PetsJubilee: Handmade Pet Items 8/27/12

PetsJubilee: Handmade Pet Items 8/27/12: Each weekday, the members of the Pets Jubilee Team on Etsy choose an item to promote from all of the active members. Here are last week's handcrafted items:

Mischyfpaws was included in the PetsJubilee List last week

SamsFurKids

mischyfpaws

mtcrittergear

dlkompare

anywear

Please click on the image to go to the item and click on the name to visit their Etsy shop. 

***********************

PSM Experience - Week #9

August 19th, our 9th day of selling.

We signed in today at 84 on the fill-in list. Last week we were at 86. Our number keeps moving up inch by inch.

Today we chose a different spot again. We are still in the search for the perfect space for our booth out there. We chose under the bridge in isle 300 for this weeks trial. One of the suggestions we received from various vendors when we first started is to try different spaces out. What works for one vendor doesn't for another. 

One of the vendors next store decided to move to a brighter space since they didn't bring any lights. We decided to open one side of the tent up so the customer could see our products better. It also allowed for a nice summer breeze.

 We had a lot of people stopping and looking at our laptop and kindle covers. There was a lot of interest in those. We pasted out a lot of business cards to customers that stopped by. Customers would wonder over just to feel the laptops sleeves. The need to feel and touch is a selling point out here. I think we pulled down the messenger bags at least 10 times to show customers the inside. I'm not complaining. I'm just glad they are looking.

We talked a little bit about what our next step should be. We decided to try and get another product approved for sale out there before winter break. We would like to work on getting a bunch of them together before March opening. I will wait to tell you what it is until we decide for sure what product we will be working on.

Yay!!! Our fourth sale..... We sold an Eiffel Tower pillow cover in pink and black. We probably would have sold the rose pillow twice today, except we noticed that it was miss marked right before we broke down to go home.

That's all for now. 

**************************************

Carts and Craft Shows

The cart is the best way to transport your craft show belongs such as tents, chairs and plastic boxes full of products to your assigned station. 

We looked at quite a few types of carts and decided that this one is the best one for us. All of the sides can be folded down to use the cart as a flat bed. This cart can hold up to 1000 pounds. The handle can be removed and the cart can be hooked up to an electric lawn mower.

Cart Fully Packed

This cart does double duty as a table to display our products for the show. We don't have to take it back out to the truck while the show is going on. We use our plastic boxes for table height. We place a peg board on top to make a level table top. Then a table cloth over the top of that. This also keeps the plastic boxes up and out of the way during the day.

Other vendors use different types of carts to transport their wares. There are many types of carts out there. Other vendors use flat bed carts, dollies and rolling cages.

*****************************

What I've Been Working On

  This is what I've been working on the last couple of days. The entire design is stitched out with aqua metallic thread on a light suede cloth.

  The Eiffel Tower is one of my first designs that I created.

  I made a new Fleur de Lis border for this project.

I've also been working on two dorset buttons (not picured) to go with it. 

I hope this project gets done this week.

***************************************

Making Inexpensive Tent Weights

Milk jug bungee corded to the tent leg.

I hear you asking yourself if tent weights are necessary!  I asked myself the same thing. Let me ask you this. Are you doing a show outside? If yes, then yes you need weights. I have seen a tent flip over. The breeze caught the tent just right and flipped it. If you would like to keep your tent grounded, over your head and not blowing down the isle then you need weights on each leg. Not to worry thou, weights don't need to be expensive.

Here is an inexpensive idea how to build your own weights.

We use 4 milk jugs (one for each leg) filled with sand as tent weights. We purchased the sand at the locale hardware store. We were able to buy two 60 pound bags for $10. Some vendors use bleach jugs filled with water. We choose sand because we didn't want to be hauling water around. We had concerns about obtaining water at outdoor shows. The facility may not offer water stations or faucets. Tie rope around the handle and up around the top rail of the tent just under the canvas top. Then bungee cord the milk jug to the leg to keep it in place. We spray painted ours blue but the paint seems to flake off. I would have preferred to leave them clear or white.

