Craft Fair Fun! OrganiGeek Soaps hits the road

I had a blast yesterday doing my first craft show since 2008! Such a fun personal accomplishment as well, since my health situation had prevented me from doing much "out in the world" for many years. I love the internet, but there is nothing like interacting with real live people! 

My fabulous fiancé was a huge help, couldn't have done this without him. I used my wheelchair all day, and he did the heavy lifting, while I designed the set up and displays in spurts to conserve energy, and ran my IV fluids while there.

Here is the blank layout with no soap, and since Star Wars is huge right now and one of my best selling soap lines, I purchased a life size Han Solo in carbonite poster, which will find a new home in my studio now:

I was on a soap making binge for the week prior, and he and my kids have been good sports about our home (well, kitchen at least) being covered in soap making materials. At least they are clean! 

(Making frosting for cupcake soaps!)

(Homemade style solid soap cupcakes!)

The first thing I had to do was create inventory. This was the hardest part to figure out - how much and what to make. Again, Pinterest to the rescue! I decided that Star Wars, Legos, and food themed soaps would be the focus, with lots of fillers like gummy bears, various herbal soaps, and toy soldier soaps. I made a ton of new designs, which I'll be adding to my etsy shop this week.

(Glitter Rainbow Banana Coffee Cream Soap Cake, my personal favorite!)

(Camo toy soldier soaps, forest pine sandalwood scented, love!) 

(Legos everywhere! So fun.)

I scoured the Internet and Pinterest for display ideas on a tight budget. A table was provided, we brought a screen room divider from home, and a card table that I borrowed. I ended up using boxes covered with cheap paper and plastic tablecloths in bright fun colors and patterns to create height and risers. My OrganiGeek brand = bright. I didn't/don't know if I'll be doing craft shows regularly, so didn't want to go overboard buying display items. I actually did "invest" in a cute acrylic stand for my new Harry Potter themed organic lip gloss line, as I can store them there in my home studio as well. 

(Butterbeer, Polyjuice Potion, Anortentia, and Mischief Managed organic lip gloss with chocolate frog soaps on display)

Here are a few more pics of the final result. Got great feedback from everyone, and for a small show was happy with my sales. All in all, a great day! 

(Star Wars!)

(Cake and donut display, people loved these!)

Big take home lesson - next time I need to make enough to have unwrapped samples of everything, people want to touch and feel what they are buying. And, I need to wrap what I don't want touched, like that rainbow cake! A few people decided it was ok to jam their fingers into the bath melt icing, and broke/ruined it (shame on them!). I had samples of most, but not all. The ones with samples or that were unwrapped (like the sprinkle cakes) sold more! 

(3D sheep with hand "painted" eyes! Love these)

(The sample tray, people loved them!)

(Legos! Another big seller, they are fun and cheap! It's good to have a mix of prices, and offering deals like buy 3 for $2 worked out well)

Lastly, speaking of fiancé's, yes, I got engaged! We did a cute documentation of it using my ring and Legos we built to look like us in Star Wars outfits, blog post coming soon detailing out epic adventure !

All in all, a tiring, but great day selling soaps and chatting with people! Thank you fiancé, my kids, parents, Pinterest and friends for helping and cheering me on! Looking forward to doing more as I'm able. 

-Claire