Some Amazing Women

As you know, I’ve spent the last 2 weekends selling my Happy Baby Designs stuff at some local craft fairs. It’s been a looooooong couple of weeks, but it was so much fun and I met some awesome women. These women are super cool and also happen to be super talented! So I want to take this opportunity to introduce you all to them.

First up is Anna from The Joy Cottage. She has some mad quilting skills and I just love all of the fabrics she uses. And as if she’s not busy enough with her business, her 2 year old son, and being a college student, she’s also working on launching her own fabric line and quilt patterns! You can learn more about that project at The Striped Feather Company. Go check out her blog and her Etsy shop, and I promise you won’t be disappointed!

I’ve got my eye on her Family Name Pillows ;)

Next is the lovely Sarah Zamora of Original Youth. I am so in love with her colorful portraits of women. She also paints some amazing abstracts. If you’re in the DFW area, chances are, you’ve seen her work at craft fairs and even some local galleries. This girl is everywhere and seriously is going to be famous someday. She also happens to be super sweet and down to earth and it was a privilege to get to know her.

Go visit her Facebook page to see more pictures of her beautiful paintings. Or better yet, “Like” her on FB and find out about her next event and go see her in person!

Meet Rachel from 3 Bears Studio. I was lucky enough to be her neighbor at the Cowtown Indie Bazaar. We bonded over bathroom breaks and chocolate. She paints the sweetest animal pictures with the cutest sayings on them. These would be so cute in a nursery or little kids room…or anywhere in my house! She definitely has her own style and the colors she uses are just awesome!

This is one of my favorites.

I am bummed that I didn’t get a picture of my friend, Tamara from Pegged, at her Funky Finds booth, but I still have to introduce you to her. She makes the cutest “peg people” I have ever seen. Actually, I’ve never seen anything like these so not only are they cute, but they’re also totally original!

Seriously, is this not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? Perfect for that Star Wars lover in your life!

And how about these custom wedding cake toppers painted to look like the bride and groom? I LOVE this idea!

She has so many other cute peg people, including a princess set, peg doll necklaces, and custom family sets. You have to go check out her store!

And last but not least is Jenn from Hippie Bliss (with her adorable daughter). Jenn makes the cutest mixed media, decoupaged matchboxes. Who knew matchboxes could be so stylish?

She also makes beautiful jewelry. She uses antique pins and brooches and mixes them with modern beads to create stunning, one-of-a-kind pieces. I love the combination of purple and orange in this necklace.

P.S. She’s a sucker for Peanut M&M’s! ;)

And finally some pictures of my booth from the Cowtown Indie Bazaar. (To see pics of my booth from the Funky Finds Spring Fling, go here).  I feel so fortunate to be a part of this amazing, handmade, indie artist, small business, community of women.

I hope you’ve enjoyed meeting these amazing women. Go check out their shops and you might just find something you can’t live without ;)

And don’t forget to come back tomorrow for our third installment of “Truth Be Told Tuesdays.” I really missed it last week!

Linking up here:


Get Your Craft On

The Best of {Blogging} Intentions

Well...I had every intention of keeping up with my regularly scheduled blog posts this week, but I've been so busy! Busy sewing, busy spending time with my family (here at home, in Austin, family visiting from out of town), busy recovering from last week's Funky Finds Spring Fling, busy preparing for this weekend's Cowtown Indie Bazaar.

So while I wish I had some fun, crafty tutorial to share with you, I got nothin'.  But I promise I haven't forgotten about all of you.  And I promise I will get back on track next week.  And just so you don't think I've been totally slacking, here's a look at the bath cloths I finished for this weekend's Cowtown Indie Bazaar.

So I’ll be back next week, with pictures from the craft fair this weekend, Truth Be Told Tuesdays (I seriously missed it this week!), Future Project Friday and hopefully some other fun stuff!  Have an awesome weekend and if you’re in the DFW area, come by and see me on Saturday!

Back in the Swing of Things

Well it’s Wednesday and I think I’m finally recovered from this weekend.  As you know, I sold at the Funky Finds Spring Fling on Saturday and Sunday.  It was a lot of fun, but very exhausting!  Then we drove to Austin on Monday to visit my sister and didn’t get home until late.  So yesterday I did a whole lotta nothin’. 

I intended to post this week’s “Truth Be Told Tuesday” yesterday but by the time I caught up on emails, Facebook and reading everyone else’s blogs, I ran out of time.  So we’ll continue with “Truth Be Told Tuesday” next week.

But now I have switched gears and have started beefing up my inventory for the Cowtown Indie Bazaar which I’ll be selling at this Saturday (3/19, 9a-5p at Will Rogers).  If you’re in the DFW area, come by and see me! 

Here’s what I’ll be working on between now and Saturday!  Bath cloths and Child Aprons were the big sellers at the Funky Finds Spring Fling so I want to make sure I replace all that I sold!

And now, I’m off to sew!

My Funky Finds Booth

Today was the first day of the Funky Finds Spring Fling.  It was a lot of fun, I met some great people (even a sweet follower of the blog; hi Laura!) and saw some amazing handmade items.  I also managed to sell some of my own stuff!  It was a long day and I’m exhausted, but I thought I’d share some pictures of my booth with you. 

I’ll be back again tomorrow for those of you that are local!  Come by and say hello!

