A big blog post that's long overdue!

My gosh, it has been well over a month since my last blog post! There has been so many changes in my life recently that I literally haven't had the time to sit down and write a post. But things are finally starting to fall back into place and settle down so I am back on board and ready to get into the swing of things.

Some of you may already know, but I am now a full time employee again. After being self employed for 9 long months, I am now back into a 40 working week (not that I didn't work hard when I worked for myself!) I took on some temp work back in March that was supposed to be only for a month or 2, but they offered me a full time role in my first week and it was too good to turn down. That doesn't mean that any of my other ventures are being put to rest however — I just need to find some extra hours each day to squeeze them in. Funnily enough though, I have started becoming more productive and my time management has improved immensely. Who would have thought? Yay to working again!

So here is a brief overview of the last month for me. Shortly after Craft 2.0 it was my birthday :) I had some lovely celebratory drinks in Takapuna at the new Irish Pub.

One of my best friends, Hayley, and I on my 24th Birthday.

A few days later followed the first Auckland Craft Collective evening. It was on "Online Marketing" and was a huge success. We had 2 fabulous guest speakers — Esther from Toggle.co.nz and Elliot from Endemicworld.com. I learnt so much from this evening and am currently working on lots of changes for Skipapple as a result (new blog post on these soon!). You can check out the 10 Top Tips from the evening on our blog.

The lovely location of our Auckland Craft Collective evenings — Ponsonby Community Centre

The next week was Crafternoon Tea. It was a lovely day with lots of craft goodness (as always!). I was sat next to a fabulous new up and coming baby clothing label, Bubbarino. They have the most adorable childrens clothing.  

The gorgeous childrens clothing by Bubbarino

Then the following week I attended my first Kraftbomb. As I imagined (and as it has been every time I have gone along as a shopper) it was buzzing with people. I had a lovely time sitting next to the delightful Desiree of   Flossys Fancy (I hope I spelt that right!). I only had a half table of goodies for sale that day, but it was still great to be able to be there. I'm going to apply every 3 months, and *fingers crossed* will get to see what each season is like at Kraftbomb :) 

Also on the same day as Kraftbomb, two of my best friends from back home (Perth), Caitlyn and Liam, had a gorgeous baby girl, Hudson Olivia and I think that one of those dresses from Bubbarino (above) would look absolutely gorgeous on her.

Left: Mine and Desiree's tables at Kraftbomb. 

Right: My Antique Bronze Pendants

I had a rather relaxing long weekend, with nothing exciting to report! I caught up housework, paperwork and me time. It was so nice to be able to relax. I also managed to get the time to sew a little present for my best friends new little girl. You'll have to excuse the quality of the photos — I took them just before I wrapped it up and took it the post office :) I even did my first ever bit of embroidery with her name and date of birth. I was pretty chuffed with how it came out — not too shabby for a first attempt! The blanket is made from baby pink and white chenille, the back is lined with baby pink flannelette and I put some cute stain blanket binding around the edge to finish it.

A cuddly baby blanket for little Husdon Olivia :)

Devonport Craft Market and Crafternoon Tea were both fabulous for me this month. It was lovely to see some more punters at the Devonport market, it was noticeably busier there this month which is great. There was also lots of new seller which I love to see. Unfortunately forgot to take some photos though. I did get some time to have a browse around Crafternoon Tea however and made a few purchases & swaps and also got a few snaps of some fellow stallholders.

Some of the April Crafternoon Tea stallholders

Skipapple goodies for sale

Phew.... what a big overview of the last month! Of course, there was also the Auckland Craft Collective "Book-Keeping" evening last week which was another great success. You can check out the top tips for evening over at the blog.

Now I have lots of work to do on a couple of exciting things coming up (it's a secret for now... but you'll know soon enough!) so I had better get back to it.

Hope you have all had a fabulous weekend. 

Chat again soon x

Okay... so it's been a while!

I know, I know... my online presence recently has been somewhat lacking. I have been so busy with all the markets in February and March to prepare for, that typing a blog post has been the last thing on my mind!
I have sat down 3 times in the last week to work on a new blog template, but every time I get half way through it, I decide it's not what I want so I scrap it and start again. My aim is to have a new one completed by the end of March. I figured it is better to set a more realistic deadline ;)

This weekend just gone I was at the Devonport Craft Market . It was a bit of a muggy day, with bouts of rain here and there, but all things considered I had a great day. It was lovely to see lots of new faces around the market and it will be fabulous to see those crafty people back again :) Next weekend I will be heading along to Crafternoon Tea and I am really looking forward to it. Check out the fabulous flyer that the ever clever Olivia made for it.

I am really hoping that things will settle down after the super exciting Craft 2.0 in March. I am getting so excited about it, but also a little bit stressed, wondering whether I have enough stock to take down? I have put in my order for some more supplies to make pendants, so the next few weeks are going to be busy, busy, busy!

I can't believe we are half way through February already. Please Mr 2010, slow down a little so I can enjoy each day a bit more :)

xx

Pendant Assembly Line

What a crazily busy weekend it was! On Friday night I was up late, making sure I was all set for the Love Handmade market on Saturday morning. I honestly can't remember the last time I was up before 7.30am on a weekend! But although it was an early start, I am really impressed with the amount of people that came through the doors throughout the morning. Although it wasn't super busy, for a first market it was a fairly successful day. Not to mention it was a fabulous location... nice and sunny, room to move and very comfy chairs ;) Fingers crossed I get to sit up in the same spot next time! I also got to chat to lots of lovely crafters that were there such as Podgy Panda, Books by Rachel, Ferrit and my girl Jess. Of course there was loads more people there so big apologies to anyone I didn't mention — everyones crafts looked fabulous and it was hard to restrain myself from dipping into my sales money!

