Ever since I was young, I aspired to be arsty and crafty and creative. Well, I guess I have always been moderatly artsy, crafty and creative, but I have never really done anything with my half-ass talents. I love writing, but I'm a lazy writer. I used to play musical instruments, but in my adult years, I have basically given them up, for no particular reason. To my dismay, I cannot draw anything but stick figures and doodles on scraps of paper. I long to be a good amateur photographer, but I really just don't have the equipment, or the eye for it. However, there have been a couple hobbies of mine that I have kept up with over the years, and it has always been in the back of my head, that one day I was going to use them to make some of my money back that I have spent on supplies. But, I never actually followed through on any of my plans to cash in on something I'm good at, due to time constraints, my job, and my embarrassingly low self-esteem and sense of self-confidence. Until now.
Last fall, I decided that I was going to get back to my hobbies, and spend the winter making jewellery, bags, and clothing. Just as I had hundreds of times before, I thought, if I could get enough product together, I would apply to be in one of the many summer festivals in The City as a craft vendor, and see what I could do. If nothing else, I was doing something creative that I enjoyed, and that would be good for my mental health.
Shortly after I started my project, I got to talking to FilmStar's girlfriend Katie, and she informed me that she too really liked to sew, and that her and a friend also made jewellery and were having some success selling it. We decided to partner up, and our little hippie clothing and accessory business was born.
Katie and I spent loads of time this winter sitting in the living room at the House of Pain, making jewellery, taking turns at my old sewing machine, and making a mess of the main floor with scraps of material, patterns, thread and broken needles. With her as a partner, I gained enough self-confidence to truly be excited about applying to be a vendor at the festivals, and when I found out that we were chosen, I was fucking ecstatic. FINALLY...I had followed through on something. We had to get organized. We had to do this. I had to put myself, and my crafts out there for all to see. And all I can do is hope for the best. If I sell something, that's fantastic. If I don't, at least I jumped a personal hurdle, and tried my best...and had tons of fun doing it.
This coming Saturday is our first festival. I'm not quite ready, I'm a bit nervous, we still need a few odds and ends in order to have a nice set-up, and I have a few bags and more jewellery that I need to finish up, but other than that, we are ready to go...and we're both really excited and can't wait to see how it turns out. Since it's an outdoor street fair, all that we (and all the other vendors) need is a nice warm day, with no rain to do OK in sales...which isn't in the forecast, but hey, it's Saskatchewan, and weather predictions really mean diddly squat.
So wish me luck, and if you're going to be there, stop on by and say howdy-do.
UPDATE: Although the weather was not nice to us festival people today, we did do quite well at our little booth! We both turned a profit, people were very nice, all of our friends and then some came to visit throughout the day, and we had many people ask for our contact information....so they can track us down and buy more stuff! YAY! (mental note....get those business cards done pronto!) So ya, all was well, other than some frigid toes! Thanks to everyone who came by to say 'hi' and look around! Smootches for all!
No comments:
Post a Comment