Indie Designer Market Chicago recap

Bleh. That's all I have to say about that show. The weather was sooo crappy and the windiest I've ever experienced. It was so windy that I had to take my hanging display down because it was slapping people's hands when they tried to get a necklace off of it. Overnight, we tore down almost our entire display since we were afraid the glass could be knocked over by the tent (which we have never done before), and my tent (and the row of tents) were all squished together from the wind when we came back for day two. After the vendors who decided to brave a second day spread our tents back out and set up again, the weather cooperated until about 1:30 when the wind and rain came back.

As always, things could have been worse. At least we weren't at the show north of Chicago in Evanston - ten people were injured due to a sudden storm that blew through and left a path of crafter destruction. Read the article here.

a crafter's nightmare

In addition to the crappy weather, there were just not very many customers. I had terrible sales - I'm not even sure if I covered my expenses! I learned during the show that we were competing with some other major events in Chicago that weekend (a Cubs/Sox game, Taste of Chicago including a free Stevie Wonder concert) so that could explain where all the people were.

On the brighter side, two awesome things happened during the show! A bride came to the market only to visit my booth and she ordered jewelry for her bridesmaids, which saved my sales, not to mention was flattering. The other awesome thing about the show was that I got to meet Cindy Tomczyk and a couple of her friends! I have one of her paintings, so it was nice to meet the face behind the creativity!


Okay bitching over. The end.

Shipment Shenanigans

With a small business comes the ordering of lots of supplies. Gemstones, wire, chain, jump rings, baggies, boxes, etc etc.... It's mind-boggling and impossible to keep from running out of something at some point, so yesterday, I had to overnight a bunch of wire & other findings to complete a wholesale order before I leave for Chicago tomorrow. The box arrived right on time, but when I opened it, there was not the much needed supplies I had ordered but...


FORTY POUNDS of beads!!! Forty pounds!! I had to get Greg to lift it off of the front porch since it was so heavy - I should have known then that something was wrong. We were so confused when we opened it! I imagine this must be for someone who is going to use these to sew onto clothing - how on earth could anyone go through this many beads?

Needless to say, I was bummed out that I didn't get my wire so we're off to the local bead shop to overpay for a few feet of wire so I can mail out my order. The supply company is great, though - they're going to reimburse my overnight shipping, which is a bonus and get my order out to me on Monday when I get back in town.

What do you think someone would do with forty pounds of beads?

Renegade Sum-Up

Can I mention that Lotta Jansdotter was a no-show? Can I say how sad that made me? :(


That's okay because I still got some super cool stuff from Bunny Butt Apothecary (two bars of soap), Jen Skelley (a cute baby tee for my niece), Mogo Goods (a big kid tee for my nephew), Saint9 (awesome birthday card), a Make Me a Sandwich tee by Seibei, and two new fabulous hats from Squasht by Les!

I would have shopped more if I wasn't so busy and if the rain hadn't shut us down around 5:00 the first day. There were so many awesome screen printed posters, tee's, cards, and lots of great jewelry including Prismera & Twist Style (who was recently featured in BUST!) I also just love going around socializing with my fellow crafty peeps. I ran into the lovely proprietors from the Richmond Craft Mafia, Mary Ink, Fondue Art + Design just to name a few. Sunday was busier than Saturday, which was probably because we weren't all melting in the heat as much - it was SO hot & humid on Saturday - it might have been the hottest show we've ever done without the luxury of our oscillating fan! My super best friend Amy came up from Philly (we've known each other since 7th grade) and she learned all about sitting under a tent in the sun on a summery Saturday trying to sell stuff. I was so happy she came since she is such a ray of sunshine, and I was not even sad when she left since I knew I get to see her again in just a couple of weeks in Philadelphia! Yay!

Anyway, back to the Renegade Fair - I had printed up a bunch of catalogs to the tune of $65 and not one person asked if I sold wholesale - wtf? I thought I would be giving out catalogs all day long but instead I received a bunch of wholesale request forms via my website which is free and awesome nonetheless! In addition to that waste of money, I got a $115 parking ticket because we were parked in a bus lane. Does this look like a no parking sign to you?

It looks like a "No Standing" sign to me and we certainly weren't standing there and it was a long stretch of sidewalk that didn't have a yellow or red painted curb or anything like that. A no parking sign in Nashville says NO PARKING - BUS STOP. Apparently a lot of people got tickets there throughout the day. I wasn't going to pay it at first but now I realize I'm just asking for trouble and am going to pay it even though it's a load of BS.

Oh well - we had awesome food throughout our trip including Delicious (with a capital D) Italian pizza from Lucali, pretty good sushi from Monster Sushi, yummy Thai food at Song, and this grilled corn on the cob from Cafe Habana:

Greggles (my hubs) also blogged about our adventures in New York here - he liked the corn a lot, too! It had cilantro, lime, and butter - sooo good.... The older we get the more we realize we're foodies - and my hips don't lie baby - they're getting wider by the day! But that could also be because I'm turning 30 next month. Yikes!

All in all - Renegade shows are so fun and are an amazing gathering of crafty & creative talent all organized by the super-woman Sue Daly who not only organizes three Renegade Craft Fairs and runs the Renegade Handmade shop, but she also has her own line called Timber! Seriously - the girl must never sleep! The rest of my photos from the trip may be viewed on flickr.

Renegade NYC in brief

I just got back from New York and I'm so behind!!! Greg & I spent two days cruising around New York and two days at the show, plus about three days of driving. I'd love to write a lot more about the Renegade Craft Fair and I hope to do so very soon! Here are some photos until then:

we were in the middle of a torrential downpour/thunderstorm for about 30 minutes

our tent neighbors, Holly Hue

our other tent neighbor, the cutest dog ever!

yummy Coney Island hot dogs

Back from Disneyworld!

My sister and I are back and we've got the blisters on our feet to prove we had an awesome time! Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom was definitely our favorite ride - it's a sweet roller coaster and we rode it three times. Their River Rapids Ride was pretty good - a nice comparison to the Grizzly River Rampage from my dear old Opryland. Epcot is the best place to eat - we had yummy sushi at Tokyo Dining and I got some awesome new tiny plastic toys, including some Pokemon figurines - I couldn't help myself - they were adorable!

 

Voila Edamame!

The whole trip made me SO nostalgic for Opryland - the theme park, not the mall. I knew we had it good growing up so close to an amusement park but now I'm even more sad that it's gone. Remember the Tennessee Waltz, the Flume Zoom, the Rockin' Roller Coaster? The Angle Inn? The bluegrass music that played throughout the park? Remember how after the first year Chaos was opened, the 3D movie never worked again so they would just blast Janet Jackson or some other rock album while you rode through in the darkness? Ah, memories. Opryland was great. Sniff.

Our next adventure may take us to Six Flags in Atlanta... I forget so easily how much I love a good roller coaster and they have some pretty good ones - especially the Batman & Joker rides. But the Ninja roller coaster - I think I'll skip that one in order to avoid a neck injury.