Chris Cringle First Sale

Hi!  No, we haven't forgotten you.  We've been a little busy.  Early in November, we had a booth at the annual Chris Cringle craft show in Champaign, IL.  This was our 5th year participating in the show.  If you've ever had a booth at a craft show, you never know how long you will have to wait for your first sale of the day.  Sometimes it takes over an hour for the first person to buy something.  At the start of a show, it seems that everyone just wants to look around to see what is available.  But sometimes we have buyers before the show is officially open.  That's what happened to us this year.

For the past 3 years, we have had the same people as our first sale.  There are 3 sisters who attend Chris Cringle every year.  For the first 2 years we were at the show, one of the sisters came alone.  And she made a purchase from us both years.  Then 3 years ago, she brought her 2 sisters.  2 of them fought over wanting to buy the same elephant tote.  So we had to make a custom order for the sister who didn't have first dibs on the tote.  This year they both came carrying their elephant totes.  Yay for loyalty!

The past 2 years, these 3 sisters have made a point of coming to our booth first to make their first purchases.  Who knew we would have a following.  It's kind of fun.  So, we took pictures of our first sales this year.  You get to vote on which item you like best:  a phone bag or a wristlet.

Phone Bag

Wristlet

A couple hours after these ladies made their annual purchase from us, another lady stopped by and asked if we had any more elephant totes.  She had seen the sisters with their totes and wanted to know where they got them.  She loved elephants, too.  They directed her to our booth, but we didn't have elephant totes this year.  We didn't have anything that had elephants on it.  We've realized from these craft shows that people love fabrics with animals.  We try to have a variety of animal prints, but we just can't please everyone all the time.

Stay tune for our exciting new challenges we have planned for next year.  Just remember to vote!

Have a safe and happy holiday season.

November Challenge

We had a great time at the Chris Cringle craft show earlier this month.  We sold alot of our goods and made a little money.  That's always nice.  Our first customers this year were 3 sisters.  These 3 sisters love animal prints.  Dogs.  Cats.  Elephants.  Anything with animals.  They each bought a new coin purse and maybe a coaster or two.  They were our first customers at the show last year, too.  They made a point of visiting our booth first this year before any other booth, because they wanted to buy some of our products.  That made us feel good.  This was our 4th year to have a booth at Chris Cringle, and one of the sisters has bought from us every year.  For some odd reason, I always remember her.  She has always bought animal prints.

A week or so after that show, we received invitations to 2 or 3 other shows this year.  We aren't able to make commitments to them, because we are already booked.  We don't do many craft shows, because sewing is a hobby for us.  We don't want it to feel like work, and it's not how we earn a living.  It's just a fun thing that earns us a little money.  No harm in that.

But...we do have other events on our calendars.  Joy is holding her annual Crafty Christmas Open House on Dec. 7th.  Jan is busy getting ready for two more shows.  The first one is this Saturday, Nov. 30th at Not Your Mama's Craft Market at the YMCA at Marysville, OH.  Her next show is less than a week later at her workplace.

We both decided to make new and different items that we didn't have available at Chris Cringle.  And that is what we decided to share as our challenge for this month.  Never before seen stuff.

Here's what we've come up with this month.

Framed embroidery
These are simple inspirational framed embroidery pieces that would look great on your desk, dresser, or kitchen counter.  Fill your hearts and minds with uplifting words and you'll be more inclined to treat others in a positive way.

Liberty of London totes
These totes are made from the luxurious Liberty of London fabrics.  Beautiful is the only word to describe them.

Remember...vote for your favorite.  and have a great Thanksgiving!!!