The Much Awaited Crafting Update :)

I have EXCELLENT friends. Huge kudos to the four of you who came to visit (and entertain me!) this weekend at City Hall, and also to my mother who booth sat with me all day Saturday. It was especially nice for her to be there, because it distracted and calmed me down after the morning set up calamities. What calamities, you ask? Oh, just the usually sabotage and rudeness that comes with the evil sport of crafting. I set up Friday night, came in Saturday to find my "neighbor" had set a giant shelf in front of my display. Uh...WTF? Yeah, so that led to me having to take EVERYTHING down (can't move a table full of mosaics - they're set up like dominoes, and if one goes, they all go!) and move the table, re-setting it all again. This could have been avoided were the booth dimensions taped off, but it was sort of a loosey-goosey "give and take where you can" directive that would work fine if only all people were polite like me. They are not. Oh well. I did get my display re-set and I think it looked pretty snazzy:



I broke one of my stands getting it in the car, but it still held up - and I think they looked nicer than I had thought they would, their over-the-top-filigree blended fairly well. Had I known the exact booth dimensions I may have done some things differently, but details were sketchy...It still looked good.

Then some dingy broad came flying in with a huge cart she couldn't control and dropped a giant bookshelf off the top of it! I SCREAMED as it hurdled towards my display "OH MY GOD!!!" It just BARELY missed the edge of the table which would have sent everything tumbling, and came to rest actually half under my table. Then the woman looked at me like I was crazy for shouting. "I didn't even notice it fell" was her only response. UH, YEAH, THAT'S HALF THE PROBLEM - START NOTICING, LADY! And maybe apologize?

But, those annoyances aside, the Roseville craft fair was a MUCH better craft fair on so many levels. All of the artists were carefully screened to ensure only homemade goods (no party plans or re-sellers allowed). Booths were assigned to keep like-products apart (as opposed to having 2 jewelry vendors next to each other, like last week). It was well promoted, professionally staffed, and of utmost importance: it was much warmer in there too! Well, most of the time :)



Unfortunately, I still didn't hit the sales mark I had hoped for. I think I need to find a younger, hipper crafting crowd, and this show was aimed a little more at grandmas. People were buying, but they were buying small cheap things. My mother bought a ton of beaded librarian straps for her glasses that were like $4 - probably not even any profit built in there, let alone consideration for time. My mosaics are competitively priced, and I got lots of comments on how beautiful they are, but they're not exactly going to appeal to the crowd who thinks a $1 gold coin is a great tip.

Random aside: Saw a HILARIOUS grandmother this weekend, and could not resist snapping this photo:



OMG, are those pants even allowed out of the 80's? Acid washed, skin tight, with ZIPPERS at the ankles, I'm dying! And yes, I know I'm going to hell...

Hubby went to No-Coast this weekend, and came back raving about how I have to apply to that show next year. He is certain that is "my crowd." And it definitely is - I did some serious wallet damage there last year, picking up all the Adam Turman and Lonny Unitus prints for our living room. When he returned from the sale, Hubby was all set to go out and buy me a new sewing machine to start making aprons again. :) I'm not sure I'm ready to go back to aprons (though they were cute), but I would like to find the right forum for my mosaics. Another indie craft fair in a similar vein I've applied to is Craftstravaganza , scheduled for this spring, but won't find out until mid-January if I'm accepted (cross your fingers! It's also the closest possible location for me - @ the State Fair grounds, so I've very hopeful.

But anyways, this weekend wasn't a total loss - I managed to part with a few of my favorites, including this one which someone bought for a christening gift:

The colors don't come out as great in the photo, the flowers are a bright red, the "grass" is a light green, and the background is mirrored (it's really hard to photograph mirror!).

And then a dear friend scooped up this big (8" x 10" mirror) guy, which might have been my overall favorite:


Doesn't that just make you happy? I love it! And I'll still get to visit it from time to time, so it was quite a perfect ending :)

A couple others went as well, and I think I might put several of them into my etsy shop. If something caught your eye, there's still time to get it before Xmas - leave me a comment or drop me a line :) I might even gift wrap it for you!

Thanks again to everyone who came out to see me, and I'll keep you posted on future shows - feel free to pass along info if you know of a good one!