After I quit my job and was back to FULL TIME mom duties I started getting an itch. I love crafting. I love wood crafts. I love my Cricut machine. I love vinyl. I decided that as a SAHM I still needed a good solid hobby. I love digital scrapbooking but the minute I sit down at the computer my kids need my attention and Molly is in my lap wanting to "help". The holidays were approaching and I thought it would be fun to participate in a local Bazaar. I didn't want to do one alone so I started to ask if any of my friends wanted to do something with me. No one wanted to commit to that. Mostly I got "I'm not crafty enough"...though I must say I know at least a couple people that are craftier than all get out!
So I happened to be talking to my friend Amanda and I mentioned I wanted to start doing crafts and maybe a bazaar. She said "That is so funny, I just told Josh I wanted to do that too!" and that is where it all began!
Amanda and I got busy. We signed up to do a Bazaar in Lacey where Amanda went to high school. We were super excited and super nervous but we got busy and soon had enough stuff built and piled up to fill a 10 x 10 booth.
Sorry a couple of these pics are blurry!
The North Thurston show started out so slow. My mom came along to help us set up and was extra kind to boost us up with a 64 oz fountain pop. (yes, they did last us ALL day!). Hardly anyone was coming to the bazaar and Amanda and I would just look at eachother and bust out laughing. Every once in awhile one of us would say "what the heck have we gotten ourselves into?"
Then bam, out of the blue, people started flowing in. It seemed like a lot of people to us because we hadn't ever done a bazaar before but according to others it was ridiculously slow from previous years. The booth on the right was selling dog leashes and pet supply. The booth on the left was selling homemade organic soaps and stuff. The lady across from us was selling jewelry. We kept saying how bad we felt for her because no one was even glancing at her products.
Customers started asking us where our store was located?...if we had business cards?...do we take custom orders?...do we have a mailing list?...
we were in awe. People liked our stuff. They were buying our stuff! We were so excited! We decided we were going to do another show somewhere. We started brainstorming...we came up with a business name.
Prim and Proper was born
Our next show was a quaint show held at the Centralia Train Depot during the Dickens of a Christmas Home Tour. There were just 12 of us vendors selling stuff but we were the only booth with primitive, home decor, wood crafts, etc. We had so much business at this show and were really excited. We had made business cards, flyers for our next show which will be this Saturday. It's a Valentine Porch Sale at my parent's house. We took flyers to all the local crafty businesses and they have been handing out flyers to interested customers.
After the Dickens show our husbands could finally get a sense of why we are loving what we are doing...and we actually made a good chunk of change to show for all the hard work and messy houses we have had...lol
Our porch sale will be the first time we have done one and even though it's winter and cold we have a handful of people that keep telling us they are excited about it. We have been busy working on items to sell there. As we do each sale we get more and more variety of things all handmade and some odds and end refurbished items. We took some pics of some of the products that will be available.
The prim and proper sign is ours....we just stuck it in there for good measure :-)
Candle Pillars
Block stackers
Small End Table
Potting Bench
Cedar Bookshelf
Amanda and I have so many plans for our business. We can't wait to experiment more and watch everything develop into something. We love doing this stuff and it gives us a sense of purpose other than just normal everyday mommy duties. It's fun and exciting and we can't wait to share our plans as they progress...
find us on facebook and "like" us! We will be doing giveaway contests every now and then, our first one very soon! We also update our show dates and what we are up to on here frequently.
Our website http://www.primandproperfriends.com/ come here to find updated pictures, event dates, etc. Become a follower!
Thanks for your support and hope to see you all soon!
2 comments:
My favorite part of Prim and Proper is getting to be a part of it with you. I would never have stuck with this without a good friend and partner like you. I'm so glad that you did this post.... In 5 years it will be so fun to look back on! As I type this, paint is drying on some 2x4s on my kitchen table!!!
Everything looks awesome. You are so talented. I am so happy that this is going so well for you!! And one of these days, I might actually make it to one of your craft shows!!
Post a Comment