BATTENING DOWN THE HATCHES

Hi everyone

A wet and windy week and just hoping the weather men have got tonight's stormy forecast wrong.  In the last 'great storm' we spent two weeks without electricity and don't fancy going through that again.  We do have frequent power cuts here, mainly mini ones thank goodness, and think it may be due to having overhead electricity cables - no not the 'great big pylons' in my garden ones, but no underground electricity delivery around here.  good job one of my makes is candles - might just need to get on and make some more.

Thank you to everyone who visits and comments on my blog - I do love to read your comments.  Very often they are great advice too.

This last week has been (almost) wall-to-wall card-making, bag-decorating and fabric wreath producing.  I was booked into two events yesterday - tricky I know, but one was going to be covered by my cake-making friend Linda.  Because of my involvement with the Woking Cats Protection branch, I managed my stall there and it was a good day, despite the frequent bouts of rain.  My mini-cards sold well, Christmas gift bags also sold and another one of my decorated jute bags was snapped up.  It was, naturally, a cat-filled event - as someone said to me it was one of those rare occasions where you can talk non-stop about your cats and not have people look at you as if you were completely bonkers!  there were lots of cat-themed stalls there and I know the branch raised some much-need funds, so a good day for everyone.  Here are some photographs of my stall including one of my Scottie Dog jute bags - I had made and sold one the previous week and felt another one was a must-make.

Sadly, Ripley Craft & Food Fair was a different story.  Nothing of mine sold - I don't think I can recall experiencing a 'no-sales event', so at this stage in my craft business life it came as a big shock.  The weather was pretty grim and as stall holders are housed in summerhouses, sheds and gazebos, not always the best places to be.  Apparently at least four stallholders didn't turn up or bother to notify the organisers - so unprofessional and unfair to Claire who works hard and always has a waiting list of stallholders to be involved.  As the products that didn't sell have always sold well before at this venue and sell well at others, what was the problem this time around?  

Linda and I shared this event each having our own items - was this a bad idea?  Could it be that the cake/bread buyers saw only them and didn't think other items would be for sale at that spot?  So disappointing and we have made the decision that apart from our joint venture in the Secretts Christmas Emporium, we will manage our own stalls but each offer a very limited amount of each others stock.  We think it is the right decision and to be honest, less confusing for customers.

Despite the forecast, the weather here is gorgeous at the moment: sun, a little wind and mild.  It's time to do some gardening - have to make the most of that time before it gets too wet.  I hope you all have a great week and don't forget to nip over the read the blogs taking part in this week's Handmade Monday.  If you fancy promoting your Christmas stock or an event, please do get in touch about being a Friday Guest blogger - it would be lovely to have some Christmassy-themed posts.

Jill