5 craft show must haves

I have not yet tried to sell my wares at a craft show (or flea market). One reason is because of the high price. I would have to take on the additional cost. However I do occasionally have a tag sale. Yes I know these are 2 different entities, but similar in ways.

You want to present your items in a somewhat if not full on professional manner.

For a tag sale, I always set up as if it’s like a store. I have the walk way as well as the porch to use.

On the walk way in view of the street I lay out the big sale items like a big metal tool box, any sports equipment, bikes, skateboards etc. I also put in the walkway some of the clothes I have to offer. The nicer clothes I hang on the porch. I hang any purses on the iron fencing protecting the garden and I have my seat and table in between basically the layout it sort of like an L

The Flea market I’ve gone to which had a good amount of those selling crafts be it Soaps, or jewelry and so on they got one parking spot to layout their stuff. I think they charged $40 or $50 for the spot. (but if these people are selling week in and out, then they have to have a vendor’s license which for my city charges $300 for 6 months!)

 

For both You need #1 Sun protection  (the porch or a tent)

a comfortable chair.  In the chair you might want to have  a drink holder or one with pockets. If not just make or buy  something like the one in the link. I think my dad has that same chair, but his is green.

Displays. I love the way they have the window shutter to show off earrings.

Some snacks and drinks

Something to do when its slow (search a words, read a book etc)

You want to group the same type of things together, just like a store does. Same brands or the same line of jewelry  (like I have summer surf for one summer themed type jewelry.) and type like earrings.

I do like when one is more resourceful in making their displays.

(my question is what do these people do with their displays when they aren’t doing a craft fair/show?

 

 

You might want to also check my its yard sale season  post as you can apply many of the tips and tricks to craft shows as well

DIY Subway art idea

 

Making DIY Subway art was a way of recycle and re-purposing those big paper shopping bags, and when your re-usable ones get broken in, you can do the same. Send a message, put in a sentence or use smaller sizes pieces and a large frame to make ‘ransom note art’ or memo board. Putting all the store names together I don’t really like, to me it comes off as materialistic and therefore tacky, but ok for a sample.

So I searched to see if I could find some samples, most of them look like this… Now I live in NY state about 30 minutes or so away from the City…I’e NEVER seen Subway ‘art’ look like this.

The way they did theirs in the DIY link I would have done mine sideways and to the decoration in the board used. (Anything pink would have went in the pink background, all the others in the black part. (Then if the rest didn’t fit in the black part of the board I would have either put them on the others side (vertically as the final creation is shown) or made a second one.

I’ll have to see if I can find a thick poster board to make one or 2 of my own. This way I can still put the ribbon on the edge but just use that tact gum to hang it on my wall (plaster walls stink for hanging things esp. when the wall gets cold)

As I KNOW I have souvenir bags (like from a few stores and Restaurants in Toronto, as well as some other assorted brand ones I’d rather not use to giveaway. SO I absolutely LOVE this idea. I also have a magazine type thing that can be used to add some flair to it as well.

(will have to see about taking a few pictures once I sort out pictures on my phone and transfer them to a flash drive.)

If you do not have any of these sort of shopping bags Like from big Department stores like Macy’s, lord and Taylor etc you an always look for words you want to use in a search or make them yourself in word or image maker (Like Paint shop pro) so you have the colors and fonts you want and what size font would suit the size of your over all ‘art’ or board you want to hang.  However you like.

Not sure if the plastic ones are used but as I said that’s up to you. if you have doubles why not cut out the letters repeatedly and make a ‘Ransom note’ looking message as well. You could always change it week by week or month… (anytime you get bored with it)

 

No crumbs about it Crafty Cup Cake liners

Have  the kids been kicking around at home and You’re activities for them indoor and out?

 

My favorite home hacks blog One Good Thing, always has loads of great ideas, natural ways to clean, preen and dream.

These little and regular sized liners of paper, foil and even shapely silicone are an all around utility item.

