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

Craft 2.0 Goodness

Phew... what a jam-packed few days it's been. After weeks of anticipation and excitement, Jess (Bam Bam Creative) and I were up in the early hours of Friday morning — 4.30am wake ups aren't what I'd call fun — and were headed for the airport. We were greeted by an absolutely stunning Wellington day (which from previous visits, I wasn't sure existed!) and whilst it was a busy day, we still had a chance to enjoy the sunshine.

The lovely view of the Harbour

After a relaxing lunch in the sun and a visit to Madame Fancy Pants store on Cuba St, the ever lovely Sue Tyler (Of Supervery and Craft 2.0 fame) and her equally lovely Mum picked us up and took us out to the New Dowse to set  up. The New Dowse is such a perfect venue — I loved the crisp clean, open feel it had. Jess and I unpacked our strategically sorted suitcases that resembled a sort of Jigsaw Puzzle that all fit together perfectly, and began to set up our tables.

Before and After shot of my table

We headed back to our Hostel, enjoyed some dinner and watched a play that was showing in the Fringe Festival and headed back to our room to try and get some sleep to prepare ourselves for the next day. We were up early the next morning and were lucky enough to score a lift to Craft 2.0 with Heleen (Ruby in the Dust) and her sister.

It was a fabulous day, and although it was said to have been a slow day in Craft 2.0 standards it still had a constant flow of browsers and shoppers all day, which was nice. Lots of Skipapple goodies found their way to new homes and it was really good to meet some new crafters and to catch up with ones I have met previously. I would have liked some more time to get around and see other stalls, but there was no real opportunity to sneak away from my table.

Before we knew it we were packing up, heading to the airport and flying home again. Wellington gave us a lovely view as we departed, and for that last little bit of happiness and sunshine, I was very grateful!
Here is a lovely snap that Jess took of the view from the plane (she nabbed the window seat... so I've shotgun for the next trip down! hehe)

The amazing view as we departed Wellington. Great photography Jess :)

After arriving home, tired and exhausted from what felt like DAYS away (it was literally only about 36 hours) I had a cuppa and a brief Facebook check, before heading to bed for a nice long sleep. As much as I enjoyed my trip — with all the rushing around and busyness — it was good to be home!

I'm really looking forward to heading down for the next Craft 2.0 (fingers crossed I get in!) and I've already started researching flights and accommodation.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that the Devonport Craft Market was fruitful today for all it's lovely store holders.

xxx

Getting Sorted

The start of this year has been so busy that I haven't really had a proper chance to sit down and assess what my plans and goals are for this year. Of course I already have a general idea in my head about what they are — but I am a "list" person and feel much more organised and motivated once I have everything down on paper. Now I am not one for "New Years Resolutions" because let's be honest, who actually sticks to them? But I've decided that I am going to take some time out this week to get my metaphorical crap sorted and work out a plan of attack. So if I appear to go into hiding for a few days, don't panic... I'll just be hidden under the piles of stuff that I am sorting through in my office and bead storage room!

In other news, things have been progressing really well with the Auckland Craft Collective and I am getting more and more excited about the pending launch in March. Jess and I have been working tirelessly on securing some fabulous Guest Speakers, designing and making our website, booking a venue and designing our flyers and brochures ready for print. You may have noticed that our blog and twitter page have both had a make over to align with our new branding. The website is all on target to go live this evening, so come Monday morning we'll be online and you'll be able to check it out and subscribe to our mailiing list.

Yesterday was Crafternoon Tea — the first craft market for 2010. It was the first time I had attended the market at it's wonderful location in Kingsland, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I met some lovely new people and got a chance to have a good chat to many crafters. It's a lovely hall and Luisa and Trent have set it up really well. I'm really looking forward to the next one. It was a little on the quiet side, but I still had a pretty successful day all things considered! I took a couple of snaps when I first set up, but got sidetracked for the rest of the market and forgot to take some more. I think Jess remembered too, so I'll link to them when she puts them up :)

It's been such a beautiful, warm weekend — I think I might head out into the garden for a couple of hours to read a book and soak up some Vitamin D.

Chat again soon x

It's Tea time again...

That's right... Crafternoon Tea is on this Saturday! And of course, I will be there along with many other talented crafty peeps.

It is back at it's fabulous regular location — the Holy Trinity Church in Kingsland from 10am til 3pm.

I'll have some more bags available aswell as my collection of pendants, card wallets, coffee cup sleeves, belts and more.

