My first craft show of the season is September 22-23, at the Northeast Fellowship Ladies' Advance in Johnson City, NY. I've done the show twice before, both times loading up a vehicle with most of my inventory.
This year, the show falls into the three-week window after my surgery when I'm not supposed to do any bending or heavy lifting. It also falls between having the surgery done and getting an eye exam to check my final vision. I'm not sure if my eyes will be "up to" a three-hour drive, or the drive home, which would include some night driving. So, rather than driving myself to this conference with my own fully-loaded vehicle, I will be riding down in a van with a few other ladies, and I will be limited to two or three totes. So, my goals for September are focused on crafts that are small, cute, seasonal and (hopefully) hot sellers!
I decided to divide my table into sections and feature 9 categories:
1. Turtles
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| Turtles! |
2. Chicken Potholders
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| Chicken Potholders! |
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| Dress Potholders! |
4. Penguins
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| Penguins |
5. Pokemon Go Balls
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| Pokemon Balls! |
6. Hedgehogs
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| Hedgehogs! |
8. Pumpkins
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| Pumpkins! |
9. Dryer balls
For some of the categories (hedgehogs, chicken potholders, Big Head Baby Dolls, dryer balls), I have ample inventory all made up. For the others, I would like to focus on finishing up at least one a day from one of the categories, finishing up the scrap yarn collection that has been accumulating around my chair.
My plan is to take a ball of yarn and start making stuff, and keep making stuff in that color until the ball of yarn is used up! Like the raspberry-pink yarn that turned into both a pumpkin and a turtle:
I also have major projects that need to be completed during the month. I would like to finish at least three of these major projects:
1. Maroon cowl
2. Tool Belt
3. Princess Dress - DONE
4. Farm Playmat
5. Ben/Bianca Bear CAL - DONE
6. Baby Trolls CAL - DONE
To accomplish that, I am scheduling half an hour each day to work on one of those. I made up a chart, and will be marking in which project I worked on... which of the minis I completed, etc. I'll post a picture of the filled-in, scribbled up chart at the end of the month!
There are other goals I'm keeping in mind, too:
1. Keep spending as low as possible. We've got some major bills coming up, from back-to-school expenses with the college girl, and my eye surgeries. I have a few craft store gift cards to use for the items I need to finish this month's crafts (I'm running out of poly-fill, and I need a larger size safety eye for the trolls), so I'm limiting my craft spending to those items.
2. Stick to my Trim Healthy Mama eating plan. As of last Saturday, I'm down 24 pounds since the beginning of April. I'm hoping to break into a new "decade" of numbers by the end of the month! (Did it!)
3. Promote, promote, promote... I make a goal of promoting daily through either Instagram or Facebook! I would like to make set a new record for September sales, but it will take some hustling!
4. Keep up with listing items on Etsy when I finish them. Check out my newest listing: Levi the Giraffe
If all days are as productive as Day 1, September will be a very good month! I finished Sunny Penguin... kept going with the bright yellow yarn and made a cute little pumpkin... then I pulled out an abandoned project, the Princess Dress Blanket, and finished that up! Then I pulled a ball of very soft baby pink yarn from my scrap bin, and made a little pink pumpkin!
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September 1 - A day of accomplishment! |
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| September 2 - A penguin, a pumpkin, a turtle (and an hour on a cuddler bear) |
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| September 3 - Purple Penguin & Pumpkin, mini orange pumpkin, green & white turtle September 4th was a busy day... We stayed home for Labor Day, and I got a lot of crocheting done, finishing up five projects! |
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| My Labor Day finishes... |
Then, with meetings, internet issues, my second cataract surgery, and general busy-ness, I slowed down for a bit...
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| September 5, 1 turtle; September 6, green dress potholder; September 7, red dress potholder & 1 turtle |
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| Since I had Peach yarn out, I just kept going with projects... |
Two days before my craft show, I got the idea to add another quick project / low-cost item for the table: coasters!
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| Hedgehog & coffee cup coasters |
The last week of September slowed down a bit... being out of town for the 22/23 weekend, I had some catching up to do with stuff around the house. I think I did pretty well with this month, though!
