I don’t have any new cards to post this week since I’ve been getting ready for my new adventure.

I’ve thought about trying to sell some of my handmade cards but wasn’t sure how I wanted to go about it.  I had tried a craft show several years ago and although I made some sales and have a couple repeat customers, craft shows are just not my thing.  I know a lot of people sell cards online but the packaging and shipping doesn’t really appeal to me.  This narrows down my options to selling at a local shop.

After a recent visit to the Touch of Country Mall in Howell, Michigan, I decided to rent a small booth.  The store is really cute and has a great mix of antiques, collectibles and handcrafted items.  Also, everyone that I’ve met there has been very friendly and helpful.

As this is a first attempt, I didn’t want to over do it and decided to start by renting some wall space.  Then it was just figuring out a way to display the cards.  I wanted it to be easy for customers to see what is available and to remove a card from the display.  I had recently added some chicken wire to an old window frame as home decor and thought something like this could work for my booth.  I didn’t have a large enough window on hand so my husband built a large frame, which we stained and then added chicken wire.  I can easily attach the cards using small clothespins and customers can just unclip the card they would like to purchase.

To fill in the empty space next to the frame, I decided to add a “featured” cards section showcasing a specific holiday or sentiment.  Since the theme would change every few weeks, the display needed to be somewhat generic.  Some burlap ribbon and a chalkboard work for now.  I can clip cards to the ribbon and easily change the message and colors on the chalkboard to match the theme.

Here is a picture of my booth.  I think it fits well with the look and feel of the store.  I’m sure it will evolve as I figure out what works best but I think this was a good start.

I’ll still be donating cards to the Cards for Soldiers Program but this will be something new and fun to try.