A little bummed (my first "show"-major whining;o)

Well, I made a few earrings for the craft show at my church, and I was
REALLY optimistic about it this year, because I knew the "competition"
wouldn't be there. I'm good friends with Sarah DeAngelou, who has a shop on
Melrose, and her own department in Fred Segal here in Los Angeles. She
makes great jewelry, and I love her to death, but I knew that I wouldn't be
able to produce the amount or quality of her work (she has WAY more practice
as I do, & no kids to suck the time and energy outta her;o). Well, she
moved to Wisconsin a couple months ago with a new church planting team, so I
thought this would be a good year to get my stuff in the holiday boutique.

I made 18 prs of earrings, and everyone that saw them were bubbling over
with praise, and compliments. I even sold one pair to a friend before I got
them up to the church! I was feeling really great about them. But, when I
got there, it turns out that Sarah had mailed all of the jewelry she had
made for her upcoming trunk show to the church, after finding out she
wouldn't be able to make it out to California next month. So, now my 18prs
of earrings are peppered across a WHOLE ROOM full of her professional stuff,
and they just look so amateurish. I think I will get a few sales, since my
earrings are all priced between $10-15, and hers are in the $30-70 range.
But, I invested money that I really don't have into this, and, not
realizing, quite a bit emotionally, too. I am not the kind of person that
bruises easily, but I kinda let my guard down on this one. I'll have to
watch out for that, and learn to expect the unexpected for future shows
(sidenote bummer-Sarah was the friend that had invited me to be a guest
artisan at her trunkshow this year...the one that's not going on now).

LOL, and the lamest thing is, I was so concerned with keeping my prices low,
so as not to be outstanding (in a negative way) among all the other things I
knew would be selling there, so I just used masking tape for price tags.
Thankfully, I did splurge on some earring cards, instead of just poking them
through posterboard, like I do here at home! ;o)

Anyway, just needed to gripe a bit, I guess. The sale is going all weekend,
from 11am-11pm. Maybe I will just have to sew some stuff to take up there
this evening.....I noticed there wasn't a lot of sewn items, and that's
really where my expertise is......

--
Kyla

{{{{{Kyla}}}}}

Carol in SLC
My latest creation (11/12): http://members.aol.com/CarolinSLC/rock.jpg

Awwwwwwwwwww. I'm sorry you're bummed. I think we've all been there, so
you know we understand. It'll get better!

((((Kyla))))

--
Jerri
www.beadbimbo.com

To subscribe to the Beadbimbo mailing list, send a blank email to:


"Kyla" wrote in message
om...
Well, I made a few earrings for the craft show at my church, and I was
REALLY optimistic about it this year, because I knew the "competition"
wouldn't be there. I'm good friends with Sarah DeAngelou, who has a shop
on
Melrose, and her own department in Fred Segal here in Los Angeles. She
makes great jewelry, and I love her to death, but I knew that I wouldn't
be
able to produce the amount or quality of her work (she has WAY more
practice
as I do, & no kids to suck the time and energy outta her;o). Well, she
moved to Wisconsin a couple months ago with a new church planting team, so
I
thought this would be a good year to get my stuff in the holiday boutique.

I made 18 prs of earrings, and everyone that saw them were bubbling over
with praise, and compliments. I even sold one pair to a friend before I
got
them up to the church! I was feeling really great about them. But, when
I
got there, it turns out that Sarah had mailed all of the jewelry she had
made for her upcoming trunk show to the church, after finding out she
wouldn't be able to make it out to California next month. So, now my
18prs
of earrings are peppered across a WHOLE ROOM full of her professional
stuff,
and they just look so amateurish. I think I will get a few sales, since
my
earrings are all priced between $10-15, and hers are in the $30-70 range.
But, I invested money that I really don't have into this, and, not
realizing, quite a bit emotionally, too. I am not the kind of person that
bruises easily, but I kinda let my guard down on this one. I'll have to
watch out for that, and learn to expect the unexpected for future shows
(sidenote bummer-Sarah was the friend that had invited me to be a guest
artisan at her trunkshow this year...the one that's not going on now).

