Sell Wreaths

Wreath Making Schedule

April 10, 2015 by Julie Siomacco 2 Comments

One of the most asked questions I receive from my ebook customers is what time of the year to start making certain holiday wreaths. My answer? To stay ahead of the buyer. Buyers start searching for seasonal and holiday décor well before it’s time to display them. Even if they wait to purchase, they start looking and dreaming of that perfect décor piece that will make their home or entry way inviting.

In response to this frequent question, I created a wreath making schedule. According to the schedule for the month of April, a wreath shop owner would be finishing up spring wreaths, working on Mother’s Day wreaths and beginning summer wreaths. Additionally, you may think that June and July would be slow months for wreath making. Unfortunately, if you are making wreaths for a business, there are no slow months. In June, I like to be finishing up last minute summer wreaths and my patriotic wreaths for July 4th. In July, I like to start my collegiate wreaths for the back to school and football season as well as Christmas…yes I said Christmas in July!

Why make Christmas wreaths in July which is mid-summer, isn’t this too early? Well it’s popular for online retail shops to hold an annual Christmas in July sale. Believe it or not buyers know this and they are looking for Christmas items whether it be for gifts or décor in July. Etsy.com always holds an annual Christmas in July sale towards the end of July and I like to take advantage of their advertising power and jump on board with their campaigning. So I discount any leftover Christmas wreaths from last year and make smaller priced, gift giving sized wreaths to add to them. My screen door wreath recipe from my ebook (www.learndecomeshwreaths) is a perfect example of a lower priced item perfect for gift giving.

Another good measure to stay ahead of the market is to watch your local craft stores. If you see Hobby Lobby setting up seasonal or holiday décor, this is a sure sign that you should also be gearing up to display the same seasonal/holiday wreaths in your shop.

This is the schedule I use and of course can be modified to include other holidays which are not popular in my area/shop (i.e., Fiesta in April, which means I would suggest finish making wreaths in March). This yearly schedule would probably work well for any other crafter who is looking to stay ahead of the game too.

I hope this yearly craft making schedule helps you! I would love to hear of other holidays you make wreaths/crafts for which I left off? Do you think this is a good representation? If so, please leave a comment below and please share it on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest.

Download and print this calendar here.

Tip: Use this same calendar to help with posting ideas on your social media accounts too. This calendar works very well with Pinterest because buyers use Pinterest to help plan upcoming events well in advance. However, for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, I would wait and not post holiday topics too far in advance since these social media accounts are used more for current events.

Julie 🙂

How I Setup A Wreath Shop In My Garage

February 7, 2015 by Julie Siomacco 2 Comments

Many of my followers ask me how I have my wreath business setup in my home. Well here it is, welcome to my wreath shop! It’s not pretty and I’m sure it won’t be breaking any Pinterest repining records but it is functional. I have my shop setup in my two car garage. I have to share the garage with yard tools and my husband’s Disc Jockey equipment but I’m fine with that; I just feel very blessed to be able to work from home. I guess I could take the time to paint the walls, put in flooring, etc. but honestly, I don’t need a fancy space to be creative and no one sees this space but me. One day maybe I can spruce up the place but for now, I’m just happy that I swept the floor.

It is wonderful to work from home and to be here for the kids when they get home from school. However, I sometimes have a hard time transitioning from work to family life and I usually work longer than I should. Plus it is much easier putting off housework to go make pretty wreaths. LOL My workshop has no heat or AC, the garage door is insulated but not the exterior wall. But that’s okay, I use heaters and fans to help control the temperature. One day I hope to have insulation added to that wall.

Here is a walking tour video I made showing you the different zones of my wreath shop:

I clean the work area 3-4 times a year, typically when I transition from season to season or when it gets so cluttered that I can’t safely walk around. You can see more pictures of my workshop below including some additional notes.

Below is where I stock my shipping boxes. I list where I purchase my boxes locally and places online in my ebook link here www.learndecomeshwreaths.com.

Wreath Shop Setup SouthernCharmWreaths Boxes

I have two large shelves where I have clear plastic bins of ornaments, ribbon, ect. On the top I store wreath forms and on the bottom I store mesh sorted by holiday and/or season.

This is the area where I take my pictures. I use three shadow boxes to light the area and I use a piece of insulation to help reflect the light back up. I talk about how to edit photos in my ebook forum, www.learndecomeshwreaths.com I hang some of my premade wreaths on pegs from the ceiling. Hubs created a long hook for me so I don’t have to climb a ladder when I need to get one down.

This is my work easel and table where I hot glue. You can find instructions for making a table top version of a wreath easel link here. I keep containers full of seasonal flowers that I change out as the season does. Most of these spring flowers came from Michael’s or Carolina Pottery. Under this table I store 10” mesh and grapevine wreaths.

I’m supper excited about my storage drawers from Walmart! On the end by the garage door of this photo, I stacked two drawer units on top of each other. The plastic open shelving unit is where I store my current season ribbon (4th of July or St. Patrick’s Day) and is from The Container Store. The black rotating shelf organizer is from Harbor Freight Tools. You can see another video of this on my SouthernCharmWreaths Instagram page here.

