So...You want to do craft shows, huh? (How to get ideas for your UNIQUE business)

If you weren't aware, I do LOTS of craft shows.  Around this time of the year I have just recovered from the fall/winter show season and start thinking about the spring/summer shows.
Every year at craft shows I always get asked how I got into them, how do you go about doing them, where do you get your things....

I am NOT going to tell you all my vendors.  Gotta protect myself a bit!  But I figured I could write down some ideas on how you can get into the craft show circuit.  Also, I figured it would throw in a bit of craft show etiquette.

First things first.  You have a great idea, right?

GO TO CRAFT SHOWS AND LOOK AROUND.  

If you are planning on soap, candles, or jewelry expect LOTS of competition.  LOTS.  So much so, that lots of times even if the show isn't "juried in" the jewelry will be. Those spaces always fill fast. (FYI-some shows are first come/first served.  Others are "juried in" meaning that you have to submit photos or pieces of your work to be voted on by a panel.  Sometimes you get it back, sometimes you don't)

When you are out looking around at shows, please don't straight up ask how someone makes something. Most people aren't going to tell you their secret formula.  If it is food/lotion/etc, the ingredients BY LAW will be on the item, but don't expect a ratio given to you.  You can look at my lip balms and see what ingredients I use, but I won't tell you my ratio. Most people won't. If we did, we wouldn't have a business!

If you LOVE something , don't take pictures without asking first.  Personally, I don't care.  You can find my items on Etsy, Facebook, and blogs all over the world. I post a lot on Instagram as well.  Social media is how I get my name out. Some vendors though are VERY touchy on this subject.  ASK ASK ASK.

If you feel you can make something a vendor makes, that's cool. Make it. With lots of crafts, they are relatively inexpensive to make.  Most of the cost of an item is for the time put into making it/packaging it/promoting it. Not the actual materials themselves.

If you can get it at Wal-mart for less. Cool.  Go buy it. You don't have to tell me about it.  Buying something handmade is MUCH different from buying factory made things from China.  I am aware, and so are other vendors, that items made over seas can be cheaper.  That isn't the factory workers passion, though.  My items and my shop are my passion and my heart.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It is...if someone copies your hair style.

When it isn't is when you spend time making something and then someone stands in your booth INSPECTING how you made it.  Not a, "Oh wow,cool!  Look at the details in this ceramic bowl!!" I am talking inspecting EVERY SINGLE SEAM.  Asking how well it sells.  Asking what items you use to make it.  Asking where you get your materials...then saying I can make this!  Or my sister can make it.  This is ESPECIALLY annoying if you are another vendor (had it happen and saw stuff copied!!!) OR if you already stated that you want to open a shop.

I know what you are doing.

You are making mental notes of how I made my item so you can copy it.

You know what would be even better?  BUY something, take it home, and figure it out for yourself. Copying happens.  If it didn't, we would all be wearing the same t-shirt.  Make it your own though.  Change things up. 

If you DO decide to imitate someone, PLEASE do not go to a craft show that they are already a regular at.  I have some craft shows that I go to every year and plan on going back to.  Don't try for the same shows.  Craft vendors TALK. 

When you enter the craft world you will learn that it is a super close and trusting group.  Where else can you have a tent full of items, look at someone you met 2 hours ago and say "Can you watch my items while I run to the bathroom?" and leave thousands of dollars of merchandise and know that it will be fine and watched over?  With that being said, see up above.  You don't want to enter the craft circuit and already be on someones bad side.

The more unique, the better! Look around.  Find something that someone else in your area doesn't do OR does do and do it different!  There are lots of people who do wood working in my area, BUT there wasn't anyone who made toys like mine!  It is a unique spot that I got into and because of this, I have people looking for me at shows.  There is "competition" but not someone selling the EXACT same thing as me.

So, I kind of went off on some tangents there, but I think I stressed the number one thing I wanted you to learn here....BE UNIQUE when deciding to open a shop.  

Next time I am going to give you a list of items that you will need (some you never thought about!)

Dishcloth Knitting Tutorial aka What in the world is "Mercerized Cotton" and what do I do with it.

Back last fall my friend sent me a message that read "I have huge bags of yarn and other crafty things.  Want them?"  To which I replied "DUH."I have a serious yarn habit.

