Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The Agony and the Ecstasy -- First Craft Show Set-up

This weekend marked an important milestone for Macaroni and Glue - my first attempt to showcase my product for a live, in-person audience. It wasn't any major thing - just a little bazaar-type sale with my local women's group. But I used it as an opportunity to evaluate my product line, create new designs/retire old ones, and to work on my overall branding in an effort to create a cohesive mini-shop that would be as closely aligned with my online shop as possible.

Despite the fact that the weather turned bad and sales were DISMAL (and, no, I don't want to talk about it...), I got great feedback on my product and on my "booth." And I was very proud of both! What do you think?

But for the DISMAL sales (oh, did I mention that already?), I'm really glad that I was able to muster the courage to put a display together. It gave me focus in the weeks leading up to the sale and provided a great incentive to spend time designing new items to help round out my Etsy shop.

The new designs, by the way, will be popping up in the shop over the course of the next week or so. Look for more variety in my greeting card offerings and a couple of great new boxed sets. In fact, I've updated my shop sections to accommodate some more diverse pieces. Here are a few of my faves from the new batch:

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Good for you, Miss Macaroni and Glue!!! Sorry for the dismal sales, but hey, at least you got out there and gave it a shot!!

And I'm loving that call me card! Sooo cute.

Crafty Mama said...

That "call me" card is adorable!

Kerith Collins said...

at least you did it...good for you...but think of it this way...there really are not any card holidays or events right now...come school starting...then halloween...then the big holidays...i bet you learned alot from this that you will use when those holidays come!

Lee said...

I feel your pain with the dismal sales, but don't let it deter you! I'd give it another shot in the fall.

Michele said...

That's great that you ventured into the craft show venue! Don't give up-my first full year of doing shows was a total learning curve. You'll learn which shows are better for your product, which seasons work better for you, etc. Your booth & product look great. Continued success to you.
Best, Michele

The Bunny Maker said...

GAH! sales are really crap everywhere at the moment! 3 years ago I was making loads of sales at them - its got worse each year - I avoid anything selling to the general public now as people aren't willing to part with their money - too much cheap import rubbish so easily available ....rant rant ...

Julian said...
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