Saturday was The Handmade Marketplace Craft Show–the first time I sold my artwork as a vendor! I’ve been so excited for this for months. I really want to start selling more regularly at events like this, so finally starting and getting enough things together to sell feels amazing.
I’ve been obsessing over the details of being a vendor for ages, so I’d love to share my little experience with you guys for anyone else who might be thinking about it!
My good friend, Marie, makes beautiful knitwear and jewelry and has done the craft show thing a few times so I thought it would be a great starting point to share a table with her. We split the cost and the table down the middle and helped eachother by covering their side when we needed bathroom or food breaks or wanted to walk around and enjoy the work at the other booths.
Sharing a table made me feel more comfortable about the intimidating first experience. I didn’t have to make enough pieces and displays to fill a whole table by myself and I had the support of someone with more experience. Plus, it was nice to have that little discount with our table fee. There are so many start-up costs–display materials, table cloths, signs, packaging, etc–and I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to sell anything! I had a lower goal to break even! :)
I’m the kind of person who gets really excited to start something and just throws myself in head first to get it done right. For example, I wanted to start blogging for ages–literally years–but refused to start until I figured out a solid concept and got a decent camera. I believe pretty photos are really important–obviously not necessary, just important–and I didn’t want to start badly when I knew what I needed to start on a good note. Haha, the point of that story being that it’s an analogy for my table display.
I worked on collecting display materials from thrift stores and estate sales for months–you can see some of the originals here! I painted my racks and basket either white or pale pink so they would look uniform and match my aesthetic. I also obsessed over finding the right material for our table cloths. They needed to be functional, but still cute and accurately represent our style from across the room. Turns out this adorable canvas texture fabric is available in at least 4-5 colors at Hobby Lobby! I took everything left on the bolt!
These paintings were a little experiment that I didn’t really share before the sale. I wanted to create some original pieces to sell that could feel unique and special, but I wanted to keep them simple and small so I could sell them at super affordable prices! I think it’s important to have a wide variety of price points. If someone comes up to your booth and loves what you do, you should make sure they have options and can take something home even if their budget is miniscule.
I painted cute little animals and flowery details onto butcher paper (my favorite paper to use!) that was ripped into organic shapes. I used some cute washi tape to give a collage/scrapbook-y feeling to the pieces and framed them in thrifted frames I cleaned and painted myself. I’m super happy with how they turned out and can’t wait to make more!
The owl and cat found homes on Saturday, but look for the others on my Etsy shop soon! It might be a little hard for me to part with the little set of deer, though. So cute. :)
Since the sale was so close to Christmas, I just had to sell ornaments! I used a method pretty similar to this one and painted some baked clay ornaments with designs similar to my Christmas cards. I got a little down on myself and pessimistic about these when I was making them, but I ended up selling half of them! Go figure!
Here’s some detail shots of Marie’s side of the table. She specializes in reversible knitted pieces and makes really cool jewelry with knit beads. I finally got to take home one of her lovely cowls and I’ve barely taken it off since!
This was our view! It was a really great day with a lovely crowd of talented people. Marie and I were a bit skeptical of our potential for success going into this sale because a lot of the attendees really weren’t our target demographic, but everyone was very friendly, sweet, and complimentary. It was also the first year for this show and it was kind of far out in the county, but we both ended up selling more than we expected to and broke even multiple times over! My goal was just to sell one thing, so I was blown away and really encouraged for future sales!
All-in-all, it was a fabulous day and a pretty painless first experience! Our only stress was the beginning of the morning when we got lost on the way and then when I spilled ink all over my poor white table cloth and the floor–eep! Don’t worry, I flooded it with water immediately and got it up. I had stained gray hands for the rest of the day, though. Haha.
I’m already hunting for more shows to apply to and my next adventure will be trying to sell at an anime convention artists’ alley! Haha, it’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was a nerdy(er) preteen! We’ll see how that goes. :)
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Do any of you guys do this sort of thing? Do you want to? What was your first show like? I want to read all about other people’s experience and advice!
Cardigan, Shorts: Thrifted | T-Shirt: Killer Condo Apparel | Hat: Handmade, Unknown
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I blown away by all the adorable little details from 
Now that the craziness of craft show preparation is over, I’m ready to share my most recent digital art prints on my 
Each 8 x 10″ print is professionally printed on lightly freckled card stock and comes in a protective plastic sleeve with a backing board.
Use the code “BUYONE” to get one print half off when you buy another! Also, shipping costs are included in the price for all digital prints! :)
I don’t know what the heck is going on here, but Sadie is kinda scary, y’all. She’s clearly a sassy fashionista–workout spandex shorts with heels and socks? Inspired! Unfortunately it seems like the pressures of the fashion industry were a bit too much and poor Sadie hasn’t eaten in a while.
