Melissa's Cozy Cottage blog: First Holiday Craft Show

This past weekend, my husband, our daughter, and I were vendors at a Holiday Craft Show. It was our first professional show. We were very successful! We "made our table" within the first hour and a half. Our "neighbors" were nice and friendly. I even got acquainted with a lady who no longer makes wreaths and is giving me her unwanted supplies. How generous!

The two moments that really touched my heart, was when a man walked up, looked at my wreaths (I had my Christmas wreaths, wall angels, and wall Christmas trees hanging off of lattice boards that my hubby built with lighted garland around the top), looks at me and says, "You do absolutely beautiful work. I used to own a florist shop, so I always tell wreath designers when I like their work." Wow! The second day he came back with his wife, and as he was looking at my wreaths, I noticed that his eyes were watery. He then says to his wife, "Just look at her beautiful work", and a single tear ran down his face. It broke my heart, because I think he stills wants to do floral designs but can't because of whatever reason. I told him that his single comment the day before had absolutely made my day.

It was such a great feeling to be able to sell things that aren't moving here. My wreaths and door knob hangers were my big sellers. Some of the stuff I had to deactivate from my shop. My husband sold exactly half of his wood items. A lady bought one of his thread racks and then came back the next day and bought his lap desk! My daughter sold some of the jewelry off of her shop. My daughter and I also have a shop here and our big sellers were our birthstone angel earrings, our ivy leaf necklaces (sold out of that one), and our holiday jewelry (sold out of some designs). So all in all, a very successful first time show. Since we did good on this one, we are doing more and will probably do alot more next year.

One thing that stood out throughout the weekend was the fact that Etsy needs to do some major marketing of their site. Every vendor I spoke to had never heard of it and some of them had been vendors at craft shows AND selling online for years. I hope I'm not seeming too boastful about the sales we made at that show, but when you aren't getting sales on Etsy, no matter what you do........you tend to think that maybe your designs just aren't "up to snuff". Well I guess that isn't true.

With all of this talk of holiday craft shows, I thought I'd share some of my Christmas wreaths that I've posted to my Etsy shop.

"Snowy"