Hump Day! Better known as Wednesday!

I just updated my Etsy Shop from the holiday shopping season and trying to think of what I can do to improve my shop and get more sales and visits.  Valentines day is coming and trying to think of what I can market in my shop for customers looking for a valentines gift.

Making time to start my new line of jean re purposed handbags and purses.  I am going to also try to make some hats with re purposed blue jeans.  I found some ideas on Pinterest I am looking at trying and as soon as I get them done I will put a picture on my blog for all to check them out.

Not much going on right now getting ready to help my son and his girl friend with their craft show in March to help them sell some of their photographs.

Well I guess I will sign off for today!  Don't forget to email me with your comments and please share my blog with your friends and family.

Kim

Tuesday Afternoon!

As I promised another addition to my daily blog!  I was doing some research on water color painting and I am thinking I just might pick up water colors again.

It's not hard to paint with water colors but it can be a little tricky.  I am thinking maybe tomorrow I might just bring out my paints and do a bit of painting so I will share with you what I was able to do. I might also do a video of me painting maybe LOL!

I am also thinking of doing some new displays to help me display my painted clay pots and sun catchers. I will keep you posted on what I came up with.

Wish me luck on my new endeavor with my painting.

Pictures of my work will be on my post tomorrow!

E-mail me your comments I would love to hear from you!

Kim

I had a great show on Saturday!

Well on Saturday I had my annual first of the month show at Earth Park in Apache Junction, AZ  and the turn out was great lots of people showed up to visit the park and shop for fresh produce and handmade crafts from local vendors.

It was a bit cold and windy but that didn't seam to make a difference.  I had a great show sold many hats and warm type of items I had for my customers.  I took some pictures of my booth setup which really worked out well and had one of the best days ever in sales.

Now I can take the next three week before my next show there to get ready for the warmer weather sales.

Comment to let me know what you think of my setup I worked really hard on making it as customer friendly as possible.  And make any suggestions to help me better serve my customers and highlight my handmade items.

See you tomorrow,
Kim Hermann

Here an idea that will help you spread the word about your business!

Over the years I can say that the one thing people like is free stuff.  I have explored many ways to spread the word about my Etsy shop, Facebook shop and my web-site. I tried making things like magnets and attaching small cards with my name and links to  those shops and my web-site.  I made almost 100 and gave them away free at one of my fall shows the customers loved them but it really didn't do much good.  It did although more apt to look over my items I was selling and in some cases I did make some sales because of my give aways.

To grow my customer email list to help me keep my customers informed of my shows coming up and new items I am making I did a free drawing of something I made and had people fill out cards with their names and a contact phone and email address and then at the end of the day I picked a winner and now I have an addition number of new contacts.

I feel this did help me a bit but I am rethinking what to do as a giveaway so I am thinking candy with a wrapper that contains my information to draw more customers to my on-line shops.  I am planning on doing a free drawing also to increase my contact listing.

Pinterest is a great resource to find way to increase your sales and to help you grow a list of new customers or clients. Check it out!

Signing off for today,
Kim Hermann

EarthPark Market Place

I am at Earth Park Market Place today if you are in the area come and join Roger and myself.

Market place starts at 9am and goes on till noon.

This is a free event and is co-sponsored by the Superstition Arts and Cultural Alliance (SACA) and Cenpatico.

 https://www.facebook.com/SuperstitionArtsCulturalAlliance/

Check out the facebook page of SACA who co sponsors this event.  I will be blogging on Sunday about how it goes.

Hope to see you there!

Kim Hermann

Getting More Sales!

It really hard to find new ways to market your merchandise and get more sales.  I find it really hard in so many ways.  The one thing that has started to make a real difference is my branding and what do I mean by branding.  Branding is what makes your merchandise stand out from all the rest and gets noticed.  Branding also is your identity in the massive hand made market place.

So how do you come up with your brand well think of those places you recongize right away like McDonalds, Target or Old Navy.  These are all brands and so you need to come up with you own orignial brand.  Mine is Crafty Nana's Corner how I came up with that was I was thinking of the items I make mostly my hand knitted and crochet items I remember when my grandmother and mother use to crochet and now that I am a grandmother and my grand kids call me Nana I thought Crafty Nana's was a great brand for me and adding Corner gives my brand a wider range of crafts I do including my jewelry line.

So its important to take some time and think about your craft or art and give your brand a unique name that can only describe your craft or artwork.

Kim Hermann

Halloween Tree Displays

Here is one that I have been using for many years.  I purchased two black Halloween tree decorations I purchased at Michaels.  I made them into displays for many different items I make like my cork ornaments and my hand made bracelets.

I have black discs that are like a lazy Suzanne turnstile this makes the trees movable for customers to be able to turn the tree in any direction to look over all of my merchandise.