(as well as their ice cube tray counter parts)

From Keeping bugs out of your drink while outdoors, to dressing up homemade gifts, decorating lights on a string of lights and even dressing up tea lights. They make clean up easy and even great for making serving sized snacks, dividers, and food preparations easy. Silicone ones are great to use for making frozen treats (or jello shots) as well as DIY natural cleaning and beauty bars and and make fun ones that are in different shapes. No crumbs about it, they are Crafty Cup Cake liners freezer friend. Need to use a small amount of cream for baking? Then freeze it to use for next recipe (will be good for a few weeks.) So its a great idea for around the holidays! Use as a disposable liner for those little items rolling around in your junk and utility drawers and best of all

Make This Color-Changing Goo And Be Entertained For Days

With the Corona virus lurking and major shut downs for at least 2 weeks, some of them schools I am going to post a few activities for the kids to do and play with.

e This Color-Changing Goo And Be Entertained For Days

 

Make This Color-Changing Goo And Be Entertained For Days

The Czur Shine ultra portable scanner

No matter what your craft be it sewing, kneedle work (yarns), drawing painting and even scrapbooking, plus there’s more….

you can use a scanner in some form for your craft. Be it to just scan patterns, copy a specific part, or to get a better image (and lighting) of

Your photo, drawing, painting or the jewelry you made to upload to your website shop or blog.

Its a bit more money, but if you are someone  in school that needs to use a reference book (in other words, you can’t remove it from the library) but you can scan the book safely and take home a digital version. Same for any story you write a(or illustrations) scan them and make your digital book.

back them now https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/shine-ultra-next-gen-portable-powerful-scanner#/

as I think the prices might be higher through Amazon!

CZUR ET16 Plus Advanced Book&Document Scanner, 2nd Gen Auto-Flatten & Deskew Tech, 16MP Sony Camera, Capture A3, 186 languages OCR, Convert to PDF/Searchable PDF/Word/TIFF/Excel, Run On Windows&Mac OS

CZUR Aura-B Book & Document Scanner, Auto-Flatten & Deskew Powered by AI Technology, Foldable & Portable, Capture Size A3, Compatible with Windows & Mac OS

CZUR Smart Writing Journal Notebook, PU Leather Peach Velvet Cover, 7.9”×5.6”, 192 pages premium thick, work with CZUR APP’s OCR and 10GB Cloud-based storage,Purify Series.

How to Tye Dye

I love Tye Dye, and really should have included a picture of some of my shirts.(though I didn’t make them but I sort of have a collection and surprisingly, even the ones I got in the 1990s still fit! Well minus one, but that one I’ll be adding in some fashion to my Patchwork blanket.

Before actually making the shirt, get some old white t-shirts (like rags) to practice first. say cut one shirt into pieces so you can test doing certain techniques. You can later use them as napkins if you’d like or anything else you can think of. 

How to Tye Dye from tye dye your summer

Once you have practiced using and testing colors (stick to your favorite 3-5) you will then likely know how to do what type of pattern on your clothing. (what do you think of Tye Dye shorts? Shirts are better right!?!?! Find a white bathing suit? Tye Dye it! Anything old can be new again!

Just make sure if its an activity for the kiddos, that you stand by and watch. Be sure its in a ‘foot tub’ or bucket and that its in the bath tub when you do it. (or better yet OUTSIDE so they can hang it up, or let it drip dry a bit first. Usually using heat will help keep the color, but be sure when you go to wash it, do it by hand first few time with some diluted vinegar it is supposed to keep the colors from ‘leaking’ out.

You can even make mom and dad Mother’s and Father’s day gifts. Make a Tye dye themed B-B-Q… Placemats, Cloth Napkins…mmm what else?

Then if you are one of those families that goes on a trip together or has a family reunion…  Make your own tye dye the shirts, and just buy some iron on transfers to make Your Family’s last name (or joint name)  2019  &  (on bottom…. ) Family Reunion.

