My supplier comes through!

Ingrid- the nice mom I met through craiglist who is helping her son raise money for his band trip to New York- brought me a HUGE bag of empty drink pouches today. She has been a great supplier! I don't know how she finds so many, but she did say her dental bills were going to go up with the amount of Koolaid they have been drinking:-) This is a photo she took of the pile of pouches before she packed them up to bring over today. There are over 500!
Believe it or not, I've probably already used about 300 pouches so far, and I'm going to need lots more to make all the items I need for the craft fairs. I'm nervous about not having enough stuff--- but then it would be worse if nothing sold-- hard to know which way to think about it, but better to have too much than too little.

Jon has been working so hard on his Java course assignments and labs this week, we have barely spoken to each other. I'm glad he's getting the courses he needs, but I miss him...so I spend lots of time sewing. I'm working nights tonight and tomorrow, so we'll be ships passing in the night for a while longer.

Nessa- my email list buddy who has the shop in Maine received my package of the bags today and she says they have them up in the shop window! I'm so excited to hear about how it goes and what her customers think. She says there will be 7000 cruise ship passengers there this week...so here's hoping somebody buys something!

Alison did some modelling for me

Alison agreed to model the bags for my Etsy shop. These 2 shots are really cute- one silly and one sweet. I swear, she gets prettier every time I look at her.

We went to my brother Brian's place tonight for his 50th birthday party. I'm not supposed to have siblings that are 50! How did that happen? Well, he'll be a grandfather for the 3rd time in a few months too. I heard his little grandson call hiim grandpa tonight-- that was weird! Saw my neice Samantha and her guy Keith. They seem really happy and Sam looks beautiful, as always. We are all thinking PINK for her. They will try to find out the baby's gender next month:-)

Coin purses

I made a these little coin purses today. Aren't they cute? They have a snap closure in the front, which I like better than velcro, it's more secure I think.
I'm thinking about attaching clips to some of them- like the red one in the picture. Then you could easily attach it to part of your purse or backpack so it won't get lost, or attach your key chain to it.

Only 4 weeks till my first craft fair. Back to sewing now...

Sewing Frenzy

Well, my kitchen looks like a factory. Piles of jeans and totebags and fabric everywhere. The kitchen table is covered in my tools and supplies. The ironing board is a permanent fixture. I'm getting nervous about having enough stock for all the craft fairs I have booked myself for. What was I thinking? Good news is that I've gotten much faster at constructing the bags and have figured a bit of a system to make it go more smoothly. For example, to make one tote I use 2 or 3 different colours of thread. I just have a basic sewing machine-- nothing fancy like Alison tells me they have at school where you can load in a bunch of colours of thread and then flip a switch when you want to change! Anyway, what I've started doing is sewing 4 or 5 bags at once, first sewing all the white thread parts, then the blue, then the black.
I have also been doing some steps when I'm between calls while working...pinning sections together, making the panels of pouches with double-sided tape prior to sewing them, etc. (I wished I'd found the double-sided tape sooner- it really speeds things up and makes it so much easier to make neat panels of pouches)

Today I decided I'm going to make up a bunch of fudge for the craft fairs. I can sell it in small bags and give out samples. Fudge should bring people to my table! I'll make a few different kinds. I found a new recipe that I'm going to try.. double decker chocolate peanut butter fudge...mmm. I had to steal the picture to show you because it looks sooooo good! I linked the blog I found it on. They have amazing pictures of food porn there:-)

I spoke to the owner of the craft showcase shop in Abbotsford and decided to postpone getting involved with that for now. I really don't think I can supply enough product and they are too far away to make it convenient for me. I'd like to go there and see how it looks and how it runs though. It's something to think about after the craft fairs are over...that's if I still want to continue making the bags by then!

I've been trying to figure out a way to be able to accept credit card payments from customers at the craft fairs. I don't want to set up a merchant account- it's way too expensive, with monthly minimums and monthly charges as well as a long commitment. Someone on Etsy forums suggested using Paypal to invoice the sales, taking the credit card info in person and entering the invoices through Paypal later. I think I'll give it a try. I think being able to accept cards makes a huge difference for sales.

Doing my second night shift tonight. It's a nice night so far. Thanksgiving is on Monday, so we're having a family dinner at our place Sunday (I'm working Monday) ....so we have to go turkey shopping soon!

Craft store

I've been contacted by a someone who is opening a store that showcases crafts. They rent spaces (booths) in the shop out to crafters, who then stock their own area and the store sells the merchandise for them.
I'm concerned about being able to maintain the stock, but on the other hand, how do I know I will sell enough product to make the rental worth it? They are asking anywhere between $65 and $165 per month rental and they want a 6-month signed contract to start off with. I'm not sure I feel comfortable with making that commitment, although it's definitely the right time of year to start if I was going to do it. It's also nearly an hour's drive away, in Abbotsford, so that makes it a bit inconvenient for easily checking stock and stocking up.

Some other things I thought of:
-how will the store be advertised?
-What is their motivation to advertise at all, since they really aren't making much money off the sales of the products themselves?
-what kind of traffic is expected through the shop? I haven't seen it, so I'm not sure about the area.
-can I check stock over the phone, or do I have to physically come into the shop for that?

Might have a drive out there this week and check it out. They haven't opened for business yet- they are just signing the crafters now. I'd like to test the waters without signing a contract, but don't see that happening since there was no option like that mentioned. of course, they are going to want a guaranteed rent coming in from the crafters for at least the first few months. I just don't know that I'm willing to be one of the first!

On the other hand, I'm really excited to be sending my online friend Nessa some of my items to sell in her shop in Maine. She co-owns a scrapbooking/quilting shop called Fabricate. I've added a link to her shop blog here. It looks gorgeous. I hope her customers like my stuff! Once she gets my items, maybe she will take a picture of them in her shop so I can post it here.

Blue backpack

Here is a different version of the mini backpack. I added a buckle closure in the front (instead of a snap) and the shoulder straps are nylon webbing and adjustable. I put the cell phone pocket inside to make room for the buckle on the front.

I love this lining fabric. I found it in the scraps pile at Walmart, only 1/2 a metre left. I wish I had more of it. It looks like a sort of peach colour in these photos, but it's actually a very bright, deep pink.

I think this one is my favorite bag yet!

Pictures of the duffel bags

Here's the large duffel bag. Today I was thinking how I could make it easier to put together, and I've thought of a few short cuts that will probably make it turn out better too, so maybe I won't write it off completely yet.
Here is a shot of the mini-duffel bag and one of the inside of it. There's a small cell phone pocket and a larger pocket with a velcro closure. This one is lined with denim from a pair of jeans.