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

Also I need to ask for some advise again, and I need it as soon as possible. I have been making new pot holders the past few days to sell at the aforementioned craft show next weekend, and don’t know which way I want them. When I first began making pot holders, I just tied a knot in the middle with embroidering floss instead of “quilting” them. I tried quilting a stitch around the inside of one the other day and like the way it looks. Now I’m not sure if I want to make all the new ones like that from now on, or like the ones I was making before. I sold all but three of the old version at my yard/craft sale last month, so I kind of know some people liked them the way they were, but they haven’t been selling in my etsy shop, so I don’t know if I should change them.

This is where you come in… Do you like the old one or the new one better? Please let me know.

Old One

New One (Please pay no attention to the bad stitching job, it was my very first time doing such a thing)

My messy desk, as it is today.

All of the thread and zippers that I've been wanting to sell.

My pile of almost finished pot holders.

My pile of completely unfinished pot holders.