Meetup

I started going to a group called Athens Area Crafters Become Awesome Business People. It's designed to help people like myself learn more about the business side to running an Etsy shop or crafting business. So far it's been very helpful and fun. I've been taking my very good friend Teenie with me. She helps me with certain things with my business so I figured that it would be just as good for her to go too. Teenie really enjoys these meetings. We get to sit in a coffee shop and listen to great advice while enjoying awesome coffee. The people in the group are really nice and talented.

Today we had Missy Kulik as our "mystery guest speaker" come in and share her story of how she got started making her products and how she grew into the business that she has today. I felt like I learned a lot from what she and her business partner Raoul had to say. I'm very excited to start using their advice and I feel pumped about making some new changes to my business.

I've been wanting to make more clothing. Missy suggested making things that look vintage. She mentioned a place where I could sell it aside from Etsy. Everyone loves vintage on Etsy, so I know it will be a hit. I made a dress yesterday that I'm very proud of. I saw a dress at Wal-mart that I really liked and it was gone when I came back to buy it. I didn't let that keep me from not getting the dress though. I went to Joann's where the patterns and fabric just so happened to be on sale at the time and bought enough stuff to make two dresses. Since the patterns were 5 for $5 I went ahead and bought more stuff for work clothes. The lady that checked me out hooked me up with every single coupon in the sales ad. Even the one for custom framing. They don't even do framing at that location! I wanted to give her the biggest hug for saving me so much money! I felt so loved. <3

I worked really hard on the dress this weekend and I was very proud with the end result. I can't wait to make the second dress. It's going to be black with white polka dots. I love polka dots so much!

New Photos!

The photo shoot was a success! I finally had a chance to get out and take a few pictures. My friend took the pictures and I modeled. It was still kinda wet outside, but it was a beautiful day for taking photos. This is just a taste of what I did. I have more photos on my Facebook and Deviant Art. 

www.facebook.com/magicineverystitch

www.branxnia.deviantart.com

Weeping Angel Treasury - Don't Blink!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/NjE2OTI1OXwyNzIxNDYwMDgz/dont-blink

Worst Show Ever

So I've experienced my worst show ever. The Zombie Prom didn't go the way that anyone expected I don't think. Basically it was Indie South Fair tagging along to the Zombie Prom that's been happening for a few years now. It was a great idea, but maybe the execution was off. I liked that the show was done indoors, but when you have a craft show inside there are a few things that you have to make sure of.

First is lighting. This was a dark bar with great natural light, but since this show started at 4 pm we didn't have that natural light for very long. The bar lights that came on after the sun was setting weren't very bright, but then again... y'know. Bar. People walked right passed my table because they saw that I had things that were knitted, but couldn't really see the details because it was so dark.

Second is music. This is the second show I've done where there was music. I can totally get behind wanting to play some music to set the mood and this was a Valentine's Day event, so it made complete sense. However, at both shows they decided to have the music as the focus and completely drowned out all conversation. I can understand having the music in the background but when people are trying to sell things to people and they can't hear the customer unless it's between songs, there's an issue.

Third is space. This was a bar. There wasn't a lot of space. There was space outside, but no one was going outside since it was cold. We were told that we could set up outside, but why would we set up somewhere that people weren't going to go to? We would have had even less chance to sell if we had set up outside. You go where the people are and the people were inside where it was warm and where the drinks were. The tables were set up completely in the way of the walking space and didn't leave much room for traffic. People were bumping into me trying to get to the bar all night. Some people that were there looked really confused about the bazaar set up in the middle of the bar and complained that we were in the way. Not to management or anything, just to each other. It really didn't make me feel better about going to this show.

Luckily I wasn't completely alone. I go to a lot of shows with a friend who makes things with chain mail. He sold a couple of things. A few of my friends stopped by to say hello which really brightened my spirits. I even got to see a couple of people that I hadn't seen in forever. One of my friends brought in his friends to show me off. They stayed at my table for at least thirty minutes which was really awesome. One was interested in taking my knitting classes and the other really wanted a breast cancer awareness purse I had made but wanted my friend to buy it for her. They weren't even going out or anything which is weird. Do girls just hang around guys and expect them to buy them things even if they aren't dating or putting out? If that is a thing I'll never understand it. He didn't even owe her money.

