and all things nice

Early one Spring morning I packed up the car with Little Miss Emma creations whilst Mr M raced around in the dark to check, tag and weigh his newborn calves. We were off to market! Sugar and Spice to be precise.

A leisurely drive across to Woodend, me furiously still hand stitching a few items and getting a bit car sick as a result, found us at St Ambrose Hall. I must say I was quite impressed with the number of people through the doors for a small town, off-main-street location. This is an absolute credit to Ali who runs the market and her promotion of Sugar and Spice.

My stall set up is slowly evolving - this market I had the addition of my new apron I made last week with handy pockets for notepad, pens, pegs, business cards etc. The lovely Mr M made a frame of sorts for my banner which worked brilliantly (and despite his 'complaints' he secretly loves getting his handyman hat out to help me - always first with display ideas!)

New hair clips were a hit, as were the usual favourites: yum vs. yuk bibs and the ever popular cupcake pinafore. It astounds me how every market is so different in what people are drawn to, last weekend at the Yea market it was the felt toys, at previous markets in Melbourne I have sold a lot of minky blankets. At Sugar and Spice nobody even looked at blankets and I made some more felt toys given their popularity at Yea but didn't sell any! So hard to try and predict people's reactions and impulses on market day!

I am quite conscious that Little Miss Emma is a bit of a pink overload and try to highlight the boys products that I do offer - so hung up the popular pirate minky and new road stripe shorts to be prominent.

I must say it wasn't a fantastic day sales-wise (a lot of people doesn't neccessarily mean a lot of sales) but I am still glad I attended and got to see a lot of other fantastic products on offer and have already seen an increase in online sales this week so it is definitely difficult to gauge the actual success of a market.

...and I got to go to an antiques shop in Kilmore on the way home so that's always a bonus right? ;)

sugar and spice market

Little Miss Emma has been busily preparing for this weekend's Sugar and Spice Children's Market in Woodend.

The market is on Sunday from 10am - 2pm, I hope you and your families can make it for a country drive to a lovely historic town.

to market, to market

The rain started. It started on Friday night and it wouldn't stop. Flood warnings were issued for the north east of Victoria. Who on earth was going to go for a weekend drive to a country market?! A marquee was erected and we trudged on. The Yea Country Market was going ahead rain, hail or shine thanks to the dedicated committee and loyal locals who said they would be out there with kids in gumboots and umbrellas in hand.

Little Miss Emma was lucky enough to be moved into the historic old goods shed at Railway Park, nice and warm, dry and with lots of passing foot traffic. The majority of customers on Saturday were grandmas buying up for precious grandchildren: my favourite kind of customers! I love chatting with them, "How old is she?" "What's his favourite colour?" I sold a reversible skirt and matching birdie t-shirt to a grandmother to send to her three year old granddaughter in Hong Kong - Little Miss Emma has gone global!

Other stallholders included Carolyn from Abundance Wellness and Beauty, Pash Designs (fellow madeit seller - very cute dolls), freshly baked bread, coffee, pottery and assorted fresh veggies, honey, olives, oils, wines and local produce. Across from me was a lovely lady sitting with a spinning wheel (yes just like in Sleeping Beauty) and spinning her own alpaca wool. 

A few new additions to this market: new white clip hangers to display girls skirts, boys shorts and a new way to display minky blankets. I also made some little felt stuffed toys, babushka rattles, my new hair ties and clips and of course had my new 'girl' (or boy?). Unfortunately I didn't have her base, but should get it this week in time for Sugar and Spice Market this weekend in Woodend.

There was live music as well with some classic rockabilly tunes, apparently at the next market there is a jazz band. And then when I thought it all couldn't get any more quaint or jovial, Monty's cousin Annie came along and set up next to my stall to start busking with her violin. She was brilliant, with not a squeak or screech to be heard!

...do not even get me started on this little fella that spent the day nestled amongst some knitted wares on the stall next to me. Tooooooo cute!

Overall it was a successful day considering the conditions - I was very pleasantly surprised! Just imagine if it was a beautiful Spring day?! The Yea Country Market is to be held on the first Saturday of every month at historic Railway Park in Station St, Yea. 

Little Miss Emma will definitely be back for the October market, hopefully you will be too :)

Special mention to the ever patient Mr M for fixing my clothes stand, constant 'advice', quality control and display ideas. And to my lovely friend Stephanie who helped set up, trudging through the rain and mud and getting very wet feet!  Thanks a squillion xxx

to Market, to market

My sleepy little town in country Victoria is going all up market - literally! The Yea Country Market has it's launch this weekend at the historic railway park, and Little Miss Emma will be there with bells on as a stallholder and a keen shopper.

