Mission Accomplished

I think the Christmas rush has passed. I've been hesitant to say so, but I think it's over. It's funny, I spent so much time this year thinking about and preparing for the Christmas rush, and here it is, over already. I want to say thank you so much to everyone who purchased items from me, either through Etsy, at a craft fair, or direct from my studio. Your support means so much to me. Being an artist is never easy financially, but with the economy so rocky, I didn't know what to expect this year. But thanks to all of you, I've had the best Christmas season since I started my business. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I have to say, I think my Holiday Stress Reduction Plan (or Project Anti-Freakout) worked pretty well. The first week of December was rough because I had two craft fairs in addition to the increased Etsy traffic, but other than that, the season went pretty well. (I would say the season started right after Halloween and lasted through the first nine days of December.) Limiting shipping to three days a week was key, because I could fill all the orders that were in at any given time, and then not think about it again for a day or two. Last year, I was shipping nearly every day and that was a big source of stress.

Having set up the designated shipping space in my closet also helped a ton. Having all of my shipping supplies in one place, close at hand, made packing go much so faster and easier. And it was great to close it all away when I was done for the day. I also did not spend a single second standing in line in the post office, thanks to PayPal Multi-Order Shipping and Endicia for Mac. This contributed greatly to my well-being!

I think it's nice that the hectic holiday season for my business is pretty much over by December 10th. That gives me nearly two weeks to enjoy Christmas for what it is, in the present moment. Now that the rush is past, I can bake Christmas cookies and watch Christmas movies. I can wrap presents and plan for the Christmas Eve party I'm having at my house. I can enjoy my Christmas tree, the real evergreen wreath on my front door, and a blazing fire in the fireplace. It's like the real Christmas season is finally here!

To every thing, there is a season...

It's less than three weeks until Christmas, and I'm sitting here thinking about Valentine's Day. Between the holidays and my regular job, I have just eight days to make new work before I go on vacation in mid-January. I'm thinking about Valentine's Day because if I want to try to make anything Valentine-oriented, I have to do it now.

Being ready for holiday/seasonal sales is something I'm trying to improve on. In late April and early May of this year, I had this huge spike in sales in my Etsy store and I had no idea why. I thought maybe the world had finally discovered my work and couldn't get enough! I thought I had finally "made it." Turns out it was for Mother's Day gifts. That one made me feel a bit dense.

So, I am now trying to capitalize on holidays in terms of both merchandise and marketing. I did that this past Halloween when I produced some limited-edition Halloweeny colored jewelry. I don't think I got it into my shop early enough though, because it didn't sell super well online until I put the remaining stock on sale the last week of October. Or maybe it was because Halloween is not really a gift-giving holiday. However, the items did sell very well in person to a friend of mine who went to OSU and therefore loves the color orange to an almost unhealthy level...

The hardest part of this process for me is trying to prepare for a season beyond that which we are currently in. I mean, I'm surrounded by Christmas stuff right now, so it's hard to find Valentine's Day inspiration. I had a hell of a time designing my Christmas ornament this year, because I was trying to do it in August. I was still in a long hot days-bright flowers-garden tomatoes-eating breakfast on the patio frame of mind. I was struggling so badly to come up with an idea, I nearly had to take myself on an inspiration trip to the local year-round Christmas shop.

Christmas is, of course, the big selling highlight of the year for artists and crafters. Last year, I made half of my entire annual sales amount in November and December. But beyond Christmas, what can we do to take advantage of gift-buying holidays? Valentine's Day is the first gift-giving holiday after Christmas, so I would tend to think that people are shopped out. My husband and I still exchange Valentine's gifts, but they're usually of the cheap and quirky handmade variety. One year, he actually made me a heart-shaped pendant out of dried macaroni and glittery ribbon. It's still the best gift I've ever received.

But back to the subject at hand, do very many people buy each other Valentine's Day gifts, especially of the pottery variety? I don't know. I figure I'll try a few ideas and see how things go. I've learned that there's really no other way of doing things in this line of work!

Craft Fair Tales

Today is a cold and snowy day here in Denver, and although I don't like being house-bound by the snow, I'm relishing a little bit of quiet time in a crazy, hectic week.

The week started with a craft fair in downtown Denver, in the lobby of the Denver Newspaper Agency. I was contacted through Etsy about this show months ago, and I decided to go for it because the table fee was only $20. I don't do a lot of shows, but this one seemed easy enough.

I would only have two hours to set up on the day of the sale, so I thought I'd better take a couple of hours ahead of time to figure out how I was going to display everything. I borrowed a table from my friend Pirate Monkey, a bunch of tablecloths from my mom, and a whole jewelry display set up from a friend who used to sell Cookie Lee jewelry. First, I set up the table like this:

I thought my jewelry pieces looked really nice on the velvet-lined jewelry trays, but having all that black off to one side made the table look lopsided, and the pottery almost invisible. So I rearranged everything, and came up with this:

I thought this was better, but all that black in the middle just dominated the table, and the pottery still seemed hardly visible. So I decided to split up the trays, and move everything again:

Ah, third time's a charm! Splitting up the trays did the trick, and put the emphasis back on the pots in the middle.

Having figured out how to set up the table made me feel pretty prepared, so I was very surprised to find I couldn't sleep the night before the show! I wanted to sleep, I was very tired, but I just couldn't. My mind wasn't even racing with things I needed to do or remember, I was just wide awake. So I stayed like that most of the night, finally falling asleep sometime after 3 am and then waking up to my alarm at 5 am.

Despite feeling like a zombie all day, the show went pretty well. It was slow in the morning, which made me think no one would buy anything, but then sales picked up later in the day. My mom worked the table with me, which is so nice. If you've ever done a craft show, you know how nice it is to have a little help and company!

I think the best part of the day was getting to meet some other Etsy folks. My closest tablemates turned out to be two of the loveliest Etsyians you could ever meet. As soon as she had her table set up, Angie (spacemonkey on Etsy) walked up to my table and said, "Are you MSpottery?" My first real-life Etsy encounter! Angie turned out to be wonderfully funny and friendly, with an utterly fabulous collection of all-natural handmade bath and body products. I couldn't resist the gorgeous smells, and had to buy myself a Chai Tea lip balm and a White Jasmine bath bomb. I was going to use the bath bomb last night, but I couldn't bring myself to dissolve all that lovely scent just yet! It will have to wait a few more days...

Two tables down from me was the very sweet and adorable Susan (susanporteous on Etsy), with her beautiful handmade books and sock animals. I have to tell you, this woman has incredible craftsmanship. Her books and animals were so beautifully made, I wanted to buy everything. I had to restrain myself and walked away with only a little, colorful book and something else that I can't tell you about, because it's a Christmas gift for someone who's probably reading this right now!

All in all, the show went really well and I had a good time. Now, I'm going to take advantage of my quiet, snowy day and relax a little!