Beginner's Luck!

I survived doing my first craft fair yesterday and it was a LOT of fun ( a LOT of work, but a LOT of fun!) . I really hadn't set any goals or expectations since I had no point of reference. I thought it would be great to at least recoup the entry fee ( which was a fundraiser so I was happy to pay ) but was blown away when I exceeded that! I estimate I sold about 1/2 to a little more of what I brought which I think is pretty OK for the first time out. I don't know that my one experience qualifies me to give advice to anyone else but here are some things that I found and will pass along.

• Variety: I think it helped to have an assortment of things to choose from so you have broader appeal. Some people had very definite things they were on the hunt for like ornaments, cards etc. Others were just intrigued by what they found which seemed like a good way to engage and start up a conversation
• As creators, they're all "our babies" but not everyone thinks your baby is the cutest baby ( I mean what do they know?! lol) so you can't take it personally if someone doesn't "get" your item.
• I'm never going to hear the end of this one, but appreciated Mr. Chocolate's advice on going with a lower price for higher sell thru. He helped me price, and challenged me on a few things that I can't say he was wrong about ( I am SO going to hear about this!) because they sold. He took the emotion out of it. Thanks sweetie!
• Greet everyone! I saw a few vendors who didn't engage shoppers and the shoppers just kept walking. If no one stops to look, they certainly won't stop to buy!
• Organizers of other shows are also shoppers and scout out vendors to invite to future shows. I got invited to two more shows which I need to decide about :)
• Have fun and talk to other vendors. It's like blogging in person! I met some lovely people and it was so much fun to talk to them about the creative high we get from creating, and laugh and commiserate about how some of our friends and family give us that "look" when we go on too long about paper, glue, 40% off Michaels coupons etc.

The organizers of this fair did a nice job of advertising and getting the word out which is a key success factor. They were also very good to us, providing lunch for us since we were there from about 8-5.  Here's my stuff all packed up and ready to go:

Two 15 gallon bins an 6 shopping bags full. Here's the table all set up:

Sold completely out of birthday and Hanukkah cards so of course I wish I'd made more of each, and the Christmas Garland Kits were a hit. Sold 80% of those, and half of the altered candles I took to the show.

I was nervous and now I'm humbled and relieved :) Off to make turkey brine and see Harry, Hermione, and Ron later.

November Open House Link Party

 

Hi all! Welcome to the Monthly Open House here at the Answer Is Chocolate. There's hot spiced cider and pumpkin scones. Let's see what everyone's been working on to get ready for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, etc! Feel free to link up anything: decor, DIY, decorations, ornaments, jewelry, papercrafts, recipes ( especially chocolate!). Just please no advertising or etsy stores etc. Now let's get our gobble on!

Christmas Garland Kits

You're almost out of the woods of me mentioning this craft show I'm doing (If I sell 1 thing I'll be happy because I'm starting to panic!). I got this idea when I did a giveaway of my "Gratitude" banner and thought this might be something good for the show. And it really came together when I did the graphics for my "Framed Christmas Art" and liked the end result enough to play some more.

The colors aren't really showing up well in this pic but it's an olive-y green and burgundy combination. Here's a better look at one of the letters:

 

Each letter has a heart shaped ornament graphic which I embellished with gold adhesive rhinestones. Added dark garnet rhinestones to each letter which combines a sheet music graphic ( this one from within my graphics program but the others I'll show are from The Graphics Fairy) and mounted on green then black cardstock. Each "kit" includes tulle and embellished clothes pins. 

In addition to the "WISH" series, I did NOEL : 

Packaged in cello bags, black and natural cardstock

The letters that I used in my framed piece, and JOY: 

Can't see it so much, but the ruby cardstock used here is textured

I used a drop shadow effect on the letters for this one.

This Week's BFF...On Thursday

I'm doing this week's "BFF" (Blog Feature Friday) on Thursday since tomorrow I'll be having my Monthly Open House link party ( and you're coming right?).  On to this week's BFF which is :

Allison is the blogger who gives us a glimpse inside her world which she describes as: 

Our Military Adventures, My Crafty Endeavors, & Our Everyday Life

and started the blog as a way to update family and friends on the adventures she shares with her active duty hubby Travis ( Thank You Travis!) as they live the reality of military life moving from place to place. Allison keeps herself  busy caring for her "fur babies" and doing fun craft projects like: 

Twine and coffee filter wreath

or:

Framed Yarn Art

And how cute is this for Thanksgiving? : 

In addition to hosting a weekly link party: 

which is going on right now so you should go link something up, she also has a weekly feature called Tasty Tuesday. She had me at: 

OREO Fudge and Ice Cream Cake

So go visit Allison. This week's BFF at The Answer Is Chocolate!

Winter Wonderland Tags ...

and playing with Picnik. I usually just upload my photos without doing much to them except maybe cropping them. But I was waiting for something and decided to play around on Picnik before posting one and it was so much fun. If you missed their Halloween themes and effects, they have some for Thanksgiving and I'm sure will have some for Christmas in addition to the standard holiday effects they have all the time.

