Slacking time is over!

I have come to the conclusion that if I want to sell something, I better get it out there so someone can see it. lol! I am so glad Christmas is over, it was fun and now it's gone! I don't think I will make any New Year whatever you want to call them. I always break them or just don't start. I would like to sit down and make a business plan this year and follow thru with it. But for right now, I've got to get myself back in the grove of posting here and adding to my store on Etsy. Got to work on better photos and communication.

I'm sure there is more but I am going to put some pretty pics of my new OOAK stocking caps on. Hope you like them.

Recap of craft show

Well, to say the least, I was a little disappointed in the weekends craft show. I had such high hopes but they put me across from a couple who were selling commercialized ornaments and wall signs. They had such a crowd that the whole aisle was block with people looking and people trying to check out. They had their cash register up front and I know I counted 12 in line to check out for at least a half hr. It was just a steady run for them all weekend. Their customers had the aisle so blocked people were turning around and going a different way. No one looked my way passing by unless they were looking for me. They would even stand back to look over there and block the front of my displays!

Around Saturday afternoon, another vendor came by and asked how I was doing. She was two stalls down from me and said all of us around were doing badly because of our couple. She said a lot of people had already complained about him and that I should too. I am not a complainer. The point had already been made and I am sure the promoters didn't need to hear it again.

I did manage to make as much as I did last year at this time. Plus I have a few orders to get finished. I guess I was just spoiled after the first year. So far I haven't had a show top it. C and I have discussed branching out a little more and doing some shows a little farther away.

C took our Santa hats to work today. I will let you know how they do there! I had a lady look at them Sunday and asked me if I did this for a living. I told her if I had to rely on this to pay the bills, I'd be out in the street! lol!

Gotta show off my hats!

I worked all morning yesterday trying to reset my settings on my digital camera. Remind me not to loan it again to granddaughter! I even had to get my book out and read. I still don't have it where I want it but I wanted to take pictures before tomorrow. I have to have some memories before all my pretty little hats go bye-bye. So I am going to try to add all these little darlings in. We are suppose to get some rain,sleet, and snow mix tonight. I just hope its not toooo bad for the morning trip to the fairgrounds. And I hope this weather does not scare off all our darling customers. This stocking cap was designed by me one cold night when I couldn't find a pattern I liked. I started out making all red with white trim and then switched to this. I like them both. Which on do you like best?

How tired am I?

I am sooooooooo tired! There are not enough hours in the day and not enough days in the week. I am running out of time but I really don't care. I think I am ahead of the game. I have created so many items I lost count. I do have to say I like my Santa Hats. We will see if they sell out. This show starts Friday and runs through Sunday. If not I am going to flood Etsy with all my left overs and see how I do. I am considering doing another show the first of February while the weather is still cold.

It has been busy for the family. Thanksgiving was bittersweet. We had a nice day at my sister-in-laws house. We all took a turn in the kitchen to cook. My daughters were jealous because I had taken my single daughter and we had spent the night before just relaxing and drinking wine. I kept saying I needed to call my cousin and kept putting it off that day. I have this connection with her and I always seem to know when something is going on at her house. About eight o'clock that night she called me. I could tell in her voice right away something was wrong. She had a hard time talking but finally managed to tell me her husband of 43 years had passed away around four that afternoon. It was a sad day and I had trouble sleeping that night. We traveled five hours Monday and stayed over for the services Tuesday. I called her yesterday and she is keeping herself busy. It's going to take time for her to adjust. She married him when she was only fifteen.

I need to take some pics and post. Maybe tomorrow. Gonna go to bed soon and get ready to start over tomorrow.

Good Night All!

