No Coast Holiday Craft-O-Rama

I had this crazy idea a few years ago to apply to be a vendor at the No Coast Holiday Craft-O-Rama.  But then I got scared.  I told myself that I just sew for fun, and have no idea how to run a sale.

Then, in the summer of 2013, I decided to look online for how to apply, and quickly realized that I had missed the deadline by 2 days.  So I promised myself that I would apply in 2014, no matter what!  

I was surprised (and frankly, terrified!) to learn that I had been accepted.  I had so much to learn, having never done anything like this before -- luckily the sponsors had lots of information for us "new vendors."  The biggest challenge for me was trying to figure out how much to bring to the sale (how many things did I need to sew?) and how to price my items.  I did a lot of research on Etsy, and snooped at another craft sale in November.  But it was tricky -- since no one really had a booth exactly like mine. 

(Items sold:  2 Art Totes, 4 "Read" Library Tote Bags, 2 throw sized quilts, 1 baby quilt, 1 twin sized quilt, 4 iPad covers, several stuffed animal sleeping bags, 5 purses/totes, several stocking ornaments, 1 Christmas bunting, 4 Reindeer Pillows, 1 Love pillow, 3 large patchwork pillows, and 16 Minnesota pillows!)

This Minnesota Pillow was such a hit.  The idea came to me a few weeks before the sale, and I had made them in a variety of colors and fabrics.  This one with the brown bark MN and twiggy background went the fastest, just as my husband predicted (his favorite item)!

I had several MN pillows still in progress at home at the start of the sale, so Friday evening I came home from the sale and made 6 more pillows to take in on Saturday morning (not that I'd recommend sewing late at night after a craft sale -- but all 6 sold the next morning)!

Overall, I'm so glad that I took a risk and applied to participate in this sale.  It was really lovely to have so many people (even those who didn't buy anything) tell me how beautiful my items were, how much they loved my quilts, pillows, tote bags, etc.  Wow!   I had so much help from my friends and family, and I think everyone really had fun at the sale.  I was surprised at how much fun my daughters had "helping" out at the sale -- I thought for sure that they'd be bored (they're only 9!) -- but they can't wait for my next sale!