My 2nd Craft Show!

My 2nd craft show!  Minneapolis Craft'za!  Whoo Kiyi Kiyi goes to the big city :)

It was a very successful day.  Let's just say that I made enough money to get me hooked.  I want to do it again!

I left my house with a car packed to the ceiling with soap and came home with a small box of soap. 

 So much fun! 

We had an amazing spot.  Right inside the doors and a corner spot.  How big do you think our booth is?  Someone on FB said they could sell as much as we did if they had a big space like us.  Um, that is a tiny, tiny booth.  The tables are 4 feet long.  The TOTAL booth space was supposed to be 5x8, but it felt much smaller.  

For weeks I was freaking out about our spot - Will it be too close to the doors?  How will I set up?  Corner?!  Where will I put the tables?  Too many tables?  Not enough!?!  

It was perfect.

People at least saw the booth when they first came in.  They would look and listen to our spiel (if there is one thing I have learned from 4 generations of sales people - you gotta sell it) - then they would either buy on the spot or circle around and come back after they looked at everything else.  It was a great spot, because it had some open area around it.  It got really crowded....or so I heard - I never left the booth!  

My Mom was amazing!  She helped me so much!  

Just having her there to tell me to calm down was great!  I was so nervous before the sale that I was shaking.  Standing in the bathroom, shaking and telling myself I didn't think I could do it and it was a mistake.  My Mom was like, "Nah, you'll be fine."

She also helped me wrap the last 75 soaps 2 days before the show, helped me load and unload the car, set up the booth and is a great sales person.  She's really good at bragging about me ;)

So here is the booth!

I did not set it up at home and practice (like all the people say to do), because I had no idea what our actual booth size would look like.  It just came together perfectly.

We got to the show site 20 mins. before it was supposed to open for set up, but they were starting to let people set up any way.  The TV crew was there!!  No, we didn't make it on TV.  The back of my display was on the edge of one shot.  Does that count?  ha ha

We had plenty of time to set up.  Lots and lots of time.  And again after the show opened we didn't sell anything for 1 hour.  What is up with that?  I can't decide if the first hour or the last hour of a craft show is the longest hour in the world. 

So many hours of work in these pictures.  And so many fun memories of creating these soaps.  And so many little soapies that went off to new homes!  I feel like the adoption coordinator for soap :P  I hope all my little soaps are behaving in their new homes.

These gnomes were a great idea.  I painted them to match the color scheme and they each held a sign with prices or info.  SOOOO many people stopped to look at them.  Some people thought they were soap.  I had some actual gnome soap and I sold them all!  

So I bought the gnomes at Walmart....which makes me feel bad as a hand crafter, but I AM a hand crafter, so I usually can't afford hand crafted items.  Starting a business takes a bit of capital and at this point in my enterprise I am sometimes choosing fragrance oils over food.  So yeah I bought them at Walmart and yeah I feel guilty about it.....But the big blue dish is vintage!    

It was so fascinating to see what sold at this sale vs. the last sale.  Such different things were popular!  At the last one I sold out of Almond Milk and Honey & Oatmeal and Honey & Pumpkin Spice Beer.  At Craft'za I sold only a few bars of those, but I sold out of Psycho Citrus and anything with patchouli.  Speaking of patchouli.... I custom blend all my fragrance oils and I think it is really funny when someone says they HATE patchouli....as they are clutching to their heart 4 bars that all have patchouli blends.  Good aged patchouli is delicious and blends amazingly.  

The little lotions sold out really fast.  I wish I had had more time to make more lotion, but I only make 16 ounces at a time, so it is a slow (but high quality!) process.

This was the most amazing craft show I have ever been to!   It just made me giddy to see so many amazing hand crafters!  Or maybe I was high on adrenaline LOL!

The quality of the products and displays was just wonderful.  I was so impressed and felt like such a newbie :P

I met some really nice people in the booth across from me.  The husband and wife team of the Elixery.  They were SO amazingly nice.  I did not expect any one to be so nice...and they are kind of celebrities.  I saw them on TV before the show and I was totally intimidated that they would be across from me.  They were very complimentary about my product and display.  It meant so much more coming from someone like them!  Because they have an amazing product themselves!  

