AlyxAndrea Design will be at the 2013 Fresh Air Craft Fair 
 

Date: May 11th 2013, 10am – 3pm Rain or Shine

Location: Elver Park, 1250 McKenna Boulevard, Madison, WI 53719

 

 

What is the Madison Parks Fresh Air Craft Fair?

Madison Parks is pleased to host the Fresh Air Craft Fair on May 11th, from 10am-3pm. Local artists and craft vendors will be showcasing and selling their original works including jewelry, pottery, paper goods, glass works, and other handmade items.

 

Activities

Kids: There will be plenty of activities for kids including spring themed kid’s crafts. The Wisconsin Kiter’s Club will be flying kites for demonstration, as well as hosting a kite making workshop, so kids can bring home their own kite creation. Also, Madison Parks hayrides will be available for $2 per person around Elver Park.

Food: Attendees will be able to purchase snacks from Curt’s Gourmet Popcorn and Jim’s Kettle Corn. The Santa Fe Food Cart will be serving burritos, tacos, and other southwest classics.
Music: Local folk/pop musician Adam Rostad will be performing from 12pm-3pm. This versatile artist creates original songs and unique covers in many different styles and genres. Don’t miss this up-and-coming artist!

Vendor List

• Jenny Blasen Pottery: Handmade stoneware pottery, coffee mugs, yarn bowls, ceramic plates, and soap dishes.
• Copper Heart Designs: Handmade jewelry created using a variety of metalsmithing techniques including etching, enameling, soldering and wirework.
• Makers Guild: Paper and Fiber Arts with a focus on eco crafts - felted crowns, whimsical up-cycled fiber critters, felted wool balls and blocks, pin cushions, journals and stationary
• Meredith Dillman: Watercolor fantasy art
• Danidorem: Handmade Eco-Friendly Jewelry
• JS Designs Studio: Custom children and infant clothing and accessories with comfort in mind
• Three Fates Design: Beaded art work
• Twisted Planet: Upcycled jewelry and crocheted stuffed animals
• Hazy Daze Glass: Unique handmade glass items
• One Thirty Jewelry: Handmade jewelry: Rough cut stones. Wood. Metalwork. Vintage chain. Organic. Asymmetrical. One of a kind.
• One Thirty Jewelry: Jewelry that combines metal techniques with traditional materials, including wood, semi-precious stones and vintage beads
• Shari Wittman: Paper creations including envelopes and note cards, as well as origami items
• Deirdre Adele Thompson: Beaded jewelry
• The Gourd Lady: Painted bird house gourds, butterfly houses, wood bird houses, and suet feeders, as well as solar garden art
• Mrs. Bow Wowz: Handmade dog treats
• Akarim African Enterprise: Hand woven baskets
• reVINYLized: Repurposed records created into fashionable jewelry, clocks, and other items.
• Randee’s Rock Gardens: Container gardens
• Aych: T-Shirt Design, Screen Printing, and Drawing
• N*Studio: Functional pottery/ceramics with a touch of color and whimsy. Textile goods, including handbags, quilts, and home accessories.
• ECE’s Candle’s: All-natural 100% Soy Candles
• Valora Vintage: Vintage rings and earrings, as well as hand blown glass ware
• Ashley Schultz: Handmade polymer clay sculpture and hand beaded glass/stone jewelry
• Selina De Haan: Beaded jewelry – Bracelets, earrings, and necklaces
• Bibi’s Arts: Handmade sterling silver, copper and brass jewelry
• AlyxAndrea Design: Beaded ribbon jewelry and accessories

Admission

Free

 

Parking

Parking will be available at Elver Park in parking lot adjacent to the Craft Fair as well as in the additional lot at Elver Park.

I survived!!

