It’s (Craft) Show Time!

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The craft show season is upon us, ladies and gentleman, and my dance card is filling up nicely already!  Since this is my first spring/summer season in business I’m trying to do just a few great shows instead of just signing up for everything all willy-nilly.





In a few weeks (on April 16th, to be exact – go ahead and put it on your calendar) is Record Store Day at Luna Music in Broad Ripple.  This is another show put on by the lovely Martha, the brains behind Handmade Promenade.  There’s going to be great music and I’m hoping for good weather – it’s an outside show.

My crafty buddy Shan of Green Illuminations invited me to participate in an open house hosted at a friend’s house in May.  I’ve never done an open house, but I’m excited.  I think the more intimate setting will be great for getting to know some new customers.





I just found out Tuesday that I got accepted to the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange Summer Show.  This is SO AWESOME.  I’ve been to this show the past two years and am always so impressed by what’s sold there, so it just knocks me over that I’m going to be a part of it.

Although I haven’t managed to send in my application yet, I’m planning on being at the Rocky Ripple Festival again this year.  The 2010 show was my very first show so it’s going to be great to no longer be a rookie!

I’ll probably try to find one more show in July or August to finish up the bobaloo! Summer Tour.  If you’ve got any suggestions, let me know!

Are you a craft show shopper?  Any shows you try not to miss?

bobaloo! is one of Babble’s top 50!

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How awesome is that?!  If you’re already a Facebook fan you know all about it, but I wanted to share the big news here too!



Babble.com just listed my Etsy shop as one of the 2011 Top 50 Etsy Baby Shops!  I also made it to #9 in the Gear category.  Go check out the article – there are a ton of an awesome shops listed!

Thanks Jaime and babble.com for the awesome honor!

I Just Bought 100 Yards Of Fabric. Oh my.

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I know you guys are tired of hearing about it.  I’m tired of debating it, and my husband’s tired of looking at fabric swatches online.  So I finally did it.

I placed my first wholesale fabric order!  Yippee!



I’ve been doing research on this for quite a while now.  I whipped up a color story for 2011 to guide my fabric choices and looked through lines of fabric OVER and OVER.  For a couple of weeks now I’d been set on opening an account with Westminster/Free Spirit – I even have all my fabrics picked out.  Their opening order is $750 so my little business has been patiently saving money in hopes of getting there soon.

But I got antsy.  I started to look around again.  And I realized Riley Blake Designs has a TON of prints I like, in colors that fit my color story!  And they have a much lower starting minimum.  I’m sure you can guess how this turned out – I ordered 100 (yes, ONE HUNDRED) yards of fabric from Riley Blake!  Here are the five full bolts I bought:


Plus I bought a set of 3 yards of each of 8 fabrics from the Wheels line, which was on sale for WAY cheap (I think it’s out of print).  I’m now realizing I have no idea which of these fabrics I’ll get, so it will probably be all the blenders and not the cool bike and car prints, but that’s okay.





Looking at my choices made me realize I may have an affinity for polka dots.  This is reinforced by the fact that there is both a green dot and a brown dot fabric currently in my dryer.  I was trying to buy fabrics I’d use a bunch of, and dots go with everything, right?

I’m also excited about two upcoming Riley Blake lines that I’ll be able to order from – Happier and Farm Fresh.  Aren’t these two prints so stinkin’ cute? 




Hopefully in the next couple of months I’ll be opening that Free Spirit account, too, especially since I put so much work into picking my fabrics (and hello, bolts of Nicey Jane?  Awesome!).

Are there any supplies you buy in mass quantities?  Do you love having a big supply of the same thing, or do you like having small amounts of a variety?  Am I going to be so tired of these fabrics that I’ll never want to see them again?

Stats Tracking with Free Downloadable Spreadsheet!

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This past Monday the subject of the weekly Crafterminds chat was stats.  There are a lot of schools of thought on stats – follow them closely, don’t look at them at all, look at them occasionally… it seems like everyone has a different view on the subject.

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I will admit to checking my shop stats more often than really necessary (darn you, Craftopolis!).  Blogger also makes it entirely too easy to view blog stats, so maybe I swing on over to that Stats tab here and there.  But I promise, the serious number crunching only happens once a month!

I made an Excel spreadsheet a few months back to keep track of all of those numbers generated by running your own online business and blog, including blog stats, social networking numbers, and the fees and views associated with selling online and at fairs.  After that chat on Monday I thought maybe I should just share it with you guys!


 

There are 3 pages with a different set of numbers on each.  The first page is information on sales and fees.  I’ve set this page up with a section for two separate online shops (I have an abandoned Cargoh shop, which is another blog post) plus a general craft shows section.  The purpose of this page is to see what percentage of your sales is being spent on fees (there’s a formula already in the spreadsheet to calculate the percentage).





