I got this little guy in time for Bazaar Bizarre / Maker Faire, and I love it soooo much more than the Bartizan 4850 tabletop imprinter I used to have! Not only is the Bartizan 4200 more compact and therefore easier to pack, it’s just way easier to make a credit card imprint with too.

The old tabletop version took up valuable table space, and I’d often have trouble getting the credit card info to come out clearly. Jimmy was better at it, but I didn’t want to deal with the hassle at Maker Faire because I knew there’d be loads of people and very little space in our 6×6 foot booth.

So I went back to Mr. Imprinter’s eBay store and picked up this listing for myself, which includes the imprinter and a pack of 100 credit card slips for $26.50 shipped. A couple of things to note: The slips that are shipped with this listing are the longer 80-column sales slips, but the unit also takes the shorter 51-column size. I sent Mr. Imprinter an email to ask before I ordered but never got a response back. Wah.

80-column sales slip

51-column sales slip

 
images from Mr. Imprinter

Also, the listing says that this unit doesn’t take merchant plates but in fact it does. It’s “set up for use with a 3 line embossed plate of .014 – .016 over material height” (this is from the manufacturer’s website, and you can also see that there’s a place to insert a merchant plate inside the unit). I guess Mr. Imprinter just doesn’t sell that type of plate, but you can get it separately from Addressograph (I’d check with them to make sure that’s the right one!). Merchant plates, if you’re not familiar, are these customizable metal plates that are mounted on the inside of an imprinter so that your store/contact information are imprinted on sales slips along with the customer’s information.

Here’s Mr. Imprinter’s:

There were a couple of things that were not so great but only one specific to the product itself. For the price and in comparison to the 4850, I’m a huge fan.

Pros:

• The compact size  (1.75″h x 4.125″w x 7.75″l) is lightweight (0.61 lbs) and easy to store and transport.
• You don’t have to sit the unit on a flat surface to get an imprint.
• Produces a clean imprint with one swift pull of the lid.

Cons

• If you slide the credit card in too far on accident, it gets stuck and is hard to pull back out.
• Merchant plate can’t be ordered from Mr. Imprinter but is available from Addressograph. I just ordered a rubber stamp from Simon’s Stamps and got help from my dear friend Jenn to stamp my shop info on all the sales slips. Heh heh.
• I think the shorter sales slips would be easier to manage inside this unit than the longer ones that are shipped from Mr. Imprinter.

And that’s my imprinter recommendation for the day!Similar Posts:

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• My craft fair production schedule
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After all the excitement from preparing for and then tending my own booth as a Bazaar Bizarre craft vendor at Maker Faire this past weekend, I think I’m actually suffering from a little craft fair withdrawal! But more than anything, I’m just overwhelmingly happy with how everything turned out.

I barely stepped foot from behind my table the entire weekend, but even just from that vantage point alone I had a blast! I talked to so many cool people — shoppers, buyers, makers, passersby. I met at least five other vendors who will also be at Renegade Craft Fair SF this coming July and as always, I loved hearing all the real-time feedback from shoppers about my products.

The direct feedback is one thing that makes craft fairs so valuable, hearing what folks love and what they have questions about like, “What’s this loop thingy here for?” The answer to which is, “It’s a grab tab for you to hold onto when you open and close the zipper.” To which they’d respond, “Oooooooh!” I’ve yet to decide whether that means I should remove it or simply label it as such, so if anyone’s got an opinion on that, I’d love to hear it!

My favorite (and I’ve actually gotten this several times!) is:

Booth visitor: You made all this?
Me: Yes! (big smile)
Booth visitor: ALL this? (wide sweeping gesture)
Me: Uh huh, all of it!
Booth visitor: By yourself?!? (look of incredulity)
Me: Just me!

I figure others must get this line of questioning too because I’ve seen spreads that are even bigger than mine, but I love it each and every time!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
To everyone that stopped by the booth, thank you so much!!! And to all who further lent your support with a purchase — HUGS, KISSES AND THANK YOU AGAIN!!!

Agnes from Teacake Bake Shop (you need to go there!) made it with her hubby and baby in tow, and she took home a whopping four Boxy Zippered Pencil Pouches!

A quick product update
I introduced three new products at the fair and will begin posting them to the site over the next two weeks as I replenish my inventory. If you left me your contact info for something specific, I’ll be in touch! If you didn’t manage to sign up on any of my lists, please join me on Facebook! I’ll send updates through Facebook as well as my email newsletter.

