And what a hot few weeks to be standing in a playground/field under a gazebo! The first on we (daughter & I) did, we kept sides on the gazebo as it was a little gusty and I thought it would keep the sun off us; well it did that, but was rather like a sauna! Anyhow, we had a good and successful day, thanks to the great turnout at Keston Primary School.
The following day we had a stall at a hospital charity fete in Caterham. Unfortunately it coincided with the England World Cup game and went very quiet from about 2.30. There was a tent with a television and beer, but what with the score being less than great we didn't get any more customers after that!
Last weekend was the worst of all - a so-called Community Festival which was from 10am-5pm. We didn't bother with sides or back to the gazebo as it was really hot (still) and we'd had enough of baking! Well, the community didn't seem to know anything about their festival and we could have counted the number of people who ventured across the huge field to look at the stalls on our fingers. It seemed a combination of apathy, the heat and lack of advertising were to blame. I heard one woman say to her daughter "it's too hot to look at things, let's get an ice cream". Ah well, I know it's not worth attending next year!
In between them, I did my first jewellery party at someone else's house. I was a little nervous as I'd never done one before for people I don't know, but the ladies all seemed to enjoy themselves and spent a nice amount of money, which gave the host a decent 10% commission to spend on jewellery for herself and me a good profit! I've got a booking for another party in September from one of her friends, so I'm hoping this will carry on and I won't have to bother with too many stalls at fetes next year.
At least one thing with not selling very much the last two fetes means I have plenty for my next jewellery party!
In between all that, I had my first sale on Folksy and quite a few sales on my website, so all in all a busy month...
Oh and I can recommend http://www.sewandsoaps.co.uk/ for personalised t-shirts, polo shirts and hoodies etc. Sarah made me a screen-printed t-shirt and an embroidered 'zoodie' (zip-up hoody). It was too hot for the jacket but the t-shirt looked really good and professional!
