Crafting: Etsy and Craft Fairs

[AgtFox]

This was brought up at the other forum, but I thought I would revive it here. My wife has been on Etsy (http://www.etsy.com) for a while now and runs her own shop, another shop with a friend and recently agreed to do pictures/descriptions for another local artist that is technologically challenged.

Anyway, she loves using the site and would recommend using it to any handmade crafters out there.

So, others that have Etsy sites (or even another online handmade craft store) feel free to post them here.

My wife's are:

Artistic Edition (http://artisticedition.etsy.com) (Swarovsky crystal hair snaps, solely owned)

Cozy Corset Cuff (http://thecozycorsetcuff.etsy.com) (Reversible coffee cup cozies to replace Starbucks cardboard, owned with her friend)

Robin Rife Jewelry (http://robinrife.etsy.com) (various jewelry, will be growing soon as my wife gets more pictures and descriptions up)

They also have an ongoing blog (http://thecozycorsetcuff.wordpress.com/) for the Cozy Corset Cuff to talk about where they'll be locally and all that.

[Doctor Setebos]

Damn you, man. My wife is utterly addicted to Etsy browsing/shopping. She's going to know you showed me these sites, even without me saying a word, and I'm going to regret it. :p

[AgtFox]

Damn you, man. My wife is utterly addicted to Etsy browsing/shopping. She's going to know you showed me these sites, even without me saying a word, and I'm going to regret it. :p
Oh I could give many more Etsy sites if you want. My wife leads a group called MN Etsy Street Team that has a lot of members and a lot of Etsy shops.

[That Darn Kat]

Ah, I love Etsy! I'll definitely check out any store posted here, so pimp your wife's/friend's/boss'/goldfish's shop. Maybe something will catch my eye and you can demand a finder's fee. =p

[AgtFox]

Ah, I love Etsy! I'll definitely check out any store posted here, so pimp your wife's/friend's/boss'/goldfish's shop. Maybe something will catch my eye and you can demand a finder's fee. =p
All money for that stuff goes straight to my wife. I don't see it unless it is used to pay for a gift to me or something. So, although I kind of profit from it, the wife stockpiles the money from this and craft fairs generally.

I help her out with taking pictures and I do the ribbon lacing and D-ring stuff for the cozy cuffs she does. She works very hard on these things and I think she's created a really great line of products.

I will note that you can tell who made the Cozy two ways:

1. If there are 5 d-rings it is my wife's, 4 d-rings is her friend
2. It will say in the description who made the cozy. The one that starts with a J would be my wife.

[AgtFox]

Had a craft fair yesterday. It didn't go very well, although I will say since the last one at the same location didn't go well (the girls weren't a part of that one) that I'm not too surprised this one didn't either. Don't think the girls will be doing that one again unless the venue is changed or they drop the fee.

I'm more excited about next Saturday which is in St. Paul. It's a new one (as far as I know), but it should be interesting. Then the weekend after there is one in St. Cloud put on by Women of Today (wife's aunt is president of the chapter). Then I have a weekend off (I help load/unload everything) and then back to craft fairs again. I think the first one in November is at the Nokomis Center or something like that by Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis.

I will physically be there this coming Saturday (because my wife's friend has to leave halfway through to go to work) as well as in St. Cloud (because I'm not sure what to do with my time up there, wife went to part of her college up there) whereas yesterday I went to work and watched the Texas/Oklahoma game.

[Jackel]

Just showed my wife, your wife's etsy pages..she really liked the coffee cup slips..unfortunately she just bought a bunch of stuff so picking some up might have to wait until x-mas gift shopping begins.

[AgtFox]

Just showed my wife, your wife's etsy pages..she really liked the coffee cup slips..unfortunately she just bought a bunch of stuff so picking some up might have to wait until x-mas gift shopping begins.
No big deal, it'll still be there. I don't think we've taken pictures of all the new ones as of yet, so sometime in the future there will probably be new ones up there as well.

[Veregon]

My fiance just recently signed up for an Etsy page for her paper goods business. So far most of her clients have been other bride's to be which is great because bride's will pay ridiculous sums of money for things.

