**First Blanket craft fair Saturday! 8/29/09** August 27, 2009

 

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I will be in The Summer Spectacular Car and Craft show on Saturday 8/29. 

It will be held at the Dakota County Fairgrounds in Farmington, MN from 8am -3pm.  I am booth #71 come by and visit. I have coupon for $2 off the $5 admission price email me at tuckercreations@gmail.com to get one. 

Car & craft fair with over 500 cars and over 100 craft booths. Music, food, games…, and free trolly rides!

For more info go to http://www.thesummerspectacular.com

I have 45 blankets and about 3 dozen burp cloths I am hoping to sell!  Wish me luck!

 

~Baby Blanket Bonanza~ May 13, 2009

I’m so crazy busy I didn’t get a chance to even write anything.  The baby blanket creation is going well. 

The blankets below are completed except for being pressed and a lil TLC around the edges.  I’m so happy with how they are turning out.  I hope I find a good client base that agrees with me.

The Carebear blanket is about 30×30.  Snuggly flannel and a fleece backing.  Completely machine wash and dryable.

The Dot Blanket is 100% cotton Snuggly flannel (front & back).  I have made 2 of these and they are about 38×38… Pretty big.  I should take exact measurements again. 

The other photo’s are of fabric I have that will turn in to blankets as the days go on.  I love the Monkey pattern and can’t wait to make that blanket! 

I bought some pirate fabric, bright poka dots, and traditional block baby fabric last night.    Yes, I am starting to run a little low on fabric!!! Can you believe it?  I can’t.    I made the first burp cloth last night and it turned out really well.  100% cotton – flannel front is small puppies and back is white.  It is about 13×17 if I am remembering correctly, which seems like a good size.

*Almost back on track* May 4, 2009

I’m happy to announce that we are almost back on the Adoption track.

Jason has been placed in a long term temp position in mortgage, very similar to my job.  He has been there about four weeks and it is going well.  He is still looking for another permanent Project Analyst/Manager position but the job he has now will pay the bills and gives him mortgage experience that may help his resume to apply to Project Management positions in Mortgage in the months to come. I’ve very proud of him as it took exactly 6 weeks to find new employment, exactly the length of his severance package, so we never missed a check!  Way to Go JASON!  He is very modivated and employable even in this job market. I couldn’t be more proud of him.

 

By the end of the month I will be contacting our adoption agency to restart the adoption!!!  We will have to do a little backtracking as our financial pictures changed slightly and we now have new medical insurance.  I know at least I will need a letter from our medical insurance stating they will cover adopted children and adoption children with pre-existing conditions.  (I’m going to try to start researching this later this week).

Spring is finally here and I’m loving it.  After all those crazy craft shows last year that never really brought in a profit I’m about to start all over again.  This year I have a new project which is much better.

Baby Blankets and burp cloths!  I have been sewing on and off since I was eight years old and have a great sewing machine, why not put that too good use?

Here is a picture of the first baby blanket I made. It has 100% cotton flannel with Sesame Street Baby characters on the front and a soft yellow blizzard fleece on the inside.  Machine Wash and Dryable and pre-shrunk.   I have made two like this.  

(I think this one is 27″ x 31″ and the other is a slightly larger)

I am half way finished with a Care Bear one in pinks that I should be able to complete tonight and will try to remember to post a picture.

First Baby Blanket

 

The first blanket turned out really well and I know the more I do the better they will get.  I also need to make some coordinating burp clothes to go with them.  I found a great sale on kids flannel fabric with tons of fun patterns and colors.  I bought 40 yard!!! Can you believe it?

So I have a lot of sewing to do in the weeks ahead.  I started researching some craft fairs that I will look into signing up for several next week – once I get a few more blankets under my belt.

YEAH!

Craft fairs on 12/6 & 12/14 Roseville & Savage December 16, 2008

The Craft Fair on 12/6 in Roseville went well.  We covered the price for our table and made a few bucks on top of that also.  We not VERY profitable yet, as some vendors sell a minimum of several hundred dollars per show.  But since most of our items are under $10 we sold a lot. 