The second page tracks shop views, visits, and item information, again for two separate shops.  I get most of this info from Google Analytics.  I also have a formula in there to track the average views per item.





The last page is mostly social networking stats, plus a column for newsletter subscribers.  No formulas here, just a bunch of good ol’ numbers that I gather from a bunch of sources, including Google Analytics, my Facebook page, and Mail Chimp. 

I’ve filled in six months of stats with some made-up numbers so you can see how everything works.  Also, there’s space on each page to make notes on events that may have affected stats, like a giveaway or a bad craft fair. 

Want to try it out?  Download it here!



Make sure you come on back and let me know if you like it!

The Cure for Monday is Cookies

Tweet I’m taking a break from the sewing and business coverage to talk about my other favorite activity – eating (particularly eating sweets).  It was just me and the kiddos all day yesterday, and on days like that we all tend to get a little tired of each other at about three in the afternoon.  I thought cookies would probably help.





The latest issue of Martha Stewart Living has the most ADORABLE little chick cookies on the cover.  I somehow have a chick cookie cutter (and a bunny, bonus!) so I’ve been itching to copy them.  I have only attempted royal icing-topped cookies once before yesterday and that batch was a royal mess (ha!). 





I can’t find the article from the magazine on the Martha Stewart site, but it looks like the cookie recipe is here and the icing recipe is here.  After the cookies were cool, I made one big batch of white icing, then tinted two separate bowls pink and purple with Wilton gel food coloring.  I poured both colors into plastic squeeze bottles and did my best to spread the icing evenly.





These are WAY better than my last attempt.  The cookies tasted just okay – the dough seemed really dry – so I'll probably hunt down another cookie recipe before I attempt another batch.  Also, I can’t seem to get the consistency of the icing right.  The pink icing ran off some of the cookies and the purple was so thick it made for a teeth-crackingly thick layer of icing.

Who’s got cut-out cookie tips for me?  Why do I keep messing up royal icing?  Want to share your favorite recipes?

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.  If you click through and buy something I get a teeny tiny percentage of your purchase back, which I will promptly spend on fabric.

Weekend Links, March 12th

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10 Things to Never Say to a Crafter/Artist/Indie Business Owner from Indie Pretty Projects.  This made me laugh out loud, for real.  I even had to read it to my husband.  I’ve heard some version of most of these, and I’m sure you guys have too!

2 Reasons Why Discounts are Deadly for Crafters from Hello Craft.  This is such an excellent article about the dangers of the current discount-shopper mentality being harmful to handmade businesses.  I have given a discount code here or there and this article has really made me think about if it’s a good idea.





Make It

7 Ways to Restyle a T-shirt with Cal Patch from Craft Stylish.  Who doesn’t have a few old tshirts laying around asking to be turned into something cute?  This post has some great, easy restyling ideas.

Homemade Spring Gift with Free Printable Card from Living Locurto.  I’ve never made lemon curd, but I sure have eaten my fair share.  Packaged in a sweet little jar with a a tag, this is an awesome idea for a hostess gift for a spring party.  It’s almost cookout season, right?





Be Inspired
Boy’s Room:
Sources, Projects & A Question from Centsational Girl.  This boy’s room is AMAZING!  It’s sophisticated but still totally appropriate for a boy, plus Kate gives links to must of the products and explains a lot of the smaller projects in the room.

Productivity

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My husband’s been off work since last Wednesday and isn’t going back until Monday.  While I love the man dearly, having him home has COMPLETELY thrown off my schedule!  Luckily he’s feeling better now and has returned to being Super Dad, so I’ve conquered a ton of projects that have been lurking around.




I took a short break from the to-do list to make a bunch of beanbags, which are for some unknown reason one of my favorite things to make.  I’m not sure if they’ll go up in the Etsy shop this time because shipping always ends up being kinda high since they’re heavy.  I’ll probably take a few over to the Little Green Bean Boutique and the rest will come with me to this year’s shows.





The unfinished project I gave you a sneak peak of a while back is a sweet Changing Pad Clutch that I made for a very special celebration over at Emily’s blog, DesignHer Momma.  Casey, a good friend of Emily’s, is a fellow Indy blogger who is expecting her second kiddo after a loooong wait.  Emily is throwing her one heck of a baby shower and the Changing Pad Clutch was my contribution.



What does this have to do with you, you ask?  Part of the baby shower celebration is giveaways galore!  Head on over to Emily’s blog to enter the $20 bobaloo! giveaway so you can buy yourself something pretty from my Etsy shop.  And tell Emily I said hi!

Hopefully this week I continue to destroy my need-to-sew list and build up some more inventory.  This Saturday will be fun because I get to meet my first blogging buddies IN PERSON – can’t wait to see you girls!

What are you all up to?  Being lazy, enjoying the (slightly) warmer weather, knocking out that to do list?  Motivate me to keep working!