Tuesday, July 17, 2012

BSSM Recap- vol i!

Well I've successfully survived my first craft show here in Victoria and despite the never ending mist and rain it still turned out to be a good day! I was a little nervous about setting up since I haven't done any shows since last summer and decided to go to a two table booth this year. Luckily it all came together nicely during the prep time and the extra space was marvelous! Take a peek:


Yay! I have quite a few new display additions to the tables this time around including a bunch of dumpster salvaged wire baskets/stands and two new bulletin boards! Fraser was even nice enough to make me some new stands to go with them out of wood! What a handy (and helpful) man he is! The first board was an upgrade of my pinback button display since the old one was too small now that I have four new yarn themed sets to include. It's even got room to grow when I decide to make some new button sets in the future:

 

The second board became a new earring display for all those studs I have been working on! All I needed for this one was a package of finishing nails and a ruler and voila! Display!  I'm really happy with how it turned out! Oh, I painted the frames of the boards black as well to match the rest of the table. Take a peek:


As for the weather - it seems to have gone from June-uary to Feb-uly this year since it was cold and wet! I woke up with extra curled hair that morning (which totally negates all that flat ironing I did the night before) and spend the day relatively bundled and bright! Fraser took this picture after Sarra asked me what I wore/how I did my hair so I hope this fits the bill! I even managed to do a cute little braid on which tied into my extra curly high pony tail but I'll just have to convince you it's cute since there's no photographic evidence...


Even though the weather was miserable and my fellow craft vendors said the market had a record low turn out, it was still a bustling spot and I got a chance to walk around the square and snap some (wet) scenery:


Luckily our tent seemed to hold most of the rain off but my table cloths and the edges of the tables got soaked. My poor printed out signage certainly didn't enjoy all that moisture since they curled like crazy! Ack:


Looks like I'll be taking a trip to Staples this week to laminate those before the next market! By the middle of the day we decided to join the masses and utilize the tent walls and boy did it ever make for a cozy (and bright white!) little booth! Plus with the placement of our L shaped tables the tent turned into a dry oasis for customers! Haha - we sure suckered them in! Fraser was extra wonderful and even looked after things while I peeked around the market:


I also realized how silly it was that Fraser and I were wearing matching shoes!  Looks like we're one step closer to being an old married couple in matching track suits (one day Fraser beans, one day....)


Oh dear! Despite the cold, I ended up having a good day and met tons of interesting people!  Heck, I even got to chat about bio-remediation of petrochemicals with a couple from Nelson and we science geeked it up! Hooray! I had a few sales and although I wasn't booming with business it managed to make the wet day worth while.  I am extra excited to see how the market will go on an actual pleasant day and am looking forward to a show where I don't have to fill my house with drenched tent and merchandise afterwards!

Unfortunately my little candy studs (link) got trashed with all the mist and moisture so I'm hoping to find time to make some fabric button earrings (link) to fill in the holes on my new bulletin board display. I was a little bummed that my experiments in candy look alike jewelry was a flop, but at least I spotted the problem before selling my faulty product to anyone! Alas - that's the way things go sometimes. Other goals for the week (besides drying out all my packaging, tent, and crafts) include tweaking my price signage for added durability and *hopefully* making a nice bouquet of felt mustaches on sticks so I have some more masculine items to offer! We may as well throw "praying to the weather gods for a beautiful summery Sunday" in there for good measure too! What are your thoughts? Any craft market tips or tricks to share with me?

5 comments:

  1. It looks wonderful! I would have totally braved the weather to see your goods!

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  2. Matching outfits maybe... But never track suits. Never! :)

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  3. I've been thinking about doing a craft market/fair but I've not quite got the confidence yet! Your stall looks fabulous! Hope you had a good (and productive!) day. Jen x

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  4. What a cute little stall! Shame about the weather but I'm glad you had a good day.

    Becky
    xx

    http://www.beckybedbug.com

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  5. oh you looked great! I'm sad about the candy ones but I feel like glass could be an option for candy look-a-like earrings in the future? Also Dev thinks that you should look into playing the Sun's Song from Zelda the night before. Does the trick every time in Hyrule...

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