Wish I were there! I've seen your creations! I would buy you out!!!! Good luck and God's blessings on your new adventure Saturday!!!! Will you be selling any of your beautiful photographs? YOU SHOULD! :o) Bear Hugs! Kirk

Hope it's a sell-out!! Hope weather is nice, sounded like rain here sat. So that's what they have said for 2 weeks now & it is just enough to spot your car!! We could use a little sun for you sat!!! Jan

Good Luck, Jules! Nothing like everything happening at once, huh? That's the way it seems to go here too - I have a large 2-day show this weekend and have had a time getting ready for it between moving my son home from college, helping my other son/dil move into their first house and keeping my 18 mo. old grandson all last week so they could get some things done on the new place. Plus pick strawberries every other day. It's been crazy. Hope you have a good turn out!
Arlene

Hope you have an awesome day! Good luck and I hope you sell everything! Love all of your totems!

Y'all are just too nice to me! You know, here with out garden junk community I don;t think twice about the encouragement. BUT, sometimes out there BEYOND that community people look at you like you are some weirdo. Hehehehe....but I just keep plugging along and try not to mind them. I don't know many who have seen creations like totems. I may see them come out of the woodworks Saturday though!
Yep, weather here has been unseasonably cool.
Ok, gotta jet!
Love, Jules

Love your idea for the shelving, you'll have to make pics! Every group needs smart, creative members like you, Jules! I'm sure you're treasured in your church.

On top of that a birthday party and spend the night company .... I remember similar days in my past .... and thinking of it makes me feel tired .... the Band Boosters Club, karate lessons, piano lessons, ball games & practice, etc ... LOL. Oh to be young again ...

Best of luck, Jules, and Happy Birthday to Nathan!!! ~tenderlee

TT,
Yeah you know I failed to say too that last night was Nathans Karate promotion as well. He is now a Blue Belt 2nd degree (white stripe). He is really good at it but never likes to call attention to himself in that matter. I am so very proud of him! This summer he is taking a breather from it. It's the first break ever since he started 3 yrs. ago! Also the school I work at is having their 8th grade graduation today. I just have a quick breather here. Oh yeah, and my hubby and Nathan are goign out later Saturday after the Bazaar to go and shoot the big gun. (I want to go too but I'll be beat I'm sure!)

Thank you for your wonderful comments! I think people love me at church--at least that's what they tell me. It's fun to work together on events and such. Nathans excited to be 13 (even though he's seemed that age for a long time!)

Have a great weekend y'all!

Love, Jules

Good luck on your sale!
On May 25th the Garden club had a 4 hour
sale--mostly plants.I took a few things to sell.
I did not get the one totem that I took even set
down--"How much is that" ($25) and "I want it".
Sold a painted straw hat, and 3 cup/bowl bird
feeders, etc. Didn't have much but did $71 in
the short time.
Made me wish I had worked harder! LOL

Best of luck to ya...Looking forward to knowing how you done...

Oh how exciting for you to sell your creations! I hope you sell them all and you have a fabulous time!!! I will be thinking of you and praying you have a huge success!!!!! Take pictures of them if you can!!!

Good luck! Hope it goes great! I hope you take pics I would love to see.
kathy

Oh, I hope your day was good! And that it was just as much fun selling AS "making" your beautiful totems! Would be a challenge to set them up...but sounds like you've got things under control. But, ohhhh, those sandbags are HEAVY! (like "barn doors" here!) Family fun! TFS & hope to see more pics!
Jeanne S.

I wish I was there !! I'd be standing in front of your booth drawing people in and praising your stuff ! LOL

Good Luck !!! ((((( Fingers crossed ))))))

Just wanted to let you know how the Spring Bazaar went (well the whole process).

