Shell Necklaces

Check out our website www.dandlcreations.com for great buys on puka shell and semi-precious necklaces. Huge assortment of hand-made, choose your size necklaces; also wrap-around skirts and a lot more.

Visit www.starvingvendors.com to read about craft shows, festivals and lots of other things pertaining to selling at events. Advice, stories, etc., reviews.

Polls

When you are walking around festivals, etc., does somebody ever approach you and ask you to take a poll, etc. or answer a bunch of questions? Usually there's about half a dozen individuals stopping people and asking. If you say 'yes' they show you over to a tent which has a bunch of computers there and you answer the questions. I have no idea what is being asked, but I stay away from them. The main purpose of these polls are not to collect information, but rather to collect names for mailing/email lists which they sell to companies. I believe that they get paid $1.00 per name collected. Sorry, but they are not interested in your opinion.

I was at Home Depot this morning and the guy hands me my receipt and tells me that if I call a certain number that is listed and take their 'poll' then I could win $5,000. Well, just think of how many people nationwide follow through on this and they compile their mailing lists and sell them. Once again, not interested in your opinion.....just interested in making many times more than the $5,000 that they are supposedly giving away.

I stay at Motel 6 and they also offer a chance to win a cash prize. Your chances of actually winning anything answering all these people's questions is extremely thin, But their chances of them making money off the use of your name, etc., is what it is all about.

So, it's up to you. That's what is happening,

Monterey Columbus Day Festival Oct 11-12

Hi People. We'll be down in Monterey this weekend for the Columbus Day Festival at the Custom House Plaza. The weather looks decent and it'd be a great idea for you to trek on down to the area. Great scenery. Do your Christmas shopping.

We are DandL CREATIONS and we sell hand-made shell jewelry, fannypacks, shoulder bags, wrap-around skirts and a lot more. We will be located in Space 28 in front of the 'Museum.' Come on down and check us out.

Here are some reviews of recent shows we have done:

Homefront on the Bay, Richmond Oct 4-5
Castro Valley Fall Festival Sep 13-14
Pittsburg Seafood Festival, Sep 6-7

If you are a vendor, there's at least two shows in the Bay Area that I would recommend staying away from. The Orinda Holiday Bazaar (nice event and a great effort by the promoters, but NOBODY buying...they've got money here, but they don't spend) Last year's review.

And I would stay away from the Vacaville Harvest Days Festival at the Nut Tree. Did it two weekends last year and virtually everybody did poorly. Was located next to the Pumpkin Patch and people just ran by, grabbed their pumpkins and got the hell out of there. They force vendors to pay $25 for a 'police permit' where you MUST give them yours SSN and Driver's License number and be treated like a criminal when they run a check on you. Absurd.

Homefront Festival by the Bay

OCT 4-5, 2008. RICHMOND, CA. This was a nice community-type event for the local crowds as it centered around the contributions the area made in WWII....

However, the Homefront Festival was not good for vendors selling their merchandise and several of them left after Saturday. There was no admission fee, so that brought in some of the local riff-raff for which Richmond is noted for. Hardly anybody buying anything, except for some food, etc. and carnival rides.

I am certain that the organizers worked very hard getting this thing going and I commend them. You can lead the horse to the water, but you can't make him drink it and that was the main problem. However, information submitted to the Craftmasters News showed that 10,000 people were expected for the event and that number is grossly inflated. Closer to 3,000 than 10,000

All in all, the City of Richmond should take pride in the areas surrounding the National Park area and there are great views of the Bay, etc.

Homefront Festival by the Bay

We shall be at the Homefront Festival in Richmond this coming weekend. The City of Richmond, the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, and the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park are teaming up again to bring you:
Great music & entertainment; USO Dance
Local food specialties; Carnival
Kids' play activities; Tours and exhibits about the WWII Home Front
Vintage Car Show; YMCA Fun Run/Walk

Here's a link to their website: http://homefrontfestival.com/home.htm

FREE ADMISSION. Oct 4-5. Visit DandL CREATIONS and check out our shoulder/sling bags for the great price of $12.00. Excellent for travel; make great gifts. Look at our website.

