Castleton Christmas Craft Fair November 2014

After a break of a couple of months I attended a great craft fair at Castleton last Saturday.  it coincided with the switching on of the Christmas lights so the village was bustling despite the weather which was misty with occasional rain.

To get into the Christmas feel I set up my table with a red gingham cloth, made new price cards in red and added red lights to my white display tree. 

 As well as my usual goodies I brought along my mini Christmas Stockings and a new make for this year, mini bunting in a choice of Christmas or vintage/retro style fabrics.

It was a busy fair with a great range of stalls from turned wood to beautiful silver jewellery.  I also met a few familiar faces which is always nice. 

One particular one that caught my eye was Go Vintage, a wonderful selection of vintage and retro collectables.

It was a really enjoyable day, I made a profit and sold out of my Christmas mini bunting.  However I do have a few mini Christmas Stockings left so they will be appearing in my online shop.  

And finally.... as always there was a great selection of dogs visiting the fair but the one that caught my eye was Billy, who as well as being cute was the best dressed dog!

New Year, New Ideas

Although I enjoy the festive season I do look forward to the lull after Hogmanay.  It’s good to get back to normal as well as take stock.   This year I have taken the time to think about what I would like make in 2014 rather than leave it to the haphazard approach of last year. 

One thing I wanted to do better was having items for special occasions so being a compulsive list maker I put together a calendar of special days, holidays, seasons etc.  I then worked out when I would need to have items ready to go in my shop. 

I already had a few new ideas of things I wanted to make so I matched them to my calendar.  I then used my scrap book for inspiration and came up with some further ideas to fill the gaps. 

Now I have a list of great projects for the first half of 2014 as well as a calendar of when I need to have things ready to go into my shop.

While I was in an organising mood I thought I would also do  a stocktake of my fabrics and trimmings and needless to say I found lots of things I’d forgotten about!   But it did give me further inspiration and allowed me to plan what I would use for each of my makes as well as identify anything I would need to get.   So in theory no more rushing around at the last minute when I find I have got the wrong colour of ribbon.

My first project, Valentines Day Hearts has gone well, I had everything I needed and they were completed on time and are now for sale in my Folksy shop. 

I don’t know if I will keep this up but for now I have no excuse for missing the boat when it comes to special occasions!

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

From a personal point of view I have always felt that Christmas should start around 2 weeks before the 25^th December.  I hate seeing mince pies for sale in October and avoid looking at Christmas Decorations until I have to admit defeat in early December.  Where other children wanted to open their presents before the big day I was horrified at the thought and although I am now grown up I would never peak, shake or rip the wrapping paper!

 However as a seller I have learnt that I have to embrace the festive season a lot earlier.  Last year I was a bit late in getting my Christmas Stockings online so this year I had to be more organised. 

Some sellers have had their Christmas ranges up for sale since October but I opted for a mid-November launch to tie in with CRAFTfest, a online craft fair.  This has hopefully given enough time for sales but is not too early for the magic to run out!

So having launched my new range of Mini Christmas Stockings at CRAFTfest they are now available from my Folksy shop. 

This year I found a great range of new retro fabrics as well as some of my favourite fabrics from last year. 

I have also included some individual gingham designs for those who like to be more traditional.

Although I hope I have good sales this year lets hope there are a few left so I can use them to decorate my own home!