Christmas Craft Show

This weekend I got into the upcoming Christmas spirit a bit early by participating in a local Boutique. It was held in connection with a holiday tour of 7 decorated homes in the area. 

As usual, I was a crafting whirlwind right up until the night before the show, but all of my work paid off with a great booth and a good show. I had my every growing and changing menagerie of up-cycled friends there, in addition to my art caddies, large and small, and crayon rolls. 

As a special to the show, I also offered some Christmas scrappy bunting. It was my biggest booth to date, 10 feet by 10 feet. Mr. Cherry helped me plan my booth floor plan once again. (I am so thankful for a suppirtive and helpful husband!! Especially one who has such better spacial skills than I.) I used my basket and hook set up on my craft paper covered peg board walls. 

I also added two small Christmas trees to each side. And of course I had to get out my vintage Christmas linens.

And since it was a two day show, there was some inevitable down time. I had brought along my Christmas cards and almost finished working on addressing them! It feels so good to get ahead a bit.

I would like to use this time as a little reminder to you all of the importance of shopping handmade and small local businesses all throughout the year, but especially at Christmas. 

A small order can make someone like my day. Before you go out to Target and the mall to do your shopping, maybe take a look at your downtown and see what gifts you can purchase there. 

Or stop by Etsy and browse all of the great handmade items for the people on your giving list. (And if you just so happen to need something for a little person, my shop is kiki b omi designs. I hope to have it filled with soon!!)

kiki b omi Sale!

This great picture is courtesy of the event host Eco Chic.

I had another craft sale that I participated in this weekend. This is the same sale I had a booth at in June where it was freezing cold. This time it ended up raining! The poor people who plan this event!! And even though the weather wasn't real favorable for an outdoor event, the customers were there.

 This show brought a record setting attendance. You just have to love the hearty folks who live in these parts. I convinced my mom to come and help out again even after it was so cold last time. (That is what love is, isn't it!) I promised her it would be warmer. It was, it just was much, much wetter!

 I did pretty much the same set up as last time. Why mess with success? It must have been a good set up since I sold one of the baskets I use for display! I was bummed that the wet weather meant that we ended early and that I didn't get a chance to do much shopping.

I had my eye on a few pieces at booths around me, but I always try not to buy to much when I do a sale. I like to bring home some profit! I still have lots of great items that didn't sell. I have a few up in my Etsy shop already, but hope to get more up in the next week or two. I will make sure to keep you posted.

Craft Booth Sign and Name Tag

So, before my sale last weekend, I decided to make a new sign for my booth. I also decided to make my mom and I name tags. Of course I always put these things off until the last minute. So, Friday afternoon when I should have been cleaning the house and loading the van, I was in my craft area creating these items. However, I handle pressure well and a deadline is sometimes  just what I need to sit down and hammer out a good project.

For the sign I used a spray painted frame I already had. I then cut out a piece of tag board to fit the opening and gave it several coats of chalk board paint. To give it a little support, I cut two pieces of cardboard to put behind the tag board. (I was classy and used masking tape to secure the cardboard. I am cool like that.) I did prime the board with chalk, but since time was of the essence I didn't wait the full 24 hours recommended to use it, but it all seems to have worked properly. I then added the rolled fabric rosettes to the corner. Thankfully I found a metal easel in the house and it worked perfectly to hold the frame.

For the name tags, I used rolled fabric flowers as well that I backed in felt. I added a bar pin as well as an alligator clip to the back. (Really happy that I did that as I ended up clipping it to my winter coat. Ha!) Then I attached one of my twill tape tags that I make as well as a piece of twill tape for my name. And a name tag was born.

Cold Sale, Fun Sale

This past weekend I was able to be a vendor at a biyearly sale in our community. It was my third time participating. And I have had a blast every time. (You can read about time #1 here.) This time I did the show as kiki b omi designs rather than with my friends. So I didn't have to sit out there all day by myself, I recruited my mom to come and do the show with me! (I am totally kicking myself that I didn't have anyone take a picture of the two of us at the booth. Doh!)

