I've started a NEW blog just for big craft shows and festivals

 

My best bud, Kim, and I have created our own business name and a blog to go with it just for big craft shows. We're calling ourselves B2 Crafty Gals (for our last names - Blais and Becker). We use Stampin' Up! product to create handmade items. Our first show was this past week - the 5-day Tacoma Holiday Food & Gift Fair. It was the longest show we've ever done, and we learned a lot!

 

 

This show is one of the biggest on the West Coast. There are more than 630 vendors (including one of my American Ink team members - Cheryl!) and 40,000 people in attendance.





Here's a look inside our 10' x 10' booth. We received TONS of compliments. In fact, we were joking that if we had a dollar for everyone who said how beautiful it looked, we'd be rolling in the dough! We offered retired SU! product, along with items made with SU! product - ribbon wreaths, purses, totes, home decor items, tags, a stamp and ink spot tag kit, card kits, quilter kits, scrapbook albums, and more!

 

I think the coolest part of our display was this ladder. Kim made shelves for it and we sold a lot of product off of this! It was a great focal point and it holds a lot. We had quilter kits, holiday paper ornaments, fabric, washer necklaces, home decor, purses, stamps, covered notebooks, and more on this ladder at any one time.

It was great visiting with Cheryl and her grandma, Sonja. Kim and I were sending people to Cheryl and vice-versa. Cheryl not only recruited, but got 57 people signed up for holiday ornaments classes! How cool is that? She offered a lot of really cute items with candy and things like cocoa and apple cider packets, tea bag holders, snowman soup, decorated Tic Tac treats, and more.

This photo shows an old window frame of Kim's covered with chicken wire. It makes a fun display for things like these purses and ornaments. Our booth was all shabby-chic/vintage furniture and suitcases Kim and I own. It really stands out among the regular 8-foot tables many vendors use. Even though we made money, we decided we probably wouldn't be doing this show again without a few changes. It was a lot of work, and time away from our families.

Kim in our Tacoma Holiday Food & Gift Festival booth - Day 1

That said, we may be doing A Victorian Country Christmas at the Puyallup Fairgrounds Nov. 28 - Dec. 2. The days are longer (10-9), but we'd split them up between us and a few of our downline, and we plan to share a large corner booth with a couple of new vendor friends we met this past week. I'll keep you posted. :-)

If you're interested in keeping up with us and our bigger craft shows, please bookmark http://B2CraftyGals.blogspot.com and visit us from time to time! In the meantime, have a wonderful week!