“Oh ye of little faith, why do ye doubt?”
That verse probably encapsulates my experience at participating in this charity craft fair. I remember the first meeting with the other crafters… when they asked, so how many are you going to make to sell? I said, urm 5? Cos I wasn’t sure whether folks would be keen to buy them, and didn’t want to be left with more than 5 notebooks since most of my friends have already received them as gifts from me.
Also, the materials used to make these notebooks are not cheap, so I couldn’t price them THAT cheaply, given that I had to set aside a decent margin above cost, since all profits would be donated to charity. I was mostly worried that cost would be a deterrent.
But the other crafters were encouraging, and I managed to sell one of the books to a non-crafter colleague at that same meeting! I couldn’t tell whether they were just humouring me, but they said actually you should price it higher than $15!
As the days went by, with some direct marketing to colleagues that I’ve worked with in the past few years, orders trickled in. Recall that it made me happy for one whole day when I got an order for 5! (Though it was from the CEO who can afford pretty much anything.)
A clerk ordered 3 (so generous!), a peer ordered 4 (!) and slowly I chalked up orders. I realized I crafted best when I knew who the order was for. Otherwise, it was hard to summon up inspiration for yet another general “girl” or “masculine” book. Some folks came by to “discuss” ideas, and survey my papers. Some had a very detailed idea of what they’d like.
Glad to say that most were happy with the final product! On the day itself, there weren’t many “ready stock” left to sell, so I took in “post-orders” (as opposed to “pre-orders” before the event). One girl who received her “post-order” chirped “It’s so nice! You are so talented!” Aww…. *blush* too kind, too kind…
It was totally beyond my expectations that I realised I had 27 orders in total, at the end of the charity fair – think I might have been able to sell a couple more if I had churned out more “ready stock” for the day itself.
In total our little craft booth raised almost $1200 (final figures not out yet) by selling a variety of hand-stamped canvas bags, photo frames, mirrors, mosaic tiles, and an elaborate birdcage that was auctioned off for $150! The organisation raised a commendable $18000+ for MILK through selling foodstuff, song dedications, Wii games and a “haunted house experience” over lunch hours, all purchased internally by colleagues!
I can usually scrapbook for hours on end, but even this stint left me quite “crafted out”! I still have two more post-orders to fulfill, and thereafter I’m thinking that I’ll be laying off scrapping for a bit! But the overkill is for a good cause, and I’m happy to have contributed a little labour and a lot of love towards M.I.L.K!
Feel free to contact me at lilbluebottle@gmail.com if you’d like to make orders in future!
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