Craft Show Success

Last weekend was The Polkadot Owl Market and it was a success!  Veronica and I have been working on this Market for a few months and all of our work paid off. 

 We ended up with 18 vendors, around 80+ people stopped by to shop and visit and everyone wanted to know if we could do this every weekend.  umm, Not!  {but I did think about how we can do it more often}

Day 2 

Here are a few pics of our vendors and shoppers:

Smashley Style 

She put 28 feathers in customers hair- awesome at 11!

You can find more pictures on our facebook page here: 

You can join our emailed newsletter by sending us our email to polkadotowlmarket@yahoo.com

and please LIKE our facebook page to stay up to date on vendor specials, coupon codes and our next event~  

Thanks to my partner in crime, Veronica for making this event run so smoothly and to all my family and friends for supporting my business and helping me build my dreams ;)

Trunk Shows

So my friend over at Art Box Designed Fused Glass posted a link about having a successful trunk show with pictures of beautiful trunks.  It made me think about the beautiful cases and trunks I brought home from my grandmothers house after she passed away last year.  Beautiful worn leather and chunky straps in browns and reds.  I made my husband keep them and store them safely in the garage and was sure they would never be used again...... Until now.

As I'm planning my craft show display I'm really excited to use her cases to display my headbands, onesies and tophats.  I still need to set up the table {that's for another post} but I'm really excited about actually using her treasures.

Last week my husband and I took a trip to Denver, Co and went to antique row.  I found so many ideas for trunk shows:

Love this blue trunk!

Don;t you wonder who traveled with this case?

I would love to have this stack of cases but they were a little pricey

 One word- "Gorgeous"

So, next time you see a trunk- grab it and make it a great display piece for your craft show or participate in a trunk show in your area.

Have you ever done a trunk show????

Spring has Sprung

The past few weeks have been filled with orders from my etsy shop, kids going to Sea Camp, more college applications, taxes, garage sale, getting organized AND planning a Spring Home Boutique with my friend Veronica at Life in the Thrifty Lane.  

Veronica and I are so excited to have our first of hopefully many Home Boutiques. We are seeing a trend in California and wanted to bring it to Las Vegas. So here we go.........We named it The Polkadot Owl Market.  Lots of brainstorming to get that name and we ended up liking owls and liking polkadots.. {so there ya have it}.  Elena from worldwidemom designed our logo and we love it!

Right now we have 15 vendors of all handmade items.  Now that we have commitments, we are in the planning and marketing stage.  Fun!  I just ordered business cards and lawn signs from Vista Print and we opened a facebook page here.  {I would love for you to like and share our page, plus you can stay up to date on our current event and vendors and our future events as well}

I hope to see you at our event!

Shop Advice

I've had some requests for advice on what to do with marketing your Etsy Shop.  I am in no way an expert and I learn something new every single day from all the lovely blogs I follow (oh, and Pinterest). I thought I would share some things that work for me in my shop since I'm almost at my 2 year anniversary. 

Starting out with some stats:

From Feb. 2010-December 2010 (my first year of branding myself) I had 39 orders and 151 shop favorites.  I also was a vendor at 2 craft shows.  I felt good about those numbers at the time.  I was getting a few orders a week.  That's good, right?

Okay, My 2nd year- Jan. 2011-December 2011 I had 127 orders, 24,054 shop views, 19,716 listing views and 822 shop favorites.  I also took the entire month of December off and was a vendor at 3 craft shows.

This year- Jan. 2012 to Current I have 53 orders, 11,941 shop views and 402 favorites.  Im ecstatic! In 6 weeks?  What did I do different? 

First thing First- Everything takes time and work.  Your shop isn't going to be successful over night.  The shops that think they will make millions their first month don't stay around long. 

Believe in your product and be determined to make it happen!

Some Pointers: {remember I'm not an expert}

Get a Facebook Business Page-
 Its Free advertising.  You can share information about your shop, about other shops (that's what they call networking), your fans can post questions, comments, customer appreciation photos and you can post just random updates of what you are doing.  Let your fans know who YOU are. 

Use Pinterest- Make sure you read Pinterest's etiquette rules.  Don't pin things from your shop ALL the time.  It's not about self-promotion on that site.  What's nice is that their is a "pin it" button on all listings on Etsy.  How easy is that?  Your customers just have to click the button and "pin it" to their board for all of their followers to see.  FREE advertising. 

Lots of Products- Customers like to see that you have alot of product in your shop.  A) they have more choices; B) they can buy more items in one stop shopping and bundle shipping; C) it makes your shop look like a business that you are passionate about.  Bundle products, toddler packs, items in 3's etc.  {I need to do this} It's on my "to do list". It also increases your sale.  Instead of a $3 bow you can sell 3 bows for $10 on a pretty card all gift wrapped and ready to go.  Hmm, not a new concept. 

Etsy Search Ads- I use the search ads and put a max of $5 a week on them.  I choose the max keywords and put everything in my shop in the ad.  The tutorial is really simple on etsy and you can just commit to it on a weekly basis.  I really think this has boosted my views and my sales.  I've only reached the max $5 one time since doing this.  This year I have spent to date $35.93 and my return is 36,921 impressions.  Not bad, right? 