***************************

Dorset Buttons

Dorset Buttons

An online friend posted a dorset button she made. She had just made her first one and was eager to share with us. I love to share new ideas and I just loved hers. I must say after I saw the button I wanted to try to make one myself. A few days later I bought a few items to give it a try. I got hooked on them. Now, I'm learning how to make dorset buttons to add to my designs. This is my second one. The first one was a complete and utter wash. I didn't want to waste the ring so I ripped it all out and started over again. This is called the wheel design. It looks like a wagon or bike wheel to me.

Wheel design

Flowers in a Vase

I really like to make these buttons. It is something simple for me to make while I am out at the craft show. I went out to amazon and tried to find some books on making buttons and to my surprise I only found one. I would have thought there were more books out there. Then I went out to the web to see if I could find any photo's of buttons. I found plenty of the most amazing designs. There were bold ones and the most delicate intricate designs made with thread. They looked like they may have taken a lot of hours to make. I would love to figure out how some of them were made.

Flowers in a Vase

Yesterday, my mom and I went out looking for buttons for our laptop, kindle and ipad case designs. We didn't find anything that we liked. The ones we found were expensive and looked cheaply made. We were looking for the basic generic button so we wouldn't have to worry buying the same button twice. We didn't want to sell a laptop sleeve with a button that we couldn't buy again. We agreed to use the handmade dorset buttons. This will give our laptop sleeves a little bit more of a unique handmade quality. This is a much better choice for us then the cheap plastic buttons we were looking at.


I am still looking into other dorset designed buttons. Once I get the new design down I will post pictures.

*******************************************

PSM Experience

Our first day... Ended up not being our first day. We were completely oblivious to fact that when other activities happen at Waterfront Park it directly effects PSM. Our first experience coincided with "The Shamrock Run" This run closed bridges and streets in and around Waterfront Park. Now I don't have anything bad to say about the Marathons and other activities that happen at the park but as a beginner to PSM it is definitely a learning experience as a vendor. Our first day was a complete BUST! We got up and got the car packed and was out the door at 7am. We drove all the way to downtown Portland and got stuck in horrible traffic just was we crossed the Morrison Bridge. We sat in Traffic for over an hour and only moved about 10 feet. It was very reminiscent to driving the freeways in downtown Los Angeles. The only difference was that people were getting out of there cars and running to the starting line or sign in area. After an hour the PSM sign-in time had past and we were still no where near getting there. We ended up making our way to a left hand turn lane and after another 30 minutes finally got out of the traffic and headed home. This became the first day that never was but we learned a very important thing for being a PSM vendor. When there are extra activity days at Waterfront we reassess whether or not we want to sell that weekend. The other thing we have learned from other vendors that during certain activities means slower sell days. Rose festival brings more sells but marathons brings less.
Lesson learned... Some Waterfront activities means more headaches and less sells.

PSM Experience - Week #8

Today is July 29th, our 8th day of selling.

We signed in today at 86 on the fill-in list. Last week we were at 87. One more down. 

We have been trying to get into different spots to sell. This week we got into a 10x10 corner under the bridge. This spot is just off of the ramp. There is a lot of people that walk through this section. We set up with to one of the side walls up today. We have two open sides. We lined up the table and cart to corner in the front. I also made the new price list to be placed in front of each item. I still need to update them with the new information for next time.

We noticed when we got there today that the beer festival was all setup across from PSM in the park.  There were a lot of people carrying beer mugs around today.

YAY! We had our third sell today. We sold a black and red rose kindle case. We had a lot of interest in our kindle covers today. Last time it was the ipad cases. The other thing people picked up and looked at was the bike laptop sleeve. 

That's all for now.

*************

** Update... This was schedule to be posted at the time it happened but it didn't post properly. **

Sample of Products

Forget Me Knot Treasure

Curated By: ForgetMeKnotT...

ArtFire.com

Jewelry Supplies

PSM Experience - Week #7

Today is July 22nd. Our 7th day of selling.

We signed in today and we moved up on the fill-in list from 92 to 87. We decided to try a different row this week. We were able to get a spot two rows over under the bridge. This is suppose to be a great spot for sells.

We have been waiting for our member letter all week and still have not received it. I guess we have to sell 7 days before receiving the letter. 

We bought a 10" lamp last week. we also bought a 100 watt and 200 watt bulbs. This week we have a lot of light in the tent. We decided we will buy two more 10" lamps for the tent and get shiny objects for the reflective properties.

