What a Weekend!

Well my first craft show of the season is done....thank goodness....because it was awful. No, do not feel bad for me, because I don't feel bad. We just didn't make any money...in fact, we lost about $30 plus all of the food we ate! That was a first for us, and I must say it wasn't much fun. We did learn a lot though.

We learned that even though my booth might be the darn cutest thing out there...it might not be the best style of booth for craft shows. It's too closed in and people are hesitant to come "in". We did remove my checkout table and a coat rack I was using for my tote bags to open up my entry and that really helped get more people in. It didn't really improve my sales, but there just weren't a ton of buying customers at the show on Sunday.

The other problem with my booth is that people walking through a craft show are walking, talking and looking back and forth at booths on both sides of the aisle. My booth only has two small end caps to showcase what I have...whereas other people use tables across the entire front of their booth with all of their items on it. People have to look IN my booth to really see what I have, and that doesn't always happen.

There were experienced people there that didn't do well, so I wasn't alone. One girl from Michigan that had the most awesome set up I have ever seen, said this was her first show in 21 years where she didn't cover her expenses. I don't think we will do anymore of the two day shows. It's just too hard to cover your costs when you sell mostly inexpensive items. We are going to look at some farmer's markets and and one day shows.

One neat thing...I did sell one of my new wall clocks....the green one I loved so much, and also one of the new desk clocks...the moon and stars one. I also sold a few of my new cell phone/camera cases. the rest of my new things will be getting listed in FourDogDay over the next week or so.

Anyway, my head is already full of ideas of where I am going with my etsy shop...and I can't wait to get going. I also have to get some things ready for the consignment shop I'm going to try selling at. It should be a fun spring and summer.

Everyone have an awesome day today. I am headed to an all day training today. Be sure to do something nice for yourself today...like go for a walk!

Bring on the Rain!!!

Just a quick hello. We are getting ready to head out to Day 2 of the s-l-o-w-e-s-t craft show in history. To make it brief....the show itself is awesome. Everything about it was perfect....the only downfall, which no one can control is that this is the most beautiful weekend ever. It's in the low 80's the sun is shining and who on earth wants to go to an indoor craft show when it's like that? Obviously, no one....except for the very elderly and they weren't buying. They were just out for a stroll.

Everyone was disappointed with their sales...or lack of....even the seasoned pros. Apparently you are suppose to pray for rain when you do indoor shows and sun when you do outdoor shows.

Why is that every show I do, ends up being the worst they've ever had? HAHA!

We sold a few things yesterday, but not near enough to even cover our fee. I am bringing a few things with today that I didn't have out yesterday that the "older crowd" might enjoy.

My booth worked out really well, but again, we learned some things that we will be changing for the next indoor show in three weeks. I'll fill you in on all of that tomorrow. I'll have some pictures for you too.

Have a wonderful day and I hope if you are not doing an indoor craft show today, that the sun is shining brightly where you live!

Chat with you soon!

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you have a relaxing day planned with your family.

The clock is ticking away the minutes and hours until my very first indoor craft show next weekend! YIKES!!

Irv and I will be doing our "trail run" with the craft show booth today. Irv has it down and on the cart....next we will set it up out in the driveway (to see how long that takes us), then we will take it down and load it on the truck (to be sure the booth and all of the shelves and the check out table all fit nicely in the back of his little pick up truck). Then we will move it from there back to the cart (so it's ready to be loaded back onto the truck Friday afternoon). We want to make sure that when we unload it from the truck to the cart at the show Friday afternoon that it is in the order that Irv wants it in to set it up. Do I have you totally confused yet? HAHA!

The booth all stacked up on the cart. Irv had to glue felt to every piece so it won't scratch the floor if we have to move it around when we set it up!!

I finished up the last of my items for the show, and yesterday I priced all of the new items and did my inventory for the show. The skirts and ruffles for all of the shelves are also done. I even started making lists of what I need to bring.

My tote bags waiting to be pressed.

