My First Craft Fair!!!

This past Saturday, I, for the first time, publicly peddled my wares, at my first Craft Fair! Saturday, September 15th was the Apple Festival, Craft Fair, and Car Show at Golden Hill Health Care Center, in Kingston, New York, where my husband and business partner, Christopher, works.

It was a beautiful day for a beginner like me (I had no canopy or tent ^_^), sunny, breezy, and altogether lovely. I had a notion of what I was in for, and came well-prepared. I took my time setting up my table (color-coordinated to match my Pink Forsythia colors: shades of pink, black, and white), because display, I believe, is one of the most important parts of sales. You have to LURE in the customers with your image. The second important thing is the quality and interest of the items that you have displayed. If your items do not individually speak to the customers as much as the display did as a whole, you aren't going to sell anything. That was the philosophy I went into this with, and all in all, it served me pretty well!

I made a sign on foam-core poster board, with Sharpies in light pink and black. I love Sharpies, so simple, so versatile, so incredibly indispensible! Propping it up on my collapsible easel, it was the perfect advertisement. I covered two 12-can soda boxes with bright pink wrapping paper to contrast with my light pink table cloth, and used them as an extra tier on my table. A couple on mannequin necks, and a cute jewelry holder in a sassy pink skirt added visual interest to the mix, and once my product was all set out, the table really looked complete. My little hand-written pink and black tags labeled everything, and I felt good about the set up.

My jewelry and cute ceramic coasters were the biggest hit at my table! I sold more than I thought I would, and met so many great people who appreciated the art in my work. I feel so lucky and blessed to have had such a lovely day, full of sales, conversation, and smiles. Also, having my dear mum's booth directly across the way was wonderful, I could pass much of the time making faces at her and yelling over snippets of conversation.

I earned enough money to buy this computer, which is allowing me smoother access to the internet, and thus my blog. So, I guess you could say that because of this craft-fair, I will be able to keep all of you far more updated than I had previously been able to. Thanks to my sister-in-law, I have another craft fair next month, in Long Island, on Saturday, October 13th. If it goes anything like this one, I should be able to get a new camera for still shots :) My video camera is great for video, but it lacks a lot in the photo-taking department!

Photo courtesy of Mum’s Phone