Craft Fair, Craft Fair, SLEEP

I've had 2 two-day fairs over the past two weeks, so I hope that is a reasonable excuse for not posting very consistently.

Firstly was Craftmas with RNEST during the first weekend of December. About 20 of us set up in a space in the Hungerford Building here in Rochester and just did our thing. The overall turn out was pretty decent and it was mostly just fun. It was cool to hang out with RNEST folks, get a chance to talk, and simply do what we do in a low key environment. Here are a few photos from the event and you can few more on my Facebook page.




This past weekend was the Indie Garage Sale in Utica. To you Central/Western NY crafters out there : do this show. It's awesome. The organizers were great, the turn out was outstanding, and the vendors were fun. Definitely one of my best shows and a great first show to travel for (even if it was only 2 1/2 hours away). And the hotel we stayed it wasn't even sketchy! Although I'm sure the 'Happy Journal Motel' next door rented by the hour.
It was a long weekend, especially since I started coming down with a cold Friday night, but well worth it. I also could not have done it without Ben; he was wonderful. Drove there so I could sleep in the car, helped load and unload, watched the table so I could pee, and even made a few sales! I'm a very lucky girl :)
I was too tired to take pictures of the whole event, but here are some of my booth.



I won't be selling anywhere else this year, but that is perfectly fine. There's a lot going on at Small World and I'm already heading home to NJ in less than 2 weeks for X-Mas. I'm looking forward to having a whole week to just chill out and rest; and I cannot not wait to see my friends in Delaware for New Years!!

....Although I still don't think there will be as much sleeping as I'd like in the next few weeks...oh well...

Holidays on the Horizon...

To be perfectly honest, I'm not super inspired to do a treasury this week. My apologies.

And my apologies for being a somewhat neglectful blogger. I know you've heard it before, but I've been a busy lady and have let crafting slip a bit since Mayday. Give me a break, I needed one. Besides, I've been very focused on food lately. And to be honest, there's only enough space in my brain to think about one at a time.

But with Thanksgiving weekend (Black Friday), Craftsmas, and the Indie Garage Sale on the horizon, I really need to get my ass in gear.

I have a TON of books to make. Tonight, I've already chopped down some cardboard and am working on gluing them up with packing paper. I'm really making a dent in my cash of materials-to-be-repurposed, which is awesome. New map books on the horizon and maybe some more animals as well. As for new ideas? We'll have to wait and see.

What else in on the horizon? A Black Friday sale! Normally I am not a fan of all the Black Friday nonsense. Shouldn't it be Sleep In and Digest Everything You Ate Yesterday Friday? And then eat some leftovers? For the next 3 days?
But that's the beauty of the internet! You can have your leftover toferky AND take advantage of sweet deals on holiday gifts. Excuse me, handmade holiday gifts. Do yourself and your local economy a favor by supporting a local artist near you. Etsy makes it easy to do this with their Shop Local search feature. Tell your loved ones you care by keeping you carbon footprint to a minimum.


And not long after that is the Indie Garage Sale in Utica, NY! This will be the first craft fair I'll be doing any traveling for and I can't wait. Granted, Utica is only 2 1/2 hours after from Rochester but considering it's a 2 days show I'll be staying over night. Sounds like the organizers have been doing a ridiculous amount of advertising, which is wonderful news. I'm keeping my figures crossed for a good weekend.


Eeep!

Off to continue book making!!

Mayday! Underground and √art/craft

Boy oh boy oh boy! What a weekend! I've already had a lot of time to reflect on it, and I finally think my brain is settling back to normal (as normal as that is, I suppose). Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of pictures to share, but one of Casey's friends was documenting all the vendors and I asked her to get some shots of the exhibition. So I'm just waiting on those and will post them somewhere I have them.

For starters, this Mayday! was, hands down, my most successful show! I got outstanding feedback on all of my work and a lot of people walked away with Soft Shell journals for recording their notes, ideas, and creations.
I have some stocking up to do on the Beer Notebooks (I only have Saranac brand left, of course).
I also need to make some new map books before the Indie Garage Sale in Utica this December. I met someone at Mayday! who had great things to say about IGS and suggested I stock up. It's a 2 day fair and the first one I'll be doing any 'traveling' for.

√Art/Craft exhibition, even with all its fly-by-the-seed-of-our-pants craziness was very well received! And it was one hell of a learning experiencing. We moved in a ton of portable walls, some of which were unreasonably heavy, built an artwork hanging system that was not particularly efficient but worked nonetheless, and 3 pieces in the exhibition sold. I'm still sore from all the lifting and climbing and moving and standing, but it was well worth it.
And I can't stop thanking everyone who helped out because I just don't know what I would have done with them.

And this experience has made me yearn for some sort space with real walls and lighting to do these sorts of things.

Next on the agenda: post the books that didn't sell at Mayday (so if you missed out, you'll have a chance on the Etsy), get ready for the Art Garage Sale on Sunday (where I'll be selling some of my Vietnam photography), and all various other adventures to come. We're approaching the holiday season, so there will only be more to do over the next 2 months.

Boulder Fest: great success

This was definitely one of the best vending experiences I have had thus far. Boulder Fest was a weekend long event, but do to working my 'real job' on Friday and Saturday, I was only able to participate on Sunday. It was a great day and next year I'm going to keep my schedule open for the whole weekend.

The weather could not have been better. It was hella hot but a breeze came through every now and then to chill the heat out (although it did occasionally send many of use running after signs and items). The sun shined all day and, even though a few things are still a little greasy from sunscreen, I actually got some tan as opposed to the usual blood boiling sunburn my body has become accustom to over the years.

Table set up was solid:

This was the widest variety of items I've displayed and everything got very positive feedback.
There were the usual suspects:

Beer books:

Record bowls and bookmarks:

Brand spankin' new patches! (wash when nasty was very popular, and was the only one that sold):

And even some original arts:

All of the bands that played were totally sweet. I was especially a fan of Buddhahood's reggae jams. The whole day was very summer time.

As always, I wish I had taken some more photos but it's hard to man your table and walk around at the same time. It always seems that the minute you walk away you miss someone coming to check out your stuff.

I sold a good amount of stuff and even made some trades with some of the other vendors. I got a great dress from Frank of The Shinebox and a cool photo from another vendor whose card I forgot to grab (bummer!)

Oh yea, did I mention I hired an employee last night?

Actually, he hired himself after he (his parents) bought my Tiger Journal, talked to me about animals for a half hour, and then volunteered to help me sell books with his mom's encouragement. (He actually did get someone to buy a record bowl!) In this photo, we are selling a banana for free.

Like a said, it was a great day.