LOL, and the lamest thing is, I was so concerned with keeping my prices
low,
so as not to be outstanding (in a negative way) among all the other things
I
knew would be selling there, so I just used masking tape for price tags.
Thankfully, I did splurge on some earring cards, instead of just poking
them
through posterboard, like I do here at home! ;o)

Anyway, just needed to gripe a bit, I guess. The sale is going all
weekend,
from 11am-11pm. Maybe I will just have to sew some stuff to take up there
this evening.....I noticed there wasn't a lot of sewn items, and that's
really where my expertise is......

--
Kyla

Kyla -- I have learned the most in life from my own mistakes. Kisses to you.


Becki
"In between the moon and you, the angels have a better view of the crumbling
difference between wrong and right." -- Counting Crows

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 23:07:32 GMT, "Kyla"
wrote:
Well, I made a few earrings for the craft show at my church, and I was
REALLY optimistic about it this year. (snip)
I made 18 prs of earrings, and everyone that saw them were bubbling over
with praise, and compliments. (snip)
LOL, and the lamest thing is, I was so concerned with keeping my prices low,
so as not to be outstanding (in a negative way) among all the other things I
knew would be selling there, so I just used masking tape for price tags.
Thankfully, I did splurge on some earring cards, instead of just poking them
through posterboard, like I do here at home! ;o)

You just learned (the hard way) one of the most
basic rules of business: Whatever you do, do it as
a professional.
That doesn't mean that you have to be a pro, just
that you should do "everything" as professionally
as possible. No matter what.
Having your work stand out because it is so
much nicer than everything around it is not a bad
thing..........
Barbara
Dream Master
www.dreamweaverstudio.com

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
~~ Albert Camus

Kyla,
I hope it goes well for you. Do not underprice and do spend the time and
money (it takes very little) to make your presentation "professional "and
clean looking.
You can easily whip out earring cards on card stock on your computer and
those tiny white stick on price tags are only 2.50 for a
million(exaggeration, but they are cheap).

Don't compare yourself too much to other people. Everyone's work is
different. Some people will prefer yours to the other person's and vice a
versa.
KathyH

"Kyla" wrote in message
om...
Well, I made a few earrings for the craft show at my church, and I was
REALLY optimistic about it this year, because I knew the "competition"
wouldn't be there. I'm good friends with Sarah DeAngelou, who has a shop
on
Melrose, and her own department in Fred Segal here in Los Angeles. She
makes great jewelry, and I love her to death, but I knew that I wouldn't
be
able to produce the amount or quality of her work (she has WAY more
practice
as I do, & no kids to suck the time and energy outta her;o). Well, she
moved to Wisconsin a couple months ago with a new church planting team, so
I
thought this would be a good year to get my stuff in the holiday boutique.

I made 18 prs of earrings, and everyone that saw them were bubbling over
with praise, and compliments. I even sold one pair to a friend before I
got
them up to the church! I was feeling really great about them. But, when
I
got there, it turns out that Sarah had mailed all of the jewelry she had
made for her upcoming trunk show to the church, after finding out she
wouldn't be able to make it out to California next month. So, now my
18prs
of earrings are peppered across a WHOLE ROOM full of her professional
stuff,
and they just look so amateurish. I think I will get a few sales, since
my
earrings are all priced between $10-15, and hers are in the $30-70 range.
But, I invested money that I really don't have into this, and, not
realizing, quite a bit emotionally, too. I am not the kind of person that
bruises easily, but I kinda let my guard down on this one. I'll have to
watch out for that, and learn to expect the unexpected for future shows
(sidenote bummer-Sarah was the friend that had invited me to be a guest
artisan at her trunkshow this year...the one that's not going on now).

LOL, and the lamest thing is, I was so concerned with keeping my prices
low,
so as not to be outstanding (in a negative way) among all the other things
I
knew would be selling there, so I just used masking tape for price tags.
Thankfully, I did splurge on some earring cards, instead of just poking
them
through posterboard, like I do here at home! ;o)

Anyway, just needed to gripe a bit, I guess. The sale is going all
weekend,
from 11am-11pm. Maybe I will just have to sew some stuff to take up there
this evening.....I noticed there wasn't a lot of sewn items, and that's
really where my expertise is......

--
Kyla