Christmas Craft Show Schedule--Not Much!

Unfortunately this past year I've had some health challenges, as one does when they hit their 40s. I'm only appearing at one Christmas craft sale--however, I'm still faithfully updating CalgaryCraftSales.com, so you can find a sale near you!

My one sale is the Harvest Hills Alliance Church Craft Sale and Tea, November 24 and 25th.

Tis the Season for Calgary Christmas Craft Fairs

Whew, it's after Halloween! I can officially share my craft sale schedule this year ;-D The TGCA Annual Craft Fair 5600 Centre Street North, Calgary, Alberta November 15 5-9pm November 16 10-3pm Calgary Expo Holiday Market BMO Centre, Stampede Park, Calgary, Alberta November 30 10-6pm Harvest Hills Alliance Church Christmas Craft Sale and Tea 10099 Harvest Hills Blvd NW, Calgary, Alberta December 6 4-8pm December 7 9-3pm Highwood Christmas Craft Fair 16 Harlow Ave. NW, Calgary, Alberta December 13 5-8:30pm December 14 9:30-3:30pm

2016 Christmas Craft Fairs

I'm feeling pretty proud of myself because I'm finally ahead of things, not behind. Here's where you can find me this Christmas craft sales season in Calgary. Along with MasterCard and Visa payments, I can now take Interac payments too. Come out and say hi and shop local!

October 22, 10-4pm St. Brigid Fall Craft Fair 730 Citadel Way NW, Calgary, Alberta T3G 5S6 Facebook for more info	November 11, 11-5pm Fort Calgary Annual Artisans' Fair 750 9 Ave SE, Calgary, Alberta T2G 5E1 Facebook for more info
November 18 and 19 Thorncliffe Greenview Craft Fair 5600 Centre Street North, Calgary, Alberta T2K 0T3 Facebook for more info	December 2 and 3 HHAC Christmas Craft Sale and Tea 10099 Harvest Hills Blvd NW, Calgary, Alberta T3K 4W9 Facebook for more info

If I'm not in your area, check out CalgaryCraftSales.com to find a sale near you!

Made in Canada Etsy Show

It's been a few days and I am still exhausted from the Etsy Made in Canada show on September 26th. The sheer amount of preparation that went into the show was itself exhausting, from my trusty printer breaking down in August to a supply shipment that was lost in the mail. I was afraid of not having enough inventory and started getting up early in the mornings to cut paper, trim magnets and print design sheets. Nine to do lists kept me on track :)

It was worth it though as customers were lining up outside bright and early to get in! I have only seen that kind of enthusiasm at the comic expo. The time to wait in line varied from 20 to 60 minutes...when I managed to sneak away for a bathroom break, the line was still winding through Golden Acres Garden Sentre and out the door. I wasn't able to get a picture of my table either because I could just not get in front of it :)

Speaking of Golden Acres, the staff were so helpful to the vendors. It was a unique location and bedecked with orange Etsy flags. It rained in the morning, though, and drips happened throughout the day. That's why I plastic wrap everything...in fact just after a staffer gave me a flower pot to catch the water and joked about it with a customer, someone had a coffee spill :D Sales were really good and steady and a lot of old customers stopped by. Four people used Square, which was pretty amazing too! I was also able to test out a new foam board display that worked like a charm!

If I'm more quiet than usual...

...it's just that I'm super busy getting ready for the Etsy Made in Canada Show :-) It's almost a month away!

Summery September

Yesterday was amazingly long and exhausting, but it was also a celebration of a new milestone in my life - I'm a driver!

In 2005, I finally took some driving lessons through AMA, bought an old station wagon and then sat on my learner's until this summer. I really didn't think I could master driving or enjoy driving, but my friends Lisa Redfern and Calgary Wolf put in the extra time to help me out. There were also a lot of other people who were committed to my success and I'm so thankful to them. I passed my road test on August 27 and have been hitting the road ever since. Now I don't need to rely on my husband or my dad for rides and I think they're a bit relieved. No more getting up early to be at craft sales!

Mom spent Friday night at our house and then it was off to the Harvest Hills Alliance Church to line up for a registration spot. Years ago, someone set a precedent for lining up around 4am, and at 5:30am, we were 35 and 36 in line. We got a spot that we liked and well, I just think the church ladies are so awesome and patient! Looking forward to this sale in December.

