Christmas Craft Fairs & Me

 Christmas Fairs 2023

Hello Crafters

It ‘s been nearly 2 months since my last post, so what has happened and how did  I do at Christmas Fairs, with my new products.

Well as anyone who reads my blogs will know, this has not been a good year for me, and Nov and December continued the trend. My first Christmas Fair was a lovely large one in a country town near Bristol. Run by the Methodist church it is spread over 3 halls and runs from 10-4, with their members supporting the event and coming out from Bristol to buy their Christmas presents. It has in the past been my best event for income and I was looking forward to seeing how my new products went. Unfortunately I had Covid the week before the event and although I was showing clear on the Friday before the event I would not attend as I may pass it on, but also this Covid was totally exhausting and even with a friends help for the day I could not have managed the 10 hour day with the loading, unloading and standing most of the 6 hours of the Fair, so that was the main event of the year gone.

I did a local fair in a neighbouring village in early November and this was to be my only Christmas Fair for 2023. As it only lasted from 10 - 1.30, I had decided I could manage it on my own and set off in time to set up for 10am. All ready and with my table set up with my lovely Christmas pieces I stood at the side of the table happy to converse and show my products. Imagine my horror, when after an hour and a quarter , I had not sold an item. Being an experienced seller I did not let it show, but I was very worried that this could be the first show where I did not sell an item. At times like this you have to put a smile on, look around and see how everyone else is doing and if you can learn anything from their successses. 

The table next to me was a friend I know from Craft group and she was doing reasonably well with her beautifully painted Plant Pots and other items, although from chatting to her (probably not quite up to previous years). Other tables were selling though not in large numbers. 

After the Bell-ringers had performed for 15 minutes or so, I made my first sell. 4 Christmas cards, which whilst not a vast amount, it represented a good sell for me as Christmas cards have become a difficult sell and I had decided only to take my individual cards which I was selling at £1.95 each or 2 for £3.50. So to sell 4 to one customer was very pleasing. Behind this customer another lady came up to the stall picked up 4 of my Christmas shopper bags, and handed me the money without blinking or conversation. This helped my confidence and I continued to make steady sells with a little burst at the end of the day. 

So what did  not sell:-

Surprisingly I did not sell one of the lovely origami boxes filled  with Quality Street and Roses chocolates inside 

Nor did my Fabric Covered Journals, or the wallet Christmas gift bags, large shopper bags or Very disappointing the Worry Worms. 

What did sell:-

Well, as mentioned before my Christmas cards and I sold a few more after the initial sell. 

My Christmas shopper bags went well, and I sold a few Shoe Bags, and 3 more of the Craft Bags which had been my best seller at the Autumn craft fair I attended. 

All in all I sold reasonably well for a half day fair, and if the dates fall right next year I will attend again. I have already booked the larger fair previously mentioned as I feel this will be a good test of my products.

As you know I. Make these items for the fun of it and sell them for Charity. So the disappointment of not being able to attend the larger Christmas Fair meant I had a much smaller amount to give to the local hospital, however this was boosted with money taken at Pawlett Village Hall Coffee morning in December. The committee kindly offered me a table free of charge, as it was for the local hospital. And in the hour I was there I took £53, which meant I am able to add this to the pot.  I was also asked to have a stall at a coffee morning in a nearby parish who were holding the Coffee morning for SURE. Although this was open for 3 hours I only managed to raise £35 form them. This event suffered from the number of events going on in the vicinity, and was not therefore that well attended. At both coffee mornings I did sell items not previously sold such as the origami boxes and the Worry Worms, so it was good for the soul, and you always learn from attending any events, by chatting to customers and event organisers and others attending. 

Mock-up Table for Christmas Craft fair

By the end of the events I had rallied from  the disappointment of missed opportunities and already planning tables for next year. Selecting items to keep in stock and letting go those that do not work so well. I passed on bags and cards to a friends daughter, who sells to colleagues and friends for a Cancer charity, I do this with my paper products that I make and are surplus to requirements, and Sarah recently emailed me to say her sails this year from items I had given her had raised £200. So I am happy with the amount of money raised over the last year for various Cancer charities and the 2 hospitals where my husband received his treatments. 

Crafting is a great comfort and stress releaser, and I would recommend it to anyone facing difficult times. It has certainly helped me get through this year and feel ready to go into 2024 with a little more hope. 

WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY CHRISTMAS and PEACEFUL NEW YEAR

Dee

Using up Your Stash

 Using up my Stash

As I said in my last post I am sorting through my stash and trying to look at it from the point of view, ‘what would that be best for’ and then designing projects to go with the stash. I would like to be able to say this has stopped me purchasing more and it has slowed it down a little, but as an avid crafter, there are always new exciting items on sale, so there have been a few additions as well.

The first box I looked at was the spare 6 x 6 and A4 paper box. I went through a phase where I purchased a lot of papers from the The Paper Tree collection as they were being sold off on CraftClearance website. I have placed a couple of sets on Ebay to reduce the stash, but still had a few in the cupboard. I do not tend to use the insert papers A4, but still bought them as the prints were pretty. So I pulled out a pack and decided to make something from it.

To make one a 6 notelet set with a folder requires:

4 sheets of A4 papers

6 A6 envelopes

1 A4 laminate sheet and laminator 

Kampress poppers

Fold the  3 0f the A4 papers in half lengthways and then cut in half to make 2 notelets

As the papers are one sided this is all that is required to make your six notelets

Then I took  the other sheet and cut a 2” strip off the bottom, folded the paper in half.

With the 2” strip fold in half loosely hold between the fingers and cut the top corner around You can use a punch for this but scissors work well if you hold the paper tight between the scissors. 

Place the folded larger piece into the A4 laminator and place the 2” strip above the open end with the rounded corners up the top and printed side down. Leave approx 2mm between the 2 parts.

Laminate, and then trim the edges and slit the opening off along what was the open end. You can find several videos on YouTube showing you how to do this. Just look for laminated folders. ( SAm Calcott has a very good one)

Add your kampress poppers. IF you do not have these you can use velcro dots.

The other set of notelets I made the motets in the same way and then I placed 2 sheets of papers back to back (print side out) into the laminator, I used a  matt sheet for this style and just laminated one side of the paper. Then folded into the folder shape added narrow red double sided tape to the bottom sides to hold it together, and then tied ribbon around for the closure. 

The pack had 36 sheets so I was able to make 7 sets with a few sheets left over 

The problem with this project it made me want to do more laminating projects, as I love them. So I thought I would run a laminating workshop and show several projects you can make with your laminator, and finish with making this set so everyone has a set to take home. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee

August Craft Show results

Results from the August Craft stall

 It has taken some time to get back to you on my craft stall at the August Bank holiday.

Here is my table. As you can see it is a bit pushed together, and I realised I needed to look very carefully at the layout of future stalls. 

I did reasonably well. The fair had a good footfall, although not all the people wandering around are looking to purchase as there are many activities outside the hall during the day, and a lot of families come for them with a visit to the crafts hall an extra item for them rather a reason to attend. 

But I held my own and had some successes, plus I learned a lot. There is always plenty to learn when attending any craft fair, and I am not a great sales person so I need all then help I can get. Usually once I get talking to people it results in a sale and several people showed interest in visiting my stall at the Christmas Fair I am attending so that was promising.

Talking to other stall holders I picked up some great marketing tips. I had mentioned I was no salesperson and happily took some suggestions from one of the other stall holders. A younger woman who had an handle on the younger market, and suggested tags for some of my products that would expand their purposes.   

The day started slowly, but I managed to sell a couple of items before midday so that helped keep my spirits up. A few people I knew popped in and by 2pm I had made a few more sales, spoken to a lot more people and was actually feeling good about my new venture. It is a hobby, and I hope to be able to pass some profits on to my local hospital, so I was encouraged when at the end of the day I had sold all my  4 pocket Craft Bags. I had brought 6 with me and they were the most expensive item on the table (although very reasonable at £7.50). In fact too cheap to really make any money, but I wanted to test the market so I thought it useful to set the prices lower at that particular fair. As the bags use over  a metre of fabric and take   1.5hrs to make they will be sold for £9.50 at the Christmas markets. 

The medium Tote bag did not sell and I need to rethink the packaging  and presentation for that bag.

I sold a few shopping bags, once I hung some over the end of the stand so people could see them as they were approaching the table. A shoe bag and several purses and small wallets, as well as Makeup bags and tissue holders etc. 