Hope to see you there xx

Sawing, sanding and a broken camera

Okay, so although the title suggest my broken camera was something to do with my own doing, that is not the case at all ;) Last week was a crazily busy week preparing for the Crafternoon Tea market (as I am sure it was for many people) and thinking that I had all the time in the world to prepare, I decided one of my first projects would be a couple more displays for my pendants. My first was another smaller version of my earlier created display and the other was the snazzy creation pictured below. Such a cheap but rather effective display (if I don't say so myself). I wanted to add more depth to my market display and make it more visually interesting so I decided to create a display for the pendants without them being on individual cards.

I had some left over board from my first display so decided to put it to good use. I purchased some wood for the legs, a couple of hinges and then a stack of self tapping eyelet thingamajigs (yes, that's their technical name) and got to work. I actually cut this board using a stanley knife as although it takes longer, I find it gives a much cleaner cut than using a saw. Plus it means a LOT less sanding once you've cut it. My main aim when creating displays (apart from them displaying the product well of course) is to make them easily portable which is why I put the legs on hinges and the crossbar bits with hooks so they can unhook and fold flat. I am really happy with how it turned out, and it not only saved me a lot of room on my table, it looked pretty effective too. AND it only cost me about $9 in materials. It was wins all round really ;)

My snazzy new pendant display

So as you can tell, no cameras were harmed in the making of this display. However my camera did leave us last week, on the day that I planned to photograph all my completed pendants, and a day before the Crafternoon Tea — typical. I was more angry than sad about it dying, as I wasn't overly attached to my 18 month old Fujifilm (NEVER buy a Fujifilm, they are rubbish!). It was only a cheapy at the time so I shouldn't really be surprised that it just stopped working one day, but still... it was rather inconvenient! On the bright side however, I managed to use my FlyBuys points to score myself a really snazzy compact Olympus in a sexy Pearl White colour. She's such a little gem and I'm looking forward to using her!

Anyway, Crafternoon Tea on Saturday was a fabulous market and I really loved the Mt Eden Normal Primary School hall. It had a lovely vibe to it and felt very welcoming. Although it was a fairly quiet day I think Luisa and Trent did a fabulous job advertising it as best they could — Kudos! I had a wonderful day chatting with my fellow crafty peeps such as the lovely Jess and Bronwyn and to top it all off it was a successful market for me. I am really looking forward to the next one in January, back at it's regular Kingsland location.

My table with my new displays at Crafternoon Tea

I've cut 3 more bags ready to sew for this weekends Love Handmade market, and I have cut out 6 *new product alert* 'Obi style Belts' which I will be launching this Saturday — exciting stuff! I'm also getting ready to snap (with my sexy new camera) all of my pendants and start uploading them to my Felt shop over the next week.

Chat soon x

Crafternoon Tea is near...

And I will be there — Yippee. Third time lucky! I have sadly missed out on the last 2 but I vow to be present at all future ones :)

For December it'll be held at a different location than normal, so pop on down to the Mt Eden Normal Primary School on Sat 12th Dec from 10am-3pm. It was be a lovely day of crafty goodness and it'd be a shame if you missed out!

See you all there xxx 

 Click here to check out the Crafternoon Tea website

Crafternoon Tea is Tomorrow

And although I won't be attending this one, I highly recommend you pop along to do some chrissy shopping. There is going to be loads of talented crafty peeps there selling their wares, and you are sure to find the perfect gift for just about everyone. My pal Jess is debuting her absolutely gorgeous new cushions and I am sure there will be lots more new goodies available from plenty of stall holders.

As it says in the poster above, it's at the Trinity Methodist Church Hall in Kingsland from 10am to 2pm. So go grab a coffee or brunch at one of the Kingsland Cafe's and then mosey on down to the Crafternoon Tea.

It's sure to be fabulous.

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 Market Travel Case

I had a right pain in the butt of a time trying to get all my pendants to stay upright in a box and not get all messed up everytime I picked it up last week, so my weekend endeavour was to create a carry case for all my market stock. I had an idea in my head on how I thought it should work, so it was off to the Stationery place, the Warehouse and Mitre 10 for supplies.

Supplies

I picked up a pretty pink patterned box for the Warehouse for about $20 to use as the case, and purchased some heavy black corrugated plastic for the dividers. I carefully measured it all out and began cutting.

 Cutting and Measuring... it's getting there!

It took me WAY longer than I anticipated, and there was a couple of minor design glitches along the way (the long dividers started to bow with the more dividers I added) but all in all I am very stoked with how it turned out!

The finished case :)

It fits all of my current pendants, as you can see, and has plenty of room for all the news ones I am busy making! My final touch was to put a dividing piece of plastic along the top, so that I could sit all the rest of my other stock, such as headbands and coffee cup sleeves on the top.