I can home one day to THREE TRASH BAGS FULL of yarn and stuff on my front porch.  I literally squealed.  I went through and separated everything into piles and ended up with some stuff called "mercerized cotton".  It looks like embroidery floss, but thicker if that makes sense and was on all these little spools.  So, I got to googling.

According to WiseGeek.com :    Mercerized cotton is cotton which has been treated with sodium hydroxide to bring out certain properties first discovered by John Mercer in 1851.

Ok. So I know WHAT it is, but not what to do.   I threw it back in my plastic tub and flash forward to last week, I decide to do something with it.  I knew I didn't have enough to make clothing from, plus it is an odd feeling.  The slippery is weird.  I decided on dishcloths!

Again, off to google.  I saw TONS of tutorials for "Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth" and decided to go that route.  Most used normal yarn and since mine was so thin, I decided to double up on the threads.  Not really sure WHO to give credit to officially so I thank all knitting Grandma's out there for this one!

With the size of the yarn, I decided to use size 2 needles.  My needle length is 13.5inches. This was my determining factor in the size of the cloth.

Cast on 4
Knit across all four.
Next row Knit 2, yarn over, knit to the end.
Repeat the last row until you get the width you want.  

I ended up going until I had 80 stitches across.  When beginning to knit this you are making a big triangle.  By doing yarn overs you are adding additional width as well as the cute little holes on the sides. Yarn overs are literally just that.  Take the yarn from the back and loop it around the needle. After turning and going back across treat that as a stitch to knit.


Once at the width you want, time to start decreasing.
Knit 1, K2Tog, Yarn over, K2Tog, Knit across.
Repeat that until you are down to 4 stitches left on needle.
Bind off.
Weave in ends.

BOOM. Done.

 So, there you have it.  Super easy pattern to mindlessly knit, kill time, and bust your yarn stash!

Update on Nate for those interested.

As I mentioned last year, we have started weaning Nate off his meds. I really have no clue how my mom did this with me. It is so darn stressful.

The anti-seizure meds that he is on have to be slowly weaned off of. He was never on a super high dose to begin with, but this process is maddening. We have dropped his meds about 30% now (it took a month!) in morning and night. By the end of February we should be totally finished!

The super scary part is that he has a 50% chance of having another seizure within the next six months.  The likelihood of having another get less over time, but never fully goes away. Apparently, I could have one at any moment. 

I am trying to be a glass-half full kind of girl, but it is SO hard sometimes. 

I was just talking to Eric while I was making dinner how around this time three years ago, we were gearing up for a trip to Disney World. It was such a rough year with Nate having the seizures and V having her first throat surgery, it was an awesome time to unwind.

Who knows. Maybe I'll get picked to be a Disney Social Media Mom this year and I can get a trip back! A girl can dream, right? 

Kind of like the two ends of a book. Epilepsy was not a book I wanted opened and I will be SUPER happy to see it closed.

Where did the year go?

I know everyone talks about the busyness of the holidays, but being the crafter that I am, the end of the year is INSANE for me.

First, you have Thanksgiving. Then V's birthday.  Then start getting ready for Christmas. Throw in not one, not two, but THREE craft shows (one being huge and an hour and a half away) and my sanity is shot.

Every year at the point when the shows are over, I crash.  Literally.  My body says STOP and I get all the sickness.  Everything that everyone had for a month comes upon me and I turn into a zombie for a week. Necessary evil though because all the shows this fall went to Christmas gifts.  I literally paid for every single gift given to my family and extended family with money I made from shows. 

I know, I know....Eric helped purchase the supplies to make my wares, BUT I crafted, sewed, and peddled the wares on my own.  (Well, my friend Holli did help me when I was in Missouri. Can't forget that!  It isn't every day you have a friend volunteer her time and house to help you out!)

It felt great.  I stay home, help to raise the kids, keep the house clean (yeah,right), am a transporter of kids to and from, but I always feel bad about finances. Being able to give back to the family in a monetary way feels AWESOME.

So, here is to the end of the year.

I wish all of you a happy SAFE New Years Eve tomorrow.  I hope you get to spend it the way you want, whether it be hanging out with your loved ones, trying to convince the 8 year old that he in fact does NOT have to stay up until midnight (Oye. Aidan wants to this year), partying it up in the clubs (aka the good ole days) , or just sleeping (how I spent the first NYE with Aidan. Eric and I were passed out at 10pm!)

