The {not so} Craft Sale!

I hyped you up a couple of weeks ago about a Craft Fair I planned on attending. And then I never updated you after the fact! I intended to all last week and never got around to it, so here it is!

I’ll let you in on a secret: when I announced that Monday that I planned to attend a craft fair, I actually hadn’t even reserved my table yet. :) I know, nothing like waiting until the last minute, right? A friend and I had both been planning on going, but I was sort of non-committal, wondering if I really wanted to “put myself out there” like that! I mean, its one thing to post stuff online to sell...in a way, it doesn’t seem as “real” because I’m not face to face with people, trying to sell my products. But to actually sell stuff to real people, now, that seemed like a different story!

So, I finally called to reserve us tables on Tuesday of that week. And guess what...they were full. Bummer! I know, it was totally my own fault! The nice lady on the phone said she’d go over and measure and see if they could squeeze us in...but they ended up having a cancellation! Woot! It ended up being Thursday before I found out for sure that I was going...giving me a whole 1½ days to get ready!

I had quite a bit of stuff prepared, but wanted a few more things to take, so all of Friday was spent busily sewing and planning! I finally felt somewhat prepared to go.

Saturday was a nasty, rainy day, but what better way to spend a rainy Saturday than at a craft fair? :)

Here are some pictures of my table (I was sharing with a friend of mine, so we each squeezed our stuff on to one half of a table. Because we waited until the last minute. :)

I took tote bags, pillowcases and sugar scrub...a little of everything to represent my shop!

I made signs to label everything.

Cute little fall-themed sugar scrubs!

This hook is really for Christmas stockings, but I took it to display a bag on the front of the table...thought it might get people's attention more.

I made these cards for people to pick up so they can find my shop online. Several people did take them, so we'll see what happens!

How’d we do, you ask? Do you want the truth?

We didn’t sell a thing. Either one of us.

Cue the whomp whomp.

Here’s the deal: it ended up being not much of a craft sale and more of a museum benefit. There was only a table with handmade aprons, a lady with some fantastic homemade candles, and the rest was baked goods, lawn sale-type items, or silent auction items to benefit the museum. Most of the other tables didn’t sell anything, either!

But all in all...we still had a ton of fun! We got to meet new faces, spend a couple hours chatting, and get my name out there to some people. Not a totally wasted day, that is for sure! So even though it seems like a lot of wasted effort, I’m thankful for the experience...gently breaking me in to the world of craft sales with a laid back atmosphere and getting me super excited to try it again!

There are craft sales every weekend in November, and I’m still deciding which ones to target...some weekends there are multiple ones in different places, so I am just trying to figure out which ones would be best for my particular products. You know I’ll keep you posted! In the meantime, I am working on adding these newest items to my Etsy shop, so head over there if you like what you see in the pictures above!

Have you ever had a “putting yourself out there” experience? (Kinda sounds like some kind of “coming out” party, which is weird.) How about a time when something practically flopped?