Harvest Days - Vacaville

This is a very lousy event. So many problems. Just received an application for the Harvest Day's Festival in Vacaville at the Nut Tree. Dates: Oct 18-19, 25-26. Please read what I have written about this event in the past.

http://www.starvingvendors.com/do_you_remember.html 'Vacaville Harvest Days' on right.

http://thisaintparadise.blogspot.com/search/label/vacaville%20harvest%20days read previous entry made earlier on this blog regarding this event.

I can't believe they are having the Harvest Days Festival again. I did two weekends last year there in Vacaville and it was terrible. On the first weekend, we were located in an area in front of the Nut Tree. About a dozen vendors there. Very poor traffic flow, as people headed into the Nut Tree and the amusement area, not even paying attention to us. Very very poor sales and strong winds, which blew over our canopy at night. Everybody had to pack up at night because it was unsafe.

For the second weekend at Harvest Days, we were located near the Pumpkin Patch in the back and traffic flow was even worse. We packed up and left after the first day, as did a number of other vendors. Virtually nobody buying anything. The kids went over to the pumpkin patch with their parents, grabbed their pumpkins and got the heck out. Absolutely terrible show. Had to walk about half-a-mile to go to the bathroom. The promoters claimed that the city wouldn't allow porta potties. Bull Marlarky.

They force you to pay $25 for a 'police permit' which means that you have to submit your driver's license number, SSN, etc., to them and the police run a check on you like you are some kind of a criminal.

People, this is a terrible show. Stay away from Vacaville's Harvest Days. You are not going to make any money here and there are just so many problems which will drive you crazy.

Sand Sculpture

These people do some magnificent things with their sand sculpting. I guess they were at the Pacific Coast Fog Festival this past weekend. They won many awards for their work. If you like creating things in the sand, you'll be interested in looking at some of their work, which is included on their website:

http://www.sandscapes.com/

Be sure to check out their gallery. Truly amazing. They have done work all over the country at many fairs & festivals.

Pacific Coast Fog Fest - Pacifica, CA

Anybody have anything to comment about regarding the Pacific Coast Fog Festival held this past weekend in Pacifica? One of the committee members (Fred Howard (the duck) and his bored of Directors) wouldn't allow us in the past several years because he said that he is not allowing 'commercial' vendors. Helloooo...sunglasses is arts & crafts? When I spoke to him awhile back, he apparently wasn't too sure about what the differences were between A&C and commercial. Unable to tell them apart.

Tell me what you thought about the event. I heard that sales for a lot of the vendors was down.....just like other events.

If you were a vendor, tell me if you saw very many commercial vendors and how you compare sales this year to other years.

Here's something I wrote several years ago and updated. I had built up quite a base of customers there before he got a bug up......

http://www.dandlcreations.com/PacificCoastFogfest.htm

Credit Score Myths Debunked

Learn a little about credit scores and common fallicies. I found this article and put it in our Starving Vendors website. Interesting.

http://www.starvingvendors.com/credit_score_myths.html

What did the House of Rep do today in Washington?

I really thought that these people were working on our economy.

Here is what your HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IS DOING TODAY.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3611472

The first black heavyweight champion should be granted a presidential pardon for a racially motivated conviction 75 years ago that blemished his reputation and hurt his boxing career, the House of Representatives recommended Friday.

So, I guess this is probably more important.

Clovisfest - Sep 20-21

What was Clovisfest like last weekend? Been doing the show for several years, but had to cut expenses and travel. Any vendors out there that can tell me how the event was? Or if you visited the festival, how was it? I don't think that a lot of vendors were traveling very far for this one.

Serious Stuff

Watched the news last night about how they want to try to 'fix the economy'

I hate to say this, but I think we are in deep shit and they are trying their best to avoid a run on the banks and the Stock Market. They said that it would take the economy about a year and a half to turn around. For some reason, these people try to avoid using the term 'recession.'

There seems to be a sense of urgency in trying to get these bills passed through Congress and I am most certain that Bama Obama Bama Bama Bama Obaaaaammmaa.... is going to take advantate of all of this. McCain is right in stepping away from his campaign and turning to the issues at hand.

I hope that Friday, September 26 does not turn into another BLACK FRIDAY when the stock market crashes 1000 points and more banks and lending institutions go belly up. Just watching Bush's and McCain's faces can tell us that we are just a couple chess moves away from another depression.