Sunday, December 8, 2013

It's a Crafty Business

this link

How exciting! Saturday was my first time selling my stuff at a crafts fair! I took all my little amigurumis with me. The fair took place at a school and the kids were enraptured by all my little creatures and they sold like hot cakes. The owls were especially popular with the budgies a close second.


In the end all the animals sold out so I will start crocheting a bunch for next year. I got several custom orders and would love to do more in the future. My crochet hook is for hire so if you need a particular animal made, a Christmas stocking, or anything else just email me emmakcontact[at]yahoo.com

One of my owls twit-ta-wooing on my Christmas treee



I wonder whether owls will be in next year or some other animal!? No matter, I will just crochet a whole range of the critters. Owls are super-easy to crochet and you can use this free pattern as a starting point and then let your imagination run wild with a range of colors - great for using up scraps of wool.





I was also showing off my portfolio for the pet portraits and everyone was really impressed. It was a bit exhausting but it was really fun to talk to people and get feedback on my art. I suppose I am not really that reclusive but when you are working on your art you are in your own little creative world. So it was smashing to get some positive feedback.

And if you need any last minute prints of my art check out my store at Redbubble. Just click on this link to see prints from $24.

If you sell your art or crafts at crafts fairs tell me about your experiences. Is it worth it? 

Linking up with #AllAboutYou Pin Party
 
#AllAboutYou Link & Pin Party Mama and More

31 comments:

  1. Oh my! Those amigurumi owls are sooo cute! Congrats on selling them all!

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  2. Congratulations on such a successful fair! <3 It sounds like you really enjoyed yourself too...now that is truly SUCCESS!

    ..and Thank You So Much for sharing with us at the Crochet Party this week :) I hope to see more of you :D

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  3. The artwork you do is lovely, and well done with the craft fair
    I only do a couple a year, selling my cards, I find xmas ones are more popular :D

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  4. Your owls are so sweet, congratulations on your successful day.
    I find local fairs (especially school fairs) are not that good for selling handmade items. General feedback from other local crafters' (and my own) experience - the further away from home we go, the better! I've had more success through general word of mouth from friends, and self promoting through Facebook, etc
    I hope your good start continues for you!

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  5. Congratulations on your craft fair, you did fantastically! I am not surprised you sold your animals

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  6. Wow, you did brilliantly!! And I love your owls, especially the winking one! Wondering if people round here are suffering from owl overload - mine didn't go so well at the weekend. Think I'm going to have to come up with some new critters for next time!

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  7. Congratulations on your recent craft fair success. I'm not surprised those owls were so popular, mind you! x

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  8. Well done, it's always great to hear someone has had a successful craft fair even more so if it is the first one. Your animals are very cute, and owls are so popular still. Just scrolled down and how lovely to see you are a fellow cat person. We have five cats and I foster for a local branch of Cats Protection; two teeny ten-week old ginger and white girls are with us at the moment. Hope you have a good week and looking forward to reading more of your blog posts.

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  9. oh! Those are Great OWLS! -- My eldest Great-Niece is into "collecting" them these days... at least I think She still is..? [Almost 14, so who knows what she's into *this* week!] -- Anyway, good to see that you "survived" your First Sale! That you got Custom orders is GOOD! And, actually "the Point" of doing these "Fairs" most of the time - "Exposure"!
    BTW, love your Table Cloth... :-D

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  10. Your owls are lovely. I always find little animals are my best sellers at fairs. I branched out into hedgehogs this year.

