my thoughts on craft shows....

so tomorrow there is a crafts sale here at the development that i live in. initially there were only supposed to be three of us and in the tiny community building, that would have been good. but on tuesday i overheard the organizer saying to someone else that there was going to be 7 of us and we would be limited to ONE table. well, i knew from the outset that i would need more than one table to put my stuff on -- i have jewelry (a ton of it) and crocheted items (also a ton) and so its going to be difficult to display everything on one table. i'm planning on bringing my smaller table and setting it up as well. in the same footrprint as one table i can accommodate an L shape with two tables. my biggest concern is will there be enough walking room for the ppl who come to buy.

i probably should have been out doing crafts shows for a while now -- but its always such a hassle. trying to fit everything u'll need into ur car and not forget anything, dragging everything there, setting it all up and if its outside, bringing an easy-up and setting that up as well, making sure u have the right amount of change so that u can make change, paying for the space, tearing everything down and boxing it all up, trying to get stuff back in the car exactly the same as it was when u came -- it just always made me think that there was a better way to make money. don't get me wrong, when i was making doll clothing and polar fleece outerwear, i did really well most of the time at crafts shows. but i also had a ton of stuff to haul there and back and packing the van became an exercise in the ridiculous. at least with the jewelry and crocheted items, there isn't a bulk of stuff to haul.

but i also found that i did really well with word of mouth sales and i had two spaces in two craft malls. plus, i had a website that i had designed and maintained where i sold a good deal of stuff. so, over time i found i didn't need to do as many crafts shows and that was great for me because i had two small children at the time and it was just really difficult to do this stuff.

this weekend is the only weekend i have my daughter till christmas and i'm going to be working the show all day sat. and she's gone all day sunday to her play rehearsal. so this is one reason i turned to etsy -- to sell my items all year round and not have to do many shows.

at any rate, i told my daughter the other day that i'm going to sell everything i have made (and there's a lot there) -- and i spoke that to two other ppl as well. there is power in words -- god listens to our words and we can speak our own truths. so i was speaking my truth there -- and here -- i'm going to sell everything!