Some of these will be coming to an Artist's Market/ArtFire shop near you!
I also made Sarah one with an owl, I'll post a photo of that one when I get home from work.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
That new thing I've been talking about...
Ignore the picture of my head, instead focus on just how cute that headband is!
Some of these will be coming to an Artist's Market/ArtFire shop near you!
I also made Sarah one with an owl, I'll post a photo of that one when I get home from work.
Some of these will be coming to an Artist's Market/ArtFire shop near you!
I also made Sarah one with an owl, I'll post a photo of that one when I get home from work.
Monday, August 9, 2010
New Arrivals!
Check out these and other new items at our ArtFire shop!
Biddy's Beads on ArtFire
Back in the Swing of Things
It was great having a lazy Sunday yesterday, and today I am back at work for the first time in a week. I am in a far better state of mind even though the week off flew by. I didn't quite get everything done that I was planning on, but I did manage to make some things and trash my craft room!
We are looking forward to returning to the Lexington Artist's Market this weekend. It will be the first time that we set up with everything on the new cards and with new tags on everything (some prices reduced!). The ability to hang the earrings so neatly definitely makes the whole display look so much better. We are making an effort to organize the display by colour which makes it so much easier to find coordinating items and match that special outfit. This will also be the first weekend that I will have handbags at the artists market, and I have some other sewing projects in mind! I will post photos when I get some of *cute new project* completed!
We are looking forward to returning to the Lexington Artist's Market this weekend. It will be the first time that we set up with everything on the new cards and with new tags on everything (some prices reduced!). The ability to hang the earrings so neatly definitely makes the whole display look so much better. We are making an effort to organize the display by colour which makes it so much easier to find coordinating items and match that special outfit. This will also be the first weekend that I will have handbags at the artists market, and I have some other sewing projects in mind! I will post photos when I get some of *cute new project* completed!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
More like "Acres of Fail" !!!
Well, we at Biddy's Beads learned an important lesson today. As a vendor, know what you are getting yourself into. It was a beautiful facility, but no one showed up!
Try to seek out others who have done an event, or talk to locals who have attended. We chose to do a winery festival this weekend, expecting that it would probably have less traffic than the Artist's Market but that we could make some new connections and get our goodies out to some new people. Little did we know, we were getting ourselves into a disaster! Here is where we messed up, and where the event coordinators fell short.
Where we messed up-
1. We did not go to Artist's Market
2. We did not go to Artist's Market
3. We did not go to Artist's Market
(You get the idea- if you know something works for you, do it!)
Where the Event Coordinators for this event messed up-
1. No signs on the way there, and it was in the middle of nowhere
2. Little to no advertising
3. Charging for EVERYTHING. Wine tasting- $4, Grape stomping - $$$, Lunch $19!!!!
4. Really bad entertainment. It was like being at an elementary school talent show. The country dancers were pretty fun, but the old geezers singing terrible droning crap for hours on end and the little kids clogging to horrible music was just too much.
5. The building it was in was super nice, but HOT and they did not try to do anything about it. We ended up removing the big plastic tent windows ourselves.
6. Poor vendor choices, and only about 10 vendors. There were about 5 jewelry vendors, some of which was not handmade, and one woodworker, the rest was pre-made foods, Pampered Chef, and other non-craft things/advertising for local business. Some of the other vendors were jerks.
7. Poor communication. Had we not contacted the event this week, we would have thought we were not accepted. Once there, we had to wait to get to the building to set up, and no one from the event spoke to us except one very nice employee who was our ONLY customer of the day. When she saw us packing up, she asked us why and said she didn't blame us at all for going.
8. Advertising to the vendors that there would be free coffee and doughnuts. There was neither!
We ended up leaving the event about 2 hours early. We had seen one person make one sale the whole day and she seemed to know everyone who came in the door, which really wasn't many people. Unfortunately she was right next to us, and she jumped up and grabbed people away from our tables before they had a chance to look!
I've been to family cookouts with much higher attendance. The few people who were there seemed to be those who brought the kids to clog and they were not participating otherwise. There were possibly 25-30 actual visitors who stopped by our booth and no one bought anything. After the $25 set up fee, we made a whopping negative $5 plus fuel costs to get there. Absolutely not what we expected! On the bright side, our booth looked beautiful and we finally found the best way to display our earrings.
In happier news- We will be back at our friendly Downtown Lexington Corp Artist's Market next weekend! I have a couple of handbags ready to go and we have a load of new jewelry!
Try to seek out others who have done an event, or talk to locals who have attended. We chose to do a winery festival this weekend, expecting that it would probably have less traffic than the Artist's Market but that we could make some new connections and get our goodies out to some new people. Little did we know, we were getting ourselves into a disaster! Here is where we messed up, and where the event coordinators fell short.
