I store all my craft photos on Shutterfly on a share site so that I can easily keep track of them all and people can see them. It also lets me add captions and such. It also serves as a good backup in case my computer crashes or something and I lose my pictures. But because my computer has been having some issues with photos lately and it's not getting any younger (just like me), I had my son spend a few hours backing up all my photos on CDs too. I hadn't EVER backed them up. Not a good thing. You should FREQUENTLY back up your photos and documents.
Anyway, Shutterfly gave me a special offer that if I posted my new photo book to my blog, I'd get a $10 coupon for a future order. So.....you guessed it! I posted my photo book. Take a look if you'd like. It's not everything I make by any means, but there are quite a few things in there.
A blog to promote and discuss handmade goods and also to comment on general topics in life such as being a working mother.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
I'm Featured Again! Plus Comments on Outdoor Arts Festivals
Another fellow handmade artist has featured me on her blog. I'm very flattered and grateful. I encourage everyone to check out her Etsy shop and her blog. She recycles fabrics and turns it into bracelets and other wonderful items. My favorite is a bracelet made out of neckties. See it at http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.251012268.jpg. Her Etsy shop is located at http://www.ReUseReNewReLove.etsy.com .
You can read her post about me at
http://
Next weekend (June 25-26) here in Eagan is the annual Arts Festival. They feature artists who do jewelry, pottery, prints and a few other things. There is always a lot of nice stuff to look at. I hope the weather is better for them this year than last year. Last year the temperature was in the 90's and it was extremely humid. It's an outdoor show, so I felt very sorry for the artisans who had to sit out in the heat and humidity for 2 days. It was so miserable out that even attending the festival wasn't enjoyable. All you wanted to do was just quick walk through and go back to your air conditioned car.
That's why I've never done an outdoor show. They seem so dependent on the weather. If it rains or storms, you and your items get very wet and no one comes. Then you've spent a lot of money on entrance fees and invested a lot of time and not gotten much in return. And if it's too hot and humid, you'll be miserable and attendance will be down too because people don't want to go out in the heat and humidity. Plus you have to invest in a tent for your booth. And entrance fees for outdoor shows are always quite high around here. At least with indoor shows at churches, schools, etc., weather isn't as big a factor and the entrance fees are usually pretty reasonable.
I'd love to hear any comments on whether or not the readers have participated in outdoor shows and why or why not.
You can read her post about me at
http://
Next weekend (June 25-26) here in Eagan is the annual Arts Festival. They feature artists who do jewelry, pottery, prints and a few other things. There is always a lot of nice stuff to look at. I hope the weather is better for them this year than last year. Last year the temperature was in the 90's and it was extremely humid. It's an outdoor show, so I felt very sorry for the artisans who had to sit out in the heat and humidity for 2 days. It was so miserable out that even attending the festival wasn't enjoyable. All you wanted to do was just quick walk through and go back to your air conditioned car.
That's why I've never done an outdoor show. They seem so dependent on the weather. If it rains or storms, you and your items get very wet and no one comes. Then you've spent a lot of money on entrance fees and invested a lot of time and not gotten much in return. And if it's too hot and humid, you'll be miserable and attendance will be down too because people don't want to go out in the heat and humidity. Plus you have to invest in a tent for your booth. And entrance fees for outdoor shows are always quite high around here. At least with indoor shows at churches, schools, etc., weather isn't as big a factor and the entrance fees are usually pretty reasonable.
I'd love to hear any comments on whether or not the readers have participated in outdoor shows and why or why not.
Monday, June 13, 2011
I'm Featured on a Blog!
I've been featured on a blog! I'm excited and flattered. You can find a profile of me on http://extravaganzacrafts.com/Blogs/?p=1502. I thank Shasta Mclaughlin for taking the time and interest to feature me on her blog. I encourage you to check out some of her past posts--she has some very interesting articles on how to make the most of your business. She also features crafters and it's always interesting to learn about what others are doing and how they're doing it.
I've been busy updating my Artfire and Etsy stores and adding some new listings. Some photos are below.
Now that it's summer, it's time to think about the county fair. I've entered some of my crochet items twice now and everything has won a ribbon so far. I wasn't able to enter anything last year as that's when my mother died so I wasn't here. But I intend to enter again this summer and now I have to choose what to make. I want it to be something unique and something that is very eye catching. My sister-in-law is encouraging me to enter something in the State Fair too. She has been entering socks. I might try it this year. Everything at the State Fair is always so good though, that I'm a little intimidated that I can't live up to the other talented people who enter.
Do you enter any of your work in your county or state fair? I'd love to hear about what you've entered and if you've won ribbons so please post some comments.
I've been busy updating my Artfire and Etsy stores and adding some new listings. Some photos are below.