November 22nd

Happy Thanksgiving to all! My sister-in-law invited me to her house last nite for dinner and wine and to spend the night. I took my daughter Ray with me and we had a nice relaxing evening. I got to enjoy tv, wine and relaxed with my crocheting. It was great. I even managed to get 3/4 the way through a hooded scarf. I finished it this morning. I guess the wine relaxed me more than I thought, I had to go to bed early. But that was okay as we were busy this morning. We were shooting for 1 pm for dinner and were only about an hour late. We had a full family dinner for 20. Lots of food, lots of good company, and lots of full bellies later. I am suppose to get up at 3 tomorrow to shop Black Friday. I don't know whether I am going to make that or not. Time will tell. Right now, I'm tired and sleepy and am calling it a nite.

Who wants towels?

I sure hope someone does! I dedicated all last week to doing towel toppers. I had found towels that were already 14 x 14 inches and finished and all I had to do was crochet the tops. So C and I worked hard! I counted 64 towels Sunday morning. I then sewed buttons on and priced them. I also bought some three inch rings and made towel holders out of them. I could only find 12 rings last week so I made do with what I had. But I certainly intend to find some more before the big show in December.

I just have so much to do! I have my youngest granddaughters christening gown about a third of the way through and I really need to work on it. I think I have about 4 weeks to finish it. I really don't have the date yet. I think they haven't decided or I just have Alzheimers! Who knows anymore! lol! Then my oldest granddaughter needs a new gown for December 1st for Job's Daughters. I just don't have time to make it, so we will just have to go shopping soon.

At least I don't have to do all of Thanksgiving dinner, just desserts! So I plan on enjoying that day with no work in front of me. All family and fun, maybe a glass or two of wine.

But today, its work. So off I go.

Let's Do a Count!

I am thinking Monday is a good day to count what I (we) got done last week. Maybe this will keep me motivated and going. So here we go!

Santa Hats (3)
Baby Stocking caps (1)
Adult stocking caps (3)
Beanies (3)
Earflap Hats (7)
Handwarmers (1)
Booties (1)
Total (19 finished work of arts!)

The best part of my work week is that I actually sat down and wrote out two patterns. My earflap hat was the first and C decided to edit it. She worked on that pattern off and on Thursday night while she worked her other job. I think it turned out quite nicely. She thinks we should print it and sell copies of it at the craft show. I am thinking I might have to check with the promoters to make sure they don't care. I am limited to three catagories and at the present time I have crochet (which I need to change to fiber arts to cover my knitting) sewing and polymer clay. I didn't sell much clay last time. I'm not even sure I am going to put it back out. C was thinking I could just use them for freebies when I sell on Etsy. We did discuss what to donate to the Christmas tree they give away at the show. Everyone donates something to put on the tree or under the tree. I have crocheted angels from two years ago. She thinks I should put a couple of them on the tree. I think I just might. Okay, back to work. I wonder if I should throw out a Christmas Santa Hat out there on Etsy? That was my second pattern. Couldn't find one I liked anywhere!

Work, work, work!

November 2nd, 2007

I really got lucky at the LYS Wednesday. Seemed they had fleece yarn on sale, so I stocked up on some. I was going there for fleece yarn anyway! Wahoo! I was making my earflap hats for kids and had ran across some fleece yarn in my stash. Didn't even remember buying it last year, but I thought it would really look cute on a kid. So I whipped it up in record time and sure enough, I knew I had to make more of those.

My new inventory for this week is:
4 earflap hats
2 beanie caps
1 pr of baby socks
1 midsize stocking cap
1 pr of matching handwarmers

C has been helping me, between her other two full time jobs. Her inventory is a little weak this week but I will take all I can get!

C's inventory for this week is:
2 midsize stocking caps

I just wish we all weren't sick around here, maybe we could have gotten more done. But I watch C's youngest daughter which is posted here all day long and this has not been a good week for her. She has had a nasty cold and runny nose all week. So she has not been in a good mood and since she is so spoiled (who did that? lol) all I have done is hold her all week. We hold, we nap, we take medicine, and I try to get some food down her. We change diapers and start all over again. So I really am surprised I got that much done. Oops! Gotta go, she just woke up! Cya

Craft Show Review

October 29, 2007

Ah, all is over! Friday night went really well. We discovered we were the only fiber artists in the show. We sold out all our medium stocking caps that night and many towels. I set the cash register up so that it was coded because I had knitting, crochet, clay, aprons, rag rugs, and doll clothes. I wanted to see what was really selling and what I would weed out of the shop.

