Apple. Butter. Cheese.

I've awoken from my slumber. At least that is how it feels.  After a few weeks of holding down two jobs, completing renos, and keeping a family running I now have less on my plate.  Yippee!  More time for creating!

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited by a friend of mine to join her at a local festival.  I'm almost embarrassed to say that despite living in the area for 10+ years I have never been to the Wellesley Apple Butter and Cheese festival.  This year was my first and I got to be a vendor!  I still didn't have as much product as I would have liked (Do you ever?) but managed a fairly good display.  By the time I took this photo, the Olaf hat had already sold.

Display including new screen

Despite being held on the last Saturday of September it was hot.  The temperature hit 30 degrees celsius and it was super sunny.  Most craft vendors were in the arena but we were outdoors which was nice actually.  No matter where you went, it was hot.  It was nice to be out in the sun enjoying all those who were visiting the festival.

If you read my post about the show in Elmira, you'll know that I also had wanted to improve my display for the next show.  Thanks to some time on Pinterest, I was able to do so.  Thanks Pinterest!  I built myself a screen to hang items on (instructions to come in later post), sewed a green chevron accent table cloth, and made use of my vintage suitcases. Due to limited space, I pushed the screen into the corner behind the table.  All in all, I'm happy with the look.  I'd love to hear what you think.  

What an amazing day!  I realized that doing this craft shows is really what I love to do.  It doesn't feel like work.  I really enjoy sitting and working on projects (since knitting in portable :), talking to people visiting the show, and meeting other vendors.  

Some of my items including quilts for sale by Aimee MIchelle Designs

Location, location, location

Yesterday I took part in the first annual car show and vendor sale in Elmira.  Every year the local businesses put on a sidewalk sale.  This year, in an attempt to bring more people to downtown, they also added a car show with entertainment on Friday evening and vendors for the 3 days of the sale.  Given it is the first year, setting up as a vendor was free.  I figured why not?!  Even if I sold very little, or nothing at all, I was out for exposure.

Originally I didn't think I could make the car show on Friday.  I was happily surprised to have my calendar open up.  It seemed to me the car show event would bring the most people.  And it did!  The car show was a success for the first year with 120 cars displayed and quite a crowd.  Unfortunately, that crowd stayed primarily in the middle of the street occasionally leaving to head towards retail stores to check out the deals.  And I wasn't near a retail store.  

Great to see a good turn out!

They had placed me in front of the bank hoping to draw people further down the street.  It was a great thought but perhaps would have been better with more than little ol' me and my 6 foot table which looked tiny compared to the front of the bank.

Pretty quiet down my way :)

In the end, I did get a few people who came by and sold a few items. It isn't an experience I regret in the least but I did choose not to head back on Saturday.  The experience highlighted the importance of location.  

The experience also gave me a chance to look at my set-up and re-evaluate.  Just before the show I purchased some vintage suitcases which I love and intend to reuse again.  I would like to look at adding some additional layers and height to the display.  As well as remember my table cloth next time :)

Hmmm.  Needs some work

Off to Pinterest I go for some craft show booth display ideas!  I see some blog posts on creating craft show displays in the future.

Keep being awesome!
Laura

Just a couple of the cars at the show