A Report on No Coast Craft-o-rama - how it all went, some photos, and some selling statistics too!

Above you can see my table setup before the No Coast Craft-o-rama show in Minneapolis began. It was stocked full of items of which many, many sold. I wish that I had an after photo, but I don't. I was too busy both days to take many photos. It is rare that I see fellow artists and crafters share many details about their shows, but this one was such a good show that I've decided to share some of the wonderful positives about it including some selling statistics. Below you'll see a list of the show highlights. I hope that you find them interesting and useful.


No Coast Craft-o-rama Show Highlights

• I sold over 10 times (actually more like 15+ times!!) my booth fee with about 40% of my inventory selling out.
• A little over half of my sales were in credit cards along with a couple of checks. The other half of sales were in cash.
• I didn't hear one rude comment in the entire two days from a shopper! I can honestly say that the shoppers had a real appreciation for quality handmade items and expressed great interest. They were also very complimentary and inquired about the felting process many times.
• The vendors and show coordinators were all very organized and super nice! My neighbors were You Go Girl Soaps and Sheppard Girls, both of whom were just lovely. I also got to meet several other vendors, and all were absolute gems!
• The space is superb for a show with wide open areas to display.
• The foot traffic was amazing with non-stop people passing by. Sometimes it was in crowds and sometimes just a trickle, but there were always some browsers it seemed. There was an estimated attendance of 10,000 shoppers over the two days, but I believe that there were probably more than that.
  

All in all, it was the best show that I've ever had! The only draw back was the distance that my husband and I had to travel - Minneapolis is six hours from Kansas City, but it was well worth the trip. (And, it was kind of like a mini-vacation that payed for itself too.) My goal was to make enough money to buy a new living room set. Yep, you saw right, I want a new couch, chair, loveseat, etc.! I haven't had a new set since my husband and I got married five years ago, and it is high time that I got one. Well, the goal was accomplished. We went furniture shopping last night. I haven't found anything that I like yet, but I certainly will.

A BIG "thank you!" to the wonderful members of the Crafters Local 612 who organized the show. It was truly fabulous in every way, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Great work!!

If you are interested in seeing more photos of my table display and the show itself, please visit my flickr photo gallery and the No Coast Craft-o-rama flickr group.

Back from the No Coast Craft-o-rama show and ready to roll on to new things!

I just wanted to post a quick update today. I plan to post the No Coast Craft-o-rama show details tomorrow or Wednesday including some statistics on my sales and some photos of my booth. To sum it up in one word, it was "outstanding!" The show was really a huge success and well worth the time and travel. Please check back in tomorrow and Wednesday for more details. For all of those who stopped by my booth this past weekend, thank you! You helped make it all so worthwhile.

I also wanted to remind you that my next monthly newsletter, the December edition, is going to go out this Friday, December 12th. It is a little late this month because of my preparation for the No Coast show. If you haven't already signed up, please visit my newsletter subscription page to do so. Don't miss out on this month's edition! It will have the latest felting news, business tips, and promotional discounts as well as some other tidbits of info and personal stories. For those of you who have subscribed, thanks so much! I look forward to sending you this month's edition on Friday and hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Oh, and one more little thing, my Etsy shop is now open again minus a lot of items that sold at the No Coast show. There are still many great handmade felted items though!

Come see me and my handmade felted goodies at the No Coast Craft-o-rama this weekend in Minneapolis! Shop, browse, and buy!

If you live in the Minneapolis area or just happen to be there this weekend, don't miss out on the No Coast Craft-o-rama. It is an extravaganza of top notch handmade arts and crafts. I will be a vendor this year, and I'm thrilled about it! I'll be selling a wide range of my felted goodies from hats to scarves to wrist cuffs to needle felted jewelry to brooches to wallets to . . . and the list goes on and on. I'll literally have hundreds of items displayed for sale. Some of them you can see in the photo above, and there are some brand new items that are not listed in my Etsy shop too. Besides my felted goodies, there will also be dozens of other vendors with handmade items from soaps to screen prints to jewelry to . . . well, the list goes on and on.

I will be in booth number C-4 (right by an entrance area). If you plan to go, please look me up on the vendor map and stop by. I'd love to meet you! Be sure to introduce yourself and let me know that you read my blog. And, as far as my blog goes, this will probably be the last post that I make until early next week because I am knee deep in handmade felted goodies in preparation for the big event. I will also be putting my Etsy shop in vacation mode later today or tomorrow until sometime early next week. If you've had your eye on anything there, I'd suggest that you snatch it up now. With over 10,000 visitors expected at the two day show, I don't know what I'll have left when I return (hopefully not much!). You can find more info about the No Coast Craft-o-rama below or visit the website for complete details. I sincerely hope to see you there!


