The second party is on Friday and I’m a bit nervous about playing hostess! Should be a great night though, again with lots of girlie chats and hopefully some more feedback from my friends and family! They don’t really get to see much of what I do, they just hear lots about it so will be lovely to have everything on display!

Really hoping it gets everyone in the festive spirit too and gives people ideas for Christmas…it’s never too early to start shopping!!!!

Lots of news to get through so I will write you a list with some comments to keep it short and sweet.

1. My sister has joined me – this is possibly the most exciting news as it’s great to have someone to work with and we are now getting to spend time together to catch up while we work. It does take me back to my school days slightly as I can imagine someone saying ‘If Rachel stopped laughing and started working she may get more done’!!! We are having fun though and that’s the main thing.

2. Caerphilly Craft Fair – Helen organised this and it was her first fair. It was very quiet but we did sell a few bits and it was free. Due to other things that we’ve been up to we haven’t been back yet but we will be there in December for the weekend event with some Christmas goodies.

3.  A wedding order – Having had so many comments about our bouquets being a great idea for a wedding it was fantastic to get a wedding order. The happy couple are friends of Helen’s and were able to come and see us at Caerphilly and decided to place an order. With their wedding only a week away and a trip to London for me that week it was slightly hectic but we got it all done just in time!

4. Abergavenny Food Festival – This was my first 2 day event and what a great way to start. Had a very successful weekend and really enjoyed it. I did have my first theft which I was dissappointed with but what can you do???

5. Wedding Fayre – With our first wedding order under our belts we decided to take the plunge and booked a slot at our very first wedding fayre. It was at the Commodore hotel in Cwmbran and we had a lovely day chatting to the brides to be and the occassional groom to be too! We had one order on the day but as yet nothing else, the disount voucher from the day is valid until 30th October so we will wait and see if anyone makes good use of it!

6. Abergavenny – A weekend off and then back to Abergavenny yesterday for the Craft Fair. I’m struggling with this one at the moment as it is so quiet, will hopefully pick up in the lead up to Christmas though.

7. Christmas Planning – Today has been a day of planning with Helen and my Mum. After some stressing by me we all got down to work and we now have some lovely ideas and displays for Christmas and halloween. I am in the middle of re-organising my work space so will be busy for the rest of the day I think! (No wonder I have suddenly found the time to update my blog!)

In amongst all of this I also had my first telephone order which was really exciting and came directly from being seen at the Food Festival, I’m hoping to get in properly next year rather than being there as part of the craft fair.

Lastly, we have a meeting with someone from LadiesFirst and Tiara magazine tomorrow so may be spotted in there soon!

I have something going on now for the next three weekends and then I get a weekend off….yippee! Blog updates may still be monthly but should be crammed full of stories when I do get time to write about things

I’ve had lots going on, some good fairs, some not so good. The biggest news at the moment is that my sister has decided to join my venture. We are still setting things up but this will give us the opportunity to do so much more.

We had our first fair together on Saturday for Helen to see what it was all about and although the fair was quiet she had done some work beforehand. Her friends are getting married next week and Helen had suggested bouquet Thank You pressies and the bride and groom came along to place their order! I now have 6 bouquets and 10 sweetie jars on order all to be ready by Wednesday as I am away Thursday and Friday and then straight into a weekend of fairs.

This weekend is the food festival at Abergavenny and for the first time the craft fair have been allowed to join in! I’m hoping that this will generate some interest for me but we will see. As I haven’t got the posting bit sorted yet I may struggle if people have travelled to the festival and would like to place an order. Something to sort out this week I think.

I have also made an enquiry about a local wedding fair in 2 weeks and would love to be able to do this. I’m hoping it won’t be too expensive if I just have a small display….you can only ask! They are going to get back to me this week.  

I’m sure there’s lots more to blog about but my mind is blank and tired after a long day. I’ll try to come back sooner next time!

I’d love to hear some feedback so please take a look at www.treatsyoucaneat.com and let me know what you think!

