Working It Wednesday: Picking and Choosing

Hello all! It's been a few weeks since I've blogged here but that doesn't mean I've forgotten my work. After the success of the Fall craft fairs I did I took a little time off from working and just enjoyed the holiday season. Now that the new year is here I've been busy planning out what I'll do this year to improve upon the success I had last year.

The first task at hand is deciding which events I want to participate in for 2017. I've started both a mental list and an official list. Different events bring different clientele and each event has its own pros and cons. I spent a good bit of time looking back at the events of last year and weighing out my options. And of course I'm always on the hunt for new events that I haven't yet participated in.

For now, I've officially signed up for the Hutchison Beeline Bazaar on 3/4/17
and the Bartlett United Methodist Spring Craft Fair on 3/17-3/18. If you're local to Memphis come visit my booth at one of these events! As soon as registration opens for East Buntyn Artwalk and the V&E Artwalk, I plan to register for those as well. I've literally been checking the website for the East Buntyn Artwalk daily waiting on registration to open! It was my favorite event last year and the one I am most excited about this year. You can follow my Instagram account or watch here for updates as I get signed up for events.

As previously mentioned in other posts, I'm working on refining my products. I am still not planning to sell my painted rocks anymore because of the 901 Rocks movement but I am working with a few ideas to elaborate on what I was doing before they came into the picture. I'm considering making magnets out of some painted rocks and I'm also considering doing larger rocks which would serve as paperweights or even larger ones that could be garden stones. And my sister and I have done a little brainstorming on my garden markers to make them better sellers. And in October there will be a new style of Nativity set introduced. So painted rocks aren't totally out of the picture but they won't be sold as they were last year. Canvas art will still be at my shows but I'm working on creating series of works instead of random individual paintings.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Working It Wednesday: Event Booth Prep

This week I've been working on my booth for my upcoming events. The event I have later this month is the Hutchison School Beeline Bazaar, which is an indoor event. I love indoor events! That means my booth doesn't need a tent and I don't have to worry about wind or weather situations. 

I haven't participated in any events since last April and that was an outdoor event so needless to say, my booth needed some re-vamping. I started by sketching out the vision in my mind of what my "indoor" booth should look like. Here's what I came up with:

How I hope the booth will look!

I still had all my old signs from events I'd done last year but they were the wrong colors so I repainted them and am so much happier with the new color scheme than my previous one. My previous colors were more primary colors and now they're more of a beachy pastel scheme. Yellow, Coral, Aqua and Light Grey. I also used my newfound skill of hand-lettering to redo my chalkboard sign. My writing still isn't where I 'd want it to be but it's much better and will do for now until I can sharpen my skills.

My pile of table fixtures and signage, all freshly painted!

Next, I needed a backdrop of sorts. I already had tables and shelves but have never had a backdrop because I've never wanted to shell out the money for one. Everything I found that would work in the past has been upwards of $100 or more. I hate spending a lot of money on display stuff and just won't do it. I'd rather put money into my products. Luckily for me, I scored a wonderful shutter folding screen on a yard sale site for only $40! It was old and dirty as the previous owner had used it outdoors but I figured it was nothing a little elbow grease and painting couldn't fix up. 

The shutter screen before my handy work.

Let's just say I had no idea how much work it would be to sand and paint shutters. All those teeny tiny wooden slats! It took 2 days of working on it to get it how I wanted it. Eventually though, I got it looking decent enough to make me happy. I was so happy to be finished with it that I actually forgot to take a picture of the finished product before I put it in my storage unit. I painted it a light grey and made sure it had a distressed and worn look to it. 

 Me, all smiles before getting started! I had no idea how much work was ahead of me!

I can't wait to see how everything comes together at my first event and I'll be sure to post lots and lots of pictures on here, Facebook and Instagram afterwards! If you're local to the Memphis area and want to come see the booth all finished and set up, please come visit the Beeline Bazaar on Saturday, March 19th! You can read more about the event here: https://www.hutchisonschool.org/beelinebazaar

Working It Wednesday: Vendor Events

This week instead of actually making some sort of art, I'm spending some time researching local festivals and events for 2016. I've done a few events in the past and have been successful at all of them but now that I'm living in a new area, I have to research new events to see which ones might be right for me.

Personally, I love an indoor event. It's cleaner, temperature controlled, no worry about rain, etc. So far, I've only found one upcoming indoor event and I immediately sent in my application. It's an annual event held by the Junior class at Hutchison School called Beeline Bazaar. It's being held on Saturday, March 19th from 10-4 and is free to the public. At this particular event, I will only be selling my story stones. All of my regular sets of themes will be available as well as single stones for creating your own mix and match variety set. You can read more about this annual event here:
www.hutchisonschool.org/beeline_bazaar

Outdoor events can be fun too so long as the weather isn't terrible. Some events offer rain dates while others have a rain or shine (read: no refunds) policy. Last year I lost money on an even that was "rain or shine" because it was raining cats and dogs complete with thunder and lightening so I opted not to attend even though I'd paid all my booth fees already. I have zero desire to stand in the rain and mud trying to keep my art dry while hoping someone will be crazy enough to come out and shop in the rain. No thank you. So, that said, I hold favor for events that offer rain dates. Through Facebook I found a local neighborhood event called the V and E Artwalk. It is outdoors but they have a rain date just in case so I feel like I have a safety net if needed. The event is being held Saturday, April 23rd from 11-6 and is free to the public. For this event I haven't fully decided what products I want to sell. I know I will have canvas paintings for sure and most likely I will also sell mix and match individual story stones. You can read more about this annual event here:
www.vandegreenline.org

My goal would be to find an average of 1 event per month that I could participate in. As I apply and get approval to participate, I'll be sure and post them to my Facebook page so anyone who is interested can stay in the loop. If you haven't yet "liked" my Wishes and Wonderment Facebook page, you can check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/wishesandwonderment