As I returned home from loading in for Unique LA last Friday I found myself happily thinking “wow – it’s all loaded in! Booth looks good, most of my work is done AND I haven’t hit my head on anything like I usually do before a big show! Read the rest of this entry
I’m back from Ohio and my dad’s 91st Birthday celebration. I had a great time and I was given more embarrassing pictures from my childhood!
And now it’s back to work. Read the rest of this entry
I needed a recovery day.
Unique LA was really awesome and just a weee bit exhausting.
“Why would standing there selling things for two days be exhausting?” You may ask.
Well, it wasn’t the “standing there” part – it was the mad, crazy dash to get to the “standing there” part.
In my vast wisdom I decided that with two shows in a row, a huge wholesale order due and numerous Etsy orders due that NOW would be the ideal time to create a totally new look! Now would be the time to build new displays. Now would be the time for new signs, new selling methods!
“Now” also turned out to be the time to have a small, nervous breakdown.
The Friday before the show was filled with six, yes six, “last minute” trips to Home Depot. I’m not sure how one can have six “last” trips….it seems like after the first last trip you’re into last trip overtime and a new phrase needs to be coined.
And Saturday, the day of the show, included yet another Home Depot trip
(I’m losing your sympathy aren’t I? You’re thinking to yourself “dude, make a freakin’ list!” I had lists! I swear! I just didn’t anticipate broken and/or missing drill bits, peg board holes that were a different size than all other peg board holes in the known universe and a sudden, distinct lack of glue among other things).
But everything got set up – more or less – and I was pleased…..more-or-less.
I had a primo corner spot right near the entrance and created two towers to display coasters, HOME signs and letters.
I know…. Green! What a surprise that is for all of us. Who could have foreseen this choice on my part?! (also they aren’t quite as GREEN!!!!! as they look in these pictures and the tablecloth in the back looks more matchy in reality. Nor was the world slightly blurry that day) 
They were also supposed to display magents! If I hadn’t accidentally left them at home……..
I had a slightly modified display for coaster packs and candle blocks
And added a shelf for trays and such.
The folks attending were great (I even met a blog reader who stopped by to say “hi” – how cool is that?!). I love that so many people are up for buying original designs made locally.
Sales were brisk – I actually sold out of several things on the first day.
Good problems!
Bad problems?
and that people were waaay into the idea of customizing them. So, in a true Wylie E. Coyote Super Genius moment I raced home Saturday night and came up with this!
And in an equally Wylie E Coyote move…..forgot to bring it with me on Sunday.
But, bottom line. Sales were sold. Lessons were learned and the hungry maw of Home Depot was fed.
And now it’s time for Renegade!
Mark your calendars! Come on by!…….. See what I forget to bring! (we can totally turn this into a drinking game!)
Things are getting a little nuts around here!
The big Unique LA show starts on Saturday and I’m in the final push to get everything done, dry, wrapped and ready to go.
I must confess that I’m a bit nervous.
I was kind of surprised that I was accepted into the show (it’s juried so you have to submit your work and hope the judges like it) because my impression is that it’s a place for “cool” crafts and the edgy stuff that the kids are all into these days.
I’ve never thought of myself as cool and while I don’t think of my stuff as edgy, 
who am I to argue with a jury? So….Thanks! to whoever said yes to me!
Also, although I’ve had a regular booth at the Rose Bowl Market for a year or so, this is my first, official, CRAFT FAIR.
At the Rose Bowl (which is mostly a flea market) I stand out because my stuff is, well….clean – it doesn’t look like it was recently found it an attic somewhere and people are pleasantly surprised by this.
But at a CRAFT FAIR I will be surrounded by really skilled artists and crafters and though my stuff will of course still be clean it won’t be unusually clean compared to what’s around it so I will have lost that competitive edge. This will require me to fall back on the “isn’t this cool?” factor. And, as I mentioned, cool isn’t my strong suit.
I’m contemplating wearing a leather jacket but fear I would just look like an aging Fonzie wannabe. I’d get a Mohawk but I’m what is known as “hair challenged” and/or bald so the effect would be very, very subtle. Perhaps a beret….Eh, I’ts probably best to just wear my old baseball hat and lots of sunscreen.
On the bright side, I was pleasantly reminded of my mom this morning as I looked at my jammed dining room table and the new auxiliary table in the living room.
Mom always had a million projects going on and they were, most often, spread out around the family room and dining room. You’d have to move things to sit down or risk needle punctures (bad) or “felt pile disruption” (REALLY BAD). I now have so much more respect for my Mom and how she managed running a family AND all the her projects AND my elaborate Halloween costumes- but that’s for another blog post
I’m totally cool in following in mom’s creative footsteps. Proud actually.
However, if I mention in passing, that I drifted off watching a “really good episode of Murder She Wrote” please stage an intervention.