I’ve had another fair since my last post and did quite well, also may have an order from another stall holder so that’s good news! I had an order for anniversary bouquet and got another order straight away from someone who saw it…again, good news!

I’m at Abergavenny on Saturday so will be launching the sweeties, looking forward to seeing how that goes.

I will then be enjoying 2 weeks off real work so will no doubt do some bouquet work. Although if I don’t I’m not too worried as I think me and hubbie are both in need of some relaxation!

I have also started making cakes and have an order for an 80th birthday cake for collection next week…things are busy….just the way I like it

I’m using this as a great excuse to build up my levels of chocolates in different flavours and I hope to put together a range of ‘standard’ bouquets that can be made up with choice of flavour and colour within about 10 minutes. I also now have chocolate boxes which I will be using for a pick and mix so that people can use their favourite flavours and pick their own colours. Finally, alongside all of this I’m thinking about stocking some little glass jars with old fashioned sweeties in, which will be decorated and personalised. With novelty chocs to be ordered too for halloween and christmas there is a lot going on.

So although I’m not blogging much I am busy working away in the background!

These are a few orders I’ve worked on over the last few weeks, 2 more outstanding and then I’ll be getting ready for some big fairs that are coming up.

1. Once again I made enough to pay for the table.

2. Met more lovely crafters, some gave me some great ideas too, thanks!

3. Got a table in the first place! (and didn’t have to wait all week to find out)

4. Got some good enquiries.

5. Sold something two things!!!

6.Got the chance to put my name down for September

7. Used the time to work on orders I already had.

So it wasn’t rubbish at all..I take it back

I’ve decided the reason it was rubbish was partly because I sold very little but mostly because my expectations were higher. After setting up I was moved slightly and ended up right at the entrance to the fair so my lack of sales could not be blamed on stall location. I was so pleased to have such a good spot and the day started really well with 2 sales within 30 minutes. This was it…no more sales…ALL DAY! It’s really hard to stay motivated all day when you are barely glanced at but I was kept entertained by my table neighbour. Overall, looking back it was an OK day and I had a wedding enquiry so who knows what that may bring???

Towards the end of the day I had a decision to make about the September fair that will be on the weekend of the food festival. This could be really good for me as foodies generally like chocolate and it may get the idea firmly in people’s heads in the run up to Christmas. The difficulty for me is knowing how much stock to order as it only lasts so long but hopefully it will last through to Christmas if I can organise my dates properly. Currently I am going to go ahead and this means another investment of money that I hadn’t planned for this year, but I am determined to be more business minded this time!

I have completed 2 orders this week and have 2 for next week so things are ticking over and so soon into the venture this is great news…must learn to remember this!!!

Looking forward to Caerleon craft fair on Saturday as I will be there to browse and shop so should be fun! Hope I don’t spend to much!!!

Since last time I’ve done a girls night at my sister’s which went well and today I went to Llangynidr Craft Fair and I’m not sure how I feel about this one yet.

Firstly, the girls night, this went well and has got me thinking how I could do more of this. The answer is that I can’t with just chocs but wouldn’t craft parties be fab???

Today was the fair at Llangynidr which turned out to be more of a farmers / food market. I once again covered my expenses for the day on what other traders there said was a quiet day. Couldn’t really judge the customers very well though and for the first time worried my items were too expensive. There is a ‘show’ there in August and last year 2500 came through the doors so I will go back next month and then to the show before deciding whether it’s worthwhile for me to keep going with this one. Once again met some lovely people which is definitely my favourite part of all of this. I was told about a 2 day fair in Talgarth which I may do well at so need to have a think about that one. 

This week I am heading across the bridge to do a school fair at the school where my sister teaches. Not expecting much from this one but as I’ve got lots of things I can tie into the visit it should be worthwhile.

My website is also being built at the moment so hopefully I will have news of that soon. I’m holding things up at the mo by slacking with sending photos! I am uploading some as I type so hopefully a couple of them will be OK to use…..I’m not that arty with a camera!