A FEW CRAFT SHOW TIPS + IDEAS

This has been the first year I've continuously done craft shows with Anykind, and it's been really exciting. I started my craft show year in Charleston, took a detour for a big show in Athens, sold throughout the summer in Saratoga Springs, and will finish the year after four awesome shows around Norfolk. So I guess this year has also been exciting because I've lived four different places. But I've also learned a lot about selling in craft shows. I know one year isn't really long to be doing something, but I learn something new or pick up a new trick at every show I do. And I wanted to share a few tricks and ideas that have helped me so far. 

While planning, think about using some things you already have around for display items. Not only will it save you money but chances are, if you already own something, you like how it looks - and it might go with the style of what you create and compliment your products. I bough these locker baskets at an antique mall when I was 14 or so, and they happen to make really nice display baskets, too. 

Also, be on the lookout for good display pieces and props whenever you're out. Have a general idea of what you might need and you never know where you might find something just right. I found these wire trays in the dish rack section of Target. My bows fit in them perfectly, and I was actually just shopping for a dish rack...

Have all your products clearly priced. It makes customers more comfortable while looking through your booth. Some people might ask about the price of an unmarked item, but it sure is easier if they don't have to and can make decisions without having to ask. Individual price tags (like these) work great for larger items, and a sign marked with the price of a group of items works, too.

Have lots of business cards and put them in an easy-to-reach spot for people to grab. At some shows, no matter how slow the foot traffic seems to be, I am always surprised at the amount of business cards taken. And no matter how obvious their placement is, some people will ask for one anyway. So be ready for that, too. 

Think about displaying your products in a way that easiest for customers to see variety. I wish I had room at every show to hang up my bows like this. It's so awesome because people can see all of the different colors and patterns without moving anything. And I'm always in favor of things in rainbow order. Also make it easy for customers to pick up and touch what you have, especially if it's something they might want to inspect or try on. 

Once your show is a sure thing, start planning. Decided what you want to have done for the show, how much of it you want, what you need to do for your display, and what else needs to be taken care of. I always like to think I can get everything I want to done before a show...but that definitely doesn't always happen. I've learned that it helps me stay calm if I prioritize everything early on. What do I absolutely have to have done and what is not completely necessary?

Don't forget to have a sign with your business name! This has been one of my favorite aspects of my display to work on and change up over the year. Create a sign that represents your business and the impression that you want your work to give. I started out with a banner of felt stuffed letters that I strung along the front of a table. I recently made this framed sign that I painted. I like it better than the banner because setting it up is a few less steps involve in my set-up.

Think about how your display will look to a customer - someone seeing it for the first time. Try to anticipate questions they will have.  People always confuse the bow ties and the hair bows, so I try to make it as obvious as possible which is which, with signs and pictures of them in use. Making simple signs with information such as what payment you take, product labels, and tax information will make everything run a little smoother.

Pay attention to how people interact with your booth and display. Of course, don't watch them like  a creepy person, but greet them and casually observe what seems to be catching their eye. I've learned so much at each show by just seeing what people do while at my booth. I learned early on that I was putting too many bags into the locker baskets, and people weren't really looking through them so much. They were much more likely to go through the trays with fewer bags, where they could see things better.  I also realized from talking to people that they were really interested in my hand printed fabric bags. I started to group them all together and put out one of my stamps, so I can easily show people where the bags were and explain the process to them.

After I posted this, Caleisha asked for advice about making enough stock to get ready for a show, so I wanted to share some things that have helped me with that, too. First of all, a huge thing that gets me through cutting fabric and sewing the same thing over and over is having something good to watch. As long as I have my big headphones on and a show or movie on my computer, I'm pretty productive. I keep a list of things I want to watch eventually in my notebook, so I won't run out of things.

But as far actually having the willpower to sit down and work to make enough product for a show, the most helpful thing for me is to make a list of everything I want to make and then split the work up by days. I usually split my work up like this: I'll spend one day cutting out a large number of bags, interfacing them, sewing the labels on, and organizing all the pieces in a nice pile. Then I can just start my next day with sewing all the bags. Splitting up the work this way makes everything more manageable for me, and as I complete my to-do list each day I feel more and more energized about the next day. It also helps me to do one step at a time for all the bags I'm sewing in one day, like sew all the zippers on, then pin all the bags together, then sew all the bags up. Somehow everything just gets done quicker (and usually better) this way.

Another thing that helps me be more productive, is that if I really don't feel like sewing or cutting, to the point where I'll do a bad job if I do, I find something else to do for awhile. If you have a show coming up, then chances are you have other things you could work on besides making product. So don't worry if you need to take some a little time and work on display stuff or price things instead of making product.

I hope a few of you can get some ideas from these tips - and if any of you have posted about craft shows you've done, I wanna see! And if I could leave you with any last craft show advice that has saved my craft show life, it's definitely this - always, if possible, load your car the night before. Because waking up and rushing and hauling a bunch of heavy stuff and cramming it in your car is the worst. Happy Crafting.

