Love Is In The Air

I have all my Valentine cards listed in my shop. I am currently working on Easter cards and new Anniversary cards that I hope to be posting very soon. I will also be working on some new birthday cards and journals. So I am keeping very busy. I would like to post a few new items every week. That is my goal for the year.

Calendars and Gift Card Holders

There are new calendars and gift card holders in my shop. Many different styles to chose from. Hope you will stop by the shop and check them out.

Some New Cards

Here are a few new designs going to be added to the shop this week. One is humorous and the other two a little less so but not exactly serious either. I also made the two humorous Father's day cards into birthday cards and they will be added this week as well.

Also added this week have been Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas cards. I have already sold a set of Christmas cards since I listed them.

Here are the new designs

They all say Happy Birthday inside.

I hope to be adding some anniversary cards next as well as some more cards for kids. Stay tuned.

Humorous Cards

My humorous Father's Day cards were a big hit this year so I decided I am going to start carrying a line of humorous birthday and anniversary cards in my shop. Look for them to be posted in my shop soon and I will probably post a few of the new designs here as well.

New Humorous Father's Day Cards

I just added two new Father's Day cards to my shop. I decided to try some humorous cards to see how they work out. I really enjoy the Gus and Stella images over at Bugaboo Stamps and thought I would use a couple of Gus images to make the cards. One for Fishermen and the other one for Hunters. I hope you enjoy them too.

I plan on using these images to make birthday cards as well so stay tuned for those.

Big Changes Coming To The Blog

Once again I know I haven't kept up with my blog but I am completely revamping it and it will show case a lot more work and even some tutorials. So stayed tuned and look for the changes happening really soon.

Bad Year for Craft Fairs

This year was the most dismal year for craft fairs that I have ever had. I barely made back the money I put out to rent my space. The attendance has been less than half that there has been in the past and most people aren't even stopping to look in the booth but just walking on by. It has been very discouraging to say the least. I am seriously thinking of not doing any shows next year and possibly for the next couple of years. Maybe when the economy picks back up again and people want to go to craft fairs and actually spend money in this area I will consider doing shows again. It is just too much work for so little return right now and i would rather put that energy into my online shops.

The Craft Fair That Wasn't

Well my only spring craft fair ended up being a major bust. Don't know exactly what doomed it because it was well advertised. It could have been that it was the first 60 degree day of the season or it could have been the Home Show that was happening only a couple of miles down the road (which had record breaking attendance). Whatever it was it made for a long day. I only had two sales that were made by other vendors. It was a good chance to network with the other vendors but still a major disappointment. I guess I won't be doing that fair again next year.

Spring Show

I am doing my very first Spring Craft Fair on April 9th. I'm really hoping that it is a good show and one that I will want to do again in the future. I would like to do more show throughout the year instead of having them all grouped in the fall.

I will be making some Easter cards and Mother's Day cards for the show but those will be the only newer items I will be adding.

So I am excited and am really hoping for a good day.

New Wedding Items

My new wedding items are finished and will be posted in my shop over the next couple of days. Here is a peek at the cards and place cards.

I hope to be adding bridal and baby shower cards to my shop in the coming months.

Valentines Day Cards

I have listed 4 new Valentines Day cards in my shop. I am still working on the new wedding items that I will be adding to my shop very soon.

Here is a peek at two of the Valentines. Please stop by my shop to see the other two.

New Items Coming in 2011

I will be adding new items to my shop at the beginning of 2011.

I'm starting a line of wedding items and will also have place cards for all occasions in many color choices.

I will be adding Valentines cards right after Christmas as well as expanding on all occasion cards. I will be adding more journals, scrapbooks and notebooks.

So be sure to stop in my shop often to see all the new items.

Coupon Code

I am trying out a new coupon code on Etsy for my blog readers. This code will be good through the end of the year and will take 20% of your purchase. The code will be "stamps". Happy shopping!

Craft Fair Season 2010

I have been doing shows since the beginning of October and my last one of the year is this Saturday. I have noticed a sharp decline in attendance this year at every show. I don't know if it is the economy or people just aren't getting excited about going to the shows. Even at my best shows I have made far less money this year over last year. It is very discouraging. I will be doing fewer shows next year because I have barely made my table money back at most of them.

