Goodbye Christmas, Hello 2010...

I meant to post these pictures a few days ago but never got to doing it. Christmas is over, and there are only moment's left in 2009, so why not take a looksie at how my family "does" Christmas? We're an animated bunch, as you might be able to tell by the enthusiastic thumbs up pictures and festive holiday ensembles. There's even a little nod to Step Brothers (the movie) mixed within these picture...can you spot it???

Goodbye Christmas, you were fun and exhausting, and you gave me a sinus infection that was all together unpleasant, but I will miss you just the same...

Happy New Year Everyone, hoping this year goes my way, and yours :)

Holiday Trunk Show Continued: The Guests Arrive!

I was literally only able to snap a few pictures of the trunk show and guests in action at the very beginning of the show,within the first 20 mins of it while there was still room to move around! Once everyone showed up it was pretty impossible for me to duck in an out of corners to secretly snap photos of the guests shopping so I just gave up and focused on the trunk show itself.

So anyway, here are the few shots I did manage to snap of my happy guests mingling, having cocktails, laughing, browsing and trying on jewelry! Thanks again to everyone who came out, it was so much fun! Can't wait for next year!

2nd Annual Mega Holiday Trunk Show : THE SPREAD!

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. " ~Norman Vincent Peale

I am happy to report that the Mega Holiday Trunk Show I told you about a couple days ago, that's been keeping me from blogging for so long, was a raging success! I had a huge turnout, tons of sales and lots of fun! At times it was pretty overwhelming and I was having issues forming complete sentences because I had so many people talking to me at once! I can't complain though since thats a great problem to have :)

I've had a couple days to recover a bit, I had originally planned to give myself the full weekend off, but thanks to a sudden explosion of Etsy sales beginning the night of the trunk show (Thursday) and through the weekend, I'm just as busy as ever!

While I am in fact a very busy bee right now, I DID promise you all some photos of the Trunk Show! I have quite a few so I'm going to have to split them into 2 posts, this particular post will just be photos of the setup, next will be some of the party!

I setup the display the day before the Trunk Show, it took me ALL DAY LONG! I probably had well over $10,000 in retail product displayed! Thank god I planned ahead and gave myself a full day to play with the setup and lights etc! Anyway, enough of this blabbering, on to the pictures!!!

"Why don't you just say it, I'm a Cotton Headed Ninnymuggins..."

Wow, what a bad blogger I've been! Where the heck have I been? It seems as though I had fallen right off the face of the Earth and got sucked into a black hole! Well, actually, I did! But let me explain...

For the past 3 weeks or so I've been feverishly preparing for my Annual Holiday Trunk Show, and today is the day of "The Big Show"! I'm nervous, excited, exhausted and a million other things, I never deal well with the anticipation on the day of the event! Up until today, my days have been packed with jewelry making, pricing, cleaning, organizing and wrapping up loose ends, I think when I go to sleep tonight, after the show, it will be the most magically restful and peaceful sleep of my life. To sleep without the thoughts of a looming show dancing through my brain for one night will be nothing short of bliss!

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know, I haven't forgotten about my blog, and I promise to get back on the right blog track! For now, I must get back to cooking up some yummy treats for my trunk show guests and making sure everything is in order. 6:30pm is the magic hour, cross your fingers for me!!! I promise to blog about the party aftermath and include some nice pictures of the event! I'm hoping to get some shots of people in action whilst they shop, laugh, drink and play :)

Oh yeah, by the way, my Christmas spirit is officially in full swing, and I wanted to spread the love, so I leave you with this...

Coming Soon...VERY soon!

After reading a post made by my friend Amy, over at Ponder & Stitch Blog, I was inspired to let you know that I will be adding a few new items to my shop today later on! Wahoo! Exciting, exciting!

Thanks to my current head cold, which we're hoping is not Swine Flu, I'm stuck at home today on the couch and figured it's the perfect time to add a few new items! I think I'll also start perusing Etsy for possible Christmas gifts as well, never too early to start! However, I'm pretty sure I'll just end up buying things for myself that I don't need...which is equally as fun. Anywhoo, make sure to check out the Shop throughout the day!

** Don't forget to check out my new A.N. Original Home Trunk Show Secrets Series! Post #1 is up and is all about creating the buzz before your trunk show! The second installment will be posted at some point this week :)

A.N. Original Home Trunk Show Secrets: PART ONE, Building the HYPE!

I've been thinking about doing a blog series about hosting a successful home party for your art etc, and separating yourself from the cheesy, mass produced corporation home parties, after throwing many of them for my own business successfully! I've learned through trial and error what works, what doesn't, what to avoid, what to include etc. After a few years of throwing these parties I've seen them grow and become more and more lucrative and really have begun to understand the psychology of my trunk show guests and their purchasing habits. This didn't happen accidentally though, oh no no no, it was the result of lots of planning, careful thought, lot's of observation and a little bit of flair.

So here it is, the first installment of many...hope you find it useful!

