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I Love My Customers

6/19/2019

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One of the reasons I love to do craft shows is meeting new people.  At a craft show in Altoona last month, I met the nicest man.  His name is Steve.  He stopped by my booth and commented on how nice my vases were (yay!) and that they were the perfect vessel for holding air plants.  Now others have mentioned air plants to me before, but I have never taken the time to research them.  I have seen other craft vendors selling them with their work, so I never intended on using them in my display.  Steve said that he would stop back later with a plant to see how it would look in one of my vases.
hanging vase with air plant
Steve returned in an hour with two small air plants.  I loved them so much!  He was right - they looked great in my hanging vases.  Later that day he returned with a book about air plants so I could learn how to care for them.  Since the show was very slow, I had time to read it from cover to cover (there were a lot of pictures).  

Now I was inspired!  I had to have more of these unique little plants in my home.  When I got back from the show, I placed my two little air plants in the vases that I have hanging in my kitchen window.  Online, I found a great air plant supplier out of Florida and proceeded to order plants . . . a lot of plants.
Tillandsia Xerographica
Ionantha Guatemala, Rubra, and Scaposa
They arrived several days after my order in perfect condition.  I have created homes for the three largest plants but I have over 20 more small plants that I need to do something with.  You can say a went a little crazy with my order and I will agree with you.  Sometimes inspiration can get a little out of control.  I have some ideas for the remaining plants and I hope to have them off my dining table in the next few weeks.

I'm thankful to have met Steve in Altoona.  Craft shows are not just a source of income for me, they are also a source of inspiration.  

Plants from Air Plant Supply Co.
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The Ever Changing Craft Show Display

10/24/2018

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In the fall of 2017 I decided to resurrect my 'bottle business' and again hit the craft show scene.  I gave up the business 9 years prior due to the demand a two-year old can have on one's time and attention.  In giving up the business, I also parted with the tent and display that I used to show off my hanging vases.  Rule number one:  NEVER throw anything away!  I loved my old display. . .it packed nice, I always received compliments about it, it was easy to set up & take down.  Now I needed to build a new one.

The first big purchase was the tent.  In the old days, I would pick up EZ Up tents from Sam's Club for around $100 and replace them every two to three years as they broke or got too dingy.  This time I decided to spend a little more money to get a tent that was a bit more durable.  I like quick and easy.  At shows I would see vendors assembling poles and stretching tops over frames - not for me.  I wanted a tent like the EZ Up:  EASY to put UP.  After some research and reading reviews, I selected the EuroMax tent from Amazon (free shipping, yay!) for $250.  Love it!
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First display in fall of 2017 - My daughter eating ice cream (of course)
Deciding on how to best display my vases was the next challenge.  Instead of recreating the wood display from years ago, I wanted to use something that was a bit more compact and lighter; I'm not as young as I used to be after all!  I found that a few black metal garden trellises were just the right size and when two were wired together, they stood up quite nicely on their own.

While my first display 'did the job' so to speak, it was not very inviting and it was certainly a far cry from my awesome display from yesteryear!  Black tablecloths seemed like a good idea at the time I bought them.  
Black matched the trellises.  BLAH!!!  The black had to go.  And I needed to figure out a better way to display the little tabletop vases.  They were lost on the small table.  My second attempt at a display was a little better.  I switched out the black for a floral print and moved the trellises around a bit.  
I added skirting at the bottom of the trellises to hide the plastic bins of back stock (another significant challenge), but that shorted me on valuable display space.  My mini tabletop bottle vases were still lost on a small table.  AND so much WHITE!  I need white to show off the color of the vases, but there also needs to be a balance.

​On to display version number three!  I created a tabletop display to show off the little bottle bud vases and bottle magnets as well as the mini hanging bottles.  By doing this, I had to eliminate two of the trellis pieces I was using, but I regained display space by adding in a floor standing unit that I painted in bright colors.  Nice!
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Second display attempt - Renaissance Jamboree in Bloomsburg PA
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Display number three! Lilac Festival Rochester NY

Adding solid color toppers to my tablecloths helped to break up the white space from the previous display.  Better!

My wrap stand (check-out table) had been to the front of my booth years ago and it only seemed natural to set it up that way again.  However, getting shoppers to come in to look around was a challenge.  They would walk to my booth and look in. . .as if they were peering through a window.  Perhaps they feared they would be cited for trespassing if they ventured inside. 

