We really enjoyed ourselves during our first time at the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival. And boy, did we luck out with the weather! It was sunny and gorgeous all weekend. (It only rained a bit on our booth overnight.) Since I took so many pictures while we were there, I decided two posts would be better, one with pictures of our booth, and one with pictures all around the festival. (I’ll share those on Thursday.) So, here is a peek into our booth over the weekend. Every time I look at our set up, I’m thinking of things I’d like to change and do differently, it’s a constant work in progress.
We have a market friend with a knack for finding secondhand treasures. I told him we were on the lookout for turning greeting card display racks to use for our buttons (we borrowed one from another friend for our display for the last fiber festival we were at) and he found two at Habitat for Humanity for $10 each! We were really excited about that. Jeff made us a new magnet display out of a tall metal vase to use for this festival. (As a sidenote: can you believe all of that fits into our Subaru?! The new button display racks and our chairs are attached to the roof. We are getting to the point now where we are greatly in need of a truck.)
A customer saw our “Certified Knitphomaniac” magnets at the last fiber festival we were at and asked Jeff to make her a pin with that on it. When we ran into her at this festival, she was proudly wearing it and I asked to take a picture. Another woman came into our booth and purchased a shawl pin, then put it in the gorgeous shawl she was wearing, for safe keeping. I asked to take a picture of that as well. I love seeing anything Jeff makes being worn, whether it’s a pair of earrings or a shawl pin.
Did you happen to notice our new button cards? We’ve been pretty excited about those too. I love that the kraft paper is a more sustainable choice (100% recycled- yay!) and I also love the natural brown color paired with our buttons. It feels like a much better fit for our buttons, (more earthy and rustic- which suits us), than the off-white button cards from before. The new cards don’t have as much contrast with some of the lighter colored woods, but we still like them better. We have some of our earlier cards to use up still, but will be phasing them out.
We decided, though, that our new button cards are not on thick enough card stock (when it was damp outside one night of the festival, they started curling up on the edges a bit) so we will choose a thicker paper next time around. Also, when we oil our wooden buttons with a natural finish, the oil sometimes seeps out and is very noticeable on the kraft colored cards. We’re still figuring that out, but overall we’re really happy with the switch. (Am I boring you with all this talk about button cards?)
Bracken (Mr.Social) made some new friends at the festival and asked a few of them if they would like to take some “selfies” with him. (That’s him with his new friend Heidi above.) Once he learned about “selfies” he’s been on a roll ever since. We got to meet some blog readers who came to visit our booth, which is always such a treat. A few other people walked past our booth and said they’d seen our buttons online or popped by my blog before, and we were happy to know they were already familiar with our buttons, that we’d been getting the word out a bit in internet-land. That being said, the vast majority of people visiting our booth had never seen our buttons or heard of us before, and it was great to be connecting with new people as well.
Sometimes while I’m typing away at my computer here, it can feel like I’m writing to myself. (Like I’m in a cave saying “Is anybody out there?”, and hear my echo repeating back to me… “Out there.. Out there.”) Getting to meet some of you in person, to actually know people are out there reading this? It never ceases to amaze me. I have to admit, that I’ve sometimes worried that readers will be disappointed when they meet me in person, and that I won’t be able to convey how much I appreciate them coming to visit. Expressing myself through writing is just easier for me sometimes. How can I show my gratitude? To let you know how much it means to me that you took the time to come by and say hello? It really made our weekend, meeting each of you. I hope you all know how grateful I am that you visit this space!
Spectacular!!!
Your booth looks wonderful. Is that a new sign with your name on it? I don’t remember it from past pictures. All you new merchandise looks great. I know you must have garnered some new fans and I hope you sold a bunch of things.
Jeff made the sign for us over the summer. We changed our slogan to: a haven for knitters, gardeners & creative spirits. 🙂 Our old slogan didn’t fit anymore. And thank you!
Your booth and your products are just beautiful! I love the buttons and shawl pins. Wish I lived closer so I could have attended but I’m on the other coast.
Perhaps someday we’ll make it over to the other coast for a festival. 🙂
We’re definitely out here. I’m sure there are tons of people like me who look for your new posts and love following your progress with your business, and homestead and watching little Bracken grow. I love that you share with us! 🙂
Thanks Elizabeth!
Your display looks awesome. As always love your postings and the honesty you still bring to your blog, its really hard i think to maintain that over years and you have done that!
Wow! Everything is gorgeous. Have you expanded your selections? I love the knitting and spinning items. Hope it was a wildly successful show.
Yes, we have been expanding. We’re constantly dreaming up new things to make. 🙂
Gorgeous photos, Bracken certainly looks to be taking the selfies seriously 🙂 Your buttons are amazing and look great on the new cards. Hopefully you will be able to sort the teething problems out. x
It all looks great. Very nice.
What a beautiful booth! I working on a sweater right now to put your beautiful tree buttons on. I’ll send a picture when it’s all done.
I can’t wait to see!! 🙂
I’ve been reading your blog posts for some time now and I thought I’d comment today.
Love reading your thoughts and seeing what you & Jeff are doing. I didn’t make it out to OFFF this year and I could kick myself for not having gone. Would have loved to have met you both.
Thank you for posting the beautiful photo’s of your booth and all the lovely buttons and all. Jeff sure has a great talent for lovely work. I’ll have to see what I need in the way of buttons for my husbands cardigan.
Take care & be well
Thanks so much Lacy for all your kind words. And for visiting this space, I really appreciate it! Sorry you didn’t make it to OFFF, but we will be there again next year. 🙂
those shawl pins are gorgeous! I have one on my want list for sure. Jeff does an amazing job. The stand looks great. I wish I was close enough to pop in and say hi. It’s all a work in progress…and its looking great! your living the dream 🙂
Very nice display…I really like the way you have the shawl pins together on an embroidery hoop.
Taryn I love all the photos!!!!
Hope you had lots of profit too….
<3 <3 <3
Wow! Taryn! Your buttons are SO GREAT! I love them! You displayed them so beautifully! Maybe I’ll reward myself with buttons one of these days. GOOD JOB! I am so glad the festival was fun. You make me want to go to festivals!