Do any of you sell at craft fairs? I had a booth at a local one (the Halcyon Store Craft Fair) this past weekend.
My aunt owns the store and it was my third time selling there (See here, and here for my posts on the past two times). This time was a little easier to prepare for than the last two, since I had a lot of merchandise already and had made most of the signs, but I still ended up staying up late the couple days before, sewing until I just had to fall into bed!

 My mom and I shared the booth this time, and I only made a few new things to sell. I had lots of flower earrings, origami jewelry, hair bows, and appliqued bags from the last two fairs, so I just made up a few tote bags and some makeup bags with bows for this one. I also found some leather pieces at the thrift store so I tried making up some hair bows and necklaces with them. I think they turned out pretty cute!

My mom made these cute little vintage-style angel ornaments to sell. She based them on some ornaments my grandma made back in the fifties.

She made some baking mixes and even made samples to hand out, and she made some potted succulents from plants she grew in her garden (obviously she’s a much better gardener than me).

After a very slow Saturday,  we decided to try a completely new configuration on Sunday (below is a picture from the second day). We felt like few people actually walked into the booth, so we decided to make everything easily visible from the walkway by putting a table right across the front. This cut down on our space (notice everything is very squished together), but I actually liked it and I think we did make a few more sales.

All in all, it wasn’t very profitable for us and I’m not sure if it’s worth the time to try it again next time (May). I know it’s not the right venue, but I’m not sure if any of the local craft fairs are really the right venue either. Most of what I’ve seen has been either of the doily or the tie-dye variety. I might try to go and check out some of the ones I haven’t been to and see if any are worth pursuing. I really wish we had something like a mini-Renegade fair, with some younger, more modern-leaning vendors. Anyway, I’m now in the process of photographing some of the things I didn’t sell and I’m hoping to get them up in a new Etsy shop by the end of the year. My biggest problem is that I can’t think of a name that I like that isn’t already taken! Any suggestions are welcome 🙂

 What are the craft fairs like where you live? If you sell, do you prefer to sell at a fair or online?