Anyway,  I learned a lot and had a lot of fun hanging out with my Mom :)

And I found out that I love my Paypal credit card swiper!  Money, money!  LOL!  And fun!  And creativity!  :)

That's what it's all about!

I Opened An Etsy Shop!

I finally opened an Etsy shop!  Check it out - KhyiKiyi

I hope you like it :)  Here are a few pictures of the projects I'm working on.

My two (yup, I added another puppy to the family this summer) little helpers say crafting is a lot of work.  Actually they are the reason I decided to open the shop - they're expensive! 

DIY Fancy Crayons

I saw a cute idea on Pinterest and I had to try it out for myself.

There were a few things I learned while making these: Using an ice cube mold doesn't work as well as a candy/muffin mold. The ice cube mold melts a little bit and the crayons don't release cleanly from the mold. See pictures below.

 I tried using some WD-40 in the ice cube mold, but the results were the same.

Also, it takes quite a while to melt crayons - much longer than the 30-40 seconds that the tutorial on Pinterest said. More like 5-6 MINS.  Check on them often to make sure they are melting.

 Thirdly: It pays to put the mold into the freezer before you try to remove the crayons. Just let them warm up a tiny bit before you try to remove them or (if you have little details like arms, legs) they will break.

How to:
Remove the wrapping from some crayons. 
Break crayons into pieces and place in mold.
Melt crayons in molds - Microwave 5-6 mins on High.  Check often.
Place molds with melted crayons into freezer for 5-10 mins.
After removing molds from freezer allow crayons to warm up and then remove from molds.
Ta da!  Fancy crayons!

This was an ice cube mold.  The crayons stuck to it.  Still cute, just not shiny and smooth.

Candy mold men.  Lots of colors!

Rhubarb Stepping Stone - How To

Are you a can jammer with leftover rhubarb leaves?

Don't throw them away!

Make a stepping stone!

First dig a shallow hole.

Mix up some concrete.
Remember to wear a mask, eye protection and gloves. Really. It's not fun to get cement in your eyes or lungs.

Place your leaves on top of the cement.

Put a plastic bag on top of the rhubarb leaves and then cover it with a layer of damp sand.

Your stepping stone should be hard in a few hours or overnight - depending on the type of cement you decide to use. I use mortar mix, because it gives the stepping stones a finer detail. There aren't any stones in the mortar mix.

Once your stepping stone is dry let it cure for a few days. Spray it with water every day. Then you can paint it. I use Patio Paints and then seal with an exterior varnish.

This is one I made last summer. For this one I put the leaf down first and then poured the cement on top of it.

Cement Garden Mushrooms

I made a cement mushroom for my garden.

It was easy and fun!

First, I found a nice big bowl, sprayed it with Pam and then covered the bowl with plastic wrap.

Then I mixed up some cement and poured a little into the bottom of the bowl.

I put a few pieces of wire mesh (window screen) in the cement for added strength.

Then I topped up the bowl with cement and then added a bottle to each bowl.

The one on the right turned out to be too small (it looked silly), so I poured cement into a bigger bowl and added the too small mushroom.

I let the cement sit for about 10 minutes, until it was firm, then I popped the mushrooms out.

I put the mushrooms in a plastic bag with some water to cure.

Finally, I painted it with outdoor paint and gave it several layers of varnish.

Learning To Knit

My Grandma taught me how to knit today!

I'm so excited! She gave me a ball of blue yarn and 2 pink knitting needles, so now I am working on a scarf.

Our next lesson will be purling. Or maybe casting off first and THEN purling.

It's really fun!

She was a great teacher too - very patient and super encouraging.

I love my Grandma!

Following Directions

Don't follow MY directions for this craft!

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Instead go to this blog here and follow HER directions.

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I saw these candles and when A. stayed at my house we decided to make them.

I couldn't remember exactly how to make them......so I came up with my own idea.

They look nice, don't they.

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But they are extremely flammable!

We used glue and PAINT mixed together

and then rolled them in cocoa powder

or curry powder.

It was my mom who said, "Isn't paint kind of flammable?"
Doh!
I guess these are just for looks.
This was a very good lesson in reading directions
and not substituting things in a recipe.
Or at least try not to use
such flammable items as substitutions!
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Better luck next time!