Craft Show Display Ideas #2

The spring craft show season is almost here!  I'm scouring Pinterest and going through my photos of past events and looking for ways to improve my displays.  My booth is different each time I do an event, and over the years it's evolved and changed.

Last November I was honored to be chosen as a vendor for the fall Flair on the Farm show and I think this booth was my best yet!   This was an outdoor event so I used a large canopy with a white backdrop to separate my booth from my neighbor behind me.

I made a fun fabric scrap garland to decorate the back wall of the booth and hold my sign.  I really like how that helped identify my booth and added some shabby flair.  For my upcoming shows I am going to work on improving my sign with a bit more homemade character.  Maybe embroidery? Or applique?

This was also the first show in a while that gave me a full 10ft x10ft booth.  I thought I would have so much room, but there just never seems to be enough!  I was one table short of what I needed so I ended up using my chair to display items. (I reclaimed it later in the day when my feet were tired!)

I was also given the challenge of a corner booth, so my other side of the booth had to be viewable from two sides.  This ended up being pretty challenging, I spent a lot of time shuffling things around.  I also wanted to be careful what items I placed on that table to detract from any possible theft.  The benefit of this corner location was a lot of traffic which outweighed any display challenges!

I put smaller items like rings and hairpins inside the booth where I could keep my eye on them. (Recognize that hairpin board from this post? I'm still so impressed with that late-night creation!)  Trays full of black beans provided an interesting display for the rings.   The shutters I found at a garage sale a while back helped hang some totes and added some height to the display.  I also had a sale basket on the ground with odds and ends that I wanted to get rid of.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how this booth turned out.  I think I need to add at least one more table, or two, and maybe some more height for visual interest.  I really like this idea using those cheap wooden crates from craft stores.

I will be participating in the Flair on the Farm Spring Fling show coming up this weekend.  My booth is in the center of an aisle so my set-up will have to change.  I also plan on using another table and some new display pieces.  I will be taking lots of pictures of my booth this time so you can see how it all turns out.

If you are local come say hi to me at the show!  Here is the info:

DIY Hair Pin Display

As promised I am back to detail how I made one fantastic display piece out of and old picture frame, ribbon, fabric and hot glue!  (I apologize for the lack of pictures, but as you will see below, it was late at night and my mind was not functioning at full capacity!)

I ran across this blog post from Hip To Piece Squares in my search for creative display pieces for my upcoming craft show.  She used thick ribbons to beautifully display fabric covered button hairpins.  I pinned the post and vowed to come back one day and do this myself.

Fast forward a few months, and it's 11pm, the night before my first craft show of the season.  I suddenly realize I have no way to display my adorable hairpins.  I remembered this blog post, but had no thick ribbons or foam board, and a trip to the craft store at that time of night was out of the question. So I improvised....

I had an old 8x10 picture frame lying around that was missing it's glass due to an unfortunate household incident.  I took out the backing board, cut a piece of fleece the size of the board and then covered the board and fleece with a piece of linen blend fabric.  I pulled it tight as I could and hot glued it in place.

I had no thick ribbon on hand (of course!), so I used two strips of thinner ribbon placed close together.  I pulled them tight and hot glued them in place.  I would suggest measuring this part, since I eyeballed it and due to sheer exhaustion that night, mine are less than equally spaced apart.

I wiggled the backing back into the frame and I had a lovely display piece made from items I happened to have on hand at 11 o'clock at night.  I then proceeded to fall into bed, exhausted but excited for the next day!  I ended up selling many more hair pins than usual, and I can't help but believe it was due to my great new display piece.

Recharging Creativity

For the last month or so, I have been trapped in creative funk, so to speak.  With the school year winding down and summer starting, schedules got changed and I found my sewing time rapidly disappearing.  I had had a few shows in May and had been working like crazy to get last minute stuff done and my studio was a disaster zone.  After the shows, I threw my stuff back in and shut the door.

Days passed.

Then weeks.

The more I stayed out of the studio, the harder it was to jump back in.  Finally this weekend, I tackled the project head on.  After a few hours of cleaning, straightening and folding fabrics, it was much more presentable in there.  Not perfect, but at least I could walk in it again.

I knew I should probably make something to stock in my shop, or finish an unfinished project, but I just didn't feel like it.  I was facing a crafter's version of "writer's block".  Staring at a room full of materials and possibilities, but not knowing where to start.

So I did what I usually do when I get to feeling this way.  I make something just for fun.  Just for me.

First up was this fun, patriotic Pennant, seen here gracing our living room mantle.  I'm not usually one of those "pennant people" that love them for any and every occasion.  You know those people on Pinterest that pin everything pennant related? That's not me.

Don't you love the quilted flag? My mom made it for me when I traveled to the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 with a group from my school!  It's been a part of our Independence Day decor ever since.

But 4th of July seems to be one of those pennent appropriate holidays, at least in my world, and this was a simple enough project to get me started.  Simple fabric triangles, (I didn't even finish the raw edges) and some ribbon and ... Viola!  Instant patriotic flair!  If I could have found my pinking shears, that would have been a nice touch, but alas, my studio was still a bit disheveled.



Once my creativity motor started running, there was no stopping it, and I quickly moved on to another project or two.  I started a voile shirt for myself, but got stuck on the pattern instructions, (sewing clothing is not my forte), so it got put aside for now.

I also tackled a project I've been meaning to do for 4 years now, since my studio was finished.  I had this cute white chandelier hanging in the center of the room with plain white shades.  Well, those shades are plain no longer!

 Using modified instructions from this blog, some pretty fabric and a glue gun, I prettied up those boring shades.  The first one I did was a bit wonky, but by the time I did all five, I had mastered the technique and only had one glue gun burn to show for it.

I'm pretty pleased with the effect.  I know the light will be dimmed quite a bit when it is on, but I have stronger task lighting around the room and during my early morning quiet time, the shaded effect will be quite welcomed.

I'm feeling quite accomplished now that I've gotten some things done that I've wanted to do for a while.  This upcoming week I hope to get to work on some new items for my shop.  Now that my creative side has been recharged, I have lots of ideas!  Now if I could only find the time to do them all with two kids underfoot! Hmm... maybe they need another week at camp this summer??