art in the afternoon:

lots of people have been asking how the Art in the Afternoon show went so i figured i'd post a little recap along with some photos. to sum it up though, it went really well and now i am really tired! for those that don't know, Art in the Afternoon is a local event held every year around this time for local artisans. The only caveat is that you must be selling things that you made/created yourself, no one elses work, nothing mass produced. so clearly I had to get a table! as you can see, the space is really limited but there were 57 tables and tons of shoppers. and food and beer and live music! Mountain Aven Baby was a hit too (*blushing*)! being that i had no real expectations as to how much would sell, i was pleased when i sold over 80% of my items. it didn't help that i was the only vendor making children's clothes and gifts really. to my surprise, things sold pretty evenly quantity wise, including the more expensive sets and blankets. not like it's hard to tell from the photos but i crammed alot of stuff into that small space, and while that made for some crowded shopping i was relieved to fit it all in. the framed photos to the right are all prints from the fabulous kristy cardinal and turned out to be a good way to show outfits that were not up for the sale at the show but available for custom orders. however this opened the flood gates for custom orders, which was good for business sake but now how me wondering what in the world i was thinking... apparently people like the idea of placing orders for exactly what they want. another pleasant surprise was in how many people said, "Oh, I saw your website!" to which my reply was, "Really??" i guess it's getting more local hits than i thought. sweet.

so, now it's the day after and i feel like i have a mountain aven baby hangover. retailing and schmoozing is hard work. and that pile of orders is still looking daunting! which leads me to my next news, that i will be hiring an employee for the next few months to help with the christmas rush and several large wholesale orders that will be due in january and february. more on that later, but for now all is well. and i should go lock myself in the basement and get to work. off to the sweatshop i go...