Selling at Craft Fairs: Are They For You?

You love what you create and you love sharing with others. Has anyone ever approached you and said, “You know, you should really consider making and selling these things!” While the compliment is very flattening, you may think that you enjoy making items yourself but wonder whether selling those items would be a good idea. Is it all worth it? It may or may not be.

Over the next few weeks we’ll help you explore the pros and cons of generating additional income by selling your creations. We’ll share some great tips on how to price your items, how to make an eye-catching display, creating that great first impression with customers, and then how to extend your business beyond the craft show.

You can read the first article in this series by clicking here.

Now that you’ve read our tips, we want to hear from YOU! If you have ever participated in a craft fair, we’d love to hear about your experiences with it! What kind of show was it? What did you sell? What suggestions would you give someone who was considering the possibility of entering into one?

We extend this invitation to our communities at both YouCanMakeThis.com, as well as SWAKembroidery.com! We can all learn from each other!

New, FREE Tutorial in SWAK 101

Have you ever tried doing embroidery on ribbon? If you love to embroider just about anything you can get your hands on, then ribbon is a really fun way to go! We have literally HUNDREDS of new mini-designs just uploaded to the site this week, so you’re bound to find something that will fit just the right occasion!

And in SWAK 101 of the site, you’ll find some wonderful tutorials covering many different components of machine embroidery. The most recent one added was all about how to embroider on ribbon. With these sure-fire techniques, you’re bound to come out a pro!

What kinds of ribbon embroidery have you done in the past? Hairbows? Gift-wrap? Anything else? We’d love to hear what you do with your mini-designs! We’d love to see pictures, too! Our “I Made This” section of the site is growing and we’d love to have you be a part of it. It’s easy to do and it’s a great place to go for inspiration!

Site Feature: Bonus Products

Looking for a way to accumulate even more designs? Then you’ll love the Bonus Bundle feature here at SWAK!

So how does it work? Once you have logged into your account, go ahead and go shopping! At check-out, a notice will let you know that your purchase qualifies for FREE bonus designs! For every $10 purchase, you can choose 2 designs. For every $20 purchase, you may choose up to 5 designs, and for every $40 purchase, ALL 12 designs are yours for free!

If you have any problems with understanding how it all works, no worries! We are here to help and we are just an email away!

Bonus products will change periodically, so keep checking to see what’s new! Here are the bonus products that are available NOW! http://www.swakembroidery.com/bonus-products.htm

 

Site Feature: What is a SWAK-Pack?

Hi Everyone!

Over the next little while, I am going to spotlight a different section of our site so that you can become more familiar with some of its unique features. Today I’d love to share with you about our SWAK-packs!

If you click on the “SWAK-Pack” section of the site, you will see a wide variety of designs listed on the page. Inside each box, you will see one picture. HOWEVER, if you click on “more info” inside that box, you will see that each swak-pack comes with at least 4 designs! Some packs contain more and some contain both sizes inside of one pack! Each one is unique and if I dare say…adorable! Each themed pack is at a great price of just $7.95. More will be added weekly!

So go ahead and check it out! Here is a design we stitched out on a beach towel from the “Critters of the Sea” swak-pack! Perfect for summertime, this set comes with a crab, a fish, an octopus and a sea turtle! Can you just picture those cute towels, bags, and clothing now?

 

 

It’s Finally Here!

We’re excited to announce the launch of www.SWAKembroidery.com! Thank you for your patience and your support. We hope you’ll find SWAK embroidery a place for a lot of fun designs, ideas, free tutorials, and more. We are listing more designs every day so check back often to see what’s new. Here’s a few of the highlights you’ll find at the site!

And thank you to Janome for sponsoring our first give-away….a NEW Janome 350e embroidery machine! Sign up for our SWAKembroidery newsletter for a chance to win this incredible machine!

We’d love to hear from you! Thanks again and enjoy taking a look at the new SWAKembroidery.com!

-Kris

 

More Answers About SWAK….and Contest Question #3!

This week has been a lot of fun for us here at SWAK! We’re reading and taking note of each of your comments. Thank you for participating!

So before I post contest question #3, I’ll answer a few of your questions that have come through the blog.

First, I loved post #93 from Lisa where she said this:
“Well, last week I would have simply said:” I don’t know how either, but if you ever find out how, let me know!LOL!”  But now, I can simply say: “let’s go to this site , and learn together!”

We definitely want that to be the case! There is a learning curve with machine embroidery, but once you learn and receive ongoing support, you’re going to love this!  Machine embroidery is fun for both personal use, or even turning it into a business of your own.

Kelli from Post #111 wondered if the site would have advice on machines. I think there is definitely a need for that as the choices out there can be overwhelming. So we’ll provide a place for that very thing, and a place for your own reviews of the machines you’ve been using.

And Nicole (post #243) hopes that SWAK will have lots of cute applique. Nicole, we think there’s a lot of that on the new site. We love that, too!  In addition, there will be Primitive designs, “in the hoop” projects, embroidery for all hoop sizes including the 6×10, and the site will be home of the official “SWAK-PACK.”

Keep the posts coming. We’re listening….
-Kris

And now for contest question #3!

Welcome Back! Post and Win - Blog Question #2

Hello!!

What a great response to our first blog post! We are so excited to have you be a part of this new site! It has been fun reading all of your posts. Your enthusiasm is contagious! I loved a comment made by Allison (post #88) to “bring on the cuteness!”  We couldn’t agree more!

In answer to some of your questions…

-Yes, Jan (post #57), we will definitely have a “wishlist” feature on our site! I chuckled with your comment, “You WILL have a wishlist feature won’t you? Pretty please? With red embroidered cherries on top?”

-Yes, Patty (post #111), we will also include a series of Embroidery 101 tutorials. Those ebooks and video tutorials will be free! Michelle has written our first eBook on how to machine applique. There’s a video on this, too! I love videos!

I’ll answer more of your questions in our next blog post, but in the meantime, here is our next “post-and-win” question!

I know a lot of people who see something that has been made or machine embroidered and don’t think they could ever do it. So….

Welcome! Post and Win!

Hi!
We’re so glad you found us! My name is Kris and I’m happy to share with you a bit about our new embroidery site, www.SWAKembroidery.com!  Michelle and I will be working together to make your experience at SWAKembroidery a great one!

In anticipation of the new site launching, we decided it was time to have some fun and post on our blog! We are putting the last minute touches on the site and it will be available to see VERY soon! In the meantime, we want to hear from you!

Come back to this blog each day and view more questions we’d like to ask you! You’ll also learn more about what you can expect to see at the new site! If you post, you have a chance to win gift certificates from both SWAKembroidery, as well as our sister site, www.YouCanMakeThis.com!  So here’s the first question….