NaDa Farm Sale Spring 2013

I am back and decompressing from the NaDa Farm Sale. It was another GREAT year and I had so much fun. It was an absolute success and I did even better than last year!

I have better displays and built pegboard walls for my tent. Other than tightening up the space a bit more they worked out really well and gave the booth a more polished look.

I want to thank all the customers that came out to the event, for shopping and chatting. Since this was my second year it was really fun to see returning customers, and those that had taken the time to visit my blog and etsy store beforehand (via Anne Marie, or the giveaway). I want to thank Matt, Dacia and Alyssa for helping me set up. Having friends and family there that are creative, inspired and willing to help means so much to me. I want to thank my mom for assisting the second day. I want to thank my sister for helping prep, help build my tent walls, assist at the sale on Saturday, break down the booth, pack up, transport and unload everything. It’s a lot of hard work! AND it was her birthday weekend! Thanks goes to Ann and Courtney for the support leading up to the show, and for having new friends that have similar ideas of knowing what’s up and what’s what. And last but not least, I have to thank Anne Marie for hosting this event every year.

After having done a handful of shows where the majority of shoppers were other vendors, it is refreshing to do a show where shoppers line up to get in! This picture was taken on Friday, the first day where there were even threats of thunderstorms! Anne Marie opens up her family’s property to hundreds if not thousands of visitors every year for these events. The whole family is involved and I’m sure months of preparation is involved. It has become this amazing gem of an event, and as I stated in an earlier post, I love attending it whether as a buyer or a shopper. Not only are there guaranteed great vintage and handmade finds, but every single booth is so beautifully displayed. Walking into each shop is like walking into a little curated gallery.

I can’t tell you how many times my heart swelled while talking to customers. Whether it was from meeting new people and hearing personal tales (butter pat in a back pocket), having return customers showing up to the event wearing pieces of jewelry they bought last year, or telling me how much the item they bought in the past has meant to them, lets just say it was a good thing I was wearing sunglasses because I was getting teary.

A couple memorable things

A much commented on “vintage ladies” notebook was spotted by a customer to be from her very own university yearbook. She recognized some of the ladies as her own classmates! And the yearbook was something I picked up at a garage sale or estate sale, but not from any school nearby that I’d ever heard of. So, what are the chances?

I love bringing my button maker and the first evening I forgot it. I’d brought all the pricing stuff for it, but just forgot to pack it up. The second day I made sure to remember it and of course had such a fun time with customers, helping them make their very own pin back buttons. I love it so much that I could see doing events where that is all I do, sell buttons and help customers make their own. I bring paper for them to sort through, or paper and pens to draw something of their own. One group of girls made a set of buttons that I thought was so adorable and clever. One girl had the idea to make matching friendship buttons and they came up with the design above. Each girl talking on the phone, the girl in the middle talking to each of the other girls. So cute! I hope they hold onto those buttons and can remember this time of their lives forever.

Popular items at the sale this year were

My paper stratum jewelry pieces made from vintage books and papers.

Buttons! Random buttons I’ve made, people love sorting through them. And, the make your own buttons has me thinking I should list custom buttons in my shop where people can send me their own papers, drawings, etc., and I will make them into a pinback button of their very own. I kind of wish I were a kid again, but had this machine. I’d totally set up a “lemonade stand” type booth on the sidewalk in front of my house and make buttons for people. Hmmm, I’m getting an idea where I might be able to vicariously live out this dream, through my nephew and niece in a couple of years :D

And the surprise hit at NaDa Farm was my Today list magnetic notepad. I sold out of all of them and wish I had made more.

Now that the show is over, I need to do some major organizing in the studio. I also have plenty of new items I want to list in my shop and I will hopefully keep up the momentum leading up to the show and do that soon. And speaking of momentum… whenever I’m preparing for a show like this I’m always getting all sorts of new ideas for new products but don’t have the time to produce them, so I hope to get to work on some of those new ideas as well. The busier I stay the more inspiration stays with me, and so I just want to keep going, going, going!