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  11. Well done on the Crafts Fair success - the owls really are adorable. For Christmas I've bought my daughter everything she needs to crochet and knit (to my joy her crafty side is starting to emerge), I'm going to print off the owl pattern to add her present :D

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  12. well done on having such a great fair! Your owls really are gorgeous, i can see why they were so popular! x

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  13. oh, your owls are adorable!! i'd love to see all those little critters close up. What fun! i checked out some of your past posts too... wonderful artwork there. Have a great week. xox

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  14. Hi Emma
    Thanks for coming over to Bath Bomb Creations blog! Wow, love your pet drawing and paintings. I have been getting ours done over the months plus had one done for Dad.We are huge animal lovers. We did our last fayre in Dec 2012 but decided to stop because of petrol, plus sometimes organizers tend not to advertise ... we did a fayre in a town hall run by a council in a different county to where we are and the organizer was told she wasn't allowed to print leafelts and put signs up - apart from a childs chlk board. no one knew we were there so we sis and I took it in turns to go outside and tell people we are there and handed out biz cards. We made our money but having paid for the event and then to get customers well, what can I say ...

    To keep overheads down we said goodbye to the website and it wasn't working carriage wise anyway. We concerntrate online (etsy, folksy, ebay and the blog). Ray makes the luxuries and pet care and I push us. Via online a store found us so we sell in there now too. Plus another company with three branches and a view of setting up an online shop has approached us. And being in Style at Home recently has helped too - I thought to hell with it and mentioned our lip balms as crackers gifts and they loved it and were kind enough to add our biz name as they liked our products. So for us, online has worked better than fayres.

    We also tried school fayres and the kids loved the bath bomb mix and match but then ours has a shelf life so if they don't sell... Summer fetes were a no ... families go for the tombolas etc rather than the craft side.

    What will you do?

    I found our pet artist via FB.
    lesley x

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  15. Lesley......Thanks for the tips! Yeah it was so great that you were in Style at Home and glad you are doing well selling your products online. I think I will concentrate on spreading the word about my pet portraits in my local area and selling them on Etsy etc. I will do a few crafts fairs if they are nearby and don't have a high overhead but I'm not going to drive to the faraway ones as I will get a bit narked if I don't sell anything.

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  16. What a great bunch of lovelies have you got there! I have a soft spot for amigurumis too!

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  17. Great post love the owls they are so cute.
    Nicole/Beadwright

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  18. I am not surprised they sold out - congrats! Valerie

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  19. Me, neither (not surprised), your amigurumis are adorable and beautifully made! Congrats on your sales!

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  20. congrats on this great success! enchanting owls are this!
    Happy PPF!

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  21. congrats on your successful exhibit-your crocheted animals-specially those owls are so darned cute! And your pet portrait is gorgeous. Yes, I too wonder what the animal trend for next year may be-perhaps a fox? (after that silly song that came out recently)

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  22. No wonder you sold them. They are soooo cute!
    Cheers
    Gabriele

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  23. So creative - glad you sold so many. Am officially your 60th follower. Nice to be a round number! Will add you to my sidebar list.....

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  24. Em Parkinson....Thanks ma dear! I will add you to my sidebar too so I can follow all your adventures

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  25. Very Cute. I am new to the linky party and fairly new to crochet business, though I have crochet all my life. Much to learn and I think your website is awesome! For right now I follow you on Pinterest. be blessed.

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  26. Congratulations on your first show and on doing so well!! You're little animals are SO cute!!

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  27. Seems you had such fun during your show :) The owls are really eyecatching and so cute and warm...no wonder they can´t resist having one :D Wish you a wonderful Christmas Time with your loved ones ♥ Conny
    Piaroms Art Journaling

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  28. Super-cute owls and birdies! Well done you on your first show, and on putting yourself out there - this is what I think of when I read Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" - just being brave and showing how wonderful you are. Thank you so much for linking up to #AllAboutYou, hope to see you back next week.

    Mama-andmore.com

    PS - are you on twitter? If so, do DM me so that I can mention you when I tweet your post, I am @mama_andmore

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  29. Thanks for linking up you fabulous crochet-addict you! #AllAboutYou

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  30. Oh wow. Love all your little amigurumi. I crochet too but due to carpel tunnel I find these a little too fiddly to make. Especially love the owls.

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  31. Oh wow you are very creative, love these especially the owls awww :)

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