Thursday night Nathan promoted up to Blue Belt 2nd degree (with a white stripe). Now hes going to take the summer off and start up again in the fall. Friday at school Nathan got a certificate for perfect Attendance not only for the semester but for the entire year. He also go the Superintendents Honor Roll (a 4.0 GPA for the 3rd trimester AND it was the last day of school!!!! YIPPPPPPEEEEEEE! Then we had his Birthday party at the bowling alley and then 2 friends spent the night. Then I loaded up the car for early Saturday morning. Todd left out Saturday morning at a quarter to 6am and set up the crates, poles and sand (heÂs such a great man!). After he got back I went over and set up the rest. I shared a 2 car spot with my friend Mae who makes jewelry. WE had a great time even though WE ALL battled the wind. It was cool and windy. Later on it was still windy but warmed up a little to in the mid 70Âs. I got sunburned even though I doused the sun block everyday IÂm outside. Todd hadnÂt wanted to bring ALL the bags of sand (I had 8 for the crates and 1 to fill the water cooler that I put the Knick Knack Planty Tags in). I expressed how I needed all the bags I had bought so nothing would fall. Se he did and thankfully so! I had one person come up and ask if he could use one bag. I kindly said no because they were all for the display I had. It kept all I had there grounded--no casualties. (I had had 3 casualties the day befroe with 3 of them. They were the biggger items so I'm learning). WE had some strong gusts so at times I held the display (for my sanity) to keep it grounded. My friend Mae eyed my totems and I eyed her jewelry. At the end we did a swap. A big gust came through and she lost a glass candle holder that she had as part of her display) After all was said and done I only sold 3 items ($40) and I traded one. Some people got it and some did not. A lot would say "That is such a neat idea" which basically meant they liked but they werenÂt going to buy or just go home and make their own. I didnÂt sell any of the planty tags. I only was asking $2. But then again it wasnÂt a good turnout like I thought. A lot of people werenÂt buying. I think the wind kept a lot of people awayÂI have photos but they are taking forever to upload. AFter Todd came and helped me pack up we came home and unloaded the cars. He and Nathan went out target practice with some friends. I stayed home to recoupe! I'm burned on my scalp---that's the only one that really hurts (but tolerable)...So, we live and learn. Need lots of stability and make sure the venue you go to has really good advertizing and no WIND! :-)When people would ask if I made those totems I said yes....Then I would say, no, my garden junking community just encourage one another with our creations. I can honestly say that everyone who came by said they had never seen anything like what I had before! It's good to be unique!!!

I'll post photos when I can get my computer to work a bit faster. It may need some innards dusting.

TTYL and thank you for all your encouragement!

Love, Jules

Well, heck....I'm sorry it was so windy for your premier day!~ I am glad you made some sales though and I hope that all in all it was a good experience for you and you'll give it another shot!

Marlene,

Oh yes it was a great learning experience for me. I'd do it all again as long as hubby is willing to drag sandbags around for me again! I KNEW it was going to be windy. Some people don;t take into account the wind and then they suffer. I'd always rather be overprepared than underprepared for sure! :-) The great testament though was that none of the pieces broke from themselves (or even off the display). I have a really tall glass flower that kept swaying in the wind that kept edging my nervousness. And then I got used to it swaying. My Mom ended up coming over and hanging out with me and she was nervous about that particular one too. I have a couple people today at church that said they were still interested in buying one. So who knows, I may do better than I originally thought. Of course I wanted them all sold so I could have a clean slate. :-) I was thinking that I may have to get some cuttings or divisions from plants and sell plants as well so the Planty Tags would sell. Food for thought....

Love, Jules

Ok, so I was finally able to upload photos onto my website! (my youngest loves to take a gazillion photos. Hubby had just uploaded all his photos the day before so our external hard drive devoted to photo storage was working s-l-o-w-l-y)
So, here is the link to my webpage. The first set of photos directly under the two videos are of the Spring Bazaar and each indiviidual totem/glass flower and the Knick Knack Planty Tags. Oh, the gal there in the photo is my friend Mae who designs and makes her own jewelry. At the end she had eyed one of my totems and I had eyed one of her necklaces. WE ended up doign a straight swap. This was her first time as well! I definietly need a garden type of venue I think to be more successful! Live and learn.
Enjoy!
Love, Jules

Sorry it wasn't the best day but that often happens & also mixing YS with new items or handmades often doesn't work too well. If everyone had boutique type items & advertised as such you would do better. If they have a "white elephant" sale seems all the folks that come have "cheap" in mind!! If you have a friend that does some nice crafts & lives on busy street you might suggest you try a boutique sale & things would go much better as "boutique" says, handmade, unique to folks & they want something different! At least that is my experience & I've been on both sides of the fence since 1964! When I go to church sale I'm always expecting to pay very little, 1st figure it's donated, 2nd I tend to figure they probably don't have a clue about prices (just going by what I see) also when we have added crafts we've made to a YS or GS we rarely sell anything. They want it for less than $5. With downturn in Ca. might be idea to suggest boutique at school in fall with people renting a table or space for so much,($15-20) usually have it in a gym, might talk to teachers & see what talents they have to see if something like that would be workable, I think huggybear did that at her school over on crafts & decorations forum & they had it with a book sale & it did great(she was only crafter) & she was invited back. Be sure that the money collected for the table rent goes to something needed for the school & make that big part of the advertising. You should have some plants to show off the plant tags as people need a visual!!! Especially if from another country!, OK, hard to have visual of your totems besides looking at them, not so,you do great photos, get those babies out by some lovely plants in your yard & get 3-4 great 8x10's & show what they do for a yard & then the ah's will come!!! People will just have to have 1!! I thought of you while I was going to YS's sat. as it sprinkled a few times & 1 yard in foothills there was water in some of containers,they didn't close up & I got some great buys, 2 nearly new 5 in. thick cushions for lawn chairs, a long wrought iron planter like lady who planted 1 with strawberries&used plastic bags to line it, 3 stepping stones with stones on top for $2 & a bunny for $2 for yard. But kept thinking you might have been rained out, didn't think of wind, we didn't have any!! Anyway maybe you can put together something to sell totems for fall!! Jan

