Xmas gifting

I love making gifts for my little nieces and nephew. Maybe it's because they attend the Waldorf school and are being raised by humble parents that they don't seem to take much for granted, and they are truly thankful for everything you give them.

This year I'm going all out. I'm making little purses for the girls and a monkey backpack for Jack. I'm also making finger puppets for all of them, and new scarves and hats to replace the ones from last year that their mother shrunk.

Here's a link to the San Francisco Purse pattern. It's only $4.80. Totally worth it. I changed the colors for the purses for my nieces. I'll post pictures when I'm finished with them.

I found the pattern for this cute monkey backpack at a little Etsy shop called HipChickCrochet. She has some really cute stuff. 

Craft Fair Help Sites

I don't think we could have done as well as we did at Fog Fest if it wasn't for the Internet. Seriously. From sharing photos of display and craft inspiration on Pinterest, to organizing our lists of thoughts and things to do on Google Docs, we definitely benefit from all the web has to offer.

Best of all, fellow bloggers gave us tons of advice and ideas. Here are a few of my favorites:

Craft Fair Display Tool Kit
A quick check list of all the stuff you might (and probably will) need for your booth.

Indie Fixx: 14 Craft Show Display Do's
Great advice and photos for setting up a unique and interesting looking booth.

FlickRiver Craft Fair Displays
I can't say enough about getting inspiration from the way other people set up their booths. There are so many great photos on this site.

Mermaids Closet: The Ultimate Craft Show Guide
Lots and lots of valuable information here :)

And finally
The Ultimate Craft Show Preparation Link List
Find the solutions for any craft show questions you couldn't find answers to anywhere else.

Working My First Craft Booth

FogFest 2012 was an amazing experience. It was the first time I've run my own craft booth (in collaboration with my good friend Dana of course) and we rocked it! All of our research and planning really paid off. 

1. We started by finding a small festival that had the right audience for our products. We decided on FogFest because it was family friendly and it was close by our homes. We applied and waited to be accepted.
2. Once we were accepted, we went online and read through the multitude of websites that give advice on how to do a craft fair booth. (I'll list my favorites in another post.)
3. Then we browsed tons of photos and did some hands-on craft fair snooping (see earlier posts in this blog) to find out how we might want to set up our booth.
4. At the same time we looked at the layout of other booths, we also looked at how much product other booths featured. That was really helpful in figuring out how much inventory we needed to create.
5. In Google documents, we created and shared lists of things we thought we needed, that way we could each comment and keep track of what we were each thinking.
6. Dana and I met up at least once every other week in the months before the festival, if only to check in and see how we were each doing on inventory creation. 
7. Three weeks before the festival we got together at Dana's house and setup a mock booth. We didn't have all the pieces, but this mock setup helped us figure out what we still needed.
8. A week before the show we did another mock setup in Dana's backyard to fine tune the missing pieces. We made a master list of everything we would need to bring to the festival with us.
9. The night before the festival we gathered everything at Dana's house and checked everything off our master list and packed it in Dana's mini van. 
10. The first day of the fest we showed up at our booth location a couple hours before the festival opened. Our tent was already set up by the festival people (we paid extra for that). 
11. Setup for the booth went smoothly because we were already so organized. 
12. And thanks to Dana's husband and my fiance, we were set to go long before the first people walked through the gates.

We had so much fun and learned so many lessons, which I will list out in the next post :)

SF Renegade Craft Fair July 2012 (Part 3)

In addition to my research on craft show booths, I took a couple pictures of booths I simply admired.

I loved Mahar Craft's colorful and simple booth. He let his art speak for itself.

The booth for Eri Sugimoto's work was beautiful. The displays and complementary found objects  and artwork really turned this into more of a little store than just a table at a craft fair.

Cutesy But Not Cutesy was another booth that I thought smartly let its goods sell themselves.

And Fabric Horse just looked so professional to me.

