Tie Dye Coffee Filter DIY Wreath

I have a ton of coffee filters I bought over the Summer for the pure reason as they made me money as overage on a coupon at the Commissary. We have a reusable filter in our coffee pot (and if you don't I highly recommend one!). I looked at them the other day, and decided to use some dye we have from our handmade tie dyes on them. I had no idea what I was going to use them for, but hey not risking any money, why not?

Well, I found out what I would use them for, when I spotted a foam wreath form at Dollar Tree! Of course, I hopped on Pinterest to see just how I might go about this. I found so many tutorials that I was able to "wing it" in my own way!

For the first step, I decided to use some leftover ruffle yarn I had from a scarf project, and wrap it around the form.  I wasn't sure how the foam would hold up to constant use of my hot glue gun, so I wanted a barrier.

After that was secured, I tied a loop of the yarn, so I would be able to hang the wreath.

From there on all I did was fold the filters in quarters, pinch the bottoms, and fluff them up a bit to give an almost flower effect. I did a bunch at a time.

I then put a small dab of hot glue on the pinched end and pressed the filter onto the form. Put A LOT of them in there to give a full effect!

You can see here how it looked halfway through:

And the finished product:

This was such a fun project! And I was able to finish it (other than the drying time for the dye) in about 1 hour.

Lessons From My First Craft Fair

Recently, my friend Maria and I ventured onto a new adventure - a craft show! Neither one of us had ever done this before, but we had received many compliments on our tie dyes at the company picnic this year. Many suggested we sell them. So when the opportunity to do just that at a charity craft fair, we jumped at it!

We started right away with building an inventory, but it wasn't until we signed up for a second craft fair next week that we decided maybe we should do some research. Um, can you say overwhelmed! Between a crash course in  pricing, booth design, business cards, packaging, and phew even starting the bare bones of an Etsy shop, we felt like our head's were spinning!

I think we did an amazing job with the time we had! The picture above shows our set-up today. Looks pretty good, except our measurements were a bit off and we should have brought two tables. Less clutter on the table and better use of space! 

Here are some lessons we learned:

A craft fair is not always busy. Actually this one was very slow. Not that many people came. It was not the fault of the coordinator. It was well advertised. It's just that we had a gorgeous day and there were more outdoor events going on in the area.

Bring something to do! Even better if it is in your power to work on some of what you sell to replace what might sell. Now we sure can't tie dye at a craft show, but a book would have been nice.

Do not take it personally if your items do not sell as well as another crafter's. For THIS fair, your items may not be what the majority are looking for, bu next time might be your opportunity! Kinda goes along with you can't please all of the people all of the time.

Do not wait until the last minute to prepare! This is pretty self explanatory. We were pretty exhausted today.

Get a brand. Make what you do stand out. OK, so tie dye pretty much stands out all on it's own, but everything else should go with what you are hoping to represent. Notice the table cover, sign, etc.

Socialize with the other crafters! We got so much encouragement from others there today. And we learned about their crafts, processes, and of upcoming fairs! We met some lovely folks and it made the event a bit more fun.

Did we do well today? Not really. We only made $36. We sold a baby onsie, 2 towels, a candle holder, and 2 child's shirts.  Traffic was slow, what can you do? The fact that items DID sell in a low traffic environment, when others around us did not make any sales was pretty encouraging.

Tie Dying The Evening Away

As I mentioned in my last post, my friend and I are renting space at a craft fair.  Our primary focus will be tie dying.  Last week, after work, we spent a few hours getting some of our offerings prepared.

I love how these all came out! We have here 6 bandanas, 3 pair of socks, 2 heavy weight dish towels (these were my favorite!) and 11 T-Shirts. It's a good start and will be followed up with a few more sessions. The best part? Our bottom line is soooooo low!

The materials for dying were all leftovers from the company picnic. My manager let us keep packets and packets of dye, about 8 large bottles of already mixed dye, elastics, and gloves. So those materials were all free.

The dish towels were just .50 each on clearance! The T- Shirts averaged 1.27 each, the socks were .50 per pair on clearance, and the bandanas were .99 each!

So far, out investment for everything is under $25 and another $30 for the space.  That $30 will be donated to help NF Childhood Cancer.