Avenue Handmade

cards, jewelry, crocheted stuff…., originally uploaded by Avenue [Handmade].

I’m stoked about this craft show at Dinosaur World! Not only is it my first big-ish show since December, and I’ve got loads of new goodies and a revamped table setup…but I’ve never been to Dino World, so it’s a great excuse to check out this unique local attraction.

(Living in the land of Mickey Mouse and the Holy Land Experience as I do, I don’t mind admitting I’ve never been to most of Orlando’s attractions–but neither do I desire to. Dino World seems a bit more old-school, which is much more appealing to me than, say, “The Most Magical Place on Earth.”)

Another reason to be excited about this show is that my folks are coming down from Jacksonville tonight and will be accompanying me to the show (a big selling point was that they get to bring their pooch…)! It’s always fun to have company at your booth, and my folks don’t usually get to make it to my shows, so I’m honored and thrilled that they’re making the drive. (Although, come to think of it, after this show I think they’ll be tied with my husband–his work schedule is such that he can rarely make it to weekend shows.)

Didn’t plan for this to be such a long post, but I can’t finish without celebrating the fact that yesterday was a red-letter Etsy day for me. I sold 2 items from my handmade shop, plus made one sale in my vintage/destash shop! One sale was thanks to Alchemy, which I have been addicted to since they brought it back 3 days ago.

I seriously, seriously LOVE Alchemy. I’ve already put in several custom requests (not that you couldn’t do that without Alchemy, but the new “Request Custom Item” feature is pretty snazzy), and when I posted an Alchemy request asking for bday ideas for my Mama (hope she doesn’t read this!), I got 40-plus bids within about 20 minutes! I had a heck of a time making a decision among all those great suggestions, lemme tell you. I definitely ended up finding new favorite shops and purchasing other items even from sellers whose bids I declined–which is how I got that sale through Alchemy. The spillover effect when you make a bid is just great. My bid was declined, but the buyer found something else in my shop that they wanted. It’s like the best kind of targeted, yet un-intrustive, marketing. Plus, I love seeing the quirky things people request–everything from pet clothing to a beard and mustache cozy to “Om-Nom-Nom-Nom” panties (<–brilliant!).

OK, off to prep for tomorrow’s show! I’ll be back next week, hopefully with pictures of prehistoric creatures rockin’ my jewelry. Happy weekend and day-after Pi day!