Castle Story

 This wee knight might be the hero of your story.  Or you might have the princess rescue the dragon from him.  The story changes every time you play.

Story starter stones are the newest addition to the Traveling Chicken and Monster Show.

The rest of the finger puppets that go along with this set include the wizard, king, dragon and princess.

These will be available at upcoming shows and in the shop soon.

The People You Meet: Early Departures

One of the worst things a vendor can do is pack up and leave before the end of the show.

Yes, there are some good reasons a person has to leave early.  Medical emergencies and familial crises warrant a hasty departure.  Not making any sales or being bored is NOT a reason to leave. You paid your money to be there.  You agreed to be there.  You need to fulfill your obligation. 

The show may be slow.  There may not be a customer in sight.  You may be bored out of your mind.  But it is still inappropriate to pack up and leave early.  And the worst offenders of all are the ones who pack up and leave in a huff, making as much noise as possible while blocking aisles and neighboring booths.

Customers see early packers as a sign that the show is over.  They will spend less time looking.  They avoid aisles that are blocked with a cart and boxes.  They leave.  Vendors who leave early disrupt the entire show.  They ruin potential sales for their neighbors.  It is bad form.

Furthermore, leaving early also means you miss potential sales.  I have had more than one slow day break even or make a profit because of sales at closing time or even just after.  Sometimes, it is from other vendors who were waiting for their final tally before spending. On one occasion, I slow-walked my clean up for the boy with the 5 siblings who kept tugging on his mom's sleeve as she chatted.  By the time she was done and they walked over, it was probably ten minutes**** past closing.  She quickly bought him the monster he wanted and she bought something for each of the other 5 with her.   You never know. 

If you have a crisis and have to leave it is best to try and locate the coordinator and let them know your situation.  It may not save you from being put on the naughty list but it is the correct thing to do.  Quietly letting your booth neighbors know what is going on is also appropriate.  They may be able to help let the coordinator know and they may be able to help you get packed up.

The real key if you absolutely have to pack up early is to be as discrete as you possibly can.  Start from the back of your booth leaving the easiest thing to pack in front and on display as long as possible.  Politely tell any customers who come into your booth or pause at your table that you must leave for a personal reason. Offer them a card so they can check out your on-line shop or tell them when you will be at the next show.

Move your stock and display out of the area as quickly and quietly as you are able.  Do not block the aisles.  Do not shove your cart through the crowd.  Take the least crowded, least obvious path you are able to follow. Do your best not to disrupt the flow of customers to the booths around you. 

Follow up with a note to the organizer about why you had to leave.  It is only polite.

Otherwise.  DO NOT PACK UP OR LEAVE EARLY.  

**** Lest you think I am slowed up the works for the organizer, let me be clear that while I was waiting for the boy and his mom, I had organized and packed everything behind my booth.  My price tags were stowed.  Most of the secondary display items were packed.  I'd taken down my sign.  I'd picked up my business cards.  My paper bags were in their place just open enough so I could get to one.  I was ready to go once their purchase was complete.  And let me also say that due to the nature of my product and due to the fact I have a bunch of engineers and efficiency experts in the family, my tear down process takes at most 20 minutes start to finish if I am by myself and if I have help we are often in the car 15 minutes after we start packing (it has become something of challenge to see if we can beat the record time).  So my stalling for 10 minutes still meant that I was packed and gone in less than half an hour after the close of the show.  I would never do that if it took me longer to pack up.  

The People you meet: Various Vendors

Over the past few years, we've been to festivals, cons, art shows and pure craft shows.  The audience has ranged from 100 - 100,000.  Throughout it all we have learned a lot about our process and practices.  We have taken what we learned and used it to make tweaks to our set up, products and patter.  We've observed how people interact with our displays and then experimented to see if we can improve their experience. It has been an amazing experience.  This series is an attempt to share what we've learned.  

The vendors around us have ranged from first time wet behind the ears to been there done that made more than you experts.  Upon reflecting about our various booth neighbors I realize we have developed a sort of short hand to communicate the various styles and a set of responses to them.  I've already addressed the polite professional.  You can read about that in this blog post.  Here are a few of the others. 

The Attentive Newbie. This is a first time vendor.  They are excited about their products.  They have high expectations for the day.  They make mistakes.  It is OK.  It can be fun to be next to a newbie.  Engage with them.  Show them the ropes. Let them know what they are doing right and then you can politely let them know what they are doing wrong.  For example, "I like your 7 foot tall shelf full of fragile things however it is in the aisle and you don't want customers bumping in to it and knocking it over.  Perhaps you should put it in the back corner where they can see it but won't break it." Engage with them and help them learn the ropes.  It can be a fun day and you can help some one become a better booth neighbor.


The Poacher.  There is an unwritten rule that customers passing in front of your booth are your customers.  This can be extended a wee bit if a customer on the edge of your space is looking directly at you.  You are free to address customers in your zone.  You can politely acknowledge customers on the edge who are making eye contact.  Once the customer passes outside of your zone, they are no longer your customer.  Retreating backs are NOT customers.  The poacher either stands in the aisle or in the front of their both.  They engage with customers outside of their zone.  They distract a customer who is looking at another booth.  Some poachers justify their practice because they are offering deals, raffles or prizes. They tend to be gimmicks and do not tend to appeal to customers looking for handmade even when it is a handmade seller.  An extreme poacher will follow customers into a neighboring booth.  While poachers think that this is a good marketing strategy it usually isn't.  Most of the time poaching reeks of desperation and customers can smell it. It frequently causes approaching customers to turn and walk the other way and can completely scare customers away from all of the surrounding booths.

Chasers.  While I described chasers under poaching, they deserve a special mention.  Chasing down customers and following them into other booths is bad form.  Don't do it.  A good show host will not allow chasers to continue.

Aisle Blockers.  There are several categories of blockers.

Space Blockers.   Each show has a set booth space.  You are expected to stay inside the boundaries set for you by the show host.  If you have a 10x10 space EVERYTHING needed to run your booth must fit within that 10x10 boundary.  Even if the aisle is 20 feet wide.  You need to keep your stuff inside your space.  Moving a rack or sign or wall into the aisle can be a violation of fire codes.  It is usually a pure safety hazard.  Don't do it.  With regards to your neighbors it is just plain rude.  It blocks the view of their booth from the aisle.  It interferes with airflow on hot days.  It causes traffic to move wide around the blockage and can cause customers to overlook small products in neighboring booths.

Some shows do have exceptions.  Sometimes there is a small aisle behind the booth between the rows.  Politely discuss use of this space with your backdoor neighbor.  It can be a very friendly spot to be in as long as you share fairly and play nicely.  Some shows also have a wee bit of wiggle room.  They may mark an11x11 spot for a 10x10 space.  That means that if you put your tent to the back of your spot you can slide out ONE foot in front of it.  Don't be a camel.  Stay behind the blue tape or the red line.  Keep it LOW.

Customer blockers.  Some booths are popular.  They have lots of customers and are very busy.  Customers line up to get in.  Customers watch from across the aisle.  A busy booth vendor can't do a lot about that.  They are usually too busy to notice what is going on outside the tent.  Good ones, however, encourage people to step in, do what they can to politely suggest they don't block the aisle and bring in more helpers to speed things up.  While it may be annoying to be next to the popular booth you should look on it as an opportunity.  There are a lot of people coming down your aisle and there are a lot of people in your zone while they wait to get into the booth next door.  Engage with them.  Offer shade, water for their pet, a bag to hold all their loose objects(a bag that has your contact information).  Ask what brings them to event, where they are from, what they are looking for.  Invite them in to look around while they wait.  That few seconds of engagement is an opportunity to attract their attention and get a second look.  Take advantage of it.

The other thing to do is to observe.  Are they selling something unique?  If they are selling the same things as everyone else, what are they doing to stand out?  What does their booth look like?  Watch how they engage with the customers.  You can learn a lot from them!

The one thing to never do is publicly grouse about it.  No one wants to hear you bad mouth another vendor and customers who like the busy booth are not going to jump in and buy from you because you gossip about their favorite.

Chatty Cathy Blockers.  These are the vendors who have 35 members of their family in and around their booth all day.  There are at least 5 people who don't fit in their space and who spill out to stand in front of the neighboring booths.  This is rude.  Don't allow it to happen. It is great to have support.  It is great to bring people to the show.  Do not allow them to block the aisles or other booths.  Move them in or move them out.  The end.

If you are next to the family reunion, it may take you a while to realize that they are probably not customers.  Once you do you will likely start to notice that they are smoking, drinking and allowing their children to run wild with sticky fingers all over your products.... take a deep breath is usually isn't that bad.  Now, you can politely ask them to move.  You can politely ask the vendor to ask them to move.  You can move in front of your booth to 'rearrange or straighten products" and say excuse me a lot.  Usually they will get the message and move for a bit.  Wash. Rinse.  Repeat.

