craftgrrl | (no subject)

I survived.
But just barely?

My days at the Arlington County Fair are behind me and I feel good, no, GREAT about the whole experience.

A few pics of my booth are behind the cut.

Does anyone get that Sex & the City reference? Just me? Hoo-kay.

I added small bud vases with pretty flowers. They were cheery.

My business cards conveniently sitting in a dish at the end of the table. I also included them in the bag with every purchase. Marketing, marketing, marketing!

That little paisley & denim bag ^^ up there? It was my candy dish for the first 2.5 days. On the third day? A very nice lady picked it up and asked me how much it was. Yes indeedy, I sold my candy dish! She gave back the candy though. Ha.

A word to y'all about candy dishes in your boothes at fairs. In my experience? Not effective. You're just giving non-customers free candy. I did not have one person who put their paws into the candy bag buy something. I don't even think they took my card. They just swiped some sweets and left. One lady had the nerve to stop and take 2 handfuls and throw them in her shopping bag. Seriously.

I put up this small sign on the second day. There was a retail booth around the corner from me that was obnoxiously selling totes and bags for 5 bucks. I felt the need to establish that I was making and offering quality, one of a kind, homemade items. Not sweat-shop, mass-produced crap.

And here is my little super hero chicken. For fun.

All in all, it was a wonderfully positive experience and even though it was long and a lot of hard work, I would most definitely do this event next year. I sold a nice portion of my inventory, met some wonderful people, and hopefully made future customers. The idea of nice folks walking around with my stuff is very exciting indeed.

And here is what I did in between the customer/browser rushes:

A bunch of new felt frames featuring Little Face, for my family.

Way back last winter, I had made these. Springtime hit and I wanted to give something a little more seasonally appropriate, so folks could do a switch out. But of course, I'm queen procrastinator and all that and now everyone's getting a springtime one at the close of summer. Ah well. It's the thought that counts!

I had enough time to make 7 of them while sitting in my booth internally willing young fashionistas towards my goods.