We loaded up my station wagon, Remington, the previous night and once we paid for our tables, boogied on over to the University of Calgary for ParkSale, which was a nice venue for live music and handmade goods. It has been unusually hot this September, and while sales weren't great, I hung out all day with Bubblegum Sass who I used to work with. Here's a picture of her side of the tent. Cards plus wind are not a good combination, so most of my stuff was bunched up and weighed down.

Inglewood Sunfest

Ah, to be blogging again! It's so nice to sit down and just chill after a busy week. Last weekend was a long weekend in Alberta; Monday is Heritage Day. But I spent most of it recovering from the Inglewood Sunfest. It was a blisteringly sunny day, which was great because some very ominous clouds covered the city the night before. I managed to get a terrible sunburn despite precautions. The Sunfest is a new festival in Calgary in historic Inglewood, which is usually considered to be Calgary's first neighbourhood. 9th Ave was shut down for several blocks and it was fun to just see people come out and play! There were street performers, a little classic car show, lots of food and much fun.

The best part was that my friend and former co-worker Bubblegum Sass came down to see me and help watch the table. Even better, she took pictures of the table! This is something that a lot of people forget to do! You can see the pictures up on her blog at the above link :-)

Back to Business...

It feels so good to be able to make my bloggy rounds this morning. Last week I was preoccupied with the Spring Show + Sale at ACAD. It's not as big a sale as the fall one, but there was still plenty of lovely student art. I only wish I had money to spend on it :-D I volunteered as a roamer on Saturday, helping customers, tidying things and asking people how they enjoyed the sale. The best time to go is on the first day, a Thursday, for the best selection.

I didn't have school on Friday, so it was fun to come in the morning and discover that my miniature tapestry from my last post had sold! Maybe I'm on to something here :-D I also sold 15 photo cards. It was quite the ego boost! One of the things that holds a lot of people back is that their art may not be "good" enough, but art is tricky that way - people know what they like :-) I also got to see a few old co-workers, so that was cool to catch up with them. I can't believe it has only been a month since I left the office...but it feels like forever!

The weather has been awful lately. Instead of rain, we're getting we snow. I think this was a factor in the sale attendance. After volunteering, I popped down the way to visit Bubblegum Sass at Market Collective. It was busy, but still low key. And I still didn't have money to spend!

Ah well! It seems like I'm in a lucky streak right now. I won a scarecrow ACEO by Sunshine Shelle at her Oz blog party! I was thrilled to get the email last week. Her ACEOs are really awesome. If you're feeling lucky, don't forget that I have a coupon contest going on!

...

Well, only two Christmas craft sales left to go! In a way I miss not being able to do five or six sales because they’re so much fun. From the setup to the take down, I really enjoy the sales and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the anticipation, or just seeing what will sell or who I will be talking to about my art and photography.

This past weekend’s sale was at the Thorncliffe Greenview Community Association, which is a busy community centre. Our community doesn’t even have a community hall, and really, community halls of a certain age are more like an afterthought - just big enough to be useful for a wedding or a party, and maybe a skating rink if you’re lucky. This community hall has a canteen, a lounge, a bowling alley, a skating rink and bingo. It really is the heart of the community and it was so nice to see so many people come out to support it. My sales weren’t as good as last year, but there were lots of people who remembered me! That was a real warm and fuzzy feeling :-) It was a two day sale, and I had time to go home and make some new cards when I sold out of some photo cards.

My next sale is at the Scenic Acres Community Centre, which is a much smaller community hall. I have been playing around withrack my table displays and it’s kind of funny to see how people like to shop. I have sold a crazy number of large cards so far and I wonder if it has to do with putting them on a card instead of a spinner rack. If that’s the case, I wish I had been doing it all along :-)

Fort Calgary Artisan Fair

We had a great time at the Fort Calgary Artisan Fair on Remembrance Day and I had good sales. The remains of the fort are the grounds and the barracks. There's a museum built onto one side of the barracks and I didn’t realize it was like a mini Heritage Park, which I'll have to visit again. It's crazy to live somewhere for almost 20 years and never visit some of its attractions :-)

The floor plan was tricky. At first we were worried about being on the second floor, but traffic was pretty steady. The draw box was upstairs and we were near where Santa was sitting in the afternoon. The first floor was busier, but had trickier points - I think it would be easy for people near the entrance to be passed by, as well as people at the back. Mom only sold two things, which was really disappointing. I don’t know if it’s a bad time for knitting or what - her checkerboard slippers always used to fly off the table.