The picture is rather blurry but I thought I would post it anyways.  I believe adding “Gift Shop” to our sign helped a lot.    Unfortunately,  there was another vendor that sold bath salts just outside the door to the room we were in.  Her bath salts were made with Fragrance Oils not Essential Oils like mine but most people don’t know that is a huge difference.  (I didn’t know until I researched how to make them)  Her price point was lower than mine so I hardly sold any bath salts…   The couple people that purchased mine were very knowledgeable and questioned me on the type of Essential Oils were used to make them.  

The craft fair on 12/14 at the American Legion in Savage was okay.  We didn’t have many sales but the cost was only $10 to be in it, so we walked away with $30 in profits.  I met a lot of nice people, but don’t believe that was a good venue for our merchandise.   The only patrons that attended the show were people that ate at the American Legion that day.  I do not believe they do any advertising for it. 

I took a bunch of pictures and will post them soon.

*Saturdays Craft show update 11/22 Prior Lake** November 24, 2008

I am so upset I forgot to take a picture of our booth.  It turned out REALLY WELL!  I added a few more display Items I found added the Threads of hope bracelets, and the glow candle holders and bookmarks.  The Treads of Hope sale went really well.  We sold over 20 bracelets.

This show was by far the best.  We didn’t make a ton of money, but we more than covered the cost of our booth and feel it was worth the effort put into it.  So Craft Show #3 in Prior Lake was formally seen as a success for Tucker Creations. 

  

I may have two more shows in December.  I am number two on a waiting list for 12/6 and am waiting to hear back about another flea market craft show in Savage on 12/14. 

I’m thinking about posting items on the blog for sale if anyone is interested.  Email me at Tuckercreations@gmail.com if you are interested.  I could ship in time for the holidays!

I have bath salts (bags $4, jars $6 and in a stress relief gift baskets $12-$20), jewelry ($5-$30), threads of hope bracelets ($2-3) and bookmarks ($5), xmas bulbs ($4), onesies ($4), chainmaille keychains ($5).  I will try to post pictures this week.

 

 

 

Saturdays Craft Fair Update November 17, 2008

The craft fair on Saturday was much larger and had a lot more traffic than the one we participated in two weeks ago.  We sold much more than we did before but still just came short of the enterance fee to be in the show.      (Most items are under $10 so we have to sell many items to make a profit) It was close though.  A lot of vendors said people are just not buying crafts and gifts this year like they have in past years.   So our booth wasn’t the only one with low sales.

Our BoothFront view

I think we have too many different items for sale so people just aren’t sure what our booth is about.  A couple people asked if we were a gift party place.  (Like Pampered chef or interier design parties).  I’m thinking about putting up a large sign that just says holiday gifts for everyone.  Maybe that would help?

We had a ton of positive comments about everything at our booth and a couple vendors said our prices were right if not low.  So I’m still trying to figure out why more isn’t selling. 

The next show – 11/22 in Prior Lake –  I am going to not include the onesies (everyone looks and smiles but no one has even concidered purchasing one – thinking Ebay may be a good route for those) and I may not include the wine glass markers either, lots of people look and I think $5-$6 is a good price for a set of 4-6 but we have only had one purchase.

I will put more jewelry and possibly candle holders (new item that I am going to try tonight that I am really excited about.) 

I’m going to make the bath salt display smaller and make the jewelry & chainmaille displays larger since that is what we have sold most of.   

We haven’t sold any holiday bulbs yet, which has really surprised me.   Tons of people have looked at them and I thought a price point of $3-$6 was a fair price for them, but I’m thinking about switching them to all the same price so people know what they are initially…  (Most are priced $5-$6)

I did sell all three childrens elastic bracelets ($2-$3) so I will make several more of those and hopefully we will have the Threads of Hope braclets this week which will be a similiar price point, so should do well. 

