The Craft Aftermath

Kraftbomb was a lot of fun yesterday! It wasn't as busy as last time but I made a few sales which is good. Next month will be in a bigger venue so hopefully that will attract more customers. I also spent way too much on goodies for myself... I bought THREE furry bunny plushes from Anemone Crafts (photo taken from blog here) a hedgehog necklace from 'Lilys Make Believe' (blog here) and a bunch of badges from Nut and Bee (site here). My stupid camera was out of batteries (okay maybe i'm the stupid one for not charging it) so no photos from me :( BUT there were many photos taken by other people so they should be floating around the net anytime now so i'll snag a couple then. Hopefully I don't look like a total dork in any!

After looking at what other people were selling their items for I am starting to wonder if im pricing my stuff too cheaply...I noticed one stall was selling a necklace using a charm that was on one of my necklaces but mine actually had two charms on it but they'd marked theirs at $20 and mine was only at $15. I am crap at the business side of stuff and really have no clue what I should be pricing at and normally make up a price on the spot ha that's terrible. I should really be keeping a record of how much im spending of materials so I can work out cost+labour for a reasonable sale amount. I have a feeling I am possibly losing money... I know im putting way more money into materials than what im getting back in sales :/ I just love the process of creating things though so I almost don't really care about the profit.
The other thing I picked up on was people are more interested in the more pricey items (sterling silver necklaces etc.) so im wondering if I should shift focus on creating higher ticket items using quality materials - only risk with that is not selling anything... Suppose I could always try out one or two items and see what happens and if noone bites keep them for myself.

I have reduced my ebay spending a LOT recently.. I was spending way too much and with the NZ dollar being so weak against the US it was getting ridiculous. I did however succumb to buying a few things I just couldn't resist...

IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

Yes I actually do make things...
not that you would know as I seem to have managed not to blog about it, well, EVER. That was a mouthful. I used to run things under the name "Oh Deery Me"selling things from myspace and through the now closed down "Lady Eves" (in st kevs arcade) but I had a pretty long break and wanted to come back with something fresh including a new name so Sugar Lemon Sweetheart was born. At the moment im just making stuff to sell each month at kraftbomb (see info below).
So all that said, here are some of my bits and pieces!

Cupcake Pouch (which will be for sale at kb) This was really time consuming sewing on all the sprinkles by hand.


Vintage Celluloid Charm Cameo Brooches. Sold out of these!


This was my first (and err last) real embroidery attempt. As you can see its the promo cover for one of my favourite movies Cry Baby... Sadly it is still sitting in the hoop, I just cannot decide what I want to do with it. I thought maybe a pillow or maybe a patch for a bag or shirt? Indecisive.


Here is one of many bags i've sewn up using ridiculously expensive Japanese fabric. How can anyone not love Alice in Wonderland kawaii styles!?


If you haven't noticed by now I like to dabble in all mediums... this is a dress I whiped up for my daughter Lily. I can't remember but I think this is an Alexander Henry print (could be wrong)


Cards I made for kraftbomb using my dolly photography... I did not sell even ONE. Boo... I know they are kind of only appealing to crazy vintage japan nuts like me though so it's kind of understandable really. I think these would do better on etsy where I know other pose dolly nuts would appreciate them :D


I made a few of these matryoshka pillow dolls last year but then everyone started doing russian dolls and I stopped making them. This one sold at Lady Eves from memory.


Necklaces for this weekend. I really love these and kind of want to keep all of them! (well not really... buy one!)




So after all that show and tell I want to speak of the fantastic new craft event thats happening monthly here in Aucks (well Grey Lynn to be precise) called Kraftbomb! The amazingly talented City and her equally talented friend Karla have done such a fab job organising it, I can't wait until the next one on Sunday. Last month went really well and I made a few hundy which is always nice.. probably didn't cover my costs ha ha but who does? I figured at the prices im charging it works out to be about $6 an hour NOT including the material cost.. BUT I love tinkering around and making stuff so its a labour of love more than anything. I think one of the coolest things is having someone love something you've created so much they just have to buy it. Hopefully that happens a lot this weekend, we shall see. I have kind of got a bit of a theme going this month.. "sickeningly sweet", think cupcakes, sprinkles, pink pink pink, cuteness overload etc. If you know my stuff you're probably thinking "err isn't that ALWAYS the theme?" maybe kinda sorta... ;)

Anywho, check out the kraftbomb blog here and the flyer here:

I am pretty sure that is all I wanted to write... I know im such a slack blogger but I might take my camera along this time and take some snaps to put up. I wish I had a second camera for this kind of thing, something small and lightweight. My sony828 is a dream but its soooo clunky and annoying to take out, I really wish I hadn't sold my tiny slimline cybershot :/ although my 828 takes way better photos so its a catch22.

Hopefully some of you are still actually visiting my blog... it's been so long between posts I wouldn't blame anyone if not. I see blogger has a cool new "follow" feature, ABOUT TIME! That was always the one thing I hated about it. I used livejournal for years and it was so convenient to have all my "friends" saved to a list, I am too useless to go and visit individual blogs every day.
Please add me to your list and i'll be sure to add you back :)

I've been burning the midnight oil too often this week and I can feel my contacts sticking which is a sure sign I should head to bed...
xxoo