Hi friends, I’m back after that amazing craft show that I hosted at my house. This was not the first time I hosted a craft show, but each episode teaches us something new, something we thought we had covered but only realized that it could have been made better. I have broken down the craft show into various pieces ~ and today I am covering some thing about the “decoration” aspect. How I made the main bunting for the show which was almost the only decoration I had hung ! But with all the eye candy around, who would need more color ?
Here is a step by step photo tutorial of how I made the bunting. Well, I started with a yard of netted wrapping paper which I got for less than dhs 10 at the Day to Day store. ( “our” version of the dollar store or 1 pound store ) and the rest is in the pictures. You can either use printed paper and add plain alphabets to it or vice versa, plain sheet of paper with printed alphabets. Both look equally stunning. All you really need is some paper, a ribbon or cord, a stiff paper (the red paper on the border) and a eyelet setter or a cropadile (which I have used) and eyelets ofcourse. It is really very very simple and adds such a charm over any area or wall. I hope you are inspired to give it a go.
Here it is :
I am linking this project to the following link parties :
My last post was about the preparation involved in setting up a craft exhibition at home. Well, I’ve got 3 days more to go and I have still not even scratched off 3 things out of the 15 tasks in my list 😦 OKAY, so I’m exaggerating !! But still, I am struggling with packaging of the embellishments which is such a tedious task, seems its taken F O R E V E R inspite of having help from the boys. So like I said in my previous post, plan much in advance. Few things have materialized like the advertising, posters, mailing friends and collegues etc.
I am hoping to be able to pick the spray paint for the racks and the hooks also for the racks today. I have 3 projects on my work station, 2 wall hangings and 1 small banner. They will have to take a back seat at the moment.
The project today is a card for the “CLEAR IT OUT” card challenge blog which is hosting the theme of CAS ~ clear and simple. I have come up with an extraordinarily simple card. Strangely its really difficult for me to play with the theme of CAS. I have to resist the temptation of adding elements, embellishments or stamping more than once.
I dont know about you guys but keeping it clean and simple also means that one has to know just which paper to play with and how to keep the focus to a bare minimum which is really difficult, if you ask me. Although I have done such cards in the past, I somehow never felt comfortable enough to post them. Lets see what response this fabulous friend gets !
Here it is :
With all thats happening right now, I am not going to link this card with alot of challenges.
I hope this article benefits some or any of you who are planning on setting up a craft sale in your home. Its about my preparation and the arrangements to be made before the actual day.
Ok, so its that time of the year, when I generally start my summer craft workshop. In addition to that, I will be organizing a home show for all my craft products which include :
Handmade greeting cards
Art and Craft Kits
Scrapbooking stickers
Altered Frames and wall hangings.
Altered tins, door hangers etc
Craft embellishments.
I have 3 times more cards which need to be placed with envelopes in cellophane !!
These are just the main items, ofcourse there are plenty more in the sub category. for example, the craft embellishments include,
As you can see, my work station1 is completly a hill site full of colorful embellies.
foam
fabric
ceramic
metal
glass
wood
Here they are all just mixed in the larger packets which first have to be sorted into different categories.These are the altered clothespin with woodsies attached to them. I have a huge pile of these to sell too. Anyone interested ?
Further more there are different shapes like, hearts, stars, flowers, critters, butterflies, oceanic, baby related and so many many more. Here I have somehow managed to fill 4 different boxes categorizing woodsies, clothespins, baby embellies and fabric flowers/butterflies. There are some more smaller boxes which I could not fit in the pic.
trying to keep some focus and make some sense of all the chaos .. .
Being methodical can be time consuming and painful but in the end, you stand to gain alot from it. I am a perfectionist and always need to see things arranged in clusters, groups, with tags, in packets etc. Ofcourse, I will be putting up my 200 different types of ribbons as well. And my handmade papers too.However I have just one week at hand and a H U G E task ahead of me in this short time.
Here are the few main tasks at hand :
Preparing the product for selling
All the cards have to be placed in celophane with coordinated envelopes.
Price tags with store labels.
Stickers sorted in different categories and price tagged
Door hangers, wall hangings and altered arts wrapped, sealed and price tagged.
Plastic carry bagsCalculator, cash for change, pen, receipt pad, business cards
Prepare the cork board for sample display sets.
Ok, so some progress is taking place. Placing here are some envelopes coordinating with the card colors.My newer wall hangings, door hangers, placards, and bookmarks ~ waiting to be wrapped and dressed.All the embellishments, packed, tagged, and priced. Hanging for now in a make shift display.All the embellishments, packed, tagged, and priced. Hanging for now in a make shift display. Eventually all the embellishments are going to look like this.
Note: The tags on my embellishment packets were designed by me on my last trip to India. Very early on, I realized that its always important to market your products well. Hence these tags are printed front and back and I just punched a tiny hole so as to let them hang on the wire rack.