The market has been run monthly previously at a different location but to be honest was a bit ho-hum...now it has been totally re-branded, re-marketed (so to speak) and has a bunch of new stalls including locally grown beef, olives, wines, cakes and jams as well as handmade goodies such as mine for kiddies and buskers, a jumping castle and yummy coffee.

I am hoping, praying and have all fingers and all toes crossed that the weather is kind to us and stays sunny. Yea is an easy drive from Melbourne up through the Yarra Valley so I hope some of my lovely readers take the opportunity to support some regional handmade and rural families :)

sugar and spice and all things nice

I think I let out an audible squeal (which woke Tess up from her snoozing under my desk, sorry) when I received the email alerting me that I had been accepted as a stall holder at the next Sugar and Spice Children's Market in Woodend. 

Sugar and Spice is a boutique children's market run by the super dedicated Alison Bant. Held in pretty St Ambrose hall in Woodend, the market tries to support locally handmade products from small producers (that's me!) And the best bit? Profits raised go to local charities, so it's not a huge money making machine that some markets have become. A feel good buzz out of a great day out selling or buying some gorgeous one-of-a-kind kids gear - bonus! You may have noticed I am all about supporting local communities in rural areas, especially rural businesswomen, so Sugar and Spice is a perfect fit for Little Miss Emma.

Here are some snaps from the June market, unfortunately I was in Papua New Guinea at the time so didn't get to have a squiz, but how gorgeous does it all look?! 

 

So come September 12th I expect to see you all your smiling faces in real life supporting local handmade in Woodend!

Photography by Tea and Jam Photography
Sugar and Spice design by Style Me Gorgeous

{ Mathilda's Market @ Malvern }

Well I'm somewhat recovered from what was a hectic market day at Mathilda's yesterday after a 5am start and driving in the driveway at about 7pm last night - phew! I quickly decided yesterday that I would make a terrible hairdresser on my feet all day!

  

I am still constantly tweaking my stall set-up, seeing what works and what it best to display different things. Height is definitely the key so my display boards are great to catch peoples eye. Mr M made some great new shelves for me to put folded blankets, onesies, skirts and bibs in. The night before the market we came up with a genius idea to display bibs and skirts and signage on a clothesline style display...

 

I also added a rod to the display board to hang pinafores from. After some initial hesitation as to whether it would work due to it not lying the pinafores flat, I have labelled it a roaring success as people could flick through them easily and see the different designs clearly...

All in all it was a successful market (really my first ever!) so I was a happy little miss at the end of the day. My mum's bibs and my burp cloths were the hot items which was a surprise as at previous markets I haven't sold any! It amuses me what sells well versus what I think will sell - I hardly sold any pinafores or minky blankets which are my key products, but found people were keen to buy little $10-$15 items. My canvas's are an ongoing saga - lots of people comment on the canvas blocks and are keen to order but I really don't sell many of them, people like the idea of the peg boards and they are my #1 hit in my online shop but no follow through orders? Feedback from some of my lovely blog readers, facebook fans and return customers greatly appreciated!

As it was my first Mathilda's I was impressed to see the quality and the high level of handmade products and the merchandising that goes into it all (except some stalls which I didn't think were handmade or from a small production as stipulated in the Mathilda's ideal...there's my rant though!) It was fairly busy all day so I didn't get around to have a look many other stalls which I was quite sad about, but can't be sad about being busy! I wanted to go see Helen from ensparkle ceramics, Allison from Lark and just generally have a sticky beak at everyone's products and stall set ups. I did run into Naomi from Thula Thula and some blog readers which was nice/strange to know people have been actually reading this and I'm not just a mad woman talking to herself!

Lots to think about, display and products to keep evolving, I find markets to be so helpful because you automatically see what people pick up and are drawn to first which gives me the best feedback of all!

Hope you had a lovely time if you were at the market and didn't have too much pram rage on the corner I was on - massive pram jams at the height of it all!

{ To Market, To Market }

Just in case you have been living under a rock or just ignoring me all week...

Hope to see you there :)

Back to my mad buttonhole making (pinafores will now have button closures, not velcro), minky cutting board and canvas construction...why is it raining on a day I need to do lots of spray painting outside? Hmmmph. Have a lovely weekend!

{ Yum! vs. Yuk! }

Most mum's are pretty much awesome - but mine in particular because she makes little things for my market stalls and then shows up to help me sell them, driving an hour and half to Melbourne to be there and won't take any of the profits! She is a legendary bib-making professional, always making toweling bibs for friends and family having babies, her latest editions are these cool Yum! and Yuk! ones, which I think are pretty cute.

 

Available this weekend at Mathilda's Market - Malvern Town Hall (corner of High St and Glenferrie Rd) from 9am-1pm. Hope to see you there!

