Budding Goods (A Shameless Plug)

Hey guys, this past week has been crazy. Lots of house news came and went (which I will save for another post) as well as our first Crafter's Fair!

Russ and I attended a fairly small Crafter's Fair hosted at Laguna Hills Mall this Memorial Day Weekend. It took place over three days and we learned a lot from it. As we prepared for the show, we swung between strong emotions of feeling super unprepared and overly prepared. We had no idea what to expect.

It ended up going great. We sold about half the things we brought which is not too shabby. Our proceeds are going to my little brother's missions trip this summer.

Here are a few of the things we made and sold:

Hanging Macrame Planters

I made a few more other macrame planter versions but didn't take pictures of them, because I wasn't sure they would sell. I'm so glad they did though - they have just the right amount of funk to them. I love them because their form almost look like wall tapestries.

Mini Zen Planters

Russell designed and built these and I planted the cactus and succulents. They're so pretty. I think this was the product we got the most compliments on. They're interesting to look at and so sleek. And the wood! The textures really pop out.

Magnetic Mini Flower Arrangements

Okay, so these were kind of a fluke. We had 1" cubes which I painted and/or stained. Russ drilled holes in them. We intended to buy air plants and stick them in there and sell them as little planters. However, since air plants are becoming quite popular, it was impossible to find mini air plants at an affordable price. I came home a little discouraged about having all these wooden cubes and no plants to put in them.

I was in my parents' backyard and noticed all the dried flowers I had hanging around. I hate throwing out flowers that Russell buys me so I usually end up drying them before they wilt. I ended up using these dried flowers and creating mini flower arrangements by gluing them into the cube and adding a magnet on the back. People loved them. I sold out of them on the second day and had to go home to make more. I already received another order for 20 more of these (woo!). They're so cute and affordable. I love them because it's a little way people can take home our creative work with them.

Our signature framed succulents

Colorful wood with hanging succulents

Here's a picture of our booth that Russ built:

A week before the show, we were still trying to figure out how to display our items. Russ did amazing though at conjuring this up. The only drawback was that little kids loved running through the middle of the booth and a few would pull on the hanging macrame planters. But it was endearing to watch.

I think that's all for now. I can go on and on about this show and about our items. I enjoyed the Crafter's Fair because there were so many people who came up to us just to encourage us and to compliment our work. After a crazy week dealing with escrow and house paperwork, this became a nice break for me and Russ.

Feel free to visit our Etsy shop: Budding Goods

We also have an Instagram page I update on whims: Budding Goods on Instagram