I already have big hair, but since I was in Texas, I made it even BIGGER!
Our trip to the Michaels store in San Antonio was one for the memory books! The residents are enchanting, gracious, and best of all, proud of their city! Most people we met told us "Welcome to San Antonio!" The Michaels staff too, they made us feel welcome. I must say - that location is one THE prettiest Michaels stores I've ever seen. It's only been open a year and still looks new and sparkly. My giddy moment of Saturday - I got to iron in the floral counter station. I always wondered what it felt like to stand back there! I know, I'm a craft nerd.
Before we left from Phoenix, I had been stressing about driving. Every time I go to Texas, I'm in a car that gets lost. Or rather, with a driver who gets lost.
I get lost in
Phoenix when I drive. Can you imagine the damage I'd do on my own out there? I'd probably end up on the other side of the state. Regardless, I gave myself a pep talk and printed out MapQuest directions which included a lot of "loops" and highways. Gulp.
After our plane landed in SA on Friday, I peeked outside, only to be greeted by massive raindrops falling hard and fast. I checked my email to find messages from Facebook friends: "Kathy, don't drive today, it's raining and the highways are crazy." I walked to the rental car desk and...changed my mind. My inner voice, guardian angel, etc, told me not to rent the car.
Maya and I took a cab to the hotel. I figured I'd rent a car in the morning. I knew Saturday's weather would be gorgeous and I'd have a sense of direction by then. No sooner than we checked in, my friend Aida (she works at a wonderful SA Latino craft boutique called Tres Rebecas) called me to tell me she would drive us around the city for the weekend! Not only did she escort us to and from Michaels, but she also took us micro-sightseeing each night and introduced us to artful locals (some of them came to Michaels the next day to see the demos and shop!). Aida made the trip more enjoyable, safe, productive, inspiring and lively. She even brought her 16-year-old daughter one time to meet Maya. I am eternally grateful!
Detour: I think it is wonderful to use sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to connect with people with like interests. Otherwise, I would have never met awesome people like Aida!
Back to topic...Maya and I spent one night and two full days at a demo table at the front of the store. More online friends came out to say hi! We met scores of crafties who were there to pick up centerpiece supplies, and eventually ended up at our table. After we showed off the Crafty Chica flocked irons, glues and glitters, they were converted. I felt a rush of goosebumps every time someone said "This is cool, I'm buying it!"
I think we did pretty good with the demos because we sold mucho stock by mid-Saturday. That night in the hotel, I whipped up some new samples using the products we had left for Sunday's schedule. When we ran out of that, we found a box with extra stock and the Michaels team loaded up the racks with it. It was a good problem to have!
On Friday night, these two adorably crafty girls arrived with their works-in-progress
Crafty Chica Empowerment Guardians and asked me sign them.
We did drawings every hour, and among the prizes were two advanced copies of my novel,
Waking Up in the Land of Glitter. This lovely chica won a book on Saturday afternoon. She came all the way back to the store on Sunday just to tell me that she read the whole book in one night and loved it. She made my whole day! She even Tweeted it:
"read advance copy of novel I got from @, enjoyed the read! Light-hearted and fun, I laughed and cried."
This was the display sometime on Sunday - after we had replenished it!
Here are a few of the Crafty Chica Flocked Iron On samples we demoed. More pictures to come later!
On velvet ribbon.
On glossy paper.
On a jersey scarf. (You can fill the inside with markers, paint, glitter, paper, sequins, crystals, etc...) I wore this scarf on Sunday. I showed it to this lady who came to our table. I explained how you can cut the design apart and spread it all over the fabric. She gasped in delight. "That looks so easy to make, I can do that!" She ended up buying eight packages of the iron-ons so she could make scarves for her nieces and sisters. Hello, goosebumps!
On glittered canvas. Cute story with this one - a little girl came by with her nana. Her nana told me that her granddaughter (10) loves the CraftyChica.com web site and is making her own collage handbags. The nana bought the girl appliques! Oh! Another nana story!!! OK, another nana came with her granddaughter looking for a craft project to do for the afternoon. They had no idea what to make or where to start. I showed them my iron/color/glitter demo and the nana looked at me, smiled and said, "You came all the way from Phoenix? I'm very proud of you for being a positive Latina role model. This is the craft we are going to make today, we want to support you" They ended up buying t-shirts, Crafty Chica Extreme Embellishment Glue, glitters, markers and iron ons. It was truly a "pinch me/dab away tears" moment! Double-decker goosebumps!
Backing plastic used as a stamp after being coated with Crafty Chica Permanent Fabric Markers.
On my Crafty Chica paper!
Thank you to everyone who stopped by, I appreciate it so much!
Coming tomorrow - more about San Antonio!
Peace, love, and glitter!
Kathy :-)
P.S. Check out
my new book and
product line!
