Handmade The Hippie Way :)

Ok so since i've only had a little bit of info between the last two posts I want this one to be a bit more informational. What i'm currently working on right now is getting together my basics. Things like packaging, branding, financial needs, inventory etc. When I first started looking into all of this I had never realized the huge amount of things required to do a craft fair. It's amazing, I mean seriously, you actually create a small temporary store daily, and it takes alot to make things happen. Now i'm not trying to make you feel overwhelmed, I just want folks to realize that this is not as easy as it seems, well at least for me. Purely not having much inventory right now is making me freak out, and until today I was sweating being able to get supplies. Not because I couldn't afford them, but because they just weren't available. I was fortunate enough after trips to 7 different stores I scored! I managed to get my hands on 32 spankin new beautiful white towels :) Translated into 64 cut towels! So yeah safe to say i'm feeling less stressed.

Now, when I say packaging and branding i'm talking about what you put your items in and how you are marking your packaging or items with your brand. I had a pretty unimpressive packaging for awhile, I simply wrapped the items in tissue paper, put them inside a large zip loc bag with a card and a thank you and called it good, that's really lame. So, in an effort to make things cute, nice, and simple without alot of cost I try my best to do things myself. It wasn't until a few months ago that I even started putting labels on my products. I made those myself by buying colorfast printable fabric sheets and printing/cutting them myself, easy enough? Sure, anyone can do it if they can follow simple directions. I will probably post a tutorial on that if anyone is curious, comment to let me know. I also recently changed my packaging that I send to customers, I found that cello treat bags are perfect! I can fit 2 towels to a bag and then tie it up with some cute raffia ribbon. I started marking the outside of the bag with some labels that I bought from VistaPrint, I got them customized with my t-shirt logo and instead of having them as a return address label I put my shop name, slogan, shop url and email address. I believe I got the 140 for FREE deal where you only pay the shipping. So yeah there are ways you can brand your items for a reasonable price. and then I also use a thank you card with my info on it that I just simply printed out on my ink jet printer on cardstock, I generally hand write something on the back also. So there's a few DIY and non DIY ways to do some branding and packaging. There are also Etsy sellers that customize loads of different stuff from labels to banners for your shop to buttons, tags etc. it's out there if you look.

When I refer to financial needs of course you've got to have money for materials, because without them we have no product. But i'm more so referring to what you're willing to take as monetary compensation for your items at a craft fair. I know everyone takes cash, that's a given. But in today's age of technology alot of life is paid for with plastic, i'm talkin' credit and debit cards. It's up to you whether or not you choose to take checks, I personally won't be taking checks unless I know the person. Taking credit/debit cards these days has gotten to be pretty easy, you don't even have to have the machine hooked to a phone line. As mobile vendors we have to be prepared to face doing fairs in areas that don't have wi-fi or internet access. I say the easiest way is getting a good old fashioned knuckle buster with slips, and a propay account. I posted the links to both of those resources in the #1 post of this series. Now when it comes to storing those hard earnings you have the choice between a locked cash box or a vendor's apron. I personally chose a vendor's apron that way I don't always have to keep one eye on the cash box and can still give my customers my full attention. I bought a great vendor's apron from Mrs.Chainsaw on Etsy this happens to be the one I bought but she has alot of really great aprons in some awesome bold fabrics!

So there's a bit more information for you to chew on, in my next posting of the series I want to get a bit more into detail as to the list of things you may need while at the show/fair. Like a tool box, calculator, just misc. things you may not instantly think of. :)

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I can honestly say I haven't been to a craft fair/show in a very long time. Even just like a local swap meet or flea market, which i've always been a big fan of. There's just something about outdoor markets, temporary or permanent that I just can't get enough of :) My local Las Vegas etsy team Handmade in Vegas sponsored/organized a craft fair at the Mt Charleston Resort today. I had originally wanted to participate but it was shortly after that I found out about my hand/arm issues so I wasn't going to be able to get enough inventory by the time the fair. I still of course had an interest in going to check out what everyone had to offer, I love handmade items! I saw some really cool and amazing stuff, met alot of cool people, gathered and passed out alot of business cards and learned a few things.