After our trial run, I will be ironing the aprons and tote bags so they will be ready to pack up. The only thing I haven't done is make myself a new vendor apron and I think I just might have time to do that too! Isn't it amazing what we can accomplish when we set our minds to it?

I put the little ropes on the girls yesterday.

The show is Saturday and Sunday, but they had an option to set up on Friday and Irv and I grabbed it. We are going to work a 1/2 day, come home and load up the truck and the car and head over to set up. What's really nice is that they have security, so we can actually set up the entire booth, items included, on Friday, close up the entrance to the booth with a tarp and arrive an hour before the show. If we have any problems, we will be able to address them Friday, and not when the show is about to open.

Remember the old sewing cabinet I plucked from our neighbor's garbage a few weeks ago? Here it is now. Irv threw a little shelf underneath so I have somewhere to put the credit card slips and some notepads and pens. I think he did an awesome job!
I finished some more cake stands this week too. They have been on the kitchen table all week, but it's okay, we never sit there to eat anyway!

I'm not setting any goals for myself for sales, because I have no control over it. If people are looking to buy what I have to sell, then it will be a good show. If not, I hope to just make enough to pay back my entry fee and pay for part of my booth. I only made 15 aprons and 10 tote bags. I want to see how they go at this show before I put any more time or money into them. I will have my pillows, ceramic tile coasters and light switch covers too.

I made these cute little signs yesterday to hang on the front of my booth.

Have a great day today and I'll chat with tomorrow!

The Vision Takes Shape!

It's not quite done, but I just couldn't wait to show you. I'll show you again when I have the skirting for the lower shelves and the ruffles for the upper shelves done. This is just the most awesome craft show booth ever! I can't believe that Irv was able to take MY vision and MY sketches and create from scratch EXACTLY what I wanted!!

I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing because it is still taking up our entire one car garage. We will be taking it apart and setting it up in the driveway next weekend for a trial run, and I'll get some other pictures then. So, for now, you get it in sections.

The three big shelves on the right are for my pillows. I plan to skirt the bottom shelf for some color and so we can shove some of our bins under it. The four corner shelves are for cake stands. I am thinking I might make little ruffles for the fronts of all of the shelves. There is enough room between the pillows and cake stands for cute little hooks of some kind to hang part of my totes on.

The empty section on the back wall will be where the aprons will be hanging on these funky wood heads/bodies that we are going to make, but haven't made yet. Then we have four more corner shelves for more cake stands.

The big shelf on the left side will be for the coasters and I will skirt that one too, and then it's a little hard to see them, but there are three skinny shelves above the big shelf and that is where all of my light switch covers will go. I am really excited that they will be standing upright facing people rather than laying on a table. It also has two little front sections where I will be able to "showcase" an apron and a couple of tote bags so people can see them as they stroll by.

Remember that cute little sewing machine cabinet I "removed" from our neighbors garbage? That will be my check out table....there isn't much room for anything else. This show only gives you an 8 x 10 spot, and that isn't much in the grand scheme of things. The cabinet is being painted white right now. It will be skirted on three sides and I'll keep my bags and things under it.

So I am sending out a gigantic CHEE HOO to my wonderful husband Irv for all of his hard work on this project....and even if I don't sell one thing...I will have the best looking booth at the show...but that better not happen or I will be in BIG trouble!!

Oh, and just so you don't think that Irv is some kind of God or something...I was teasing him yesterday and he told me that if I kept it up, he wouldn't finish the booth and he would just hand me the keys to the truck on the day of the show and I would have to figure out how to set it up myself! The nerve of the guy!

Slow Down...You're Moving Too Fast

Irv came into my workshop last night and asked, "Are you okay? You don't seem to be very into all of this anymore."

"I'm fine. I just have a nasty headache," was my answer.

"All of this" meant my crafting and our upcoming craft shows, and my answer was an honest one. I did have a headache, but his question did make me realize that it's time to slow down a bit.

I have been working at warp speed since April when I was accepted into my first show. About that time I started working with fabric and my entire focus changed. That has meant working every evening and every weekend to get enough items to have a nice variety at my shows. It probably wasn't good timing on my part, but it is what it is.