Why not turn an older white blanket or sheet set into tye dye (if you need a change) while you are at it, make some of your socks tye Dye for those cooler spring days

 

 

 

Easy Sewing Hacks

THis video isn’t just for sewers! But there’s both hacks for hand sewers and machines. Embroidery, Knitting,

Pins

I was looking for an old fashion hat or coat pin. To me they are either too much for not being able to see the quality before buying or just not what I was looking for in particular. So

I recently got to make a couple of pins of my own. 2 different kinds for Halloween this year

One was to just wear on a shirt or jacket or even a purse.

I had a bit of help from my dad to make this lapel pin as he had the drill bit to make a small hole to string some fishing line through so I could add a few beads to make it look like a blood drip. (which was before I actually found ‘blood drop’ beads grrr)

I asked him one I had the lapel pins if he could cut a bit off the back, (as he had the tool for that, but he was doing it wrong and Ii ended up having to take 3-5 hours just to manually cut part of the lapel backing and filing it down to fit the back of the mouth. (which had he done it the faster way, I might have sold a couple for $10 or $15 but manually, this one at least would cost $25 or 430 as there are a couple of Swarovski Crystals on it.

 

I also made one to wear on my costume to give it a little color. (I was supposed to be a Vampire Bride so I had an all black dress on..)

Someone took the pic for me and sent it, and its crappy looking when made big. That Bat headband was given to me from a friend that lived not far from Salem Mass. (and likely bought it there for me along with the other bunch of goodies she sent. I bought the dress (one of those store bought witch things) at a good will (probably hell of a lot cheaper than the store) and as it had no décor on the sleeves etc. I got some Lace from the craft store to sew on the sleeves, and I had some ruffle looking ribbon I added to the collar. I made the choker a few years ago but I used the same ribbon I used on the collar as I used for the Choker. Its a cameo but its a skull head. Oh and those white things on my hips are hair barrettes that are skeleton hands.

Being as I was planning to be a vampire bride, I thought I would need a bouquet. Well this is it. To your left of the Bat is a blood drop.

This I started on and had to stop the first time I tried it. The backing broke loose and I just was not able too get the eye pins and wires to go the way I wanted. Not sure how I did it but this one came out maybe not exactly as I’d liked (if you look at the flower above the (your) right side of the bat, you’ll see its pulled in more and not even with the other flowers.

Uses for Bubble wrap

This time of year we are receiving packages likely packed with Bubble wrap and maybe evevn gifts ass well.

Well until now I never could think of what to use it for other than Packing & moving to keep things safe, or as a toy. (Well after watching a recent episode of Doctor Who (Think it was Episode 8, but definitely of the first season with the lady doctor) not sure if I’ll be popping them anymore!

You know those Hot & cold bags (reusable) bags the stores sell? Likely They are nothing but some bubble wrap with foil.

Insulate Drafty Windows

Protect Walls

Love the Burglar Alarm –>

*Bubble wrap the handles of your Rake, Snow shovel etc to avoid blisters

Protect car’s windshield in winter- Use a large sheet to cover the windshield (I’d also wrap each wiper a well Then you don’t have to clear the frost off in the morning

Sleeping Bag Padding

Hold the Shape of Handbags and Purses.

Use on top and bottom of doors to block drafts.

*add to first aid kit as an emergency Cast

Don’t like the feeling of the bottom of the tub, need a last minute fix.. use some bubble wrap (or hand towel)

*15 Uses for Bubble wrap  (some ideas have been sourced from here

Sewing Projects #5 – Drawstring bags

I found this fabric in Walmart as a ‘fat quarter’ and thought: “Hey I could make a bag for Max (the boy across the street from me) He was a big Batman fan for years, now he’s ‘Graduated’ to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (wonder if his mama will let him watch the new movie… man they sound more stupid as thugs than they do with the surfer voices.

This project can be done by sewing or the no-sew way (you just need the heat-bond to do it.)

I did the more simple drawstring with one string so you just have to knot it at one end.