DT Papers (http://dtpapers.etsy.com)

[AgtFox]

My fiance just recently signed up for an Etsy page for her paper goods business. So far most of her clients have been other bride's to be which is great because bride's will pay ridiculous sums of money for things.

DT Papers (http://dtpapers.etsy.com)
Yep, it is generally brides that buy the hairsnaps my wife makes. She had a hot run during the summer, but things have died down again.

Handmade cards and paper products are always popular, only problem is everyone is doing it.

[AgtFox]

Another craft fair done with. This one went better than last week, but still not huge business. It was better laid out in my opinion, but it happened to fall on MEA (Minnesota Educators Association) weekend where kids are out of school Thursday and Friday and in many cases they go up north with family to go hunt birds or find something else to do.

This weekend should be interesting. 80 miles away in St. Cloud in a women-centric show. I do not look forward to waking up really early on Saturday and driving for an hour and a half. At least it starts at 10am and not 8 or 9. Also have a family thing on Friday.

Have the weekend following off and then a craft fair the next Saturday and then a few weeks off (but a wedding Thanksgiving weekend) and then a really bad weekend the first week of December. They are in a major show on Friday/Saturday (No Coast Craft Show at the Midtown Global Exchange in Minneapolis) and another one on Sunday...and then my wife and I go to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the X Sunday night...whee!

[Purple Santa]

Ms. Claus itinerary when she visits MN: Go visit Mag and then find AgtFox wife latest craft fair venue...MN will never be the same...

[AgtFox]

This weekend went okay, but I don't think the girls will be doing that one again. The trip wasn't as bad as I remember doing every weekend when my wife and I first met (she went to St. Cloud State at the time). Took me a little over an hour back and forth.

Now I get a respite this weekend and back onto it next weekend. Then we have off until those December shows I believe (and a wedding on Thanksgiving weekend).

Is she planning a trip to MN?

[ADDGirl]

I'm super excited and wanted to share. I will be in my first craft show on December 3. It is only a student craft show on my college campus but I am excited none the less and working super hard to make awesome stuff to sell. As of yesterday I am a crocheter, and I make super cute beanie hats.

[AgtFox]

This weekend went well even though the wife thought it was going to be a flop. Lesson learned from doing almost 2 years of this:

1. Only do shows in Minneapolis

A show anywhere else doesn't seem to do well, but Minneapolis seems to do well. The girls also had a meet and greet yesterday for their 2-day major craft fair coming up the first weekend in December. They are right by the entrance door I guess, so that's pretty big.

Only thing I don't look forward to is 3 straight days of craft fairs and then a concert after Sunday's craft fair.

[AgtFox]

I'm super excited and wanted to share. I will be in my first craft show on December 3. It is only a student craft show on my college campus but I am excited none the less and working super hard to make awesome stuff to sell. As of yesterday I am a crocheter, and I make super cute beanie hats.
You'll have to let us know how it goes (since it is today). Good luck! Learn from the experience, it only gets easier and more refined in how you display things from here.

Minnesota Public Radio had a webblog go up yesterday (http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/loophole/archive/2008/12/ambivalent_on_etsy.shtml) written by one of their on-air talents. Basically he tries to say that using Etsy betrays the local crafters in brick and mortar stores. He obviously knows very little about Etsy or how prevalent it is used here in MN and he gets his ass handed to him by several comments, including one from my wife. What was weird is that the CEO of Etsy actually contacted my wife to alert her of this and they had a conversation going on. The CEO was going to comment on the article, but she hasn't as of yet. I think she feels most of her points were touched on by other people.

T-minus 2 days to the major craft fair (No Coast Craft-o-rama (http://nocoastcraft.com/nocoast/) at Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis, December 5th and 6th). My wife's sewing machine broke last week, so we went out to get a new one so she can refresh the amount of cozies she has. They had mondo business in October and November on Etsy with the cozies, so that's good, but it also drained the reserves of cozies my wife had.

We expect this 2 day craft fair to be quite good, but we'll see...let's say we're all cautiously optimistic. And then there is another craft fair on Sunday as well as us going to see Trans Siberian Orchestra afterwards...I'm sure we'll both be pooped by then.