February 2023

In my previous post, I had mentioned that one section of my booth had a Yellowstone inspiration.

That is a pretty loose reference.  I guess what I was going for was my typical, romantic neutrals with a dash of western rustic thrown in. (Really, just boots and Stetson hats, but hey, I can spin all sorts of tales in my head about the stories behind the look)

There is some of the more neutral Easter decor on that side too.

And throughout the whole booth, I have scattered nests.

I seriously love the look of an all neutral design, but I cannot pull it off for my whole booth.  Because I also adore cottage roses and pretty colors too.  So I try to designate sections for each theme or color.

Hmm, my whole Yellowstone theme might just be in my head, because if you watch the show, you see very little white.  

As I said before, though- inspiration and copying are very different.  You want to keep that line separating the two.  I doubt if there is anything truly original left to do in this world, but the trick is to add as much of your own self to any idea as you can, right?

As I usually do, I’ve managed to cram a lot into my small area.  And then mentally slap myself when I start to day dream about expanding into even more booth space… or getting another spot somewhere else….

If I was smart, I’d just try to beef up my online shop.  Honestly, editing photos and writing descriptions is not half as fun as arranging things in person or precariously trying to hang decor from the ceiling.

There is a pile of goods accumulating for my Boutique, though. And I love the nice people I meet online who shop there.  Wrapping up the packages to make them pretty is my favorite part of selling through the website, I should concentrate on letting that part be the carrot on the stick to motivate me to get more done.

Then again, I am trying to give myself some grace and realize that I just can’t do it all.  
We could all use some of that Grace in our lives, where we try to appreciate what we can do and not feel bad about being unable to do more.

ps- Good Juju is open First Friday and Saturday of each month

For a place that is only open two days a month, I sure spend a lot of time working on Good Juju stuff.  It is all things I like to do, make pretties, buy junk, fix up old things, repurpose, and then decorate with it all. 
But- I really, really, really put too much time into it.

Like setting up this display at home as a practice look before even getting the crap to the venue.

Some of the problem is that I’ve not even been doing this a year yet and my booth space changed four times during those few months.  I don’t exactly have a firm feel of what I need to fill up my spaces.  Every time I take a load in, I think I’m done, then I realize I could fit another carload into the area, so I bring in more.

When I began, I had zero inventory.  It was right as we were emerging from Covid seclusions, and I, like many other people, did major closet clearing during lock down.  I gave truckloads of things from my storage areas, garages, cabinets and just things I was tired of looking at, all to Goodwill. 

And I had a pretty serious concussion that affected me more than I realized at the time.  Looking back, those couple of months after my dog’s head slammed into my head, are all fuzzy and seem like I was peering through a dark tunnel.

Also, I am still trying to figure out what will sell.  When I craft, I usually go all out and make a ton of that item in many variations.  And sometimes, I’ll only sell a couple.  Or I will sell most of them, make more for the next sale, and everyone who wanted one already got it earlier.  Or I’ll sell out of something online by showing photos ahead of time, and not have any for my booth.

I guess my issue is that I love everything about the creative side, but struggle with the marketing end of it all.  It’s a learning curve and I might think in a squiggles shape with curves all over the place instead of a gentle arc.

Then there are the things that I make or display that are just because I want to, not because people will be buying them  After hanging big snowflakes from the rafters above the entry to our booth for winter, I decided I want to do a different theme each season.

This month, it is birdcages.  But once I got these minis up there, I didn’t think they make enough of a statement.  I had plans to hang big cages and white frames too, but needing to use a ladder the size of a skyscraper (that weighs as much as a building too) had me adjusting my plans.

Still, I do enjoy my obsessions, I mean themes.  Like all of the handmade nests I spent an entire day on.

And as far as marketing goes, I might never figure out what is the best way to go. I am hoping that as I build inventory up, and get used to just how much I can squeeze into my booth, I can become more efficient in my set ups.

And I’ll keeping on completely immersing myself into my projects, because it’s just my nature.  Sure, I could get nests wholesale and pop eggs from the hobby store into them.  But I loved spending a day making a few dozen hand crafted nests and repainting those purchased eggs just the right color of blue, so they’d all look pretty together.