A blur....in a really, really great way! Thank you to everyone who has come out and supported me at markets (especially at Scattered Seeds) and continues to support me online. It's been a busy month!
The pace hasn't slowed as I get ready for the upcoming Convention Centre Signatures Handmade Market Winnipeg Nov 24th - 27th. This will be another big one and I am soooo looking forward to it. Now that I kind of remember what it was like (thanks to Vancouver Christmas Market) and kind of know what to expect (thanks to Scattered Seeds), I can put my experience into play and create some very unique OOAK items for this upcoming market. They will be available online as well in the next couple of weeks for my online shoppers too. As always, I plan on having alot of fun with the designs! Stay tuned!
Okay...recap of Scattered Seeds 2022 for me.... a really good show and a resounding great success for my NEW melter/burners. They did so great for their first time out into the real world. And it was wonderful to get the feedback and see what colors people were drawn to and which designs were the winners. This helps immeasurably for my designing in the future and helps me build towards even more success.
Historically (from my years of having a brick and mortar shop), anything Santa in a melter is not great because it's good only for a couple of months and then has to be put away. BUT....with mine I figured out a way for it to translate to year round use and peeps LOVED that! Santa was very, very popular. And you know, I just love when you love what I create and do. So win/win on that front! Candles did really well too but the lesson again was to be different and not just copy or do what someone else is doing. It seems like the pandemic has birthed alot of candle making companies. I have always known to be different and unique because of competition and have been pretty successful in doing just this. The re-affirmation of this has led me to file it away under support for my new candle design that will be coming 2023. It's going to be extraordinary and once again remind you why you fell in love with my candles in the first place. Top sellers at this particular show were Woodland Whisper, Vanilla Birch, Crackling Firewood and Root Beer with strong showings from Spiced Cranberry, Peppermint Twist, Forest Musk and Swingin' Eggnog. Of course Horse Barn was along for the ride and has a very strong showing with the horsey crowd out there. I am working on a Horse themed gift set for Christmas so do stay tuned for that one too.
My bathbombs were selling out first day and that kind of caught me by surprise as they never did that out at the Arnes market. So, next show, I'll be ready for that one and let me tell you the new bath bomb designs are kind of adorbs! I should have them done in the next couple of weeks too. Can you stand the wait?!? Embeds that shoot out color are clearly the way to go and still very unusual in another almost glutted marketplace of round bath bombs. So all of my bath bombs moving into this season will now have embeds. It's just part of that OOAK and ahmazing experience that my bath bombs deliver. And that's not even mentioning the feel and glide that the water has on your skin in the tub. They are overall a winner on many levels.
And of course, my online sales are still very much a focal point of my business so I am still filling orders on that end and need to remind everyone that yes, we do home deliveries within Winnipeg city limits. Just select local delivery at check out and we will make sure to get your order to your door. Outside of Winnipeg, shipping is through Canada Post and is free over $100. This honestly is still my favourite way to sell so thank you for that continued support and do know that I appreciate every online order.
On my social media front, Work with Me Wednesdays are still happening but not as much as usual simply because I'm under pressure to get things done for shows/markets and Christmas. Facebook is also changing things on the live video front which is making sharing and saving the live videos hard to do, if not impossible. The writing may be on the wall for live feeds and a switch over to Reels is a very distinct possibility for 2023. I will try to finish off the year with live feeds if I can and if the live feeds are letting me save and post. For example, I could not choose my own thumbnail for my live feed last week and Facebook chose the goofiest pic of me for the cover pic of that video. Well, noone wants that! lol Okay, maybe you do a little bit but I don't want that. That means that the video was not saved to my webpage and for future reference, if it does it again to me this week, I won't be posting the videos to my webpage or youtube at all anymore. I'm just saying they are changing things so that it is easiest for me to do 1 min reels more than anything else. If this is the case, then I will switch to Reels and do bi-monthly blogs instead of monthly. That will be my work around.
And that is all of my news this month. Phew! It's been exciting, its been great and I'm looking forward to November and December being more of the same. Of course, I have plans for 2023 too which is a welcome change from the holding pattern life was on for the past couple of years. I will release those details as bookings are confirmed. Major cities and shows are on my radar (and yes Vancouver, that does mean you! I've missed you!) for 2023. As always, I am so grateful and thankful for each and every one of you, for your support and your kind words. Even for your patience when things aren't going to plan. You are awesome! Thank you!
Sending all of my love!
Lana