Unfortunately, we didn't have any sells today. However, we did notice that we had a lot of people stopping and looking at our products and asking questions. This is a good row to get in. 

That's it for now.

*************

** Update... This was schedule to be posted at the time it happened but it didn't post properly. **

PSM Experience - Week #6

Today is June 24th and our 6th selling day.

We took a spot back in our comfort zone. The last row at the end of the food trucks and under the bridge. Mom and I both decided we need to start trying other areas out to see if we increase customers looking and maybe selling. 

We added a lot of our ipads and kindles today. All of them were made this week and placed online at Mischyf Couture for sell.  

Today was pretty uneventful. 

We didn't have any sells today. Fingers crossed maybe next time.

*********************

** Update... This was schedule to be posted at the time it happened but it didn't post properly. **

PSM Experience - Week #5

Today is June 17th. Its Father's Day today. Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there.

Today started with our fill-in number moving up again. YAY! we moved up from 100 to 92. We almost made it to the 80's! Since there wasn't a lot of vendors out there today we were able to change our place to the mezzanine. We get to try one of the primary spots out today. These spots are usually the more expensive and held by long term members at PSM. As one vendor put it "Someone has to die in there before the rest of us can fight over it!"

We were able to get our Company Name banner done this week. We now have it hanging on the back wall. My mom and I both decided that we need to get a lamp to throw some light on the banner.

The jury also approved us to sell ipads, laptops, kindles and nooks. Now we can get started on making those. More new products. We are hoping something will catch on.

We were sitting in our tent and all of a sudden the noise level increased. It was loud with whistles and drums, loud musics and fans screaming. We walked out front to see what was going on and we found the most colorful people walking around. It was the Guy Pride Parade! It was fun to see all the amazing and fun things people were wearing all day. I wish I had my camera. Some of the customs were just to cute!! There were poodles died in rainbows. It looked like everyone was having a lot of fun.

We didn't have any sales today. Maybe next time.

That's it for now! =)


*******

** Update... This was schedule to be posted at the time it happened but it didn't post properly. **

PSM Experience - Week #4

May 27th, Today is our 4th selling day at PSM. 

When we signed in today our fill-in number moved up from 102 to 100. We almost broke the three digit mark this week. 

We are hoping that there will be a lot of people out today with it being Memorial Day Weekend. Unfortunately, I think everyone left town for the weekend. This weekend also marks the weekend of the Rose Festival. Across from PSM the City Fair is all setup. I can see the dragon swing ride right on the end closest to us. 

At last we finally made our second sell today. We sold another cup cozy. This one is hot pink with a black paw print. Hmm! people seem to like to stop and look at the cup cozies.

That's all for now.

****************************


** Update... This was schedule to be posted at the time it happened but it didn't post properly. **

PSM Experience - Week #3

So far this week leading up to today we did a test setup with the tent and products. We bought a cart to move our equipment to our assigned spot for the day. Lastly, we are finally starting to use the van to transport our stuff. It was a good thing we choose to use the van. The day we put the insurance on the van my mom's car broke down and had to be towed home. We had been using her car to transport all of stuff to the market. I guess at times, timing is everything!

With everything going on we made it to May13th our 3rd day at PSM.  Today also happens to be Mother's Day. Happy Mom's Day to all the Mother's out there. We expect it to be a slow selling day with the holiday. 

When we assigned in this morning we had a wonderful surprise. PSM just finished the April Reallocation and that brought our number up on the fill-in list to 102 from 125. That was a big jump for us. =)  

We chose to stay in the same area as we had the last two times. We chose the last aisle at the end of the food carts under the bridge. It is an area that has a walk through from one section of the park to the other side of the park. A lot of dogs come through this section of the market. Last time were were here, we thought about adding a few pet items to see if they would sell. Our main concern this week is still the display, tent setup and finding our item niche to sell. We were approved to sell messenger bags and leash bags today. These can be found at our online shop Mischyf Couture. I was disappointed that we didn't get approval for the paw towels. We may reapply for the paw towels at a later time after we make changes. 

YAY!!! We finally sold a cup cozy today. The cup cozy was brown with a pink paw print.  We got our first sell at PSM!!!

That was about it for the day!

******************************** 

** Update... This was schedule to be posted at the time it happened but it didn't post properly. **