Catching up! My first Art Fair and inside Cloud Nine Studios!

              Hello Everyone! What a busy little bee I have been lately. I am grateful to have a second to breathe now and catch you all up on how my first art fair went! The Fair was from Friday-Sunday. Friday morning was set up from 9am-11am but when I got there they were still mopping the event space! We ended up only having about an hour and a half for set up which made me STRESS big time. When the event started it was like a ghost town. Friday I went home with $6 in sales. 

I felt very defeated.

Saturday came and I showed up with a positive attitude ready to hustle my stuff! I rearranged my booth a little to help the flow of traffic enter easier and I lowered my prices to see if it made some difference. Thankfully, the amount of people walking around was amazing! I was starting to see which things people were consistently drawn to in my booth and what was selling and not. I left Saturday with breaking even for the fair. I was happy with my decisions and feeling more confident about my work and space. 

Sunday rolled around and going into the day I was already even for the weekend. So anything that I sold was profit. This made it a little easier for me to let go of pieces for an even lower price. At first I was stubborn in my pricing but then I realized I can just make more of them and the more I sold the better I would feel about my first show. The traffic was a little slower again on Sunday but I end up about $100 plus for the weekend. 

(Mikaela and her homemade dog treats)

For my first fair I am extremely proud. My goal was to at least break even and get some great experience and advertising and I ended up in sales. I now know what people are interested in and what works for displaying my pieces and what doesn't work. Selling online is very different then selling in person. I had used a lot of strategies that I would for selling online at first at the fair and quickly realized the differences!

I was able to meet some great artists and people walking through. I handed out a TON of businesses cards and have some possible commissions that I am hoping will follow up! I am so grateful for all the help that my boyfriend George was able to do for me. I am so lucky to have someone who fully supports me and is always there if I need him. Also a HUGE thank you to my room mate Jessica for taking time out of her day off the help me set up! She really kept me in check when I wanted to break down before it even all started. 

My goal this week is to update my Etsy shop and list everything that I photographed before the show so if people decide to find me from my business card that everything is looking up to date and professional! I have a lot of work ahead of me but I feel only good vibes from the whole experience.....except for the parking ticket I got trying to unload my car! Oops. Oh well! 

Click here for my ETSY SHOP!

I should be back on schedule for the blogs now! Be sure to check out my Etsy for all the new items and updates! Also be sure to click the subscribe button on the top right of this page if you liked this blog and want more!

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Recycled Sweater Coat- 2XL by - LauraAnnLyon

Song of the Day:

U2 - Beautiful Day

Color of the Day:

Little Angel

Your ego is not your amigo!

       

(Click here for more on this image)

       Today is the day! Our first meet up for Artist's Talking Art. I have been so excited and jotting down ideas and things to cover all morning. I am nervous but in a good way because I know that I will be talking and guiding most of what happens tonight until we establish a flow for the group. I am very outgoing and never had a hard time talking in front of people but I still get butterflies leading up to it.

       I am expecting a handful of people from what the Facebook group event is telling me. We have different types of artists too which I will be interested to see how everyone interacts. I am hoping to get a good introduction of the people who come tonight and with their help hash out some parameters and topics we want to cover.

      But I want to talk about something that happened to me today. This quote really relates to it and pushed me to bring it up in the blogs.

      Someone laughed in my face today. I was so excited about sharing my group and the fact that we are meeting for the first time today. I explained what the group would be about and the name and they laughed very loudly and honestly. I was so hurt. Why would someone laugh and mock me? Even if they did think it was silly it was obvious that I was thrilled about it. Why would someone want to put down my radiating happiness!

       Did I yell? Did I cry? NO. (although I did have to hold back some tears). I held my composure fairly well. I wanted to scream and yell and tell them how rude it was, but I didn't. Everyone is allowed to feel however they want and say whatever they want. I choose how to react to it.

         I know that there will be people along the way who tell me I will fail. There will be people that try and knock my ideas and efforts down. I will not let people change my feelings or love for what I do. For every 1 person who stands in my way I will surround myself with 100 more who support and care for me.

          I am checking my ego at the door. 

(Click here for more on this image)

        PHEW! Well I feel a lot better. Thanks for letting me get that out. (Not like you really had a choice haha)  That's all I have for today. It doesn't really cover art but it does cover being true to yourself and never giving up, which is huge for creating art and selling art. There is art in everything we do and everything we do is art.

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Featured Etsy Item of the Day:

Be Happy Bath Salts Organic Bath Salts Aromatherapy All Natural Organic Bath Salt Energizing Uplifting Bath Salts All Natural Bath Salts - By NaturallyTaylored

Song of the Day:

Janelle Monáe - Tightrope [feat. Big Boi]

Color of the Day:

Golden Honey