So what have I learnt from all this and what am I doing differently for my next Craft Fair.

• I am being selective about what products I show. Limiting the amount of items to fit the table size, so that buyers can see the products more easily. 
• Items will be priced individually instead of on a Price List.
• The products will be called a specific name i.e Craft Bag, Pad Bag etc so if buyers are looking for a bag for a specific purpose they can see it more easily. I will be careful not to limit the products use, so wallet shaped bags will be called that with a size, as they are so multi-purpose.
• I am considering the craft fair and people who attend, and as it is a Christmas Craft fair I have adapted some items and made new version for the Christmas theme 
• I have attended the Christmas fair before and the buyers come to purchase Christmas presents and are looking to spend so I have purchased an Electronic payment machine and set it up with my phone, in order to take card payments. (Something I talked to other stall-holders about at the August fair) 
• A friend is coming with me so I hope to be able to engage with more buyers as I will have the time, this really is necessary if the fair is an all-day event.

I am looking forward to the the 2 fairs I am attending in November and will be reporting back after each one with what went well and what did not, and anything I have learnt from them.

In the meantime I am also doing some paper crafting , just for fun and have made half of my `Christmas cards, as well as donating several cards and fabric items to a friend who sells them to colleagues and friends for a cancer charity. I am trying to downsize my paper craft items, and with the extra time I have nowadays enjoy designing items that use up what I already have. 

Happy Crafting

Dee

Christmas Pop-Up Wave card

 Using up your Christmas Stash

In the spirit of trying to use my stash of craft items first I pulled out 2 stacking boxes of Christmas paper crafts and sorted through them. 

I came across some Kraft cards and some printed Kraft tags in the shape of Christmas trees, and decided to make the Pop Up wave card . I had Kraft card to make arms and just needed to find appropriate backing papers.

To finish the front and in keeping with the rustic theme I used the string from the tags to make a bow and added a wooden Merry Christmas.

I have enough cards and extras to make another dozen and so will take them to a workshop, where we will be making multiple cards for bulk production. 

I will be back to show you the others we made after the workshop. 

In the meantime I am putting together the items for 2 Christmas Craft fairs I am attending.

My table will be showing a range of Hand Crafted Bags. 

Gift Bags

Craft Bags

Alternative Selection Boxes 

Fabric Wallets

Pad Bags

Shopper Bags

Messenger Bags

I will be showing a selection over the next few weeks.

Happy Crafting

Dee

Christmas 4 in 1 Gift Box

 Using up your Stash

As I said in my last post, I loved making the gift box and took a look at Christmas card and papers to make another version of the 4 in 1 gift box. 

I have several pads that would have worked well, but decided to make it  more of a challenge and see if I could use up an old Create & Craft Card  kit. The kit included A4 foiled card along with C5 cards and envelopes. 

As I was unlikely to use the cards (except as a base card) I decided to use 4 cards to make the boxes and then I would just need  3 of the A4 sheets, 2 for the cover and 1 to make the box lids. 

 In order to use the cards for the boxes I had to line up the centre fold  of the card to use as the 2nd line of the box section leaving enough space on either side to score the 12 box sections and the 1/2” tab on the end.

The foiled card stock was heavy enough and decorative not to need any additional papers to finish the boxes. I did however use more card to line the inside of the covers, so there was no plain card showing. I just finished the top of the gift box with one of my ribbon bows, with a poinsettia centre. 

I decided to use Velcro dots on the front flaps. I placed 2 on the inside flaps and then placed the other side on top of the 2 dots and then placed the flap carefully over the side of the box lining up the top edges before securing the 2 sides of the dots . 

The bow was added using a hot glue gun as was the poinsettia in the centre of the bow. 

I have enough of the kit left to make another box, and my card kit will be finished .

Take a look at what you have in the cupboard and see what projects you can make. It is a great feeling when you craft an item and produce something from materials that would otherwise be abandoned.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Fabulous Gift Box - 4 in One

Four in One Gift Box 

It’s great to be back with the paper crafting, after quite a break. 

I have done some card crafting whilst I was sewing all those bags, but only a little at the craft club I attend weekly, and I have struggled with ideas and organising my time a little. 

However, after making the wave card (see previous post), and packing away the sewing machine, my enthusiasm and ideas have started to flow again. 