Renewing- I renew about 10 listings a week for $2.00.  Wow, $2.00.  When I renew my listings I always get a favorite, a convo, or an order.  I also renew my favorite and most popular listings too.  Its keeps them on the front page of my website.  { I like pretty things} Remember to renew your sold listings and to check your expired listings.  I just found about 5 expired listings I had no idea expired.  {they should email you or something}

Blog- I just did a blog re-design and my goal this year is to blog away.  It's a real time challenge but I have a journal with me and jot down ideas all the time.  On those sleepless nights you can just blog away- {kind of like I'm doing right now}  I would suggest to get your Etsy Shop up and running if you aren't ready to have a blog, but I also think you should get a Blogger account so you can start following blogs, commenting on blogs, entering giveaways on blogs, and networking on blogs to get your name out there.  I blog under Tutuland {some blog under their real name}. Make sure when posting a comment it's genuine and not for self - promotion only, BUT also include your shop name at the end.  Follow some great blogs {check out my where I party tab} and learn from them.  They know whats trending right now and what's hot in the market. 

Craft Shows- I love doing Craft Shows and I hate doing Craft Shows.  It's a ton of work to make 20 million tutus and bows, and felt roses, and headbands, and onesies and tophats and and and...... I'm not very nice a few weeks prior to craft show date {I'm also a one woman show like most of you}, plus a wife and mother {did I mention I have a full time job too?}  I love the actual Craft Show day- meeting the other vendors, setting up my booth {remember, I like pretty things and I love a party}, and meeting my loyal and new customers.  Love Love Love that part.  It's a great networking opportunity and I recommend you do it at least one a year.  Ya know, to stress out and get your name out there too. 

Pictures- This is the most important thing to master. {I'm not there yet} Last year I had a professional photo shoot and I use those pictures in everything.  I love how the photographer captured my little models in MY tutus and bows.  It was definitely worth the time and money and my models had fun too.  I am planning on doing another one this year to update my pictures {not in July in Las Vegas in the Redrocks, like last year}.  In the mean time, I have a light box where I take pictures of my onesies and tophats and I invested in a child mannequin for my other pictures.  I take them outside in the morning {best light} in my front yard in my jammies.  Glamourous, I know.  I love when my neighbors are walking their dogs and just laugh at me.  To edit my pictures I currently use Picnik.com and Irfanvew.  They are really easy.  I have Photoshop Elements but have not clue how to use it.  So until Picnik closes in April I will continue to use them. {let me know if you know of any good editing programs out there that are very very very easy to use}

Find out what works for you- If you don't enjoy making something and have lost your passion {don't sell it}.  I don't list that many bows because they aren't my favorite to make. I love bows. But I don't enjoy making them. I do enjoy buying the ribbon and fabric and the thought of making them.  I go in spurts.  My point is: if you're not having fun making it {stop making it}.

This year I added embroidered onesies to my line and a boys line.  I found I have a boy following and wanted to touch on it.  I found adding a "whole outfit" "one stop shopping" to my shop really works.  I don't make diaper covers anymore {because I'm not good at it and they stress me out},but I get a ton of requests. 

What's popular right now?  Colors, Designs, Themes? Put those ideas in your shop.  Check Etsy's Trending page.  Trust me- they know what their talking about.

Join a group-  I joined the Handmade in Vegas Team when I started and have met a group of ladies {and men} that have given me more advice than any book or blog.  We do craft shows together, have a facebook page all about our business, attend monthly meetings and really just have fun.  Find a group in your handmade community to join. 

Lastly- BE ORIGINAL- DONT COPY.  There are only so many ways to make a tutu and a bow but I tweek them just enough that they are my original designs. My color palette, my enhancements, my ideas. 

I hope this helps you grow your business and please leave me comments on what works for your shop.

Post Craft Show Sale

12-24 MONTH  $18

I'm starting to get orders for Halloween Costumes and I have no place to store them without my husband freaking out that he actually lives in TutuLand.  I decided to have a Post Craft Show Sale- I've never had a sale before but I made so many tutus for the last craft show that I brought a few home.  So.... 1/2 price sale it is.......  You can check out my website tutuland to see the specials or go to my facebook page to preview them.  The sale will last until Sunday and they are all Ready to Ship!  So start thinking about baby showers, halloween and your little girls ballet class... If you know any photographers this is a great opportunity to stock up on photo props.

NB-12 month $21

Mt. Charleston Craft Show

I have been working so hard to get ready for a craft show that Handmade in Vegas is organizing. Its at Mt Charleston about 45 miles outside of Las Vegas (my hometown).

My daughter is also attending the show with me exhibiting her new website called SmashleyStyles. She donates 10% of her sales to the Animal Foundation Cat Fostering program. (More about that tomorrow). She had some great sales and a few people had customer orders.

I had a few new products to display at this show- My Fluffbands and My Tophats.

Fluffbands and Rosette Headbands

Sharing a table with Smashley Style - Top Hats 

I loved seeing some old friends, some new friends, my team members and making friends with new team members. Craft Shows are a great bonding experience for Ashley and I and I love every minute of it. Here is my daughter and niece- Love Love Love this picture!

Vivien Rose

Linking up to Serenity Now

Dance Recital Show

My daughter was in a dance recital on Saturday tapping her little heart away to the Jonas Brothers version of Yo ho ho ho..... I set up my tutu booth for 2 of the 3 recitals that day. I met some great people and passed out alot of cards. Funny thing; I sold more tutus while breaking down in 10 minutes than I did the 3 hours I was there. I enjoyed the event but I think I would rather be a parent on my daughters day instead of a business woman..... (even though she had fun in her costume helping me man the booth when she was done).