Getting ready for a craft fair

I'm going to be going to a craft fair on Saturday. This will be the first time I am selling buttons, magnets and perler bead decorations at a craft fair, and I am a little concerned about making too much/too little. My most popular button is popular because it is a costume piece, and Halloween is over, so I'm not sure it's a good idea to bring lots of those right now. Christmas-themed items are probably a good bet, of course, but picking which non-Christmas items to make enough of for the craft fair is tricky. I'm going into this one looking at it as market research more than a money-making opportunity (although getting a lot of sales would be nice!)

I've made a lot more snowflakes with Perler beads for the craft fair. I figure if they don't sell, I can use them for package decorations. ;) Here is one pile of them that I made:



I also made some more patchwork elephants out of perler beads. :) I really like the extra color that using the striped beads adds to them.

I'm also adding more sets of buttons to my shop, at a discount from buying the buttons individually. Here is a listing for three of the funny animal buttons (the two I posted in my last entry, plus a new one of two rhino butts). I have also posted some other new buttons since I last wrote here. You are welcome to check my shop to see what else is new!

It's going to snow overnight here. The weather is usually much warmer this time of year, but everything seems to be pointing to a really cold and long winter. The snowflakes will certainly match the weather tomorrow.

New items

I have added two new buttons to my shop, buttons with a tiger on one and an orangutan on the other. They were photos my husband took at the zoo sometime in the past year. I thought they were fun pictures. Here are the buttons:



I have another zoo photo I plan to make into a button, but this is one I took many years ago. I have a fourth I want to use, but the subject, an elephant, is too dark. So, I need to edit the photo to try to lighten the elephant without washing out the background too much. If you want to take a closer look, you can find the tiger button here and the orangutan button here.

I did an informal poll of some of my Facebook friends to see if they would prefer buttons or magnets, if they were in the market for such things. The response was overwhelmingly for magnets, so I am adding magnets to the shop. The buttons will stay too, of course, but soon there will be the option to have a button or a magnet in all the designs offered.

I am also working to make some new items with Perler beads. I've made snowflakes, penguins, and another patchwork elephant. I also plan on making some 8-bit look/vintage video game look items in the near future. I haven't had a chance to take good pictures for listing yet, but here are the snowflakes I've made so far:



You can check my Instagram account at 42PurpleElephants to see the penguins, elephant and other creations I've made. :)

The snowflakes, penguins and elephant will be listed soon. How soon the video game items up depends on how quickly I can make them. Tomorrow I will be spending the day crafting, so new listings will probably not be posted before Monday. I hope the anticipation isn't going to be too much to bear. ;)