ICE - Day 1

So many people.

So much fun.

So tired.

With one day of the Indie Craft Experience down, I'm spent. It was an action packed day in Centennial Olympic Park, so I'm exhausted in a good way.

Compared to last year, we were blessed to have nice weather. Tomorrow promises to be just as great. Come on out to Centennial Olympic Park. We'll be there 11 am until 7 pm. See http://www.ice-atlanta.com for more details.

ICE Atlanta this weekend

Here are 4 reasons to check out the Indie Craft Experience this weekend (courtesy of Creative Loafing Atlanta). It's Sat. & Sun. from 11 am until 7 pm at Centennial Olympic Park.

Expect a recap of last weekend's Atlanta Jazz Festival soon.

And, finally, this is classic. This weekend promises to be sunny and if the customers are anything like they were last year, there will definitely be no nightmares.

I'm gearing up for the Queen City Craft Bazaar this Saturday. 10-5 at Union Station (One Main Street) in downtown Burlington.

*****

Other upcoming events:

*On May 23rd & 24th, I will be a vendor at the Atlanta Jazz Festival in Grant Park. See http://atlantafestivals.com for details.

*On May 30th & 31st, I will be a vendor at the Indie Craft Experience in Centennial Olympic Park (Atlanta, GA). See http://ice-atlanta.com for details.

*****

Expect write-ups after each show, such as this one.

So ICE-y

ICE Summer 09
Originally uploaded by Jamilary

YES! I'm in!

Although I was in 2007's Indie Craft Experience (ICE) Summer Show, I was pretty nervous about whether or not I'd get in this year's show. ICE is growing in popularity, so the competition is getting steeper and steeper. "Competition" probably isn't the right word to use since Christy and Shannon (the organizers) as well as the vendors at ICE are so quite kind and polite, but you know what I mean. This year's show is 2 days and about a week earlier than last year's show. Here's hoping that the weather is kind.

Side note: I love the acronym ICE. I wonder if Christy and Shannon have ever considered having a theme song for ICE. Minus the profanity, if it bothers you, don't you think Gucci Mane's "So Icy" is perfect?

Spring has Sprung

St Mtn 08
Originally uploaded by Jamilary

It's finally springtime in Burlington, Vermont. (I think.)

The warm weather has me thinking about getting outside for arts and crafts festivals here and in Atlanta. I've put in applications for both the Queen City Craft Bazaar here in VT and the Indie Craft Experience in Atlanta.

According to the Queen City Craft blog, the deadline for the QCCB has been extended (again) to Monday, March 30th. I really hope that there's a good turn out this year . I think the QCCB in 2007 was when I first realized that I might actually be able to make good money selling Jamilary. So, I was quite disappointed that it wasn't held last year. This one is an indoor market, which is fine by me because I don't have a canopy and outdoor market gear in VT.

Applications for the Indie Craft Experience are due on April 17th. Despite the fact that last summer's ICE was anti-ice (It was hot as hell!) I would be so honored to be a part of this year's two day show. Alright, I'm schmoozing a bit, I guess.

But seriously, indie crafters are feeling the brunt of the recession just like anyone else. I've been trying to think of creative ways to market Jamilary while thinking of creative ways to graduate from my program with my sanity. School has definitely been winning out during the past few months (not in the battle with my sanity but in the battle with Jamilary). Festivals and markets allow me to set aside time for my craft, though. And more importantly, they give me the opportunity to interact with potential customers. Etsy gives me some ideas about my most popular items, but seeing which items people gravitate towards in person informs me more. Plus, as my mom says, "You've got to touch the jewelry. You've got to hold it to appreciate it."

Do you know of other venues where people can touch and hold Jamilary? Which shows have you enjoyed participating in or attending?

ICE Atlanta

My crafts show banner
Originally uploaded by Jamilary

One show down and one (two-day show) to go. I'm going to be testing my endurance at the Stone Mountain Arts and Crafts Festival this weekend. The Indie Craft Experience took a lot out of me, but I have to say I learned a lot about how to do an outdoor crafts show.

Here's my synopsis:

The Good:
-The event was very well organized (especially the loading/unloading areas, the cooperation of the Atlanta Police Dept, the layout and identification of the booth area). This was my first outdoor show, and I'm really looking forward to doing more thanks to the ICE's organization.
-The location meant that in addition to people who had been notified via advertising and word-of-mouth, we had some buyers/viewers attend who may have just been hanging out in Centennial Olympic Park that day.
-The ICE organizers picked some talented (and friendly) vendors to represent indie crafters. It was an honor to be among them.

The Bad:
-There was a lot of construction on the highways around the city. I wasn't affected, but I imagine others were. Coupled with the heat (see "The Ugly" listed below), I'm left to wonder if I would've made more sales on a cooler day with a more direct route into the city. Fortunately/unfortunately this wasn't the fault of the ICE organizers. I say unfortunately because it means that they can't "fix" the problem in the future.

The Ugly:
-It was hot as hell - literally. There were a few, uh, "tart" smells looming among the booths as the heat mixed with sweat. The last time I sweated that hard, I was running in the Peachtree Road Race (a 10K in Atlanta). In short, people may have just been too uncomfortable to shop like they would have with a better temperature. Again, it's unfortunate that this isn't a solvable problem in Atlanta in June. At the same time, though, at least it wasn't raining.

With all of that said, I would participate again next year, if I was juried in. I made my booth fee with some to spare. As this was my first outdoor show, hoping for big bucks was a goal but not an expectation. This was a learning experience for me.

