I like Christmas as much as the next guy but ...

Don't you get sick of Santas, bells and stars sometimes, or it is just me? I almost feel ashamed of saying it; it feels wrong and politically incorrect, but I do get sick of all this Christmas stuff.

To escalate the problem, here in Brazil we are at the doorstep of summer, thanks for being located in the South Hemisphere and that's why I am creating things that are the "oh... it is getting hot in here" kind. These clutches, for example, scream summer, don't they?


This one has interchangeable hand painted silk strips, so you get 2 clutches for the price of 1!

Lessons I learned from my first craft show

Meet your neighbors
Look to your right and left. Your fellow crafters are likely to be fun, supportive and probably know much more about participating in craft shows than you. They can give you advice on how to set up your space, how to get a customer’s attention, and so on. Observe the way they deal with their customers and ask questions; most of them will enjoy sharing their experience.


Move, move, move
Give the impression something is happening in your booth. Don’t just stay there, waiting for the customers to stop by; the customers will feel intimidated. Rearrange your display, move things around, and keep yourself busy, but not so busy you can’t stop at the moment a potential customer shows interest in your stuff.

Check the craft show history ahead of time
Ideally, you should have access to some history: how many customers, demographics, as well as who the other crafters are and what they sell, estimated revenue per booth, etc. With this information , you can plan much better which products to take and how to set up your booth.

Enlist a friend or share your booth
Like most things in life, it is much more fun sharing with somebody else. This person will help when you have that surge in number of customers, or when you need time for a “bio” break. And let me take this opportunity to tell you about eating: I don’t know about you, but I won’t stop by at a booth where the seller is eating. I just feel I am intruding. I mentioned this to some friends and they all feel the same way. So, you might want to let your friend take over and go eat somewhere else.
Above all, this friend will be another set of eyes and ears to gather information and learn what craft shows are all about.

Don’t get discouraged
It might take some time for things to pick up. My first 4 or 5 hours were really slow. I sold nothing, very few people gave me the time of the day, and my neighbor kept asking if I had lost my craft show virginity yet. But before the end of the day I made a few sales, one of them very substantial, and the second day was even better. If things are slow, refer to “Move, move, move”, above. !


Invite everybody you know
Really, I did and it worked wonderfully. A lot of people you relate to in your daily life don’t know you are an artist or never really cared to know more about your creations. This is a nice opportunity to show them what you’ve got. I invited lots of relations; some of them showed up and a couple even bought my stuff. One of them was my second best customer -- 18% of my craft show income.

Have your “elevator’s pitch” ready
In corporate lingo, an “elevator’s pitch” is those few seconds you are in the elevator with somebody and you can say something to get his attention, so he will want to know more about your stuff.You have a small window of opportunity to get a potential customer interested in your work. Tell him things he might find interesting and would help him to value your product. There are tons of examples: something is handmade, and/or an original design, the piece is one of a kind, the materials are eco-friendly, the african beads are bought through fair trade… You know the drill!

Know your prices
My prices were all over the place so I put a little tag on each product with the price. Big mistake! The customers always asked me how much the products costed and I had to look for the tiny little price tag. Boring!!! specially for the customer!
I am already preparing for the next craft show: I will have 4 or 5 price points and will use colored price tags, so I will know instantly how much each product costs.


Keep your packaging simple
Nice packaging makes your product more attractive; that’s a no brainer. However, you have to be able to pack the product really fast; the customer wants to move on and you want to move on to another customer. So, plan your packaging accordingly.


Get contact info
Priceless! You know how you work yourself out trying to get people to sign up for your newsletter? Just ask them right there at the craft show. Most of them will say yes, and these are people who already admire your product, and might even have bought something from you.
The corolary here is to do some promotion: 10% off any item on your etsy store, free shipping, or whatever you can come up with.

Enjoy yourself
If this is your first or one of your first craft shows, consider it as an investment. You will learn a lot even if you don’t sell a lot. Keep your eyes and your mind open, and have fun!

My act is not together but...

I am having lots of fun.