This gift box, from Sam Calcott is just up my street, I enjoy construction work and this is not difficult once you get into it. It does require 6 pieces of 12 x 12 or 7 sheets of A4 plus papers to decorate. I will place the link below as there are a lot of parts and her videos are great for instructions. 

https://youtu.be/njaMNzhLoqM

In line with my new thoughts of using what i have in the cupboard, the boxes were made from canary yellow card which has been in the box for years and covered with K & Co papers as was the top. I was then able to use up the K & Co toppers that I started when making the wave card.

I enjoyed making this so much I thought I would make some more. I will need to check the cupboard and see what fits the design. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee 

Butterfly Wave Pop-Out Card

Special Occasion card

This lovely card comes from Sam Calcott on YouTube.

I thought it was a great design and had to try it. 

Sam used stamped butterflies punched out, while my butterflies have been made with multicoloured papers that have been die cut and then put back into an embossing folder to give it additional markings. 

Take a look at her demonstration for sizes etc as her videos are really good. 

https://youtu.be/Lj7C2RltYB0

I showed it to the craft group I go to and they wanted to have a go at making it, so I demonstrated it for them and gave them some ideas for other toppers. I used flowers for the demonstration, and thought I would like to try a mans card made from steampunk, or seaside theme, so we are making it again next week. 

Here is the one I made for the demo, it used a 6 x 6 card and I used up some K & CO toppers I had in my stash. I am trying to use what I have and design my makes to suit what is already in the cupboard. 

Next weeks card I hope to use The Paper Tree papers I have with seaside theme. I will post it if I manage to find a way to design the card around them.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Bags of Bags for the Craft show

 A Great Selection of Bags

Back again…..

Have been gone a  few weeks,  sorry. 

Six months ago, I lost my husband after 45years of marriage and it has been hard enough to get up in the mornings,  but with great support from family and friends I am getting back to what will be “normal” life, and this includes crafting.

Sewing has been a useful diversion for me and helped me through this difficult time. I started speculatively but as I made half a dozen totes and then 6-8 medium tote bags I started to get large scrap pieces and made these into purses to use them up. 

I have added:        Messenger Bags

                                Glass cases

                                Doggy Poop bags

                                Water Bottle bags with pockets for a phone or keys 

                                Cleansing pads 

                                Phone Wallets

                                Shopping bags 

                                Beach bags 

I am ready for a craft show on Bank Holiday Monday and will spend the next week working on displays for the table.

This first show with the bags will be a little messy as I have a lot of different bags to show, I want to see what bags are best received by buyers. I will then look again at practical makes for Christmas.

All my bags are made from Reclaimed fabrics, I buy end of roll bundles of furnishing fabrics, or use fabrics from clothes no longer in use. My husband loved clothes and so I have made myself some memory items. Some are very practical like the cord tidies.

This one is holding my sewing foot pedal cords and I use others for my iron, and my laminator.

These are made from his pyjamas tops and shirts and are a simple length of fabric with a piece of elastic inserted one end and a couple of buttons added to the outside so you have a selection  of lengths.  

I will have a number if items that have used up the pieces left over from  the bigger projects that will sell for £1, so there has been very little waste. 

selection of tissue holders, cord ties and small coin/jewellery purses.

Bigger purses that can been used for money or makeup etc use bigger offcuts and will sell for £2

Others are particular to me, ( a favourite jumper has become a reading cushion with pocket) 

It was quite straightforward to cut out but difficult to complete as sewing wool is not easy to get straight edges. But as it for me I am happy with the result (definitely not one to sell).

This cushion was made from a sweater that I purchased for my husband and particularly liked. I could not bear to part with it, so decided to make a reading cushion for myself. The main cushion uses the front and back while the pocket is made from a sleeve. 

I have managed an awful lot of sewing in the last few months, and I note the irony, this has only been possible as I have been using the dining table and leaving my machine set up, but then I would not have needed to fill my days in the same way, so I guess there is always different ways of looking at things. 

The sewing machine is currently back in the cupboard and I have started some new paper craft projects. 

I will report back after the craft show and let you know how it went. 

My next posts will be  some of the new paper crafts, so check back if that is what you like.