1. Party is a four letter word! First and foremost, I think one of the most important things (and this is super simple) , is to never, ever, ever just call it a "Home Party" or "Jewelry Party"(or insert whatever you do etc). When I hear "Jewelry Party", I cringe! The whole home party circuit is a redundant, tired, overdone, gimmicky and horribly generic method used to get fast sales in a pressure cooker environment that prey's upon people feeling of obligation. We've all been to them, we've all sat through a long sales pitch, we've all felt the pressure to buy more so your girlfriend hosting the party gets more free junk that will fall apart anyway. Your event takes on that stigma when you refer to it as a "Jewelry Party" (I will be using jewelry as an example throughout this series , since it is what I do). Instead, bill your party as a TRUNK SHOW! A trunk show for your company, your line, you as an artist etc. Your trunk show IS NOT a tupperware party, it's a showcase of your handmade art, your heart and soul, so don't cheapen it by putting it in the same category as a tupperware party. It's amazing how much it changes people's reaction by just calling it something a little different. Trunk Show sounds so much more Bloomingdale's and much less Walmart.

2. Consider a theme. Theme's don't have to be so literal though, remember a subtle theme can be made chic much easier than a literal super specialized theme. Decor makes for better ambiance and ambiance creates sales but be careful to stay away from anything too distracting. For example, I throw a huge Holiday Trunk Show, before Thanksgiving, I bill it as Holiday, not Christmas. I can have a classy, chic Holiday event, without it being all filled with Santa Claus decor. Themes are awesome, and can make people feel way more like they are at a social gathering than just at a shopping night, and that will take some pressure off them and they typically end up purchasing MORE. (I will delve more into Themes in another post).

3. Put careful thought into your invitations. It's important to send a physical invitation, don't call around your invites. Take the time to make them look chic and refined enough to match your product and price point, then mail them via standard mail, pretty packaging with anything goes a long way. Be detailed and enticing in your invite. Make sure you mention any special offers at your party, such as any sort of door prize, fun refreshments, wine and spirits, discounts etc. Also, consider sending along a "save the date" sticker for people to easily be able to pop onto their calenders, you can find these at A.C. Moore or Michaels, or even print your own! Which brings me to my nest point, carefully choose your date. People are often reluctant to give up their Friday or Saturday night to go to a home trunk show. In my experience, Thursday night's are perfect because people are starting to get into weekend mode and welcome a little social engagement to start their weekend a little early unofficially.

4. The more the merrier. Entice your guests to bring friends via worth while, non-cheesy special offers. This can be done a number of ways, offering a small discount to be used by the originally invited party, if they bring guests to the Trunk Show, or offer a free gift, but make sure to make the free gift worth while! In the past I have offered a pair of 20$ value Freshwater Pearl and Sterling Silver Drop Earrings, in a variety of colors, of which the customer can choose from. I personally like the free gift idea, and it has worked very well for me in the past. Although the first time you do it, you might have lots of skeptics who see that it's free, and not care. BUT, once they see it at the party, those same people are often saying to me, "Ah! I wish I knew the earrings were so nice, I would have brought friends!". Thats helps them come back to your next party with friends so all is not lost :) I haven't tried including a picture of the free item in my invite yet, but I would imagine it could be helpful :) Around gifting seasons, the free earring offer is a huge hit for me!

5. Never leave home without em! In the week before your trunk show, carry around extra invitations with you at all times! You never know who you might run into and how the topic of your trunk show might pop up. If you have an invite on hand to give out, you might have just nabbed yourself another guest which could quickly turn into multiple guests! I can't tell you how many times I've had the subject randomly pop up in conversation with friends who I might run into at Target or at the bank who I might not have been comfortable mailing an invite to, but feel totally comfortable handing them an invite when I see them if it is in relation to whatever were gabbing about at the time. You'd be surprised how many times this sort of this will pop up, especially if the person has heard about your event through the grapevine. I feel like I end up giving out lots at the Post Office!

6. Regrets Only. Don't ask people to RSVP that they WILL be attending, it adds more pressure to people and more often than not they won't tell you either way anyway. However, I've found that if I request "Regret's Only", you get a more accurate gauge of the numbers to expect at the trunk show. To be honest, I'm not completely sure why it is that this works, but trust me, it makes a difference. A lot of people won't decide if they are coming until a few hours before. They have to be in the mood, feeling well etc, a Regret's Only RSVP leaves the door open for them to come or not. That way if they don't show up, it's not a big deal and they don't feel guilty or uncomfortable, and if they do, it's just a more the merrier atmosphere anyway. Requesting a "YES" RSVP makes people feel locked into it, only increasing pressure, and decreasing your chances that they will actually show up. The whole idea with your trunk show is to decrease the pressure and sales pitchy-ness, increase the fun and jovial atmosphere (more about this in a later post).

Okie doke, there's the first installment, a little longer than expected, sorry about that! I hope you found it helpful and informative, if you have specific questions about any of the area's touched on in this post, just ask them in the Comments area and I will be glad to answer :) The next post in the series will be about THEME, DECOR & REFRESHMENTS!