I just wrote a testimonial for Deanna at Apples and Orange and I wanted to share with you why I wrote it.

I met Deanna (in an online/long-distance kind of way) when I was working with Michelle last summer. We were on a couple of calls together, and clicked for many reasons - I believe we are fairly close in age, we both had some of the same fears and things to work on, and we both had all this crazy creativity in our heads that needed to get out into our hands.

Deanna is a graphic designer and screenprinter and recently launched her business' graphic services to the world. I was excited by the potential of screenprinted material for manusmade, and let her know that in the future I would be contacting her for some postcard-sized calling cards. I thought they would make a great addition to the packages I mail out to customers - they could have my business name and logo and contact information, and there would be plenty of space to hand write a note to show my appreciation to the lovely people who had purchased something.

Deanna reached out to me and said she would love to do the order for me pro bono! It would benefit me as I was just starting out in the customer and craft show world, and it would benefit her as she had just launched her services and it would showcase her work. I was blown away by her kindness and of course said yes.

I absolutely loved working with her - I'm not very computer design savvy, and she was able to ask me questions in a way that I understood and that gave her the information she needed. She was patient with me while I changed my mind about the layout about 300  times. And she culled all the information and gave me a final product that was better than I had imagined.

You should have seen how excited I was when they arrived! The cards were totally protected and well-packaged, and it was like unwrapping a gift! They were the perfect combination of professional, crafty, textile, and useful - which as you know makes me very happy. I did a little happy dance around the kitchen while holding them - yes, it's the little things that make me happy!

The timing was perfect as I was able to include one in a order the next day - a perfect way to write a nice thank you to that customer. On top of that, the craft show was that weekend, and I used them as price cards, branding, and calling cards. They were perfect for tucking into the products on the table, and they stood out for people who already had handfuls of little business cards.

If you have any screenprinting or graphic and website design needs, consider working with Deanna - she rocks!

(Photo of my table at the beginning of the show. I ended up removing the chairs, and moving the pillows to the back of the table with the others. I also moved the table so it was more on a diagonal and more inviting to people. What you can't see is the clothing rack to the left of the table with all the aprons.)

Well, aren't I terrible for leaving you hanging for over a week. So sorry about that! I have a tendency to stick my head in the sand and push through something when I get overly busy or stressed about something, and forget to do anything else. Not the best of habits, I'll admit. It took me longer than I expected to get ready for the craftshow I was in on Saturday, even to the point where I took three days off of my day job last week, and worked about 16 hours each of those days to get even basically ready. I didn't finish as much as I wanted, but it ended up being fine. I wanted to offer more variety, but I don't think that it affected my sales in the end.

Now I know that in order to prepare for a show, I need at least a month's prep time since I've only got my evenings and weekends to work on preparing. And in those evenings and weekends, I want to also have time with my husband, time for gardening, house stuff, and just general relaxing. It got to the point last week where the dust bunnies in the house got so big I had to wade through them to get to my studio, and the dog, who was often sleeping under my feet while I ironed or sewed, no longer even noticed all the fabric bits and threads falling on his head. My sewing machine put on about 1000 miles, and I made about 14 last minute emergency trips to Fabricland.

(Close up on some pillows and tea towels and toys to the right )

Things I can learn to do better next time:

• outline exactly what types of products and how many of each (it's great that inspiration struck throughout the process, but figuring out how to do new things wasn't exactly the best thing to do when I needed to just make things)
• Once I know what I'll be making, and how many, figure out supplies - make sure I have enough thread, grommets, twill tape, 'manusmade' labels, etc
• make sure when I order felt or linen that it isn't arriving two days before the show
• organize craft studio before I start getting busy, instead of working around all the crap that had nothing to do with the show
• prepare blog posts beforehand so I can post them automatically when I get busy, so my favourite people don't feel abandonned
• don't forget to bring the food I bought in preparation for the show - I had bought a bunch of Lara bars and was going to bring water bottles and a sandwich - I forgot all of it in the morning haze of trying to focus on remembering to bring everything else I needed at the show. Thank goodness Alea from My Real Food Life was there so I could buy some gluten-free and dairy-free goods to eat!
• make sure the vehicle I am driving to the show actually fits all my stuff - the clothing rack I brought to hang the aprons only just fit in our wagon once we pulled and pried and warped the metal to make it fit. may need to buy a new clothing rack...

Even with all the lessons I learned, the show was a huge success in my eyes. I met so many great people, and was really able to focus in on my target customer (definitely not hipsters, and a little older than I thought).

(Close up on some of the embroidered tea towels, text towels, and toys - dinos and whales and elephants)

Highlights:

• figuring out my target customer - by the end of the show I could guess which people would approach my table and which would walk past.
• finally meeting people in person, such as Sue from Sweetstitch!
• meeting Annie Bananie from anniebananietheclown who not only makes the cutest felted items ever, she's a creative business force that brings together entrepreneurs for support and inspiration
• meeting Joanna from Dolci gluten-free bakeshop and potentially setting up a business relationship with her....
• Seeing Gabe from Fish on Fridays' son give her a violin performance since she was unable to go to his concert that day as she was at the craft show. This sweet little 6-year had about 20 of us at the back of the hall mesmorized for about 10 minutes while he played unabashedly.
• so many more connections!

I want to thank everyone who came to visit me or let me know they were thinking of me - your support was much appreciated!

Sakura hand felted wool coat from Chic Complement

Many of you come here because you appreciate handmade goods. You go to local craft shows, you support artisans, artists, designers, and makers. Some of you are even crafty yourself and sell your goods online or in boutiques. But for the most part, I love that you all know the cost of handmade items. I don't mean cost just in $$, I mean the care and attention the artist puts into creating their items, the quality they seek for their raw materials, the time that goes into taking an idea from their head and making it come alive with their hands. Quality handmade goods are all of that - not only are the artisans making what they love, they are setting a true value on their talents. We show them that we appreciate this talent by buying handmade goods.

This doesn't mean never buying from Walmart or Target or Zellers. It means realizing that the handmade item you are buying is completely different in every respect from the $5 item that seems similar at one of those discount stores.

Let me introduce you to Worthsy, the brainchild of Jessica Hepburn of Oh My! Handmade Goodness. It's a new auction site that embodies everything I'm talking about here. Have you heard of Heartsy? It's a place to get handmade goods for the cheapest possible price. When Jessica heard of Heartsy, she was disgusted - she knew it was wrong. Like so many of us, she knew that buying handmade goods is about appreciation and support of an artist, it's not about the lowest deal you can get. Out of this disgust, Jessica got the idea to set up an auction site that would allow people to really show their appreciation and support - by paying a HIGHER price. She got together with Zoe of A Quick Study (who is also one of the experts over at ARTrepreneur) to create the site.

The philosophy of Worthsy in a nutshell? Paying more is saying with your money: I support your work and creativity, I value what you are creating, I think you and your art deserve more.

Each week, the site will feature an artist's one-of-a-kind handmade item. The starting price is whatever the artist would sell the item for at wholesale. This way, the artist starts out being properly valued even before the bidding starts - a good artist makes sure that even their wholesale price properly values their time and the raw materials. The highest bidder on the item at the end of the week wins - with all the money going directly to the featured artist.

I think this is a brilliant idea, and I fully support it. I've already signed up to be alerted every week on the new items - I'm asking that you show Worthsy your support and do the same! Go out there and spend some money!!