I've been busy making colorful tags and cards for an upcoming show and must have been going through neutral withdrawal so decided to make some neutral tags. Just used scraps, a punch, and cut the tags on my Expression. Combine that with some gold rhinestones, copper eyelets, and Picnik and:

Natural Snowflake Tags

I played with the "snow" effect in Picnik and used the "museum matte" frame option. It's hard to tell from a picture, but I punched several snowflakes out and layered them (sometimes alternating colors, sometimes not) using small foam dots. It gives a nice dimension to the tags.

Poor plain old un-Picnik'd snowless tags.

Linking Up At:

 

Framed Christmas Art:

 

I didn't take a lot of pictures of this while I was making it because it was one of those things that just kinda happened. So I'll describe what I did below:

You need:

• Frame w/ four space mat. Mine is an 8x10  w/ openings 2.5 by 3.5...mine was $2 on clearance
• Acrylic Paint and white glue
• Graphics program
• Clipart ( I used sheet music from The Graphics Fairy and then options w/ in my graphics progam)

For frame:
Paint frame w/ color of choice. Mine was Delta's "Salem Green". Don't worry about it being perfect because we're going for aged here. When first color is dry, cover with white glue. Plain white glue....mine was from Staples back to school sale...cheap stuff. When glue is almost dry cover with a different color paint. I used ivory. I'm impatient so I used my blow dryer. The one I keep in my craft room. Not the one I use to dry my hair. Although, it's been known to happen. Crackle crackle will ensue.  I went over this with another green mixed w/ glazing medium.

For "NOEL" letters:
Download sheet music from The Graphics Fairy
Import into graphics program; size as needed; copy for however many letters you need
Choose font and layer letters on top of graphic
Add clipart ( mine is from my graphics program) layer

I printed mine on lightweight cardstock , cut out each letter collage, and framed.

Linking Up At:

 

November Open House Invite!

Greetings all! I know it can be a little kooky to keep up with a monthly link party vs a weekly one. But that's all this chocoholic can handle! So just a reminder that this Friday, November 19th, is my monthly "Open House" link party!! I hope you'll drop by with whatever you'd like to link up. Crafts, decor, jewelry ( seasonal or not), recipes ( doesn't have to be chocolate ) Hope to see you!!

Joyeux Noel Christmas Candles

I had so much fun with my Parisian and Thanksgiving altered candles that of course I had to do some for Christmas! Especially after ordering a case of them from Dollar Tree's website which they shipped to my local store. Why they don't have them IN the store beats me! I'm going to do a step by step tutorial for a guest post later this month but here is one batch :

They remind me of Christmas ribbon candies. I did the sentiment on my computer and used a ribbon frame from The Graphics Fairy. Used coordinating scrapbook papers from "Me&My Big Ideas". Beads from my stash and some fun velveteen and pom pom ribbon I got at Michaels.

 

Linking Up At:

Blog Feature Friday: Rusty Rooster Vintage

Welcome to the 2nd "Meet My BFF" Blog Feature Friday! This week I'd like to introduce you to Vicki from Rusty Rooster Vintage.
Vicki is a lover of all things vintage and her blog shows it. She's got wonderful ideas and tutorials on everything from transformed vintage finds like what to do with a rusty old mason jar holder:

Or go and  see what she did with this already cute birdcage:

Getting in the holiday spirit, you have to go see Vicki's tutorial for how she made these stinkin' cute Pottery Barn Copycat Ornaments:

Vicki offers up some other creative ways to do these ornaments. I just love this black and white one:

And she's sweet enough to share the download of the image she came up with for the first one for my very favorite price of FREE ! Of course I think it's only right that if you use it , you follow her.  She's also been busy with some incredible ornaments made from mason jar lids and all kinds of other wonderful treasures and did I mention that she's only been blogging since September? I also had to laugh when visiting Linda at Itsy Bitsy Pieces who won a giveaway of Vicki's when I discovered that we both have the exact same blog business cards! I hope you'll go visit Vicki and make a new bloggy friend. I know I have :)

Christmas Subway Tiles

I'm still getting the hang of this Subway Art thing but I had fun with the one I did for Thanksgiving and decided to do some for Christmas.

For the Thanksgiving "tiles" I used wood plaques but for these I used actual tiles. The kind you can get inexpensively at any hardware / building supply store. I got these for $.47 ea at Home Depot:

6x6 Ceramic Tile

I created the word art on my computer , this time highlighting one "word" ( OK I know it's a number!) in red. Printed off several sizes to play around with. I really want a laser printer because sealing this inkjet stuff before I Mod Podge it is hit or miss on the smearing. Anyone with any smear proof tips, speak up!

I printed these on Christmas themed scrapbook paper so I'd have a design within a design and used a coordinating piece of paper as the background for the tile:

The red smearing isn't too bad is it?

Some of the tiles I covered completely and others I let some of the tile show. On this one I sanded around the edges.  I embellished all of them with various buttons and rhinestones.

And this pic is because I'm still playing around with the color accent feature of my camera :)

 

Linking Up At: