To market...to market...

The chance to be creative and to work at home doing what I love is very rewarding. There are days when I wouldn’t have it any other way. There are also days when I feel like a factory piece worker – standing or sitting in the one spot for hours at a time – doing the most repetitive of activities. Yes – what I do and make – does end up being special, one off and unique….but the fact that I have to make 200 of a particular thing – which are all special, one off and unique – can be somewhat exhausting, if you know what I mean.

And why am I in a making frenzy do you ask? Well…that is because I am gearing up for a couple of weeks of back to back markets and my first ever foray into wholesale trade shows…..

I absolutely LOVE craft markets. I love having stalls at them and meeting all the lovely people who buy my work, those who stop for a chat about what I make and then tell me about what they make and the amazingly creative stallholders who I meet through running the Maribyrnong Makers Market and being a stallholder at various markets around Melbourne.

One very special market that I love – is Magnolia Square which will be the first cab off the rank for me on Thurs 5 to Sat 7 August at the Malvern Town Hall. Having been a retailer at Magnolia Square for the last 3 years and I would have to say – without a doubt that it always has the most beautifully presented stalls and products of any market I go to – an absolute must to visit! Hats off to founder Nic MacIsaac for dreaming up and running such a fabulous event.

Then on Sunday 8 August (no rest for the wicked they say….) – I have been invited by Craft Victoria to participate in their very special pop up Craft Hatch market which will be held in the Atrium at Federation Square in Melbourne. I am really looking forward to this as there are some super talented fellow stallholders I am keen to meet – in particular Handmade Romance and The Craft Revival and also to catch up with the lovely Andrea from Odds & Ends Handmade (I have one of her gorgeous knitted cactus on my kitchen window sill) and Susan from Spin Spin to name a few.

Then on Monday – I bump in for Life in Style (which runs from Tues 10 to Fri 13 August). LIS is a wholesale trade fair just for retailers – who come from all over Australia to source the best mix of beautiful designer brands sourced from a diverse range of companies featuring homewares, giftware, lifestyle and kids products. Bring it on I say!

So – wish me well…visit me if you like and if you’re wondering where I’ll be on Sat 14 August – I’ll be putting my feet up for a day, on the couch, with my very supportive husband and very patient children (well most of the time) for a good family movie and some well earned r&r. X 

Pocky

I LOVE Pocky. When I went to Japan – I was in Pocky heaven. They even have Pocky vending machines. I am always on the lookout for Almond Pocky which is my favourite and occasionally when I can find it my husband Sam gets a box of Men’s Pocky all to himself. Lucky duck.

Pocky was first sold in 1966, and consists of a biscuit stick coated with chocolate. It was named after the Japanese onomatopoetic word for the sound Pocky makes when bitten, pokkin (ポッキン). The original was followed by Almond Pocky in 1971 and Strawberry Pocky in 1977.

When I was coming home from Japan – flying out of Narita Airport - I spotted a large box of Giant Chocolate Pocky – which absolutely without a doubt – had to come home with me….even though I’d already almost got into fisty cuffs with the airline people about how much excess luggage I had and how much they were going to charge me (but that’s another story!).  And of course I still have the box – proudly on display in the kitchen - although the contents have long gone!

A related product I LOVE too is Pretz (I particularly LOVE Shrimp Pretz – but have only had this in Japan – can’t seem to find it here…..it goes very well with a nice cold Asahi – which is another fav of mine). Pretz is an unglazed version of Pocky, with flavors like tomato, pizza, and salad, as well as sweet flavors such as French toast.

If you are also a Pocky lover – you can do this silly little test which will determine what flavour Pocky you are……

What flavour Pocky are you?

http://sugardew.com/bloggalicious/quizzies/pocky/pockyquiz.htm

it appears that I am……

Pegs

Most of you may not know that I started and have a lot to do with running the Maribyrnong Makers Market. For months now I have been working on a special one-off Youth Makers Market event which will showcase the crafty talents of stallholders 25 years and under. And what an amazing array of talent we have lined up!

By default my 5 year old daughter Kitty – under my guidance of course – will be having her first foray into having a stall herself. She will be our ‘youngest’ and might I add cutest stallholder (who said I wasn’t biased!) Anyway – over the school holidays – she and I have been very busy working on the different things that she would like to sell. One of which is a super cute peg doll kit.

We had a few craft sessions together first to make the sample peg dolls shown in the photo and then from there she worked out what she wanted to put in the kit. The mini ric-rac scarf was a big hit – so there will definitely be some of that, a lovely piece of fabric from my stash for the dress and various buttons, ribbon rosettes, rainbow wool, embroidery thread, paper flowers and perhaps some angel type wings will all go into making the sweetest peg dolly kit ever.

Kitty certainly is a product of her environment and has been so productive that she will have quite a few of these charming little peg doll kits for sale – and at $4 each, I am sure they will be a big hit!

So if you are free next Saturday – make sure to bring the kids and come down to the Footscray Community Arts Centre for a bit of crafty goodness and to support all the wonderfully talented stallholders on show. It should make for a fabulous outing – I can’t wait!