I know the picture quality is not good but I think you get the "picture" 🙂
Display organization
I can never emphasis enough how important, a display really is. Probably the reason why, big stores hire a proper merchandiser just to enhance the visual effect of a display. It is necessary that the display looks uncluttered, organized, has easy access, and is attractive. No matter how brilliant a product is, if the display does not grab your attention, no one is really going to want to pick that item up, leave aside buying it.
Invest in a good simple fabric to cover your display area or table. Please remember dont use a printed sheet, lest it distract the buyer.
Give them ample of space to move around. If possible try to use the wall to hang items which can be hung.
Another thing, make sure, you have ample of lighting in the room and if not, try to find spot lights or lamps which can light up dark corners and focus on the item.
Here’s a list of the things I need to prepare for
Get the display items out of the shed, clean the 2 metal racks, 2 foldable white tables,
paint the wheeled rack in the courtyard,
Ready the 3 table top racks
Find the small table top easels from the shed.
Get the special runners (for fairs) for dinning table
Gathering all the baskets for keeping the embellishments
This wheelie wire display is desperate for a coat of some fresh paint. There's the table wire rack that I was talking about.And there's the 1+2 portable tables for display.
There's the table wire rack that I was talking about.
Decoration
Prepare the Doodle Buddies Banner/Bunting with fabric
street signs poster
This bunting, I prepared last night. Ofcourse, this is not complete. I am preparing an entire tutorial for this which I will upload soon.
Advertising :
Facebook list on Naush and Doodlebuddies
Emailing list
Arte List
social club friends, or coffee morning bunch.
Making digital poster as well hard copy of the poster for Le Marshe, Spinneys, Lakes, Shop and Sell.
Ofcourse, I have kept the message clear with no fancy fonts. This is my flyer.
Menu Planning
Keeping some light refreshments and snacks, serves two purposes. Not only is it courteous to keep something at hand to serve in this horendous heat but it also helps in keeping people over for longer while they munch something.
Dont forget, some very special friendships of like minded people can form thru such events. I know, I have met some extraordinary people thru these meetings so dont be shy to open up, speak up and talk about your art. I always look forward to exhibitions like these, becoz there is nothing better than to bump into someone who is always designing similar things like me and so, faces the same issues like myself.
Although this may not look like alot, its best not to leave anything for 2 days before the show. So the adverts, have to be out ASAP !! People need to plan their weekend and see how they can fit a little shopping at Doodle Buddies in their schedule so its best they are invited much in advance.
So far only the banner is done and looks awesome, if I may say so myself. Not even 1/3 of the cards have found their way into the cellophanes 😦 The embellishments need a lot of organizational work. At this point, if you can get someone to help out a bit. That would be great. A close friend, a good available neighbour, naturally the husband if he is willing. In my case, my kids are a huge help and support. And my hubby is like a backbone to the whole episode.
Although I have a very large courtyard/garden, due to the incredibly hot temperature, I will be keeping the show in the lounge room which means alot of reshuffling of the furniture to accomodate the show racks and keeping some space for movement at the same time.
I have managed to click and add a few photos to give you a brief idea of what I have in my plates !!
I hope you enjoy these pictures and please remember, this is my situation with the loads etc, but its not necessary that everyone HAS to unload an entire shed to get things out !! A little bit of organizational skills will help you tremendously in keeping prepared for the big day. Becoz you are the best judge of how your rooms look and how you can arrange your room to accomodate your products, you would have to have a vague picture in your mind of approximately how you want things placed. Inspite of all the best of the preparations, things do tend to go wrong at the last minute but atleast with a list of things in hand, you are overcoming a large part of if and how things can fall apart.
I have some more pointers about what kind of snacks to provide for the show in a climate like the one, we are experienceing right now, but I will keep that and a whole lot of more things for my next post, since this post has got so long already.
I hope you enjoyed your stay at Doodle Buddies. I hope you found some solutions, some ideas and found some inspiration to try out a long awaiting fair too. Please write to me if you found my article inspiring.
Thank you for stopping by.
Naush
Oh yeah, I am linking this post to the following parties :
Thank you all very much for the lovely comments you guys left for my previous project. I’m so glad you guys liked the “Bake, Eat, love” placard.
Last Thursday, when I was returning from the hospital, I picked up some Mini Pizza’s from one of the pizza shops, close to the hospital. That I managed to eat one entire pizza all by myself is not what this post is all about 🙂 !!!! But about the destiny of that pizza box. Becoz it was in such a good condition, I just could’nt let it go to waste, now could I ?
So any ways, I needed an appealing box to carry the 2 cards, and the table calender gift that Buddy has made for his teacher, Mrs Barker. This box is an ideal container for to serve that purpose. I have covered it in pieces and decorated it, in and out. Love the rich swirly red with gold dp. Here are some of the elements used :
Embossed
Die cut nestabilities
4 blue brads
layered with a check background dp.
