Handmade Faire Craft Show

I went to my first craft show in quite some time as a customer this past weekend. The Handmade Faire show was held in Waretown, NJ and the first impression of the show was...I So Want To Do This Show Next Year!!!
There were 20+ members of the Etsy NJ street team selling at the show and the show's promoter... AbbieRoad.etsy.com (please go visit her shop!) did a wonderful job of selecting a wide variety of vendors and the quality of the items were among the best I've seen in recent memory at a south NJ show.
The layout was great, the turnout seemed to be steady during the time I was there and of course the Etsy members were very friendly. It was a lot of fun to meet many Etsy members that I previously only met through the site forums, such as SeahorseDesigns, NiftyPear and so many others. It was also great to say Hi to old friends like South Pacific Body and Little Pies again

The show was the first annual and I can't wait for next year's show...

Now I need to go promote and list a few new creations....I have to pay for everything I bought at the show yesterday...LOL

Craft Shows, New Items, Craft Networking...

My first craft show of the spring season was yesterday. It wasn't a very good show, turnout wise. The cloudy, rainy cold weather we've had along the Jersey shore recently had much to do with the turnout. After a cloudy, rainy, WARM Saturday, the sun finally made an appearance on Sunday. While it was much colder than the previous day, it was still nice enough to get outside and do things outside the house. There were sooo many people going out for walks and exercising (my hubby took the boys for a beachcombing trek and there quite a few people walking on the beach, fishing, etc) so, I think the nice day became a huge factor in the weak turnout.
The show also had many vendors selling jewelry. As a seller of jewelry, it's nice when shows limit the amount of jewelry they allow in the show. The promoters of this show didn't and there were some customers complaining about all the jewelry. So while I didn't have a good show, I did make back my table money and made a bit of a profit, but it certainly wasn't worth my time and effort. It could have been worse, but I think I'll have to pass on this spring show next year.

I made several new items for this show, including a bunch of new sea glass creations...bracelets, necklaces and earrings. One of the necklaces sold, along with a necklace from my Etsy shop (that had about a dozen hearts) and I sold a couple pairs of beach glass earrings. My beach glass items did draw a lot of attention and many of those people took a business card, so hopefully I make an Etsy sale or 2 from this show.

Craft networking... this is an interesting topic and one that I read quite a bit about in the Etsy forums. Networking outside of the the forums and does it work? It's worked for me, as I've made a few sales through these forums and discussed crafting, shows, Etsy. It's way to discuss things on a more personal basis than the Etsy forums, where sometimes you can end up talking with 20 people. Some of these social networking sites take up a little time each week, but they really do work and can often result in a new Etsy customer or three!

I came across this site about a month ago.... http://home.bigcrumbs.com/RideTheWave
I often surf Ebay for items or supplies I can use in my crafts. Some of the most-respected sea glass sellers sell jewelry quality pieces on Ebay and the link above, allows me to get cash back on my Ebay auction purchases!
I also just order a crafting magazine from one of the other sites affiliated with this program and my final cost for a magazine that I have purchased from the store fro $3.99 an issue... 1 year/8 issues for $9.90 after receiving my cash back rebate! (the subscription cost $12.00 minus a $2.10 rebate!) I get cash back when I buy from 230+ well-known company sites!
I'm doing nothing different, except getting cash back now....Very Cool and it's totally FREE!

Til next time...
R

Spring Craft Show Season, Etsy, Spring blog

So Spring is under way, though you wouldn't know it on the Jersey shore. It continues to be cold, windy and quite cloudy. The weather hasn't made it much fun to do a little beachcombing and for the first time in many months, I didn't head to the beach after a full or new moon to see if the sea presented any wonderful items.
Part of the reason, I didn't go was my youngest son had a bad chest/head cold and so did my his dad-and my beachcombing partner. Another reason has been that despite the weather, there has been quite a bit of competition on the beach... it seems like everyone is looking for beach glass, driftwood, unique shells, etc.
The prices for beach glass from reputable sellers on Ebay has more than doubled and in some cases tripled or quadrupled for what I was paying just 6-8 months ago. I call it the Etsy-effect. Beach glass creations sell for so much money on Etsy, that many people understand what a jewelry-quality piece of beach glass is worth. Many Ebay listings now sell pre-drilled beach glass, something that was rarely found on Ebay more than 6 months ago! I'm convinced that Etsy's popularity has something to do with it (and perhaps the lack of quality pieces showing up on the beaches factor in also)

