Sunday 28 November 2010

Christmas Fair!!!!!

It's been absolutely ages since my last post when I announced I had decided to take part in the school xmas fair.
The first thing I would like to say is " THANK YOU "for all your wonderful comments and suggestions regarding ideas for the fair. My excitement for the fair was quickly replaced with sheer panic when I realised what a mammoth task I had before me.
I now understand how a writer must feel when they describe having writers block, I couldn't think of anything to make, I must have looked through 1000's of patterns, everything I tried to make went wrong, it soon became clear I could no longer crochet, hats were way to big or too tiny, odd mittens, snowmen with scary faces.
 There were many nights when I was still up until the early hours, was this craft fair worth all this stress and upset?  Neglected children and hubby, no time for coffee with friends and no time to blog, not that I had anything to blog about, the thought of blogging about my discarded scraps of wool thrown in the bin night after night was more than I could bear to do.
With only 10 days to go I finally managed to complete some quick and easy projects, gone were the grand ideas of a stall filled with unique items, I was now concentrating on just having something to put on the table.
I decided to make ear warmers for both adults and children, simple beanie hats with flowers, cowls, corsages, children's flower headbands and a few simple decorations. Once I had decided what to make I managed to get them done quite quickly, simple is definitely the way to go with this sort of thing.
The day of the fair arrived and I felt sick with nerves, had I wasted my time?  Was I about to embarrass myself in front of all the mums from the playground?
Luckily no, I am pleased to say it went well, several sales were made before the fair opened from the other lovely stall holders, so that boosted my confidence.
The ear warmers were a huge success, especially with the girls from the school and I now have several orders from Lucie's friends for them.
At the end of the fair I only had 5 items left thank goodness, Scott wouldn't have been too pleased if I had brought it all home again.
One of the other stall holders approached me at the end of the fair and asked me if I would be interested in doing another fair in a weeks time!! With only a few pieces left on my table I had to decline her kind offer, the thought of spending another week sat downstairs on my own at 1 o' clock in the morning making ear warmers was not very appealing.
Would I do another fair?
Yes, probably... but I am giving myself a year to make the stock, I have put my 5 remaining items in a box and will continue to add to the box throughout the year.

You may have noticed the lack of photo's on this recent post, hopefully this will be resolved by my next post, my camera has decided it no longer wants to hold any charge, I am hoping that this is just the battery and am eagerly awaiting a new one, fingers crossed as I love my camera and am lost without it.
Oh and by the way, now the pressure of the fair has been lifted I am back to my old self on the crocheting front and no longer have a problem with odd sized items, if you know of any giants or munchkins in need of hats or anybody with odd sized hands that are desperate for mittens, then I may have the perfect gift for them!!

Speak soon   Jacey xx 

7 comments:

- said...

All in all then, I'd call it a grand success. Now you can rethink the whole process and next time should be easier. I hear that is the way to go.
Congrats on all of your sales.

Jacquie said...

Hi Jacey, welcome back!!
Glad the fair when well in the end.
I'm often told I should sell my stuff but I'm scared my passion will become a chore. Your idea to make stuff over the year is great , might have a go at that :0)
Would love to see your earwarmers once you camera is mended .
Jacquie x

Unknown said...

I'm so glad everything went well for you. I look foward to seeing your photos. xxx

Penny said...

Well done Jacey! It always seems like a fab thing to do but then it can become a huge burden when you realise how many hours of time and dedicaion it takes xox Sooo pleased you sold most of your goodies and glad to have you back in the land of blog x

Charlotte said...

Wow! Sounds brilliant, i cant beleie you only had 5 items left, they obviously went down a storm! I was really nervous when i started setting up my stall but once you get going its not too bad.
Great you've got some orders from it too. Doing items throughout the year is a great idea. it does get a bit frayed towards the date otherwise.
Thanks for your lovely comments on my blog.

Josie said...

Wonderful, congrats on your successful fair! And surviving it all. Hope the remainder of the year is relatively stress-free for you. You deserve to take some time out to enjoy the season :-)

Scented Sweetpeas said...

Well done, I was pondering on doing one this year but think I will go for it next year now too and do what you are doing e.g. building up stuff over the year - far less stressful :-)