Well, I attended and exhibited at my very first trade show. The path leading up to it was so smooth and stress-free, thanks to my other half Carey for pushing me to move into one nice, long, continuous pace day by day. I even managed to make a back-up lot of my samples, should anything happen during the show (one show attendee took one of my 20+ page lookbooks...come on, those things cost 35 a pop, do you REALLY think I have that much bank to just give a lookbook to 18,000 prospective clients? Do the math!!!!).
A lot was learned. A lot of leads were made. Not to mention a ton of ideas and more networking than I can really handle at this point. So many ideas were flowing though that convention center that I was glad to have my handy-dandy sketchbook/notepad to write them all down.
All walks of life come to this show pretty much. Hospital reps, costume designers, buyers from synagogue gift shops, florists, even one very lovely online boutique stopped by and it totally validated my business existence (haha...no really).
My booth was one giant learning experience. Note to self: just because it looks pretty, doesn't mean the fire marshall will agree with you. Two hundred bucks later, he seemed to like my layout just fine (arrgh).
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| A lovely vase of dried lavender from our backyard next to the two lookbooks I made for prospective buyers |
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| Brass candlestick held all of my headbands (the plastic ones had to go....) |
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| Tree in a box with moss, covered with pages from a very old book. My display for my one-of-a-kind pieces. |
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| Antique plates were blu-tacked onto brass candlesticks to showcase my headpieces, along with hand-me-down silver plates from my MIL |
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| Postcards made at SO last minute by dear friend and talented English-Canadian artist Phil Jones Thank you for making these at my crazy whim!!!! |
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Proud of my homespun booth, complete with hand-painted sign, photos from Nicole Long photography, flea market toile I bought a gazillion years ago, and a wire mannequin a man practically threw at me (yes, it was free) while out running in my neighborhood. Thanks!   |
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Noshi Sushi...big portions, generous price!    Back at home, after giving our little chickens about a million kisses each, my creative wheels started to spin again. With an armful of orders that I needed to start working on, my creativity ADD set in to make more designs for Twig and Sparrow. Focus, D, FOCUS!!!!!!!   The idea of this headpiece is photographed here for mere demonstration of where it goes on the head. Please disregard the state of my overstressed, overprocessed hair. Instead, picture this little number on the head below:      OK, I can dream, she just woke from her nap and it was the best op to click a pic of her in her nice 'quiet alert' state. See you next time! xoxo |
