I am very honored to be published in Fox Channel's My9 News - NJMyWay blog ( online blog that feature food, shopping, businesses, events and good causes around the state of New Jersey ).
I got in touch with
HauteKeys on Etsy who was looking for local artisans to feature in her article. She was so sweet to include my
little shop as well in her article -
Jersey Crafters On LineI also had my first Holiday Boutique Craft Show last week. It was a great experience. I packed up everything carefully and forgot to take one important thing, guess what - a CAMERA. So sorry friends, I don't have picture of my booth setup but if I say so myself, I was quite impressed with how it came together. I took all the help from Etsy forums regarding Craft Shows that I could get regarding table display, approaching customers, etiquette and everything in between.
I didn't buy anything new for the setup as this was my first craft show and I haven't planned on doing more shows for this year.
I used everything that I could find around the house.
I already had Bed Risers that I used to raise the height of my table. I then put a queen size bed sheet as my table cloth ( worked perfectly fine ) which covered all 3 sides ( front, and 2 sides ) so I could hide all the boxes and extras underneath the table without showing mess to the customers. On top of the bed sheet, I laid a lace bathroom shower curtain which looked very sophisticated.
I then started setting up products. I took 4 white trays in which I put my
Post It Holders. I raised height of 2 trays by putting white boxes beneath them - it gave height variation and added more interest. I put all my
Scrapbook Albums in a rectangle basket and few for display outside on the table.
I took 2 cheap plastic shoe racks which were easy to assemble/disassemble and added
Checkbook Covers,
Passport Covers, and
Business Card Covers by putting them on hooks. They were exactly at the eye level and drew lot of people to the table.
I had one design open of each cover if somebody wanted to touch and see them :)
For
Magnetic Calendars, I took a cookie baking tray with me which stayed nice and tall showing each one in detail.
I know its hard to visualize all these without a picture, but what can I say I totally forgot to bring a camera in all the hurry and excitement :(
The response was good whoever stopped at the table but there were not many people who came for the event.
Its not that hard to explain to people about your own product. I wasn't sure if I would be able to say anything to people looking at my products and market them effectively. Response was good so I can say I can do my own marketing in future face-to-face ( my biggest worry ).
So overall, I would say I gained lot of experience, found out I can do marketing and made some money while doing it!
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