If you are the recipient of familial love, please be aware of where they are.  Ask them to stay within your zone.  Encourage them to visit the rest of the show.  Tell them about the amazing artist in the next booth with the incredible art that they should buy for Great Aunt Esther.  If they don't get the hint tell them to go home and come back when you need help cleaning up!

BABUSHKA DOLLY

Practicing my digitizing.  Making new stuffies for the Spring Show season. 

Ranking the Most Common Initials in the United States

ABC

One of the common problems for people who do craft shows is figuring out what to sell.  This gets to be really complicated when you create items with names or monograms.  One way around it is to do single letter monograms.  With 26 letters in the alphabet, it can be expensive to prepare items in all 26 letters and in all colors and styles.  I ran into this problem with the embroidered toilet paper I was making before the holidays. 

I decided to do a bit of research and see if I could come up with a rough ranking for the most common single letter initials  I figured that some people will buy their first initial and others will purchase their last initial.  So a combination of both initials seemed in order.  I found lists of the most common last name in the US today as well as lists of the most common first names, male and female, over the last 100 years.  I did a quick count of the number of names in each category that started with each letter.  

Last Name          Male First Name             Female First Name

 

R                               J                                           J  

M                              R                                         M

W, B, C                     A                                       A, D

S, P                            B                                       C, S

G, H                        S, D                                     K, L

T                                P                                         B

J, L                        C, E,G, H                            E, R, T

A, F                         K, T, W                                 H

D, K, E, N                   N                                   G, N, P, V

Y, O                         Z, V, F                                 F, O

I didn't include numbers because, honestly, I didn't spend the time cross checking to  make sure they added up properly.  Remember, this is just a quick attempt to score monograms for likely popularity.    Out of 100 names in each category the top letter represents 11 - 18 percent.  The second row is 10 - 11 percent.  The bottom numbers represent one percent.  

The letters I, Q, U and X do not appear on any of these lists.

In order to get a better picture of which letters are relatively more common, I made up a ranking system.  I weighted each letter each column in the order they occur top to bottom.  I used 10 for the top row and 1 for last row.  I did that simply because there are 10 rows of letters.  This isn't entirely fair because the R in last names represents 11 percent of last name initials while the J in male names is 18 percent.  I could go back and to a percent ranking but that would take another sheet of paper in my notebook or I'd have to go all modern and set up a spread sheet.  So, I made it up.  We are talking relative numbers here and no one is going to bet the farm on using these as more than kinda sorta guidelines..  right?

I then added up the rank score for each letter.   For example:

R = 10 + 9 + 4  = 23

10 for being in the first row of last name initials

9 for being in the second row of male names

4 for being in the sixth row of female names

= a ranked score of 23.

Thus the top letters for monogrammed items should* be:

J

R

B, S

A, C

M

D

P

H

G, T

K, W

E, L

N

F

V

O 

Y, Z

With no requests for I, Q, U, X

*Should assumes that people purchase lettered items in direct proportion to their occurrence in the list of first and last male and female names.  However, one might imagine that Tiffany in row 7 of the female names might be more likely to purchase a letter key chain than Joe in row 1 of the male names or vice versa.  I have no way to account for those variables.  

If your audience is primarily female you might choose to use the order for female first initials or use the following ranking which combines last names with female first initials.

 M

C,

J, R, S

B

A

D, L

H, P, T

G, K

E

N

F

V

O

and no I, Q, U, W,  X, Y, or Z 

That does shift things around quite a bit. Remember, the data I started with were the common names for last 100 years.  That means it includes popular names from ALL generations.  If you have a young customer base, these initials are going to be weighted with names like Mary and Ruth that are not as common today.  You will have to look at lists of common baby names from the correct era to get a closer approximation of the letters that are in the realm of likely to sell.  Other factors that will certainly have an impact on the letters your customers buy will be regional and ethnic differences.  A look at local

 Perhaps this will help in determining how to spend your time when making single initial items.  Perhaps not  Prepping for a craft show is something of crap shoot.  So take this 'research' for what it is worth and certainly don't bet the farm.  Just because I think these might be common letters does NOT in any way shape or form mean that these are the monograms that will sell. 

Hello.... Is this thing on?

It seems like forever since I've been here.  I can't believe my last post was as recent as August 12.  It feels like it has been at least 2 months instead of a couple weeks.  As usual, I spent the dog days of August getting read for the Race for the Rivers.  It was a good event but TOO hot.  The heat index was 114 degrees (F)!!!!  That was crazy.  It was a good event for the folks who were there but, understandably,  few others came out to check things out. 

I spent the rest of my time making.  I made soap.  I made candles.  I made backpacks.  I made lanyards and key chains.  I upcycled napkins.  I pieced some quilt tops.  I made market bags. I made pennants.  I made prayer flags and DIY prayer flag kits.  I made earrings.  I made a crazy amount of stuff.  I was a one person craft mall without the fake flowers!

I did a lot of work figuring out my booth and display items.  I came up with some fun things I will share when I catch my breath. 

Today I received an upcyler's dream:  Grain bags from a microbrewery!  How cool is that?  I'll be making more bags. Anybody know the dimensions of a growler?
 

When is a chicken not a chicken?

When a client wants it to be a turkey.  Draft A isn't all that, but I think it will get there.  At least I have hope for it. 

Problem Solving. Or Avoiding What I am Supposed to be Doing

 I am supposed to be making things for a couple shows.  I am supposed to be cleaning my house.  I am supposed to be packing up some things.  Most of all I am supposed to be making a mini art quilt for the estimable Mare Mare of craftster.org.

Instead, I found it absolutely essential that I make a carrier bag for the hangers I drag around to shows.  I have a couple cardboard hanger boxes that I borrowed stole from my mom.  She used to get them from the local dry cleaner.  I can't find any dry cleaner that has them.  They are perfect for keeping the hangers organized and ready to grab. 

The boxes are old.  I was completely stressed out about them when I sent one with Spud 1 and his buddy, Mr T,  to the last show they did.  I just knew that it would rip or that some one would throw it out as trash.  I am quite sure that Mr T was convinced I am a lunatic for worrying about a dumb old box.  But then given Mr T's status as a complete lunatic (incredibly practical, efficient and organized but entirely goofy) I am not sure I will give his opinion all that much credibility. 

Looking ahead, I realized that the next show I am doing, I will be on my own.  No Spuds to Sherpa the goods.  The most awkward thing I have is the hanger box.  clearly the box needed to have shoulder straps and a supporting bag to keep it intact and recognizable as a valuable tool. 

So... I made the hanger box bag!  I drew around the bottom of the box.  Stitched on a strip for the sides.  It has a muslin lining.  I stitched the lining and outer together at the top and turned it through the hanger opening sides.  Those I folded under and topstitched around the whole thing.  I added the straps, one inch twill tape over the surface going all the way around the bag and under the bottom for some extra support.  The little ties on the front are some more twill tape to keep things all together. 

Fits over my shoulder.  Is comfortable to carry. Looks better than the beat up cardboard.  Winning all the way around.  Now, if only I could make some decisions about Mare's quilt.  She loves modern and bright.  Any suggestions for making it artsy? 

Soap!

It ain't pretty but it's my first batch. 

I should add some details.  This was my first cold process soap making experiment.  I used olive, coconut and palm kernel oil.  (I will NEVER willingly use Palm Kernel oil again.)  I scented it with Bay.  It is pretty potent.  The top is very wrinkled.  I will have to ask more questions about how to keep that from happening.  Otherwise, it came out quite nicely.  Now it has to age for a bit before it can be used.

I'm going to try another batch soon.  Perhaps tomorrow.  But NO palm kernel oil.  

Happy President's Day

It was a long weekend of traveling for me.  WaggonsWest went East to do the Flying Monkey show in Huntsville.  We tried out the new smaller table display.  I made a fitted skirt for the 4 foot table so the Mr can take just badges when he is in town.   This is a really fun show to do.  The community is fantastic.  The traffic is good.  We have fun at this one. 

 Travel to H'ville means that I get to take a break in Paducah.  Found a few pieces on the remnant table to fill in for projects for some friends.

And I got a few basics and another piece of the Fairy Tale Friends line.   The navy Kona's will probably go into a bigger version of the drunkard's path.  The brown didn't photograph well, but it is an absolutely gorgeous rich shot cotton.  I've got a few ideas for that one!  And another piece of black Kona since I've been ripping through my stash of that (literally)!

Now I have a few badge orders to make and ship and I've got to figure out how I am going to interpret this week's Project Quilting Challenge :  Wish upon a Star.  As I have been saying all season, my goal is to improve my technical skills.  The last challenge was a new technique, but not a lot of technical accuracy.  I am torn between doing something wild and taking on one of those "never see the light of day on my bucket list" projects with y-seams and crazy angles.  I dunno. 

I've Venn Thinking

I've been pondering the difference between art and craft.  What is it that makes one person an artist and another a craftsman?   I can see the overlap.  But what are the distinctions?  Particularly when it comes to quilting.  What is an art quilt and what is just a quilt?  I have some ideas but I thought I'd ask the question of you first. 

Making Sawdust

When my dad worked in the shop my brother always said he was making sawdust.  In reality he was carving and sculpting and turning and generally making amazing things.  But bro always called it sawdust.  I'm wondering what he would call the remnants from my badge-making.  The scrippy scraps get saved for a friend who makes paper.  The pockets go to a friend who is saving them for a project.  I'd love to find some one who could use the zipper, seams and waist band.  Any takers? 

Sneak Peek

on the work table today. 

Two Gift Ideas. One Post.

 The ladies Bible Study Group made ornaments to be given to the children after the Christmas Program.  This has been done by the seniors or some group within the church for many years now.  This year we were pressed for time and resources so we made pine cone ornaments.  I love the look and decided to make some for our tree this year rather than pull out all of the other ornament boxes.  

Even better this would be stash busting.  I had the leftover paint I bought for the kids ornaments and I knew I had a huge peach basket full of pine cones in the garage.  They used to sit on the fireplace in the winter time.  Amazingly enough, I did have a basket of them.  And even more amazingly, I FOUND the basket right where I looked the first time!.  AND it was full of pine cones.  A couple on top had been painted gold but the rest were all a beautiful dark pine cone brown.  

I got out my paint and glitter and started in.  Strangely enough the first cone I grabbed had something that looked like hot glue all over the bottom.  I painted it anyway.  It seemed to work OK except for that 'glue'.  I grabbed another.  'Glue' again.  I started to sort through them all.  And then it hit me. 

 These were firestarters!  Pine cones dipped in parafin and left to harden on wax paper.  (Gift 1.  Simple to make.  Looks beautiful.  Useful too.

So I scrambled and looked for the pine cones I'd used in other spots around the house.  I came up with quite a few.  All of those were painted with white craft paint, sprinkled with glitter and left to dry on wax paper. 

To hang them, cut a piece of 1/8 inch ribbon about a foot long.  Fold it in half.  Tie a knot about half way down.

This creates a loop on one side and leaves two long tails on the other.  Work the long tails around the top few petals of the cone.  Tie them tightly in a square knot.  Add a bow if you like. 

And there you have it.  Gift 2.  Beautiful, snowy, sparkly pine cones to hang on a tree.  By the way, the kids loved them and the seniors who were our guests snapped up all of the leftovers! 

Trimming

The holly and the ivy got out of hand this past year.  They needed to be trimmed.  Trim them we did.

I love having a double door.  However that means a double wreath.  But with plenty of holly and ivy I made them myself.  How very cheap Martha of me!  And I had a good case of poison ivy to go with it.  (There must have been something extra in one of the trimming spots because I am very careful around the poison ivy and I didn't see any anywhere.)

There were even a few wee wreaths to be made.  Hope your holiday trimming is going well.   In case you want to be Martha too, you can follow my wee sketch tutorial over on craftster. 

Chalk Board Paint

Image from Graphics Fairy.

 I went looking for some chalkboard paint on-line. 

There is a wide variety available. 

Including wallies, contact paper and varieties of craft, spray and other paint. 

What works?  What do you use?  Keep in mind I am not such a neatnick painter and brushstrokes can be the bane of my existence.  Any advice will be greatly appreciated. 

Craft Fair

I am looking forward to the Francis Howell Central Craft Fair Saturday Oct 27. (5199 Highway N, Cottleville, MO 63304) It is from 9 - 4pm. Mostly Upcycled badges, scarves and headbands and sunpainted clothing. I will be selling the mug rugs I've been posting. New this year are some sweet upcycled bird feeders. Let me know who you are if you get a chance to stop by!

This is only fair I'm scheduled to do this season.  If you can't come to the show you can always check out my etsy shop or send me a message and let me know what you are interested in.  