Now that it's summer, it's time to think about the county fair. I've entered some of my crochet items twice now and everything has won a ribbon so far. I wasn't able to enter anything last year as that's when my mother died so I wasn't here. But I intend to enter again this summer and now I have to choose what to make. I want it to be something unique and something that is very eye catching. My sister-in-law is encouraging me to enter something in the State Fair too. She has been entering socks. I might try it this year. Everything at the State Fair is always so good though, that I'm a little intimidated that I can't live up to the other talented people who enter.
Do you enter any of your work in your county or state fair? I'd love to hear about what you've entered and if you've won ribbons so please post some comments.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
A Great Article on What You Can Get Out of a Craft Show
Extravaganza Craft Productions passed along a link to an article on their blog about craft shows. They're not just for selling crafts. They're for testing a product, finding out who your customer is and building up your business. Although we all know this in the back of our minds, it's a good read and helpful to be reminded of what we can accomplish at a craft show. I know I have people come back to my table year after year at some of the shows I do. I've always given them my business card and I know some of their names, but I've never started an email list. I'm not going to be doing any shows again until fall, but I plan on putting out a sign up sheet for people to write their email on and then I'm going to occasionally send out a notice about new items, shows I'm in, etc.
The link to the article is http://extravaganzacrafts.com/Blogs/?p=159. Hopefully you'll find it useful too.
The link to the article is http://extravaganzacrafts.com/Blogs/?p=159. Hopefully you'll find it useful too.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Craft Show Was a Bust
Well, the craft show was not well attended. Maybe 2 dozen people walked through the door. Could be a combination of odd time of year for a craft show, location and the first nice day for weeks. I only sold one item. And I did something I've never done before--I left early. I just couldn't justify sitting there for another hour when no one was coming. Many others left well before me. I felt bad about leaving, but it just was not a good use of my time to sit there. Has anyone else ever left a craft show early?
So now I'm updating my on-line shops. It's amazing how time consuming that is. I was having trouble with pictures on Artfire which really slowed me down. I want to update my current items that are listed and then I have some new ones to list. I'm adding a clearance section on my Artfire store http://www.artfire.com/users/BrendasCraftStore and putting the winter items in it. Even though the temperature was in the 30s last night, I'm still hoping for spring so I'm going to put the winter stuff on clearance. It's a good time to stock up for next year though! You can't beat the prices!
Next up might be some shawls and I saw a pattern for a cute little graduation bear.
So now I'm updating my on-line shops. It's amazing how time consuming that is. I was having trouble with pictures on Artfire which really slowed me down. I want to update my current items that are listed and then I have some new ones to list. I'm adding a clearance section on my Artfire store http://www.artfire.com/users/BrendasCraftStore and putting the winter items in it. Even though the temperature was in the 30s last night, I'm still hoping for spring so I'm going to put the winter stuff on clearance. It's a good time to stock up for next year though! You can't beat the prices!
Next up might be some shawls and I saw a pattern for a cute little graduation bear.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Craft Show This Weekend
For all you Minnesotans, I'm going to be in a craft show on Saturday, May 7, at the VFW in Forest Lake, MN. I think there will be many interesting crafters there, so please stop by and shop.
As I think is always the case, I don't feel like I have enough inventory or all the things I'd like to have offered for sale, but I think I have some items that will make good Mother's Day gifts. I hope shoppers agree. It's going to be a long day though--the sale goes form 10 am to 7 pm. A rather odd time. Most shows are 9-3, 9-4, etc. So we'll see how this goes. I've never done one in the northern suburbs and this is a first time promoter, so things might not go so smoothly. I hope shoppers show up because there's nothing worse than to sit there all day with no business.
After the show, I intend to put my efforts into a quick little custom order I have and then I have a very LONG list of things I want to try. I want to do American Girl doll clothes, socks, a lot of new dishcloths, headbands, childrens' things, toys, and so on and so on. I just need more hours in the day!
As I think is always the case, I don't feel like I have enough inventory or all the things I'd like to have offered for sale, but I think I have some items that will make good Mother's Day gifts. I hope shoppers agree. It's going to be a long day though--the sale goes form 10 am to 7 pm. A rather odd time. Most shows are 9-3, 9-4, etc. So we'll see how this goes. I've never done one in the northern suburbs and this is a first time promoter, so things might not go so smoothly. I hope shoppers show up because there's nothing worse than to sit there all day with no business.
After the show, I intend to put my efforts into a quick little custom order I have and then I have a very LONG list of things I want to try. I want to do American Girl doll clothes, socks, a lot of new dishcloths, headbands, childrens' things, toys, and so on and so on. I just need more hours in the day!
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