Display innovations.

I’ve been pondering ways to best display my necklaces (which make up the largest chunk of my inventory by far) at craft fairs for several months now. I didn’t want any of the commercially available options, either–acrylic or velvet busts or risers. And as much as I like trees and tree-shaped things, many of my pieces just don’t look as dynamic when they’re simply dangling from a stem. Being this picky has left me pretty stumped, and frustrated at the increasingly cluttered look of my table, but I think I’ve finally found a few solutions.

1) I bought a 10′ x 10′ tent. Been putting it off for over a year, making do by sharing with one of my local crafting buds when possible, shying from the seemingly large investment…. But when you do outdoor fairs in Florida between March and October, not having a tent is quite a health hazard. My lovely tent (bonus: it’s tan, not blue or white!) will not only prevent heatstroke and sun poisoning but will also allow me to have more than one table (no, your eyes don’t deceive you–there’s only one in the pic ’cause I forgot to bring my 2nd table yesterday), thus helping alleviate the clutter problem.

2) I can now have one whole table dedicated to my necklaces, and thanks to my new corkboard necklace displays, they won’t all have to lie flat and jumbled on the surface of the table, but can be draped on cork in all their glory. Yay!

Since I was so pleased with how simple and easy my eventual display solution turned out, I thought I’d share the steps here. It’s not reinventing the wheel or anything, but it’s something that can be easily personalized and requires little investment of money or time.

Flea markets and features.

Tin dollhouse found on side of state road 419.

Oh, Saturday, I love you. Hubby and I just got home from a sweaty but fruitful jaunt at our favorite flea market: Renninger’s in Mount Dora. Scored a sweet rack that I can use for my earrings at craft fairs, and a couple of rare silver spoons. And now we’re readying the grill to cook up some chicken and veggies. Think I’ll make some couscous too.

Anyhoo, I just found out that one of my cards was featured on a blog called I Like It Don’t You earlier this week. Sweet! Also, I’ve been meaning to mention this but keep forgetting: one of my local buds, Jenipher of Cherry RunWay Jewelry, interviewed me for her blog fairly recently. You can read her article here. And you can buy her lovely jewelry here (food miniatures–what’s not to love?). Thanks, Jen!

Did you notice I have blogged daily this week?! Wow. I hope the posts leaned toward quality over quantity, but at least I’m getting more consistent here. One more notable thing about this week: not one, but two treasuries I curated made it to the front page of Etsy this week! [EDIT: Margins has a screen shot of one of them.] I know that may seem like a small thing, and I promise not to post every time it happens (although I hope it does become a more regular occurrence), but I put a lot of thought into creating treasuries and I love that by doing so I am promoting the featured artists, and it’s quite rewarding to have that effort recognized. Plus the fact that it gives those artists soooo much extra exposure. Almost all of the items in one of the treasuries sold during its front-page stint. Yay!

OK, I’m off to chop up veggies and get ready for the Sanford Art Market tomorrow. Happy weekend!

Etsy sellers who make custom promo items.

Following up on my last post, I decided to search Etsy for custom handmade promotional items (other than business cards). Here are just a few of the sellers who create all kinds of promos, offering pinback buttons, customized tags, pocket mirrors, vinyl car decals, stickers, magnets, keychains, coasters and more:

kittycrossbones
wistfulsupplies
Diavolina
ceejay77
monsterpromos
moxierings
PromosInaSnap
Weakness
messageonabutton
minepress
glassidentities
ButtonDivas

And, putting a practical twist on the recently maligned plain ‘ol business card, SassyCat offers magnetic biz cards. Nice.

ChristineRenee has another creative take on business cards: she’ll make your cards into a little spiralbound book, which is both cost effective (they’re about a dollar apiece) and has practical use for the recipient! I have purchased custom buttons from ChristineRenee, so I can testify that she does a great job and is a pleasure to work with.

PinkQuartzMinerals has vegan lip balm that you can design your own label for.

With all these options, plus Alchemy, you really can get anything you want on Etsy!

The promotion dilemma.

Coco gocco bunny patch, originally uploaded by Justin and Elise.

So I’m sitting here at the day job, eating my lunch of fresh strawberries / kiwi / pineapple, carrot sticks, and honey mustard pretzels (random, I know–guess who needs to go grocery shopping–but all YUM), brainstorming about display ideas and promotions for my craft show this weekend. Just another Thursday at the office, right? Then it pops into my head that today is the day Etsy’s Venus cooperative ads go on sale, so I quickly click over to the Storque to find out what time (missed out: they all sold in about half a nanosecond). And what article appears at the top of the page? So glad you asked! Just a little promo-focused piece called “Don’t Order Another 1,000 Business Cards.” Yep, me n’ the Storque, we’re on the same wavelength.

