Cabin Fever & Toy Fair

On Sunday in the South End in Boston, I was at the Cabin Fever Show selling my handmade toys. After doing a lot of holiday shows back to back, it was nice to have some time to replenish stock. It felt great to have a large variety of animals in different sizes and colors. I loved seeing some of my SOWA regulars, and also meeting new people who just saw our work for the first time. It makes me look forward to the start of the outdoor show season in May. I'll be at the SOWA Market almost every Sunday from May-October.

After Cabin Fever on Sunday, I went to New York on Monday to participate in Toy Fair. Every year, thousands of people in the toy industry come to New York to see the latest and greatest toys. This year, Etsy partnered with a booth called the Creative Factor and invited some Etsy toy makers to give live demonstrations of their craft during the show. It was an interesting contrast to see people actually making toys in the same setting where most of the toys are manufactured in large factories overseas. We had a lot of interesting conversations with convention-goers, and met some great people along the way.

 Two of my Etsy seller neighbors were Ana & Aileen, who did crochet & needlefelting. I really enjoyed showing my step-by-step process of how the toys are made. I was also pleasantly surprised by the number of people who had already seen my toys (and were fans) either online or in person at a craft show.
Now it's time to get back to work and fill the orders I got this weekend!