Monday, October 27, 2014

Craft Fair Redux & Facebook Woes

 
Faith Lutheran Church & School
Lincoln, NE
 
 

I spent all day Saturday, October 25, 2014, vending at the Faith Lutheran Church and School Fall Arts & Crafts Fair. I was one of 57 vendors. 
 
I had expected a disappointing day, because the Huskers had a home football game beginning at 11:00 am.  But I was pleasantly surprised! 
 
Although there was (as predicted) a 4.5-hour “dead zone” from 10:30 am until 3:00 pm, where there were virtually no shoppers, early birds turned out in force, and business was BRISK from 9:00 am until 10:30 am.  In fact, I averaged 1 sale every 90 seconds!!  Yowza!  And there was another little spurt of activity from 3:00 – 4:00 pm, when the after-the-game crowd straggled in.   Unseasonably mild weather possibly helped boost the turnout.
 
I used the down time during the Husker game (when I should have been taking photos to share with y'all)  to embroider faces on finger puppets that I’ll be taking to the office on Thursday for little trick-or-treaters.  (The children and grandchildren of faculty, staff, and students at the UNL Law College will go from office to office trick-or-treating.  I normally work mornings, but I’ll come back that afternoon to help with that fun activity.) 

When I did the final tally today, I learned that despite the BIG LULL this actually turned out to be my best craft fair to date for 2014, in terms of gross sales,  number of items sold, and number of customers reached!  Who knew?! 

Most of the sales were for "impulse buy" items priced at $5.00 and under, although I did sell a few oven mitts.  I handed out lots of business cards and 20% off coupons for my Etsy shop --- and I landed three custom orders!

Sadly, the organizers gave notice that this would be their last year for hosting the craft fair.  They’ve held Spring and Fall craft fairs every year since 2004. 

This week, I’ll be regrouping and restocking-- preparing for the Cotner Center Craft Fair this Saturday,  November 1, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm, and hopefully adding a few new listings to my Etsy shop. The Cotner Center Craft Fair is a relatively small venue.  This is the first year I'll be vending at that show. 

I know some of my Etsy teammates are also vending at craft fairs this Fall.  How do you manage to juggle Etsy holiday prep and craft fair participation and still get more than four hours of sleep? 
 
 
Veering off topic for a moment:  I'm having issues with my "real" personal Facebook page (LeAnn Larson Frobom), but my shop page, Pasque Flower Creations, appears to be okay now. 
 
There is now a pseudo page - LeAnn Frobom - that is NOT my real page!  It has a cartoon profile photo, not my little purple pasque flower photo.  If you get a Friend request from the pseudo account, PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND!!!  
 
No time to deal with that issue this week!!  But I wanted you to know that I'm not snubbing you if I don't Like or Share posts on Facebook this week. I don't have the ability to view my "real" feed or like or comment or share!  I may experience Facebook Withdrawal!
 
Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise.  I find it hard to limit my Facebook time -- and I REALLY need to sew more and spend less time on social media from now through the holidays.

TTFN

LeAnn  

 

 

 

 

 

 



10 comments:

  1. So happy for you, LeAnn, that the craft fair was a success! But too bad the organizers have decided to withdraw their venue. The office trick-or-treating sounds fun and I bet your finger puppets will be a big hit!
    That is so weird about the fake FB personal page...how did you find out?

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    1. I got an email asking me to provide a profile picture, but it led to a fake account. When I logged out and tried to sign in, I was zapped to the fake account. I was able to Report and Restore--so I can now access my "real" account, but it concerns me that some puppeteer is operating that fake account. Creepy.

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  2. LeAnn, sorry to hear about all those hustles with you FB account :( I'm glad you fixed that. I always feel funny about FB and only lately start using but still with a hesitation...
    So happy to know your show was a success... and better than you anticipated!

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    1. Thanks, Lana. Glad to have my "real" FB page back, but a bit nervous that the phantom is still lurking out there in cyberspace.

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  3. Whoa, that fake account is creepy! I hope you can get a hold of somebody at Facebook to get it taken care of (when you have time, that is).

    I'm glad the show was better than expected! Yay!

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    1. I used the Report link (hidden under the 3 tiny dots in the lower right hand corner of the banner) on my "real" page--reporting as if I were a Friend, because I couldn't directly access it. And one of the Options under Report was Restore or Delete -- so I chose Restore. And now I DO have my "real" page back. But I'm a bit unnerved that the phantom is still lurking in cyberspace.

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  4. That's great that the show was good despite that darn Husker game. How dare they schedule games when we're trying to sell :)
    That's crazy about your FB account! I got a request from someone I was already friends with this week. Scary!
    Best of luck getting caught up on restocking and custom orders :)

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    1. Thanks, Edi! You've experienced that BIG LULL during the Huskers games! At least I came prepared this time!
      Need to sign off and sew....

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  5. finger puppets! a great idea! photos?
    That's awful about facebook.

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    1. I nearly sold out of finger puppets and cord keepers. I'll have to take some photos of my finger puppet display at the Dec. 6 show.

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