Whale of a Sale

The Crafty Tortoise is participating in Whale of a Sale this year! If you have never heard of it and are in Indianapolis you NEED to go to their site and check it out! Tons of great baby items. I have seen them on the news and was not able to participate last year, but as soon as I got the email this year I signed up.

This year it is September 22nd-24th. For more info check out their website.

My items will be discounted, including these 3 popular items!

And MANY, MANY, MORE!!!

I look forward to this Craft Fair and many others this year!

Craft Fair

Alright, So I said I would tell you how the Craft Fair went. Well there is not much to say. It was canceled a few days before. It is a long story, but this makes 2 pretty much failed Craft Fairs for me. I think it will be a while before I do another one!

Craft Fair May 1st, 2010

I have been so busy, and most of that is due to the Craft Fair coming up. I love craft fairs, but man are they work.

I am not even close to being ready (of course) but ready or not May 1st I will be there selling my items!

I am actually pretty excited about this fair too, for many reasons.

1. It is my second fair, so I should be a little more prepared
2. I have some great new items I will be showing off, including jewelry.
3. I have some new presentation items that will help me.
4. It is much longer than my last one, which means I should sell more!
5. I have some items to giveaway throughout the day!
   

Here is the info, in case you live in, or near Indiana.
Saturday May 1, 2010 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Girls Club, Shelbyville, IN 46176

What a wonderful event just in time for Mother's Day! Mrs. Claus's Workshop is proud to be hosting a bi-annual event! Mother's Retreat will be on May 1st, 2010 at the Girls Club! Hosting an amaxing 30+ vendors with wonderful items just in time for Mother's Day!

Don't miss out on a wonderful day out, door prizes, raffels, amazing products, Mother's Day Super Secret Shop, and much, much more!

Craft Fair Aftermath

So after a very stressful, but fun 2 weeks I finally went to the craft fair!

We set up, got ready and waited for the people to show up!

And waited...

And waited...

So... It wasn't the most successful Craft Fair, but It did force me to crochet my butt off and now I have lots of new stuff to post on my etsy site.

There were lots of other vendors there... lots of jewelry... no one really got many sales. I think there may have been about 25 people that walked through, but It wasn't advertised well. I also think that the nice weather may have something to do with people not going shopping.

Overall I am really glad I went. I got a lot of positive comments from all that were there, and a few other vendors gave me some great advice (I am looking into farmers markets next).

I don't think I forgot anything.. Oh.. I would have brought a lint roller if I would have thought of it!
This is my table... I forgot to take a pic at the fair, but here is my sample table. Everything isn't there and its a terrible picture, but you can see what it looked like. I had about 2 times the amount of items at the actual Craft Fair.

Overall, I loved the experience, and cannot wait to do it again.

Also... I am starting a newsletter, email or snail mail. Please sign up at the bottom of my blog. I will be sending out free patterns that will not be available any where else, discounts for my etsy shop, and I will even be doing some giveaways!

Craft Fair Here I Come

So... After some careful thought, and a very encouraging husband. I have decided to do the craft fair.

It is going to be tons of hard work... so sadly this will be my last post for the next 2 weeks!

Afterward, I will tell you all how it went, post some pics, and tell you all the things I learned. For now I am going to be crocheting my little butt off.

Feel free to still give me some advice on what not to forget to bring, or do for the craft fair. As it is my first one I am trying not to completely fail at it.

Advice Please!

Ok, So I am in need of some advice from both crafters and buyers. I just got invited to a craft fair in my area. I am both really excited, and really nervous.

I have never done anything close to a craft fair and am really worried that I will not have enough time to prepare. The craft fair is on Nov. 21st. I have some items worked up already, you can see from my shop, but I don't know how much I will need. It is a MOPS craft fair so if I go I will be focusing mostly on baby items and items for mom.

Here are my questions:

Fellow crafters:

• If you have gone to a craft fair before, what items did you bring, and how much merchandise did you bring?
• How much variety did you have? Did you bring lots of 1 design, or did you bring lots of different designs?

Buyers:

• What do you usually buy from craft fairs?
• Would you go to a seller's online site if you could not find what you wanted at their booth?

The craft fair is making me so nervous. I think it would be great for my business, but I may pass on this one, just cause it is coming up real fast.
I found this post on what to bring to a craft fair. It is helpful, but I still have questions.

Let me know what you think!