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!

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: