Our {"pop-up-shop"} Country Living Fair 2009

Tidbits of our theatre theme, this "auricula" theatre to showcase prized flower specimens {the history of these date back to the 1700's} was made for our booth. {We used the theatre to set the stage for our puppets by Wendy Addison} Special thanks to a cousin who had these finished the week of the show. Made of cedar along with the towering obelisk planter 2 pics below, these are made for the outdoors.
Thank goodness this year we had an entrance and an exit, as last year you went out the same way you came in = traffic jam. Every year you fix things to make it better for you & your customers. One thing about being so busy is you are not on the selling floor helping the customers, no room first of all in a tent space & you feel like you're not getting to know the customer. Also, there is little time to do our wrapping the way we like it!
1st day of the show, bright & early. We thought the early bird buyers were allowed to be in by 8:00 am & we hoofed it to Lowes to buy Oak trees and boxwood. Out- of- breath we undid our tents to find out early bird pass was for 9:oo am. Oh, well at least we were able to finish things up that extra hour!
Evening before opening day........7pm & setting up "our pop-up-shop" since 12:30 that day. Thank goodness for Chipotle for giving us nourishment for dinner! Sun was shining in our tent and the paper bags of ribbon was yummy.
A little of this & that, merchandised from floor to ceiling in our "petite department store style"!

Wow, our 10x20 tent was packed so full we didn't even get all of it put out!
Haberdashery area........{didn't take as many photos as we would've like, that's what happens when your tired!}
The burlap pennants added a festive touch, perfect at a tent event.........
Our tent was more neutral this year and we loved it. There was a few subtle bursts of color here & there.
Wendy Addison's hand done goodies!
Vintage costume.........
We were able to locate a 30 meter roll of grain sack fabric. Thank goodness for a dear gal who searched through her warehouse and had it to us 3 days before. Oh, the red stripes!

Thanks for all the help, Grandma Karen, McKell, & Barbara......even though it was hard to work in our cramped sales clerk stations we had a ball!

Fun people got to meet in person: Jeni Bowlin, Tara Wilson {Texas gal}, & other lovely bloggers!

Thank you to all of the support............

Hooray!

Tent is rented, a flurry behind the scenes~pricing, organizing, piles of catalogs, brainstorming, layouts, business cards printed, what worked last year & what didn't, calling, e-mailing, strong coffee, lists, sketching, cleaning, stacking, replying, stapling, cutting and so many more verbs to bring you a blue ribbon tent at this year's 2009

Country Living Fair.............

Please come and take a peek,

Kara + Darcy

Country Living Fair 2009

Yes, we'll be at the Country Living Fair 2009

Theme:

Habadashary, 5 & dime with a carnival twist

{because if you know us we generally can't make up our minds!}

& of course if you arrive at the tent, we might even have a totally different theme!

We'll make sure to have a grand selection and the tent will be decked out in McMaster & Storm style.....

We have already been in touch with some that want to go

out to eat together in the evening......

The place: NorthStar in the Short North with Jeni's Icecream afterwards!

Contact us if you want to eat with the gang: mcmasterandstorm@embarqmail.com

We'll see ya there!

Love,

Kara + Darcy

Rah, Rah, Rah {a shout out}

See that girl in the shades?

Well she's a friend {met through the Country Living Fair}.........

She calls Kara to say "hello" every now & then......

Kara even calls her every now & then.........

{oh, the other gals are friends too! Bethie & Jeanne}

We've been through the happenings at the shows

from crowds of people where you can't get out of your booth too pee.

{no, kidding Country Living Fair 2008}

&

through the hurricane winds of Country Living Fair 2009

*and the square dancers*

{sorry folks the square dancers are a inside joke,

you had to be there to understand! Only the Farm Chicks & the girls in that picture get this "fond memory"}

Any-hoo, she is a doll and lives in this cute, quaint 100 year old home in St. Charles

Illinois. Close to metropolis, Target, Anthropologie, Starbucks, Trader Joe's, Ikea, blah, blah, blah.........

ok, you get the picture! Darcy & I live smack- dab in the middle of a field.

Darcy lives closer to civilization than Kara.

We think Kasey just opens that cute garage door and wow, there's Starbucks with Marcy

serving her a Venti Latte.

