Tales of Anticipation!

It seems like only yesterday we were packing up the last of the craft show setups and putting them away for next year. Well, "next year" is already here! I received my first 2008 Craft show confirmation today in the mail. This particular show is one that I have done for several years and I am always happy to get my old space back at The Judy Dierker Craft Classic at the Foundry United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas.



I was very lucky to be accepted into this show the first time I applied. This was one of those craft shows that you start outside and in several years you work your way up to the main room. This show sells out of booth spaces one year in advance and I was happy to have that outside spot. I included with my written application the link to my website and a flyer with color photos of my folk art. I think that anything you can do to make your work visable to the selection committee is a good idea. The vendor selection chairperson contacted me and asked if I would like to be put on the waiting list for an inside booth and I quickly said yes. She commented about seeing my website and how much she liked my things, and said I would probably be able to move inside by the show date. A few weeks later another committee person called and said that she had seen my website, and they wanted to offer me a "Main Room" booth if I would like it. It didn't take me a second to jump at that deal and I said that I would immediately send a check for the booth price difference. I truly believe that putting my website information and link on that application helped seal the deal.



I have applied at three more shows and should be hearing back from them in the next few weeks, all of these shows are venues I have done before and look forward to doing again. My head is spinning from all the new ideas I would like to make this season. I have said that my problem is not creative block, it is not enough time to make all the things I come up with. I have already started accumulating the materials for all my new ideas and I have a notebook full of sketches, so now all I need is the time.



Right now it seems like a long way away, but October will be here before we know it and today I am full of excitement and a tale of anticipation!

Tales of Adventure

Today is going to be an adventure!

I really haven't read too many blogs, much less written one, so todays entry is a momentus occation. I hope that blogging is as easy as it appears to be, but nothing in life ever is.

I know that most of you are as busy as I am, and these days there is nothing more precious to me than time. I will try my hardest to make these entries as interesting and informative as possible, to keep them short and simple and to bring a little humor to this learning process.

To start, I am a primitive crafter!
I wasn't always one; I have been a professional crafter for almost 15 years and I have seen many things change in the world of crafting, blogs for one. I remember all the craft fads that have come and gone, and I think I tried them all. But as I have learned in life, when you find your niche it feels like magically all things start to come together and pretty much run smoothly. Sometimes you have to really work hard to find the spot where you belong; but you will know it the minute you hit on it. When it seems like the craft is easy for you, you think about it all the time, you find inspiration from many things and most importantly you get possitive customer feedback that they really like what you are doing; then you have found your niche!

I had always admired and been drawn to primitive crafts, and I remember reading Country Marketplace magazine cover to cover. There were so many talented primitive country crafters there and as my skill progressed it was obvious that my craft had a life of it's own. I no longer used patterns, I drew my own. Everwhere I looked I found inspiration for things to create. But the biggest sign to me, that I had found my place in crafting, was when customers started following me from craft show to craft show; I knew I had made it!

In the beginning my sister and I did crafts together. We had booths in craft malls and traveled back and forth from Oklahoma to Texas doing craft shows together. Then as our children got older and in school we went in different directions, I started selling crafts in gift shops and I had 4 salesmen that traveled from Maine to Virginia selling my items wholesale. Then came the internet explosion and this offered endless sales possibilites and I launched my first website, http://www.mysparetimedesigns.com/. Now I have 2 other websites, http://www.printmeprim.com/ and the newest one, http://www.shooflypiemercantile.com/. I never thought that crafting would take me in this direction but life has a way of changing many things and it is always an adventure!

Well this first post went pretty well; I only had to change it 3 times to get it the way I wanted.

I think ,all in all ,this will be a fun and exciting new adventure and the first in many Tales from an Online Primitive Crafter.