When: Friday, December 5, from 3 PM to 8PM and Saturday, December 6 from 9 AM to 5 PM
Where: Midtown Global Market on Lake Street in Minneapolis
Who: Anyone and Everyone who loves crafty and artsy things! (It is a great place for Christmas and Holiday gift shopping!)
How much: It is free to get in, but I know that you'll be tempted by all the handmade goodies there so bring some cash!
What else: There are many great places to eat at the Midtown Global Market.

I'm finally spilling the beans about a hush hush project . . . a book publisher came calling and I answered!

I have been sitting on this info for a very long time, but I now feel like it is safe to share with my devoted readers. Back in July, a publisher emailed me about authoring a felting book for kids. At first, I was a little skeptical because how often does a reputable publisher contact you about doing a book just out of the blue. Having worked in the arts and crafts world of publishing as a graphic designer, I know that it is usually the other way around where the crafter has to send out many query letters and photos to get noticed by a publisher. After a bit of chit chat back and forth with the publisher, I realized that indeed it was the real deal - a bona fide professional arts and crafts publishing company was interested in my work!

There's been a lot happen since July and those initial emails to the publisher. There's been much more communication with the publishing company and on this past Thursday, my birthday, I finally had a book contract in hand to author the felting publication for kids. What a terrific birthday gift!! It is actually going to be the second book in the series of books with the first book having been all about embroidery. This book will have a mix of craft felt and traditional felt projects as well as some spectacular illustrations by a wonderful professional illustrator - not me, I'm just doing most of the project instructions to be included which is more than enough work for me to handle.

I know that the details are a little vague right now, but as the publishing date gets closer, I will share more of the specifics. (After all, I have to keep you in suspense for you to keep coming back for more right?) I also feel that with publishing you just never know - projects get put off and canceled all the time so I am optimistically cautious until I actually see a copy on the local bookstore's shelf or one in my mailbox from the publisher. For now, just know that if I'm absent a bit here and there, I am diligently working on this book project (plus my online sales, plus my teaching day job, plus upcoming craft shows, plus . . . well you get the idea!). And, as time allows and I know more, I'll be popping back in with more info about the book project. In the mean time, I'll do my best to post regularly about other felting news and indie business tips.

On top of this great little book project that I'm working on, I'm also scrambling to get ready for the big No Coast Craft-o-rama show in Minneapolis on December 5th and 6th. (I am literally felting like a mad crazy woman with wool flying and water soaking my pants up to my knees!) If you live in that area, please mark your calendar to stop by and say "hello!" The two day event features a stellar line up of handmade artists and crafters - the ideal place to buy holiday gifts! There will be a lot of new items there to see and buy as well as many that I have listed in my Etsy shop.

As promised . . . some photos from my recent vacation to Lake Superior's North Shore in Minnesota!

Well, my husband finally downloaded our photos from a recent mini vacation that we took to Lake Superior's North Shore area in Minnesota. We also stopped for one day in Minneapolis to check out the Midtown Global Market where I'll be participating in the No Coast Craft-o-rama in December. We had a wonderful time on vacation and plan to go back for another one in the Spring if our budget and time permits. I'll try to put some simple captions on the photos for you. Enjoy!

This is the Midtown Global Market building where the No Coast Craft-o-rama will be held in December. It is a really cool building and a very neat ethnically diverse market. We bought a candle and some soap there that were handmade.

It rained most of the time on our trip and was quite cool too. Here you can see us overlooking Lake Superior in the rain. We're standing on the walkway of a lighthouse in the port at Duluth.

This is just a leaf on the wet rocks at the Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, but I thought that it was very pretty!

This is a photo that overlooks Lake Superior at night. I had to set the camera on our car hood and set the timer to get the photo to turn out. Then I also lightened it a bit in Photoshop, but I think it came out really cool!

These two photos are at Gooseberry Falls State Park. Although it was wet, muddy, and rainy, it was still a lot of fun hiking around the Falls.

This is a photo off the shore of an artsy little town called Grand Marais. We spent a day there walking around and checking out their lovely galleries and gift shops. We also ate at the Angry Trout Cafe which I highly recommend.


And, this is overlooking Duluth on a foggy night. I just thought it was a really nice photo to add. It is actually a very nice city with a lot of fun attractions and sites to see.

That's our trip in a nutshell. We did a LOT more than I have shown you here, but I liked all of these photos and thought that they were interesting enough to share. We took over 200 photos on the trip so I had to be a little picky to say the least. I hope that you like the one's that I've chosen for you.

National and Local Arts and Crafts Shows: So how do you find them? And how do you participate?