DIY MAGAZINE CLIPPING CANISTERS

Of the many object addictions I have, things that hold other things is one that might grow stronger each day. So when I found these cute cylinder chip board boxes at a craft store, I knew I had to decorate and put them to use. This is a super easy, relaxing project that you can make to fit any decor, occasion, or use. 

supplies:

 mod podge (I used matte)

foam brush/paint brush

magazine clippings (I used an old LIFE magazine)

chalkboard paint for tops

scissors/exacto knife

Once you have your clippings cut out, get a rough idea of where you want them to go on your canister. This will help you plan what will overlap and any blank spaces you need to fill. Then start mod podging them on one piece at a time. If you are getting lots of air bubbles, it helps to stick the piece down first, then apply some mod podge over the image and smooth it around with your finger. Messy, but it works!

While your canisters are drying, paint your tops with chalkboard paint. I used three layers for these. Don't forget to cover the sides of your tops with clippings, too! 

I chose to stick with a loose theme for each of my boxes - the big one is kitchen/food, the medium is kid stuff/fun, and the small one is beauty and make-up. It was fun to do it that way because it helped me narrow down what to cut out when I was gathering my clippings. If you make something like this let me now what kind of clippings you use!

SIMPLE DIY SPICE JARS

I've always wanted matching spice jars that look all nice together instead of a bunch of mismatched jars pushed back into a cabinet. But I didn't really want to spend that much money on...spice jars. So I found a few supplies and came up with these. They're perfectly simple and add a lot to our cute, little kitchen. 

I used these spice jars and the Avery labels pictured above. It's the kind that you can download a template to use with so you can print on them nice and easy. 

From there I printed out all my spices and cut them down into rectangles so they fit just right on the jar. I realize I could have just used rectangle labels...but I couldn't find them in the kraft paper color. I also really like how the two rounded sides look. We hung up two of these picture ledges to put the jars on for easy access and display. It's more open that a spice rack and easier to keep clean.

And that's it! This is one of my favorite projects I've done so far in our new home. I love quick, simple home projects with a big effect. Do any of you have pretty spice jars or a neat way to organize your spices?

OUR DIY WEDDING + HOW WE SAVED

Douglas and I began to plan our wedding in June 2011. With a wedding date at the end of July, we had less than two months to get everything together - which was perfect! I didn't need a long engagement, and I knew from the start I wanted a small, personal wedding where all of the planning and details were  done by me with the help of family and friends. We also knew that we didn't want to spend a ridiculous amount of money for one day. So with some planning, a little extra work, resourcefulness, and the fact that we're not the fanciest people around, we put together a low-budget but completely perfect wedding that had everything we wanted. 

Even though we just passed our one-year anniversary, I still love looking at wedding DIY projects and ideas other people have. It was such an awesome experience to plan ours and kind of fun to figure out different ways to save money here and there. I wanted to share a little about how we did things for our big day as well as a few resources. So here's how we did it:

The biggest way we saved on our clothing for the big day was by staying away from bridal and formal clothing stores. We kept it pretty simple, too, which really helped keep costs down. My wedding dress was from Zara; I couldn't have been happier with it, and it was much more like me than a fancy wedding dress from a boutique. The bridesmaids dresses were from New York and Co. and their black flats were from Target. We asked the groomsmen to wear their own black pants, black shoes, and white shirts.

For our reception dinner, we chose to hire a local restaurant to cater instead of a big catering company. It was a restaurant Douglas and I went to a lot, so that was a special detail. Our dinner was buffet-style, so there was no need to hire extra service for dinner. Instead of a bar, we had different types of glass bottled sodas and a few bottles of wine for people who wanted it. The different sodas were really fun for our guests to pick and choose from. And they were a nice accent to our laid-back reception.

To keep the costs of dessert down a little, we chose to have a small wedding cake that would serve 15 or so people, and then provide a few other dessert options. We had different flavored petit-fours and an oreo ice cream cake (as chosen by Douglas). I had trouble deciding what I wanted to do about our cake topper. I had this gold glitter cardstock from a few other decorations lying around and the idea for a big, simple heart popped into my head. It was perfect!

Probably the biggest way we saved money was by avoiding a florist and making all of our bouquets and centerpieces ourselves. This was the part I was the most nervous about! We ordered wholesale flowers from the Grower's Box. The flowers are delivered before they are in full bloom, so by the day of the wedding they were perfect.

My mom along with a few friends and family helped us prepare the flowers together before the rehearsal dinner. I thought it might be stressful to have to deal with that the day before, but it was actually nice to have something to work on. We bought wide silk ribbon, florist tape and pins to make the simple bouquets. For the arrangements we used mason jars and a few thrifted vases and containers to add a little vintage style.

We kept the cost of hair and make up at next to nothing by helping each other get ready. We had a room all to ourselves as a bridal suite at the bed and breakfast the wedding took place at. So we had fun relaxing before and getting ready together. Plus, we got this great picture of my bridesmaids dealing with some hairspray. Priceless.

