Attending craft fairs

I'm very excited this week because I'm booked a stall at various craft fairs. Now some online crafters don't like attending craft fairs but I LOVE them. Even if I don't sell very much, I love chatting to other stall holders & if it's quiet it gives me some valuable knitting time!

Here are the ones I've booked so far:

Letchworth

This Saturday (2 June) at The Green House in Letchworth
http://www.letchworthgreenhouse.co.uk/events

It's a venue that promotes local arts, crafts and vintage items & is situated in The Gallery, a lovely glass-roofed, greenhouse-inspired, building right in the middle of Letchworth Town Centre! 


On Saturday 16 June I've got a stall at the Letchworth Festival. They've got loads of events over several weeks so I'm hoping that a lot of my owls will fly off to new homes.
http://www.letchworthfestival.org/

St Albans

There's a lovely craft fair at the top of St Albans town hall on the 2nd Saturday of each month (except August). I went as a customer last year when I was pregnant and was really impressed with the quality of items so now that I'm in a position to attend some fairs, I thought this was perfect! St Albans is probably my favourite town in Hertfordshire & I'm really hoping the sales will come in.
http://greatmarkets.vpweb.co.uk/St-Albans-Town-Hall-Market.html

Buntingford

I've booked a stall at the Christmas Street event on Friday 30 November - I'm planning to make lots of my baby hats to sell at Christmas as I think they'll do well.


I'm SO looking forward to the fairs & will blog about how I've done after each one.

Bee and Ladybird baby hats

Just a quick one from me today! I've taken the photos of my other two baby hats, the ladybird and bee, as my little one was happy to pose today.  Hope you like them as much as I've enjoyed making them!

Finished four baby hats

I've decided to go for it with the baby hats (just when the weather has got too warm for them!)

I've made four so far:

1. the blue one I blogged about recently
2. a pink one with a crochet flower on the front
3. a black and yellow bee hat
4. a brown owl hat

I've nearly finished a ladybird one which I'm very pleased with.

My son wasn't in the mood to smile for photos today so here are the pink and owl ones - the bee photos to follow when he's happier to pose!

http://folksy.com/items/3353158-Knitted-baby-hat-brown-owl

http://folksy.com/items/3353094-Knitted-baby-hat-pink-with-flower

I've also booked my first Christmas event! It's the Buntingford Street Event and they usually have over 2000 people so fingers crossed I'll sell some bits and pieces. There was a conversation on Folksy this week about the pitfalls of craft fairs and I've found they can be hit and miss. Typically, I've done better on the fairs I was dubious about and not so well on the bigger events. You can never tell before you go so I just assume I won't make my fortune and enjoy the day chatting with other stall holders if the fair is quiet. I'm looking forward to some more events this year once I've decided on which ones I can afford to attend.

Thinking of making baby hats

As I've got two ready made models (my little boy - see below - and my niece), I thought I would make some baby hats to sell. This is what I've come up with so far. I plan to make them in lots of different colours and some with patterns on or crocheted flowers. I'd love some feedback! Could you let me know:

1. Do you like the style of the hat
2. Do you think the hat needs to be lined
3. Do you think £6.99 is a reasonable amount.

Can't wait to know what you think - all feedback would be gratefully received, even negative!

The bear I made to sell but had to keep!

I posted on the Folksy forum yesterday, asking other shop owners about items they'd made but couldn't bear to part with. There were some lovely responses and made me realise that if us crafters love our own items enough to keep one or two, then hopefully others will love them too!

The item I posted about is my orange bear - he sits in my dining room on the side. He turned out to have such a cute face that I kept him!

I'd love to hear more about items you've made and kept!

Wow Thank You

I thought I'd blog about the new site that I've just joined, WOW Thank You.

It's run by Tracey Kifford, who aims to "attract the non-crafting general public to buy UK designed and made gifts rather than mass produced imported shopping centre fodder".

Tracey has a background in business journalism which was a massive selling point for me when I looked at joining the site!


The website http://www.wowthankyou.co.uk/ is really classy and I love the branding. They sell a wide range of goods (including my owls and cats now!)  They are also sponsoring CRAFTfest, an online craft fair (more details here)

Here are a few things from other sellers that I really like:

http://www.wowthankyou.co.uk/isabeau-couture-ltd/products/handmade-cherry-top-sizes-from-6m-to-4-years-4t/

http://www.wowthankyou.co.uk/photofairytales/products/our-history-in-words-canvas/

http://www.wowthankyou.co.uk/quirky-boots/products/decorative-toadstool/

I love my new mouse!

