last show

We had our last show of the season this past weekend.  Even if I hadn't said a word you could tell.  The house looks like a bomb went off. the sun-room and guest bedroom are almost impassable and there are no left overs in the frig because I haven't been cooking much.  While there will be some orders to fill up until Christmas things should calm down around here.  I am physically exhausted and mentally drained.  I love the people we meet during shows and hanging out with the other vendors but I'm always ready for the shows to be over.

At this show we have a tight 8X10 spot with vendors bumped up against us.  At least it's on a corner so we can have customers on each side.

We don't have room for our tall shelves so everything must go on the tables.  It starts to look cramped and messy so we need to straighten up hourly

I don't know how we missed getting the table cloth down to the floor on this side.  One of my pet peeves are tables that aren't covered so you can't see the junk piled under them.

show time

If you are regular reader you may of noticed that I had no posts last week.  They were all written and scheduled but some how I forgot to hit the publish button.  Brain fog goes with show season, way too much on my mind,


VCB had our first show this past weekend.  If you have ever visited a craft, small business or vintage show and thought I could do that, think really hard before you take the leap.  Kathy and I have been making products since early summer.  My spare room looks like a bomb went off in it and is piled high with boxes.  When the car and truck were packed I had 23 boxes of products, 5 crates of props and linens and the truck was filled with shelving and doors.  The show was close by so we did set up last Thursday night, worked the show for nine hours on Friday and five hours on Saturday plus tear  down. Add in 90 minutes per trip for travel plus the set up time and we've put in approximately 42 hours just for the one  show. Today my back is in spasms and I would really like to nap all afternoon.  I'm not winning, well maybe a little but it is hard work with no guarantee of success.  Fortunately for us this is a great show and we love the other vendors.  One of the best parts is shopping when things slow down.  I think Kathy won this round but I was close behind.

table piled high

floor piled high

New product bath fizz cones

 We always get positive feedback for our booth display.  We always dress in purple and black so repeat  customers recognize us.

Product every where.  We like to use lifts so the display doesn't look too flat.

Picket fence display shelves.  We get so many positive comments about them.  The shelves come off and the sides and back fold flat for easy transport and storage.  AH made these for us.

shower time

As I wrote last week our family is expecting a new little one.  For the shower I made favors of goats milk soap.  I placed the mini bars in plastic bags and added a header thanking everyone for attending from the proud mama and daddy.  A plastic teddy bear pic from the dollar store added a cute touch.  The guest seemed pleased and I think they will love the gentle moisturizing soap.

garden show

Kathy and I did our first show of the season last weekend.    I'm not going into my usual rant about how I hate out door shows (high of 54, windy and mostly cloudy).  What I was most impressed about was this tiny towns garden club and the wide variety of booths they had set up.  Yes there were plenty of places selling plants but there were also garden junk booths, pallet art, glass flowers, wind chimes and bird feeders, antiques, ceramics, baked goods, succulent gardens and plenty of baked goods.  Shows are really hard work so it's nice to interesting surroundings and great places to shop.  Most vendors don't like having pictures taken of their booths, they think you are stealing their ides, so that's why no pictures except our booth which was the best looking one there.

Satin skin dusting powder

I was talking to my 20 something neighbor the other day and she had no idea what dusting powder was.  I think it's time for that to change.  We had made  the powder for VCB when we began but had dropped it the first year for lack of sales.  I love it and have several friends and family members who feel the same, so I have continued to make it.  Dusting powder is a light and refreshing finish to your bathing routine.  Any where skin rubs on skin like under your breasts or the joints of your legs is the perfect place for a light puff of powder.  It is really wonderful in the sweat filled summer but I use it all year round.
The recipe is an equal mix of corn starch, arrowroot and baking soda with just a light touch of scented oil.  Mix it together and place in a pretty container.  I use a cheese shaker from the dollar store.  The puff in this picture is just 3 layers of fleece left from a baby blanket  project cut into a circle, sewn right sides together, leaving a small part unsewn for turning and  and turned right side out .  I glued the open part with fabric glue held in place with clothes pins until dry.  I've also used faux lambs wool made the same way for puffs.  I'm sending this combo to a magazine for consideration to be published, I'll let you know how that turns out.

anatomy of a product

 We have people ask us all the time how we come up with our products for Vintage Cottage Beauty.
We start with an idea.  This one came from a request from my sister Paula who wants us to develop a lip balm with color in it.



Our basic lip balm is  equal parts bees wax, olive oil and cocoa butter so that's what I started with.  What do I use for color/  AH HA kool aid it's colorful and leaves a long lasting moustache.  It tastes vile unsweetened so let's add some honey.  Heat up the mix and see what we've got.  It won't mix together, must be the water in the honey with the oil in the basic mix.

So round 2 lets use emulsifying wax and see what happens.  No luck with that one either.

Let's try good old food coloring mixed into the basic balm.  No that won't work either.  Round 4 lets do the wax with the coloring and balm.  Yeah! it mixes sort of.



this color gets everywhere

 


the color was actually better in person.

keep scrolling my computer is misbehaving!



















3 hours, 4 trials, 2 burnt fingers and a few muttered curses later we have a product in containers.  Ready for our guinea pigs whoops friends to try it.

A final note on this round.  The color separated in the pot and there is not enough glide when you put it on your lips.  I hate it.   Back to the drawing board.  And you thought the beauty business was all fun and glamor.

first public appearance

 We made our first public appearance as a business this weekend.  It was tons of work, totally exhausting and we learned  a lot.  The customers were interested and the response to our products was great.  We can't call ourselves rich with the money we made but we looked at this as a test of what needed work, what would sell what we can change to get our name and products out to the public.  I did craft shows back in the dark ages and had forgotten how physically hard this kind of show can be. 


Our booth  caught a lot of attention mostly because of our  display  and eye catching products.  We also learned we had way too much on our tables and should have stuck more under the tables and brought it out as necessary.




The lifts were great.  they could have been better spaced  maybe a different color.



Goats milk soap.  It's beautiful but didn't sell well.  We did have a tray with each kind of soap out so people could smell them.  Maybe some kind of info on the advantages of goats milk.





Bath salts too crowded and we were so busy we couldn't tell people what they were. 

 It was a great learning experience and the other vendors, Sandy and Michelle who ran the show and the customers couldn't have been nicer.  I don't really want to go back to the days of shows every weekend, but one every once in a while would be OK.
The biggest surprise of the day?  Our natural laundry soap.  We've been working on this one and had only brought a few jars to sell.  People went nuts over it.  I'll share the recipe someday.