Sewing, sewing, sewing

I know I've been M.I.A. the last couple of days, but I've been busy sewing, sewing, sewing getting ready for the Funky Finds Spring Fling this weekend. I've seriously not been doing anything other than getting ready for this craft fair...my kitchen is a wreck, my floors are filthy and my father-in-law is coming to town tomorrow! Oh well, hope he doesn't mind our dirt!

Anyway, I promise I'm not neglecting you all, I just haven't come out from behind my sewing machine! I hope all of you local folks will come out and see me at the Spring Fling! I'm really excited as this is my first big craft fair to be selling at.

If I'm not too exhausted I'll try to post pictures of my booth this weekend. We're heading down to Austin on Monday to see my sister. So I'll probably post the full craft fair experience later in the week. Oh, and did I mention that my second big craft fair is next weekend??? It's going to be an exhausting couple of weeks! But I'm so excited and I think it's going to be super fun, too!

Have a great weekend! Wish me luck!

And yes, I am typing this at 1am! But I'm off to bed as soon as I hit Publish :)

Craft Fair Selling 101

Now that I've officially sold at my first craft fair ever, I thought I'd share with you all what I learned from setting up my own booth, looking at the other vendors' booths, and feedback from shoppers and vendors. Several of you commented that you are either getting ready to sell at your first craft fair or would like to, but haven't had the courage yet. Hopefully my experience might help those of you who are embarking on your own journey...and those of you who are still thinking about it.

Here's a shot of my booth.

1) Know your audience. Don't expect to sell hairbows to a men's club or baby stuff to a bunch of baby boomers. This will also help you decide what craft fairs to participate in.

2) Make your display stand out. If your booth is appealing, people will come in to shop. Think outside the box for unique ways to display your items.

I used my fabric rack to display burp cloths. It showed them off nicely and added some height to the booth.

I clothes pinned my binky bags to a trellis that I put into a pot.

I used a plate rack to roll up and display baby blankies.

I used an enamel bucket to display more burp cloths.

3) Keep your booth organized. If people can't "see" your stuff or tell how much it costs, they'll move on.

This is an outdoor trellis that I spray painted and used to hang my items, keeping them better organized.

I used an old tool caddy to display binky bags and a spray painted Goodwill frame with all of my prices listed.

4) Make friends with the other vendors. Use this opportunity to network with the other vendors. It's a great time to share information about other craft shows and resources.

The booth next to mine was a children's clothing booth so we were able to share a lot of resources.

5) Smile and say "hello" to the shoppers. I read somewhere (I'm sorry but I don't remember where so I can't give proper credit) that if you smile, it makes it harder for people to keep walking past your booth.

6) Make sure to have business cards handy. A lot of people will take a card and check out your items at a later date.

My business card holder and price list.

7) Put items together to give people some gift ideas. You can always separate the items if someone doesn't want to buy the "set".

Here I've put matching binky bags and burp cloths together for a nice baby gift.

8) Wear an apron to keep money and other miscellaneous items in. If you're so inclined, you can make one using my craft vendor apron tutorial. I kept money in one side (make sure to have change for your shoppers) and my cell phone, pen and paper in the other pocket.

My craft vendor apron worked out perfectly, and my mom wore a regular
cooking apron with pockets.

Eventhough I didn't sell out, I had such a great time, met some great vendors and gained some experience for my next craft fair...which is in a week!

For those of you that have sold at craft fairs, antique markets, flea markets, please share any other advice that you've picked up along the way. We can always learn from each other!

My Craft Booth

My mom and I set up my booth tonight for the craft fair this weekend and I thought I'd give you a little peek at it. (We're up against the window in to the bookstore if you're having a hard time figuring out what you're looking at).





I'm really happy with the way it turned out and I hope the weekend is a success! If you're in the area, come by and see me at Unity Church of Fort Worth, Saturday and Sunday 9-3 (my mom will be working the booth on Saturday, but I'll be there on Sunday).

My "Shop"

As many of you know, I'm selling at my first ever craft fair this weekend. I figured this would be a good time to share my craft business journey with you all.

I started making baby items about a year ago and was excited to share my products with the world, so I promptly opened up an Etsy shop and waited for the orders to start pouring in. Much to my disappointment, they didn't. And for a variety of other reasons, I became disheartened and disillusioned with the world of Etsy. So I stopped listing new items and let all of my existing listings expire. And unfortunately I stopped sewing. But then a funny thing happened, I started making gifts for friends and family instead of making gifts to sell.

That led to my New Year's Resolution to make every gift I gave this year. I decided to start this blog to document all of the gifts I was making. I figured I would use the blog to promote my shop eventually...but (almost a year later) that piece of the puzzle never really fit in. Maybe because I never really knew what I wanted my "shop" to be. But as I have spent the year making gifts and seeing all of the amazing projects out there in blogland, I have rediscovered my love for crafting.

So I'm back to focusing on my "shop", Happy Baby Designs. I am selling at several craft fairs this holiday season. I don't know what direction my business will take me, but I am once again excited about it.

Here are some pictures of some of my "stuff". And if you're in the DFW area, come by and see me this weekend at Unity Church of Fort Worth. My mom will be working my booth for me on Saturday but I will be there on Sunday.

Burp Cloths

More Burp Cloths

Binky Bag (tie it to the outside of baby's crib to hold spare pacifiers so you don't have to search high and low for one in the middle of the night) with matching Burp Cloths.

Blankies

Toddler Aprons

More Toddler Aprons

Just a few more Toddler Aprons

Car Playmats (complete with 3 car garage)

More Car Playmats (they roll up for easy transportability)

If you see anything you like, email me at happybabydesigns@yahoo.com!