Here is mine and Jess' tables all setup first thing in the morning. My pendant display worked a treat!

Jess looking all sweet at her stall. Who could say no to that face?

I couldn't resist purchasing a couple of cute Gingerbread men though, for Jess and I from Gretel's Gingerbread and I have to shamefully admit that it was indeed my breakfast! (But what a tasty breakfast it was!) I am really looking forward to the next Love Handmade market which will be at the same lovely location and at a even more lovely time of 10am-1pm. It'll be on Saturday 19th December, so mark that in your diaries!

Late Saturday evening I got a surprise message from Sarah from the Devonport Craft Market saying that there was one last little spot left at the markets if I was still keen. So I quickly nabbed it and re-packed all my market stuff into it's box ready for the next morning.

The Christmas Spectacular was exactly that... very spectacular! I had a fabulous day at the markets and although it tends to quieten down for the last 2 hours, it was a busy day overall with about 450-500 people through the doors. The first hour saw 110 people come through and by lunchtime there was nearly 300 shoppers that had come through! Not a bad effort for a market on a weekend that was in addition to it's regular weekend! The Sarah's did a fab job promoting the market and I loved the big banner outside. It definitely made us easier for shoppers to find, and a lot harder for them to resist a gander! I was also stoked with my little calendar — I've already gone through and marked it with the application close dates too.

I was far too busy on Sunday to get any pics, but again there was lots of talented people at the market. Unfortunately I didn't get the opportunity to pop around and see everyone this time, so will have to make sure I make time, next market.

After a successful weekend of sales, my stock has depleted so it'll be a busy couple of weeks ahead of me preparing for Crafternoon Tea and Love Handmade in December. I have already prepped and started assembling over 160 pendants — how good am I? hehe. I also have some plans for some new products to launch then... so time permitting, there will be some new goodies on offer in December.

Will keep you posted x

My First Skipapple Market

I decided to do this as a separate post, as there is a few piccies and let's be honest — it deserves it's own post!

After weeks of planning, creating and preparations I finally attended my first ever market under my label, Skipapple! The morning started wonderfully with goodies selling left, right and centre, but unfortunately it got pretty quiet after lunch. Perhaps it was due to the fact the Auckland Marathon was on? Nevertheless I had a good day.

Goodies at my stall

 

Top: A snap of the market from my table... it was a bit quiet as you can see.

Middle: The lovely Jess and her stall

Bottom: My sweetheart of a stall neighbour, Olivia, and a shopper admiring her creations.

My lovely boyfriend came along to bring me some lunch and took this pic of me at my stall

Lucy from Felt and Mel from Black Swan Designs were there, so it was great to meet them and put faces to names/brands. Luisa from Crafternoon Tea also popped along and introduced herself so it was great to get to meet her too. I love finally being able to meet all these wonderful people in person... chatting on Twitter and Facebook just isn't the same!

So all in all I had a GREAT day and I cannot wait to get along to the Love Handmade market on the 14th of this month. I also have my fingers crossed for the November Crafternoon Tea market and the December Devonport Craft market too!

Chat to you all soon xx

Sewing Machine to A&E

Wow, this is the longest I have gone between blog posts... and I'm sure you are all distraught (hehe) so here is an update of the last few days.

Saturday I finally signed the lease for a new rental. Very exciting. Moving next week — which is a little more stressful than it is exciting. Have started packing, but there is so much I don't want to pack "just incase" I need it between now and next weekend. On Sunday I took a lovely drive down to Devonport to drop some Auckland Craft Collective flyers to Jess (who had her lovely Bam Bam Creative stall there, absolutely chockers with new goodies) and to also have a look at all the clever crafty creations that were there this month. I honestly think the quality and assortment just gets better and better every month. Well done to everyone at the Devonport Craft Market!

Today I had a particularly busy day and it felt like I spent all day driving backwards and forwards. My lovely BFF celebrated her 25th Birthday today so I went to join her and a few of her other close friends for lunch in the city. We had a delish lunch at the Belgium Beer Cafe and lots of laughs.

My Gorgeous BFF

Since I had launched Skipapple, I thought I should probably make her a little something for her birthday. I was going to make her a pendant, but she received a beautiful necklace from her boyfriend so I didn't want to make her choose which necklace she would wear ;) She had dropped a subtle hint that she would like a pencil case so I cranked the sewing machine this morning and made her one from a pattern that Jess had posted a link to on her blog a few weeks back. This is the result...

 The Birthday Pressie!

For a first attempt I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. There is a few little things that need improving on the next one that I make, but all-in-all it was a success and Hayley seemed to like it (or she's a very good actress! Oh hang on, she is a good actress. Damn! hehe)

Sadly this afternoon my poor little sewing machine had a break down and needed to go to Sewing Machine A&E. I was happily winding a bobbin when all of a sudden it stopped turning. I opened her up to have a squiz (no idea what I thought I would be able to do, mind you) and saw the broken belt. And just incase you were wondering what the inside of an old sewing machine looked like, I kindly took a photo for you all to see ;)

It's not the best photo, but you get the idea! Lots of cogs, rods and turning pieces! I was lucky enough to find a man that repairs sewing machines, that isn't too far from where I live which was great news. Plus, he said he can even probably get it finished tomorrow so I should have my baby home to me by tomorrow evening. Fingers crossed!

I've been busy working with Jess on the Auckland Craft Collective and things are progressing really nicely. We've come up with a website design and have just about finished nutting out all the details and we are really stoked with how it's coming along. It should be up in the next couple of weeks, but you can follow our progress on our blog.

Another busy day ahead tomorrow, so I should probably try get to sleep now. Hope you are all having a fabulous week so far.
xx