In the future, I would hope to see more media exposure (i.e., on the news, in Creative Loafing, in the paper) to draw larger crowds. It would've been great to see news cameras out there. Also, I think there could have been a little more space between the booths, so that the walkway was more open.

I hope to incorporate what I learned about setting up my booth at next weekend's show. Come check me out!

Baby I'm a Star!

Storque Article
Originally uploaded by Jamilary

Thanks to FluffyFlowers, another member of the Georgia Street Team on Etsy, I became aware of an Etsy Storque article that included information about the Indie Craft Experience this Saturday...

Storque Article
Originally uploaded by Jamilary

...and unbeknownst to me, they included a pair of my Blue Magic earrings. Yay!

And, in other news, I was interviewed at the premiere of Sex and the City here in Burlington. (And I should mention, the first quote should be attributed to me, as well.) I hear that they used clips from my interview on the 11:00 news, but I missed it.

Back, Back, Forth and Forth

Centennial Olympic Park - you're so pretty!
Originally uploaded by Indie Craft Experience

Well I touched down in Burlington a few hours ago. Whoop-di-do. I think there's a frost advisory tonight.

The only consolation is that I'll be headed back home to Atlanta...
next Thursday.

Yes, the summer craft show season is fast approaching. Next Saturday (June 7th) I'll be in Centennial Olympic Park for the Indie Craft Experience. And the Stone Mountain Village Arts and Crafts Festival While I was at home, I was ticking things off of my to-do list.

Get a canopy/tent - check
Figure out how to stake said tent - check
Order more biz cards - check
Send items for the swag bags to ICE - check
Make more jewelry - check

I still need to get a way to process credit cards. I've heard of Propay, which can be done over the phone. I'm just not sure how my customers will feel about me entering their credit card info into my cell phone. So, I'm still researching. I also have to get some signs made, but that shouldn't be a problem.

And in terms of my birthday, the Sky Hike's opening was delayed until the 31st. I'll have to see about going when I go back. So, instead we went out, drank, ate, and were merry...not exactly in that order. All I needed was my city, anyway.

Etcetera, etcetera

So, I'm starting my first full week without classes. On the one hand, I can't believe that I just completed my 2nd year of grad school, but on the other hand, I feel like I could describe every second. Long story short - grad school makes life hard, but the truth is, when I make myself think about it, I'm grateful to have the difficulties I do. I chose this path, and there are many people who wish they had this opportunity. So with classes out of the way, I can focus more on my research (i.e., mechanisms underlying substance use in kids with psychopathic traits..."psychopathic traits" is so not PC (and not 100% accurate), but it's probably means more to most people than "callous-unemotional traits") and my clients. I conduct individual and group psychotherapy in the community and at a women's correctional facility, and I love it. Being a therapist has made me become so aware of how common psychological problems are, and, at the same time, it has allowed me to see past my clients' problems. I sure would want someone else to do the same for me. Check this out, for example, for the forgotten moms in jail in Vermont.

I'm also on to ticking items off of my Jamilary to-do list. The 7th Indie Craft Experience (ICE) is in less than a month (June 7th), and I found out that I'm also in the 36th Annual Stone Mountain Village Arts and Crafts Festival the following weekend (June 14th and 15th). Coincididentally, I've just had 4 sales in my etsy shop in the last 24 hours, so I'm feeling quite encouraged. But, there's much to do, like buying a tent and sign for the shows, making a lot more jewelry, and deciding on items for the ICE swag bags. Yes, that's right, the first 500 shoppers receive swag bags filled with items/coupons/deals from the vendors.

And of course, regularly updating this blog is also on my eternal to-do list. I've made a decision to not apologize when I haven't posted in a while. I see other bloggers do it all the time. I don't want to turn this into a chore, though. When I have something to say (or more importantly, the time to say it), I'll write. I anticipate having both now that classes are out of the way, but I make no promises.

And while I'm on the subject, I just wanted to "speak" (a.k.a write) about my purpose in creating a blog. This is all for me. It's not some desperate attempt to be the center of (your) attention. It's a selfish move. I'm using this as a forum to promote my biz, and then I'm not. Occasionally, I'll write about other things like having MS or things that piss me off. Again, you can consider those posts to be selfish because they are my attempts to bring your attention to things that I'm thinking about. Thought you didn't know someone with MS? Don't really know what it is? Well, at least I got you thinking about it. Curiousity and interest are what lead to researchers finding a cure and funds being appropriated to the cause. Research and money lead to a cure; your sympathy does not (although support and consideration go a long way and are appreciated).

So, I'm off to take and upload more pics to the etsy shop. Here's a start:

Indie Craft Experience

Here's what I just got in my in-box!

Hey Crafter,

Greetings from Atlanta!
This is a quick note to let you know - you've been accepted to participate in ICE #7 on June 7.

Way to go!

We received more applications for this show than any other show previously.

The competition was tough for the 100 slots.

Much information is on the way to you.

In the meantime, if you'd like to go ahead and get started promoting the show, we've attached a flyer.

Post it to your website, blog, Flickr, MySpace, etc.

Talk to you soon!

June 7 is going to be a great day!!!

xoxo, Christy & Shannon

--

indie craft experience

june 7, 2008

atlanta

http://www.ice-atlanta.com/

I am soooo excited! This is my first outdoor craft show and promises to be a great experience. Now I just need to get a tent and a way to process credit card payments in person. Any ideas?