Handmade Promenade - a huge success

I'm happy to say say that the Pop Up Shop was a ginormous success for me this year, even though I got a late start. I ended up almost quadrupling the sales that I had last year. While I was a little disappointed at my late start, I'm super proud of what I accomplished in such a short time.

This was the third year Handmade Promenade did a Holiday Pop Up Shop and this was the third year I participated. It's awesome to see this event grow and become more successful every year. I'm looking forward to what next year brings.

This year HP and a few other shops along Mass Ave set up shop in Carmel to cater to those who might not want to drive all the way into the city to get their handmade fix. Only a few vendors from HP were invited to participate and I was fortunate enough to be invited to be a part of that group.

In order to prepare for both locations I crocheted just about every moment I could. On the bus on the way to and from work, at work (not while I was clocked in), on the way to and from the gym, in the car running errands with a friend. If I was in a space to crochet, I was crocheting. I designated a couple of days to staying home and sewing as well. I was able to get quite a bit of product in, though I did have to sacrifice sending out product to a couple of the consignment shops I sell in.

A week after the shops opened up I received an email asking for more texting gloves (a newish product for me). I was excited to get that email. I got busy and made as many as I could. About a week before Christmas I asked what my current sales were and I'd already hit a grand with about a week and a half to go before the shop closed. I'd already doubled last years sales at that point. If that was all I made I'd have been totally fine with that. Of course a little more doesn't hurt.

I was a bit bummed I wasn't able to participate in another holiday pop up shop in Bloomington. I just didn't have the funds for the application fee or for the supplies to make more product. My guess is that had I been able to have my items in that shop as well I probably would've made enough to take a month off from work. Not being able to participate in that shop taught me to be prepared for the holidays. If want to be able to quit my day job, I've got a lot of work to do.

I've already started working on making product for next years shops and I'm starting to really work on my online shops. There is a lot of work to be done this year. While all the stress of trying to get everything done was worth it, I don't want to go through all that stress again this year. And...I want to be able to apply to a couple more shops and my first craft fair. I want to be totally prepared. Mix in making quilts for 100 Quilts, 100 Kids...it's it's own full time job.

Welp, I'm off to finish up another pair of gloves and maybe take a nap.

the end is near

Woo! I survived the holidays. I think this is a kind of a big deal when you work in retail. People can be mean. For the first time in my entire retail career (and I've been in retail since I was a teenager) I had a customer yell at me. Even though I know it wasn't about me...I got upset and had to take a break in the stockroom and shed a few tears. Stupid mean people. I'm super ready for a break from the hustle and bustle that is working at the mall during the holidays.

Word on the street is that my items sold really well at the Handmade Promenade Holiday Pop Up Shop this year. I was asked to provide extra items for a smaller shop that popped up on another side of town as well. And from the numbers I was given BEFORE Christmas I've done probably 3x as much in sales as I did last year. And those numbers were given to me with about a week left before Christmas, so there's a good possibility that I sold a lot more. Double woo!

I wish I'd been better prepared for the holidays so that I could've applied for another Pop Up Shop. I've definitely got some changes to make for 2014. I've been doing a little research and I'm having a hard time finding other pop up shops and handmade consignment shops. I know they're out there.

I'm looking forward to spending time with all the pretty fabric I've been collecting over the past couple of months. I'll finally have time to start working on these quilts (still trying to find some quick and easy patterns). I need to work on a time schedule so I can divide my time between making things for my shop and for these quilts. Even though the holiday season is over, it's still good selling time for me since the weather is cold and I want to get a real good jump for next year. I'm also planning on applying to a couple of craft shows next holiday season.

I hope the holidays have been treating you all well and that you're all nice and rested and ready for a new year. Hopefully I can my time better managed to start blogging here more often. Wish me luck. How do other people manage?

soon, hopefully

fingerless gloves via etsy

I'm done! No, not really. As soon as I finished tagging and packing my wares for the Handmade Promenade Holiday Pop Up Shop, Martha emailed me and said the north side shop was a go and now I've got more handmade goods to make. I don't know when I'll get to actually put some time in on these quilts. I'd really like to start working on them. I think winter is the perfect season.

Soon.

holidays are coming...

It's the end of September, SEPTEMBER. Where has this year gone?

I applied to be in the Handmade Promenade Holiday Pop Up Shop again this year and my application was accepted so I'm back in make mode again. I'm a crocheting and sewing machine. I've been thinking about applying to another holiday pop up shop, but I'm also in the middle of restocking consignment shops and working on 100 Quilts, 100 Kids. I might have spread myself a bit thin already and don't need to be adding to my list for right now. I have a week to decide if I want to apply.

Every year I say I'm going to make all year long so that I'm prepared for the end of the year and every year I don't. One of these years I'm going to get it right. Maybe 2014? I guess we'll see.

I need more supplies. Yarn, fabric, batting, zippers, etc. More things I could have slowly collected throughout the year.


The 100 Quilts, 100 Kids campaign has ended. And I raised about $360. I've also received some generation donations of fabric from a FB friend as well as a local fabric shop. I've also put in a few etsy trade inquiries and had a few etsy fabric shops tell me they'd be happy to trade and willing to throw in a bit extra. I appreciate the kindness of strangers.