My friend bought me a drink from the bar which was really nice of him. I got an egg nogg frappee but it tasted like barf so I let him finish it. I think it was the liquor in it. If it was kahlua it would have been a lot better. He took me out to eat afterwards and paid for it. I guess he felt sorry that I didn't sell anything. My other friend that was selling chain mail came with us.

Even though the fair didn't pan out the way that I wanted it to I at least got to spend some time with my friends and got some advertising so it wasn't a complete waste. Also, the lady who's in charge of Indie South Fair said that we could get $20 off of our space cost for the Spring show. Those spaces are $80, but I'm sharing it with my friend. We both have tents, but I think his is bigger. We'll both have our own tables inside of the tent so we won't have to size down our inventory. I wasn't going to do this Spring show because $80 for a one day show is too much for me, but now I'm sharing the cost and getting an extra $20 off so I'm willing to do it. They usually just have two events every year and they've been doing it for years so they have a bit of a crowd. I'm confident that this show will be much better than the Zombie Prom.

Zombie Prom!

I will be selling my wares at the Zombie Prom in association with Indie South Fair. I can't wait! I've been making a lot of Valentine's Day things and hats for guys and gals in preparation for this event. I need to finish a lot of things before hand so I hope I get it all finished in time.

During December I sold a lot of Jayne Hats from Firefly. January I sold a Dr. Who scarf and so far this month I've sold four Harry Potter House scarves. Therefore, February is the month of Potter!

Ravenclaw seems to be the most popular of the four houses. Gryffindor is the second, with Slytherin third and Hufflepuff fourth. I've been thinking about making separate listings for each house and then the alternate first movie edition. I've been making these things for years I just haven't made the listings. 

I know I sound like a broken record when I say this, but I really, really, really need to do a new photo shoot for Etsy, Deviant Art, Ravelry, Facebook and here. I feel like my business could be doing better if I had better photos up. It seems like every chance I get to actually take the pictures it's always raining, foggy, or the people who said that they would help can't. 

Classes are now on Fridays!

I'm going to start doing knitting classes at Hobby Lobby off of Atlanta Hwy in Athens every Friday from 3 pm to 5 pm. I did a demo last Saturday to get the word out there. I got a lot of people to notice me since I was sitting at at a table knitting, but most of the people who talked to me thought that I worked there and asked me where things were. I tried really hard, but only got three people to actually sign the sign up sheet. Several people said that they weren't sure if they could make it, but would try their best. They legitimately seemed interested, but usually it's a nice way of saying "no thanks". I would much prefer it if people said what they really felt. Telling me your opinion won't hurt my feelings. Pretending you care and giving me hope will.

I made a cute flyer for my classes! These will be at the front of the store, so it doesn't have the location on it. I don't really plan on having these flyers anywhere besides the inside of the store that I'll be teaching in.

I've been preparing for the con season that is coming up. Hopefully I'll do as well as I did this past year. Momo Con is coming up and unfortunately I didn't get accepted into the artist alley. Sukoshi Con is next month and they haven't even opened applications for the artist alley yet, but it's pretty scary since the event itself is so close. I've been getting ready for it just in case. AWA is a really big event and it takes all year to get ready for that.

I got a lot of stuff done today. I finished a lime green and black elf hat, a Knives Chau scarf, and a Jayne hat. One of the things that I wish is to actually have a Jayne hat or two available for cons. They're my best seller on my Etsy shop so I know a few people would be interested in buying one at a con. It would be ideal to have a Dr. Who scarf available as well.

Glad that's over!

I just finished my very last Christmas order. Everything is packaged up and properly addressed. I can't wait to take these to the post office then I won't have anything to worry about! Whew!

Now that that's all taken care of I can finally get to Christmas shopping or making something for people. I have had no time for shopping while trying to catch up on my orders and recovering from a surgery. This past week has been very difficult. Thankfully I've had some super awesome friends that have been looking after me while I've been dealing with after-surgery awfulness.