I am excited about the two indoor shows and my new display...which Irv almost has done...and the prospect of seeing how my aprons and tote bags are received, BUT I have to admit that I am definitely looking forward to the shows being done....because I want my life back! HAHA!

I have a really hard time enjoying what I am doing when I have to work every minute of every day on it, and when I have a deadline. It will be so nice to be able to exhale.

I have also not touched my etsy shops in ages. I'm finding it difficult to prepare for the shows and keep up with listing new items. I am renewing as needed, but haven't listed anything new.

So, my plan is to make what I can without causing myself to have a mini meltdown, and just go with the flow until after the shows. My shops are doing okay, I have made some awesome aprons and totes and all will be well. The pictures are some of my new things.

What do you do when you have too much to do and not enough time to get it done....I'm thinking chocolate just might help!

Introducing......

a few of my new tote bags!!! Tah Dah!!! Pardon the pictures. I just hung them wherever I could snap a picture of them and they need their final pressing. For the show, I will stuff some tissue in them so they display nicely.

I love fabric. I love the colors and the patterns. At times I struggle with certain aspects of sewing, but I am learning. I never took a sewing class, so I sometimes have to work really hard to perfect things that other people probably breeze right through. I had trouble with a couple of spots on two of the totes and I was ready to throw them in the garbage, but I stuck with it and finally got them to where I am comfortable taking them to the craft show.

I don't think I am going to put these in my etsy shop. I really want them for the show and I'm not sure how many I will be able to get done. I still have more aprons to make too!

The first one I made is a little zebra print with webbing straps. This one would be perfect for carrying my "junk" to work every day or for a trip to the grocery store. I'm working on another one like this one in an amazing green paisley print! I know I am going to want to keep that one, but that it against the rules.

This brown one is one of my favorite fabrics and this bag gave me such a hard time. It's huge and would be awesome for a trip to the beach or as an overnight bag. Although I do know people that carry around bags this size everyday.....I don't. I am a small bag or a no bag kind of girl.

The last one is so darn cute. I made a couple of pillows out of this fabric and loved it. It's a tan and maroon floral with wooden dowels for handles! I really like this bag a lot.

I was looking through a magazine last night and found some pillows that are just the most fabulous things. I am already gathering what I need to make some of those before the show.....maybe I should take a leave of absence from my full time job so I can get all of this stuff done for the show. Think they would go for that? HA!

The Cost of Crafting

Those of you that own arts and crafts businesses know the costs involved in running your business and it usually isn't cheap. If you do craft shows, you know that getting started in that arena isn't cheap either.

Irv and I are preparing for our first indoor craft show. We did two outdoor shows this summer where we made enough to pay our entry fees and paid off part of the nice 10 X 10 tent we purchased for the shows. We didn't do great, but we did okay. The tent and some white sheets to throw over the tables was really all we spent money on for those shows, but that was enough. $$$$$

Indoor shows are completely different. We won't be using our nice new tent of course, but we do need some type of booth. If Irv and I are going to do something, we have to do it right. So far, we have purchased wood....lots of wood....and white stain and lots of screws and other hardware. $$$$$

Irv working on the 10 foot back wall this morning

Once it's built and we know the structure is sturdy enough to support the shelving and product, then we have to buy boards to make all of the shelves. $$$$$ Then I want to make these cute wood "face" cut outs to use to hang my aprons on so we will need that wood too and paint for those. $$$$$

The back of one one the 8 foot wall sections Not completely painted yet.

The booth space is small...only 8 x 10, so we are trying not to use tables. We are going to display things on shelves instead, but then where do you shove all of your empty boxes and bins? Oh, you run to the fabric store and buy 12 yards of fabric to make skirting for the bottom shelves so you can hide your junk under those. $$$$$

I bought a paisley print to skirt all of the bottom shelves in the booth. If I have time, I might make a very small "ruffle" to attach to the fronts of the other shelves. The solid color fabric will be used to skirt the little white desk I use to check people out. They don't match exactly, but they won't be next to each other either, so I thought it would still work. The shelves will all be white. I thought it was a fun print.

