Hi, I'm Barbara. I'm new to all of this..new to this forum, new as a crafter (started in April 2012 when I retired, although I used to do occasional projects for fun), and new to craft shows (my first is coming up in 11 days!).
I retired early (I'm 58) to take care of my husband, who has been totally disabled for the last 23 years (brain cancer, stroke, radiation damage, and now Alzheimers). The last few years have been the most difficult. Working from home full time and taking care of him were just too much. And yet, now that I retired, I needed something more, so I started doing my floral crafts with the intent of doing the craft show in our community club house (also bought a new sewing machine to learn quilting, but the florals won!).
My florals are primarily door decor. I do the customary wreaths, but I also put flowers in umbrellas, rainboots, and baskets. I also put them on tennis racquets, golf clubs for on doors and on books for end tables. I am now working on concepts for night lights using Fenton bowls, flowers, and battery operated candles with timers.
My sister and sister-in-law convinced me to show my work on Etsy. I posted on Facebook for feedback from friends, sold some, and the next thing I new I had a business. Its been slow on Etsy (TooGreatHands), although the community discussions there say its slow during summer months.
Then "we" decided to do craft shows. That's how I landed here...I needed to learn ALOT! You all have been so helpful in the previous posts.
I've invested in an EZ-UP Eclipse II with Flourish panels for outdoor shows. (I'm hoping the professional grade EZ-UP is good quality). For indoor shows, I think I'm going to get the Flourish vendor posts so I can use the panels there too. I have only one show scheduled that is not a 10X10 set up. I have tables and two grid wall triangle spinners I can use for that show. It's not ideal, but will work.
I have my check list and I'm all set to go with the exception of my "director chairs"...any suggestions on where to get those?
One last comment... I'll have to sell ALOT to cover my set up fees, but that's ok...I'm having fun, what I do is also a sort of therapy, and I'm used to working hard!
Replies
Welcome to AFI Barbara! I got my chair from directorschairs.com. :) This was a couple of years ago. But you might want to check them out.
Hi Barbara and welcome to AFI :) You've come to exactly the right place to investigate what you need and what shows are like. I've found the search function (little white bar to the top right of the page) is wonderful for finding specific information - eg. on a show (search for the name or town of the show), display (search for booth display) and so on. If you can't find what you're after, do ask :)
See you around the forum and let us know how that first show goes!
I will. As you can see, I'm a talker!