The booth setup
One of the many things I was really excited about was my new booth display! I brought my dressform again but this time I made her a necklace of Stash ‘n Dash Zippered Wallets, adorned her with a leafy garland I’d purchased for our wedding but never used and topped her off with a twig ball also from the wedding!

Ever the helping husband, Jimmy rigged me a big part of my DIY display — two vertical poles with a horizontal dowel inserted through each to allow me to dangle a sampling of products from overhead. Here he is hard at work:

And the display in action!

A view from the other side:

I think it worked out well in such a crowded environment, but next time I’d like to give it some more oomph somehow. I’m sure I’ll figure something out in time for Renegade!

And all the rest…
The hubs took some time to enjoy the festivities, and here are some of the things he found photo-worthy. Lots of FIRE! And of course corn dogs and funnel cakes, both of which we made sure to sample.

Before I get back to sewing, I leave you with a special collage that doesn’t have much to do with the show but is what Jimmy proceeded to do immediately after building me my little display solution. It may seem like just a row of flowers, but oh, it is so much more. I’m sure it’s what led the Lakers to finally beat the Nuggets, for it is none other than a purple and gold tribute to Jimmy’s favorite team…right in our front walkway. Great.

A few more photos

• My Flickr photoset (photos by Jimmy)

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• Feelin’ the love at IndieSacramento
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1) I had the honor of submitting a guest post to Etsy’s blog, The Storque, and it went live today! And Etsy readers are so full of love and kind words. I love it! The Storque gets a whopping 2 million pageviews a month — that’s a lot of eyeballs! So we’re taking the liberty of feeling semi-famous…at least temporarily. Read on, if you please: “It Takes a Village to Craft a Handmade Wedding“.

2) A lovely gal on Etsy sent me the sweetest note entitled “Spotted your bag in the wild”. She said she saw a girl with a cute bag at Whole Foods in Oakland and asked where it was from, and it was mine! Awesome that that happened, and double-awesome that she went to the trouble to let me know about it. I am oozing with love and gratitude.

3) Our entire house is strewn with fabric and pouches and sewing implements because I’m preparing for the Bazaar Bizarre craft show at Maker Faire at the end of the month! I’m SO excited to get to be a part of the show this year, as I’ve always been in awe of Maker Faire. I’ll admit I’m intimidated by the amount of people that are expected to be there (the number 80,000 has been floating around), but I’m much more psyched than scared!

4) Earlier this week, I found out that I also get to be a part of Renegade Craft Fair SF again this year – YEA! The event will take place July 18-19 from 11am – 7pm, at Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion. It was such a great event last year, and I’m sure it will be just as grand this year!

5) When it rains, it pours?! The folks over at Madison Marquette, which owns a bunch of shopping centers here in the Bay Area (amongst other places), are looking for an innovative new business to help them grow San Leandro’s Bayfair Center mall and are running a contest called Retail*Star. The grand prize winner gets a FREE one-year lease on a retail space in the mall, plus a good chunk of seed money to get their business started. I was one of 66 contestants to submit my business idea to the panel of judges via a 3-minute presentation and 2-page written description, and I made the first cut as one of 15 semi-finalists!

6) There are a bunch more little mini things like the fact that I just had Henry’s Hunan Hot & Sour Beef for dinner followed by a bite of dark chocolate. But I’ll end with the fact that I just scanned in this photo that we had taken last weekend at a Mother’s Day brunch at the Marriott, and it makes me smile. They caught Gramma in a blink, but that’s not anything Don won’t be able to fix in Photoshop I think. But it was just such a great family-filled whirlwind of a weekend, from pitching my Retail*Star thing Saturday morning and booking it over to SFO to get to Santa Monica Pier to celebrate Mom’s 65th birthday then crashing at Ah-Yi’s; to this all-you-can-eat-plus-complimentary-family-photo brunch, followed by more family time and then off again to LAX and back home in less than 48 hours. Phew! Though it was short, it was event-filled and somehow particularly fulfilling. This photo cracks and warms me up all at once.

In conclusion, I have plenty of things to be happy about. And therefore I am!Similar Posts:

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The hubs and I were delighted by the number of friendly Sacramento residents that came out to brave the cold weather and rain to shop IndieSacramento’s May Market in Fremont Park! We had a great time meeting neighborhood folks, people from neighboring cities, park support staff and other vendors taking breaks to check out the scene. Given the wet weather, I didn’t know if we’d get much foot traffic, much less any sales, so Jimmy and I were that much happier with each and every transaction!

