I'm at about 40% of my goal for inventory. I'm short displays and decor and now even without a tablecloth which I had lined up to be borrowed. I still don't have my business cards. I realized yesterday I don't have enough jewelry boxes for packaging in the event that I actually do well in sales. And, I have less than 1.5 weeks to resolve all these dilemmas.
Therefore, Wednesday was a frantic search of the interwebs for ideas on displays, packaging and booth design. I have to say, I came away with some really awesome suggestions that people have shared at various resources. What I found would fill another blog entry, so I'll save it for later.
When I started making lists of materials to follow through on some of these projects, I kept coming back to the thought that I'm investing way too much money in this show already and I'm really trying to keep my costs down. I just don't know what sort of return to expect from this venue and I don't want it to be a total bust. I'm already toying with the idea of doing a mid to late November open house from my own home to perhaps make up the difference. Aside from the cost, a couple of the projects had the potential to eat up a lot of time which is at an even higher premium than the monetary investment right now.
So, back at square one, let's take inventory:
- An 8x8 booth space with either a 6x3 or 8x3 table that I have to fully dress and make functional.
- One necklace display (leatherette bust).
- One earring display (small flocked T-shaped for one pair).
- A myriad of fabric scraps and yardage.
- Various shapes and sizes of boxes I can use as risers to add visual interest.
- I've got. . . large crystal clusters, crazy pieces of wood, bone, and other large more common stones (like limestone and sandstone) that I use for decor around the house.
- I've got lots of little trays and flat open candle holders, pillar sized and larger that can be dressed up with rocks or marbles even fabric to hold pendants and smaller items.
- I've got three little wire frame votive holders all different heights that could house lots of earrings.
If I had thought of this about 5 hours earlier, I could have spent the day making more inventory instead of looking at ideas I didn't have time or money to make right now.
As for things I purchased, I went and spent about $10 on a mini Christmas tree with a garland, a string of battery powered lights and a star topper. I'll hang my Swarovski Christmas Tree earrings on that as ornaments.
I was going to go for large wooden plaques propped up in wire plate holders (one of the ideas I found online). But the plaques I found were about $10 each and I wanted at least two of them. Instead, I found a pack of four 1 foot square cork tiles for about $6. They're only about 1/4 inch thick, but I though I could glue two together to make them thicker and sturdier. As it turns out, I still need something to make them sturdier, so I'll get a piece of black foam core board to sandwich between them. I've got some decorative upholstery tacks to pin the necklaces to the cork. The wire plate holders were $3 each (so a total of $12 spent there).
There's one more thing I need to do and that's a table top tree to hang my fan/lamp pulls on. I really want to make a copper wire tree, but I don't have the time right now. Instead, I'm going with my mom's old method of making Easter trees. Gather interesting twigs from the yard, lash as necessary, set in a base of plaster, spray paint branches copper and base black (or cover base with black fabric) and done. I estimate this costing me less than $5 to put together.
As for packaging, I received a timely Etsy newsletter this week giving lots of great tips on just the subject. Of the possibilities, this one is my favorite. I picked up some of the cheapest scrapbooking cardstock I could find (just solid colors in greens, browns and earthy yellows), an expensive ($5) small stamp that says "Created by" in a whimsical script along with the cheapest ink pads I could find (a $4 3-pack of silver, gold and black) and some silver and gold ultra fine paint pens. I did a trial run yesterday and the ink from the metallic pads doesn't match the ink from the pens. Also, my handwriting just looks pretty craptastic next to the nice, even, neat script of the stamp. I mean, my handwriting is fairly neat, it's just not very even. And I'm not learning calligraphy right now! So, I try one without the stamp, just my writing. I still don't like the look. It doesn't look professional or finished enough. Looks too much like my Christmas cards.
Back to the interwebs again, I found a 2"x.5" custom wood mounted art stamp for $9 including shipping. I quickly made a suitable graphic and within 10 minutes, I had a custom stamp on the way for $1 more than the one I bought plus shipping. Needless to say, that one will be going back. There's a 2 day turn around on the custom stamp and then it will ship from Iowa via USPS. I get stuff from Missouri all the time in a couple of days so I wouldn't think it would take much longer from there. Should be here just in time for me to quickly stamp a ton of envelopes (which I'll have done this weekend) just in time for the sale.
Now to just place an order for business cards. Then, I'll just have inventory goals which will continue to give me mini anxiety attacks until the Sunday after the sale.
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