I tried a new pricing scheme for the greeting cards as well. A friend suggested I round up my "buy 3" deal to $10 from $9 and it seemed to work. Sometimes the notecards cannibalize greeting card sales, so I had them in a basket instead of the card rack. Next weekend we’re doing a two day sale at the Thorncliffe Greenview Community Centre. This was an awesome sale last year - can’t wait to see how it is this year :-)

No Christmas Cards This Year

Howdy friends! I have sad news - I don't think I'll be able to send out Christmas cards this year. I have always enjoyed exchanging cards with folks online for many years, but I just don't think I can do it as I juggle work, school and a month of Christmas craft sales.

If you would like to send me a card, I would love to hear from you! Send it to: Christine Bennett, PO Box 97014, Calgary, Alberta, T3K 0P2, Canada. Who knows, maybe I'll end up sending out friendship cards for Valentine's Day instead!

I'm kind of glad that Mom and I aren't doing a craft sale for the first two weekends in November. Last weekend was really nice, and I really need this upcoming weekend to prepare.

We'll be at Fort Calgary's Artisan Fair on November 11 (750 - 9 Avenue SE) from 11:30-5 though. We have always wanted to do this sale, but we always felt enhugugh about the date, but every year we try at least one new venue. My grandfather, who passed away in peacetime, fought in World War 2 and the Korean War for Canada. But, this sale has gone on during Remembrance Day for years now, and it includes a morning ceremony. I haven't been able to really take part in Remembrance Day ceremonies for years now - many businesses no longer consider it a stat holiday and sometimes there isn't even a pause at 11. We'll give it a try and see how it feels :-)

Brrr!

I'm hoping and praying for more chinooks this year - they're a warm weather phenomenom unique to Southern Alberta. A chinook can pass through town and melt snow *like that*. It reached 2 C the other day and I have been covering and uncovering my mini roses in anticipation of frost and snow.

My friend Noela Jewelry and I are done for the Hillhurst Sunnyside Farmer's Market. We had to bow out of the last time on September 1st, due to rain...rain that magically stopped after we left! We just couldn't win with the weather this summer, and although the market graciously said that we could come back for another time, it's too cold to stand out there for four hours in the evening!

But, it was not all bad...I wrote a blog post for the Alberta Etsy Team about being prepared for outdoor sales.

And I'm looking forward to my indoor sales this year! They are all booked and I will be posting the schedule soon.

Third Time's The Charm!

I have so many things to blog about that I really need to get around to writing them all up! My friend Noela Jewelry finally had a nice day at the Farmer's Market. It didn't rain, and the wind kicked up just a bit. I almost wish I had something more sturdy to sell, like things made out of horseshoes! I could have used a few to keep the tablecloth down. Anyway, it was nice to sell a lot more cards and magnets this time. There was also live music too and a lot more produce available than in June.

Here are some pictures my table before the tent arrived. I still don't have a proper picture of everything...it's just so easy to get busy with customers and hanging on to stuff. The mirror on the far side is something new for me. If it sells, I may make more. Our next time at the fair is July 21st from 3:30-7:30 at the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Centre, so come out and say hi if you can! Or just wave from the interwebs :-)

Christmas Card Call!

Like everything else this year, I'm a little behind...but better late than never!

Would anyone like to exchange Christmas cards? A lot of people don't think that one should have to ask for a card, but I don't know where a lot of people live...and sometimes people move as well! If you would like a card, just leave a comment on LiveJournal. They are all screened, so only I can see them :-) You can also email me too at calzephyr@gmail.com

If you would like to send a card, you can mail it to my postal box at:

Christine Bennett,
PO Box 97014,
Calgary, Alberta, T3K 0P2
Canada

My last sale is this weekend - I think having a sit down and writing cards will be a good way to unwind afterwards!

November, November!

Nothing consumes my life like craft sales - I have two more left to go to and then that's a wrap! I have tried spring and summer sales, but Christmas always seems to be the best time for me. I wish it could be a little more spread out! In addition to my figure drawing class on Tuesdays, I saw the dentist, went for a sleep apnea test and saw a preview showing of New Moon this past week. And still managed to make up and package some new cards. Whew!

Our sale on the 14th couldn't compete with a sunny November Saturday (still no snow here, as of this morning anyway) and it was very slow. By contrast, this weekend's sale was amazing! The crowds never stopped bustling and it was over before I knew it.

As much I enjoy the sales, I am looking forward to the day when I can just hunker down and draw or paint and have more interesting things to say!