The fabric I bought yesterday for the skirting

Meanwhile, I am still working on new items for the show. $$$$$ I am currently experimenting with some tote bags. So far, one is great and one is not so great. The not so great one won't be going to the show. :(

Yep, it does cost a lot of $$$$$ to get started in an arts and crafts business and in craft shows, but the way I look at it is this.....this is an expense of being in business. Sure I could have thrown a couple of tables in my booth and layed out my wares like a lot of people do and not had any expense but my entry fee....but that isn't me. I need awesome...really cool....wow....Chee Hoo when I do something, and that costs money.

The other thing is, once we have the booth done, we will be able to use it for as long as we do shows, and Irv has built it in a way that it can be assembled for different size areas. We can even use it with our tent for our outdoor shows. It's really a one-time expense.

I can't wait until we have it all done so I can show you how my "vision" turned out. Hopefully the booth will be a big hit and will attract lots of lookers who become buyers so we can pay it all off!!

Chee Hoo!!

Woo Hoo!!!

I just spent a couple of hours at Joann Fabrics and oh my goodness, did I have some fun. I had a nice gift card from Tresa for Mother's Day and I used that and then some. I got all kinds of awesome, awesome fabric for aprons and I cannot wait to work on them all. I won't know which one to do first because they are all so darn cool! There is brown with pears, and pink with birds, white with flowers and lady bugs, a lime green with brown and aqua, a black and white, a pink, black, green and yellow one, a blue with white polka dots that I think is going to be my craft show apron and a fun watermelon one!!!
fabric,
I am just finishing up one from the original batch of fabric and all of this has to be washed and dried, so I won't start these until next week.

I also will be mailing in applications for two more craft shows....one is an outdoor one in July and the other is an indoor show in September. I already got in the indoor one in October. I still haven't found anything for August and I'm undecided on November.

Can you tell I am buzzing right now....kind of high on life I guess.

I am also going tomorrow to buy a tiny flat iron for this very short hair. I used mine on it, and I'm not as upset with the cut except that I really don't understand how I ended up with what appears to be bangs....when I said nothing about bangs. I never have bangs. I don't like bangs. How did I end up with bangs????

Well time to get in my jammies and go read for a while. I need to settle my brain down a bit. Chat with you soon!!!

Marketing Your Business

As most of you know, I have two shops on etsy. I opened my first shop, FourDogDay, in July of 2008, and added MyOtherShop soon after. I quickly realized that I no clue what I was doing and closed the second shop after a short time. Once I felt more comfortable with the entire etsy process, I reopened MyOtherShop. I can't believe I've been at this for almost a year already!

The growth of my shops is S-L-O-W, which I've heard is okay. I would definitely like more than one sale a week, but it is what it is. To help get my name out there, I did my first craft show last weekend. Although it wasn't a huge financial success, it was an awesome learning experience and I plan to do many more in the coming months. You can read about my first craft show experience here.

People that follow the craft shows will start to recognize me and my shop names after a while of consistent attendance and that's part of promoting. Eventually I would like to have a sign in my booth that says something like, "You can also find me and my creations at www.fourdogday.com" or something like that.

My daughter, Tresa, sent me a link this morning to a wonderful ABC News/Good Morning America article all about etsy and turning crafts into cash. It highlighted five successful shops. It was a good article. You can read it here.

Between publicizing our own shops through means like blogs, craft shows, flyers and business cards.....and articles like this one.....success is attainable for us all.

Do you have an online business? If so, feel free to share any promotional or marketing successes you have had.

One Down and Many More To Go....

We got to the staging area for the show at 5:00 a.m. I had spoken with one of the organizers during the week and she said the out-of-staters often are there by 2:00 a.m. We anticipated a long line when we got there, but were actually 8th in line. We decided we would never get there so early again, but quickly decided 5:00 was a good idea when they started to direct us onto the town square at 6:20 so we could unload. The chaos that ensued was beyond belief....350 crafters times two vehicles or one huge trailer each equals a very congested road and a traffic jam like you have never seen. Lucky for us, because we were 8th in line, we were able to pull pretty close to our entrance to the park and hauled our stuff to our spot.