Even though I'm gathering fabric and what not, my main focus right now are the pop up shop and consignment, so I'll be slowly working on quilts. I'll be using the proceeds from these holiday sales to buy more fabric. After the holidays I'll be able to spend more time putting quilts together. I'm looking forward to sitting down and making these quilts.

Hopefully I'll a) remember to blog more of my progress and b) find the time to blog more of my progress. Wish me luck.

Oh and organizing my craft space...I had a good start on it...then I got stalled. *womp womp*

I survived Black Friday and other business

I survived working at the mall on Black Friday! And I'm exhausted. We weren't nearly as busy as I expected or as busy as we were last year, but busy none the less. I think I have three more days of work and then I'm off on Tuesday. Maybe. I have to look at the schedule better.

I'm done with making for all things Handmade Promenade. Well kinda...I dropped off everything I'd finished up on Wednesday, but decided I wanted to make a few more things to drop off some time next week maybe.

Now it's on to the sale I'm having this holiday weekend. The plan was to just have a sale on Saturday for Small Business Saturday, but then it just made more sense to have a sale all weekend long. I mean heck, why not.

So I started the sale yesterday and have extended it to Monday. I'll probably be adding a few more things to the shop through the weekend. I need to work on being better prepared for these things. So if you're interested in one of my lovely cowls or maybe a bear hat or a dinosaur hat you can save 20% off your order by using the code: SBS20. I love to do custom orders, so shoot me an email: issa[.]ino [at] gmail.com if you've got an idea for something or having any questions.


Next on my make list is the 100 Valentine cards for Indie Gift Box. As well as a dinosaur hat for a handmade giveaway. And then after that more product for my shop AND a small craft bizarre on December 15. I need to throw in a little bit of sewing as well for a gift exchange I'm hosting with a friend on my personal blog. I'm definitely keeping busy.

 I can't wait to get back to sewing again. It feels like it's been awhile since I've done any sewing for myself. It makes me sad. But soon I'll be back. I hope you all are doing well and that you all had a great holiday weekend. I'm ready for a two day nap.

small business saturday and finishing up

I've got the next 2 days to finish up things for Handmade Promenade and I've got a full day of work today so when I get home from work today I'll be avoiding my computer and all your lovely blogs. It happens. I'm not nearly as for along that I wanted to be. Procrastinated a bit...no a bit...a lot.

 Anywho, Small Business Saturday is this weekend and it'll be the last advertised sale I have this year. All orders are 20% off! Custom orders included. The catch is that your order has to be submitted and paid for by midnight PST on Saturday. I know there isn't a lot in the shop right now, but that's why I'm offering the discount on custom orders. And I love doing custom work. If you have any questions, please shoot me an email at issa.ino at gmail.com.

slow going progress

Thanksgiving is next week. My Handmade Promenade deadline is next week. How did that happen? How did it come up so quick. Oi!

Between the sale I had last week and not staying as busy as I should have been. Well...I'm not as far along as I'd like to be. For the most part I got all my sale orders out the door save for one. It's complete, but it's also a care package as well. I didn't see the point in sending my friend several packages when I could send her just one complete package.

a bear hat for Chicago Bears fans...see what I did there

And now I set a goal to sell 25 bear hats by Sunday evening. Just for fun. No real reason. I just want to sell that many bear hats. I only have one order so far, but the rest can come flooding in at any time and then I'll be working on my HP deadline and bear hat orders. I'm a crazy crocheting machine, I am. I think I just like to stay busy and well I'm thinking about quitting my job and just running issa.ino:handmade full time.

I think the sewing portion of my HP goal should go fast. I've got most everything cut, just need to do the sewing part, greeting cards are also easy to throw together.. It's all the crocheting I'm doing that takes up a lot of time. And I have added a new item to my list (a bunny hat, but just for the kids). Here's the progress on my list so far:

• short cowls: 1.5
• fingerless gloves: 3
• dinosaur beanies: adult - 0, child - 0, newborn - 0
• bear beanies: adult - 2, child - 2, newborn - 4
• bunny beanies: newborn - 0
• small zipper wallets: 0
• hair bow headbands: 0
• bow ties: child - 0
• holiday greeting cards: 0
• miscellaneous greeting cards: 0
• valentine cards for IGB: 0 (I really don't need to working on these until after I finish HP items)

A lot of big fat goose eggs in that list and then add all the bear hats that I expect to sell this week. I feel like a glutton for punishment right now. But oh well, it makes me happy to be crafting. I just need to get rid of the distractions of my computer, my phone, books and the tv. I might have to go hang out at the library or something to get some work done. Anywho, the tutorial I promised probably won't go live at least until after I get the HP items out the door. Wish me luck that I get it all done. I've got a little over a week to finish it all.

success - a handful

Yay! My 3 day sale was successful. I didn't sell a whole lot, but I made enough that I am able to pick up some supplies for my Handmade Promenade items and for Indie Gift Box as well. I have a few more items I'll need to order and I think I'll be good to go. I might need to order some more business cards as well. I can't believe I've gone through so many.

