The Rest of the Weekend
Dec. 8th, 2008 11:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gonzaiIt was frakking COLD! And it snowed Saturday, although fortunately it waited until I was almost done packing the van. It was unbelievably cold in the morning when I arrived at Stoneleigh, the newly-fixed cart meant it only took 4 trips to load in but it was pretty darn cold during that, plus my space was at the furthest possible point from the parking area. It was also the only space in the gym that didn't have lights, which wasn't too bad as I did have electricity and Christmas trees to light up. In fact, several people tried to buy my display trees from me. This drives me batty as you can pick up any number or variety of small artificial trees at any craft or home store for $10-$30. Why do they insist on mine?
I wasn't even finished setting up when people showed up to buy. I sold all of my Giants & Dolphins ornaments before 10, and nearly sold out of Penn State & the Redskins. In a complete reversal from the November shows, not a single animal plaque sold - but I moved 4 prints and 4 sports/tv plaques. I also never sat down during the whole 5 hours, ate only 1 bite of Mom's pizza and barely managed to go potty because it was so busy. Mom sold quite a few things herself, and managed to forget what half of them were. We ran out of bubble wrap and almost ran out of bags. Business kept on coming right up to 2pm, so I had a late start on packing. The final tally? Gross of $623, $561 after I paid commission to the show. By far the best show I've ever had either running a booth or at an art show! With enough of the 'right' teams I would've cleared $700. Absolutely amazing.
Loading out caused me quite a sweat, and with the cold air, I wound up chilled. I stayed that way until well into dinner. We took the nephews out to Applebees the moment they were dropped off, a bit tricky as we had to find the brushes to clean off the car and the roads were slick. I ordered tea and French onion soup immediately, and I needed them to finally warm up. The boys got rambunctious so we didn't linger long, and when we got home they wanted to watch 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'. It bored me silly. I went to bed early. The boys let me sleep longer than CJ did, and when we did get up, I managed to get the boys and CJ to get along reasonably well and even play together a bit. Although Jeff is convinced CJ has cooties.
After the boys left, I headed out on a quest to find more of the ornaments I work with. Only Michaels carries them, they seem to be made for Michaels, there's no indication of any other way they can be purchased, and none of the stores are getting more in this year. I try to get as many as I can so I can work on them before the Christmas season, but I'm having trouble finding them at all this year. Had to go to Arundel Mills to find any; that means, none left anywhere in the Baltimore metro area. I'm wondering if I'll have to drive down to DC next weekend. Yuck. (If anyone's headed to a Michaels before year's end, the ornaments are clear glass, 3" diameter discs, packaged 4 to a tray, stocked in the 'make your own ornament' area, regular price $3.99 but half price now and likely less soon. If you come across any I'll happily reimburse for all expenses. Thanks!)
And then there was football. See previous post :)
I wasn't even finished setting up when people showed up to buy. I sold all of my Giants & Dolphins ornaments before 10, and nearly sold out of Penn State & the Redskins. In a complete reversal from the November shows, not a single animal plaque sold - but I moved 4 prints and 4 sports/tv plaques. I also never sat down during the whole 5 hours, ate only 1 bite of Mom's pizza and barely managed to go potty because it was so busy. Mom sold quite a few things herself, and managed to forget what half of them were. We ran out of bubble wrap and almost ran out of bags. Business kept on coming right up to 2pm, so I had a late start on packing. The final tally? Gross of $623, $561 after I paid commission to the show. By far the best show I've ever had either running a booth or at an art show! With enough of the 'right' teams I would've cleared $700. Absolutely amazing.
Loading out caused me quite a sweat, and with the cold air, I wound up chilled. I stayed that way until well into dinner. We took the nephews out to Applebees the moment they were dropped off, a bit tricky as we had to find the brushes to clean off the car and the roads were slick. I ordered tea and French onion soup immediately, and I needed them to finally warm up. The boys got rambunctious so we didn't linger long, and when we got home they wanted to watch 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'. It bored me silly. I went to bed early. The boys let me sleep longer than CJ did, and when we did get up, I managed to get the boys and CJ to get along reasonably well and even play together a bit. Although Jeff is convinced CJ has cooties.
After the boys left, I headed out on a quest to find more of the ornaments I work with. Only Michaels carries them, they seem to be made for Michaels, there's no indication of any other way they can be purchased, and none of the stores are getting more in this year. I try to get as many as I can so I can work on them before the Christmas season, but I'm having trouble finding them at all this year. Had to go to Arundel Mills to find any; that means, none left anywhere in the Baltimore metro area. I'm wondering if I'll have to drive down to DC next weekend. Yuck. (If anyone's headed to a Michaels before year's end, the ornaments are clear glass, 3" diameter discs, packaged 4 to a tray, stocked in the 'make your own ornament' area, regular price $3.99 but half price now and likely less soon. If you come across any I'll happily reimburse for all expenses. Thanks!)
And then there was football. See previous post :)