Set up went fine. No problems at all. It was kind of fun and pretty exciting. Nice music was being pumped into area and we went about our merry way. We were done by 9:00 a.m. and the show didn't start until 10:00. Note the picture of poor Irv sitting a putting eight straight pins in each and every one of the little pin cushions!

We were very fortunate to have couples on both sides of us that do craft shows for a living. Really nice people and we learned a lot about the craft show "circuit" from them.

Tresa drove the 60 miles from Chicago to Woodstock and spent a couple of hours with us. She said she knew she was getting close when she started to see cows. :) Tresa is in marketing and she gave me some great suggestions. The first thing she noticed is that I had all of the light switches at the front of the table, and a small round table with all of the pin cushions on it right out front. That meant as people were walking by, if light switch covers and pin cushions weren't their thing, they would walk by. People don't come into every booth to look around. You have to "grab them" as they are walking by.

So, she moved some things around and at the end of that table we put some of everything. We did the same thing on the small table and the result was instantaneous. People started stopping and looking and then if they saw something of interest, out of the many things displayed, they came in and looked around.

The next thing she said was that I had no sign that said "Blank photo note cards", and for people that don't know what I do, you wouldn't really know what they were because they were in cello. We took some out, put them around on the table and hung some of them out of the cello on the display boards. I didn't sell any cards, but people did start looking at them.

Next, was my pricing. I have a tendency to price things $5, $10, $15, $20 and $25 if it's close to that price. Tresa suggested I start doing $4, $9, $14, $19 and $24 if I can. People see prices in categories and even if it is only a one dollar difference are more apt to buy something they like that is $14 than $15. It's a mind thing...but that is very true. I thought about when I shop and realized I think that way as well. I couldn't change prices this time, but I will definitely do that for the next show.

One other thing she suggested is that Irv make something for the front of the booth that I might be able to hang things on or something with shelves that I could display some items on. I thought that was a great idea as well.

I didn't make near what I thought I would make, but I still consider the show a huge success. The fact that Tresa's suggestions will help me from here on out and the info I gathered from the craft show pros next to me was well worth the time and effort I put into the show. Of course, I wish I had made more, but I did cover my entry fee and will be able to pay some of my canopy off, so I am happy.

I will say that I am not the only one that didn't make a lot. The pros on both sides of me were very disappointed in their sales as well. In fact, the pros don't get disappointed, they tend to get a bit angry. They expect a successful show for the fee they paid. I have to disagree with them on this one. There were tons of people at the show...and I mean tons. The organizers can get the people there for you, but they can't make them buy things.

Our location really didn't help matters. The main loop is on the road and by the time people do that loop, I think they have seen enough. Then they scoot through the park where we were to get to where they parked their cars. Many people that came through the park had bought things, but they bought them on the main loop and not in the park.

The pros had many other pro friends that came by to chat. Many of them said that their sales were down about 50% from what they normally do at this particular show. I guess that wouldn't make me happy either. I am not one to make excuses, and I would have been much more concerned if the booths around me were selling like mad and I wasn't....and that wasn't the case. No excuses...just an observation.

Now...here are some things I learned all on my own:

