I met my boyfriend, Corey, at Presidential Oaks at about 8:30am. He had an RC (Remote Control Car) race today, so he had gone to the race track at 7am to set up his tent and table and then came back to drop off my craft stuff at the show for me afterward. He was mad at me at the time (Men!), so only helped me put my table cloth on the table before leaving me to do the rest by myself. Luckily, a fellow NH Etsy Team member was there as well and offered to let me borrow her thirteen year old nephew to help me set up my table. He was a really nice kid and I don’t know what I would have done without him helping me. (Thanks again Tina, if you’re reading this!)

I was all set up by the time the doors opened at 9am. I made sure to introduce myself to my “neighbor”, Aubrey (A man, by the way) who was there helping his mother sell her crafts. She lives right there at Presidential Oaks and makes these very beautiful bird feeders out of plastic soda bottles. After I had my table all set up the way I wanted it, I asked Aubrey to take a couple of photos of me behind my table. He was more than happy to and was also a very nice person. I took a few other photos of my set up too. I’ll post them all either later tonight or tomorrow.

I had gone to a craft show there around Christmas time last year and it didn’t have as good a turn out as this one did. Both crafter and customer wise. I remember seeing a lot of empty tables last year. I was talking to Sarah, the woman who organizes the craft shows for Presidential Oaks, and she said they sometimes get a few “no shows” at every show but only had two today. We had a steady flow of customers all morning, up until around noon and then it slowed down because of it being lunch time. That was around the time my grandparents showed up to visit and that made it so that I was able to go around and check out the other crafters, while my grandmother sat and watched my table for me.

I ended up trading one of my fish cat toys for one of Tina’s mouse cat toys. They are too cute. I gave it to my cats when I got home and they love it. I don’t know why I only got one though. They never share! My grandparents left around 1pm and around 1:30pm my great Aunt Carla stopped by. She was able to stay with me until the show ended at 2pm and helped me pack up my stuff and brought it back to my apartment for me. That worked out really well. I didn’t know what I was going to do to get my stuff home since Corey was busy. I thought I was either going to have to ask Tina to help me, or leave my stuff there for the night and have Corey go get it tomorrow. Luckily I didn’t have to do that, though.

All in all I think it was a good day. I enjoyed myself. I wasn’t nearly as tired, uncomfortable or bored as I thought I might be. Although it did hit me when I got home and ended up taking a two hour nap. It was a free show, so I only profited from doing it. I gave Sarah all of my contact information for her to let me know when their next show is. Apparently they have three a year. I didn’t know that. I also signed up to be a member of the NH Artisan’s group. As a member, you go to meetings and such to help plan the shows, among other things. That should be interesting.

I’ll post photos soon. That’s all for now.

Love Jessica Always

In the bag was a small piece of dark green felt. I have been wanting to start using felt to make different versions of my stuffed bears and bunnies, as well as start making new things like pillows and other various stuffed animals but haven’t yet. I made a fish shaped cat toy with that piece of felt and now I really want to start using it even more than I did before. It’s so easy to cut by hand (I am not physically able to use a rotary cutter, due to being disabled) and is pretty easy to sew and very easy to stuff. It’s so soft and holds a form really well once stuffed. I really like the way the toy came out. I like the way all of my toys come out, but there’s something about the felt that just makes it different. I’m disappointed that there was only that small piece of it in the bag and that I only had enough to make one toy out of it.

I think felt is pretty cheap to buy, but I guess I have to look into it more and find out.

If anyone reading this has any felt that they no longer need or want, I’d be more than happy to take it off of your hands as well.

I’ll post photos of the new toys and finished pot holders either tomorrow or Friday. I know I’m definitely taking photos of everything before Saturday, so I will make sure to post them here. And then I’ll take photos of my table, all set up for the craft show on Saturday and post those here too either  Saturday night or Sunday.

I have to go make dinner now, so… more another day. Take care.

Love Jessica Always.

Enough about that. The important thing is that I am here now, updating, so that must mean something. It means that I have been motivated the past few days because of two things…

The first being that the New Hampshire Etsy team is mentioned in the current issue of The Hippo, a local arts and entertainment newspaper. It is a very long article and it gives a lot of information on Etsy and the crafters in NH that use it to sell their creations. It names quite a few of us in the group and also gives links to either our Etsy shops, blogs or websites. I think it will bring a lot more buyers to our shops and will help to get our names out there in our communities so we can build a bigger “fan base”. That’s what I’m hoping anyway. You can either pick up an issue (most supermarkets have them) or just visit the website @ www.hippopress.com and read the article there.

If any of you are reading this right now because you saw my name in the article, I want to thank you for taking the time to check out my shop and blog and I hope that you like what you see and won’t hesitate to send me a message to just say Hi or to request your own custom order of anything you see in my shop.

The second thing that’s provided much needed motivation for me is that I am going to try to sell my crafts at a small, free craft show @ Presidential Oaks Retirement Home on September 19th. I went to this show last year, so I know it is small and will be a good test run for me to get some craft show experience. Plus, it’s free, they provide the table and it’s within walking distance of my apartment. Today I spent close to three hours cutting fabric for more pot holders and cat toys. I nearly sold out of both at my yard sale last month. Tomorrow I will do the ironing (my least favorite part of quilting) and sewing. I should have at least thirty pot holders prepared for the craft show, unless I buy more batting, since I used all that I had today. I will also have all the stuff that is in my shop, that doesn’t sell by the 19th, to take with me, which is a bunch of stuffed animals and eleven quilts (I think).

Hopefully nothing happens to me health wise to prevent me from participating in this craft show. *knock on wood* In May I ended up in the hospital with pneumonia the week of the first craft show I was planning to sell at. *knock on wood again*

I think that is all for now. If you see anything in my shop, buy it before the 19th or else it might sell at the craft show and then you’ll have to wait until I make more!

More another day.

Love Jessica Always