I don't know what the answer is but I truly wish that I did. Hopefully my last show of the year will be more profitable even though it won't be able to make up all the lost income and time from the previous shows.

One Wild Year

I can not believe that it is November already and that I haven't posted since January. It has been one wild year since my last post.

My son had brain surgery and that was quite an ordeal as you can well imagine.One of my daughters had to make a very quick last minute move to another area and I actually lived with her and her family for a month. And I have been very sick for most of this year.

Now fall craft fair season is upon me and I have a show every weekend until the middle of December. Never a dull moment.

I have been able to make new items for my shop. I started a line of journals that I had been wanting to do for a long time. New cards and calendars. I have much more that I want to do but it will probably not happen until after the holidays.

I am going to try to post more often and hopefully life will let me.

New Year

A new year and a new beginning!

I have not been well since my bout with the swine flu unfortunately. I have had no voice since November which is very frustrating. Good thing I work for myself and don't have to do a lot of talking.

I have been working on lots of things and getting them posted in my shop. The fun things are the Valentine cards that I have made and sold already. I think that Valentine cards are my favorite type of card to make. I think because it reminds me of being a kid and giving out valentines to all my friends and classmates. I loved getting all those little valentines and I would hang on to them for months.

I've posted a couple of my favorites here. The images come from Penny Black and I just love the fun hedgehog line that they have.

Will be back to blog more soon.

Sidelined by the Swine Flu

I have been hit hard by the swine flu and strep. Not a pretty combination at all. I think that I caught it at my craft fair on the 7th because I was fine before then.

It has really put me behind for my biggest craft fair which is this Saturday (the 21st). I'm still feeling quite poorly and don't have any strength or energy. I guess I have to hope for a miracle so that I am well enough for the show.

I hope that none of you out there get this flu because it really is awful.

The New Tent

I know it has been awhile since I have written yet again. So much has been happening here on a personal level that it has been very difficult for me to keep up.

I wanted to share with you my experience with my EZ Up Dome tent. I really like it. It is very easy to put up and take down. At the craft fair it was raining all day and it did a good job keeping the water out and of course the domed top kept the water from pooling.

Because it was raining so much at the craft fair there wasn't a lot of customer so a lot of the other venders came by to talk about the tent. Most had never seen one like mine and were impressed by it. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I didn't get a picture but I hope to remember the next time it is set up.

Envelopes!

First I apologize for the absence from my blog. I had a period of illness that left me unable to do much of anything. I'm hoping that I'm on the mend enough to keep on top of things.

Another note is that the craft fair tent has arrived. Haven't done the trial set up yet but will be doing that soon to see how difficult and how long it actually takes to set up.

But this entry is actually about envelopes. Now I make and sell mostly cards as my business and it is something I really love. Now along with all the supplies needed to make the actual cards themselves I need to have envelopes.

So I have been making lots of cards and putting them up for sale on etsy and artfire and also making lots of cards for my upcoming craft fairs. I wasn't worried about envelopes because I had an unopened box of 250 sitting up on my shelf.

Today I decided I needed to start packaging some of my craft fair cards so I wasn't doing them all at the last minute. So I took the box of envelopes down from the shelf and opened it up only to find that there were no envelopes in the box at all. The horror of it all. So instead of packaging up my cards I had to spend time searching for a supplier to buy envelopes because my last one went out of business.

So I ordered 1000 envelopes today and that should last me quite some time. I guess the only real plus that came out of this was that I did decide to try to do this early and did discover the problem in enough time to get some shipped to me but it looks like I will be packaging everything at the last minute because I ran out. I will however be marking the boxes when they are empty so I know in advance if I have envelopes left in the future.

New Tent

Well I finally bought the EZ UP Dome tent and it should be here by the end of the week. I really hope it is a good one and will hold up for us for a few years. I hope that it is better in the wind and rain than the regular EZ Up tent that most crafters have.

We will have to set it up and take it down in the yard a few times to get used to doing it. I want it to only take a few minutes so we can spend most of our time setting up our products.

I am uploading Halloween cards today and Thanksgiving cards tomorrow so check them out!