The first craft fair

So there I was surrounded by headbands. A funny sentence to say or write but it was true. I had become obsessed with buying ribbon. Michael's and JoAnn had back to back sales and I came home with more than I should have. So most nights while watching my favorite crime TV show I was making headbands. Like I said before, I had a buzz in my brain that maybe I should start selling these. I knew I wanted to sell on Etsy.com but I didn't even know if anyone would buy them. So one day at work, during my beginning of the day planning, I was looking through our email server at the district announcements. My friend Katie's school caught my eye so I opened the email. It was for Deerwood's Multicultural  Vendor Fair and they were looking for people who sell homemade things. "I do that!" I thought or I possibly said out loud to no one. So for $15 I could have a table and a spot. I was so excited and emailed the woman in charge. A day later I was in.

I had no idea what to expect. Would we be indoors or would be outdoors? Would it would lots of tables or just a few? I had never even been to a fair like this so my head was flying with ideas. Because I wanted to prepare (and because I love a reason for it), I took the Friday off before it and got myself ready. I bought a table cloth, clips to hold it down, frames to put my prices in, foam glitter letters spelling out headbands, and a tote to put it all in. The day of the Vendor Fair came and with Bonnie by my side we woke up ridiculously early for a Saturday. Red Bulls and a plastic tablecloth from her house in hand we headed out in the cloudy day. When we got there, we found not only were we outside but we were out in the open. As we set up our table, suddenly the rain started. Thank god for Bonnie and her tablecloth. We would cover it as it rained and take it off when it stopped. We did this pretty much every hour on the hour for the five hours we were there.

In the end, I sold three headbands. The first two were regular sales of my sequin headbands. The third was to a little girl, probably 8 years old and her older brother, maybe 10. They first came and scoped out the table picking out their favorite one and then asking for the prices. "Ok, we will be right back." The two ran off and came back with $2. I pointed out the ribbon headbands which were $2 and asked her which one she liked. She told me the sparkle one and as I tried them on her, they were all too big. I know she had been eyeing the $3 sequin ones before so I said to her, "Since these don't fit, how about you pick out one of the other ones for $2?" The older brother got so excited. She pointed to the one she wanted and it fit perfectly. Brother paid me and they ran off to their parents who were nearby. "SHE GAVE US THE SPARKLY ONE FOR $2!!" he screamed and proceeded to tell rapidly how they got the more expensive one while the little sister jumped around. It was the best part of the day.

 Was it a financial successful day? Not at all. I didn't even cover my $15 fee. That didn't matter. I had made something that people were actually interested in possibly buying. It was something I made that wasn't a complete mess that would die in my closet because I'd never let it see the light of day again. Like my Mom kept saying, it was a hobby and a good one to have. It wasn't too expensive, it wasn't crazy or took up too much time, it was something that made me happy. But keeping close to 50 headbands for myself was not an option so selling them was something that would be just that much better. The Vendor Fair was only once a year and I didn't want to wait a whole year before doing it again. A week later I was scouring the internet for the next opportunity and in two weeks after that I had my next fair booked. Things were looking up, but that's a story for next time.

The Beginning

So whenever I tell people about my headband obsession, usually the first question is "How did you start that?" Well it's a funny story actually (well, I think it's funny....)


I love Pinterest and I'm sure you do too. I can spend hours flipping over cookie recipes, outfit ideas, things I'd love to make and never will and dream weddings from top to bottom. I find myself inspecting baby shower ideas and there are no babies in my future. Anyways, (almost) all my friends love Pinterest as much as I do and one day my friend Bonnie and I were talking about Christmas. She had decided that she wanted to make a lot of items for Christmas this year instead of buying everything. This sounded awesome and I began to imagine myself in a Martha Stewart-esque kitchen creating perfect gifts and edible delights that would surely make everyone ecstatic. Since myself and some of our other friends thought this was a great idea, Bonnie decided to have a Pinterest Party. The rules were great, we would all get together and bring a craft for everyone to make. Then we would all be crafting together and leave with presents everyone could give. It sounded awesome but then it dawned on me. I am the least crafty person on the planet. I can't even write a sentence straight across a paper without lines on it. I can't draw anything to save my life. A lot of my craft experiences end up with me uttering "OOPSS!" and sometimes things falling on me. I don't accessorize or decorate well. How was I going to pull this off? So onto Pinterest I went scouring the pages for something I could actually do. Anything with freehand painting and drawing was out. Anything with dye or ink scared me. Knitting I had already failed at and jewelry making seemed too hard. So eventually I came across a headband tutorial. It was three steps long and seemed easy. DONE! I had found what I was going to make.

After a very long afternoon in the Walmart arts and craft section (Walmart because who knew how good this was going to be), I was ready to go with three different kinds of headbands. On the day of the party, I came lugging in a create of every art supply I owned, three bags of ribbon and hair elastics, and my newly purchased glue gun. Everyone had brought amazing things to make; sugar scrubs, vanilla chi mixes, etched glass paint for wine glasses, the sharpie on the coffee cup craft we all repinned, hot cocoa mixes and more. We all begin with our crafts and as I was beginning my headbands I noticed how easy they were and how cute they were. A few clicks on my iphone and I found a way to an easy bow. Then I was off, making them almost all night stopping here and there for the other crafts, which yes I did bomb most of them. My coffee mug and wine glasses were laughable, but my headbands actually came out well.

(Notice the wine bottles in the background. We had an awesome day)

Anyways, we had a blast that day and everyone left with great stuff. I also left with a hobby. A month later, I found when I had spare time, I was making headbands. When I home for Christmas, I made them with my friend Alison. By the time I came back, I was buying ribbon like a mad women and had quite an impressive stock.

About a month later

Now I had already given them as presents to every female I knew. My mother, my brother's girlfriend, my friends and my friends' kids were styling and I just kept on making them. With all the hair I have, I always need something to hold it back. As my collection grew and grew, and the more people saw them, I got the feeling maybe I should try and sell them. Here and there someone would say, "That's cute, you should sell them." So then I thought, I guess I'll try that. So I did, but that's another story. 

Welcome!!

Hello everyone. Thanks for stopping by. Here is the blog explaining what, who and why (because honestly, I am probably a better writer than a saleswomen). So first, here are my website:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/CurlyKHeadbands

https://www.facebook.com/CurlyKHeadbands

Thanks for looking and please contact me with any questions. Enjoy!