Where we messed up-
1. We did not go to Artist's Market
2. We did not go to Artist's Market
3. We did not go to Artist's Market
(You get the idea- if you know something works for you, do it!)
Where the Event Coordinators for this event messed up-
1. No signs on the way there, and it was in the middle of nowhere
2. Little to no advertising
3. Charging for EVERYTHING. Wine tasting- $4, Grape stomping - $$$, Lunch $19!!!!
4. Really bad entertainment. It was like being at an elementary school talent show. The country dancers were pretty fun, but the old geezers singing terrible droning crap for hours on end and the little kids clogging to horrible music was just too much.
5. The building it was in was super nice, but HOT and they did not try to do anything about it. We ended up removing the big plastic tent windows ourselves.
6. Poor vendor choices, and only about 10 vendors. There were about 5 jewelry vendors, some of which was not handmade, and one woodworker, the rest was pre-made foods, Pampered Chef, and other non-craft things/advertising for local business. Some of the other vendors were jerks.
7. Poor communication. Had we not contacted the event this week, we would have thought we were not accepted. Once there, we had to wait to get to the building to set up, and no one from the event spoke to us except one very nice employee who was our ONLY customer of the day. When she saw us packing up, she asked us why and said she didn't blame us at all for going.
8. Advertising to the vendors that there would be free coffee and doughnuts. There was neither!
We ended up leaving the event about 2 hours early. We had seen one person make one sale the whole day and she seemed to know everyone who came in the door, which really wasn't many people. Unfortunately she was right next to us, and she jumped up and grabbed people away from our tables before they had a chance to look!
I've been to family cookouts with much higher attendance. The few people who were there seemed to be those who brought the kids to clog and they were not participating otherwise. There were possibly 25-30 actual visitors who stopped by our booth and no one bought anything. After the $25 set up fee, we made a whopping negative $5 plus fuel costs to get there. Absolutely not what we expected! On the bright side, our booth looked beautiful and we finally found the best way to display our earrings.
In happier news- We will be back at our friendly Downtown Lexington Corp Artist's Market next weekend! I have a couple of handbags ready to go and we have a load of new jewelry!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Creative Escape Week
I am pretty excited- I am going to be taking next week off to get my mind back in order and devote all of my time to creative endeavors. I plan to focus on my jewelry and sewing, and also to complete a gourd project for a co-worker. I will be able to stock up on things for the festivals and get some new items listed on the ArtFire page before I get too far into the State Fair/World Equestrian Games/NAILE. Mid-September-November are going to be very hectic months in my world. Over the next week, I'm going to try not to think too far ahead about any of that work stuff and just let the creativity flow!
In other news- I just completed painting a set of ceiling tiles which will be on permanent (or until something bad happens to them) display at Pop's Resale! Pop's is doing a charity project in which they allow people to paint ceiling tiles for the store for a donation of the artist's discretion, then they will donate 100% of the proceeds to a couple of charities. I teamed up with The Rough Customers, who are making the donation for the tiles in return for having a really sweet tribute to their band on display in Pop's. I had a blast painting these, totally not my usual style or subject matter.
-Becca
In other news- I just completed painting a set of ceiling tiles which will be on permanent (or until something bad happens to them) display at Pop's Resale! Pop's is doing a charity project in which they allow people to paint ceiling tiles for the store for a donation of the artist's discretion, then they will donate 100% of the proceeds to a couple of charities. I teamed up with The Rough Customers, who are making the donation for the tiles in return for having a really sweet tribute to their band on display in Pop's. I had a blast painting these, totally not my usual style or subject matter.
-Becca
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Come see us at the Artist's Market this Saturday!
We are gearing up for this weeks Artist's Market! The market is hosted by the Downtown Lexington Corporation and is located at Cheapside Park (lawn of the old courthouse) every Saturday during summer, 8am-2pm. It is right next to the Farmer's Market, so come on down and grab some delicious food and check out all the awesome handmade goodness!
You can see our tent (blue and white tablecloths, near the brick heart flowerbed!)
Photos courtesy Laura F. of the DLC.
You can see our tent (blue and white tablecloths, near the brick heart flowerbed!)
Photos courtesy Laura F. of the DLC.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
New Handbags!
Hello all you biddys out there... I've been working on a new handbag design! This is the first prototype, made from a piece of vintage crewel embroidery and blue velvet, with a great big button and very comfortable extra wide straps. It is fully lined with tan cotton and has a blue velvet base. I will be making many more bags- I love this one!
-Becca
Here is the new purse, shown hanging out in my office!
-Becca
Here is the new purse, shown hanging out in my office!
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