Another picture of organizing my ribbon by color in drawers. I love these drawers because they can be pulled completely out so I can take the whole drawer with me to the work table.

I use an elevated card table with a utility mat on top of it for cutting ribbon and making the mesh wreath bases. The utility mat is green and I can use my rotary cutter on it without it damaging the table. I also have a brown piece of cardboard under the mat. I like to write down my wreath recipes in ink pen here, that way if I need to work on a wreath I haven’t made in a while, I just lift up the mat and find the recipe. A wreath recipe is just like a cooking recipe, it has measurements of ribbon and mesh, number of ornaments, placement of elements, and pricing. I give out a lot of my wreath recipes for free to my ebook customers here. I also use the step ladder as a form of shelving to hold my partially used mesh rolls. This helps me to remember to use these first instead of opening a new roll.

I have another table on the other side of the card table where I lay out all of the seasonal signs, ornaments, flowers etc. that I want to use. I work better when everything is out in front of me and I don’t have to search. Many times as I am working on one wreath on the card table, I’m glancing over to the supply table to see what I have and contemplating my next wreath…always thinking ahead. I have a box of burlap mesh and paper mesh on the end of the table, under the blue wreath. Under the supply table I store evergreen wreath bases and boxes of out of season supplies. On the end of the table by the garage door I store long stemmed flowers in plastic garbage cans.

Well, that concludes the tour of my wreath shop! I hope I was able to give you some tips for organizing your own craft room space. Let me know if you can think of a better way to organize mine as I’m open for any and ALL suggestions.

Happy Wreathing,

Julie

10 Ways to Use QR Codes at Craft Shows

January 21, 2015 by Julie Siomacco 2 Comments

I highly recommend QR Codes for any printed advertising you do for your wreath business and especially for craft fairs where you sell. I am sure you have heard of QR codes by now, but if you haven’t, they are basically like barcodes you see on grocery store items. However, the difference between the two is the amount of information QR Codes can store and share. When you scan a QR code with your Smartphone, the image will kick back information from the QR code. What information you ask? Countless amounts of information and you choose what you want to share. The information held in a QR Code, the ease of use, and cost (free) makes them practical for any print used for a small business.

In order to read a QR code, you must install a free QR code reader on your smartphone. Just go to your app store and search QR Code Reader, there are many to choose from. However, choose an app that allows you to also create QR Codes not just read them.

So how can you use a QR Code to promote your wreath making business?

Print out a sign and display it at your craft fair in a pretty picture frame or even in an inexpensive acrylic frame. This will allow your foot traffic to take a digital business card with them.
Build Social Media Followers –Create QR Codes to generate Facebook Follows, Pinterest Followers or Instagram Followers. You create the QR Code so that when it is scanned, it automatically links to your social media pages so your fans can follow you.
Capture emails –This is one of the most important in my book. Generate a QR Code from your email service provider (such as mailchimp.com) so that when a customer scans it they complete the form to be added to your email list. Later you can email your customers a newsletter, new products created or exclusive discounts, etc. This is a great way to stay in touch with your potential customers months after the craft fair is over.
Generate a code that includes all of your contact information so that when a customer scans your QR CODE your contact info can go straight to the phone’s address book.
Link to a blog or a blog post –If you have a popular blog post you feel your customers will benefit from while shopping at the craft show, have them link to it through a QR Code. For example, If I sell a wreath I may want to give customer information on how to care for their new wreath, how to store it, how to fluff it once out of the box, etc. So I can have them scan a QR Code instead of printing all the information on paper or better yet, link to a Youtube video of you demonstrating the procedures.
Offer Coupon Codes –Let’s say I offer a discount for the day for just those customers at the craft fair but they are not ready to commit to purchasing from me or they left their wallets at home. I can offer a QR Code with the daily discount code where they can enter it in my Etsy shop or website at a later time. Your buyers will really appreciate your patience with their decision making time.
Display on your car in the form of a magnet –Who has time to find a pen and paper when driving. If you display your business name and website already on your car, consider adding a large QR Code.
Add to Printed Material – Add a QR Code to business cards, brochures, marketing materials, price tags, etc. Here is an example of how I use QR Codes on the BACK of my business card.
How to Use QR Codes on Business Cards
Share Your Location – Use a geographic QR Code generator to create QR Codes with your embedded co-ordinates. The geographic co-ordinates are stored and when scanned will redirect to a static mobile Google map of your location. A great way to have your foot traffic share the word on Twitter or Instagram for those already in the area to find you. Just enter in an address or place a marker on the map, click the ‘Create Map QR Code’ button to generate the geographic QR Code. This isn’t available with all QR Code generating apps so you will need to make sure you pic an app that offers this.
This is very GREEN – In a society that is overrun with excessiveness, this is refreshing to offer something green to your customers and save a tree.

These are just 10 Ways to Use QR Codes for Craft Fairs but the possibilities are endless. How would you or do you use your QR Codes now? If you don’t have a QR Code yet, just start out small with your web addresses or Etsy shop address and build it up as you are more comfortable. It is FREE you have nothing to loose.

Julie 🙂

If you don’t have a smartphone but you want to read a QR code. Here is a QR code reader.

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