Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Pink & chocolate...Yum!!!


I so love pink and brown as a color combo! It's probably largely due to my great love of pink!!! I'm pretty happy with how this card turned out. I've been in a rut recently and having trouble coming up with ideas and inspiration for cards. This card uses the Sweet on You set and a little bit of the Loves Me paper.
I knew I wanted to use my scalloped circle punch, so I played around with my layout until I came up with this. The circles didn't seem quite right...and then I added the Hodgepodge Hardware. (I have *such* a hard time using this...I'm definitely hoarding it!)
After the card was all put together I added Crystal Stickles to the heart and also dotted it on the middle of the flowers.
Enjoy!

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Craft Show details...

These are more pictures on the craft show I did in December. I had a great time at this show and plan on doing more in the future. This particular show was put on by Sue at Country Crafts www.country-craft.com This gal is such a sweetheart!

I hope that by sharing these pics and things I've found helpful you can better prepare for the shows you will be doing!

Anyway...some of the details! This is a full shot of my space. I had a 6' table and the freestanding rack was 2' wide and about 4' tall or so.

Most of the craft shows I've come across require the table covering to be floor length and light in color. This was the best I could do. I wasn't going to pay to have one custom made. I used two items to make this table covering...a tablecloth from Linens-n-Things and a king size sheet underneath. Now, it isn't floor length on all sides...the back is shorter than the front. You can see it a little in the picture. I was fairly happy with how it looked though. The main thing the promoters are trying to achieve with floor length drapings are to prevent the table legs from showing. It also gives you a great place to tuck the storage tubs too! If I can find some other type of cloth that will work better, then I'll change. Until then, I like this. I have to say at first I was a little leary of using a light colored tablecloth. I was always a fan of black. This made me rethink my feelings. I still like black as a table covering, but there was something really fresh and bright about using a light colored one!


My lunchtins were my highest priced item at this show. I decided to display them on this really cute rack. I was fortunate enough to get this from my mom. She has some really cute metal racks that make great display racks. I've seen similar things at TJ Max. I always keep an eye out when I'm there.

For this show I had 11 lunchtins made up, and sold just over half of them. There were 3 different types: Cards, Recipes and Baby. I also had some that were unlabeled on the outside...meaning they did not have anything on the outside of the tin to designate what they were meant for. Surprisingly, the ones that sold best were these "blank" ones. They still had the dividers labeled for recipe use. None of the baby tins sold...they were intended to be a baby's first year tin. The cards tins were also slow on the go...I think one sold over the course of the show.

In the future I'm going to concentrate on making my tins without a specific label on the outside. They will still have dividers on the inside...most likely I will label them for recipe use. While I like the ones that tell you what to use them for...I think its a better decision to leave that up to the customer. It also save me a step *insert wink*



One of the best sellers I had at this show were my kid's color me kits. I got this idea from Joyrae on SCS. Thanks so much to her! I know there are other ones that have posted this same thing, but hers just hit home with me. These were so EASY it was insane. I had 4 cards in one kit, along with 4 crayons. I packaged the crayons up in their own tiny ziplock bag (I got the baggies from Paperzone).

For the cards, I used cardstock from Michael's. I couldnt' see using my SU! cardstock on these, especially since they are not intricate in design.

I packaged the card kits in a plain cello bag and used a simple twist tie to close them.

Another of my best sellers were journals. I made these by covering compostition books with patterned paper and then embellishing. At the start of the show I only had these six. By the second day, I was done to one journal left! I ran home that night and made up as many as I could!!! It was exciting to see these go.







What I had at this show:
  • lunch tins..................................$24.95
  • altered paint cans....................$19.95
  • journals.....................................$5.95
  • snowman soup (in a mug)......$4.95
  • snowman poop.........................$1.00
  • coasters.....................................$2.95 ea.
  • magnets (clear button type)..$1.50 for 4
  • cards..........................................$2.50 ea.
  • tooth fairy tins..........................$2.95 ea.
  • frames........................................$9.95


My bestsellers:

  • ~lunch tins
  • ~journals
  • ~coasters
  • ~snowman poop (sold out on last day)
  • My cards did fairly well. I had a mix of everyday and Christmas. I didn't have a count of the cards before the show...so estimating the sales...I sold about a third of them. Not too bad.
  • Thoughts on the snowman soup...it's really cute, but for some reason it wasn't a big seller. Its super easy to put together and fun too! With the mug, the price is really great! I included a package of cocoa, marshmallows, hershey's kisses and candy cane. They were packaged in clear cello, with a stamped tag. The poem was on the back of the tag.

Over the holidays I'd seen snowman soup in many retail locations. I wonder if this could be why its not a hit in the craft show arena? Possibly it has lost its unique-ness? I'm not sure if I will make it again or not.

