Wow! I had such an amazing day yesterday getting to meet some of you at a local craft fair! Boy, what an awesome turnout of SVGCuts fans!!! I had an informational sponsor booth set up at the Kiwanis Club of Plainfield's Craft Fair in Plainfield, Illinois. There were about 20-30 crafters exhibiting handmade goods for sale, local restaurants serving yummy soup, and a few local sponsor booths like mine.
I had my Bewitched Cabin, Fairy Cottage and Haunted Barn on display. It was so fun for me to see people's reactions to them in real life!
"I didn't know you were so close!" <-- I heard that quite a few times! A lot of you were surprised to find out I live in or near your own city! Some of you even drove over an hour to come by, say hi and chat papercrafts! I'm honored!
One bit of input that several of you had was that you'd love to have more local events and groups that get together in person to make projects. Deann told me about her sister-in-law Debbie in Florida who has a papercraft group who gets together weekly and makes a lot of SVGCuts projects and has a great time. I love that idea, and I'm going to set something up to get us all connected locally! I'll include the information about how to sign up in an upcoming Newsletter, so be sure you're signed-up so you don't miss it! Sign up for the SVGCuts Newsletter here!
A lot of the discussion was about what everyone's favorite cutting machines are, favorite projects, and what glue and paper supplies you guys are into. Marla came all the way from over an hour away and told me about how she's looking forward to setting up her new 15" Artistic Edge Cutter by Jenome. It cuts paper and fabric and has a 15x15" mat - what!?!?! Marla is an experienced "long arm" quilter and Past President of the Northern Illinois Long Arm Guild. Can't wait to see what she makes with her machine. She inspired me to find out more about it, so you can expect to see my own personal review on the Artistic Edge Cutter soon!
Another bit of input that I heard several times was that you'd like to be able to sell finished projects online on Etsy, eBay, etc. It's an old rule that I came up with about eight years ago and I honestly don't know why I still have it in effect. Maybe back then I thought I'd sell finished projects myself on those sites and wanted to have exclusive rights, but there's no way I'd have time for that! You guys keep me way too busy designing new projects, and thank you for that! So I'm doing away with that rule. Please feel free to "go to town" if you'd like to sell your finished SVGCuts projects anywhere! All I ask is that you please fill out a Commercial Authorization Form if you haven't already (it's free)! (Special thanks to Gail and Becky for bringing that to my attention!)
Yesica, Maria and Gloria made the trek and were so sweet and fun to chat crafts with!
Leslie and Jamie stopped by and talked about papercrafting, and Leslie told me all about the new (to me anyway) craze of pearl/oyster opening parties and wants to make the SVGCuts Lighthouse to accompany her business. Don'tcha just learn something new every day!
Pam and Peg stopped by and Pam told me about how she sent her nephew a Cricut cutting machine as a grad school graduation gift. He mailed her back a "thank you gift" that he designed and cut with his machine which was a box that when illuminated from below, displayed an intricate "thank you" message design on the inside of the box. My mind was blown!
I also loved chatting with Denise who runs programs for the Chicago Park District where groups get together and make SVGCuts projects! Some groups are senior citizens and some are groups of kids. It was so neat to hear about it, and Denise told me she has SIX cutting machines. She cuts the projects out ahead of time and then helps everyone put them together. I'm completely honored that it's fun for everyone, and many thanks to Denise for doing what she does. I have a feeling she goes above and beyond out of the goodness of her heart to make the world a happier place!
I also had a huge crate of leftover paper collections available for sale, marked down pretty decently, and boy did that disappear quickly!! I'm just glad that it went to good homes where it'll be appreciated and used! Score!
You guys made the raffle a big success, too, and raised an extra $65 towards the Kiwanis Club of Plainfield's youth programs. Awesome!! Many thanks to all who entered! And congrats to the winner, Nancy of KolydeAScope Designs, who was so much fun to meet!
Many thanks to all who came out and said hi, including Shirley, Kathy, Peg, Jamie, Leslie, Deann, Renee, Marla, Debbi, Mary, Yesica, Pam, Gloria, Gail, Misty, Maria, Denise, Becky, Mary Jo, Joanne and Kitty! You guys are the best! Many thanks to my awesome helpers and personal cheerleaders who came out too and made me feel way too special, including my mom, my amazing boyfriend Tony (the craft studio mastermind), his parents, brother and nephew, my long-time bestie-bestie Jackie and our friend Ted!
Looking forward to doing another face-to-face event again!
~Mary 🙂