Craft Show Pet Peeves

My struggle with technology has been real the last few weeks. I just hope I'm not living a Groundhog Day from earlier in the summer where everything techy I touch goes to ruin (my truck, phone, and Google Watch). I started this specific blog last week, and somehow it didn't save... you could probably see the smoke coming from my ears from where you're reading. The day I realized that is also the day that I couldn't get my computer to start, and when it did start, it was giving me a message saying it was resetting my settings. That was followed by my phone shutting off on its own. To say it was feeling like Groundhog Day would be a huge understatement. So... read on for the blog I had to rewrite because technology failed me.

I was a vendor at a multi-day event—and a busy one at that. We had mostly great weather: chilly mornings, hot days, and cooler nights. Add to that a decent amount of sales, and I was happy with the entire weekend. Although, in typical human fashion, I was left with quite a bit of wonderment and bafflement about what actually goes on in people's heads.

As you read this, keep in mind—my "space" is essentially a pop-up store. I have costs just like those brick-and-mortar stores: rent (for my space or table spot), credit card fees (if I choose to accept them, which I do), and insurance to be at these events in case a shopper hurts themselves in my "space." I primarily do vendor shows because I enjoy all the aspects of them—socializing, meeting other vendors, shopping, and making money from crafts. Way too often, I go home at the end of the day and question the future of the world with these young kids, or how many times someone may have been dropped on their head.

Diving deep here - the front of my space, whether that's the front of my 10x10 space or the front of an 8 ft table, is considered the "door" to get into my shoppable space. When a group of people (whether 2 people or 10) decides to stand directly in front of that space, you are blocking my door. Not just the door, but also my display and my items for purchase. You have essentially made my space unshoppable; people walk past because they can't see or get into my area. This directly hurts my sales - people will not come back, even if they say they will. I'm immediately forgotten because they couldn't even see if there was something that caught their interest. If you run into an old friend, move that reunion to one of the many open areas for socializing, or make a quick date for coffee later - but please, for the love of all things, get out of my doorway.

Payments - I try really hard to make payments easy and fast. 90% of my items are an even dollar amount ($15, $13, $3) with the occasional $0.25 or $0.50 item. Additionally, I have all kinds of payment options - Cash, Venmo, Cash App, Credit Card, Barter, you name it, I'll work with you. I love getting a new permanent jewelry piece without digging into my own cash reserve or going to the vet's office and having money on my account. What I don't love - when someone asks if they can pay with a credit card (for which I pay a fee for every transaction, set by the processing company) for a $0.25 item. Yep, you read that right - charge for twenty-five cents. I might as well just give you that item for free and say enjoy it. The fees I pay on credit card transactions mean I'll get just a few pennies for that. So please, carry a little bit of cash, plan your purchases better, or find a few items to take your final purchase amount over $5. I don't want to charge extra for the credit card; I want to keep my prices affordable whether paying cash or card.

If you've decided you are committed to doing all your buying using a credit card, proceed with patience. First, each vendor has their own system to process credit cards. This may mean "tap to pay" isn't an option, or they may have to ask for billing info because it's required by the credit card processing company. Most importantly, we are at the mercy of the Wi-Fi (if they have it available). The more people using it, the slower it becomes—out of our control! If no Wi-Fi is available and cell service is spotty, anticipate it taking a little longer to get enough signal to process the credit card payment. Don't get frustrated with us for the delay that happens—it's honestly completely out of our control.

I'm not a great online shopper because I want to touch, see, feel, smell, etc., whatever I am buying. I can't always visualize the size of things or tell how soft they will be just from a picture or written description. For all the shoppers who want to touch items - go for it, I understand. However, treat my items with care. Pick them up, turn them over, hold them in different light - but GENTLY. I don't love having to take stuff out of my inventory as unsellable or marking it down because it is now damaged. I sell these adorable positive animals with beaded eyes. They always get a lot of attention and are a hot seller. But I found at the end of my second day that one of the eyes had gone missing. I can't fix it now. So either I take a full loss or a half loss to sell it as damaged - because a browser wasn't careful when looking.

