Craft Show Review

I've done two craft shows this month, and I haven't mentioned how either have turned out!  The first one, at the South Hills Country Club, was an epic failure.  It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day, so hardly anyone came to the show.  The people that did come were obviously there to window shop only.  At least I wasn't the only one that didn't make any money!  As it was, I barely made my table fee back for 5 hours worth of work...  Kind of the risk that you take going to a craft show, I suppose.

The second one was this past weekend.  Actually, as it was the Mt. Lebanon Earth Day Fair, it wasn't really a craft show.  MUCH more successful!  It was a lot of fun too - I got a free sample of a compostable garbage bag!  I will definitely have to pick some of these up when I re-establish my composting in Alaska. A stinky smelly compost bucket sucks.  Imagine grabbing the whole thing, bag and all, and tossing it in the pile!

I must say, I am absolutely shocked at my success in selling my wares over the last several months.  After hoping and wishing for such a long time that I would somehow be able to support myself through my own creativity, I decided to take the plunge.  My upfront costs weren't that outrageous, and I figured if it failed miserably I could at least say I tried.  Honestly, I think I expected that I would try it for awhile, nobody would buy anything, and I'd get it out of my system.  Instead, I'm becoming increasingly excited and confident that this could actually work!  Not that I'm exactly rolling in cash, but I'm getting closer to recovering every penny put in! Also, a wonderful friend of mine wants to act as a distributor for Sarah's Soak Shoppe in PA once I'm in Alaska - I'll be a coast to coast business!

I really encourage anyone that has dreams of doing something like this to just suck it up and try.  Especially if you can do it without breaking the bank up front.  You just might surprise yourself!

Halfway There

We (Karl) managed to get the wiring done for the trailer yesterday!  It involved a lot of mumbo jumbo lingo that I didn't understand, but basically you take the wire that connects your two taillights, add some thingamajig that runs to the trailer and your battery, and you're good to go.  My contribution was handing Karl tools, and zip tying things under the hood that Karl's big fat man fingers couldn't reach.

We hoped to attach the hitch today, but the impending doom of thunderstorms eliminated that option.  It also looks like it's going to rain the rest of the week, too, so I looked up some stats:

Average yearly rainfall in Pittsburgh: 37.85 inches
Average yearly rainfall in Anchorage: 16.08 inches

Score one for Alaska!

Of course the average yearly snowfall is a bit different as well:
Pittsburgh: 43 inches
Anchorage: 70.6 inches

So I've been spending most of my time getting ready for the craft shows next weekend and at the end of the month and redesigning my labels and brochure since I finally broke down and bought Photoshop Elements (my old version was from 2001).  Totally worth it, by the way.

Check it out:
Whitehall Public Libary Arts & Crafts Show
Earth Day in Mt. Lebanon

Craft Show Prep

So I spent my Friday night getting ready for my craft show coming up April 10th.  Truth be told, that's my favorite way to spend a night off!  I got my four fragrances of cuticle salve ready to go and even got them listed on Etsy!

In the process of doing my listings on Etsy tonight (which I've put off for a week, because it takes forever), I saw this handy little button called "copy."  If only I had seen this precious button weeks ago.  Basically, it completely copies a listing so you can just edit the parts you need to (like the fragrance).  What a concept!  Now I may actually be able to get everything listed in the foreseeable future!

I also got my bags ready to go, in 3 different sizes.  I have a few really big bags too, for anyone that buys a gift basket.

Once I got the chance to sit down and do my inventory, I realized that I'm in better shape than I realized. Of course I'll feel better once everything is done, which will likely be as I'm walking out the door to go to the show!  I'm really excited, and I hope this show is a success!

In moving news, my hitch came in the mail yesterday.  It weighs about a thousand pounds, and I'm very glad Karl is the one that has to deal with putting it on!  What a huge step and really reminds me that this is for real!