A Crafty Christmas: My First Craft Show!

     So last night I completed my first "real" craft show.  Surprisingly enough I was nowhere near as nervous as I had intended on being.  That was a big accomplishment for my high-strung personality.  The event was called "A Crafty Christmas" and was hosted by BigHouse Foundation, which is an amazing organization here in my county that tends to the needs of children, especially fostered and orphaned. It was held in an old, brick warehouse in historic downtown Opelika.  The venue had a very rustic appeal to it.  Overall I think it looked more country Christmas, which was in itself inviting and nice.

     Despite my procrastination, I managed to get up over fifty pieces.  I sewed a great deal of them the day of and the day before.  (I will never, ever do that again!!!!!)  I had children's Christmas skirts, quilted wallets, checkbook covers, keychain wallets, infinity scarves, and some mini crayon rolls.

     I mentioned that I didn't feel nervous, and that was a great thing.  But instead of feeling that way, my nervousness was replaced with inadequacy when I set up my booth.  Ugh!! I walked around and browsed my fellow crafters and noticed that they had some really incredible things.  Not only did these ladies and gentlemen have amazing things, but they also had an overwhelming quantity of merchandise.  Immediately I felt that I wasn't enough nor did I have enough.

    But I shouted to myself to stop thinking that way, made myself leave the building.  As I got into my car and drove off, I prayed.  I reminded myself that God doesn't want us to do it all; He only wants us to plant the seed, and He will do the watering, fertilizing, pruning, etc.  I went to get food, and I focused on this article about inadequacy.  It mentions 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, where the apostle Paul didn't feel capable of preaching because of fear.  It also reminded me of Moses being called upon at an old age to try to deliver a nation of people and he not believing that it could be done.

     After I eased this stress of not feeling "enough," I came back to the warehouse and got ready. I looked around in sheer amazement at the other booths, relaxed, and waited for us to open.  By that time, we still had   a tad over an hour before we would let the public inside.  At 5:11 p.m., I sold my first item (which was a scarf) to the hostess's mother.  We still had forty-nine minutes before we opened.  I was very grateful and very pleased that I relied on God to show me His work.

 Checkbook covers & Infinity scarves

Keychain wallets & Mini crayon rolls 

Wallets 

Children skirts

    I managed to sell a quite bit more than I anticipated.  I made some great connections and saw some familiar faces.  I have another craft show next Friday night that a good friend of mine just told me about.  I believe I can get used to these craft shows.