Getting ready for tomorrow

After the mix-up last week, due to my dozy brain, and not writing the date down when it was given to me - doh - I am ready a week early for my next craft fair :-) Today was spent feverishly finishing off three bags that needed handles and making 4 purses from scratch. I am getting pretty good at making purses now and they don't take too long at all. I realise that I haven't posted new makes for a while, I haven't had the battery charged in the camera for ages, so photographed these from my mobile phone:

All is left is for me to pack them away with the rest of my wares ready for tomorrow morning.  Fingers crossed it is a good selling day :-)

Two Craft Fairs Later...

Well, since I last blogged (I know, far too long ago) I have attended two craft fairs, both at the same place, in Lyndhurst.  My first fair was not very good, it was extremely quiet :-(.   The other stallholders were lovely and reassured me that out of the worst days they had had, that day was THE worst, eeek.  Not so good for a newbie like me and the other three newbie stallholders that were there that day.  Here are a couple of pictures of my table:

 
My lovely son helped me put the items out on show.  It really was a baptism of fire.  I looked around at the other tables and they were set out lovely with things at different heights and standing out more.  There were little things that I had not even considered, like something to keep my money in - doh!  Such a steep learning curve, but the other ladies there were really helpful and kept the morale running high, it was a great feeling to be included from the outset.  So much so that I decided to persevere and book another date!

And boy, was I glad I did.  In the run-up to today, I did some serious thinking about how to lay out my table so it would be more appealing and decided that less was definitely more.  Whereas last time I tried to cram every little thing onto the table, this time, I chose a few of each item to showcase, and then if anyone showed interest, I could bring out other examples for them to look at.  Here is a photo of today's table:

I am really proud of my presentation :-) because I wasn't sure I would be able to make my table look like some of the others that I had seen.  Today was a lot busier and I had a lot more interest in my wares.  My first sale (within 15 minutes of opening) was of one of my handbags, which covered the table fee and put me in profit!  Should have seen my grin, I was beaming.  All in all, today I made enough money to cover the last table fee and this one and have a bit of profit too.  I am feeling a lot more confident about my products now and how they are presented.  I also treated myself to a cash box last week and am mighty glad that I did :-)

I have booked to do another in two weeks time and am looking forward to it.  Its going to be busy, busy, busy, though, getting things made for sale, but I am relishing the opportunity to get my products out there in the public eye again.