Yes, my anxiety had me a little neurotic this last month or so waiting for my first craft fair.  I started making my unique jewelry designs less than 4 months ago and even though I have not sold much it has been a whirlwind.  I started a website, a shop on Etsy and I'm trying to master the world of on-line sales (much more complicated than I could have ever imagined).  I was able to get my jewelry displayed in a store and I am involved with the group that is working on establishing a community market in the small town I live.  Then I was in a craft fair for the first time.

The fair was in a gorgeous new building in down town Madison WI.  The parking was very limited and apparently the organizers did very little advertising.  The only advertising anyone knew about was ads in the student newspapers.  We all know that college students are not known for having a lot of money.  So, the turnout was very low.  I have some mixed feelings about this.  If it had been really busy I would have been really anxious and may have felt really overwhelmed and unprepared.  BUT, as it turned out I just barely sold enough to cover my booth fee and I did not cover the cost of transportation and food for the day.

I was able to meet a lot of the other vendors and enjoyed getting to know some really remarkable artists.  I still have to go through the business cards I collected and I will make sure to give a shout out to them.

I am fairly happy with my display and got a few positive comments.  I few people really liked the business cards, tags and banners my amazing husband designed for me.

Overall, I loved the set up, the other vendors and how my display turned out but I definitely would have liked a better turn out.  I'm signed up for another fair in March for a fundraiser craft fair and fashion show.  So, we will see how that goes.  I'm still debating whether or not I want to apply for any more for this year.  If I do I also need to make sure the times are shorter.  Seven hours in a chair I am not used to is too hard for my Fibromyalgia.  I am still very sore today so I probably shouldn't put my body through that again.

Etsy Teams and Another First

It's been about 3 months since I first opened a shop on Etsy.  I took a picture of a necklace I made using my phone, uploaded the pic to my store and added a price.   Absolutely nothing happened because the picture was terrible and the description was worse.

Then I discovered teams.  Teams are little forums with groups of people with common interests.  There are teams for asking questions or posting new items or for just about anything you can think of.  I found a lot of good information and even got a full shop review from the "Helpful Relevancy Team."

The best team a person could ever find is the "Promotional Frenzy Team."   You need to have 500 people following your shop in order to join which I had to work really hard to get to.  But once you are welcomed into this amazing group of people that are becoming friends the rewards are limitless.  I have gotten a ton of advice on how to improve my pics, descriptions and other aspects of selling on Etsy.  My views have skyrocketed because everyone on the team must participate in activities which involve promoting each others items on Etsy and with social media.

I can also thank these incredible people at  "PromoFrenzy" for helping me get my first sale. It happened less than a week after I was allowed to join.

I spend a lot of time on this forum both chatting with team members and promoting their items. It's fun and extremely helpful.  If I'm feeling discouraged I get encouragement, if I'm having difficulties with my photos I get advice, if something positive happens I get applause.

I've actually withdrew myself from most of the teams I joined initially because they were basically just post and run teams.  Meaning you post a link to your item and it just sits there and no one does anything with it.  Basically a huge waste of time.

One other fairly helpful team has been the "Wisconsin Craft Fair Explorers."  They don't seem to be terribly active but I found out about a craft fair that will be in Madison on February 9th.  So I applied for the "Art from the Heart Craft Fair" which is juried and got excepted. I was really excited for about 2 seconds and then I realized that I had no idea what craft fairs involve and I have nothing to use for a display.

So I started Googling and got some ideas.  I decided to see if I could find anything unusual to use for displays at thrift stores.  I hit the jackpot on my first try.

The store had a ton of these new but not put together well table top easels.

I bought 6 for $6 each!!  I tightened the screws and good as new.  I also bought 2 tall candle holders with leaves that will be great for hanging necklaces off of.

I used ornament hooks to hang necklaces off of the raised part of the easel and ta da.....

I'm still a little nervous about the fair.  I'm not much of a salesperson, I'd much prefer to give things away.  Plus I'm terrified that no one will like my jewelry.

