What a CRAZY month I've had!

I didn't blog the entire month of July because of all the craziness going on around here. I had no idea it would take so much time to prepare for my first event. Partly because I needed to build inventory and partly because I had no idea what to expect... so I made lots of different things to test out what would be popular.

I spent hours and hours crocheting and even got to the point that I was like "i don't want to make another hat". It surprised me but I suppose you can burn out even on the things you love. 

I spent a lot of time thinking and researching good table set ups and ultimately this is what I came up with. (i didn't want to bring my nicer camera with me so these are taken with just my regular point and shoot canon)

  (you can see how close we were to the livestock)

My wonderful husband built me some great hat stands and he helped put together the stand for my big green sign so it didn't have to hang off the front of my table. I also had some stands for the ruffle scarves but the wind was not cooperating and they kept blowing over.....grrrrrr
 

This table had my "Movie Inspired Hat Collection" and I even remembered to bring a mirror so people could look at themselves when trying things on.

This is my Broncos table with a little treat for those that stopped by. 











  




Funny thing though...chocolate kisses at an outside event in the beginning of August = really bad idea. It never even crossed my mind that they would begin to melt until a cute little 4 year old came running over...grabbed one and it instantly smushed out into his little hand covering it in chocolate.

Lesson learned!
 

 This is what my whole display looked like from the space down the center of the tent that customers were walking through. 

So how'd i'd do at my first event? 
 Well.....

It wasn't what I had expected. You say "county fair" and I think carnival rides and food stands and vendors selling all sorts of things. 

What it was: the 4H livestock show and sale and there were only about 8 vendors total (one being a lady just doing a petition and none of them those fun fair food stands).

It had decent traffic and I sold fairly well but it wasn't what I had prepared for. It wasn't what I had spent hours agonizing over what and how many to make. 
  
We also, of course, had weather issues. The wind would come and go but wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Then the afternoon came and the wind got a little stronger (blowing clips off my table. Then a HUGE clap of thunder and lightning followed by a massive downpour. No biggie right...we're in a tent after all. But a tent with NO SIDES. The wind blew the rain in (not too bad) then came the mild flooding as the rain washed into the tent. Needless to say, we (meaning all the vendors) called it a day and packed up around 6 the first day and 7 the second day.
 
On the bright side...

1. I got lots of positive feedback though on my "Movie Inspired Hat Collection"...i think they will sell even better when I do some events when it's cold.

2. I  sold enough to cover my expenses plus a little and now I have inventory for my next event (which will be at an awesome dance studio here in town in the beginning of September). 

3. My daughter also came as my helper and we had a lot of fun together...great bonding time (she's growing up too fast)

4. With the downtime I had I finished a blanket order and designed a new hat pattern i'll be releasing soon. 

All in all it was worth it and i'm grateful for all I learned.
 
So be bold and do something you've never done before. Even if it doesn't turn out perfect the learning experience will make it worth while.

Happy Day Everybody!