Saturday, September 9, 2017

Flowers, etc. finished!

I've been very busy recently, but not really telling you what I've been up to. I haven't any idea what I've been posting, but it's time to show you two little projects.

The first is a set of flowers that I've recycled for our church. When our youngest son and his wife got married, I bought and arranged flowers to put on the tables during the rehearsal supper. At the time I had four containers of these beautiful deep purple peonies with some greenery. Both the eggplant and greenery were wedding colors.

The wedding was several years ago--Rory and Meggan now have two girls, 6 and 7. My parents died not long after the girls were born, so I thought I'd use the flowers in arrangements on their graves. I have seven sisters, many of whom put flowers on the graves, so the opportunity never presented itself. However, it's time to make some decisions about the extra things in my studio. Use it or toss it, but no more hoarding it.  




The flowers are too pretty to toss, and they are in beautiful condition, so I decided to re-arrange the flowers and give them to our church. One of the smaller vases was cracked, so I removed the flowers, shared them among the other three vases and tossed out the broken vase. I brought the flowers to church this afternoon and put them in church. The larger vase, meant for the head table at the rehearsal dinner, is now on the floor in front of the main altar, and the two smaller vases are on either side of the back altar. 



The other small project is a group of small, round purses. They are just the right size to hold a set of earbuds and cellphone charging wire. I'm hoping that the colors will be appealing to teens and pre-teens. These will go in my booth at the craft fair in a few weeks. I'm no longer concerned about having enough items. 

Anything that I add to my inventory from now will be beyond what I was planning for. If I do have time, I may make a few more of these little purses and a few more rectangular bags to use as pencil cases or makeup bags so that I can have a larger variety of lower price point inventory, but it's not going to be a huge disapointment if I can't get to it.



I've finally gotten the printer working so I can print some price tags and business cards. I've checked on bags and have enough left over from a previous fair, so that's taken care of. 

Hopefully I can get to a practice run on how my booth will look. I plan to set up the canopy, hang quilts, set up tables and two shelves with small items, and figure out where I'll have a "checkout" area.

Several years ago I had a booth at a festival. It was awfully cold, so I was dressed for the weather, not the occasion. I had not really thought so much about how my booth would look, and though I did a dry run, when I looked at the photos later, I was shocked and saddened to discover my booth looked more like a flea market than a micro-store that I'd like for my brand. 

This time around I want to do it right. Whether there are many sales or I barely make enough to cover my costs, I want people to walk away remembering my booth. Of course, I want their memories to be positive.

But just as much I want my booth to have a clean, modern look. I'll post pictures of the booth after I practice. I think taking pictures and looking at them as I add/subtract ideas and things will help me to see the booth the way other people see it. 

If you have suggestions of other things I can do, I'd really appreciate your input, both now and when I post pictures in a few days. By the same token, if you know of interesting posts or articles that might help me, please send the links either to my email (mary.marcotte@gmail.com) or in the comments below. I need and want your opinions and input.



Because it's already Saturday night--we've been working at our annual church fair--so I'm late to all of the linkup parties. Only a few linkups left open, so I'm extra grateful to them.


Loving these Linkups

5 comments:

somethingrosemade14@blogspot.com said...

Great idea to give the lovely flowers to your Church, they still have "life" in them and I'm sure they will be appreciated. Neat, round purses you made, I hope they sell well at your Craft sale. Sorry I don't have any suggestions, since I've never sold anything but am wondering if you could find some ideas on Pinterest; I always find it to be a great resource for interesting ideas.

Jen Strauser said...

Doesn't cleaning out feel good?
I love your little purses. I was invited to set up a booth at a local farmers market a few weeks ago. With 3 days notice. The last time I asked, a year ago, I was told no. I had to decline this time, as 3 days is not enough time to prepare inventory.
I hope your sale goes great. Good luck!

Karen S said...

You have been busy! I have to agree with your use it or toss it approach. We a keep a box in the laundry that we fill with things no longer needed or in use and when it fills up we send it off to an appropriate charity. It is surprising how much this encourages us to clean out and toss. Well worth it.
Good luck with your booth. I agree that there has to be a good look about it as first impressions do count.

Nicky said...

Good luck with your booth. Photos always help I think. And check out the others for future reference! Thanks for linking up to #scraptastictuesday we will be picking winners later in the week thanks to Finish-A-Long

Nicky said...

Thanks for linking up to #scraptastictuesday we will be picking winners later in the week thanks to Finish-A-Long