Saturday, I was on my feet so much helping customers that I had to take Aleve that night because my legs ached! We sold out all our earflap hats, and our towels were getting dangerously low. The weather was in the 60's so I was surprised we were doing so well. But they also know I will be there in December.

Sunday, we relaxed a little. I had one lady bring me her crocheted rag rug that her dog had chewed on and torn up. I actually managed to mend it for her and you could hardly tell. Her grandmother had made her that rug before she had passed and she really wanted to keep it. I didn't charge her for it, so maybe she will pass the word along. My good deed for the day. The towels got lower and we sold all our hooded scarfs but four. We only sold two pair of Big Boys but I know they will go in December. Just not quite cold enough for them yet.

Well, now I have five weeks before the next show, so off to work I go. I actually managed to get a boys beanie, an earflap hat and a pair of baby short stuffs done since last night. I lost my tags, so I took my granddaughters colored paper and used her scrapbook scissors and punch and made my own. I had some thin nylon thread I used for ties. They look kind of cute. I vowed I would not spend all those hours tagging and pricing again, so I am doing them as I go along.

Just thought I would let you know, my OOAK stocking cap has found a good home. It is going to a 19 year old who is going to school in Oregon. She's getting it for Christmas! Guess it's time to go through the scrap bin again.

Countdown now to hours!

October 25th, 2007

This has been a busy day. I thought it would take me just a few hours to get everything tagged and bagged and ready to go. It probably would have, but I stopped to play a few poker tournaments while I priced all my goodies. Finally my youngest daughter called and wanted to know if I needed help. Sure! Why not? She came and we got done around five pm. Hmm! I started at nine am. But we are ready so that is all that matters. My step son, son-in-law and daughter will help me set up tomorrow. Not sure what Hubby plans on doing. He usually goes to the bank for me and gets my drawer set up. He is not much for lifting anymore. Last thing I think I have to do is edit my shop and put all in limbo. I will do that in the morning.

They say it might rain tomorrow. I hate loading the truck and going in the rain. Last year it rained so hard while I was unloading the truck, I looked like a drowned rat! My hair kinked up on my head and dried that way. I was too busy setting up and trying to get ready. They open the doors at 4 pm Friday night and we get busy really quick. Hopefully, I will not have the drowned rat look tomorrow.

I sold out all my Big Boys last year, pictured above. They are nice and cozy on a cold winters night. We shall see. I hope they do not disappoint me this year. Time to call it a night.

Two days and counting

October 24th, 2007

I should be working my tail off right now but I am just going to roll with the punches. I have my booth set up on the back porch, ready to go. Well almost ready to go. I have to dust the grids off yet. Next I need to go thru my inventory and see what I am taking and what I am not. I haven't decided what to take with me. Oh, I forgot to tell everyone! lol! I am doing a three day craft show in Illinois. I really like doing these shows, you never know who you will meet and what will happen. It's a good thing I don't rely on these to feed me! I'd be your starving artist. It will be my third year doing these shows so I really know what to expect but you never can tell. Thankfully I have enough grown children to help me carry in and set up. Secretly, I think they enjoy looking around and checking out other crafters. My youngest daughter likes to do her Christmas shopping at this time.

Well, if I can post this right, I am going to show one of my crocheted one of a kind (OOAK) stocking caps. It is in my store right now. I will be taking all out and putting everything in edit mode until the show is over. Then I will restock and be back on line Monday.

http://www.everlastingcraftycre.etsy.com/ is where you can find me until Friday morning. I really enjoy all my fellow crafters. I have recently joined a new street team called Etsy Fast.

They are all fellow fiber crafters. Some are knitters, some are crocheters, some are spinners, some are... well you get my drift. They all like their fiber! lol!

Okay back to work! Cya later!