Point is, I’ve been trying to decide if I should invest in some real nice business cards or postcards (thus far I’ve been printing my own on colored cardstock with a laser printer, but I no longer have access to that printer). Obviously, to promote a business, you need some sort of something with your info on it, and biz cards seem like a very cost-effective option. But the article makes a good point: business cards quickly turn into clutter and get thrown away. I come home from every craft fair with dozens of cards, and where are most of them now? In a pile somewhere, or lurking in the corners of various purses, or in the glove compartment of my car. Definitely not anywhere where they’re serving their intended purpose. So right on, daniellexo!

The article goes on to give a couple of good ideas for alternative promos: chapstick, stickers, magnets, keychains, etc. Which are all great. I’ve thought of some of the same ideas in my recent brainstorming. But at a certain point, you face the dilemma of whether such items are a cost-effective way to promote yourself (and I personally sometimes feel a bit skeezy using mass-produced promotional items, even though that is often the most cost-effective option, especially for biz cards). On the other hand, I guess promotional items are sorta like advertising expenses: you should expect a 3x return on investment. So even if those keychains cost close to $1 apiece, if one hangs from a customer’s keys, prompting their friends to ask about it and generating sales for you, then that’s worth it. Plus, not only does it put your logo or website in their mind daily, but it adds to your brand image as cool, fun, innovative, etc. All good things.

gocco promo pockets finished!, originally uploaded by Justin and Elise. [Elise of ArgyleWhale makes some super-clever promos with her Gocco. You can see more of them here.]

Guess that was a pretty verbose way to say that I’m convinced. Already was, actually. Last weekend I came up with a promo item I can make myself, one that represents my style and serves a practical purpose. I’ll be working on them this weekend, so check back for photos. And I’d love to hear other thoughts on this: What promotional items do you use (other than business cards)? What’s the most creative promo you’ve seen/received?

Ollie Octopus says “Happy hump day”

Ollie Octopus, originally uploaded by Avenue [Handmade].

He’s patiently waiting to be adopted by a good home–in my Etsy shop! (Along with a few other new cards….)

In other news, we’re going to see Brian Regan tomorrow! Comped tickets: a perk of working in the news media. W00t.

Studio Shot Tuesday: My craft table

Studio Shot Tuesday: My craft table, originally uploaded by Avenue [Handmade].

Here’s a behind-the-scenes peek at my crafting. I submitted this to the Studio Shot Tuesdays flickr pool. It’s pretty cluttered and unremarkable at the moment, so I don’t really have anything to say about the space itself. But I’m excited about that card under the needle there–I made several new collage cards, most incorporating those notions to the left of the Singer there. Photos of the cards are forthcoming–and they may even make it to the shop as early as tomorrow. Yay for sewing paper!

New vista on the horizon.

I have to warn you that what follows will be intentionally vague (in the spirit of not counting chickens before they’re hatched and whatnot), but the sentiment behind it is most certainly specific, articulate and deeply-felt (albeit tinged with specks of bittersweet). With that said: It looks like at least one dream of mine that has been deferred for almost two years, thought impossible for all sorts of reasons, and nearly given up on will finally come to fruition, in a matter of months. I literally feel bubbly with the prospect, but I want to let this gestate and come to fullness on its own, without projections and expectations that may never come to be. Rest assured, more details will be forthcoming in this space, and I’ll be chronicling it all as it plays out.

Salsa and advertising.

Easter, when I was home alone waiting for my husband to get home from an 11-hour shift at the airport, seemed like the perfect time to attempt making salsa. It turned out delish, but more like pico de gallo than traditional salsa…pretty chunky. Pretty time-intensive, seeding and dicing six tomatoes, though. I think next time I’ll try the food processor. I used this recipe from the Food network, with a few small tweaks: I added red and green bell pepper, and reduced the amount of jalapenos to one, ’cause I’m not big on the spiciness. And I think I used a lot more cilantro than the recipe calls for…’cause I am big on fresh cilantro! Heehee. Oh, and it gets much better the next day, or after a couple hours to let flavor infusion happen.

In other news, I was in an Etsy Forums thread about off-Etsy marketing today, and Ryan from Littleputbooks posted a link to one of her blog posts about paid advertising. Increasing my advertising is one of my goals for my business this year, so half of my reason for linking to Ryan’s tips here is as a note to self. But maybe you’ll find some good tips on it too. I would love to hear about the personal experiences of anyone who has used any of these avenues–Google Adwords, banner ads, print ads–or any other paid advertising. Has it been effective/worthwhile for you? Which one(s) would you recommend to someone with a limited budget? Which do you feel offers the best return on investment?

Two gold stars!

Wow, this was a first! Thanks to suttree and aLoverandaFighter for including my Golden Stallion ring and Bare Bones earrings in some lovely treasuries!

Last weekend’s craft show

Hey, I’m only a week late posting this. It could be worse. =) So the first FEST craft fair was a roaring (pun intended) success. My parents drove down from Jacksonville to be my helpers and companions for the day, which was great. The weather was beautiful, the dinos scary, and, most importantly: people came! Yay. Here are some photos: