Sew Excited....

I've been practicing my sewing and embroidery skills since spring and I'm happy with my results.  It's "sew" (see what I did there?) exciting to hone in and fine tune a new skill.  Pincushions and hoop fun 

ready for upcoming fall and holiday shows!

Happy Crafting!

What are you doing on September 28th? =)

Well, let me help you decide =)  How about some shopping at the Fall Penelope Lane Boutique?  Yes, it's going to be awesome.  Yes, it's going to be fun.  Yes, there's going to be so much handmade goodness that you're not going to know what to do with yourself.  

Check it out!  There will be 60+ vendors there (including your truly) who are dedicated to promoting the love of handmade.  Come one and come all.  It's going to be a blast.

I hope to see you there! =)

Happy Crafting!

{excited} Craft Fair Fun & Shop Update

My Hubs' company hosted a craft fair yesterday to benefit Fosterlift, a local charity devoted to providing assistance to those amazingly wonderful foster parents who care for foster children.  With such a wonderful charity,  I was more than excited to participate in the craft fair and took a day off from work to do so. =)

I still consider myself a rookie craft fair vendor, but I feel that I gain confidence after each fair I do.  There's always something new to learn, something new to try no matter how many you may have done.  Plus, you meet new people along the way who also love to craft and understand your passion for handmade.

Though I had a month or so to prepare, that still didn't stop me from doing things last minute (boo).  From crocheting the last few flowers to packaging a more than a dozen items, I was up pretty late the night before. Unfortunately, I was not too pleased with my display.  I liked the individual parts of the display, but I felt the display as a whole didn't flow.  It was okay, but I wanted it to be GREAT.  That's the OCD in me, but I know there will be more opportunity to work on and build up this skill of marketing.  

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I used a french memory board to display these crochet blossoms.  {Find my tutorial here}  It worked pretty well as a display, but I think next time I want to fill it up with blooms so that it looks more like an art display. Not sure if that will work, but I think it would be pretty and even more eye catching.

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I used a bird bath type of jewelry holder to display my rose hair pins.  I love the bird bath, but I definitely will want to add more to it if I continue to use it at the next craft fair.

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These were my favorites to make--mini clothespin photo and note garlands.  Since the craft fair was sponsored by a company (vs. a craft organization or group), I thought marketing these as a way to "bring some character to your office work space" would be a great idea since many of the folks were just stepping out of their office buildings for lunch.  It worked! 

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And finally, my beloved and most favorite spring accessory--sweater clips {or collar guards}.  I really liked how I set up this display.  I had done up the display previously {see my tutorial here} but I attached mini clothespins last minute to hold the cards.  I used a lacey punch to add detail to the accessory card and wallah!  Super cute display.

I had a great time--met new people, had a convo with a fella who said my crochet blooms reminded him of "Penny Blossoms" (Big Bang Theory reference to all you bazinga fans out there--very appropriate comment coming from a programmer person), and simply enjoyed being outdoors.  

At the end of the day, I was also able to add more cute items to my Etsy shop, something I've been itching to do but haven't had a good uninterrupted 2 hours to do so.  But, I was finally able to do it and so here you go:

I really do appreciate all the support I receive from my family and friends (and from my super awesome customers).  Having this little creative part of my life to share with others really brings joy to my heart and quite simply, my entire being.  

I hope you find some room for Lovenotes in your day!

Happy Crafting!

Lessons Learned From My 2nd Craft Fair

I was excited to participate in my 2nd craft fair this past weekend.  The buzz of people milling about looking for handcrafted gifts for themselves or other loved ones is exciting for me.  Plus, with the holidays around the corner, the glow of the season seemed to permeate the air.  With this being just my 2nd craft fair since I started LoveNote Crafts last year, there were a few things I learned or at least paid more attention to this time around.

1.  Item descriptions: make sure they are clear for your customers.
One of the items I was selling were these cute little hairbows...for hair--for human hair, that is.  A customer admiring the wares was not sure what they were and asked if they were for dogs.  {Yes, dogs!}  She thought that because they were small, they were meant for our 4-legged friends.

Though I don't have them in the photo, I did put out little cards noting the item ("Hairbows") and price.  I guess they could be used for doggies, but note to self for next time--be more descriptive.

2.  Packaging: it makes a big difference.
I know for myself that when I'm shopping either via Etsy or a craft market, cutely packaged items show me that the seller has taken the extra time to make something look super cute.  I liken this to giving a gift--you want it to look heartfelt and thoughtful when given to the recipient.  From the lace- design-punched tags to the doily accented grab bags, I really enjoyed putting a personal touch to each piece I made and packaging each one with the love for handmade items and bringing a smile to someone's face.

Favorite items/packaging of mine include these grab bags.  The cute doily and burgundy satin ribbon are too cute!  Likewise, Each purchase was placed in a white glassine bag and sealed with a LoveNote Crafts "thank you" sticker.  Packaging really gives you the opportunity to continue branding your items and to show your customer you care.

3.  Product advertisement: wear what you're selling!
I got this tip from my sister who said that it would be cool to wear what I sell so that customers can see different ways to wear things.  So, I clipped a cotton hairbow to my hair and pinned a crochet heart to my sweater and wallah--free advertising!

I think both looked really cute--people liked the heart brooch/pin (I actually had this one for sale, but kept it for myself because I liked how it looked on my sweater).  I also wanted customers to see that I also use my own product and have fun doing so.

4.  Appropriate clothing: wear something nice!
I like to try and make an effort to look nice every day.  I felt like if I was going to be a girly-girl, the craft fair would be the perfect place to do that.  I wore a cream v-neck cable knit sweater and purple (yes purple!) skinny jeans.  I walked out of the house feeling great, but then one hour into the craft fair, my pants looked like this:

Cute leaving the house, but I did not realize my sweater would shed all over my pants.  Good thing I was behind a table most of the time otherwise I would have just looked "unkept".  Oh well.  At least the top (and heart pin) looked cute!

4.  Product organization: watch how people are looking @ items on display and move them around as needed.
I noticed that some of my items closer to the back of the table were not getting as much action as those in the front.  I tried to make my items (and table) as inviting as possible, but some items just didn't get touched as much as those in the front.  I moved some pieces around through the day, depending on what customers were looking at and noticed that when I did this, all items got more "equal action".  The setup looked pretty much like this throughout the day and people seemed to enjoy the setup.

5.  Checklist: have one!
There were so many things going through my mind in the weeks leading up to the craft fair that I found myself writing notes on post-its and losing them.  Having a central (if not standardized) checklist for each craft fair would be ideal so that all I have to do is check off items as I go down the list.

I like to stay organized so having the checklist (in a cute binder to boot!) helped me tremendously in keeping my thoughts in place.  It felt good to cross those things off!

All-in-all, I had a great time and am engergized to do more craft fairs.  I look forward to my next one and learning from my experiences to make each one more fun for me (and making my customers happy!).

Happy Crafting!