2nd Craft Fair = Fail.

Driven by my impossible idea to not only work 12 hours a day planning/correcting homework/working on report cards/teaching 2nd grade, I decided to do a craft fair and go for my driver's license in the same week. There are not enough hours in the day. *hangs head* The good news? I passed my driving test! I drove myself to work yesterday and everything. Hooray! The bad news? I did not sew enough to add the huge holiday selection I wanted.

Here is my table, all decorated for Christmas (the fair was at a Catholic School). My loving boyfriend made a supply run to the fabric store to get me more stuffing, and also got a little garland and a stocking for the table, as well as some delicious coffee and breakfast. Since I had my drive test on Thursday and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in Imax on Friday (SO AWESOME!!), I woke up at 5:30 this morning to try to sew those two holiday bears, and had to finish stuffing and hand sewing them shut while I was at the fair.

And here they are! My friend Tess bought the Holly Christmas Bear for a dance performance...she'll use the bear in her piece and then donate it to charity. Yay! These are two more holiday bears (which I must say I love!) and I have a third fabric, which is the same as the green but in red. I am LOVING these bears!

I had my custom order sheet out again, with some fabric samples, but no one even paused. I think they thought the bears were too expensive, and here's why that is very wrong. I read a blog entry on Etsy wherein the author described how you should price your items, and if I followed her advice, my bears would be over $50 each. Another crafter took a look at my bears and said I should charge $150 since they take so long to make. Very nice of him, but that would definitely be overcharging.

I love how the garland looks with the green and red bears...so cute.

"Don't you know someone who would love to get me for Christmas?"

I'm totally shameless. I was silently cheering for the 10 kids who were begging their parents for one of my bears. I know...horrible. But I didn't even make my table fee today. I did, however, sell the first successful bear, Yellow Bear. That's a milestone. He went home with a little boy who loves stuffed animals and the color yellow. I know he will be well loved. :)

So, I had this idea. If I don't get a job by January, I want to start a party hosting business. With my bears. Here's my idea: Parents book me to host their child's birthday party. I take care of age appropriate activities, manage the children and provide supplies, and each child goes home with a personalized stuffed animal of their choice. The parents would need to book a month in advance, have the style and colors picked out, as well as children attending and names. I haven't figured out how much I would charge, but I think it would be manageable and I could set my own hours. What do you think?