My First Craft Show!

Hey everyone!
This past Saturday I had the amazing opportunity to sell at the Crosby Heritage Days Festival's fine art and craft show. It was a blast! I got to meet new people, make some money, and all in all have a great learning experience.

I think my booth really reflected my brand, which is definitely what I was going for. Clean, classic, easy-on-the-eyes. I had nice white tablecloths, signs and stands, but the products themselves provided color, as well as the vases of fresh flowers everywhere.

I was very proud of my ruffle scarf tree.

Sorry random lady setting up next to me, I got you in the picture.

I had been stocking up on tea towels and dishcloths leading up to today.

A collection of embroidery hoop art. These were a lot of fun to make, and added a lot of color to the booth.

My handmade Ukrainian Easter Eggs or Pysanky on display. I also had a little booklet I printed out that showed the whole process.

Stay tuned, I hope to be selling the eggs in my Etsy shop soon!

Baby booties and hats. For those looking for creative booth ideas, I stuck a shoe box lid under the tablecloth to give the first row of booties some height.

Calico hair bows and knitted accessories. The day was about 90* F, so no-one even wanted to think about buying hats.

I used old barnwood to make a stand for my ladder yarn necklaces. It ended up being really unstable in the 20-mph winds and I had to tie it to the tent pole. Oops.

I learned a few things from this show. Most importantly, I need to find a fall or winter show.

My main focus is knitted stuff, and again, it was 90* weather. I noticed that the jewelry vendors did much better. 

I also learned that it was a great idea to have baby booties on display. People who walked by noticed them and how absolutely adorable they were, and were drawn in to look at other things. 

I learned that no one who is just browsing around looking at stuff wants to spend $10-$25 on an egg, no matter how pretty it is. I need to find an art gallery or something if I expect to sell them in-person.

And I really overprepared. I had no idea what to expect, never having sold at any craft shows before. I sold out of tea towels but was left with almost all of my dishcloths and yarn necklaces. I didn't sell a single scarf, although I saw that coming and just brought what I had already made, whereas almost everything else I was in super-stock mode all summer. I sold about a tenth of what I actually brought, and spend all summer frantically making. I now know I don't need to bring as much stuff, and I know which stuff to spend time preparing and which stuff to leave at home.

But, on the bright side, I will have way less stocking to do for the Christmas Rush!

All in all, it was a good day. I'm glad I went, it really was a good learning experience.

Thanks for reading, and as always congrats for getting this far!

~Mary