Mayo Craft Fair

About 3 months ago, I heard about the Mayo Craft Fair. Only Mayo employees, retirees, and their spouses can be sellers. For $35, you reserve a table where you can display anything that you have made. Tons of people come looking, and if you're lucky, some of them even buy your stuff!

I waffled for a while... I kept thinking that it would be so fun to have an excuse to make cards. I thought that it would be much easier this year with only one kid (who still naps) than to try next year with 2 kids (and surely Aidan won't nap any more by this time next year). I kept thinking that it would be a good thing to do while we still have a spare room I can use for crafting (since it might need to be a kiddo's room by next year). But then I would think, "Am I crazy for taking on such a huge commitment?" "I will be 8 months pregnant at this fair! Will I have enough energy?" and "Do I really want to commit that much time, money, and energy to something I'm not sure will work?"

In the end, I decided to go for it. And I'm so glad I did!

I spent lots and lots of time over the last 2 months making cards: birthday, baby, Christmas, blank, thinking of you, fall-themed, graduation, wedding, etc. I also made and painted some stands on which to display my cards. I made labels for my cards and put each card in a plastic bag to protect it. Some of the final products looked like this:

About 3 weeks before the fair, I DID get a little tired. I got pregnant enough that I needed to nap during Aidan's nap instead of making cards. But for the most part, I was able to get the cards I wanted made. I think I had 150 cards ready by the time of the fair.

I got to go the night before to do the set up. Here's a shot of my booth. I had cards on the two racks, cards hanging on the clothesline across the top, and cards in themed piles all across the table.

I stayed from 8 to 4 (with a slight leave to take care of a Primary commitment, but I had a friend nice enough to cover my table during that). It was really fun! I loved seeing all the people come by, and most people who stopped to look at my table seemed to think my cards were pretty cute. In the end, I sold about 65 cards. I get to keep (or use, or gift! :) the leftover cards, and I might even sell more at the Rochester Mamas craft fair for people in our stake that's coming up in a few weeks. (We'll see if I'm pregnant by then!) I didn't make a ton of money, but I covered my costs and then some. Plus, I got to make cards! So overall, it was a great thing! I'm already thinking about if I can do it next year! :)