Last week Kara rang Kasey {ok, she does have a cell phone!}

"Have you seen the new Country Living, yet?"

"Noooooooo, says Kasey"....... {sighing, Kara is pretty sure she was}

"Well, mine came & you're indeed in there!"

Finally, Kara in the middle of nowhere gets a glossy copy before

Kasey in suburbia!

While Kara's on the phone with Kasey, Kasey is typing on the computer

then tells me seconds later she's marching through the doors

of Barnes & Noble to see if Country Living is there {it's not}.

Hummmmph, Kara just spots a John Deere Tractor in her view.

The closest Barnes & Noble from Kara's house is 45 minutes away.

Kara hasn't been there in years.

Anyway congrats & hugs to you!

Love,

Kara + Darcy

CL Fair 2008 Peek Inside our Tent

So much "behind the scenes" at this year's
CL fair and I will let Darcy elaborate.
I'm going to bed, zzzzzzzzz! {k}
{meanwhile}

Please check out these funny blogs

that have a great posting about the fair.
These are our new friends and we're
going to get together somewhere and
not work at all. Shopping and coffee
and lots of it.
Thanks for the memories, ice cream, and dinner!
jeanne at bushel and a peck
beth of chic junk
kasey of Lola B's {she's now moonlighting as a tent representative}

Sad thing is we were either wet with sweat or rain {I'm not kidding either} and so tired during this venue we didn't get pictures of other booths and pics of our evening out. Thank goodness for Kasey and her fancy camera she took care of that. {Hey, Kasey can you send pics of all of us out for dinner and the ice cream photo!}

Countdown!

July 29th brings a sudden realization....Country Living Fair is not too far away. Sept 12, 13 & 14th and to us retailers that is in a blink of an eye. BUT, first things first! We are going to enlarge pics that we have left on our website tomorrow! We're going to accomplish this before we upload some fun new products {linens, new petite fleur colors, fun creative supplies, etc}! I hope to have new things uploaded by Thursday or Friday.

August 1st then marks our official countdown to the Country Living Fair 2008! We have lots of ideas that are beginning to bloom in our "back room".
Sara {our talented seamstress} has made a custom pattern for darling________! We are excited about bringing our petite department store to a 10x20 tent at the fair. We'll keep you posted on our creative process along the way!

Also, a congratulatory note to Abby of The Blissful boutique in Canton, Ohio for her successful trunk show she had this past weekend!

Country Living Fair 2007

Ribbon

Our vintage-y cabinet that we added our "bird" & novelties on the glass


Our booth, with some of our hand crafted prize ribbons, which is part of our Trophy Co. line

Country Living Fair 2007

We feel completely humbled by the response to our booth at the fair. We have received numerous phone calls and e-mails from excited customers who would like to venture to our store. THANK YOU! We wanted to bring a taste of our store to the fair complete with our colored tissue. I met customers in the hallway at our hotel, which was booked! Darcy & I went to our van at the hotel to get some things in the evening---every door we passed exuded women's laughter, I think the whole hotel was filled with Country Living fans. Today at the store a customer told us she & her husband was sent to Kentucky to find a hotel, which was booked with a wedding, so turned around and finally someone found them a bed & breakfast with only a twin bed. The couple took it after 2 hours of searching! They were so glad they came (yes, really). Country Living has received unhappy comments but we would like to add they didn't know 3 times the people would show up. We were floored also! Last but not least----to Abby of The Blissful and Rebecca of a la mode design, our friends through blogging, we got to meet for the first time there! I wish we would've spent more time with them, I think a trip must be planned to Canton, Ohio! So glad to meet both of you! (love your new website & blog Abby, it's perfect!)
AND, to the other vendors that we got to meet again after too long of a time:
Judith & Karla of Bloomsbury Loft in Powell, Ohio--where vintage meets modern
Lisa Norris of Made by One Girl in Chattanooga, Tennessee--who states "if it's perfect, I didn't make it!" (we love that)
AND, to the new vendor we met, Rebecca of Rebecca Ray Designs, who designs purses made by the Amish community and was picked by Country Living as one of the "pitch your product" winners held this past March. Watch your magazine as she will be featured in 2 weeks.
Enjoy your week!
Best, Kara & Darcy