Again I'll say, there were so many other great booths at the fair this time around, these are just a sample of the ones that stood out to me :)

SF Renegade Craft Fair July 2012 (Part 2)

Welcome to Part 2 of my tour through the Renegade Craft Fair. As I noted in Part 1, my comments on each of the booths is fairly critical because I'm using this as a learning experience. I have nothing but respect for people who put their work out there for the world to judge.

Back to the booths...

Lady Alamo made good use of their booth space and did a wonderful job displaying their bags. I also like the name of their company posted on the table skirts instead of the banners. However, if someone were to stand in front of the table, you wouldn't see the signs--something to think about.

Even though The Bocket Store was a pottery booth, they made good use of a quilted banner.

I loved the Monstertracity booth set-up idea, although the execution was pretty rough. Anyone taller than 5' 7" (as I am) had to bend over to communicate with the lady running the booth. And she could see only one or two people at a time through the little window. Cute, but not a very efficient layout.

I think Horse and Anchor was a shared booth, but it was so cluttered I didn't bother to find out. Also, the tent felt claustrophobic with the event already being held inside.

I feel like people will wade through clutter if there's a deal to be had, but if you're charging art fair prices for screen-printed t-shirts, it's just not worth the headache.

Made By Michelle Brusegaard figured out a good setup. It wasn't fancy, but they successfully displayed samples of their wares on lines around the table and kept all the stock folded up on the tables.

And finally, Petit Collage had the great idea of creating an attention-getter for kids. A little stand-up photo opp that the little ones can stick their faces through. And now parents have the Petit Collage name on that cute photo they post on Facebook.

Of course, these were a fraction of the booths at the Renegade Craft Fair, but they were the ones I learned the most from.

In Part 3, I'll post the pictures of the booths I just though were pretty.

SF Renegade Craft Fair July 2012 (Part 1)

I'm gearing up to share a booth with my friend Dana for the Pacifica Fog Fest. So I decided to do some recon at the Renegade craft fair. Not only did I get some great photos, but I learned a few lessons about what to do and what NOT to do with our booth if Dana and I get accepted to Fog Fest.

(Side note: my comments on each of these booths gets a little critical because I'm using this as a learning experience. I have nothing but respect for people who put their work out there for the world to judge.)

Willow Ship had a great booth with lovely products and the woman was nice enough. However, her husband or boyfriend was sitting behind the tables looking bored. When I walked up I felt like I was intruding, not something you want your customers to feel.

The Love Stitch was a simple and well put together booth, but the woman running it was not friendly at all. She didn't smile at anyone who walked up, and she really didn't like me taking photos of her booth.

A couple of great take-aways from this booth: she used big clear vases full of balls of yarn to decorate her table, and she had a mirror for people to use when they were trying on hats and headbands. I think Dana and I should have a couple of mirrors.

I also learned--here and at a couple other booths--that I'm underpricing my hats. The Love Stitch was charging $40 for basic, acrylic fiber beanies. They were well made, but $40 seemed like a lot to me.

Mama's Little Babies had so much great stuff and the layout was great, but there was one major drawback: not one price tag in the whole booth. And when I asked the lady running the booth the price of a pair of earrings, her response was "I don't know, everything is priced differently. Let me check my price sheet. [checks her sheet] Prices range from $25 to $40." She never gave me a direct answer and I left wondering if she expected me to name a price and haggle with her. No thanks.

Usagi Team and Tina Produce shared a booth, and while the use of space made sense the booth design wasn't cohesive. Which I guess is fine, but I'd rather Dana and I had a more "partnered" look to our booth.

Anna Todaro worked on a painting in her art booth while the fair was going on. I think this was a good attention-getter, but it would have worked better if she had someone helping her with the booth. As it was, no one wanted to interrupt her painting to make purchases. Maybe she made some online sales later.

The Souldier booth from Chicago was utilitarian, while the goods did the selling: Belts, headbands and guitar straps made from recycled seat belts. I only made a couple purchases that day, and my belt from Souldier was one of them. One downfall: no mirror. Although the proprietor knew that was an issue, but he said it was difficult to travel from Chicago with fragile objects.


To Be Continued in Part 2...

