I did it!

I was so bloody nervous.

I’m not very good with ‘new’ and/or lots of people so, this was well and truly out of my comfort zone.

Luckily, with the lure of tea and cakes, my boyfriend agreed to come and help/keep me company/stop me flapping!

The Creative Strathaven Christmas Makers Market was here! I arrived felties in hand and set about making my wee table look pretty…shaky hands didn’t help!

There was a queue out of the door and I was really starting to panic, the rest of the stall holders had loads of stock and all looked super professional, I was really worried that I’d end up falling on my face.

But I didn’t. The whole day was an amazing success. I even managed to sell a couple of pieces within the first 15 mins of the market being open. Gobsmacked doesn’t even cover it.

Everyone was so lovely. You read some horror stories about people questioning your prices and/or making out that they could do much better themselves but I was really lucky in that I didn’t hear anything of the sort.

My sister brought my nephew along too and he made himself quite comfortable behind the table and even managed to sell some bits and pieces himself…oh to have the care-free confidence of a 6 year old!

Overall, I managed to sell almost everything I took with me. I’m still over the moon – all of the hard work and stress was definitely worth it!

It’s so rewarding knowing that people like the things I’ve taken so much time making. It really is a great feeling!

I’ve even been lucky enough to get some orders off of the back of this so, I’ve got enough to keep me going for the next month at least.

Creative Strathaven are looking to do something similar in the Spring and I’m really keen to do it again. I’d like to think I’d be a bit less stressed about it next time but in reality I know that’s probably not true and I’ll be just as bad as the first time round!

Seriously though, if you’re swithering about taking part in a craft fair, I’d definitely recommend it. Selling pieces I’d worked hard on was such a confidence boost!

Here’s a few pics of my table on the day!

 

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Pre-Craft Fair Nerves!

Back in July, I was invited to take part in Creative Strathaven’s first Christmas Makers Market.

I was delighted to be asked but absolutely terrified at the same time! There was so much to do. From working out prices, buying props for my table, packaging, business cards and last but definitely not least, making the stock! An awful lot of organising for one very unorganised person to do.

In July and August I was merrily stabbing away making Christmas decorations…November seemed light years away. So I carried on, making bits and pieces gradually building up my stock.

Then I blinked. It was the week before the makers market and I went into full flap mode!

I mean, I’m good at a panic and this really was no exception. There were late night visits to HobbyCraft and all of my spare time was spent adding as many felties as possible to the ever-growing stock pile!

I also poured over endless Pinterest pages, trying to find craft fair table layout inspiration.

Creative Strathaven did a ‘Meet the Makers’ post for all the individual stall holders in the run up to the fair itself and I had a huge crisis of confidence. These people were pros and do this kind of thing on a regular basis and there I was…a total amateur, freaking out that I was going to look incredibly stupid in front of all these amazingly talented artists, photographers, jewellers, candle makers etc…

Yay for anxiety!

Here’s a quick peek at some of the pieces stockpiled…

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