The snowman poop on the other hand sold pretty well. I didn't have huge sales on it until the last day (Saturday). By the end of that day, I was sold out! It really wasn't anything special...marshamallows in a small cello bag! I was surprised these sold out, and I was thinking of not doing them again...decisions, decisions!

As for the coasters...my best seller were the coffee ones. I didn't have many of these (coasters in general) and wish I would have made more. I will definitely be making more of these, especially the coffee them ones. One person came back and asked for more...sadly, I didn't have any more!

Overwhelmed by such kindness...


How great a surprise is this?!? I got this great stamp and card from a wonderful gal...I don't even know her and I can tell you she's one terrific gal!!! I got my mail a few days ago and in with it was a package from www.morethanink.com What could this be? I don't remember ordering anything from them recently....hmm. This is a mystery.

This mysterious box contained this cute Thank You stamp and a wonderful card!!! How cool is that? But why did I receive this??? This wasn't something I ordered. Wellllll...the spectacular gal at More Than Ink, Terry, sent me this little package! This was a huge bright spot in my day and totally unexpected!

It seems that Terry saw that I had posted about More Than Ink on Splitcoast Stampers and wanted to send me a token of her appreciation. Due to my posting she had received some orders on the site.

Just what is that she sells you ask? Only the hugely popular scalloped punches by Marvy!!! Of course she has many other things too. I found this site by doing a search for the punches and ran across them. They had a *super* price on the punches and on top of that...shipping is free on purchases over $35!!! What a deal! And I love a good deal. I bought the giga scalloped circle punch and the giga scalloped oval punch. I plan on getting the scalloped square punches from her soon too! I had to pass this wonderful bit on news on to you!!!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Cute Chicks!

I was turned on to these super cute chicks by SCS. I have to be honest...I'm not sure who originally found this cute site...but I'm glad they shared! I have a thing for chick things. It all started when my best friend and I read this book, God Chicks by Holly Wagner. Its an incredible book that empowers you to be exactly what God intends. From reading that book we've both developed an interest in "chick" things. I always keep an eye out for fun & cute gizmos that are chick-like. These cute icons are exactly it! So fun...you should try one out!

Bless This Chick...http://www.blessthischick.com/btcmachine/index.php

God Chicks by Holly Wagner...http://www.godchicks.com/

Loves Me Latte!!!


I *LOVE* the Like It A Latte stamp set! It is just too much fun. Try as I might, but I just keep reaching for it again and again these days. On top of that add the Liquid Applique...oh my! Heaven!!!
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For this card I used the Like It A Latte set (of course!). The patterned paper is Loves Me from SU! I stamped the image on the scalloped giga punch from Marvy and stapled the ribbon on. The base of the card is whisper white, with the layers being close to cocoa and the loves me paper. I added a little bit of red embossing powder on top of the liquid applique before I heat dried it to make it 'puff'. I was trying to get the effect of crushed peppermints on the foam. I think a pink toned embossing powder would have looked a little better, but I made do with what I had. The heart on top of the cup is cut out and adhered with a pop dot.
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Enjoy!
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Items used for this card:
Like It A Latte set
Giga scalloped punch
Liquid Applique
Embossing Powder
Ribbon (American crafts dotted, SU! grosgrain)
Ticket corner punch
Stapler

Sunday, January 21, 2007

I love craft shows!


I have craft shows on the mind. I just filled out my application for one March 29-31. It's going to be held at Pickering Barn in Issaquah, WA. I checked this one out last fall and it is a super show! If you're in the area stop by. I need to get my tush a-movin though...I have ALOT to complete before this show!
I participated in my first *big* craft show last December. It was a blast! I had such a fun time and met some really great gals that gave me so much super advice about being in the craft show market. I was fortunate enough to get tips on the good shows vs the 'ok' ones. These gals in the crafting business are wonderful!
The picture is of my booth display is from the show I did in December. I had a 3' x 8' spot. I used a 6' table and also had a freestanding display shelf that was on the side of the table. At that show I had decorated lunch tins, paint cans, journals, coasters, snowman soup, snowman poop, magnets, decorated frames and of course cards! I was surprised at what was selling most:
~kid's color me cards
~journals
~coasters (the coffee theme ones were big!)
~magnets
~snowman poop (these sold well on the last day!)
I thought for sure the snowman soup would be a big seller...but alas, no. After thinking about it for awhile...I think it could be because snowman soup is becoming available pretty much everywhere. I noticed it at a number of retail stores during the Christmas season. Its either that or my prices were too high!

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Who'd a thought?

I'm starting a blog! I've been scoping all these great blogs out there...wow...they're great! Hopefully this will be a fun little adventure *smiles*