For our photography and music during the ceremony, I went to the talented people around me (or at least to get me to other talented people). I was Facebook friends with this girl I went to high school with. We were acquaintances through band, and I hadn't seen her since high school. I took note of her beautiful portraits and photography she had been posting on Facebook, so I asked her if she would be interested in doing our wedding photography. She was still in school for photography, so her fee was (more than) completely reasonable. At the end of it all she gave us five cd's filled with our pictures. We couldn't have been happier.

For our ceremony music I went through one of my bridesmaids, who was a music major in college. She recommended a wonderful acoustic guitar player. We only needed him for a entrance and exit music during the ceremony, so the price of music was a really small portion of our budget. For music during the reception and for our dances, we made cd's that the staff of the bed and breakfast played for us. Because of this, we didn't spend any money on a DJ or any other emcee.

The programs are one of my favorite things I did for the wedding. I made them on Adobe Illustrator...not that I actually own this expensive software. I downloaded a free trial just for this purpose! I used free fonts from dafont to make the programs stylish and match everything else. I kept the programs down to one half sheet of paper per program, so getting about 80 printed front and back at a copy shop only cost about $15. The basket they're in was an old Easter basket we had around the house; I cut off the handle and covered the rim with gold glitter.

I wanted the overall feeling of our wedding to be special and personal to Douglas and me as well as our guests. From reading this blog, it is probably pretty obvious to you that I love vintage style, so I wanted to have some of that in our decorations. This also helped avoid spending money on a lot of decor because...between my mom and me...we already had a lot of thrifted, antique-y things.

For example, the basket holding the bubbles up there has been around my parents house forever, and it was perfect for holding these before people picked them up. And instead of buying a guest book, I made a "well wishes" box out of little old toy box my mom had from childhood. I cut little pieces of paper for people to write little messages on. Of course, we had to spend some money for little details here and there, so when we did I wanted it to count. I immediately knew I wanted to have these striped paper straws for our guests to drink with. And they were a perfect (cheap) detail!

For favors for our guests, we handed out folding paper fans (from The Knot shop) that had our names and wedding date burnt into the wood. They were extremely reasonably priced for a personalized product, and I found that that site has good sales and deals. The favors ended up being a minimal expense because they were useful to the guests...and in the July Georgia heat people definitely needed fans.

We definitely didn't use Etsy shops for every little thing we needed, but it was a valuable resource for a few special details. I wanted our invitations to be unique and fun because our wedding wasn't going to be formal and require people to wear their fanciest clothes. I knew these chalkboard invites from Ello There were perfect for us the moment I saw them. They were reasonably priced for what was included considering the prices we saw from local printing companies, and I love having one hanging in a frame in our apartment.

Etsy was also perfect for finding our "Mr. and Mrs." cake forks. I can't remember the actual shop these are from, but if you Etsy search for them, you'll find numerous shops offering similar ones. Like the paper straws, the forks a perfect little, inexpensive detail that added a nice touch to our day. The forks sat out next to our wedding cake before we cut it, and people loved them. And we love using them now and having them as a keepsake.

So that was our wedding and a few of the ideas we had to save a little money. I hope this will be helpful to some people. Do any of you have posts about your wedding? I love to look at other people's pictures and see how they chose to celebrate.

QUICK DIY: OMBRE WRAPPED BUD VASES

I have so many little vases from our wedding, and I like little ways to dress them up every once in awhile. This only takes a few minutes to do, and you could use any color combinations you like - I just happen to really like fading colors (obviously). You only need a few supplies, too:

1. Cut all your pieces of string; all mine were the same length to make even color layers, but uneven layers would look cool, too.

2. Tie your strings together in order (light, medium, dark, medium, light, etc.). I used triple knots tied really tight so they don't slip when you're wrapping your vase. I also trimmed the excess knot ends closely.

3. Start wrapping. Once you have a bit wrapped that will hold itself in place, add a dab of glue to the beginning and rub around to hold the first few wraps together.

4. Finish wrapping your string and glue the end in place. 

I love a good, quick DIY every once in awhile or anytime. I can't wait until fall - I think these would be really nice made with golden yellows, browns, and rusty reds. What colors would you use?

I MADE A SHIRT (FOR THE FIRST TIME!)

pretty fierce tan line, eh?

So I could sew bags forever and ever, and bows, too - that's sewing I can do. Sewing that doesn't have the ultimate goal of fitting a body. But for some reason (the fact that there is nowhere to shop for clothes here) I had the urge to try it again, an urge that, when I was 16, ended in jacked up sleeves and frustration the first time it came around. So I began searching for patterns online for a simple, woven tank, and I came across the miracle that is Grainline Stuido. 

I used the tiny pocket tank pattern. It was so easy and straightforward. Not only that, but once purchased, the pattern was emailed to me to print out and satisfy my extreme impatience and need for istant gratification. I literally could not have asked for more. I love this shirt, and I loved making it. I even used French seams so there are no raw edges anywhere...okay, not that I had any clue what French seams were before I read through the instructions. But I used them! 

I might already be obsessed with this...I'm not going to be, like, drafting my own patterns anytime soon. Ever. But it is really cool to make something that I can wear. I also might have already gone fabric shopping in Albany to make a million more of these.