Happy Crafting

Dee

                                 

                

Sew Useful Bags Mini IPad Cover & Folio FIle

 Project 3 

IPad/Folio Bag

My next bag is a great Folio Bag or IPad case/bag. I have an IPad mini with keyboard and so I thought I would make a bag for it. I am also treasurer for my WI and attend meetings and present accounts, so a folio folder to carry my paperwork would be useful. 

I adjusted the small purse design from Ae PooiM. This require a piece of fabric 14” wide and 52” long. Non directional print is easier to use. On some I have added a handle and others instead of a popper closure I have added a small piece of elastic to the top if the bag that allows it close over a button.

The Blue printed fabric is showing A4 paperwork, (I think this would look lovely in the office meeting),  while the very pretty oriental bird and floral black fabric is showing the ipad mini. The bag for the ipad mini is a little bigger than the pad but this allows some paperwork to be added if required. 

The Blue bag has a handle to allow for easier carrying if you have an armful of other bits and pieces, and the button closure with elastic at the top.

 

And the Black bag has a flat popper closure, ideal for packing into a weekend bag. 

I also make phone wallets 

Back soon with the pictures and sizes for them.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Medium Tote - Project bag

 Medium Tote - Project Bag

This lovely bag is a derivative of the one shown in my last post. 

The pattern shown on on the YouTube video produces a small tote bag and I could not think what I would use it for except as a gift box, so I sized it up to make it a more usable bag for me.

This bag is very quick to make as it consists of 2 pieces of fabric and 2 handles made for the same fabric. I make the handles first and then lay them on the right side of one of the pieces of fabric either end and lay the second piece over the top face down, finishing it the same way as the large tote bag with pockets. You can make it any size you fancy, but may need to add a stabiliser,  if your fabric is thinner cotton, as I use mainly soft furnishing fabrics I do not think I need it. 

I made a batch of 5 with the same fabrics as the larger totes so anyone wishing too, could buy a set. Having made a few I thought I would add an inside claw clasp to clip keys or purses to so you can find them easier. So some have this added item.. All are finished with top stitching 

The size of the finished bag is approximately 

8” Tall - 15” wide - 5” deep 

Or 20.5cm Tall - 38cm Wide - 13cm deep

and the handles have been lengthened on some to allow them to go over the shoulder

Having finished a selection of these medium totes I came across some fabric that I had purchased from a charity shop. The fabric looked new and had been made up as table clothes, but as they had teddy bears on they would really only be useful for a Teddy bears picnic or child’s tea party. I had planned to make some drawstring gift bags but decided to make them into storage/gift bags. They would be perfect for storing toys or baby items in the nursery or child’s bedroom or taking toys to Grandma, that could easily be packed up again at the end of the visit. 

Doubling up the fabric so it was a lined bag I made the handles first again and then sewed up the storage bags. The print had been cut with bags in mind so worked well for their storage bags showing the bears off well. I managed to make 3 with the fabrics I had and was very pleased with the outcome.

As you can see one bag is empty and the other has books and soft toys in to show it in use.

These will also go in my Etsy shop soon. 

These bags take roughly an hour to make and as I am selling them at £7.95 they are a great price. If the weather stays as sunny as it has been the last couple of weeks it would also make a great picnic bag.

Happy Crafting

Dee.

Great Tote Bag With Pockets

 Tote Bag with 4 Pockets - Great Craft bag 

The next bag I wanted to make was this great Tote with 4 pockets. I thought it would make a useful craft bag. The design incorporates the  pockets with the outside of the bag from a series of folds and so no need to line up the pockets and sewing on the outside before putting the bag together. . Another great bag from Ae PooiM.  Having purchased some lovely end of rolls fabric on Ebay to recycle into useful bags, this 4 pocket Tote Bag was the perfect fit. 

I have added the link for the bag below.

https://youtu.be/Vsjj-Oie-iA

The beauty of this bag is the simplicity. The pockets and bag are made from one piece of fabric, with handles and the lining added. The sizes and pattern pieces from Ae PooiM are easy to make up. I made the first couple of bags as shown in the video, and then decided to adjust it a little as I wanted a little more room between the top of the pockets and the top of the bag. .Once I had a shape I really liked I set about making 5 more and this time I timed the make to see how long each bag took to make. If I wanted to sell the. Bags at a craft fair I needed to have a pricing structure based on cost of materials and time to make.