I’m still working on setting up shows for December.

All the other vendors said the craft fair season is about over.  So we may have to continue this adventure again next year.

Threads of Hope has accepted us! November 12, 2008

Just a quick note as I am having a crazy day. 

I received an email this morning for Alex at Threads of Hope and they have agreed to send us their bracelets for us to sell at our craft fairs! I love that this helps families in the Philippians and it will help us with adoption expenses.

We send 60% of proceeds back to Threads of Hope as we sell the bracelets. I am excited to be a part of this effort to help families in the Philippians.

We are hoping to have the bracelets in time for our 11/22 craft fair in Prior Lake.   I don’t think we will have them for the one this weekend.

Here is their website that shows photos of the bracelets.

Threads of Hope, Inc.

**Next Craft Fair this Saturday** November 11, 2008

I am anxious for our next craft fair this Saturday 11/15/08 at Christina Huddleston Elementary School in Lakeville, MN.

Honestly, I was discouraged after our first show but I have done a lot of research since and this show is getting really good reviews and should be a hit.   I am going to work on our company name sign tonight, and making some basic business cards (since I received multiple requests for them at our last show).   I have a good feeling about this show and next week am going to start looking for more craft shows to sign up for in December.

I contacted an organization called Threads of Hope today and am really excited about a potential new product/fundraiser to add to our craft booths.  http://threadsofhope.com.ph/   They have beautiful colorful Bracelets made by Filipino artists that they can send out for fundraisers.  We send 60% of the profits back to them and those funds are used to bring help and hope to families at risk.   I believe these would go over wonderfully at craft shows and be a wonderful multiple fundraising project.  

I am waiting to hear back to see if we will be accepted and will keep you posted.

Our Journey to adopt an infant, twins/siblings from Colombia November 5, 2008

  Sew Cuddly Blankets & Accessories

 By Tucker Creations

 

Find fun Cuddly Blankets, burp clothes, and diaper change bags all made by me at the link below. 

 www.TuckerCreations.etsy.com

  Who’s checking us out?

  It use to be full of dots.. somehow it reset!!

~First Craft Fair~ November 4, 2008

As Tucker Creations we had our first craft fair on 11/1/08 at the Eden Prairie Community Center.

On 10/31 we worked feverishly trying to prepare all the final details and packing up my car (LOVE THAT CIVIC!) with everything we would possibly need at the craft fair.  Luckily I got to bed around 11pm but couldn’t sleep in anticipation of the alarm going off at 5am to start making Tucker Creations (founded solely to help pay adoption costs) a hit. 

We frantically setup our booth with had my sisters PAMPERED CHEF booth right behind me. (send me a comment if you want her info to do a PAMPERED CHEF house or book party – She is the greatest!) 

Finally 9am hit and we were open for business…. Then, we waited as a few people walked around – not nearly the crowd you see at craft shows. Finally a nice woman purchased one of Jason’s Chainmaille keychains for a present for her son. (They take him about 45minutes to make and he really doesn’t get paid for his time.) 

Then we waited.. and waited and waited.. Along with all the other vendors.  The craft show had almost no traffic, it just wasn’t advertised and it was a beautiful day out, so almost no one showed up…

Finally we sold a set of Wine Glass Markers and then a couple hours later sold 2 bags of bath salts.  It was really sad.  All the other vendors were saying they have never seen a show THAT SLOW! 

I got home at 6pm, exhausted.  Poor Jason had to go to work that night so he didn’t get home until 11pm!

I did learn that I need to make business cards for the next show.  Several people asked for our card because they liked our stuff but weren’t ready to purchase holiday items yet. 

At the end of the day we made $18 (minus supplies).  The cost to be part of the show was $65. 

The vendors all assured me not to let this bad show get us down, and that things pick up the closer you get to xmas.   I may try to find other craft shows not associated with this one to join.  Since my mom made really cool snow xmas bulbs that she brought to the show, I actually went home with MORE THAN I BROUGHT!!!