Prairie Scraps

As you're getting ready for your craft show, don't forget to promote yourself!  I know that the craft show organizers should be doing their share in spreading the word, you should also promote the event to your friends and family members as best you can! The nice thing about asking your friends and family to come, and spread the word for you is that they also are great customers, especially for you!  Here are some of the places you should consider spreading the word through: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Yahoo Personal Email Texting Blog about it! Flyers - hand these out everywhere you go. (You can ask the organizers for some.) The more people that attend the event, the better your sales will be, so don't be shy about letting people know that you'll be there.  On many of these venues, you can even include a picture of some of your items that you will be selling to bring up interest! So here's my promotion: Grangeville Holiday Craft Show When:

Now that you are getting your craft show items made, I'm sure that your house has been transformed into an interesting craft explosion, especially if you don't have a craft room just for doing crafts in.  And if you don't have a ton of storage area to put all your items to sell, you are looking for some ideas on how to store them. Of course, there is the old fashioned, box them up and put them in storage, but I try to be a little more creative with that.  (Ok, I don't alway trust that our storage is going to be dry and safe from harm.) My best advice is to hide the items in plain sight.  Here are where some of my items are hiding being stored in plain sight: I am using that vintage suitcase that I did Over HERE .     I am using this suitcase in the corner as one of my decorations in my living room.  At some point, I may have too many decorations, but hopefully that won't happen until we are closer to the craft show! This is a chair I have redone, also be

As you begin to   Make the Crafts  and  Make the Display , you will want to be thinking about how you will be packing your items up into your vehicle to get to the show.  Some may be fortunate enough to have a trailer or a pickup truck, but most probably will be trying to fit everything into a mini-van, or a contained vehicle. This is similar to what I am working with.  It has a lot of space when all the seats are put down, but it still does limit me to how much I can get into it.  Some items, I just may not be able to make because they may not fit into my vehicle.  Fortunately, I am doing the show a few blocks from my house, so I could possibly make more than one trip. If you are doing a craft show farther away, you may want to either cut back the size of the items you make, or come up with some way to bring the items to the craft show.  I've seen people pack things into a camper or into a trailer.  I would hesitate to do anything very expensive for the first few craft show

This post is making me stumble a little.  It's been snowing for a couple of days now, and I just can't get some of my painting done right now.  I had these great plans to have things underway for actually making my display, but the snow has put a snafu into my plans. I have two older ladders: one I got free from a rummage sale and the other happened to be my Grandfather's.  They are nice wooden ones, the free one doesn't work too well, but I figured with boards put across the two of them, it would stabilize enough to hold my display.  I was going to just brush white paint on them, to give them a more uniform look to them. I have four large crates, two I am leaving wood with their Chinese writing on the sides, the other two need to also get the white wash treatment that my ladders are getting.  Along with these crates, I have two old wooden saw horses that I plan to use.  I am not going to change these, they have a little bit of green to them, which I love.  I also

Well, are you ready for Part 2 of Display ideas?  I have them in no particular order, and also can't get everyone that's out there in this post, but I am trying to give you as many different ideas as I can.  I am doing my very best to credit the sources for these pictures, but what I find is that when people put their pictures in flicker accounts, I can't link them to the person.  Trust me, I want very much to give the person credit for their picture and their work. Pink Lemonade (not a direct link to blog post) I love the idea of using a dresser, but this would be large to move into a booth.  The only worthwhile use for it would be to sell the dresser, too. Go Monkey Designs Booth I love the hanging purse display and the buckets with the boards in the display.  Great use of height again. Sugar Bee Crafts What a great idea to attract people to your booth, plus you can change it because it is chalk. Sugar Bee Crafts This one has a great idea to vary th

I have to admit, this is probably one of the most exciting part of getting ready for a craft show - the pictures of display idea.  Go ahead and admit it, you really don't care about all the business of getting ready, but you can't wait to see the pictures of other people's craft booths!  Of course, I can't show you all the pictures out there on the internet, but I have been pinning a ton of them in expectation of this post, so I will share them with you now.  Please give a shout out to those that I am using for idea.  I will be giving a link to each of their posts so you can look closer. Oh, I will be taking two posts for the Display Ideas.  I figured this would be more than one post worth.  Be sure to check out all my other posts that I have done in this series:  31 Days Until a Craft Show . Recyclart  Wouldn't these pallets work great for hanging things on and giving height to your booth?  Not only that, but they are free! Sunshine and Carousels  I

In the quest to get ready for doing a Craft Show, one of the things to plan for and decide is how to take money.  Of course you want to be sure to have enough change on hand when you take money, but you also should consider and decide ahead of time what you will take for money. Will you take checks?  Of course, there are pros and cons to this option.  In our area, I would say that the majority of people are going to be local, so taking a local check, should be pretty safe.  If you are going to major show that may attract customers from farther away, you may want to reconsider that.  Can you afford to lose the money if the check doesn't clear? Will you take credit cards?   This is something that is fairly new for availability for small businesses.  To take a credit card has become easier.  As far as I can tell, you have to have an Android or an iPhone.  Unfortunately, I don't have one, and can't quite justify the cost of one just yet. One of the places that I recomm