One last thing....resolutions...I know people do the "I am going to lose weight, exercise more!  blah blah blah."

My resolution...I don't really have one for this year.

I plan to work more (I have an online job) and I plan to take more me time.  I realize that I get very cranky without a down time in my day.  Maybe the gym? Maybe reading? Maybe a movie?  Who knows.  All I know is this mom needs some ME time after 8 years.

What about you?  How was your holiday season?  Did you survive? Resolutions....do you have any?

See you next year!  (And I know...this is a day early.  I am starting the ME time before the year starts!  RULE BREAKER!!)

What's Cookin' Wednesday!

My Gram was in town last week.  So, taking care of my three kids, having a 90 year old Gram to look after, and then I got the cold from Hades, my meal plans flew out the window. SOOOO....I have repeats this week. 

Eggplant Parmesan  Garlic bread to be added.  As well as spaghetti!

Cumin Lime Black Bean Quinoa Salad  and Roasted Cauliflower.  I REALLY liked the cauliflower when I made it last week. My hand was a bit heavy with the salt though.  Note to self....add less salt.

Turkey Burgers and Broccoli Apple Salad   I typically pride myself on my burgers. I normally just add Worcestershire Sauce and season salt.  I figured I would try a new recipe.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches   and Mostly Not Potato Salad

Taco Salad   Kids will get quesidillas.   I think they could live off of those.

Last but not least. This recipe is awesome.  Cucumber Salad  with Sour Cream and Dill Dressing  This is just a side for something. What that is, I don't know.


Desserts: 
Jello with strawberries and cool whip. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Oreo Pudding Poke Cake

Have a great week! 

Backyard Gardening...do you do it?

I haven't talked much about my garden this year, just because I was scared it would fail.  Seriously.  Last year I had squash and it was going fantastically.  I saw a lot of odd looking ladybugs, they were kind of orange. Ladybugs suppose to be good for a garden though, right?  I heard they eat aphids.  Then these happened.

 They look like cute little Minions from Despicable Me, don't that?  They are bugs sent straight from hell.  They eat through your squash plants.  They destroy them.  It was going fan-freaking-tastic....then death. Within a matter of days, the squash was gone.  RIP 2013 Squash.

So I was hesitant about the garden again this year, but I still planted.  I wanted to get that bumper crop of squash and zucchini that other people get! I wanted fresh veggies!  It is finally happening. The garden is growing.  

The devil bugs came back again.  I have been inspecting every day and picking them off and killing them.  I finally went to the nursery and got some "powder" stuff.  That didn't work.  I got sick of them and we headed to Lowe's and got some Sevin Spray .

I know,I know....poison. BUT this one it is safe for gardens and DOESN'T penetrate the plant. I wash off all my crops anyway before eating.  One quick spray/water killed the evil bugs. This says it kills on the plant and in the ground.  So far, so good.

This year I planted corn, asparagus beans, peas, squash, zucchini, peppers, and carrots. I had a few more things, but my squash over took the garden and no sun equals no plants. My zucchini never grew.  I went to the nursery and grabbed some cucumber plants and shoved them in. They MIGHT get some sun.  The squash is giant.  We are actually going to build another garden bed next year to plant all the poofy plants in.

See, giant. It is covering a good quarter of my planting area. THe bottom right is where I put the cucumber.  I am pretty sure I have some random flower growing there.  lol

So now you get to look at my random plants and ooooh and ahhhhh.  First up...corn!

I tried corn before and it failed.  The area we originally planted a garden got covered with trees.  I planted them in the actual garden this time.  It is going AWESOME.

When I told a friend I was planing asparagus beans, she reply "huh?"  Think: crazy long green beans.  I was getting REALLY bummed because nothing was happening. Just vines. Then one day, I had a gorgeous purple flower.

The flower was dead by the afternoon.  I was bummed. Then I noticed it was slowly sliding off.  Coming out of the dead flower was....A BEAN!!!! Seriously, how cool is that?

 

We did potatoes in the garden last year and they worked great, BUT it wasn't able to get very deep. I wanted lots of potatoes, so I figured I would do potatoes in a bucket. I had a bunch of green tubs that I got on super clearance at Walmart. I had Eric drill drainage holes in the bottom.  You throw some dirt in and place a potato on top.  Then throw more dirt on it.  I bought some of those "guaranteed to grow" potatoes at Lowe's.  I have found that guaranteed to grow does NOT actually guarantee growth.  I have tried strawberries twice. NOTHING.  So I figured I would give these a shot.

