2010 Fall-Winter Craft Fair #1

Yesterday, at the office, I handed over the candy to the HR director that I volunteered to buy for the upcoming office Halloween party. I had opened some of the bags to put in a jar for people to count up and win if they guessed the correct number of pieces of candy. "Tina, these bags are opened." "Ummm, yeah, I confess. I ate some of the candy and put some in the jar too." I'm a terrible liar, so I'm not going to even pretend that I didn't eat any. Candy companies-1. Tina's will power- 0. Dang it.

I had my first craft fair of the season today. It was at a small church in McLean, VA. The crowd was kinda small, but at least I made up my table fee and ~$40 after that. Meh, I'm considering this a warm-up for the larger shows later this year. I had a bunch of support- my parents, cousin Peggy, friend from undergrad Meg, and officemate Jennifer all came out to keep me company. Hooray! The plastic displays definitely made the table look more professional, so they were a very nice investment.

Interesting things that happened or that I saw:

a. Some guy brought his cuuute French bulldog into the craft show and was carrying it around. I was hoping he'd bring the dog over to my table so I could pet it, but alas, he did not.

b. There was a couple selling stones with words on them. A mom and her son was browsing. She said "Let's look for one that says 'try harder'. That'd be a good one for you." If I were the kid, I dunno if I'd be offended or encouraged. (pause) Scratch that. I'd be offended.

c. The woman that had the table next to me (we were the only tables on the stage) was selling wreaths. Super friendly lady. I'm glad that we were situated next to each other. She was selling her wreaths initially for $20 and then went down to $10 when she wasn't selling anything. Her goal was to get rid of them any way possible because she's planning to move back Colorado and hauling these wreaths there would have been annoying. She bought cards from me and when Mom/Dad and Jennifer came, they bought wreaths from her. Both of the wreaths had owls on them (Harry Potter, anyone?) Hooray for helping each other out!

d. There was a lady selling cat beds. You can see them in the center of the bottom left picture. I dunno any cat that solely sleeps in one place. Take my cat for example. She freakin' sleeps on the dining room table or my sister's pillow or the couch. I just don't think a cat bed is practical, but to each his own.

e. A woman came over to my booth and said "Hey, aren't you on Etsy?" Yep. "I thought your cards looked familiar. I have an Etsy shop too! My shop name is SudsNSuch." Ah, cool. A fellow Etsian. I took it to be a huge compliment that she recognized my stuff.

Today's card (see above) was the result of using some things that were already on my desk. The flower was made from a previous project and decided later not to use for the card. I used a label that I had a die cut for Thursday's card and it wasn't the right size for that card. I knew I'd find a use for these items eventually!

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Olive Pastel, Maroon, Dark Moss, Chestnut Roan
Stamps: Fiskars- Petals From Scratch (all)
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 8, Sizzix- Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Flowers (flower)
Brad: American Crafts, Large Brads- Cherry
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

Since I made some money today at the craft fair, I promptly purchased some new ink pads from Joann's. The free shipping coupon and sales totally did me in. I can't wait for them to come in the mail!