Ikea Frame Hack

Fall is here! 

Well, football and school are here but the summer weather is still in full swing. But who cares, I'm going to get the house ready for all those cool nights and warm colored leaves. So first up is changing out our living room decorations to something a bit more "festive" :) 

So I bought this frame from Ikea a couple of weeks ago for a different reason. But then it wasn't the right size so I figured I'd come up with another use for it. It was the perfect size to replace the butterfly collection we had on the mantel before, but the clean white wasn't really meshing with everything else. To fix that I found a piece of scrap wood from the old horse barn on our property, and luckily is was just enough!

Then I measured, and cut the board in to 4 strips. 

Then angled the corners so they fit together "seamlessly".
Then I clamped the strips to the frame and flipped all of it over so we could see the frame. 

And finally I just pre-drilled and screwed the frame to its "new" face! 

So, there it is! My first Ikea hack!! And my first fall themed post for the year :) 

I love the way the old boards look with all of the other decor. And even though my cuts were a bit wonky and the boards didn't line up perfect, I think that just adds to the character of the wood!
This was a 2 hour revamp of our mantel so I can't wait until I really get to sit down with new decorations to give this room that cool autumn feel!

How are you welcoming in this cooler season?

Staging a Festival Booth - York SummerFest

Y'all probably saw all my talk about getting ready for my first ever festival last week. I had to prepare lots of new products, business materials, and just figure out how to put a booth together! I knew it was just going to be Reed and I setting up so I needed some guidance. I went to Pinterest and didn't find a single thing to help with staging a booth for a craft show or festival! So here it is Pinterest, your first staging post :) 

The first things to tackle are your business ends. 
I am no pro, but I did make sure I had these things: 

-Business cards (I took 300 but needed more so take LOTS!)

-Shop banner (I thought about making my own but then got this gorgeous 3ftx6ft banner from BuildASign.com and it was awesome! With 4 grommet corners it was easy to hang, beautiful colors, and great durability. Whatever you choose to do for your banner make sure it has your basic information listed, and is LEGIBLE!) 

-Receipt book (you can grab small ones from the Dollar Store)

-Inventory List (write down EVERYTHING you are taking and the price)

-Order forms (for those customers that didn't find the perfect thing right then)
-Bags/boxes for sold items

-Change! (I took $75 in change, mostly small bills. But because of the pricing of my items I never even touched the change and left the festival with all $75 un touched in my cash box).
-Cash box! (something to securely hold all of your money, we used a zipper pouch that could be tucked in my husbands belt). 

Like I said I'm no pro. But I did learn a good bit, but probably forgot a good bit too. But if you remember these things you will at least make it through the day :)

Now for the actual staging! 
This part was so fun to do, I LOVE staging everything, my home, party decorations, and finally my "shop"! Here is a quick step by step on how I chose what went where in my 10ft x 10ft tent.
1. I decided on a theme and chose the products that went a long with it. (I chose a whimsical living room theme.)
2. I did a pre run of the set up a couple of days before hand so I could see what I needed to prop pieces up with or hardware for hanging.
3. I used lots of furniture so that people could visualize where these items could go in their homes.
4. make sure to add LAYERS. Layers of texture, color, and products are more interesting to the eye and will draw people in and keep them longer!
5. Keep similar products together. I had all of my fall/winter items staged in the back center of my tent and all of the football themed goodies right off of that. This will create a flow for people to move around your tent.
6.  If you can add a 3D element to the front of your tent that will catch peoples attention as they walk past. I had countless people stop and look at the tree filled with signs and from there people ventured in to the tent.
7. Have a station with all your business needs. We dedicated one small corner at the front to hang my banner, display business cards, and even had cold water for patrons. This allowed people to grab my information with out having to totally stop.

I know there is so much more I could share but I'm gonna stop there. This first experience as a festival vendor was awesome! I hope to do it again soon and I will do a better write up with the more I learn.

Also, if you see anything you are interested in please visit my ETSY shop!