The first person I met was CJ of Art Creations by CJ . She was super cool, helpful and gave me a few great suggestions. It was her first fair, but I did learn some things from her and she shared a few tips I hadn't thought about. Her art is amazing, she makes jewelry art sculptures. Now i'm not talking about jewelry you can wear, her pieces are COVERED in awesomely unique pieces of jewelry. First thing that came to mind after studying her pieces for a few minutes was that alot of the pieces looked like things I remember seeing in my grandmothers jewelry box. After talking to her for a few minutes I learned that she picks up her materials at anything from estate sales to thrift stores and all points in between. She rescues the "broken" and "unloved" pieces and turns them into some amazing works of art. She's even made a piece that hangs in Mayor of Las Vegas Oscar Goodman's office! She is definitely a very talented woman! I fell in love with her little lady bug and lizard, they were both so cute.






Now of course whenever I go somewhere that has jewelry, especially natural stone jewelry I naturally gravitate straight to it. I met Patricia of Rock My Beads, not only did I love her business name but her jewelry was beautiful! I had a great conversation with her, we both exchanged some great info and I know that i'll be purchasing some jewelry from her in the future! Check out her stuff, these are a few things I really loved!







Now if you like cute country style home decor and pillows with cute sayings this next gal is for you. She is Eva from Eva's Designs and she has some wonderful decor items. She had cute little items you can stick on shelves, pillows with adorable sayings, wall hangings, crocheted items,etc. she had a great variety of things. Her pillows were beautiful and very well made they also had some great sayings on them.





I met alot of other really great artists, asked alot of questions, learned alot of great things, got some good ideas for displays. Today was a productive day! I enjoyed being out in the fresh mountain air without the responsibility of kids :) Going to this show today really made me more excited about the show in October! I even wore my new shop tshirt I just got from VistaPrint :) Yeah that's me lookin goofy below! Not to mention it was some great advertisement for me, I handed out alot of cards but the shirt attracted it's fair share of attention, I think I may buy another and tie dye it. I'll be posting more informational stuff in the next post, so keep your eye out!

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So in the few weeks since finding out about the CSN Fall Fun Fest i've been really excited and working super hard to build up inventory. I'd found a partner to share a booth with, which is nice because the costs are pretty high. Considering it's a 3 day show it's not too awful, but just my share comes out to about $169 with $50 of it being refundable. So knocking it down to $119 out of pocket for a 3 day venue, which brings it to about $40 a day, not too bad when you break it down. Unfortunately last night my partner had emailed me to let me know she wouldn't be able to participate. Ugh, safe to say I was quite disappointed. Here I was sitting 10 days away from the application deadline, no way to afford the full cost on my own, nor the ability to fill an entire 10x10 space. So, determined to find myself a partner I referenced back to our Etsy local team blog, found some email addresses and proceeded to email away. I woke up this morning to a response to one of my emails saying that her partner had to back out also and that she was still hoping to do the show as well. Excited I wrote her back and now we can get on our way to getting our application turned in and work can resume as normal. :)

Thus far i've done alot of research for this, i've never done a craft fair before and it's safe to say I was feeling very overwhelmed not knowing what I needed to have/do prior to the event. If you've ever done a craft show before you know what i'm talking about. Not only do you need tons of inventory, but business cards, banners, tables, coverings, displays, a tool box with extras and needed supplies etc. The list is rather endless and at first glance highly overwhelming. I'll be posting more about the list in future posts. Thank god I have 3 months until the show (it's in late October) Otherwise I think I would tear my hair out and what ended up being left would go grey LOL.

So far i've gotten some great things, Vistaprint is a great resource if you keep an eye out for their free specials. So far i've purchased a custom tshirt, labels for branding, business cards, and a banner for my booth, all together it cost about $35 with shipping...yeah I said it...I got all that cool stuff for $35, it pays to bargain shop! I still have yet to purchase a knuckle buster and slips which i'm purchasing from Mr. Imprinter, they have a deal where you get the knuckle buster, slips and custom imprinter plate for about $21 including shipping. I will also be signing up for Propay to be able to process credit cards, it simply is a merchant account to accept credit/debit cards, and they offer the premium account to Etsy folks for $30/yr, simple enough. I don't want to have to lose sales not being able to accommodate credit/debit cards.

I don't want to put all of the info i've found into this post as i'm trying to do an entire series on prepping for a craft fair, so keep your eye out for future postings :) Don't sweat the petty things, only pet the sweaty things! LOL

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