It's done for another year...

I woke up Sunday morning and felt truly at peace. The 15th Annual Garage Sale Art Fair was on Saturday and all the hard work and preparation paid off. The weather held out and we had record crowds with the line forming at 8:05 for a 9:30 opening. That was really great!

This was a hard year. For the first time ever, we had a bunch of cancellations right at the last minute so we had to scramble to try to fill those spots on top of the normal "right before the show" craziness. But it worked. And now, life will go back to a little more normal. Time to actually start making some jewelry again!

The one on the right is as fried as she looks...

Who knew I could build a website!

Today was a studio day. I was to be buried there for the entire day. No breaks. I'm behind on studio things because I've been working on unearthing months of paperwork and other equally non-important jobs. I must make jewelry!

Instead I decided to try building a new website for the Garage Sale Art Fair that Michael and I run. And I did it! And I'm quite proud of the results considering that it was done in hours not days. Plus I got our application on the site so people can start applying again.

Since it's something that I can change and update easily, there will be changes as we go along. I'll probably still have our web guy do a nice new site for us but until then, we're set.

Thank you Vista Print for making the job of doing your own website so darn easy! So tomorrow I'll bury myself in the studio...

Etsy Workshop

I want to sell my jewelry on Etsy. The problem is that there's a learning curve and all kinds of things to be aware of and different ways of doing things and on and on. I'd love to say that I don't have time to deal with it but that wouldn't really be the truth. I chose not to take the time to learn it all. But I still want to sell on Etsy.

Luckily, there's help for people like me! Thanks to Jon and Patricia Hecker, I don't have to take the time and effort to learn it all on my own. They have culled all the information I need into a 90 minute workshop which they are presenting. Luckily, they brought it to Kalamazoo the night before the Garage Sale Art Fair!

Although they've been helping me get my Etsy site up and running all along, I still came away with 2 full pages of notes. All kinds of things to do or use. What I really loved were all the little tips and tricks that they've picked up over time. Pat spends time on the different forums and came up with all kinds of things I had never even considered which will help my site get noticed and hopefully sell more work. Once I actually get work up there!

So look for my jewelry on my Etsy site soon!

This is their official disclaimer - “The term ‘Etsy’ is a trademark of Etsy, Inc. This workshop is not endorsed or affiliated with Etsy, Inc. It is being conducted by two experienced artists who have maintained a steady presence on etsy.com”

Positive news in Michigan!

I'm finally almost finished with the Garage Sale Art Fair end of show jobs. The thank you notes to the artists went out today and I've started filing things away and getting the checkbook back in order. It makes all these jobs much more fun knowing that we did everything we could to get people to come shop and it worked.

The Fairgrounds said that most events right now are running about 10% down in attendance. BUT, the Garage Sale Art Fair - was UP 12.5%!!! We charge $2 at the door for adults (kids are free) so we know exactly how many people come in. We had 1500 people through the door in the first approximately 90 minutes! Wow! I would love to have counted how many people came back later since we stamp their hands for free returns.

Does that mean that all our artists had great sales? Of course not. Some were spectacular, some were good and some weren't. I just know that we did everything we could to get art buyers through the door. Then it's up to the individual artists to sell their work. I hope they're satisfied with what we did...

The Garage Sale Art Fair - 2009

Another year and the big event is over and done. All that's left is the wrap-up, going over what worked, what didn't and what gets changed for next year. The top picture is of part of the show location before it gets filled with artists. The image is a little yellowy where as in person it isn't. Not sure why.
This is Michael showing off our new entrance banner! The Fairgrounds put a lovely new awning over the door which we didn't know about when we got the new banner but it worked next to the door just as well.

And this is Pat and Jean in my booth during the show. Obviously, this is NOT my normal show display but is it perfect for a Garage Sale Art Fair!

I'll add more pictures later as I recover!

Garage Sale Art Fair time

This Saturday is the 13th Annual Garage Sale Art Fair in Kalamazoo Michigan. We've done everything we can to get the information about this great event out to our customers and friends, now it's just waiting for the event to finally get here. We have a great group of artists this year with both new people and returning favorites. It should be a great mix!

I finally started today to get my own personal things ready to sell at the show, forgetting how much work it is! Going through all my jewelry and deciding what to sell off at huge discounts and what to save. Gathering all those odd pieces I made that don't match anything else. And those pieces I just don't want to see again!

Plus I'm bringing some of those art pieces I've collected over the years that I just need to make sure get a good new home. Some are still loved by me and some have been replaced by new favorites. I just don't have room to keep everything so this is the perfect time to clear things out.

Then there are the supplies. Haven't even started on those yet but I should have a good pile of things I bought to make --- (fill in the blank) but haven't. Sometimes once I get them in the studio I can't remember what I had planned for them or I've tried but my idea isn't working like I'd hoped so they get pushed aside. That's tomorrow's project.

My hope for the show is record crowds of people wanting to buy just what our artists are offering this year. I want both artists and customers leaving with big smiles on their faces, clutching something wonderful they found at the show!

Oops - the year end stuff got me!

It's been almost a week since I last wrote anything and I didn't even realize it! That's what the year end does to me!

For me the year end means getting all my books ready for taxes. Unfortunately, it's not just my own personal books. It's the books for the Garage Sale Art Fair, the NAIA, my Dad, my personal books and for my business. Yikes!!! The good news is that this is the last year dealing with the NAIA books. That one has always felt like the biggest since it's using software I'm not as comfortable with.

So, since my days have been filled with financial issues and numbers swimming in my head, today I decided to take a break and work on something different. I chose the Garage Sale Art Fair. Now my head is swimming with different numbers!

Booth numbers, number of tables needed, number of postcards each person needs, who wants electricity, who didn't pay the right amount for their particular booth size and on and on. I want to get to the fun part of the garage sale! The wearing of funny hats and watching the crowds swarming around artists and picking up those special little bargains! Watching people walk out carrying bags of great deals and bargains!!!

But, it's not time for that yet. It's time to work on all the financial books so I can get things sent to all the different accountants. Let their heads swim with all the numbers!

I want to make jewelry...

MASS - 8 years later

Not the kind of mass you're probably thinking of but rather the Monday Artist Support Sisters. Back over 8 years ago I was invited by a friend to go to the monthly meeting of a women's artist group down in Ann Arbor. Every month they gathered to socialize, talk business and share what was going on with their own artwork. As I was driving home I decided I really wanted the same thing in Grand Rapids so I called a few friends and the group was formed. It's 8 years old this month!

We all work in different media but have the uniting factor that we all do art fairs for a living (plus we're all women). Sometimes we talk about shows, show new work or talk about our work and sometimes, none of those things happen. But we meet because working alone in your studio can be very isolating and this gets us out amongst friends!

The last few years we've developed our own personal goals for the year and brought them to the group in January. Then in the middle of summer we take a look and see how we're doing. For some, they've all been met. Others haven't even started yet. Then in December we go over how we did. For me personally, that's been a good lesson.

Today we met with Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood who along with being a reporter for the Grand Rapids Press, does a weekly podcast about art, craft and creativity. She also blogs at her site CraftSanity and writes a blog called Running with Needles with an article appearing in the GR Press each Sunday. I especially loved hearing about her podcasting! Now we just have to get her down to the Garage Sale Art Fair to go shopping!

Oh, and the crazy name came about when we did a mock slide jury years ago and we felt we needed some kind of name for our group. As Judy said today, now she just tells her husband she's going to Mass!