Infinity scarves

Started working with my new yarns from Stitches West. Finished an infinity scarf made of the most gorgeous aqua-blue bambo yarn. (I'll post better photos later.) I love the pattern, but I'll have to find a new stitch if I want to make these to sell.

The yarn is super soft and cozy, and I have some left over, but I'm not sure I have enough to make a hat.

I also finished a beanie using soft organic cotton from Chili. I'm going to have to much time to work on items for my store while I'm trailing to, from and around Italy :) I'm also going to look for some yarn stores while I'm there.

Next projects: Gray and Orange Nor'Easter beanie for Drew, Angry Birds beanies for Dana's kids, infinity scarf for Tammy, and some beanies and gloves for my store! Always so much to do :)

Mannequin Heads

I dig the vintage look, but they're expensive.

What do you do if you can't get friends to take time out of their busy schedules to pose for photos while wearing your work? You could pose for the photos yourself... or you could get a good mannequin head.

I would pose for some of my photos, but the men's and kid's beanies just don't look right on my little noggin. So, I went looking for a good mannequin head.

So many of them look creepy and plastic, while others are a little too close to real. I like the ones that are painted like vintage girls, but I have three problems there.

1. They are expensive. 
2. There aren't any male versions. 
3. They don't have ears

   

   Newspaper decoupage

So I broke down and bought a couple of Styrofoam heads. One male, one female. Both have ears and were fairly inexpensive.

Besides, I like the idea of maybe doing some decoupage art on the mannequins to give them a vintage or outdoorsy feel. Black and white print might work best--it would match any hat ;-)

Mystery Afghan

Wow, has it really been over a month since my last post? Every time I open Blogger to start work on an entry I get distracted and never finish it. Excuses, excuses, right?

Solution to Clue #1 in the Mystery Crochet-Along

Anyway, I got through the pile of holiday gift crafting I had to do and started working on the Bernat Mystery Afghan Crochet-Along. It's tough, but it's nice to have a challenge. I'm through Clues one and two, and I've started on Clue three. Clue four is already out and Clue five is coming this Wednesday. I need to catch up!

On top of that, my good friend Dana and I are getting our s**t together to be in a craft fair. It's a lot of research and work. I'm psyched about it and I'm glad Dana is just as psyched, but there is A LOT to learn!

Not only that, but I'll need to seriously get my crochet on if I'm going to have any inventory to sell. I've slacked since the holidays, but I think I'm finally ready to jump back in. I have a ton of amazing yarn that I picked up at Stitches West (which I'll talk about in the next blog entry--I swear I'm back on it ;-)

Puppet Scarves

After an extremely busy holiday season I suddenly have a ton of baby and children crochet projects to work on. Spring has sprung early and I don't even get a break! Again, I shouldn't complain. 

Red Heart's Puppet Scarf Pattern - Free!

I finished a couple of baby beanies, which inspired two more friends to want them for their friends' babies. On top of that I'm trying to get baby booties and a baby blanket done for a coworker who's having a baby in March. 

However, my favorite project right now is the puppet scarves I'm making for Drew's nieces and nephew. I'm altering a free pattern from Red Heart and I'm using Stitch Nation's Bamboo Ewe yarn. I'll post photos when I finish :)

Next I need to work on my scarves for the Special Olympics before I miss all the deadlines. AND the 2012 Waverly for Bernat Crochet-Along and Knit-Along is coming up on February 15! Whew! I need to get on it! 

Oh and February 23-26 is Stitches West 2012 in Santa Clara -- yarn galore! I can't wait :)

Swimming in Commissions

I shouldn't complain. It's actually wonderful to have so many people asking me to create beautiful crochet pieces for them. Adult, kid, and baby beanies, gloves, an infinity scarf... and then there are my gifts: two lap blankets and three puppet scarves.

Unfortunately all my free time is spent working on commissions right now, so the blog is suffering a bit. For anyone who's been wondering where I disappeared to: I'm sorry and I shall return soon with lots of pictures. :)

Cheers!