What A Glorious Day!!!

Wow!  The Georgia Farmgirls First Arts and Crafts Show was a wonderful success!  We had 15 or more vendors and lots of folks stopped to check us out, and I had such a blast - you have no idea!  Hopefully tomorrow I'll have pictures of everyone's booth on the Georgia Farmgirls blog, but it may be longer. 

Hang on!  This is gonna be a Looooooonnnnngggggggg, picture filled post!

First, I have to thank my sweet hubby who gave up his overtime hours on Saturday so he could help me get everything set up.  Then he had to come home and wait for the DirecTV guy to come fix our satellite, then came back and helped me pack up and help Mary Ann close up the Henhouse.  He is such a sweetie - after 25 years I will definitely keep him!   Oh, and I forgot my cell phone, so he went home to get it (5 miles) and while he was there I discovered the tablecloth I had was too small, so I called and had to direct hiim to where to find a larger one.  He done good! 

On Friday I went to help Mary Ann get the food for the concessions and get things straightened up at the Henhouse.  Also, hubby and I had put most everything in the truck Friday night, so we didn't have to do the packing up in the early morning.  

Here is the day as best I remember it! . . .

Up by 6:00, showered, dressed, got the last of the things (camera, money, ME!) in the truck and we were at the Henhouse before 8 am - we were the first ones there!  I had already staked out my space on Friday, so I went straight to 'my' space.  I chose it because I knew it would get the morning sun, but be shady in the hot afternoon.

We started setting up, and before long we were joined by two ladies who were selling jewelry, and then Mary Ann got there.  We kept having rainy looking clouds going over, but thankfully we didn't have a drop of rain!  After a while it was sunny, but very windy with strong gusts.  I had to keep chasing my small things that flew off in the wind!

Hubby sitting at my booth.

Eventually things were really  hopping, with folks setting up booths all around the perimeter of our little 'field'.  There was a wide variety of canopies set up and an even wider variety of goodies up for sale.

Don't you love my pennant banner???  It's vintage (70's) corduroy.

I don't know how, but 10:00 got there in a big hurry!  Soon we had people walking all over the place, talking, laughing, shopping . . .

Pincushions - the small ones sold pretty well.

Pins/brooches - I sold a few of those.

My 3 tiered basket with fabric flower pins in bottom, pincushions in middle, felt/fabric pins in top.

My Mary Janes Farm magazines - they were a great conversation starter, and I did a lot of talking to ladies, trying to get them interested in joining our chapter.  I think I probably have 4-6 people who will come to either our craft night next week and/or our June meeting.  And I had a blast doing it!!!

I sold this pretty vintage hankie to a lady who was going to give it to her daughter who was getting married.  It would be her something old and something blue - how sweet (and cool) is that!

I sold the postcard plaque, several greeting cards (in box on left) and about 1/3 of my hankies (in the basket on right).

I had about 6-8 packages of early 1900 postcards, and sold every one!

And I sold a few lavender sachets.  One lady even wanted my sign so she would know what they did!

She also "LOVED" my presentation and  how I had everything showcased.  Did you notice the vintage dish pans, old baskets, etc? 

The same lady also bought these wheat plates.  I paid $1 for all of them at a yard sale, and sold them for much, much more!  :o)

No one wanted KOS.  {sigh}

Sold the doilies on bottom, didn't the pillow . . .

 and the mesh basket held free sweets.

An old Pyrex refrigerator dish held my business cards and pens.

I carried a bouquet of roses and herbs from my garden, but the wind kept blowing it over, so it made it's way into the Henhouse and our chapter table.

I eventually hung the vintage aprons from the canopy.  They looked cute, but blew in the wind all day long!

A former neighbor "GAVE" me the antique oak desk and told me to sell it if I couldn't use it.  I did.

A few highlights: 

• I met Libby!  She purchased some things from me on Etsy a while back, and when I found out she was local (like 12 miles from here) I told her about  our sale and she actually had a booth, and plans on joining our Farmgirls chapter.  And I so enjoyed meeting her - she is such a sweetheart! 
• Another highlight was getting to know another farmgirl, Nancy W. a lot better.  She is a nurse at the local hospital and I really enjoyed spending time getting to know her. 
• AND, one last special moment was when one of our farmgirls brought her children over to let them shop my booth for her mothers day presents.  They were so sweet, and I even worked out a deal with Audrey for a special gift for her mom.

Over all I sold a good blend of crafts and vintage.  I was pleased.  In fact . . .

My Goal: I took $50 in small bills ($1, $5) and quarters to have for change for folks paying cash. My goal was to bring home the $50 plus another $50. Instead, I brought home . . . get this! $162.50! I sold $112.50 in crafts and vintage goodies. I was so excited and proud!!!  Not too shabby for my first ever time as a vendor!

I have to say I had such an incredibly fun time, talking to people and making money and talking to even more people - it was so much fun!!!  But until we got everything packed up,  the canopy down, and had helped Mary Ann put things back in the Henhouse and I sat down in the truck I didn't realize how tired I was.  It was like all of a sudden my body was able to relax, and I was sore all over, and just exhausted beyond belief.  But it was a good tired!

I could not have put in a request for the day to be any better.  And do you know what???  We are having a flea market in a few weeks right there in the field beside the henhouse, and I'm going to take a bunch of 'junk' from here at home, but I'm also going to start shopping yard sales, estate sales and ebay for more things to carry to that sale.  Yep, 100% of what I made this weekend will be going right back into 'the business'. 

I am pleased, and I am happy.  And I thank you for caring and being interested!

Blessings friends!  Becky