I took the 2 days before the fair off work so I can prepare and also shield my co-workers for my neurotic self.  I'm sure I will be a nervous wreck and I will wonder around asking everyone I meet if I'm nuts for thinking I can do this and complaining I'm going to fail miserably.

Of course I'm fairly certain I will be just fine and I really do think I design jewelry that is unlike anything else available for people to buy but also beautiful and looks good.  Sometimes there is a reason why no one makes something - it's not good but I don't think my design is one of those things.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/121146895/elegant-pale-pink-and-mint-bead-and

So if you are anywhere near Madison WI on February 9th, stop by Union South on University Ave. for Art from the Heart.

Rollin'

Maybe the sales aren't exactly "rollin" in but I'm getting a couple.  I got my very first sale on Etsy today.  I screamed so loud I nearly gave my husband a heart attack.  A woman actually purchased 2 already made pieces and requested a custom made necklace in order to have 3 necklaces with heart pendants to give to her 3 grandchildren.  I also sold 2 necklaces at Edge Comics and Games/Art Market in Edgerton WI.  Combine that with the few items I've sold to friends and I may be breaking even :-p

Another bit of excitement was coming in first place in an Etsy contest this week.  It was kind of funny because the first contest I was in I places at nearly 200 out of probably 200, who knows.  Each time a piece was featured I went up a little by little and I was happy to rank under 100 in the last one.  The most recent pick was actually a necklace my 12 year old daughter made (the Alyx in AlyxAndrea Design).

It's been a really tough week at work so it was good to have some good news.  I client of mine died of an overdose after 2 years of sobriety.  She had suffered a lot of loss over the last year and I guess it got to be too much.  What is really tragic is that she was was using her experience with addiction to help others.  She was returning to school for Human Services, volunteering and sharing her story at speaking engagements whenever possible.  My husband had interviewed her awhile back for a documentary he is doing on homelessness in the city I work in.  I'm thinking it will be very painful to watch when it is finished.  If possible I hope that her legacy will live on as evidence of the devastating affects of addiction.  You can work so hard, go to treatment, by motivated to your core and it can sneak back up on you just like that.

So like I said, it was good to get some good news.  After typing this I feel a little guilty about being so excited about something so trivial in comparison but part of working in social services it separation.  Separating yourself, your life and you feeling from you job.  Sometimes I feel like my heart is turning to stone because I can hear the most unimaginably tragic stories of trauma in the lives of people without safe homes and it barely fazes me sometimes.  As a whole it takes a great toll on my mind, body and spirit but I have to put up a little bit of a wall to protect myself.  Everyone in this field experiences a little bit of secondary trauma meaning that we are actually traumatized by hearing and empathizing with the traumatic stories of others.

One of the things I really enjoy about making jewelry is that it helps me take my mind off work and having other people like what I make is an very exciting added bonus.

The Big Day

So it's been an extremely long day.  My amazing husband, Dale Mitchell, is a graphic designer and he stayed up all night creating these amazing tags for my jewelry.  It only took so long because I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted.

He designed this wonderful logo an came up with the tagline: "Every Design One of a Kind"

Then the entire fam spent all morning hand cutting the tags and attaching them to the jewelry.  We next took them to Edge Collectibles but the hooks weren't working right so we spent the next several hours going to nearly every store in Janesville to find something.  We finally came up with some cute ornament hooks that we bent to fit in the slots of our display.  The display is actually old slated closet doors.

I think it turned out really nice and I really appreciative of the help I received from my family.  I couldn't have done this without them.

 Of course you can still visit my online store at: alyxandreadesign.webs.com

Big day

Today is the day!!!  My husband was up all night designing a logo and the tags for the store and he is about to print them off so we can put them on the jewelry.  Then we're heading over to the store after 10am. !!

Experiment

So it took me about 3 hours to perfect this new design but I really like it.  This ribbon is more whimsical but I think a solid colored ribbon will be attractive to people that are looking for a more understated look than some of my other pieces.