First..

The last two weekends have seen my first two events of the year.  The first was the Easter Fayre at Waters Edge in Barton upon Humber over the bank holiday weekend.  I had a fabulous weekend, in a different room to where I normally am, with lovely people.

The next weekend was the Artisans In Action Event.  This was the first time I only had my soaps and bath products with me.  You could even make yourself a bath salt sachet :)  I had a fabulous time here too, with great feedback from people, some of whom turned into customers.  My smile grew wider a couple of days later when I'd had a customer from the event purchase more soap from my Etsy shop as she'd loved the bar she bought originally so much that she had to try some more!  

Spreading out!

I had my second fair of the year at the weekend, and as there were only four of us in this little room I kind of spread out a little bit ;)  It's lovely having the extra space as we don't usually get it.

On the Tuesday I had my very first soap making demonstration.  I was a little nervous, and probably waffled a little bit but I really enjoyed it.  It's good when you can show people how something is made, that they don't usually think about.

Booked

My first fair of the year :)

Taking over...

Boxes of felt, paper carrier bags (2 sizes), paper bags, new postcards and return labels, cellophane bags, a wooden stool (bootsale bargain for using at the fairs)...this is just a small selection of stuff that is taking over the kitchen.  I daren't show you the living room, bedroom, bathroom or laundry room.  We shall be having the plasterer in here in a couple of weeks too, so I shall have no sink, cooker or hob for 4 days.  This is just after the craft fair/country fair weekend!  I don't do things by half do I? ;o)

To try and deflect from the rising stress levels I'm busy making as much stock as I possibly can.  Next week shall be focused on leaflets, wrapping soaps, make your own kits and generally getting ready for one busy weekend.

"The Soap Lady"

It seems I have a new name around these parts - The Soap Lady!  I was hunted by one of the ladies who is running the East Halton Gymkhana this year, so I shall be having a stall in the craft tent.  I've never been to a Gymkhana before...and it's lovely knowing that my name (in whatever form that takes) is getting around :o)



Artisans in Action - next Event

I feel I should make this extra large so you can understand the excitement that surrounds this event.  It was put together by two lovely ladies to help inform the public about the work that actually goes into making things by hand, rather than some mass produced item shipped in from some far off land.  I was invited to attend so I feel very honoured to be taking my soaps, cards and gifts.  I shall be sewing over the actual weekend as I'm not insured to demostrate soap making yet...something to think about in the future I think :o). 

Publicity

There was an article on the local newspapers website about the NACC Fair I attended on 24th March.   Never did like my picture taken even if it means publicity ;o)

Flower Brooch

This is the card I made Mother's Day...the flower is actually a brooch.  I'm thinking I could make some for the shop too :o)

Ooh, this is my table at the craft fair yesterday.  Someone had told me not to bother with this one as it wasn't very good, but I gave it a shot anyway.  I had a good time, with lots of people stopping to chat and meeting lots of other lovely crafters.  My day was made when a customer stopped and said 'Oh, I'm so glad your here my soap has nearly all gone' - fabulous :o) 

Prep for Crafts Uncovered

As this fair is a demonstration and sale of works it needs rather more preparation than a normal 'craft fair'.  I'm not insured to make soap with the general public present so I've made a couple of display boards instead and I'll take all my equipment and ingredients. 



I've also made some better price labels by getting some wooden hearts and sticking them onto pegs.  Much better than the cardboard ones I had before.

As this is a 2-day event but I'm only there for one, I've prepared some leaflets to go on a table on the Sunday.  One is just a list of my next events and the other is a tri-fold leaflet with much more information on it.  I'm quite pleased with how that turned out (although it'll look much better when I have more colour ink ;o) ).



And just because they look so lovely...here's a pile of gift boxed soap.

Non-Stop Excitement...

...I just can't keep up with it all :o).  The craft evening was good fun.  We shall be there again next month.

Then this morning when I checked my mail, my new assessments had arrived from the Chemist.  I shall now be selling bath melts and bath scrubs!!  Whoop whoop.  Watch this space as I'm waiting for some gorgeous glass jars to come back into stock for the scrubs.

For the rest of the day I shall be prepping some display boards and some information sheets (plus loads of other stuff) ready for the Crafts Uncovered Event on Saturday.  Hopefully some piccies later :o)

Exhausted, exhilerated, excited!

What a day I had at the Craft, Stitch and Hobby Trade Fair.  Got a few catalogues to look through, found some suppliers that I'm hoping to start using, and got a bucketful of excitement and enthusiasm for expanding the business.  I had to get up this morning as my head was just whirling with stuff so watch this space in the coming months :o)

I also got another craft fair booked for July, which I've added to the list on the left :o)

Brocklesby Country Fair, 2012

I am unbelievably excited (and just a little bit nervous) as I've just had my table at the Brocklesby Country Fair confirmed!!  This is amazing for me as it has over 10000 visitors on one day (if the weather is nice) so for me to get a table there is just amazing.  You have to apply to have a stall, and not everyone gets in as it's very popular.  It's also 3 miles up the road, so not such an early morning ;o).

Whoop whoop...off to try and calm down a bit!

Artisans in Action

I thought I'd tell you a bit more about the Artisan in Action event which I've been invited to participate in.  The lovely ladies who are organising it wanted people to understand what goes into these handmade pieces.  As veterans to the craft fairs, they've had there fair share of people commenting about prices, etc so they've organised this wonderful event over 2 days.  There will be demonstrations by approx 30 crafters throughout the course of the weekend, plus the chance to buy some wonderful items too.

I'm so thrilled to be involved.  For someone who started making things because I loved doing it, to creating Handmade Haven to sell some of those things, it's a huge boost to my confidence.  It's spurring me on to expand the things I make and sell, and to hopefully introduce some supplies to the shop too.

If you'd like any further info on the event you can contact Lorraine at chrisj.eyre@mypostoffice.co.uk or Linda at laurelcottagecrafts@gmail.com.

Happily busy

 Wow, it's been a busy few weeks.  I had my first craft fair this last weekend, after being away at Center Parcs for a few days.  I had a lovely spot where I could watch the ducks and geese slipping on the frozen water when it wasn't very busy...which was quite often because of the bad weather.  Visitor numbers were greatly reduced unfortunately, but I still had a fab time.  I met some lovely other crafters, I've been invited to have a stand at a demo/fair in a very presitigious hotel (in this area) at the end of April which is absolutely amazing for me.  I also found out details about other fairs so I've applied for those too.  All details will be added into the sidebar on the left when I have anything new confirmed.

Now though, I'm still trying to catch up on a mountian of housework, which will have to wait as I'm stitching some custom bunting for an order :o)