My first craft show of the season is the Sunday, April 13th. The show is held at the Forked River High School, in Lacey Township and I'm excited about the advertising the promoters have been doing for this show. Huge (yes, HUGE!) signs have been posted around town and I've have seen some media advertising. The fall craft show always draws large crowds and with inclement weather predicted for this weekend, hopefully this show will get a nice turnout.
Over 200 handmade vendors will be there and spots are sold out!

My next show will be the first Sunday in May, in Manahawkin, NJ at the Southern Regional High School. I'm currently looking to add on more show before Memorial Day Weekend, hopefully local, before taking the summer off to enjoy the beach with my family, concentrate on my Etsy shop and gear up for the Fall/Winter show season.

I have many new creations, not yet listed on Etsy and I may wait until after this weekend's show to get them online. But, if the weather cooperates and Iget a nice day to take pictures, I'll try to preview some of the pieces in my next blog entry!

Random Craft Ideas , Lead in Jewelry Act, Craft shows

With March coming to a close, I've started noticing a change in the trends with jewelry, at least in the glass bead and beach glass categories. I guess this could be the Etsy-syndrome.

There are so many more sellers on Etsy than when I first started and that is less than one year ago! First of all glass bead supplies sell-out so quick in recent months. Factor in California's recent legislature limiting the amount of lead in supplies and it's not hard to see why some suppliers move their merchandise so rapidly.

Many suppliers have yet to conform to the Lead in Jewelry Act and haven't listed lead amounts on their packaging. Many companies have yet to respond to emails concerning lead amounts, which scares me into wondering exactly how much lead they have in their products or if they are even aware of the amounts.

With Beach Glass or sea glass as it's also called, I have found prices of jewelry quality pieces to have doubled, even tripled over the last 2 months. Especially when the pieces are already drilled. There have also been quite a bit of "lots" of drilled beach glass, advertised as jewelry-quality, being sold. Many of the lots have pieces that don't really look "jewelry-quality", but I guess that's my opinion. I wonder if many suppliers have gone through much of their jewelry quality supply and are taking advantage of the Etsy-Syndrome... more demand than actual supply, so drill it and say it's for jewelry.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not finding the quality of glass beads or beach glass that I found only 6 short months ago. Perhaps the combo of California's "Lead in Jewelry" law and the large amount of jewelry makers now on Etsy have contributed to the best glass beads being bought up quickly. The same goes for beach glass, a supply where I had minimal competition until recently.

I've also found quite a bit of competition on the beach the last few months, as people have been braving the cold, windy NJ weather to search for glass. The ocean hasn't been giving up too many pieces in recent weeks and the ones that are actually jewelry quality are few and far between. Who knows how much more is really sitting in the ocean, waiting for it's chance to be beached. I could really foresee a day when the rare colors will be very expensive to buy, either as a raw piece or already as part of a jewelry creation.

I have 2 craft shows on tap for the early spring....

The first will be in Forked River on April 13th at the Lacey High School. Promoting for the show has already begun. The promoters have placed huge signs around town more than 2 weeks in advance of the show, which is exciting to see! Their fall show is usually an excellent show, so I'm hoping for a nice sized turnout for the spring show.

The 2nd show will be in Manahawkin, at the Southern Regional High School on May 2. The show they have in the fall is also very popular and hopefully, the spring show will be no different.

If anyone is going to either show, please stop by, if you see my table , and say Hi! I love meeting Etsy members and those that read my blog!

Also, goodbye to the piece pictured above... it's on it's way to a new home in Washington !!

Til next time...

R