{ Modish Market }

Well the weekend and the market has come and gone. To get to Melbourne in time to set up for markets I get up at 5am, on Saturday morning I woke up feeling TERRIBLE with a hideous head cold. Ugggghhh. Am dosing up still on cold and flu tablets. I eventually got to Malvern Town Hall to see I was positioned next to Virginia from Ginnypops and across from Bree from Spinning Pretty, whose stall is an absolute magnet for little girls! My mum couldn't resist and bought some little fairy dresses for my nieces dolls. Very cute.

 

Kylie and Kelly did a great job organising the market, making sure we had everything we needed and the show was running smoothly. Other markets I have done have not been as nice or welcoming, so the Modish Market girls should hold their heads high for their very first market. The crowds built towards lunchtime and if nothing else I did a lot of 'networking'. Lots of people interested in my minky blankets and lovely comments about the canvas blocks especially. Not many sales but I handed out about 100 business cards and had some genuinely interested mums in my products, so it's hard to say exactly how successful the market was. I had about 20 pregnant ladies or friends of pregnant ladies say they will be getting a blanket once they have the baby!

 

My stall set-up went well with Mr M's new display board working wonders to display canvas and pegboards as well as clothing. I like going for height to display so this was perfect, and being on a corner the hinged design worked well. 

I hope everyone had a lovely and relaxed mothers day weekend, my mum came down to Melbourne especially to help me with my stall as I was going solo. Aren't mums great?

modish preparations

As much as I'm trying to fly minky blankets and pinafores off my sewing machine as well as prepare sample canvas and peg boards, there is a lot more that goes into preparing for a market. The little things I think count the most, so I have spent the morning at my coffee table stamping gift bags and popping business cards in them ready to put people's purchases in. Things like this and putting price tags and sizes on I always underestimate the time it all takes.

I still have to sand, paint and screw hooks into the glorious new display structure Mr M made for me before he left for the week, applique about ten onesies, make at least another five pinafores and go through my 'market box' of visual merchandising to see what display options I have. Not to mention by my calculations I need to make another 10 minky blankets...better get cracking!

Three more sleeps until Modish Market...

{ To Market, To Market }

Thank-you for your encouraging comments in regards to my first market outing on Saturday. I dragged along the ever supportive Mr M who was my photographer for the day:

Unfortunately the market was not much of a success, but I was heartened to hear the same story from most other stall holders, it's not just me! The rainy long weekend certainly did not help. But my eldest sister wisely told me: 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained Emma'. So true. If I hadn't done the market I would have been disappointed. 

It was a great experience though, have got so many ideas for new displays and marketing plans. I also got to meet some great stallholders, including Fiona from Squirt Baby, Jacqui from Cottage Nerd and my backyard neighbour Jenny from Just Smitten.

I'm hoping to do some more markets soon, perhaps Modish Market or Mathilda's Market.

{ Images by Little Miss Emma/Mr M }

{ Mock Market }

To say I am nervous about Little Miss Emma's first market outing (other than some dismal attempts about 2 years ago) tomorrow is an understatement. Well perhaps not nervous, just worried, apprehensive, Little Miss Emma is my baby and until now I have been protected by the strange virtual world of blogging, madeit and etsy. What if people don't like my products? What if I don't sell anything? What if I'm not 'up to scratch'? Oh dear. 

{ Rolled muslin wraps, burp clothes and a cushion in white Ikea basket I am using, usually sits under our TV unit holding DVD's }

I turned to my first ever blogging friend, Fiona from cute clothing range Squirt Baby for advice on market stall set-up. She wisely suggested doing a 'mock-market' the day before - setting up my market stall table in my own home to see how it all looks and works, to iron out any creases before my moment in the sun.

  

{ Minky blankets, canvas and rompers galore! I love the little elephant canvas for a little boys nursery, too cute }

So today my kitchen table became my marketplace. I actually have over catered, even with my sewing machine going to heaven this week! I have a lot more stock than anticipated which really isn't a bad thing. Lots of new girls 'tuxedo rompers' adorned with cute buttons and pretty lace, new bigger and better peg boards as well as lots of snuggly minky blankets, light muslin wraps and handy toweling burp cloths.

{ New canvas order forms at the ready on my clipboard, Little Miss Emma sign in my much treasured Freedom white ornate frame, I did order a banner but it hasn't arrived yet :( Oh well, next time... }

I would've liked to have a lot more girls dresses, boys shorts and bibs but sewing machine death in the family has hit hard :( No matter, I am armed and ready! My new business cards from Dingbat Press arrived this week just in time for the market. They are beautifully letterpressed by the talented Adrienne, who was a dream to deal with, very attentive to detail. I wanted something clean and simple and Adrienne was only too happy to work with my cupcake logo and staple colours of pink and chocolate brown.

{ New business cards - yay! }

If you are in Melbourne please feel free to come and see me at the Sisters Market, St Kilda Town Hall - doors open at 10am. Would love to see some smiling faces...be kind!

{ Images by Little Miss Emma }