Today's blog prompt is -
The day in the life of... This could be yourself or interview someone!! Have fun blogging and have fun discovering someone's typical day! How about getting a fellow Creativity Club member to guest post for your blog? Or do a call out for a docrafts demonstrator to write about their demonstration day?
Hi crafty friends,
I am handing today's blog over to a good friend of mine, Marleen, to tell us all about her demo. So over to you Marleen x
My Name is Marleen Gallagher. Im a stay at home mom to me 3 wonderful children and my motto is "before I'm anything else, I'm a mom". But every mom has to have a litlle slice of the cake just to herself. and for me, it's my crafting.
I started to craft when my eldest was born in 2003. I needed something quiet to do when she was sleeping as we lived in a very small bedsit at the time. Over the years, it became a "me-time" and then a passion. Now beside my family, it's my life.
But I have also been very lucky to have been offered to do craft demontrations for my local craft shop. And that is what I want to tell you about.
A Demo is planned weeks in advance. As soon as I get the goodies, the shop wants me to show case, I sit down with a cuppa and have a good look at it all. Not just with crafters eyes but with business eyes, if that makes any sense.
I'm very lucky as the shop I demo in, is an independant local business. It means my hands are a bit more free to do what I like. But bottom line is, that a demo in the shop, is for me to try and sell as much crafting goodies as I can on the day. And hopefully have them all coming back for more.
Now when I demo, thats not whats on my mind of course, cause I demo because I love to craft. But for the shop that is what I'm there for, and I have to keep that in mind when I plan my demo.
So with my cuppa in hand, I look through it all. The last demo I did, I got papers and toppers as my main items. I dont use many finished toppers personally so it was a brill challenge for me. The other main thing the shop asked me to show case was my big shot, as they sell that and dies.
So I simply sat down, made a list of what I wanted to do, with what items. It dont mean that I make the finished cards as I write them down, but it gives me a great idea of what to include.
The hardest thing about a demo, is not the demo itself, it's all the planning that goes in before. So for this demo I decided to include some bunting, some cards made in shapes cut from the dies, and some very easy quick makes.
And this is some of the samples I made for the day.
In my group of regulars, I have every level of crafters, We have everyting from a couple of girls just starting out, to girls that have been crafting longer then me, so I have to keep that in mind in my planning as well. I need to be prepare to show how to use the basic tools to something that can keep the seasoned crafters at my table.
A demo is really just me sitting at a table in the shop, crafting. I bring everything I need in my big tote so I have everything at hand. Packing the tote the night before is normally a nightmare. Trying to cover for any question, just in case.
Once Im at the table, I often start by making a scrappage. I dont plan my pages in advance, but always bring a kit so I have everything coordinating. It can be a bit slow in the shop in the morning and as scrapping takes longer, its a good start while people look around.
I then start making some cards. As this time was toppers, I whipped up a few easy onces to start with and that normally lead to questions, that lead to show a tecnics ect.
As much as I love planning my demo's and being prepared, you can never plan for it all. You can have a crowd that is really eager to see new things, asking loads of questions, or you can have a very quiet group that just wanna watch. All you can do is plan for both and hope for the best.
I can have anything from 5-6 people to 30-35 people in the shop at on time. The last demo I did, the last hour, It was only me and few of my very good crafting friends left, so we all sat and had a cuppa while we tried out a few new things.
At my first demo, I was mobbed pretty much the whole time and loads of people told me later that they had been to see me, but I was so busy I never saw them. You just never know..
This is the cover the local news paper did after my last demo.
I love doing my demo's and would really love to do more. When my children are older I want to expand to do classes as well, but for now, I take things slow. It takes a lot of time to get ready for a demo, but I love every moment. I have meet so many fantastic people in my area, that I would never had meet otherwise. One day I would like to work full time with crafting, one way or another, but for now I enjoy my 5 min of fame now and again at my demo's.
I hope you enjoyed my story, and if you wish to see more of my work you can come and visit me on my blog :
http://www.marleens-crafty-space.blogspot.com/. Also, you can join me on Facebook
here.
BIG Hugs, Marleen xxx