I said back in September that I would have my act together by October, blogwise speaking, I mean. Wellllll, it hasn't happened that way I planed.

You see, I have decided to participate in this Craft Show that will benefit a NGO my friend Monica started a few years ago, and it just got way over my head. I have been creating and painting and sewing and labeling and pricing like a crazy woman. I have never participated in a craft show before so I am really excited. So excited, I haven't had time to blog but... I have created some new products for the craft show and thought I might give you a sneak peek:


Just look at this cutie! I am forgiving for not blogging, am I not?

Can we turn ourselves off for 10 minutes?

So, today I got this interesting e-mail; the subject was World of Darkness. The idea is that on Sept. 17th the whole world (yeap, that's right) will turn the lights off for 10 minutes: from 9:50 pm to 10:00 pm local time.

I can't help but think: can I do that? Of course, living in the sticks of Brazil, our electrical power supply is spotty to say the least. When that happens, my wonderful and practical husband turns the generator on and life resumes itself as before.

However, my doubts go further... I don't seem to be able to do "just" one thing at a time anymore. So, when I watch TV, I am also using laptop. Once a week, my husband takes my laptop to class because his is dead. When that happens, I watch TV and do crosswords. When I eat alone, I read a book while chewing I am not sure what.

When was it that we started multitasking full time AND by choice? when was it doing only one thing at a time became so dull? It seems we can't smell the flowers anymore, we have to smell and do something else. So, how am I going to turn the lights off for 10 minutes and do nothing? Oh, I know... when I am eating with my husband we don't do anything else. So, on Sept 17th, honey, dinner is going to be a little later.

Brazil's National Candy

If you have ever been to a Brazilian birthday party, you know brigadeiro (bree-gah-day-ro). There is no Brazilian party without it. It is the most delicious, luscious chocolate little candy. Still, it is so easy to make, Brazilian kids (12 and up) make them themselves even, or specially, if they are alone in the house. Something so good and so easy and quick to make, I don't know... it just seems wrong. Oh, yeah, it is fattening... that's the catch.

Anyway, if you can take a few more calories and bear the guilt, here goes the recipe. You can make it in less than 10 minutes AND enjoy it tonight!

You are going to need:

1. 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (not to be confused with evaporated milk)
2. 1 tablespoon of butter
3. 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder

Traditionally, Brazilians used to make brigadeiro in the pan but nowadays most people make them in the microware. In my opinion, you can't tell the difference.

Take a round and tall microwave-safe bowl and put all ingredients inside

1. Put in the microwave in high for 3 minutes
2. Stir
3. Put in the microwave for 4 more minutes
4. Stir vigorously until you get a shiny, homogeneous cream

At this point, the thing is done. You can serve in one of several ways:

• Just wait for the cream to get cold in its own bowl, take a spoon full of the cream and put in your mouth. The rest of the family can do the same. This is the way to serve on movie night with just your immediate family.
  
• Put in little, cute individual containers and wait until cold. Serve the individual container with little spoons.

• Roll them into little balls, Brazilian party style. The way to do this is to wait for the cream to cool down, smear some butter in your hands, take a little of the cream and roll into a little ball. You can put shredded nuts, shredded chocolate, or even unsweetened cocoa (truffle style) around the ball. Then, put the little ball into a paper container like the ones used for muffins, but much smaller (the ball should be the size of a Ferrero Roucher).

I know, I know...

You don't have to say anything, I know I have been a bad, bad blogger... my posts have been (very) few and far between, but what can I say???

Oh, wait a minute, I know!!! I can say:

1. Ana was home on vacation from college and I was nursing my baby OR
   
2. I am preparing a great soon to be posted tutorial on how to make a candle lamp out of a soda bottle and hand painted silk OR
3. I can say I have been very busy in my studio making myself a purse using a great and FREE pattern from Oh, Fransson!. My thanks to Elizabeth Hartman for the great tutorial. AND
4. I will try to be better in the future, even though my step-daughter Camille's wedding is coming up in 3 weeks, which means I will be away from home for 2 weeks, and I know it will be October before I can get my act together.