Craft Fair Debut

So I participated in a holiday bazaar! And I WON! Okay okay, there were no "winners." But the point is, I did not at the end of the day feel like a big loser. And that is a really good thing.

The bazaar took place in the back-room studio of my friend Shana's Greenpoint shop, In God We Trust. She is such a fireball of energy and awesomeness and great taste. The epically tall walls of the studio are covered in artwork and other curious decorations, which passerbys would admire with a museum-crawl slow walk as they perused the booths. My booth was planted right next to the booth for Shana's home shop (of which I wanted to buy 90% of the inventory, including a jadeite juicer and a horse head hook, which I DID buy). I asked the guy manning the booth if Shana has minions running around the Connecticut countryside buying up all of the cool antiques for her shops, and he tells me that she pretty much does all of it herself. At around noon, I watched Shana--all 100 pounds of her--lift a table and drag it across the courtyard with a cigarette dangling out of her mouth. And then my friend Morgan tells me about the drywall she pretty much single-handedly installed in their studio when they lived together. Basically, she is a force to be reckoned with, and I was honored to be part of her energy and her clique of crafters.


I brought in my fresh-from-the-printer HeyAllday Handmade business cards, and displayed them on the cross-stitched tablecloth that Aunt Ginny and Uncle Chuck gave me and Robb as a wedding gift. We were so terrified about people spilling mulled wine on the tablecloth, however, that we just used it as a runner and gave people dirty looks if they even thought about putting down their glass.

Here was the girl serving up said mulled wine--one of my besties and the greatest bar wench of all time, Morgan. Don't you want to drink glogg served by this girl?

And here are the little grocery-list notebooks that I made at the very last minute. Never have I made something so freaking adorable and yet so poorly constructed. Basically, these are made from cardstock that I covered in glue, then smoothed fabric over. I even went to my new favorite website--This to That--so that I could find out exactly what kind of glue I should use to glue paper to fabric. And then I went home and precisely did not follow those directions. I learned the hard way that wood glue makes light fabrics turn yellow and makes fabric feel downright sharp. The notebooks became free giveaways...given with a wink and an apology. Note to self: perfect by spring.

Speaking of spring, I believe that will be the time for my tote bags to shine. Look at the palette, people! This is clearly a springtime collection. Amazingly, despite the Easter colors, I sold about half of my stock. YAY! The reception was super positive, and overall it was SUCH a fun day. The people were lovely, the offerings were incredible, and I'm now basically addicted to craft fairs.