The tree is made of wire covered in a black material which makes it easy to bend into place and use.  To secure the tree and make it a wind resistant out door display I used plaster to anchor it into the plastic planter you see in the pictures (clay color).  I then purchase a couple bags of large stones at the dollar store and placed them on top of the plaster to give it an ethic look like a tree growing out of the pot.  I found a turnstile disc at a store supply store to use to make the pots turn-able for customers to view my merchandise and easier for them to pick out theat perfect item.

If you look to the right of each picture you will see the tree with bracelets on display.

Hope you like this one!  Let me know what you think so far.  I would really appreciate your input.

Kim Hermann

So what next?

Well now that I have shared with you my wire panel displays I do have some more ideas to share.  I love to be creative and making my own displays is almost a full time job.

I do a lot of outdoor shows and having a EZ up tent I try to use as much of the space available to showcase some of my hanging bells, sun catchers and wind chimes.

Here is a picture of one of my outdoor shows where I have my hanging items I sell what makes this such an ideal display is it gives my customers a unique look at how this items function, sound and look as if it were on their porches or outdoor hangers.

 

Here is my outdoor setup at a show I attended in November at Sunland Village in Mesa, AZ

As you can see I use white chain to hang my sun catchers, bells and wind chimes from. I purchase the white chain at my local Ace hardware store.  They cut the length I needed it was a bit of an investment but I use this at everyone of my outdoor shows.

An easy way to hang things from your tent.

Signing off,
Kim Hermann

Here is another wire shelving display idea

I hope you enjoyed my ideas so far using wire shelving panels as displays.  I have one more to share with you and I hope you like this one too.

This one I used for outdoor shows for my hand made jewelry and is very easy to make and fits on a 8 foot table. So here we go.

 Using the square wire panels I secured them together using zip ties this will allow them to fold together like an accordion.  As you can see in the pictures when I place this display on my table I angle them to showcase and display my necklaces.  The necklace easels are secured on the wire panels using black paper clips.  To make this display wind resistant I use black clamps to secure the display to my table on each end.

Again a nice and easy display to put together and make on your own.

See you tomorrow for another display tip.

Signing off for now,
Kim Hermann

Displays Made from Cube Wire Shelving

Well as I promised here is another display that I came up with using wire cube shelving panels. I use my wire cube to display my handmade ornaments and other items.  This picture was taken by my husband Roger at my show this past November at the American Legion in Mesa, AZ.

This handmade display is very secure and wind resistant making them great for outdoor shows.  When I first started doing shows it was difficult to showcase my handmade items like sun visors, purses, hats, and other items.  I felt I needed something like you find in a brick and mortar shop or store.

So here is a close up of my wire box display and how I put them together and this is how I put these together. Each wire square panel is put together using zip ties to make a square cube when done it looks like a box without a lid (leave on side open with no panel). The top part is a triangle shape that is used to hang items on using black hanging hooks (but you can use anything you like) my hooks were purchased online at a store supply company. The triangle shape wire panels are three panels secured with zip ties (I purchased at Wal-Mart) I then used black paper clips I purchased from the dollar store to connect the ends together to form a triangle this then sits on top of my the wire box.  To make the display secure I used black paper clips to clamp them together making them a solid piece and secure.  I also use the opening cube to put back stock in for easy access during my shows.

Well that is it pretty simple and easy.  And all I did was used some wire shelves I had laying around that I didn't know what to do with.

Here is a side note I use the wire boxes as storage bins for transporting to my shows making them a great display and very functionally.

Signing off for now.
Kim Hermann

Crafty Nana's Corner-Exclusively Yours-Designs by Kim Hermann: Display and marketing ideas.

Crafty Nana's Corner-Exclusively Yours-Designs by Kim Hermann: Display and marketing ideas.: Displaying and marketing your crafts for sale and I am putting together ideas that will help you with simple display ideas your can make at ...

Here's to a New Year and a new look for my business!

Well here we go 2017 the first day.  I am working hard getting ready for my first show of 2017 and I am always looking for new and interesting ways to display my products.  I would like to share with you this one that is really simple and easy.  As you can see in the pictures I took this paint turnstile used for holding acrylic paint and made it into a turnstile to showcase my hand painted clay bells. I also use this for earrings, Christmas ornaments and sun catchers I make.

Now you may be wondering if I am using this paint holder for a display what did I come up with for my paints.  Well I took small totes I brought at the dollar store and color coded each one.  For example all my reds, greens, browns, oranges and blues for example are in one tote making it easier for me to select colors I need to work my projects. 

This display has really come in handy and makes it so easy for my customers to look at all my products and make a selection and it also allows me to showcase a wide variety of my products on one display. I place this in the center of my table display and work items around it on my table displays.  I also use a box under the turnstile to give it some height making it easier to turn around.

Wire Cube Shelves

Check in tomorrow I will be showcasing my displays I made using wire cube shelves just like these black shelves.  I use them to hang my hats, headbands, purses and other handmade items that I sell.

See you tomorrow!