​Time to move things around again.
For my last big show of the year, I moved the tabletop display right to the front.  BAM!  My sales of small vases shot through the roof!  I was fortunate at this show to have extra space to the side so I was able to feature my trellis display to the front as well.  Double BAM!  Customers were able to shop both sides of this display and get back to me to pay for purchases.

Even though my vase display is better, there is still more work to be done to perfect it.  How to arrange back stock for easy access is a big problem - an issue I will have to address before shows begin again in the spring.  In fact, as I write this now, my head is flooded with ideas for changes I can make to improve the current presentation!

Time to work on display version 5. . .
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Display version number 4! Covered Bridge Festival
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Decorating for Fall with Bottles

10/23/2018

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In my kitchen window, I root cuttings and start young plants.  With every season, I add decorations amid the pots and bottles that line the sill.  My favorite little 'Harvest' sign sits center on the sill flanked by two carved wood pumpkins.  The little brown bottle vase perched on the sign adds some height and the single mum in the vase completes the display.
Fall is a fun time of year.  Here in North Central Pennsylvania the weather gets cooler and the leaves change from green to vibrant orange, red and yellow.  Pumpkins and mums adorn every front entryway - even cornstalks make an appearance on some porches.  Mini pumpkins and gourds find themselves on mantels and as centerpieces on dining tables.  I like to incorporate the tiny clear and brown wired bottles into my fall decorations.  Since they are small, they work well on a windowsill or placed on a shelf amidst a fall display.  I always place fresh flowers in them and at this time of year, a single mum (or two) adds an extra special touch.
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Hanging above the sill display, I have two wired vases/rooters.  Again, I change out the color of the vases with the seasons.  For Autumn, I have orange and green hanging together.  The colors compliment each other and coordinate with my Harvest sign.  Sometimes I root ivy in the hanging vases.  For now, I'll just add cut flowers from pots of mums or pick up fresh flowers from the local supermarket every few weeks to keep the hanging vases full of color.
When it comes time to transition to Christmas holiday decorations, I will switch out the orange vase for a red one!

Do you have little bottles lying around?  
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See how I make one!
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The Best Little Helper

10/15/2018

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I had been trying to get into the Covered Bridge festival for several years.  Thousands upon thousands of people attend the event and several of my vendor friends told me that it would be a good show.  In the spring, I received my acceptance.  I was so excited!  Throughout the summer I worked on building my stock levels in anticipation of selling lots and lots of vases.

When I received my booth number I was a little concerned about my location because it was marked 'New' on the map.  The festival had been growing over the years and several new areas had been added to accommodate more vendors.  My location was a bit out of the way with no other vendors across from my row (just a parking lot of vendor trailers).
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My daughter came to help out for the first three days.  In fact, I took her out of school for two days so that she could work with me.  At just 12 years old, she is the best helper!  She has worked several shows with me - setting up, tearing down, selling items, wrapping them - she does it all without complaint.
The crowds started to pour in Thursday morning, however few of the shoppers were making their way down to our row.  This was devastating to me.  As a craft vendor, trying a new show can be risky especially if the booth fee is high and extra expenses like lodging are incurred.  My daughter was my cheerleader keeping my spirits up as I spent more money on the food we ate than the money I was taking in.

Friday was a little better. . .just a little.  I still had not covered all of my expenses for the show, but my daughter was with me and she helped me to keep smiling.
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We ate all the best fair food including chocolate covered strawberries, home-made peanut butter ice cream, perrogies, stromboli, lemonade, and of course a Mr. Sticky's sticky bun with ICING.

Friday afternoon her dad came to pick her up.  It made me so sad to see them walk away.  I was on my own for the next two days!

I was fortunate to be sharing a cabin with two other vendors.  If they had not asked me to rent the third room, I probably would have been commuting the 1 hour 30 minutes each day from home.  With the exception of  having my daughter with me for the first few days, staying with Bonnie, Linda, Roland and Maria was the highlight of the show.  Every night we played cards for hours!  This kept my mind off of my dismal sales.

Saturday was a better day - expenses were finally covered!  The weather was better too.  
Sunday was the shortest day, but felt like the longest.  I think everyone around me shared the same sentiment.  As I started to pack up I wished my helper was with me.  I never had to tell her where to put something or how to pack it - she knew what to do.  I am so thankful to have a wonderful and caring daughter who loves to help me.
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9/25/2018

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Jean Cummings
10 Upper Heise Run Road
Wellsboro, PA 16901

Telephone

570.787.3017

Email

jeanecummings@gmail.com