While I love being able to physically see and touch items - there's a line that should NEVER be crossed. Don't have a conversation with me about an item (while you are studiously looking it over), how much you love it, what a great idea, such a good price, etc. You end the conversation by doing one of two things -

1. So, what's the process for making this - tell me what materials, how to do this. Gee - thanks for wanting to know more. But you have decided NOT to purchase anything from me, instead have asked for a personalized tutorial. With the internet and now all the AI options - go research it AFTER you have left my booth with no purchase.

2. Commenting "anyone could make that" "it's just diamond art" "how easy - a no-sew blanket." Yep - you hit the nail on the head. Anyone could, it might have been a kit, it might have been easy to do. That doesn't mean that there are not people looking to buy those items. More often than not - people love the diamond art, but don't have the patience, time, or steady hand to do it. Maybe they have arthritis and that very easy no-sew blanket is absolutely impossible for them to make because of the pain. Chances are I've sold that item and that's why it's something I continue to make.

Most of these shows are outdoors, where the weather is something that is absolutely out of our control. We do our best to manage whatever gets tossed our way. But keep in mind—our inventory may not actually hold up to torrential downpour rain, 25+ mile winds, extreme cold, etc. When an event organizer makes the decision ahead of time to cancel a part or all of an event, they are doing it for many reasons, including the safety of vendors, shoppers, and care about the vendors' inventory. This 2-day event was supposed to be 3 days, but the forecast of rain all day and cooler weather had the organizers cancel the third day in advance. Many people complained about it—that they could only make it on the last day, and the event was supposed to be rain or shine (mind you, in a field next to a creek). I've been a vendor at events that didn't cancel because it was drizzly, or it rained for one or two hours. Rainy days, whether all day or half a day, mean the vendors make no money and take a huge chance on inventory being ruined and a complete loss of income. Even at indoor events in the winter—a snow day means no one comes out to shop.

These events are pretty rigid as far as vendors go - we have to be set up by the time they open. If sales are slow for any reason, we have to stay until the end time. Being caught packing up early or deciding that the event is a bust and trying to sneak out early means we get blacklisted and won't be allowed back to that event and potentially any other event that organizer may have. So yes, we vendors appreciate the consideration to cancel an event when the probability for bad weather, low sales, or anything like that is high!

As we enter the craft show season, go out and enjoy the shows, and support the crafters. But do it with kindness; remember that we are human too. We pour our love and time into the items we make. I'm slowly updating my website with available merchandise, check back often to purchase from the comfort of your home!

Til our tails cross,

Melanie

#lovecatsandeverything #crafter #vendor #craftshow #handmade

A little escape to Worlds End State Park

Tranquil creek deep in the forest

I’m lucky enough to live near a beautiful state park – World’s End – nestled in the midst of the Loyalsock State Forest. There are lots of trails there, and I try to get out at least once a month, usually more.

Today I went to check a new section of trail – the South Branch Spur that was added to the Double Run Trail.  The last time I was on the Double Run, there was about a foot of snow with a thick ice coating! Today was different, to say the least. A beautiful fall day, temps in the low fifties, which is perfect for hiking with the leaves beginning to change and fall.

Double Run is not a difficult trail; its claim to fame is that it runs along the water almost the whole way.  The stream is mostly down to bedrock, which makes for the most spectacular waterfalls dropping into pools, with ledges and staircases lining the trail and stream. The earliest leaves to fall are the small yellow leaves, which shine like gold against the dark rocks and water. The sound of the water trickling, dripping, falling is soothing.

Look closely - can you find the bird?

The South Branch Spur was a really nice addition to the trail. It takes you along another branch of the stream, climbing and dropping so you get varying views of the water.  There were even two benches if you wanted to sit and bask in the sights and sounds. A small bird and I had a bit of a staring contest for a few moments before we both went on our way. Eventually, the trail reconnects with the Double Run just before you take the three sets of stairs down to the water again.

Overall, a nice quick hit of forest before the work week kicks in again.

Hope you all get to enjoy the same!