IndieSacramento was my first outdoor show and as we were getting the canopy up in the rain and then trying not to let my products fall over into wet grass, I thought to myself: never again. But then I thought, crap. I just blew over 100 bucks on this enormous 10×10′ canopy, which by the way is this one right here and worked out for us just fine in the light wind and rain:

I HAVE to do another outdoor show! At least a couple of them to spread the cost a little. But, once we got our setup in place and all my items fairly well-protected and on display, I relaxed a little. Then as people started showing up and coming into the booth, I started to get energized. And once I got to talking with customers and then that first transaction came through, I was like: this is awesome! When’s the next one?! Heh heh heh.

We were also lucky to have camped out next to a great couple selling adorable flower barrettes and headbands, and they helped make the time pass during the lulls in traffic.

As usual, Jimmy was so incredibly supportive and patient. He provided all the muscle for lugging my stuff to and from the car and doing the setup and breakdown; he picked up coffee, tea and lunch; he manned the booth when I had to go stretch my legs or check out the rest of the show; he made the 1h 40m drive to and fro and let me crash out on the way home; AND he bought me a bag of See’s Candies to congratulate me on a job well done. All these things are more than I could ask for, but what I love the best is that he is ENTHUSIASTIC about it all! Seriously, he is the. best. EVER!!! Sigh and swoon…

Of course, I made my own rounds of the fair towards the end of the day. I picked up an “asininely bitchin’ tee” (that’s their tagline) from Wear Yeti as my show souvenir. I haven’t taken a photo of it yet, but it’s a grass green shirt with a red design of birds carrying a bike on strings. I thought it was cool. I mean, bitchin’.

What I loved:

• The organizers, Stacey of Bouton Blue and Amy of Peptogirl Industries, were friendly, helpful and supportive. I think they put on a great show in a great spot, and I’d consider applying for it again!
• There must be something good going on with the Sacramento drinking water, because every last booth visitor I spoke to was SO friendly! Take Ruthie for example, who shot a photo of my booth and me for her awesome craft blog, Chubbycraft. I didn’t even need my jacket because there was so much of the warm ‘n fuzzies in the air!
• The booth fee was really reasonable, and I liked the idea that part of the fee was that each vendor had to send in a quantity of swag for the swag bags that were handed out to the first 150 patrons.

What I learned:

• Make a booth display backup plan! A small card table, a covered ironing board and a garment rack do NOT provide enough surface area in a 10×10 foot space when half of my products are pillows! IndieSacramento didn’t provide tables as part of the booth fee and I didn’t want to lug our giant 6-foot table up to Sacramento, so my booth setup included hanging some products off the perimeter of my canopy as well as a couple baskets of pillows on the floor. It would’ve been pretty cool actually (or so I think), but that plan got rained on, literally, and alas I had no backup.

All in all I had a great time and considered the show a success! Thanks to everyone who came out to look, and a special thanks to those of you who came out to buy! XOXOXOX!

More event photos:

• IndieSacramento’s photos
• My photos

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Friend and partner-in-crime Jenn and I snatched up tickets to see Wednesday’s screening of the newly released documentary film “Handmade Nation” at the Mezzanine in San Francisco. The film’s creator is Faythe Levine who, as described on the film’s official site, “traveled 19,000 miles to document what has emerged as a marriage between historical technique, punk culture, and the D.I.Y. ethos”.

We’d read all about it online and were curious to see it as, apparently, were a slew of others. Little did we foresee there to be a long line dribbling out the door and by the time we got in, standing room only! Actually I sat on the floor because the only standing room space I could find without blocking someone else’s view was either behind the left giant concrete pillar blocking too big a part of the screen, or the right one.

