From our experience at our first craft show we decided to try another much larger show for the spring craft show season.  We decided to participate in the HPI Festivals Spring Festival, An Arts & Crafts Affair in Shakopee, Mn.  Where our last show was only on Saturday, this one was a Friday through Sunday event. 

We had a lot of new products we were eager to release to the crafting market.  One particular segment we were particularly proud of was our line of layered paper art.  These are made by intricately cutting one slice of a story onto each colored sheet of acid and lignin free cardstock and then layering them together to create the final 3D scene.  Each scene is then placed into a glass covered frame to allow for easy display.  We had 25 new designs of our paper art for sale at the show, some with alternate color options for the layers.  These were a lot of fun to make; from picking out the colors for each layer to watching the final picture form as each layer is added to the stack.

We also expanded our nature scene product line with 6 new designs each with 4 different color options for the stripes and frames.  Having less layers, they’re lighter than our original nature scenes and perfect for a camper or RV where extra weight can be a factor.

The Spring Festival was also our debut launch of our jewelry line with several iterations of earrings available for purchase.  The designs incorporated multiple materials ranging from wood, acrylic, to leather with each using the best material to showcase the design.  We also selected Stainless-Steel (nickel free) hardware for each of our earrings.

In order to contain all of these new products and our old favorites we had to expand our booth into a second one.  This allowed us to display all of our designs, plus give our customers and friends plenty of space to explore our various offerings.

At the previous show the Square Reader had some shortcomings (it’s a free starting point) that we felt hindered the customer experience.  For the Spring Festival we decided to upgrade to the Square Register.  This product corrected all of the issues we had with the Square Reader.  It provided a dedicated screen to the customer, allowing more payment options with no purchases needing multiple card swipes.  It also gave us a larger graphical interface to select the products purchased better manage our inventory. It was also faster allowing each customer to finish their purchase faster and moving on to their next purchase.

As with the last show, we met so many great people, so many with kind words about our products and others with intriguing directions for future products.  I think we’re getting addicted to the craft show space and I anticipate you’ll see the Hands That Shape again as the year goes on.  Be sure to keep an eye on our social media and event page for upcoming shows.