what a wonderland: Crafty Wonderland and lessons learned

Here we are! Crafty Wonderland, Sunday November 8th 2009 and a little booth for ouou. I've got to say, this was my first craft fair since childhood Girl Scouts but it was probably just as fun. The following photo shows where my booth was, the words "table ouou" are actually written over my sister's back... so there you see I took the picture facing away from us, but along one of the 5 isles where people were set up.

There were 40 other vendors, tons of Etsy artists, even some people I recognized from the streets of South East Portland- here I am among my heroes! Does it sound silly? Working a craft fair in this town is like some crazy combination between the first day of opening your very own storefront and playing shop in the dress-up corner.

At first, seeing my 2' X 2' table made me a little nervous. Remember those two suitcases *full* of cards I mentioned? Yeah, it was way too much stuff. Celeste and I scored a second table, and while entertaining my nephews we managed to arrange quite a bit of stock in the 4' space with enough time to spare for a walk around the block to clear my head.

The boys and my sister had to go back home for much of the afternoon, what with naps and being toddlers and all that. There were a lot of older kids there, 3 to 8 year old's who looked pretty comfortable. I would have liked to talk to more sellers about their experiences but I was too shy, maybe at some future shows I'll be able to come out of my shell a bit. My friends arrived after a little over 2 hours, which was great timing to refresh my spirit (and grab a bite to eat!). I couldn't wander far, though, giddy as I was. I just wanted to keep seeing who would turn up next!

It was a busy show, with a great crowd of vendors and customers. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I'm a little sad that Crafty Wonderland is canceling its every 1st Sunday monthly craft fairs in favor of seasonal fairs, but I also feel like I got to be part of something special by attending this one.

Here I am saying "Don't take my picture!". Sadly we didn't get any follow-up shots so this will be the one. :0)