Selling at a Craft Fair for the First Time

My daughter and I sold some of our handmade items at a craft fair for the first time last Saturday. We had a fun time. We got there about 45 minutes before the start of the fair to set up our table.

We covered two boxes with fabric and put photo frames on top of them. We leaned handmade cards against the photo frames so that they could be seen clearly.

My daughter's good idea was to take along some hardback books with the dust jackets removed. We lined these up at the back of the table, between the two boxes, and leaned cards against them so that the cards were prominently displayed.

We then arranged the rest of our items on the table, putting larger hand-knitted items in the middle and smaller items on each side.

All-in-all, I think we created an attractive display. Once the fair began, it was nice to chat to the visitors and sell some items. It was interesting to find out which items people liked best.

I also spent about half an hour going around the fair myself while my daughter held the fort. It was great to chat with the other craftspeople and see what they'd made. I'm always inspired by other people's creativity.

At the end of the day, we made a small profit. I was happy with that. It was a good start for our first craft fair. It was quite a small fair and, although there was a steady stream of visitors throughout the day, it wasn't attended by lots and lots of people. But, that was fine for our first fair.

We're now inspired to do more fairs. I was chatting to a couple who are thinking of starting to organize local craft fairs on a regular basis, so I'm sure it won't be the only fair we'll sell at.

Handmade Summer Card Giveaway!

To celebrate the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere, I thought that it would be fun to have a little giveaway on Crafts on a Budget!

This is a card that I made to celebrate some of the good things about summer! It would be ideal to send to a friend or relative, especially someone who is going on a long summer vacation or who is looking forward to the summer for a special reason.

The card is blank inside for your own message and it comes with a matching envelope. The card and the envelope will be protected inside a cellophane bag.

Entry to the giveaway is open to anyone living anywhere in the world. The card will be sent by Australia Post if you live in Australia and by airmail if you live outside Australia.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post. If you would like a second entry, please write a blog post about this giveaway and then leave another comment with a link to your blog post.

The closing date for this giveaway is midnight on Friday, June 6 2009 (US West Coast time). The winner will be chosen by using the random number generator at http://www.random.org/ on Saturday June 7 2009 and the winner's name will then be posted on Crafts on a Budget. I will contact the winner to ask for the mailing address details.

Good Luck!