This size makes a perfect craft bag. The 4 pockets can hold the tools, with the main body of the bag taking the crafts. 

Here is the one I made earlier for my craft club trips.

Pockets have glues, gems, ribbons, ,dies, and glue gun

While the main body has the card,  pens, watercolours, scissors and general use items.

I love the fact that all these bags are made from reclaimed fabrics. They are end of rolls from fabrics used for soft furnishings. This means that every part of the roll has been used with no resources wasted.  

I have now made a few ready for my craft fair in August, and have put some  in my Etsy shop, as well as cutting out a few more ready to make. Next I have to consider a price. Whilst the fabric has been sourced at a great price, I still need to consider the fabric, sewing cotton, wear and tear of my machine (just serviced at a cost of £54, as well as the time taken to make the bag. This large bag requires a length of 52”, and the bag takes 1.5hrs to make. So I looked at other bags on Etsy and have come up with a price. £14.95. 

My next project will be the a smaller tote with no pockets and if there are any pieces off fabric left suitable to make a wallet bag I will add those as well to make a set of bags. With a bot of luck I will have a great collection of bags for future holidays. 

Happy Crafting

Dee. 

The simplest Small Coin Purse and Pouch Bag I have come across

 My next Sewing Project

Small Coin Purse and Pouch Bag

So my new love of sewing had me avidly watching videos on YouTube to find more designs to make. Bearing in mind I am not an experienced sewer, and my machine is fairly basic I naturally looked at designs that were as straight forward as possible.Putting zips in is about as difficult as I want it to be. The next makes are from a YouTuber called Ae PooiM. She has some great videos, very well laid out and no talking just music in the background while the measurement are put on the screen. With her videos, I tend to watch all the way through, taking the measurements as I go and then play it again to make the item. 

The small coin purse is very simple to make and can be made in volume quite quickly so if you make jewellery to give as gifts or to sell these can be made quickly enough not to add a lot to the cost of the item. 

https://youtu.be/Kmzb4O2I5pw

Once I got the hang of the design I could make them smaller and larger enabling me to use up various remnant pieces to the best advantage.

Here are the original smaller purses with snap closure

I have even made them large enough to put my phone in. I can make this size with off cuts and bits left from other projects. 

The small pouch I kept to the original pattern and made half a dozen just because I liked the look of them. As I would not use them myself these will probably go in a basket at my next craft fair. 

Small pouches with a zip middle and holding handle

These are so cute and will hold makeup or tissues and money. They can be stitched at the base like the blue bag or left with unstitched sides as the other two. 

So now I am fully into my sewing projects and feeling ready to tackle some bigger bags. Back to  YouTube to see what is available, and what method of bag making suits me best. 

But that is for then next post 

If you want to comment on any of the projects, or get notified when I add a new post, why not click on the follow button at the top of the page.

Happy Crafting

Dee 

Expandable Shoe/Wine bags

Expandable Shoe/Wine bag 

As shown  in my previous post the  first bags I made were these really useful shoe/wine bag. With expanding sides the bags are a great fit for shoes. Easy way of transporting shoes to the gym or packing your dancing shoes for the lovely holiday/cruise.

If you don’t need to transport your shoes, the bags are perfect to present a bottle of wine.

What a lovely way to say Thank You, and long after the wine has been enjoyed the recipient has the bag for re-use.

There are several people on YouTube showing how to make these expandable bags, I followed Christine’s Home Affairs and enjoyed making the first 4 bags from fabric I had gathered over the past couple of years from Charity shops and car boots. I will link her post below.

https://youtu.be/NNu3_Z3du-k

You can see from the picture that the shoes will  fit easily into one of these bags and I would estimate that shoes up to a size 8 will not be a problem after that you may need to increase the pattern size a little. 

I think they are very handy gift bags and  not too difficult to make if you are a beginner, I managed to get hold of a bundle of 15” zips at a good price on ebay and became slightly obsessed with sewing again. I ended up with 8 of these bags and decided to put a few in my Etsy shop

https://youtu.be/Kmzb4O2I5pw

With time on my hands I checked out more bags on YouTube. My next bag was a simple coin purse the video also had a small pouch bag  so I tried a few of each.  I will share them with you in my next post. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee