It's officially ON for Halloween 2008! We will have our 2nd Handmade Faire, in a new location (because our beloved original location has no heat!). Our new location is the Flying W Airport. It's a pretty neat place if you've never been there. It's located in Medford, NJ - which is only about 20 minutes off exit 4 on the Turnpike, and a spitting distance from Route 70, and only about 30 minutes from my favorite city, Philadelphia. Not to mention, if you're really determined to get here, the runway will be running so you could always fly in! Hah! That would be a hoot!

I'm still ironing out the details, but applications will open up soon. If you did not participate in the Spring 2008 Handmade Faire, and you have not filled out the "Get Notified" please do so, and I will send out an email announcing the application process.

The date we have picked is October 25, 2008, so mark your calendars!

As with the last Handmade Faire, this event will be juried, and, of course Handmade only!

Thanks!
Abbie

There are some wheels turning here, about possible putting into motion another Handmade Faire. This one would be in a new location (as our original location does not have heat) and it would be around the Christmas Season.

Keep your eye out on the website, and in your inboxes for a formal announcement, and know that something is cooking

We are looking primarily in the Burlington/Camden/Ocean county area, but are open to other area's as well - we are in discussions with a few different venues, but if you know of a place that can hold at least 50+ vendors, drop me a line!

If you have not already done so - please go to the "Get Notified" link on our page and give us your info so you will be alerted when applications open up. If you were a vendor in the Spring 2008 Handmade Faire, you will automatically be notified of new events by Original Abbie Productions! We will not spam you, this is just a notification of our in house personal events!

The Handmade Faire has come and gone, and I'd say overall that it was a complete success! I would like to thank my vendors, the amount of talent that I saw in the rooms and halls of that building is the most talent I've seen in one place in a long time! I'd also like to thank the shoppers! You made this event possible for another year, not only did we get a lot of turnout as far as foot traffic and shoppers, but I didn't see many people leaving empty handed! I heard nothing but good things from shoppers about the quality items that were for sale, and I talked to a lot of the vendors and they all told me they had a great time! We will be doing this show again next year - if you are an artist and did not fill out an application this year, please fill out this form to be notified when applications open up for the 2009 Handmade Faire. If you were a vendor in 2008 you will automatically be notified when the application opens up.

If you were there as a vendor, or a shopper - and took pictures at all during the day, please either email them to me, or if you are on flickr - join our flickr group and put the pictures in the group!

Here's some feedback from 2008's First Annual Handmade Faire: - this is only the written feedback I've received through email, we got tons of praise the day of from lots of wonderful vendors, I am so glad you were all so happy!

If you would like to leave feedback from the 2008 Handmade Faire - please go here!

"I had a great time at yesterday's show! It was the first time I've
walked around as a customer in a long time and it was great to have
time to view all the vendors beautiful items! Quality-wise, it's one of
the best shows I've been to in awhile! It was also wonderful to say
Hi to many of the Etsy NJ team members in person. I can't wait until
next year's show, hopefully I can get a table at the2nd annual show
(Abbie, are applications ready for the 09 show?.. LOL)" - Robin - CreationsByRobin
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"Abbie & Pola...you guys rule! Mom and I had such a nice time and we would definitely do it again in the future. For your first show, you did a phenomenal job organizing. I bought a gazillion things, including a buy handmade shirt.....it's pretty rad. - Thank you again for everything!" - xo Stef & Laurie Trashed Clothing/Prim at Heart

"Also want to say it was a great show especially for a first year event. 
Very well organized and excellent turnout of vendors and shoppers." - Danielle -   Collective Elements
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"Yes, thank you!!  For the first-ever event, it was so well organized and it was fun putting faces with shop names. Thanks for a great day, it was definitely worthwhile for me! "~Alison AJK Artistry
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"Bravo ! Bravo ! Abby & Pola !!! Well Done !!! you guys rock !!!" - SuZ - Whimseys
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"I just want to thank Abby and Pola for all the work and organization 
that went into the Handmade Faire held today in Waretown. What a great 
time we had. I met many nice people, wish I had time to meet all of 
you. Great Job, looking forward to the next time." - Anne Gerken - Two Creative Hearts
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"You and Pola did a wonderful job you should both be proud of 
yourselves. I know what you mean when you say it means the world to 
you. This must be your passion. I think the turnout of vendors was 
great and for your first Handmade Faire I think the turnout of people 
was great too. My sister and I was happy with our first Handmade 
Faire and looking forward to the next." - Susan - Two Creative Hearts
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"I had an great time at the Handmade Faire.  It was awesome to meet so many of the EtsyNJ group!  Thank you so much Abbie and Pola for extending the invitation.  I'm looking forward to the next one." - Doreen - Sea Horse Designs
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"Just wanted to say a huge thanks to Abbie and Pola for organizing the
Handmade Faire! It was a great first craft show experience and now I'm
definitely looking forward to doing more! Great job ladies!" - Rachel - Nice Rakc
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"As my boyfreind and I chit chatted about the day, we agreed that it was one of the friendliest craft fairs we've ever done!" - Kate - Intergalactic Rose
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"Abbie...I had to tell you that your show was a success!
You did such a wonderful job organizing it and Stefanie
(Trashed Clothing) and I had so much fun!
I just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done and we
can't wait until the next show!! -- Thank you so much" Laurie - Prim at Heart
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"Well we had great success with the event and hope that you also did!" - Christine Rubiano, Bayou Cafe
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I went to the Faire today,(4/20 Lighthouse Center) and was impressed with all the crafters. I have never been to such a unique display of such
craft and art. We had such a great time and I'm hoping this becomes an annual event here. Great job to all those's involved and Thanks for a wonderful afternoon.......char...would be a great thing. If I had know it would be so uniquie many of my friends I would have made attend. - Charlotte Roselli
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Abbie,,,What a great Faire! I had a fantastic time and met some GREAT Etsy friends..thank you for organizing such a beautiful show..I would be honored to be an ALUMNI..of the 2009 Faire,,Thank you for all your time and efforts,,,I loved it,,,Thank you..Love lizzie - DesignzByLizzie

So many awesome artists are coming out from all over to have a table at the Handmade Faire. Here's just a small sampling of the over 55 vendors that will be there on Sunday! The Handmade Faire is THIS SUNDAY! April 20, from 10am to 4pm. Come on out, it's a great day for the family to enjoy! For directions, click here.

Read Tips of the Trade Volume 1
Read Tips of the Trade Volume 2
Keep Your Confidence
A while back I got some great advice from the gallery owner Julie from Creative Genius in Medford. There will always be nay sayers. There will be rude people at these events, and sometimes, they’ll make comments to you. Thus is life, somebody will always try to put down others to make themselves feel better. Don’t let this get you down. It probably won’t happen often, but when it does it can hurt your feelings.
There will be someone who thinks that Handmade should mean Cheap, as far as cost.. They will pick up an item and say something like “Fifteen Dollars for a ______?!?!?!?! I could buy a _______ in Target for $8!” You smile, and say something like: “Well, you’re right, you could, Handmade products are not for everybody, I’m not simply selling a ______ I’m selling a one of a kind item, that I personally have put much care, thought and attention to detail into.” - you could continue to say “Not only that, but my buyers have the satisfaction of supporting the local economy, and not a global box store culture. Buying handmade is also better for the Earth, as many of the big box store factories are contributing to global warming and polluting our environment with excess packaging and waste. My items are made with my hands, not big industrial machines! That’s why it’s more expensive, but, I know Handmade isn’t everybody's cup of tea and that’s ok!”
It’s actually a great sell if you think about it, some people just don’t understand, but when you put it like this it enlightens them that Handmade is actually more exclusive, better quality, and better for the environment. For the people that were just genuinely being rude, well, you’ve all the sudden made Buying Handmade seem like some sort of exclusive club, and maybe now, they’ll want to join!
How Much Do I Bring?:
People always wonder how much inventory they should bring, as a general rule, I’d always have more and have to carry some extra stuff back then to sell out and still have stock sitting untouched at home. I don’t mind having to carry a bit extra if it means my wallet might be heavier at the end of the day. Just cause you bring it all doesn’t mean you have to display it all, put a few of each item out and just keep restocking!

Bring Work:
Bringing some crafty work with you is a good way to keep busy during the day. People enjoy watching things being made, also, it makes more of an authentic, personal touch. Another good reason to do this is it gives you something to work on while your customers are shopping so you’re not staring them down like an eagle while they shop! It creates a much more relaxed environment. Obviously do not become so involved in what you’re doing that you are unaccessible, or that the customer doesn’t want to disturb you - greet them when they enter, make eye contact, say something like “take a look around, if you have any questions feel free to ask me anything!” or something to that effect. It’s relaxed and comfortable environments that your shoppers will linger in longer and look around, the longer they look, the more likely there is to be a sale.
Price Fairly - for yourself!
Nothing irks me more than fellow artists undercutting themselves. Newsflash: Your time is worth something! Factor in the time it takes you to make an item, the cost it takes you to make the item, the availability of the supplies you buy - (are you using something you can buy in a store, like beads, or something vintage that you only have a few of?) For things that are one of a kind, or there are limited quantities of the supplies to make them, they’re worth a bit more than something you can make another 100 of.
I’ve sellers people make comments like “Oh, it’s payment enough for someone to buy it and enjoy it, if my costs for supplies are covered, I’m happy!” Well, guess what, if this is the case you are a hobbyist, which is fine, but you really shouldn’t be selling at shows. When you price your items super low, you undercut your fellow artist. Handmade does not mean cheap. You do not have to compete with Wal Mart. When people buy Handmade items, they are buying more than a knitted scarf, or a painted mirror, or a bar of soap or pair of earrings - they’re buying a piece of creative ingenuity, something crafted by hand is a treasure - not being able to find a similar item in Wal Mart or Target gives your item exclusivity. Your precious time is invested in every piece you make, your hands work to make a piece come together, your brain works to be creative, different, and have everything work in harmony. If you are not figuring these things into the cost of your items, you’re selling yourself short, no doubt about it. Also, if you don’t value your item, why should any body else? And why would somebody spend their money on something without any perceived value?
Keep reading, there's more coming soon!

Promotional Items/Advertisement/GiveAway Items:I always bring tons of business cards, a “find me” flyer - upcoming shows, etc, some pinback buttons customized to my brand name/url/etc, people like giveaways, it’s up to you if you want to put them out and let people help themselves, or wear a button or sticker that says “ask me for a freebie!” or something like that. It’s always good to engage your customer, and that’s a great ice breaker.
Hold a contest for your buyers. Bring a notebook where your buyers put their name/email/address and at the end of the show, pull a name from the buyers and give them a prize. Let it be a gift certificate to your store, or something little, whatever - you’ll have to mail it to them, but now you have a bunch of names for your mailing list where you can alert them occasionally of new products, upcoming shows, etc. Please be courteous when emailing people though, once a month is the absolute most I ever email, otherwise you loose their interest! Have a place where non buyers can sign up for a mailing list as well, if they’re interested! I try to save the contests just for my buyers though.
Display Your Prices!
I have found that people do not like asking “how much is this?” once, better yet more than once. This is not the way to engage your customer in conversation. If you have something that you don’t want to mark a price on every single piece (like, I sell magnets, mirrors, buttons) put them together in a basket with a sign that says “Magnets $5” or something. Or have a “Everything on this table $20”

The Handmade Faire is quickly approaching! We are all very excited! Please remember to do the best you can to tell your friends, relatives, neighbors, etc about the Handmade Faire! If all of you tell 10 people that's another 500+ shoppers!
Anyway,I made up a little "vendor highlight" that we're sending out to various places for advertising, etc. Feel free to use it as well. Some of you are featured in this vendor highlight! All pictures were pulled from submitted applicant photo's, flickr links, etsy links etc. All images are copyright the original owner of the pics!
Can't wait to see everyone! Count down is 13 days! Woo hoo! If you're not featured here, it's no hard feelings, I love you all I just picked at random!

Vendors, Attenders & Everyone in between - please help to spread the word about the Handmade Faire by linking to us with one of our premade banners you can find on this page. Or, by Printing out a flyer (we have color and b/w versions, as well as 2 up and 4 up versions) and hanging them up/handing them out! Great places to hang these signs would be WaWa's, Super Markets, Church Bulletin Boards - pretty much any place with a public bulletin board! Even stapling them onto a telephone poll would work, but please if you do this be sure to take it down and recycle after you're done, we don't want to add any waste to the Jersey Shore!

We also have Yard Signs that we've had printed and are putting out in prominent intersections, road ways, etc. These will be too expensive to ship, but they will be available for pick up (call or email ahead please!) so you can put some out in your area if you'd like to, we appreciate all the word spreading you can do!

This is an open call, not limited to the accepted vendors of the Handmade Faire, though, of course vendors are encouraged to participate.