Die cut alphabets
Large Felt flowers.(3flowers) and a diecut flower too.
Distressing especially the edges of the box.
Altering this box took just a couple of hours, becoz I did not have all the colors figured out initially, but I really had fun putting it all together.
Hope you like it too. Taddaa, here it is .. . …. … … .. …
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And Here are the many challenges, this pizza box is entering :
AiFactory – 1E, SIO – Use something new (recycling pizza box for the first time )
Hello Friends, Your going to see me more often this following week, coz I have heaps of projects up my sleeves for you. This one being one of my favorites coz it is functional and recycled !!
There is this one particular teacher in Sawaab’s school who is excellent at baking and is even generous with sharing some of her deliciously delicate creations with the kids, much to their delight. I wanted to thank her in some form, with a handmade gift ~ ofcourse you can call it a “oh- too- late-a- bribe” !! lol.
Jokes apart, I had once seen this plaque somewhere on the internet which had the words Eat, Bake and Love on it. I decided to make something similar. Only problem was that I had forgotten how it looked except that the words seemed really unusual at that time. Well heres what I came up with.
For the first time I have used lace since it is so popular these days and in my own opinion, lace, has somehow always been synonymous with purity, grace and femininism for me. I feel it gives the project alot of finesse and adds a vintage touch to it. Ofcourse I will try to experiment more with it in my forthcoming projects. But heres a question for you, why do you use lace in your projects ?
For those of you who are wondering what the plaque/white board is … … Please follow this link, for the interesting story 🙂 In short, this white soft board is recycled from a building construction site !!!
I am using my favorite colors of pastel pink and purple (blue not being my favorite) and how I am enjoying coloring with my newly bought copics !! Man !! They are just awesome. I find myself asking “what did I do before them ??” I mean the colors just smoothen out themselves. Hey and talking of which, does anyone know which company used that tag line for their product ???? Any guesses ????? ( “what did we do before them ??)
There are three main DP, several ribbons coordinated, these gorgeous aquamarine flowers and the blue paper is embossed lightly. I love cupcakes and have really enjoyed coloring these digi stamps in rich delicious copics. Although I wish I could’ave but I have’nt driven myself insane adding heaps of embellishments here. Just a few { like the metallic cherry with the tiny ribbon tied } while keeping the focus on the sentiment. Ok, So I wont write more about the project and let you enjoy the slide.
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And now for the list of lovely challenges this plaque will enter :
Yeeeeeellow Ladies !!! And how was the month of May for you ? I hope with all the chaos in the world, we creative souls are taking good refuge burried under a pile of DS, copics, stamps and … list is too long.. {you get the picture, dont you ??}
Jokes apart, honestly, sometimes, its such a relief that ” we ” { ladies who are nurturing and devoloping our creative desires} are so blessed to have found a fullfilling channel to keep us occupied constructively and help us release our emotions. I cant imagine how time consuming and boring it must be to sit infront of the idiot box for hours or worse, spend hours gossiping in social kitties or perhaps even worse, not be able to enjoy or afford any hobby at all !!
I have found so many dear friends thru the www world that have reached out for my friendship and really kept me going when at times you feel so lost and in despair.
Also many thanks to the scores of dear friends and visitors for always leaving such thoughtful comments behind. I look forward to them and read each one of them. They are such a joy. Infact, I know alot of people give out blog candies for number of hits on their blog, or the number of followers, they have, but for me, those comments make all the difference. Infact I think, it is getting time to probably make a candy, one of these days, probably when I reach xxx number of comments !!!!
The last two weeks have been so gratifying (artistically speaking !!) I have a heap of completed projects that I am going to share with you very soon. Some altered art, some wall hangings, some bookmarks, some new techniques and some cards. Ofcourse they will follow in posts, one after the other.
For today, I have a Get Well Soon, easel card with plenty of layers. I completly love the design paper which I am using for the first time. I used a lovely sketch from Mojo Monday which, I did not realize would be alittle tricky, but in the end, I am quite pleased with the effort. [ and ofcourse I am too late to submit my card for that challenge 😦 ] A beautiful fence digital stamp with two flower pots paper pieced to it. 3 Brads and a simple ribbon knotted around the sentiment. Ofcourse this is my new MS border punch, which I have absolutely completely insanely fallen-in-love with !! For those of you who own it, isnt the design simply fabulous ? and for those who havent picked them up so far, whats keeping you from them ???
I have made a deliberate effort at keeping the look more masculine with more muted colors and lots of distressing.
I hope this card brings a smile to the souls feeling under the weather.
Here is the slide :
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This card enters quite a few challenges. However since I am guest DT for Clear It Out! – I am entering this card for their paper piecing challenge.
And here’s a list of the other many challenges, this card enters :
I hope you liked this card. Please feel free to browse thru more of my projects. And ofcourse if you would leave a comment, it would add to my joy 🙂 Thank you for your lovely visit.
