave it another go and did the Sequoya show this weekend. Danny played Mr Mom all weekend. Don't ask me about dishes, laundry, or house cleaning - let's just say he managed to keep them fed and fairly clean and got them to their games, church services, etc with aplomb. Go Daddy Go! :) Big boy Isaiah was my muscle, helping me with hefting the tables etc. He was rewarded with a handcrafted sling shot - the perks of child labor. :)

This show was a bit different - the last one we were in the gym but this time we ended up at the end of a corridor heading out to the ball field. A bit off the beaten path (near the gyros though so folks eating lunch saw our shop) It's possible people didn't venture down our path. I tried to face our display towards the top of the corridor so they could see what we were selling from there. I wasn't really pleased with the display. We need more height. I wanting some poster size photos of girls in the clothes - big ad shots. Hopefully, Carrie's girls and a few more will be willing to pose for a few pics.




Overall it seemed busier then the Peoria show. Just as I was arriving today I saw a little girl wearing one of my skirts and a hair flower from Carrie. It made my day. My checking account might not agree, but for me it really doesn't matter what sells I just want to see someone wearing and enjoying what I make. Her mom said she bought it yesterday and wanted to wear it to church this morning. She went home to see what colors she needed and came back today to get a few more flowers. I did see a lot more families (or at least moms with daughters) at this show.



Enough blogging - remember that laundry I mentioned? off to it now . . . or maybe in the morning. :) Good night.

Craft Fair Weekend Part 2

I'm standing at the craft fair register watching the clock thinking "it's 8, the boys are warming up, it's 9:30 they just weighted in, it's 10:00 kick off I wonder how they're doing . . . then game over, it's kick off for the next one. I hope they're doing ok. I wonder how the coaches are acting." I didn't have a cell phone so I had no idea how it was going until I finally reached my husband at 2 and he said "It went terrible, kids are all coming off the field crying, both teams lost, some of our players were kicked off the team."

Isaiah's team (the one with coaching drama - you can read more in prior posts) played a team they could have beaten. But it was a fiasco - personal fouls, kid being kicked out, running backs were being smacked before the hand off was even made, issues between parents and coaches etc. Final score 22-7. Isaiah played linebacker and center the whole game and did get some tackles. The Association is will be at practice tomorrow to talk to parents and coaches. . . we'll see what happens then.

Mathia's team was intimidated before they even weighted in - when they saw the cornrows, goatees, and grills. This is an all black south central team. Danny's "brutha theory" is the more brutha a team has the better the team. Coach had announced to our kids this team was the best in the state (this team is blowing out teams who blew out other teams) All the kids were coming off the field crying. Mathias had a crying spell and coach yelled at him to "stuck it up and get control of himself". He did play most of the game and did get several touchdown saving tackles. He played both sides of the ball. They were up 21 - 0 and we'd only had 1 offensive play. They'd kick off and we wouldn't even get the ball - they'd get it. Final score 34-0. Pop Warner has a rule, if you run up the score the coach needs to write a letter of apology etc so at a certain point you can only run up the middle and your bench should be playing otherwise I'm sure the score would have been worse. "You were out worked, out hit, and out hustled. You had your pride ripped from you today." This was coach's bellowing final speech - did I mention he's intense??? Welcome to football - 7 to 9 years olds mighty mite division.

Craft Fair Weekend Part 1

We survived craft fair weekend! This was our first fair - I shared a booth with a friend. She sells frames and hair flowers at www.moiandmine.etsy.com.


Briar Patch puts on fairs all over the valley - it's set up with central cashiers that accept credit cards etc so as a shopper you just collect items and pay at one spot. Each item has a coded tag that gets sorted later by "shop". That relieves us of dealing with each transaction, we can leave the booth unattended, and folks spend more if they can use a credit card. :) Part of our obligation involved working some volunteer hours at the registers. I didn't get to shop much (I had a shower to attend immediately after my volunteer hours)but I did get to meet a really great girl who talked my ear off in a good way! Karlee Fuch makes a wide range of fabric bags and patterns. She's been doing shows from several years and shared lots of tips and information with me (and also encouragement!) You can check out her shop and blog at www.karleefuchs.com.

My sales were minimal and I'll admit to being a bit discouraged. However Sunday's church services were all about our words - so I'll be positive and just focus on that. :) Also our booth neighbor who sells hats said sales were lousy so maybe it wasn't just us. We'll have final tallies later this week. Working the register I saw a lot of elderly shoppers buying food items and decorations and not many young familes which might be more my target customer. Either way I enjoyed making my items and if nothing sells at least Eliya will have a closet full of Mommy made skirts to twirl about in a few years. :) I also set out a papergoods item with my sketch. Most of my sketches are probably best for stationary, cards, print type goods. I'm trying to work with them and do something with them. Also our booth display was mostly 'round the house items (didn't want to invest a whole lot upfront but we plan to change it a bit and add some actual tableclothes and maybe poster size prints of girls in the clothes ad style for the next show.)