Friday, October 16, 2015

Tutorials coming soon

I am going to start doing some sewing tutorials soon.  I'll have some general sewing, projects, and shortcuts that I have figured out along the way.  Hope you come back to check them out and follow my posts as they go.

Have a nice weekend - I'll be at a craft show!

Coleen

Fall & Winter Craft Shows

We did a little craft show in Veteran's park in the City of Tonawanda a couple weeks ago and we set a goal of $200 and we had $298, not bad for a $20 show and it was right up the street from my house.
Next show is Tomorrow at Sweethome High School, their fall holiday show.  I have never done it before but I did pretty good at the spring show so I decided to give it a try.  Hopefully I am not sitting there all day twiddling my thumbs, better bring something to do just in case.  I'm bringing the table runners, pot holders, cozies, towels, and a few other things that normally sell at the shows.  Setting a goal of $250.  Got my lunch all ready - bagle & cream cheese and a fruit bowl.

I finally got notified (after months of emails back and forth to the show director) to St Christophers on Niagara Falls Blvd.  That show is November 7-8.  That show cost a little bit more so I set a goal at that show for $500.  That will be all Christmas and household kitchen items.  Hopefully by that date I should have my Christmas oven mitts done and ready to put on sale.  I'll have to look at the stores and see what they are selling theirs for.  I may just buy fabric and sew ruffles onto pre-made mitts if they are a good price and I can keep the price down.  The Christmas ornaments that did not sell at St Gregory last year may be bought at a lower price at this show this year.  I had $4 on the santas - and they were adorable - but didn't sell very many of them (maybe 8) and I had about 40 so big disappointment.  Think I'll lower the price to $3 and see if they move.

Last show for the year will be St Gregory the Great in Amherst.  That is our most expensive show so I am setting a sales goal of $1000.  We hit $900 last year so if we have more of a selection of the stuff that we do make, we should hit our goal.  I am hoping people bring their friends to our booth who bought a table runner from, so their friend could get one too.  They are our most expensive item at only $25 so if we sell 20 of them that would be half the goal.  Regular potholders will be new this year along with the potholder mitt from last year, and I will have new Oven Mitts in Christmas fabrics to pick from too.  I really hope we do well.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

My Etsy Store

For those who need to shop, I have a Etsy store here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ColeenO  !!!  My mom, my sister, and I sell our sewed crafts and supplies here when we are not doing shows.  It pays all of the fees I get from listing items, and sometimes I make quite a bit of money during the holidays.  Gotta like that.

I have been slacking on crafting as of late, but I did keep up with my Etsy orders as they came in.  Just new stuff I have not been making too many.  I probably should get back in the swing.  Maybe the show we are doing this weekend will get me motivated to sew again.  I need to make some table runners that are for the fall and winter holidays, we sold alot of them last November and I am hoping we get a large inventory so we have lots to sell this year.

Until I craft again...

Friday, March 27, 2015

Not a bad little show.

Post about the craft show I did last weekend at Sweet Home High School.  Not a bad little show, even though I only had about 260 customers walk by my table (I counted), my sales were $184 for a show that only cost me $40.  Not sure if I am going to do it again, but if I do I know what to bring.  The good thing about the show (in the gym) is you can park close to the door and unload and load back up since they close that door during the show as the customers enter from the middle of the school.  They have a fall show and if the price is right I may do that one too.

I did get asked about teacozies so I started making some this past week.  I am making the "hat" style cozies for now but I ordered a bunch of teapots so I can make some that cuddle right around the pot too - those you do not remove to pour your tea.  The pots arrive right before Easter so I may make one for my daughter since she drinks tea and not coffee and send it to her, oh Amanda if you are reading this do not remember it!!!

I did sell one table runner! and my sister sold one too!  Very happy for those two sales, and I sold alot of bowl cozies.  Next show is Greene in July, I think I already got the application so I should send it in soon.

Until I craft again, Coleen

Friday, March 20, 2015

First Craft Show of the Year

Hi!

My first craft show this year is at Sweethome High School tomorrow 3/21/15.  I have never visited this show so I am going in blind - that is I have no idea if even people show up to this show.  I am keeping my fingers crossed since it is a parent organization that is running this and they have notified probably most of the students families about the show.

Bringing mostly table runners, potholders, micro bowl cozies, my sistas dammitdolls and towels, and a few other items to fill up the table.  I'll be there alone so I hope I have nice neighbors I can trust to watch the table when I have to go potty!  I'll probably bring a lunch and drinks to save a little money just in case I don't sell anything...  Luckily it only cost $40 for a 12' table.

I did make some Easter/Summer hot pad table runners, my mom made some Easter bowl cozies, and my sister had lots of dammit dolls from last year.  She was helping her husband through a disease last year that claimed his life early so she has not made too many things lately.  I'm hoping she gets into crafting after she cleans out her basement of clutter.

I should be starting to make some tutorials and suggestion posts for everybody to follow.  I already have a bowl cozy tutorial on another blog that I can't remember how to log into it so I will  link it to this page somehow.  My first suggestion post will be how to set up a craft table to sell crafts.  My tables always look too crowded so I am going to section off areas and take a photo of my table this show to remind myself what it should look like.

Until I craft again,  Coleen


Thursday, March 5, 2015

Ended up doing very well in 2014

Had a great show at St. Gregory the Great.  We (mom and I) sold more at that craft show than any other one since we have been crafting.  We definitely will be doing that show again.  We were in the first building a type of ministry center and it was fantastic.  Lots of room, lots of help, lots of shoppers, and lots of sales.  I wish we would have had more of one of our items and we would have sold even more.  Not many lulls, just at the beginning since we were at the back end of the building and it took people time to get back to us to shop. 

Etsy has been great for me this past year.  I doubled what I sold in 2013 last year.  I know where to improve my items and I know where I need to prepare ahead of time for next year's sales.  I was sewing every night from November to December 15th when I closed the shop for the holidays.  Don't get me wrong I loved the $$$ but if I prepared a little sooner for the sales I would have left the shop open a little longer and might have had a few more sales.  I know better next holidays.

If you do happen on Etsy, my shop is ColeenO.  Hope you enjoyed this post.  Happy Crafting everybody.