I have been a fan of the online shop Audrey's Cat for a while and decided that it was high time I bought the mouse I'd loved since I first saw it!  It arrived really quickly and now has pride of place on my dresser.  Everything from the shop is made from vintage fabric and is beautifully made by Dawn, who owns the business.

As well as mice the shop also sells:

Funky Cushions

Retro ReBorn Animal - horses, mice, cats, dogs, Rabbits, birds

Fab bags , gadget holders, purses

Corsages / brooches

Aprons and peg bags

Custom items

Occasionally vintage items and fabric

So if you want to treat yourself or to buy a really original gift, go to http://www.audreyscatvintage.co.uk/


I'm also over the moon that I sold this cat today in my Folksy shop   I'm starting to get a few sales now which is fantastic!  I also noticed a couple of items in the latest Simply Knitting magazine that were from Folksy.  I'm really pleased they're starting to get recognised a bit more because they're a great site and the forums are full of lovely crafters who support each other.

village fair - trial of new owl display!

I had a stall at my local village fair on Sunday.  I was the only stall selling something I had made - the other stalls were mainly tombolas, games for children etc.  I thought it was worth having a go with my craft items; the worst that could happen would be that I had donated £10 to my own village (a cheap pitch!!!)

I ended up making about £45 which I was happy with - it was worth it to trial my new owl display that my dad made out of an old wardrobe!  What do you think?

I've also added a new owl to my Folksy shop today - he's perfect for the Silver Jubilee and a certain sporting event! Buy him here

When the rain comes...

I'm over the moon today because I've sold another owl, who is going to live in one of my favourite parts of the UK - Norwich.  I did not particularly enjoy, however, braving the rain with the box and buggy to walk to the post office! 

I was very positive about the rain until this morning, even creating a treasury to celebrate it:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTY4MTAzODF8MjcyMjcyNzAxNg/when-the-rain-comes

As we've got a hosepipe ban here, it's been great for everyone's garden BUT I didn't realise quite how hard it is to 'pop out' now that I've got my gorgeous baby boy!

Anyway, enough moaning!  I've nearly finished a new owl but will have to keep any new ones aside for my village fair which is the weekend after next. 

After looking for ages online for a suitable display to put my owls and cats on, my dad came up trumps and made me one out of an old wardrobe!  It's good to know that even though I'm nearly 40, he is still there to help with things like this!  Will post the photo of my stall after the fair so you can let me know what you think.

Off now as baby is asleep so going to do a bit of housework!

One of the lovely items in my rain treasury - from Hoobynoo World!
Buy him here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/HoobynooWorld?ref=seller_info

Well this is SUCH a better day than yesterday!  Both myself and my little boy are better so the knitting needles are out and ready to use later on.  I feel a new owl coming on.

I made this knitted cat the other day but haven't been able to list until today.  Hope you like him.

Buy him here at my Folksy shop

I've just booked a stall at CRAFTtest - an online craft fair!  It's held on 9-16 June and has over 100 stalls!  I am linking items from my Folksy shop and have got everything crossed for a few sales!  For more information see here:  http://www.craftfest-events.com/index.html

I'm also over the moon that my pirate owl reached Canada and that the lady who bought him loved him!!  Woo hoo!!

That's it for today - I'm currently in bed because my baby has given me his tummy bug!  Thank goodness for mother-in-laws!

Well I'm over the moon because I've sold my pirate owl to a lady from Canada!  I'm so happy he's going to a good home in my favourite country!  I spend my honeymoon in Canada and it's the only country my husband may persuade me to move to one day.

I've just finished a new pirate owl to replace him in my shop - will pop a photograph on tomorrow.

Crochet bags - new and up for sale!

I've always enjoyed making colourful crochet bags but have been concentrating on my owls and cats.  I've just bought a lovely sewing machine though, which is perfect for lining bags with!  So...I've listed two new funky bags.  Let me know what you think...

http://folksy.com/items/3168578-Crocheted-dusty-pink-bag-with-funky-flower

http://folksy.com/items/3168554-Crocheted-pink-red-mix-bag-with-flower

Well it's been a difficult week craft wise!  My baby boy has started to get his first two teeth so has needed his mummy more than usual.  I've managed to start my bride owl though - I thought that a bride and groom may be cute for wedding gifts.  Will post a picture as soon as they're done - any feedback would be very much appreciated.

My first sale on Etsy

Well I thought that today would be a great day to start a blog, as I've sold a custom-made mug cosy on Etsy!

I love a challenge, so when a potential customer asked if I could make a treble clef mug cosy I jumped at the chance.

Anyway, she liked it, she bought it, I posted it!

Very excited.  Hope you like it.  I may make more of them if I think they will sell