I hope you've been enjoying all the posts on  31 Days Until a Craft Show .  My intent was not only to get myself ready for my craft show this year, but also, to get all the information in one place for doing a craft show.  As I was doing searches online, I couldn't find a lot of places that had all the information in one place and put in the pictures too.  I hope this can be a resource, so please comment if you have more ideas or links to posts about getting ready for a craft show. I don't know about you, but when getting ready for a craft show, one of the last things that I really think about is bagging.  I'm thinking back to my first few craft shows, and don't even think I had bags at all.  After this last craft show, where my friends were doing the most organizing, I realized that I may have missed this important item. Of course, you could just plan to use old plastic Walmart bags, but I think it's nice to have a little extra touch by bagging it up nice

Tagging is one of my favorite things to do, aside from actually crafting.  Ok - I find this to be a very crafty thing to do.  This is the tool that I think is essential: Tag Maker I love this tool and would love it it you would consider purchasing it from my website  HERE.   I have used this Tag Maker for many years and probably hundreds of tags and it is showing no wear and tear!  It makes a 2"x3" tag that is a perfect size for writing not only the price on it, but also a complete description.  I plan to use my tags as my way to track what I have sold, so it's nice to be able to put a clear description of the item on each tag. I make the tags out of paper bag, but I have also made them out of cheap 3"x5" note cards, depending on what I have on hand.  I did find that the paper bags in our area in WI were too thin to work very well.  Here on the prairie, the bags seem to be more sturdy, so that's what I use. Although my tags are simple and chea

I've been working on my items for the craft fair, and was so excited about this one, I just had to share!  Sorry for the little break from my  31 Days Until a Craft Show Series , but I did warn you that I like to do new things all the time.  There is a ton of info on my series so far, and you'll have to stay tuned for more very soon! I found this project  here at Graphics Fairy .  If you have not been to Graphics Fairy's website, yet, you need to get over there.  She has so many awesome FREE graphics and a ton of ideas on how to use them.  I was looking through Pinterest, and ran into her tutorial on how to make a sheet music covered suitcase.  I knew right away that I had to do this and that I had the perfect suitcase for it! Stain Ridden Vintage Suitcase It is actually a wood suitcase, but had holes worn through Very stained looking After  This looks so amazing, I almost hope it doesn't sell!  I can't believe how much Mod Podge can improve an

Assembly Line or Item by Item - that is the question.  I don't know that I really have a clear answer for this question about how to make your items for the craft show, but I do want to at least present to you the pros and cons to both, so you can decide.  Possibly, you may be a little like me and do a little of each.  Some of the crafts necessitate doing it item by item, while others, you may save time by doing it assembly line. Assembly Line Ok - so maybe your house doesn't look this bad, but I know that when I am trying to get a bunch of the same items done, it does feel like it.   Pros: Save time by having one step going at a time. Conserve materials - often you can plan out better by doing all the cutting at the same time. Faster  - You don't have to stop to go to a new step over and over. More efficient - you can get into a pattern while assembling. Cons: Backlog can be frustrating - I find if I have one step I don't care to do as much,

Making crafts and getting ready for a craft show can be a drain on everyone in your family.  The house is a mess, regular chores get set aside, and of course, there's always a project to be done.  I want to suggest that it's important to make sure that everyone is on the same page and supportive as you get ready for a craft show.  Some ways to include everyone in getting ready are: Set a family financial goal - maybe it's getting a new video game or even earning a trip to disney for the family.  You'd be surprised how much kids want to "help" if they know what they get out of it. Find a craft for each child to sell  and let them earn their own money. Give kids a "job" assembling crafts (kids of all ages love to help out) Have a craft night, where you make some things to sell together. By making the Craft Show fun for the whole family, you will find it easier to get ready for your craft show.  Also, when you want to do it again, your family

I will admit, today's post is not rocket science, you need to make your craft!  Make some, make some more, and make some more!  You are going to need to try to make as many crafts as you can possibly make from now Until Your Craft Show! Genius, right?  Well, here are the pictures...I'm going to share some of the things that I am working on for my own craft show!  So here goes.  I love to hear what you think (oh, yeah, and it helps me feel like I'm not out here in the computer space by myself! lol) Burlap and Ticking Table Runners (I plan to get these done this week) Snowman Painted Books - I made these last year Lathe Stars - I have these made, but we have them in a local shop.  I may have to make more or sell my own. Burlap and Ruffles Table Runner Burlap Reversible Purse Crate Birdhouse - I need to get my son to make some, they sell well on Etsy Burlap Bird Ornaments - boy I need to make these! Chenille Stockings - I ne