This past Saturday, my husband and I woke up early (well, early enough for me anyway) and went to a local area art festival. It is called the Plaza Art Fair and is a long standing tradition here in Kansas City. It is considered one of the top five art fairs in the country with highly competitive jurying for artists to participate. And, it gathers over 200,000 visitors during its three days. The mood and quality of artists and their work is very upscale and professional in every respect. Of all the wonderful things that there are to do here in Kansas City, the Plaza Art Fair is one of my favorites that I look forward to every year. It is inspiring and intimidating because of all the extraordinary displays of art from ceramics, to textiles, to mixed media, and beyond. I don't know that I'll ever be that caliber of artist to compete for such a coveted spot in a show like the Plaza Art Fair, but I certainly love to go see who this year's artists are and what exquisite things they make.

Personally, participating in public venue shows can be a bit nerve racking to me. I consider myself an introvert in such settings so it is more difficult for me to comfortably chat with browsers and handle the crowds. Usually, I choose to only do a few arts and crafts fairs during the year, but I would like to step out of my comfort zone and start doing more. In Fall of 2007, I participated in my largest show yet, the Strange Folk Festival in the St. Louis area, and had a wonderful time! I also learned a lot about selling in a large public venue, but unfortunately, this year, my schedule did not permit me to do that show again. (If you are in the area, I do highly recommend that you go check it out!) I am however thrilled to have been accepted as a vendor in the No Coast Craft-o-Rama in Minneapolis on December 5th & 6th! You may have read my previous post about it. This is really the only large public venue show that I've planned to do this year, and I am in full force making things for it. I hope it turns out to be a fabulous event for everyone involved.

Whether or not you choose to be a vendor at local or national shows, I always encourage artists and crafters to attend as many of them as they can - just to browse and chat with the vendors. These events are food for the artist's soul and can be quite eye-opening to what is currently popular in the world of arts, crafts, and design. Below you'll find a list of resource information on where to look for local shows and other artsy events. You'll also helpful to links arts and crafts show preparation.

And, before I sign off for this post, for those fiber artists out there, I just wanted to share two fellow fiber artists that I found at the Plaza Art Fair this past weekend. Annaesthetic, a.k.a. Anna Shapiro, is a woven textile designer that produces the most lovely scarves, shawls, and other clothing accessories - just amazing! Also her booth display was terrific. It was like a little boutique. And, Miriam Carter is a traditional feltmaker who had a variety of scarves, hats, and other clothing. Her lattice style felted scarves in many different colors are a classic.

Now on to some resource info . . .

Where to find event listings:
www.indiecraftshows.com
www.eventlister.com
www.craftlister.com
www.lunacraft.com
www.zapplication.org
www.juriedartservices.com
www.hpifestivals.com
www.bazaarbizarre.org
www.sunshineartist.com
www.festivalnet.com
www.artandcraftshows.net
www.craftmasternews.com
www.artfaircalendar.com
www.midwestartfairs.com

How to prepare for an arts & crafts fair:
Attending a Craft Show - All Fiber
Preparing for an Art or Craft Festival - Squidoo
How To: Prepare for a craft fair - GetCrafty
A Craft Show Check List - The Crafts Report
Craft Show Booth Ideas - Craft Show Success
Do a Craft Show w/o Breaking the Bank - The Storque
Arts & Crafts Fair & Shows Flickr Group
Craft Fair Goodies & Ideas Flickr Group
Photos of my own craft show table displays

**The image is a screen shot of some handy dandy craft show aprons that I found doing an Etsy search for "craft show apron" - these would be very useful and are super cute!

Yay! I got accepted! The folks at the No Coast Craft-o-Rama like me! They really like me!

I got an email yesterday afternoon from the folks at No Coast Craft-o-Rama. They were letting me know that I got accepted to this year's show out of over 300 applicants. Can you say "Yippity Skippity!"?? Well, that's what I was saying yesterday when I found out the news! The No Coast Craft-o-Rama is a large arts and crafts fair in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is what I would consider a more trendy, modern festival for up and coming artists and crafters. I had applied last year, but I was rejected. This year, I debated on whether or not to put myself through another rejection by applying, but I decided to go ahead and send in my info to see what happened. And, I'm so glad that I did because this year, they liked me. Yay! They really liked me (er, or my felted stuff anyway)!

The No Coast Craft-o-Rama is a very large two day event with over 10,000 shoppers in attendance last year. It features a wide variety of handmade arts and crafts. This year, the grand event is being held on Friday, December 5, from 3 PM to 8PM and Saturday, December 6, from 9 AM to 5 PM, at the Midtown Global Market on Lake Street in Minneapolis. I know that Minneapolis is a long, long way from Kansas City, but I've never been to the city, and my husband and I are super excited about going. I'm also super excited about being a vendor at such a large event. It makes me feel like a crafting rock star. Well, at least that's the way it makes me feel (however ridiculous that might seem to others - please let me have my moment).

So, if you are close to Minneapolis, mark the date and time on your calendar! Come by, say "hello" and browse for yourself and some holiday gifts.

And, a big Whoohoo! Yippity! Skippity! and Yay!
(There now. I think it is out of my system . . . at least for today.)