Finally! Some pictures from the market

I finally remembered to take my camera to the market last week. The only problem was that when I remembered that I brought my camera, the market was in full swing and it was hard to get photo's without getting in everyone's way. But...here are a few.


Here is one "wall" of my tent. The lighting isn't so great, it's kind of like a cave in there since I have a booth on each sid of me, but you get the idea.

This is the front corner. My sweet little mannequins. They help a lot don't you think? I was really excited when someone lent them to me for the summer. I was having a hard time finding any mannequins locally, and online they are expensive.


And last but not least, I have some cute shelves to show off my hand screen printed hand sewn pillows and handmade stuffed animals.

I can't believe there are only four more markets left. For me anyway. The market actually runs through the end of September but I'm only going until September 7th. I'm trying to get into the Salt Lake Downtown Farmers' Market. If they have any open spaces, they might be able to squeeze me in. I'm hoping it works out.

My Apologies, it won't happen again

I just looked at my blog and re-read my last post. That was a little negative, I apologize. I don't want to be that person. I think I was just a little down from the market the day before. I certainly don't want to offend anyone, or alienate anyone. I was having a moment and I probably shouldn't share those moments, while in the moment of having a moment. If you know what I mean!

Park Silly Sunday Market and Access Hollywood

So so sorry that I haven't blogged about the market. Yesterday was the 4th week and I keep meaning to bring my camera and always forget. I didn't want to talk about it without pictures but at this rate, the market will be over before I remember to bring my camera.

The market has been interesting. How's that for pc? I've been struggling a bit with this market. I can't figure out the client base here. The Salt Lake Farmers' Market was mostly young and hip. I feel like my style sense worked very well there. Park Silly on the other hand, who are these people? Please don't be offended that I have skulls on t-shirts or that I want to dress your baby in a black onesie. It's all very tasteful. It doesn't help that in Salt Lake I was pretty much the only booth selling baby clothes and in Park City there are like 8 booths selling baby clothes. The women right across from me, Meg and Katherine are selling baby clothes. Their items are different from mine, yes, but I'm sure they are as thrilled as I am every week that we are basically watching eachother make sales that would have, could have been ours alone. It's a good thing that they are super nice so I don't have to hate them!

Then up the way is another woman selling, get this, screen printed onesies! It's a competition! At first our stuff was pretty equally priced. Now, she has lowered her prices. I'm struggling if I should do the same. Across from her is a woman selling onesies with flocked prints. Had I known all this, I wouldn't have even applied for this market. I don't really think its very fair to the vendors who pay a lot for a space each week and drive from the city each week.

My one claim to fame is that Billy Bush, the host of Access Hollywood came into my booth last week and bought a dress for his daughter. Did you know he is a cousin to the current president? He was very nice.

I have been struggling with pricing issues lately. I feel like the average customer doesn't appreciate the time, effort, skill, thought, artistic eye, personal style and God knows what else that goes into making a handmade object. Our current trend of throw away products had made it very hard for people to appreciate something well made and hand made. Look at the WalMart culture for example. It doesn't matter that the shirt you buy was made with crappy inferior fabrics and at that price point it was made in a child labor sweat shop at the price of personal injury, long greuling hours, probably awful and hazardous working conditions. As long as its cheap... And when it falls apart in two washes, you can just run right back and keep the cycle going.

The reason I bring this up is that two really cool things happend to me, yesterday and today. First, I was on etsy chiming in on a thread about not underselling your product just to make a sale. Someone contacted me with good advice and and kind words. I was very grateful to find that email this morning. Then, yesterday as my husband was telling me I should lower my prices, a woman came into my booth, asked about my stuffed animals, who was the artist? she asked my husband. She didn't even flinch at the price, (there only $20 for god's sake) and then she asked me to sign it. So sweet. I can't tell you how the little things can make up for all the other stuff!

Bubble and Bee, my favorite!

So, another one of my favorites is Bubble and Bee. They were our neighbors at the Salt Lake Farmers' Market last summer. All of their products are organic and made locally. I love their stuff! I went to the market last saturday and yes, they are going to be there all summer again this year. I stopped by to say hi to Steph and found out that Whole Foods Market has picked up their entire line of products and will be selling it in all of their Utah stores! How exciting! I'm so happy for them. They have worked so hard over this past year. And really, it couldn't have happened to nicer people.

They also have a very interesting blog that I think everyone should read. It's full of stuff you really should know (maybe don't want to know) about the world of chemicals and beauty products.