This sale will always be remembered as a very cold and windy sale. However, the people still came and we all had a great, although chilly, time. I look at it like a merit badge. I made it through the coldest outdoor sale of all time!!! I am a hard core crafter, people!! Watch out! (Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but it is my blog.)

Anyway, Mr. Cherry came down with me to help me get my backdrop all set up. I have these peg board panels that I bought used. To spiff up the pegboard a bit, we have been covering it all with craft paper. (And by we, I mean Mr. Cherry. I like to leave all things that require precision and attention to detail to him. It just works better that way.)

Once we got the backdrop set up, I started playing around with the layout. We ended up taking one of the side walls down so that I could make use of my two tables. I set my 5 footer up on one end and then my 4 footer at the other. I ended up extending the 4 footer to the counter top height. I covered the tables with some of my vintage table cloths and started plunking down my displays.

For displays, I go around the house and look at anything that might be able to hold something. Then I throw them all into the van and figure it all out on sale day. Hey, don't mock it. It works! Anyway, I ended up with my all time favorite display for this show. Woohoo!

Then it was just a matter of waiting for the people to come and the show to open. The main attraction at this show is re-purposed and refinished items, mainly furniture. Hence the name, Junk Market. People start lining up over an hour ahead of time to get in! Even in the freezing cold, there were still people lining up. Gotta love living up north.

We are hardy here! And while there were quiet times throughout the day, it was a good show. And when it was quiet, I got to sit and chat with my mom. I also got to meet some cool people. The booth next to me was also being manned by a younger mother-daughter team. They were so sweet.

After being outside for around 10 hours, it was time to pack it all up and head home to Chinese food!! (We had been smelling Chinese all day and were craving it!!!)

The take away from this story is that not everyday will be perfect, but it is wonderful to know that people are out there to support small and local businesses! That was indeed heartwarming!

 Did you see something in these pictures that you might "need"? Check out my Facebook page to see if they are still available!! kiki b omi designs

Roll Reversal

Just for the weekend, Mr. Cherry traded in his working father hat for a stay-at-home dad hat. I headed out the door a little before 7 on Saturday morning to run my booth at a two day craft fair I had entered. And although that is when my day started, there was plenty of preparation that had gone into the fair before that. I had been busy the last week and a half working on some new items to sell at my booth in addition to the ones I have stashed away from previous sales. After packing up all of my wares, Mr. Cherry and the girls helped me set my booth space the previous night. All that I had to do to get ready for the shoppers was put out my items and make my booth space look nice.

I had bought a peg board set up from a friend who also does sales. And let me tell you, it is so nice to have hanging space for displaying my wares. In addition to the peg board walls, I brought along a table, an old step ladder, and a cubed shelving system.

The first day went well with a steady amount of costumers. It is always interesting to see what items end up selling. I had worked hard at making art portfolios the week leading up to the show and I didn't end up selling one. I had some eye spy bags that I had made a long time ago and I ended up almost selling out of them. You just never know.

At five I covered up the items in my booth and headed for home. Mr. Cherry and the girls had a good day and were happy to see me. I joked with Mr. Cherry that I now knew what it felt like to work a 10 hour day like he normally does. I was tired and had a nasty headache.

After attending church the next morning, it as off for day number two. I rearranged my booth a bit before the 11 o'clock opening and then waited for my first sale. Sunday was a lot slower of a day than Saturday had been. I had a feeling that it would be when I stepped out of church and realized it was going to be a nice fall day. Who would want to spend the day in a large arena shopping? I did end up making a few sales, though, and then it was time to pack it up for the weekend.

I got everything stored away in my tubs and out to the car with the exception of the peg board walls. Mr. Cherry brought the girls down and helped me load up the walls and we were home by 5 o'clock.
It was a fun weekend for me and I know that Mr. Cherry enjoyed his time with the girls. He told me his plans were to just take care of the girls and not worry about accomplishing anything else. And he did a good job of it. Even though we both had an enjoyable weekend, I don't think we will be switching rolls permanently.