Jan, I am so touched that you thought about me on Saturday! For the last two weeks we've had really mild weather and can see all teh clouds sitting on the hills. Thought of the Valley and LA as being a soup bowl all that time. Yep, we had some wicked gusts Saturday all day. Sunday it didn;t start in at least until noon. Yeah, you know with me doing Scrip and all the other nickel and diming fundraisers (AND working at the school) the last thing I want to do is spend more time there! BUT it is an excellent idea. I just don;t know very many parents there that are willing to get the ball rolling. There really is only a handful of us. Luvs seems to have a GREAT venue for selling her items. There is another Flea Market one that I've been to but it is still new. I know though that they had issues too with the wind. Maybe I could do something at the Home and Garden Show (which is inside) or I dunno. I still have to do more homework (I hate homework!) :-) The photos are a great way to show them off as well. I'd have to have them superglued to a cinderblock though! :-) It jogged my mind when toomuchglass posted photos of her Farmers Market withthe vendor next to her selling plants. I thought, "OH! Now that's what I need to do too!" So, I'm goign to have to start taking cutting and stockpiling plants. Sounds like you got some GREAT deals on your yardsaling adventure though.
Love, Jules

I have another suggestion for you, desertrat. Your totems & flowers are just so beautiful and the black plastic kind of "ugly" crates just detract too much from them...the poles & rods all angled at diff. directions, different types, etc. I would suggest that you go to fabric store (or GW or TS) & purchase a solid color heavy fabric...like burgandy or hunter green velvet ...then drape over the front of the crates & then use "gold safety pines" to attach it to the top front of crates. This would bring the "eye" to the glass pcs. Maybe have 1 or 2 in a 5 gallon bucket of sand (draped with material)...so buyers will know about the height of the flowers.

I'm still learning more and more...that the amount is not necessarily the selling point...but the "presentation." I luv how you presented the planty tags in the round container...easy to view & touch...and if they are all the same price, good idea to post that also! Good luck! Don't despair! And certainly hope you won't always be out in the gusty winds! TFS your pics! Jeanne S. ...and I bet your jewelry pc. is beautiful! Nice sharing!

Jules, just getting to read about your first adventure on selling your art. Sorry it didn't go well, you have some beautiful garden art work. I work in retail, so know that weather, money, demand, full moon(lol), all dictate sales. And we can never outguess the consumer. So if you have a chance to do it again, go for it. I have dragged my feet about taking the plunge and think that this fall I may give it a try with some of my things. we know garden. We just have to educate the rest of the people.

Jules, first of all congratulations for your son's accomplishments! A child's success is largely reflective of their parenting, you know! Kudos!

Also, sorry your sale didn't go so well, but every adventure is a learning one. I've found, like sunnyca said, that the mixture of venues just isn't the place to do good sales. For example, most fundraising events, or local festivals, etc. where there are a lot of different activities going on and the crafts are not the main event. I've sat through several before I figured out that people are not there to buy crafts, but to enjoy the sights and socialize. Now I just try to find established craft shows where the focus is on the crafts. It is more costly to get a space at these, but the results make all the difference. My show this past weekend cost me $85 for a space. I did see some glass flowers there, but no totems. I was busy enough I didn't get to walk around and ask other vendors how they did. I did walk around early in the morning to just see what else was there. We didn't have the wind to contend with like you did. The vendors with flowers had them poked directly into the ground - which I realize is impossible on a black top parking lot, but this show was throughout the park-like grounds of a big greenhouse/nursery.

On another note, you'd be surprised how many people buy plants! I do the separation of my perenniels every year and pot up between 300-400 plants. (ask all your friends and relatives to save their pots for you). I have a double washtub set up in garage where I mix my potting soil (hubby says I should just get a truckload next year!) I start them early when they are small and by the time the first farmer's market rolls around in June, they are very nice sized. I tried marking them $2.00 each or 3/$5 this year but they just sat there for the 1st two hrs., well I did sell a few. I got a little panicked, seeing as the whole bed of the truck was full and I was tired of watering them, so I marked them to $1 each, like I usually sell them, and they flew out the door. When you have that many plants, you can't mess around! Anyway, the first market I sold 249 of them. I still have over 100 to go, hoping to go this Sat. if not raining. Again, although this is at farmer's market, people come ready to buy, not to be entertained. Of course I was not able to take the plant starts with me this past weekend because it would be in direct competition for the sponsors of the show, so I stick to farmer's market for those.

Hope you can find a good outlet - your stuff is GREAT! You are right - people like unique. Although I had to chuckle at your comment that some people get it and some don't. I had a lady in my booth who just couldn't get the concept of the dishes in among the plants of my planted dish drainer. She just didn't get it - her words. I'm sure there were lots of others who just didn't voice their opinion. But I'm thankful there were more who "got it" than didn't!! (although I didn't sell either dish drainer!)

Sorry for the long post guys......
Arlene