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Dollhouse Dream Come True

On Saturday morning I set out earlier than usual with one goal in mind:  to buy paper doilies.  I needed to finish a custom order of Christmas cards for a client.  I wanted to buy the doilies and then spend the rest of the rainy day tucked away finishing up the cards.  (You can see the Christmas cards I made for this client for past Christmases HERE and HERE.  I just realized that I didn't blog about last year's card because I was so bogged down with making cards for a craft show.)

While I was stopped at the traffic light near my house, there were several yard sale signs staring me in the face.  This is a usual occurrence for Saturday mornings in almost all suburban neighborhoods in America. I usually ignore them.  Who needs more junk anyway, right?

However, for some reason, these signs spoke to me.  I heard a voice in my head say, "Wooden dollhouse."  I usually ignore such nonsense, but this time I listened.  I actually had to make a u-turn, which sounds like no big deal, but for me it was.  When I have a mission to complete, even if it seems trivial, like buying paper doilies, don't get in my way or ask me to change my plans. This was different, though.  I eagerly turned around, mostly out of curiosity, to see what that little voice in my head was leading me to.

Just as I pulled up to the first house, a lady was hauling away the most beautiful light blue Victorian dollhouse.  WHAT????  I missed it by 30 seconds?  You have got to be kidding me!  I found out that she paid 50 bucks for it, so I didn't feel too upset about missing out on it.  When I took a closer peek, I noticed that it was made from a kit with the paint gobbed on.  It was much prettier from a distance.  But I was still a little miffed!  Why did that little voice speak to me, if it meant that I missed out?

Of course I became immediately obsessed with the idea of visiting every other yard sale in that neighborhood because I was determined to prove the voice in my head right.  I didn't want to feel like I wasted my time.
Look what was waiting just for me...



I am so glad I stopped at the next sale and asked if they had any dollhouse stuff.  The little voice in my head was right!  I am so glad I listened!  Best part?  It was $25.00.  The family forgot to put it out in the morning when they hauled out everything for their sale.  They only remembered about it when I asked.  Turns out their grandfather made it for them.  He was a builder, so you can just imagine the time and thought that he put into building it.  I made sure a million times over that they really wanted to sell it.  They had zero interest in keeping it. You know how the saying goes...their junk, my treasure.
I immediately drove my little gem to my parent's house because it needed some TLC.  My dad is the perfect person to help with such projects because he is the only person I know with the patience to do this to the entire house, every little nook and cranny:



Here are a couple of shots of the inside:



Look!  It has three fireplaces and a sun room.  Can you stand it? 




We bought a tiny can of "sample" stucco paint for under $3.00.  Here is the final result:



Aren't those little planters a hoot?  And look closely at the little gold door knobs. And the CHRISTMAS TREE WINDOW!!!!


I finally did make it to the store to buy the paper doilies.  I picked up a couple of pieces of dollhouse furniture, too.
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(Do you love dollhouses, too?  Click HERE for a tutorial on how to make a small paper house.)

 

(The blog post "Dollhouse Dream Come True" by Charlene Harreveld first appeared on eWillow.com's Paper Clips.)

Craft Show Display Ideas for Greeting Card Vendors

 

 

It's been a long time, folks!  I have two babies graduating in two months...one from high school and one from college.  Needless to say, things behind-the-scenes have been a little crazy.

I participated in my first craft show in December.  I made 800 cards in 6 weeks.  I am glad that I did it, but I'm not sure if I am going to do it again.  At this point, I really have nothing to lose by doing it...I already put out the capital to purchase the items for the booth.  However, the organizers need to get with the program and realize that they need to use social media to promote the show. 

When I initially decided to participate, I did a lot of Googling to get ideas on how to display the cards.  I had a list of "no-can-dos" in my head, along with a list of how I wanted the booth to look.

I DID NOT WANT:

• to display my cards in baskets on tables
• have to depend on a lot of other people to help with set-up/take-down
• want to use anything too heavy for me to lift on my own
• to have my booth look like something out of a county fair.  That's just not my style.

I DID WANT:

• a glamorous booth
• the cards displayed at eye level
• something out-of-the-box
• something I could, if needed, set up and take down on my own

I really wish I could remember my thought process for coming up with my final idea.  I know my thoughts went from hanging the cards on something to hanging the cards on Christmas trees, to hanging the cards on lighted trees.  I am really happy with the final outcome.  People even asked me if the show organizers were going to hand out prizes for the best booth. (Um...they didn't even have a Facebook page for the event, so no, prizes didn't enter their minds.)

Here is a look at the three tables I used.  I had a 10' x 10' booth, so I set the tables in an upside-down "U" formation, leaving room on the upper sides for chairs and supplies.

Each table had two 4' white trees with LED lights built into them, except for the back table, which only had one tree.  I used the back table as the "Welcome" table.  It is where I kept all of the signage and important info, like "We Accept All Major Credit Cards," info about placing online orders, business cards, etc.

I sold my cards in packages of eight.  I put each set of cards in a cello bag and tied the bag with hemp twine.  I used plain wooden clothespins to pin the packages to the trees.  Next to each tree I placed a sign with a display of each card in the package.  To take up table space, I put some single cards in baskets (which helped to increase sales) and added a little Christmas décor.

Here is a close-up of a tree and the accompanying sign.  It really helped to have the signs so I could show each customer the cards in each pack.

Some general pics...

Here is the master list of the supplies I used:
3 tables
3 tablecloths (amazon.com)
5 LED white trees (kmart.com)
black poster board (dollar store)
plate stands to hold the posters (hobby lobby)
clothespins (dollar store)
miscellaneous Christmas décor (my house)
electrical extension cords
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I was able to carry in and set up the entire display by myself, with the help of a dolly to haul in the heavy tables.  The only help I needed was from my dad, who rigged all of the extension cords so that they could all fit into one outlet thingy. 

Do you have any interesting ways to display cards at craft shows?  If so, leave a link to your photos in the comments section below.