v.lou textiles onesies in a blog

So...I was googling myself, I'll admit it and I came across v.lou textiles in another blog. This one is from Babinskis. Babinskis is a baby boutique in Salt Lake City more specifically Foothill Village and they have been buying my onesies since October 2007. They have the most beautiful store filled with all things baby. I have really enjoyed doing business with them as they are so nice and fun. I guess they started a blog, and well, here I am!
On the blog note, I must digress a little from the positive and say something that has been troubling me a little. Well acutally a lot. I love seeing v.lou textiles starting to creep out into the world. I love seeing my labor of love showing up in the community. It's what I've been dreaming about for a couple of years now. I know that doing applique onesie's isn't re-inventing the wheel. It's not a new technique that I discovered myself. I realize this. I do. But what I do think is unique about my product is the fabric that I choose, the way I put things together. I try really hard to have a unique style in the world of over saturated baby items. Well, last week a friend of mine went to the Salt Lake Farmers' Market and called me sort of upset. Apparently someone is there with a booth selling applique baby onesies and they look suspiciously similar in style to mine. And again, I realize that it's an applique. I didn't invent it, I know. But what is so similar is the style of the applique, the fabric all that stuff. So, I've been really upset about this. Why can't people get their own thing going? Why do you have to show up at the Farmers' Market, where I did so well last year and sell what I was selling? Then to make matters worse, Sunday while I was manning my booth at the Park Silly Sunday Market in Park City, Utah, I had a couple of people ask if I was at the Salt Lake market or that my stuff was "like that booth at the Salt Lake market"!!!! I am going to go to the market tomorrow and see for myself. I'm half thinking that maybe I shouldn't because I don't know... what can I do? What should I say if anything? So I guess I will keep you posted. The market is tomorrow. Oh, and sorry for the non-use of paragraphs here. I was on a roll!

So...it's the next day. I went to the Farmers' Market this morning to look at the onesies in question. I was so hoping that a) I didn't know the person who was making them, and b) please don't let them look like mine! Well, she was there and I didn't recognize her. Her stuff is appliqued but in my opnion, not really the same. Although she did have skull t-shirts. What is going on here?!?!?

Elizabeth Terry Jewelry, my favorite!

So my blogography feature today will be of Elizabeth Terry Jewelry. I met Elizabeth last year when we both had booths at the Salt Lake Farmers' Market. She was pregnant, looking in my booth for baby clothes, meanwhile I was in Elizabeth's booth salivating over all of Elizabeth's jewelry, hinting about potential christmas present ideas! (So was my mother-in-law!)

I like Elizabeth's jewelry because it's actual hand-crafted artisan jewelry. You can tell she has thought about each piece. She uses beautiful semi-precious stones, metal work, or an interesting mixture of leather and metal, not just a bunch of beads strung together or a mold to make the same piece over and over again. I like that she offers a wide range of prices too.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces from her website. You can order directly from this site or she will be busy all over Utah this summer doing markets and festivals. She has a list on her website.


I love love love the necklace in the top left corner. Some day I will own that!

Jeff Beck Photography, my favorite!

I have a lot of really creative friends starting their own businesses, some more established than others but, I thought I could do a little blogography over the next couple of days about some of my favorites so you all can see why I think they are so special!

My first favorite is my friend Jeff Beck. He is a photographer, hence the name Jeff Beck Photography duh! He has the most beautiful outdoor landscape photographs. Here are just a few of my favorites from his website:

I used the last one, the snowy river for my christmas cards one year and I have several of his framed photos in my living room. Unfortunately his website hasn't been updated for, ahem, a few years but, you can get a feel for his style and I know he has hundreds of beautiful photos that will surely please everyone! Also, I just found out that he will be at the Salt Lake City Farmers' Market in Pioneer Park every Saturday! Now you can go and see up close and personal how great his stuff is.

Paris

So, I recently went to Paris and just downloaded my photos. These are a couple of my favorites. The first two are obviously the Eiffel Tower. I know I know, how cliche, the Eiffel Tower but I guess it's more what it represents to me which is... being in Paris! The third picture is a random shot of some graves at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery where many many famous people are burried including Chopin, Balzac, Modigliani, Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde and of course Jim Morrison just to name a few. I was surprised how incredibly beautiful this cemetery is. I've never seen anything like it. The graves are mostly family crypts and they are styled like little chapels so you can come into them and pray.

soooo cute!

I wanted to try and show scale of this bunny but, this picture only conveys cuteness. The little girl pushing the shopping cart in this photo is about 2 yrs. old. And by the way, she would be the cutest part of this photo if you could see her face!

kid tested, mother approved!

So, here are some "stuffies" I have been working on for the ParkSilly Sunday Market starting June 15th in Park City. I have been drafting and re-drafting this pattern but I think I finally have it the way I want it. Who knew making a stuffed animal pattern would be so difficult? I can see it in my mind, but apparently there's more to it than that! Some had tiny heads and really abnormally long necks, some were so small I couldn't figure out a way to attach the head. Making the head more than just a pancake was slightly challenging when you don't know what you are trying to do. But, in the end I'm really happy with the way it came out. It's pretty much how I envisioned it. I made several dolls and gave them to my friends to give to their children to pre-test them for me! Each one is different in that I change the fabric selections and I am working on different outfits for them as well.

Featured in a blog

I was featured in a blog!

http://yourheartout.com/?p=2492

The best part is that I read this blog and was really excited to see my tote bag featured in the "locals on etsy" page. It's great to see that stuff is starting to get noticed. Even if it's just a little at a time. I'm so happy to have this exposure. You know, trying to start a business, not really knowing how to start a business. Trying to get your name out there and get noticed and not really knowing how to get your name out there and get noticed. So, yes I'm pretty satisfied with myself! (If I do say so myself!)