Nothing was happening.

Until something did.  Three of the 5 are growing!! Once they get a bit more "stalky" you add more dirt and keep repeating. This suppose to yield a BUNCH of potatoes.  You can read more about it HERE.

 I have about a million small flower pots, so I decided to grow some odd things too. I have artichokes. Once they get bigger I need to plant them in the ground.  They suppose to grow GIANT. I have 4.  I love artichokes.  I hope my neighbors do too!

 On our railing I have strawberries in pots.  I bought the "guaranteed to grow".  They didn't.  So I bought a flat from Lowe's. They are doing great! The birds are well fed! I need to buy a deterrent. Maybe a fake owl? That sounds more fun than just netting.

 In this mornings harvest I actually picked the first squash and TWO strawberries!!  Got them first ya filthy birds!

 Those are peas in the pods! Look how cute when you open them. My fingernail sliced a few. 

Last, but definitely not least....my fig tree.  It is growing so huge. It is a Chicago Hardy Fig. I probably should have kept the base trimmed a bit more then I first got it.  It has only been in the ground for a few years.

 This year is going to have a bumper crop of figs!  Normally I get a few at a time. Look how many are growing! I have to research some recipes!

 So excited to watch it grow this year!  I also have a pot of mini cucumbers. They suppose to get about an inch big and look like Barbie sized watermelons. They just started growing!

Do you plant "traditional" plants, or throw in some odd balls like I do?

What's Cookin' Wednesday Week 3

Yeah.....week three of What's Cookin' Wednesday didn't happen.  I had dance recital rehearsal that lasted until 9pm on Tuesday evening. It actually was later, but we left as soon as Nate was done.  Then I ran 900 errands the first day of summer vacation, then out of town guests, then recital, then Grandma sitting...and now it is Wednesday.  lol  Excuses, yep. I got them.

One thing I have noticed that I never keep up with is actual DAYS when I am making certain things.  So, I think just a bucket list of recipes for the week will work better.  Here goes!

Spaghetti with garlic bread.  I think I make the best garlic bread ever. Get a loaf of French bread, slather it with butter (half a stick on each side).  Make sure to leave it out a bit to get it soft before hand. After you slathered, sprinkle on oregano, parsley, garlic salt, garlic powder, and basil.  Put it on a pan and put it under the broiler in the oven.  You REALLY need to keep an eye on it.  It will toast fast, which means it will burn fast.  Sometimes when I don't have a loaf I make this on normal sandwich bread or hamburger buns. We aren't fancy here.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole.  (Stacked enchiladas)  These were SO good. It makes a bunch,so you will have leftovers.  I used used a large can of mild enchilada sauce.  I want to try her recipe though!  It sounds super easy to make.  TIP: If you need to get shredded chicken and don't have any made, grab your slow cooker.  I threw 4 boneless, skinless breasts in there and then added two cups of vegetable broth. You could use chicken if you have it. Turn it on high for four hours and leave it alone.  When it is done you can literally lift if out and shred with just one fork. You can just smoosh it and it shreds. So good and easy!

Squash Casserole Pretty sure this is Eric's new go to recipe. It is really yummy!  We were running late so we just served this with peas and salad.  Not the best "dinner", but it would be an awesome side dish!

Brown Sugar Meatloaf   Don't think less of me....I love meatloaf.  Well, turkey meat loaf. I haven't eaten beef or pork in 20 years.  HUG A COW AND PIGGY!  This recipe looks super yummy and I think it would go great with sweet potatoes.  One of Grandma's favorite foods.

Eggplant Parmesan I LOVE eggplant.  What I hate is frying the eggplant before you bake it. Eggplant sucks up SO MUCH OIL.  This recipe you bake the eggplant.I found it a while ago and it is now my go to.   I typically make spaghetti with it to throw the eggplant on top of and throw together a quick salad for the side.

Roasted Cauliflower  I love cauliflower and am planning on this for lunch one day.  Look how yummy it looks! I plan on eating it with Cumin Lime Black Bean Quinoa Salad

Cumin Lime Black Bean Quinoa Salad  It looks SOOOO good.

Desserts this week:

Cinnamon Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Ice Cream

S'mores Ice Cream...RECIPE COMING!!!

Happy Eating!!