Last Saturday was my first time as a vendor at a craft show! It was such a great experience and I had a really great time. It was held in a cozy indoor venue and the perfect sunny and unseasonably warm weather brought in lots of foot traffic from the small town square. And it was so nice having the opportunity to finally meet all the other crafty people I knew online and seeing their amazing work in person.

april bern art and photography 1st craft show

I sold enough to recover the cost of my table and a little bit extra. So that spells success in my book! :)

april bern art & photography craft show details

That being said however, things didn't go 100% as I would have liked.

And therefore I learned some valuable lessons:

1. I cannot and do not have to bring EVERYTHING that I have painted/printed. Seriously. I only have so much room on a table. While it was eye catching, my display was kind of overflowing with art stuffs; I had a box full of paintings that I didn't have the room to display! Plus I can always direct them to etsy and my other online shops to see more.

2. I need a better way to display my stuffs. I feel that a lot of things got lost because they weren't visible at all. Again, it was eye catching, but terribly impractical.

3. I may need to re-think my price structure depending on the market. A couple of people visibly balked when they saw the price of some of my paintings (I really didn't think they were that pricey.)

4. I should have taken more photos. Of my table and set up, of me and my table... I just didn't have time to think about it.

5. I can't believe I forgot to have a signup book for the email list. DUH! That was totally a missed opportunity.

Good thing I have another opportunity at another arts & crafts show in two weeks!

See you there!

5 lessons learned from my first craft show