For me the film was an insightful and inspiring look into the lives and minds of the crafting community’s 24 makers and 5 essayists who were interviewed for the documentary. One of my favorites from the film AND from the live panel afterwards was SF local Stephanie Syjuco, owner of the shop Anti-Factory whose tagline is “because sweatshops suck!” In 2006 Stephanie started a hilarious Counterfeit Crochet Project with yet another catchy tagline which basically describes it all: “debasing and defiling designer items one step at a time…”.

photo from Counterfeit Crochet

As a relative newbie to the scene (I registered my Etsy shop in 2006 but didn’t really get crackin on it until about April/May 2008), I loved hearing the ‘how I got started’ stories such as how (if I remember correctly) glass bead artist Jenine Bressner got hooked on flameworked glass by playing with a kit she ordered in the mail.

photos from Jenine Bressner Fireworks

Afterwards, I was thrilled to meet The Curiosity Shoppe owners and Design*Sponge DIY editors Lauren and Derek (who also took questions at the panel), Natalie Zee Drieu from the Craftzine.com blog and of course we couldn’t leave without introducing ourselves to Stephanie Syjuco who was just as lively and engaging in person as she was in the film. It was also fun running into StitchCraft’s Nicole Vasbinder, whom I always love seeing, and re-introducing myself to Bazaar Bizarre coordinator Blas who was super-nice and helpful when I was a vendor at the 2008 Bazaar Bizarre Holiday Show.

Of course, what would a screening about the handmade life and community be without tables offering handmade wares for sale?! I picked up two items: a cool vinyl wallet made from a used tennis racket cover for Jenn, made by fellow Etsy seller mittenmaker; and a purty boatneck t-shirt made by textile designer Sharon Spain.Similar Posts:

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Here’s the professionally printed, 2′ x 6′ vinyl banner from wholesalebannerz.com that did NOT make it to the show:

And here’s the handmade and eco-friendly banner that did!

People said it went well with the “good stuff * hand made” tagline, so that was a bonus. Here it is in action, thanks to Jimmy’s ingenious banner-hanging technique. We didn’t have time to cut the pipes to size but it was all good:

Teh heh heh. I made it on the backside of a used vinyl banner (hooray for upcycling!), painting the letters and clouds with acrylic paint and cutting the grass out of Eco-Spun recycled felt. Actually the size of the DIY banner worked out a lot better at the fair because of my rather awkward corner booth location. And if I hadn’t already ordered the other banner, I’d just as soon stick with this one! So much for trying to save time by outsourcing…

Here they are side by side for comparison!

Sure makes the wholesalebannerz.com banner look ginormous, wouldn’t you say?!Similar Posts:

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Greetings everyone!

I hope this email finds you happy and well, and Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s been 4 months since my last craft fair, and that’s given me plenty of time to create some new and exciting items that’ll be perfect for rounding out your holiday shopping this season! We’re talking Big Lugs, Little Lugs, neck warmers, throw pillows…the list goes on!

If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend, I invite you to come on out to the Bazaar Bizarre SF Holiday Extravaganza this Sunday, November 30th. Come check out the goods in Booth #24, and enjoy items from over 100 other talented vendors as well!

Bazaar Bizarre San Francisco Holiday Extravaganza, 11/30/08
————————————————-
Sunday November 30th 2008, 10:00am – 5:00pm
San Francisco County Fair Building Golden Gate Park, SF (details and directions)
$1 at the door (50% of proceeds go to charity)
*** I’ll be in Booth #24! ***

Otherwise, you’ll find many of these same items in my online shop soon after the show! So if holiday shopping is in your future, please consider supporting small businesses/indie craft vendors like myself and buying handmade this season. You’ll spread warmth and good cheer many times over if you do!

I wish you a fun and family-filled Thanksgiving holiday, and thank you for your continued support!

xo,
-eleen

:: shop :: http://eleen.etsy.com
:: blog :: http://www.eleen.com

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Also on the list are more neck warmers and some new wool felt brooches to go with them. Jimmy seems to enjoy the brooches — so versatile! — so they’re sure to be a winner. =}

Now time to study the Craft Fair Production Schedule and figure out what more work needs to be done. Off I go! Well first, a PB&J + coffee to fill my belly. Mmm that sounds good.Similar Posts:

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I’m also excited to have made good progress on a couple of Big Lugs in new prints, too! Hopefully I’ll have those posted by next week, and then I think I’ll start getting ready to close up shop temporarily to get serious on building inventory for the Bazaar Bizarre San Francisco Holiday Show on November 30th. Whee!Similar Posts:

None found

I’m so ready to start dreaming up some new bags/pouches/wristlets and of course keep whipping up those Big Lugs! Looks like I’ll be busting out that craft fair production schedule again, woohoo!

Thanks Bazaar Bizarre team!Similar Posts:

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