1) People are very happy in the morning when they are setting up. A couple hours later when they realize they aren't going to make a lot of money, they turn into their alter ego!
2) When people are packing up after a not so great show...get the hell out of their way!
3) Be sure to check on the ground behind your tables for items that got knocked down. They could be sitting there all day and you would never know it!
4) Things that you have in little zip lock bags form condensation in them when they sit in the sun!
5) Never tell your friends and family that you are Booth 311 by the gazebo because they take the little number stakes away after you set up and no one has any idea what your booth number is!
6) No one in or around a craft show sells food for vegetarians and if they do it is nasty crap!
7) Be sure to keep reapplying your sunscreen about every 30 minutes on a sunny day or you will get a nasty sunburn and sometimes it is only on one ear and one side of your face!
8) That music that sounds so nice at the start of the day is looped and that same music keeps playing over and over and over and over and over again all day long for 12 hours...after a few hours, it isn't so nice anymore!
9) Bring something with to shoot out the speakers that the nasty music is coming from
10) Items that you bring TO the show, seem to reproduce during the day, so that when you go to pack up...even though you sold some things...it doesn't fit in the boxes it came in anymore!
11) Don't take so much that it doesn't fit in your booth and don't put it all out at once even if you really, really, really want to because someone just might be looking for that exact color, print, shape, design!
12) Appreciate a husband that is so amazingly supportive that you know there is no way on the face of this earth that you could do what you just did without him...even if the next day, he unloads everything into the middle of the kitchen floor and heads outside for the day to work in the garden! :)

So, I was already online last night looking for two more summer shows to do. I have already been accepted to a big two-day show October 3 and 4 and Tresa wants me to apply for one in Chicago in September.

I've been sucked in and I think I'm gonna love it!

My Nightmare

It's a darn good thing that the craft show is this Sunday...because I actually had a dream...or should I say nightmare about it last night.

Right before I went to bed last night, my son, Michael and I were texting about the show. We were talking about what is considered a "good" show. Someone had once said that at a good show, you will sell about 25% of your inventory. Now I'm sure that varies widely from show to show, but if I were to do that....I would be one majorly happy little crafter! :)

I rarely remember my dreams. I'm not sure why, but I don't. I woke up this morning though with this funny feeling about me. I lay there for a minute trying to figure out why and then it hit me.

I dreamed that the craft show was in this old two-story house. There were a lot of crafters on the main level, but I wasn't on the main level. Oh no....I was the last person to sign up, so I was upstairs. When you got upstairs, there was one larger room and there was one crafter with a table set up there...but that wasn't where I was. Where was I? Oh, I was around the corner in this tiny little room all by myself!!

I had one table...not a nice big table, just one square card table! It didn't even have a table cloth on it! In fact, I don't really remember exactly what I was selling except for this plastic either glass case or maybe it was a very small purse. All I know is it was black plastic and it kind of snapped shut. I remember telling Irv that maybe I should take it off the table since I didn't make it.

Apparently I was having a raffle too....I had a clip board with a sign up sheet on it. You want to know what I was giving away?

A pair of jeans!!! HAHAHA!!

I told Irv about my dream this morning and all he said was..."You need some help!"

Come on Sunday.....

Craft Show Question

Well, we are getting down to the nitty gritty for my first craft show. I told you before I don't waste a minute of time right now as I work my tail off to increase my inventory, tag and price items and package them up. This morning at 6:15 before I left for work I was pricing the 33 awesome cake stands I have done for the show! I have coasters and switchplates and pin cushions and home decor and photos and cards and bookmarks. I will finish the pillows as soon as my sewing machine gets back from the repair shop. It decided to not function properly this past weekend....great timing! Am I upset....nope! I have plenty of other things to do until it gets back this weekend. Then it will be the mad dash to get all of the pillows done for the show!

I've been reading everything I can about what payment methods people use at shows. I think we talked about this before. I will not be offering credit cards, but I am undecided what to do about checks. People say that not a lot of people ask, but what if they do? Do I want to take checks? It makes me a bit nervous.

It also said to scope out the nearest ATM so you can suggest that to people as well. That sounds like a good idea. If you do shows, do you take checks?

We are going to set up the canopy again this weekend and put the two five foot tables in there and the shelf and the little table and the check out desk and the pillow display and see if it's all going to fit! It fits really nice on my scale drawing, but we will see when it's the real thing.

My son Matt sent me an awesome power point today that I want to share with you, but I have no idea how to get it on here. It's about plastic water bottles and it is a real eye opener. It was sent as an e-mail attachment. I saved it to my desktop, but when you click on it, it just opens it up and there is no link or anything. If anyone knows anything about that stuff, let me know so I can share it with you.