I was also able to get a few items made this weekend. Not a lot, but enough to say I was productive. I got distracted by YouTube at one point on Saturday and probably sat for about two hours watching video after video. But, I'm almost ready to mark fingerless gloves off my to do list. *does yarn dance*

I work two half days this week so I expect to get A LOT done. Crocheting in front of the tv and assembly line on the card making. I just need to sketch out my ideas to make the cards go faster. I have a couple of ideas already. Since they'll be Valentine cards there will be a lot of hearts.

I also need to come up with an idea for a small bit of swag for opening day. I was thinking about making a little fabric drawstring bag and filling it with I don't know. The last swag bag I got had a piece of fabric covering a lollipop with a business tag attached. I like that idea too. It'd probably be the quickest and easiest idea. I guess we'll see. I've still got a couple of weeks. Any ideas you all have would be appreciated.

Alright, it's time for me to get back to work. Hopefully I'll be able to share some pictures of some of my progress. The sun goes down earlier now, so it'll be all about finding good light.

And if you get the chance visit these blogs this week:

Nov 6
       Gertie from Quilting for England
       Christa from Christa Quilts
      

Nov 8
        Pat from Color Me Quilty
        Cathy from Cut it Straight

NANOCRAFTED - a crafty challenge

A friend posted on FB asking if anyone wanted to join her for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month - a writing challenge). I'm not big on writing (of the novel/story variety) but told her if there was a crafty version I'd be down because I have 100+ greeting cards to make plus a full line for Handmade Promenade. That's how NaNoCraftEd was born.

Yeah, so Handmade Promenade and Indie Gift Box will be keeping me super busy this month. That means nothing on my 100 Day Hustle will probably get done. I don't know why, but I kinda saw that happening. I did get one thing done on my list though. I finally got my Aunt's cards and card holders finished and sent off to her. Too bad it took me A LOT longer than it should have.

So here is my NaNoCraftEd to do list. I'm going to try my best to check in AT LEAST once a week with my progress. The majority of this list needs to be finished by November 21. The rest of it (valentine cards) doesn't need to be done until the first week of December. The only problem I see right now is running out of supplies. I'm running out of yarn and because I won't get paid until items sell I don't have any extra cash on hand to buy yarn. Which is part of the reason why I'm having a sale in my shop right now.

Having a sale will earn me some extra cash for supplies and help make up for the fact that my hours are being cut at work AGAIN! So, all weekend long everything in my shop is 20% off. This includes custom orders as well. All items are already discounted so you don't need a special code.

All this holiday/vending crafting should most definitely help get me out of my crafting funk. Wish me luck!

*does happy dance*

First off I want to say thank you to everyone who stopped by from Beth's Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop, especially those that took the time to leave a comment. I appreciate each and every one of you.

Next, I GOT IN!!! To what you ask? The Handmade Promenade Holiday Pop Up Shop. I wasn't planning on doing any kind of vending this year during the holidays. I just really wasn't up to it. I wanted to try to concentrate on building my etsy shop, work on getting things organized for the new year and working on things for myself. Plus, it was a little stressful preparing for it last year because we were so busy at work. I was working all day and then coming home to work on product. I don't remember doing much of anything else.

About a week ago the email came out that they were taking applications for vendors and I tried to ignore it, but the urge took over and I paid the $25 application fee and applied. I knew that I'd be obsessively checking my email until I found out if I'd get in. I didn't think I wouldn't get in, but you just never know, maybe that had a vendor similar to me apply already. I found out during lunch at work yesterday that I got in. Woo!!! My coworkers looked at me like I was nuts until I told them why I was happy.

I have a month to prepare. I've started making a list of what I plan to make and send over and what supplies I'll need to buy (I'm trying my best to work with what I have, but I need yarn for sure and lots of it). The nice thing about the Pop Up Shop is that I don't have to be there. I just send my stuff over and they do all the selling. By the way, they're looking for more vendors and they welcome out of state vendors.

This year I'll be sending cowls, dragon/dinosaur and bear hats, fingerless gloves, zipper wallet pouches, greeting cards, bow ties and hair bows. A lot of new stuff this year. Last year I submitted mostly crochet items and greeting cards. Since I'm sewing now I thought, hey mine as well throw some smaller sewn items. The more variety of items I submit, the better chance I have of making more sales. This will help with my Betsy 2.0 fund, moving fund and vacation fund. I've got big plans for next year.

Also, this is my motivation to get crafting again. I have a month to prepare, so I'll be super busy creating, creating, creating. Yay! They give out swag bags of vendor goodies to the first 50 shoppers on the First Friday in December. I want to submit something small, but I'm not sure what. It needs to be something easy to make since I'll need to make at least 25. Last year I did a small gift card/tag. This year I'm thinking maybe I'll cut up some fabric squares and fill them with candy and wrap them with ribbon. I don't know. I welcome your ideas.

So yeah, I'll be busy and have more crafty goodness to share. *does happy dance through post*