Tutorial: Fast Finish Triangles

(Or how to do that thing I always forget to do until it is almost too late.)

Mini quilts can be very useful as mug rugs, coasters or as my friend Miss A says, "modern doilies".  But some of them are just too pretty to use to soak up your diet soda and cookie crumbs.  Those should hang on the wall.  AAQI recommends putting fast finish triangles on the back of art quilts submitted for their auction.  It is a simple matter to add them to your quilt... if you remember in time.

  A small piece of binding can be used to make them. 

 Square off the end of the binding.  Fold it up at 90 degrees to make a triangle. 

 Cut the binding along the edge of the folded piece.

 Leaving you with a right triangle with the fold on the long side and the raw edges on the short sides.

 Place the triangle with the raw edges toward the edge of your quilt.  Make sure you are placing them on the upper corners of your quilt so that it will hang right side up.  (Don't ask.)

Now if you are organized and thinking ahead, you will flip your quilt to the front and stitch on the binding using whatever cool tricks you use to attach it.  Your Fast Finish Triangle will be sew in with the quarter inch seam and you can finish your quilt as usual. 

If, however, you can never remember to put the triangles on at all, let alone before you stitch on the binding, never fear.  All is not lost.  Make you triangles as above.  Position them on the back and sew them on.  Just be sure to use a smaller seam allowance than your binding.

  Oh, and make sure that the little fold that flips over to the back to finish your corner is up and out of the way so that you don't stitch it down with FFT.  (Again, don't ask.)

No matter which way you add the triangles, once they and the binding are stitched securely, you simply finish the binding as you usually would.  I imagine if you are a supremely confident sewist, you can hand stitch the triangles in after the fact.  But them if you are a supremely confident sewist you probably thought to include them in the first round.

To hang your wee quilt using the FFT's you simply tuck a small stick, or straw or pencil into each pocket and rest the stick on you nail or hanger or push pin.  Ta. Da.  Easy to hang quilt. 

Craft Gossip

I get a daily email from the folks at Craft Gossip.  Their editors cover the waterfront when it comes to the crafting world.  They showcase completed projects, tutorials, techniques, products, giveaways and opportunities.    I have pursued some of the opportunities and have had some fun while doing it.

Last year they posted an opportunity to get your crafts placed in a craft vending machine at the Fluvog shoe company.  My little badges didn't make the final cut, but I was pretty excited that they were interested and they did send me a gift certificate toward some shoes!

Earlier this year, there was a call for sewers (Gee I hate that word... looks and awful lot like sewers and stinky pipes we are not!) for a research project.   I spent a delightful half an hour google chatting with the researcher.  For my time, they sent a small check and a gift.  The gift was this box of Coats and Clark thread.  There are 25 assorted colors of all purpose thread inside, along with a color sheet and a funky zipper lanyard.

I was reminded to post about it today when I pulled out the box to find a thread that matches the pillow cover I am making.  Sure enough, with 25 non-standard colors, I found one that, while it doesn't match perfectly, blends in well enough to avoid a trip to the store.

So thank you Craft Gossip!  

The pillow cover is a commission piece.  It is machine embroidered on what I believe to be silk and piece with a different raw silk.  (OK, I can't remember exactly. I was buying fabric to make ren faire clothes at a going out of business sale.  To the best of my knowledge, I only bought remnants that were labelled silk or linen.  The labels are long gone from these pieces so I really don't know for sure.  I do know they aren't linen.  Whatever.  It is from my stash and the prices were AMAZING.) 

Whimsey Box Review

A few months ago, I read about Whimsey Box.  It is a sort of subscription club for craft supplies.  Each month you get a new box full of different types of craft supplies.  The boxes looked intriguing.  The supplies described looked fun.  I figured this would be a way to jumpstart my crafting mojo. I was stuck in a rut and needed some new inspiration. 

The subscription rate was $15/month.  It is a bit steep, but I really thought it would be worth it to get to experiment with new and different things each month.  I wanted easy access to the new and latest things for crafting.  So I signed up and eagerly awaited the first shipment. 

Over 4 months I received 4 boxes.  They did not arrive consistently, but only one took so long after the payment was added to my account that I had to inquire.  They politely explained they were overwhelmed.  It arrived shortly thereafter. 

The first box was a quality box.  The cardboard is substantial.  The label bracket is securely attached.  If I recall correctly, it came in a priority mail box.  The box has a magnetic closure.

