Truckit Fest

Tonight, you can find me vending at the Truckit Fest in Downtown LA from 6pm till midnight

Featuring 22 Food Trucks, 52 pop up vendor spaces and a new Seating Area.

724 & 742 South Main St.
Los Angeles, CA 90014

More info about the Downtown Art Walk in general

October Etsy Craft Night: Zines!

Stolen from the Urban Craft Center event on facebook

"Bust out the markers and scissors to draw, write, collage, cut, and fold. Zines (pronounced zeeen) are handmade mini-magazines that contain stories, comics, rants, raves, and anything else you can think of! The crew from the Urban Craft Center and upcoming L.A Zine Fest will guide you through a series of exercises to make one of your own.

$5 admission includes materials, drinks, and snacks, as well as admission to our galleries. RSVP suggested to rsvp@cafam.org"

Sounds fun!

Tips for selling at craft fairs

Some crafty tips for selling

We've decided to compile some tips that we've discovered while working as vendors. Some are obvious but hopefully they will all lead you in the right direction

*Make sure you have enough change.
*Greet every customer and be friendly. People will not stay in your booth if you look like you have a bad attitude.
*If someone is looking at your craft, it's good to talk to them about it. It doesn't have to be a big spiel, but if there's something unique about it then you should briefly mention it. You can also tell them the price if it isn't clear. This will usually lead to a discussion.
*If you sell jewelry or clothes, make sure you have a mirror.
*Have business cards to give out (people will ask for them).

Some more advanced info
*I sell prints of my work and I used to have them all in one display rack so that the customer had to flip through it. Once I made a bunch of easels and had every painting displayed, I sold a lot more. This works for all sorts of things. If you sell t-shirts, make sure they're displayed facing out instead of having to sort through a rack or a box. Just remember that shoppers are lazy and if they can't see a product while they're just walking by, they're not going to stop.

*It also helps to have products at eye level. Think about this when you're designing your display. If you're selling little things like beads, you need to get your table as far off of the ground as you can. You can get risers are home goods stores.

*Keep your table neat. Keep food off of your table.

*I find that my energy is WAY higher if I'm not sitting. If you need to sit a lot, a barstool is a good choice because you're more in the customer's eye line.

*Wear something that you feel confident and sassy in. Rolling out of bed and going to a fair in your pajamas might be comfortable, but it doesn't instill a lot of confidence in people as far as the quality of your work. I also like to wear just a little makeup.

*As far as listing your prices, you can choose to put out signs or make it a verbal thing. It's up to you as far as what works. If your product is on the expensive side, it might make sense to not list prices. If your prices are lower and are one of your selling points, then list them!

*It's all trial and error so keep experimenting!

Friday night tv party caramel marshmallows

Friday Night TV Party: Caramel Marshmallows
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons butter
1 cup condensed milk
1 bag large marshmallows
powdered sugar
wax paper
chopped nuts (optional)


-Cook the ingredients on low heat in a big pot (it will bubble up), except the vanilla, to 246 degrees F. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, test it by dropping the caramel into cold water. If it becomes firm, then it is ready (also called the firm ball test). Don’t take it off the fire too early, but also be careful you don’t wait too long and burn the caramel. Keep an eye on it because I have burnt plenty of caramel.

-while you’re waiting for your caramel to cook, cut your wax paper into squares (about 5 inches wide). The caramel is going to stick to the paper, but you can try coating the paper with the powdered sugar.

-Remove from the fire, add the vanilla

-Now’s the fun part! Take a fork, stick a marshmallow, then dip it into the caramel. Add as much or as little caramel as you want. It’s also delicious to roll it into some chopped nuts (this will help to keep it from sticking to the wax paper)

-Drop your caramel marshmallow onto the center of one of your wax paper pieces. Let it cool for about an hour before you completely wrap it in the paper. The easiest way to close the paper is to roll it and then twist the sides closed (like the way a hard candy is packaged). This should hold all on it’s own.


I like to make these as gifts, they are really delicious. I also use the caramel recipe to make caramel apples, yum!

About this site

For reasons beyond my personal control, I am no longer part of the LA Craft Mafia. I have started this site for a few reasons:

-to continue the vendor newsletter (which you can sign up for here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thecreamofthecraft/)
-to revamp our collaborative aspects. I would very much like to have other people blog here to have new voices added
-I am a hippie at heart and I have always been impressed by the people of Los Angeles and their willingness to help each other out.
-possibly to get the crafting happy hours going again. They are a lot of work, but it is a goal to do more events like that.

If you would like to contact me, please email at thecreamofthecraft at gmail

Morgan

I want to sell my crafts, what do I need to do?

When I decided that I wanted to expand my little comic website into an actual craft business, I was faced with all sorts of scary, legal questions. After a whole bunch of research and aggravation, I managed to figure out what I needed. I am in no way a legal authority and I would recommend that you see an accountant. But if you are poor, like me, here are some helpful ways of getting started:

Another disclaimer: this is all information specific to Los Angeles County (even Culver City has different rules) so make sure that you know your local laws.

The first thing that I needed was a seller’s permit. It’s free and relatively easy. Click here for the forms: http://www.boe.ca.gov/info/reg.htm
I can’t stress enough that you should NOT mail in the form. Go to the office and have someone take a look at it. Even my application had some little mistakes that, had I mailed it in, would have taken WEEKS to fix. I added multiple locations to the list that I knew I would be selling at regularly so they gave me a Consolidated Seller’s Permit. Even with that, if I am going to sell at a temporary space, I need to print out the form 530-B and fill in the location information. Once a year when I send in my sales tax, I’ll also send in the form 530-B. When you are selling at your booth, you need to have the forms with you.

I also wanted to file a DBA (Doing Business As). The woman who filed my Seller’s Permit told me that I needed one because it would protect my business name (I wish I had a penguin friend). Also, if I want to get a business credit card, bank account, etc, I’ll need this. The process looked like it was going to be a pain (you fill in the form, publish a notice in a local circulation paper for 4 weeks, then send in the affidavit) so I used LegalZoom.com. It was about $120 to do that and it is currently still being processed.

Lastly, and the most overlooked, is the Los Angeles Business Tax License. You get it through the Office of Finance (http://www.lacity.org/finance/finD.htm) click on the “Business Tax Registration Certificate (BTRC) Application” You NEED to do this before you start any sort of business activity otherwise you’ll get hit with all sorts of penalties (like I did). My day job is as a contractor/1099 in video production which I started in March of 2005 and I didn’t know that I needed to get a Business License. When I filed for it in November of 07, it cost me $200 in penalties. At the same time, I filed one for my craft business and since it was filed before any business practices, it cost me $0. So I implore you to get this taken care of.

It’s all pretty dense, but if you follow those links it’ll get you a good start. You can email me (morgan(at)iwishihadapenguinfriend.com) with questions but I can only answer out of my own experience.