Bern

Administrator of Cat Affairs

By this point, if you've been reading the blog or following any part of my life, it's safe to say you know that a big part of my life is centered around the cats. If you somehow missed it, the cats are the BIGGEST part of my life; second to them is my very patient and loving husband. From the outside in, the cats and my husband are equally spoiled most days. To be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm equally spoiled, even if most days I don't feel like that's the case.

Gene - I keep him stocked with freezer meals, caffeine, a mostly clean house, his favorite snacks, running up the bills, and keeping him on his toes. The cats - spoiled beyond belief. I'm always sneaking in cat toys, even when I've been told there's no room in the budget for those sorts of things or they have enough toys. The older they get, the more spoiled. Currently, they are all on a very expensive diet of squeeze-ups, gravy pouches, Fancy Feast gems, essentially any wet food that costs upwards of $1.25 per serving. The in-between preferred snack is Temptations with the filled middles. I buy that in 48 oz bags that cost about $24 each. We go through one of those about every week and a half. Not to mention the all-day, every-day dry food. The cats definitely are attention-needy and will try to get anyone to believe they have been starved for the human touch. I promise - it's not true.

They get all the attention 99.9% of the time. Gene works from home, essentially never leaving the house. They all know if they are patient, he will let them sit on his lap, and he makes the rounds to give them pets and cuddles. On an average day, Gene has no less than 8 cats hanging out in his office. He's got two extra-large cat towers, a comfy chair for them, and a constant human in the room for 12+ hours a day. If they aren't in the room with him, you'll find them wreaking havoc in the house.

I recently started planning a little get-together with some close friends. When I mail out a batch of invites, I like to come up with a funny name for the return address. This time around, I used Administrator of Cat Affairs. It is absolutely fitting. Even though I'm not home as much as Gene or the cats would like, I spend quite a bit of time managing the cats.

How much managing could there possibly be? Let's start with the food and the picky senior eater. Smokey, being 19+ years old, eats a million small meals a day (like 3-6 bites at a time). She keeps me on my toes with just the food. What she likes today, or for the last week, may not be the flavor, consistency, color, or shape she wants. So I have to keep a wide variety of foods for her. Fortunately, when she turns her nose up, there's a line of others waiting for that perfectly good food. Since she's in such a picky mode, I now shop in-store for her food instead of online. Smaller quantities give me the ability to change almost as fast as her taste buds. It means I'm at the pet store weekly now (roughly $150 - $200 each week).

There's also the litter room—managing that is always a dreaded chore. I hate scooping litter. It's a process: scoop, move all the boxes, sweep up a box worth of litter, change out dirty puppy pads, reset it all. All while my supervisor, Dobby, follows me. If I dare to fill the boxes too much, she throws out litter by the pawful, no matter that I just swept the floor. I know I'm doing it right when she rubs her body against my legs and back as I'm scooping.

I also get the hard task of monitoring the health of 20 cats. Who is sneezing, whose poop looks off today, are they all eating/drinking enough, has anyone not been seen for 24 hours? Did Roughy get his supplements that are hopefully helping his upper respiratory issues? Who is throwing up - is it a hairball, food from gorging, or bile because there's another unknown issue? Keeping track of the things that we need to get done at the next vet appointments (abnormal blood tests we want to do on the next blood pull), keeping track of the specialists' requests and our regular vet's requests.

As a whole, we all keep track of who's fighting with whom. Is it play fighting, a real fight, guarding doors, or the litter boxes? Did someone just take over Smokey's food while she was still eating? Why are they all wound up—the full moon, stray cats outside hanging out on the porch, or taunting our cats by the sunporch windows? Bent because a human has been away too long (usually it's me), it's a whole thing—keeping the 20 cats in line. More than once, I've been told by my vet's office and friends that they have no idea how I notice the minute something changes. One vet told me it took her a week to notice her one cat wasn't eating as usual, and she has way fewer pets.

So, I'm just over here fulfilling my job as the Administrator of Cat Affairs, which includes setting up parties for the cats now. If you didn't get the invite to the cat cuddle party, message me for a private cat cuddling party.

Till our tails cross again,

Mel