Once opened, the box was beautifully packaged.  The satin ribbon bow and the tissue were perfectly coordinated.  This has been true of every box. 

The first thing you find is a printed art card. 

The reverse of that card lists the contents supplied and provides some suggestions for how to use them,

Everything is securely packed in a shredded paper bedding. 

The first box contained nice stack of coordinating printed papers.  They are small, but that is understandable given the size of the box.  There is a length of vinyl trim probably sufficient for the handles on a bag, a goodly amount of braided trim, two sharpies and a gluestick.   I was underwhelmed by the sharpies and glue stick.  I was anticipating things that would not be traditionally found in a basic set of supplies.  The colors of the sharpies are different.  The glue stick is standard grade school issue. 

While not really excited by the package, I was willing to keep on the list.  The box is super and I would be happy to have an excuse to collect the boxes to store my craft supplies.

Box two arrived in an envelope instead of a box (as did all the rest).  It is slightly larger than box one.  It is however, of a lesser cardboard, has folded construction and closes with velcro rather than a magnet.  It does still have the label frame although it is not as securely attached due to the nature of the cardboard.  Generally a flimsier box, but still workable. 

Another art card with contents listed on the reverse.  More pretty packaging.  These boxes are beautifully presented. 

The contents of this box are pretty basic as well.  There are two plastic stencils.  The shapes are interesting but I probably won't find a good use for them anytime soon.  There is a tiny sample bottle of acrylic paint in a gorgeous turquoise.  (Yes, I expect sample sizes and am perfectly fine with that.)  There is a tiny canvas which I have targeted for a test collage project.  There is a packet of lovely natural buttons.  It is a generous amount and they are beautiful.  There are a  two very unimpressive stencil brushes. 

So, box 2 had some interesting things in it.  Some things were again of the basic supply kit nature and thus not as inspiring as I anticipated.  I was still willing to try another month and see what showed up even though I was very disappointed by the change in box style.

The story on boxes 3 and 4 gets a bit sadder.  They arrived in bags.  And they arrived in poor shape.  One was smashed in and the label holder was torn off, it was nowhere to be found in the packing material.  The other was also damaged.  The label holder was crooked and poorly attached.  If you recall, one of the reasons I kept with the program was because I really liked the initial box.  It was not clear from the condition of these boxes that I would be able to re-use them at all. 

As with the other boxes, box 3 was beautifully packed.

The contents were again protected by shredded paper. and nicely arranged in the box.  The art card has descriptions of the materials and suggestions for projects.

The supplies included 2 cork coaster blanks, 1 slightly damaged fabric covered notebook, googley eyes, 2 fabric pens and 2 skeins of embroidery floss.  At this point, I truly was underwhelmed with the Whimseyboxes.  I did not feel that the contents warranted the cost.  I felt I could go to the local craft or art supply store, spend the same amount of money, get the quality box I wanted and still have plenty left to buy a nice selection of the interesting, new supplies I always look at and never buy. 

I decided to cancel my subscription.  Box 3 was the one that was late to arrive.  It was so late that the payment for box 4 had already been charged to my card before box 3 arrived.  Response to my inquiries was prompt and polite.  The service was very good. 

Since I still had one box coming, I had hopes that it would inspire me to re-activate my subscription.  I really did look forward to getting these surprise boxes each month.  It came packed with my favorite color in the ribbon an tissue.  The art card was cute.

The box contained a reasonable sized piece of quality leather. It is sufficient to make both sides of a fold over wallet.  And a packet of metal studs. 

Leather and studs.  Yes, I know how expensive leather is.  Yes, this is high quality leather.  Yes, neither of these can be considered basic crafting supplies.  Yet I was again underwhelmed; completely uninspired. 

So this is my collection for four months and $60.  I count the tissue, ribbon and shredded paper because they are all useful and beautiful.  I will probably throw out boxes 3 and 4.  I will probably gift some of the other supplies or use them for a give away.

All together, less the tissue and shredded paper, it fits into one of the boxes with room to spare. 

Don't get me wrong.  I really like the Whimsey Box concept.  I really enjoyed the anticipation and the mystery.  I just don't think the value of the supplies warrants the expense, particularly in these times of very tight budgets.  I will keep watching their progress and I might try again some day but for now, I think I'll take my $15 and blow it on the supplies on sale at the local craft store.  

Edited for minor typographical errors.  12/12