To Market, To Market....

I can officially check one off the bucket list as of yesterday.  Yesterday I debuted at my first Farmer's Market. How did it go you ask?

Cue music....womp, womp, wooomp. 

Ya, it didn't go so well.  It was the opening weekend, well, a Friday to be exact.  So due to the fact it was a Friday, kids are in school and it was during working hours, there wasn't much traffic. 

The market itself was well run and I loooved the fact that I could pull up, through my stall and set up with my vehicle close by.  That was hugely appreciated.  It meant I could have a little more room at the back of my tent not only to move around, but to have access to my vehicle meant I could easily store things.

Anyways, on to some pictures and some lessons learned.

Five Things I Learned At My First Farmer's Market

#1. Scout Out Your Market Beforehand
      I like knowing what I'm getting into before I jump in.  That's just who I am, but this time, I decided to go in blind.  Mostly due to the fact that I had my Mother-In-Law visiting and I needed the help.  This was the only weekend that she could do it.  Anyway, if I had scouted out beforehand I would have realized that this market wasn't right for my stuff.  You know you're at the wrong market when it takes you 45 min to set up because you have so much product and display while it takes everyone else 10 min.  I guess you could say they were efficient and knew what they were doing.
 

  
#2 Don't Debut At An Opening Weekend
      I talked to a couple of the vendors and they told me that the first two weekends they suffer, and then things start to pick up.  I think it's just because people aren't used to the idea of an outdoor market yet.  School is still on, kids sports activities are still going and people's weekends are filled.  I think it's usually near the end of June, that weekends start to free up for people and the Market now becomes their "thing" they do.  Unless of course the market is always busy no matter what weekend it is.

#3 Be Adaptable
      It wasn't until the last two hours that I realized the little traffic that their was, was coming in from one side and the only table that people could see as they passed was the table with the higher priced items.  They completely passed by the table at the back that had the lower priced items.  When I realized this I moved my bookmarks ($4) to the other table and shuffled things around.  I will remember this for next time.

#4 Don't Sell Yourself Short
      I felt confident in my prices.  I calculated my time and material well. I researched on Etsy and other sources for comparable products.  I asked family and friends what they thought.  I didn't want to be greedy but I also wanted to be compensated for my time and effort.  I took all this into consideration when pricing my items, and was sure that I was charging appropriately.  With all this, I only made two real sales (besides family and friends).  I would have had to reduce my prices significantly to the point of loss if anyone would buy my products at this market.  I didn't want to do that just for the sake of a sale. 

#5 Be Prepared For Anything

     I thought of everything it seems, "just in case".  The questions in my mind before were "what if I sell everything?", "what if I don't sell anything?", "what if it rains?", "Will I have enough bags?" etc.  I had a ton of bags it turns out.  I realized it would be a good thing if I did sell everything and even if I didn't sell anything I knew just the experience would be worth it.  Having thought out many scenarios, I felt at ease.  The past few weeks have been a flurry of preparation but I wasn't up late the night before getting anything last minute done.  I wanted to be done, with time to spare in case something popped up.  I was able to go to bed easy and had a sound sleep because everything was thought of, and done ahead of time.

I had lots of support from family and friends and am very grateful for their help. Thanks to all who attended and those who had such nice things to say. 

Coasting

I made 28 sets of coasters at one time.  Although the "one time" stretched over a few days. 

While my oldest three were at school and the younger two were at the table playing with playdough, I went and gathered a bunch of my larger scraps of fabric.  Turns out I had a lot.  Variety is good right?

 

Although I have a great sewing space in the basement, it's nice to get some natural light, so I brought up some of the equipment upstairs.  It was nice to have the change.

 

I cut all my fusible fabric fleece and fabric into 4 1/2" squares.  After fusing everything together I had to go back downstairs and sew everything up.  Now I have 32 sets of 4 total to sell at the market (I had made a previous 4 loooong time before).

 

 It was an enjoyable process and very satisfying to use up some fabric I've been wanting to get to for awhile.

More Craft Show Display Props

I have already made a couple display props for some of my products but I still needed something for my kitchen scrubbies and bookmarks.  Here's what I came up with.

With a quick trip to the Dollar Store I picked up some plastic plates 4/$1.25 and 2 Margarita plastic cups $1.25 ea.

 

I then measured the diameter of the cups and made a small dot on the plastic plate to indicated how far the cup should go.  I added E6000 glue to the cup rim and stuck that sucker down.  I did this twice.

 

I did the same thing for the bottom of the Margarita cups.

 

I then stuck both plates with the cups on top to make a cupcake-like tray.

 

Set it to dry with weight on top to ensure a tight seal.

 

And Voila! A stylish way to display those cutie scrubbies for $3.75.  Almost good enough to eat.

 

Next up is the bookmark display.  I saw this idea on Pinterest.  I took a book that wasn't being used and folded each of the 200+ pages in half.  

 

I glued some pick cardstock to the inside of the book and added washi tape to the edges.  This is what it looks like on the bottom.

 

Add the bookmarks, and there you have it, another prop, this time for free.

Things are comin' along. 

Makin' Yarn

I constantly need to have my hands busy.  Especially when I'm watching a show.  I can't just sit and watch.  No.  I'd feel like I'm wasting time.  If I'm not folding clothes or crocheting I turn to this soothing project during TV time:  Making yarn.

I've made yarn from clothes before. But here I am making it out of sheets or old duvet covers.  I keep this project in a bin and accessible so when the opportunity strikes I'm ready.

 Just look at those beautiful balls.

We're planning on ripping out our carpet and putting in a laminate floor which means we're going to need some sort of area rug.  That is what this will be for.  I plan on making a rug but for that I'm gonna need lots of yarn.  I've seen many methods but this is the one I use.  The only difference is I cut them into 1" strips instead of 2".

My neighbour mention she has some old sheets that she's going to give me and I got so giddy when she mentioned it.  They're Micky Mouse sheets, so you know those balls will be colourful.  Umm, that didn't sound so good, but I think you know what I mean.

Menu Chalkboard

I'm going to start this off by saying, I hate cooking.  Don't mind baking, love eating, but HATE cooking.  Especially when I don't know what to make and it's 5:15pm when everyone's belly is grumbling.  I then get panicky and grouchy.

I knew I needed a solution and I've tried planning before.  It worked for a little but I would just put my plan on a little piece of paper on the side of the fridge.  Little white piece of paper on a white fridge?  So uninspiring.

Self discovery: I guess I really do need things to be, not only functional but also pretty to keep me inspired to keep up with an organizing system. 

I decided to make a chalkboard menu board in the kitchen.  I had a picture frame that wasn't being used.

I then took out the glass and picture and was happy to find a smooth surface underneath.

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From there I painted the board with some chalkboard paint like I did in the Craft Show Price Sign Post. I jazzed up the border with some washi tape and tried my best to do some fancy lettering.

 

I used a command hook for the top and a couple dollar-store cheapy ones to take some weight off on the bottom.  The bottom ones also keep the board from banging every time we open the pantry.  Also to keep things from banging I added some second skin on the bottom part of the frame where the hooks touch and a piece of plastic wrap on the top hook.

And that's it! My kids love it, as do I.  Now they don't ask me what we're having for breakfast or snack anymore.  It's a sanity saver in more ways than one.  I still can't say I love cooking but it is much more bearable at least.

 

 

Linking Up to: My RePurposed Life