Crafts in Chelsea

The storms cleared...and the craft show went on!

Mom was ready to go - thanks to the help of Due's Mom - Deborah. In true NY fashion - Mom & Deborah made it there with all of our stuff...in a cab!

We (and by that I mean Mom - but she always refers to our Central Bark endeavour as "we" - I guess I'm always with her even when she leaves me at home!)...WE were ready for the crowds. Sales were moderate but more importantly we got our brand out there and it generated a lot of interest - including 2 wholesalers.

I like that fact that MY picture was used to draw the crowd in...and it worked! Of course - the treats were a BIG hit as well. Seems they were such a success folks wanted to buy them. We even had a salon asking if we could provide them wholesale! Next show - we will continue to do the marketing give-away biscuit, but will also offer bags of treats for sale!

Thanks to everyone for their votes on our packaging. There were a lot of dogs in the crowd - and they all seemed to love my treats. (And I do mean MY treats - I couldn't believe Mom left me at home took ALL the treats with her!)

Thanks to Miley for keeping the Nor'easter in her neighborhood and to Sierra Rose for that Sun Dance. It worked. We had a few gentle showers - but nothing like the downpour predicted.

So now it's on to the Yankee Game (1 down - 3 to go). (And yes - Mom is recovering with an NCIS Marathon - thank you Mark Harmon)

P.S. - Mom brought the leftover treats home - so I let her back in the apartment!

Sunday Baking

6 days and counting until our first craft show at "Crafts in Chelsea", Saturday, Oct. 17th at PS 11 (21st Street between 7th & 8th Avenues). We been researching craft shows and one thing that has been mentioned several times is having "something" to give away. Mom vetoed candy. (Let's face it - she has no willpower and was afraid she'd eat all the candy herself) I thought - What's a better treat - than an actual TREAT! So this afternoon Mom has been busy baking dog treats. I of course was in charge of quality control.

Our friend, Mary, owned a dog bakery in Arlington. She was kind enough to give Mom some of her secret recipes. One of my favorites is FUNNY BONES. A peanut butter bone shaped cookie. (Which works perfect for the branding of Central Bark Designs - as a bone is our logo).

First you mix.....

Then you use your best bone shaped cookie cutter...

Then place them in on a silpat mat (Mom loves these for baking cookies)...

I hang out by the stove just in case I need to check on them.....15:00 is a looong time...

Then we let them cool. I check for any that may be a little too crispy and take care of those right away....

Next is the packaging. We have 2 options and I can't decide which one is best. Let me know which one you like....

Option #1 (Personally if it were up to me I'd put 2 cookies in this bag) The tag has a picture of one of our mats on the front - and our contact information (etsy store site) on the back...

Option #2 is just one cookie - and our label. Websticker.com made our label stickers. It's a great company in Vermont. I think Mom went with them not only because of their excellent products (and pricing)but because they have an office dog - that happens to be a golden! How sweet is that to go with your peeps to the office every day!

Our label has both our logo - and website information.

I can't decide which one is better. Let us know what you think. Option 1 (cello bag with picture tag) or Option 2 (fry bag with sticker). All this supervising has exhausted me! I'm going to curl up with my squirrel and Mr. Bunny and call it a day....thanks for voting!

SAVE THE DATE

Central Bark Designs will be participating in our FIRST Craft Show! It should be a lot of fun. Of course since it's our first one - Mom's insisting that I stay home - but I wanted to invite all of our friends in the NYC area to stop by and say hello! (And give Mom a bad time about leaving me out of all the fun!)

In the meantime I'm extremely busy supervising production of our handpainted pet place mats. I've put Mom on a tight production schedule. 10-12 mats a week until the show! (That's double what she normally completes - plus we have company (Mom's Mom & Dad) next week....we'll see.)

We have another new design in the works. This one is inspired by a David Hicks pattern. Here's a sneak peak at it....


Once we finish it - Due and his Mom review it - and help us find just the right NYC landmark or neighborhood to name it after.

For more information on Crafts in Chelsea click here. We hope to see you there (I'm still working on Mom trying to convince her that having me along would be a great sales tool!)

In the meantime - forecast for tomorrow is BEAUTIFUL...Central Park here we come!