Anyway, we're making up a sort of "goody bag" to give away to some of the customers of the Handmade Faire. If you have some sort of promotional material, giveaway, samples, stickers, coupons, etc that you'd like to include- send it to me as soon as you can, and I'll include them in the Goody bags for the day of the fair. It doesn't have to be all the same item, you can mix it up, this fair is eclectic and one of a kind, so I don't mind if the goody bags are the same way, and not all matching. Etsy is being kind enough to send us some promotional material to hand out, we're getting some give aways from local businesses, etc.

If you don't want to send a bunch of little things, and would rather send a retail item of yours, that is fine too - we'll give it out as a door prize, obviously - include with that one piece some kind of promo that can link the winner back to you

If you're interested in participating (this is not mandatory for vendors, it's totally up to you) then contact me here, or at handmadefaire@gmail.com and I will let you know my address to send the items to. For the sake of my sanity - we will not be accepting items the day of the fair, it will be too hectic and crazy. Contact me for any other details!

Thanks!
Abbie

Many of you when applying to the Faire listed a Flickr address for additional pictures of your images, if you have a Flickr - join the Handmade Faire Flickr Group! And send over a couple pictures from your flickr of your items that you plan on selling, or your booth - or you! The group is brand new (I just made it, minutes ago) so get in there and liven it up a bit!

If you don't have a Flickr account - you can sign up for one, it's free (for a limited account of 100mb's a month) - and it's a great form of advertising and exposure! If you don't know how to join a group, leave me a comment here with your flickr address and I'll send you an invite!

Abbie

The application deadline has now passed. As of right now, we are still accepting applications for the waiting list though, incase vendors cancel/don't register. We have a handful of unregistered vendors, so in the event that they do not pay & register in time, we'll dip into the waiting list to fill their spots, so feel free to apply.

We have one heck of a vendor list making a show for our first annual Handmade Faire, I gotta say - if I were merely a customer/vendor, I'd be chomping at the bit to check this faire out, it's really shaping up to be amazing!

A lot of talented artists will be here, I am so excited, there is going to be some fantastic shopping going on!!! We have a very large presence of Etsy at the Faire, particularly people from the EtsyNJ, the New Jersey Street Team for Etsy, and I am looking forward to meeting all of you!

I've gotten a few emails from people saying they are having issues contacting me. I am pretty good about my emails and usually answer them within a few hours of receiving them - so if you have emailed me and haven't heard back - or if you have applied and haven't heard back - try this alternate email address HandmadeFaire@gmail.com or even comment here, and I will get back to you. If you have applied - and not heard back - check out the Vendor page. I put a list of accepted vendors on our attending vendors page That list is updated as of the 22nd of Feb. If you applied before then and don't see yourself on there - or haven't heard from me, please contact me!

Thanks!
Abbie Read More...

Hello!

As of today we are 100% caught up with all the applications that have come in! If you applied, and you haven't heard back from us please contact me and I'll get back to you. I gotta say I'm extremely happy with the response we have gotten to our faire, it has been overwhelming!

You can check out the Vendor List for a list of accepted vendors. All vendors have not completed their registration, so it is a tentative list only.

Don't forget - if you haven't applied already, the deadline is March 15th, and spots are filling up quickly - first come first serve! There is already a waiting list for certain categories!

Thanks!
Abbie

Up until yesterday - Saturday the 23rd- all vendors that have applied have gotten a reply of either acceptance or a decline. If you applied today, you have not been juried yet. If for some reason you applied before the 23rd and you haven't gotten a reply - please contact me and let me know! I don't want to leave anybody out!

Thanks!
Abbie

Some artists are traveling a distance and interested in staying over for the Faire have asked questions about what the accommodations are like, so I just ran over and took some photos of some of the space.

The environment is what some might consider a bit of a "rustic" dormitory set up. 2 single beds in each room, 2 rooms share a bathroom. There is a community area and a wonderful view.

Read More...

Well, we're getting geared up for our spring event. Up-to-date information will be posted here.

Crafts people may display and sell ONLY their own, original, handcrafted work. Imported goods, manufactured products, kits, or crafts purchased at wholesale are not allowed. Your tables and products will be reviewed during the fair. We are looking to have artists of many different mediums, all skill levels are welcome to apply.

Cost is $40. Electric availability is limited.

All proceeds benefit the Natural Resource Education Foundation of New Jersey.

This event is rain or shine - it is an indoor event!

After your application is reviewed, you will receive a contract and waiver form via email for completion and to return with your payment. Payment arrangements can also be made via PayPal.

If you would like to see photos from our recent "Music by the Bay", simply click on this link - http://www.musicatbarnegatbay.org

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