Well, Irv has dinner ready....what a sweetie he is....so I have to go. Idol is on in an hour and this is the first week where I am going to be a bit sad no matter who gets sent home. :(

Have an awesome evening!

Thumbs Up For Quick Shade Canopies!

The canopy went up in only 24 minutes!! Woo hoo!! Not bad for our first attempt. I love it. It looks so nice. Irv is outside right now making the dowel rod/rope/hanger set up I will be using to hang my pillows.

We started at 7:20 a.m.....at 7:37 a.m. we were having an "UGH" moment, but by 7:44 a.m. it was up. We actually pulled it open too far before raising the legs, but we'll do better next time. As you can see in the photos, we also had a little trouble with the vents on the top, but now we know how to do it, so next time it won't look quite so much like a lop-sided Chinese Pagoda! Irv became quite obsessed with the little vents...I thought he was going to have a vent induced melt down...but we figured it all out and he's okay now.

The white bookshelf use to be in the very back corner of our garage. It had a hole in the back and was beat to crap. We used it to keep all of our flowers pots and things on during the winter. You should have seen Mr. Irv's face when I told him I wanted to use it for the craft show! Now thanks to Mr. Handy Dandy Irv, it will used to display my cake stands at the craft show! Woo Hoo for Irv!

(Irvie is a wee bit agitated today because it is awesome outside and he is working on displays and things for the craft show and he would rather be planting his flowers and veggies. Poor Irvie)

Well, I have a ton to do today. Have a really super duper day and I'll chat with you all tomorrow!












Ta dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

17 Days and Counting

Yesterday I talked about living without a clock, and even though I think I would love that, right now I am obsessed with clock and calendar watching. My very first craft show is now 17 days away and I still have a lot to get done. I don't waste a minute either! I'm not laying in bed in the morning for that extra five or ten minutes because I can use that time to put labels or prices tags on completed items or I can band coasters into sets, or glue the backs on light switch covers. No amount of time...no matter how small...goes to waste!

Crazy? Yep, but it's necessary. It is such a good thing that I love this stuff and that I am so excited about the craft show or I would be a mess. My workshop is a disaster and that does bother me a bit, but I am working on so many different things. Some of the things I make require drying time and some don't, so I'm constantly jumping back and forth between things. I have boxes of finished things and stacks of things that still need to do be done! It's really pretty funny to be honest with you.

The next time I do a show, I will be better prepared. I just heard about this one late, ended up on the waiting list, had no idea if I would be accepted and didn't start working on things until I was. If I'm going to continually do shows, I will always be working on increasing my inventory. I now have cute labels designed, nice business cards, a canopy and display pieces. That will save a tremendous amount of time...next time!

So, yep...I am busy. Am I stressed? Nope. I'm as calm as can be, and I mean that. Will I get everything done? I really have no idea, but I will have plenty of awesome things to fill my little 10 by 10 space. If I don't get it all done is it the end of the world? Nope. It will all work out just fine...it always does.

Meow!

What a day! We made the drive into the city this morning to meet Casey the kitten. What a cutie she is. We really enjoyed sitting and watching her run around Tresa and Chris's living room and kitchen. I knew it would make me want to get a kitten, but I plan to refrain. I just don't have the time for a kitten right now nor do I have the money...so it's an easy decision at this moment. After we played with the kitty for a while we went and had an awesome breakfast at a small cafe in the city. I had polenta hash! Why is that I can't make things like that...and even it I could, it wouldn't taste like it did today. It was just polenta, veggies and two poached eggs. Guess I'll just have to go into the city now and then and have breakfast!

I am still building my inventory for the craft show which is only three weeks away. My goal is to have all of the things done within the next two weeks, so the last week I can concentrate on the labels, price tags and signage. Irv has been such a help preparing materials for me. I would never be able to do it without him. Thanks Hon!

Enjoy the kitty pictures and video...I am off to head outside for a much needed break. The video is about 2 minutes and you just can't help but smile when you watch a kitten play!