When I was out getting materials to make this carry case, it also dawned on me that my current market display needed some refining, so I also picked up some bits to make a pendant display. It's nothing super fancy, but it'll make it all a bit easier! Will be making that this week so will post another blog about that once it's done!

K 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

Long Weekend and a long short week!

I have been busting to write a blog for over a week now, since the long weekend, but I have been so busy getting ready for the markets that I literally haven't had time! So this will be an overview of the last week and a half.

My long weekend was absolutely delightful. I went away with my partner and his family for a relaxing few days in the Coromandel. It was really nice being away from internet, computers and phones for a change. I am technology fiend (and a slight workaholic) and usually feel really lost without it, but it's nice every once in a while to be forced to actually relax. We stayed in a lovely bach just north of Whitianga, and the weather was divine.

The sunset on the drive there and the lovely beach we were staying on

We were lucky enough to be there on the day of the market, and there was some great stalls there. One that I particularly loved was a very talented crafter that made things out of cutlery. There was jewellery, modified cutlery and little critters. They were absolutely delightful and I just had to get a picture to show you all.

Some clever creations by a gentleman named Martin Jakowitsch

I also scored myself some gorgeous fabric that I will be turning into some new designs very soon :)

Stunning satin and some lovely 100% cotton

Once I was back in Auckland, it was back to the grindstone getting ready for my first market — the Devonport Craft Market. Because it was my first market, as you can imagine, there was LOADS of preparation that needed to be done. I had to organise everything from packaging, to displays to my float. Not to mention I needed to make sure I had enough stock! In the end it all came together and I was ready for the market (at 1.30am the morning of the market!?!)

 

A sneak peak on what was for sale... and my packaging

xx

Vintage and Sunshine

Today was the last day of the super sales at Spotlight, and I couldn't resist going back to stock up on a few of my fave fabrics that I have picked up over the last couple of weeks, and to also grab a little bit of some new fabrics. Here is a sneak peak at some of the gorgeous vintage and assorted printed fabrics I have acquired over the last 4 or 5 days.

I have an idea on what I would like to do with some of them, but most likely they will be turned into an array of accessories such as headbands, business card wallets, lining for handbags and clutches and reusable bags. I'm looking forward to making lots of goodies, but I think it may have to all be put on hold for a few weeks as I have found a new place to live :) Yay! I am going to be moving in only 3 weeks, and you would not believe the amount of packing I have to do! It is super exciting though, because my new house will have room specifically dedicated to crafting! Extra space is just what I have needed and can see myself becoming much more productive once the new room is all setup and ready to go. I'm also feeling a Spring clean coming up... which is appropriate, seeing as it is infact spring!

Bummed I missed out on going and checking out Kraftbomb this morning, but finding a place to live has become a priority recently (as it would be!). I'll hopefully get along to the Devonport Craft Market next weekend for a squiz.

Just realised I actually will need to pre-wash some of the fabric I am about to sew or else the first time someone washes their double sided red print with white fabric backing, the under side will undoubtedly become pink! Glad I thought of it before I started sewing! Best do a bulk wash of all red things now :)

Chat to you all later x

Thank god for Seam Rippers!

I've had yet another fantastically productive couple of days, and am feeling really good about where things are headed. My initial plan was to work on one project at a time, but as you can tell, I haven't really done that. I've got so many things I want to make, that once I have made one prototype I have the urge to go onto the next. But today I was a good girl! Apart from stopping in at Spotlight on my way home (and getting some bargains!) I managed to stick to my plan and get a heap of headbands done. I've altered their shape slightly, as the first one I did was a bit too wide at the base and stuck out a little bit when you wore it. I'm really happy with the new style :) Due to the time, I have had to put the sewing machine to sleep, as I don't want to iritate my flatmates until the early hours of the morning, so I am just going to spend a bit more time cutting and prepping them ready for assembly in the morning.

I had a bit of a crabby evening on the sewing machine yesterday arvo, because I was working on my sandwich bag and snack bag prototype and the damned thing just wouldn't go together how I wanted it to. My seam ripper got one hell of a work out! I ended up scrapping in my original design, and creating a new more sewing machine friendly one. Once I have completed a collection of headbands, I'll get to work on getting the re-usable bags done.

When I was at Spotlight today I picked up so much fabulous material, but there was one in particular that I love to bits. As I have no doubt mentioned previously, Green is most absolute favourite colour, but I am also very partial to Brown. The material is a lush brown with blue and yellowy green flowers and patterns on it and I am dying to use it as a lining to one of my handbags that are in planning. I am thinking about getting some beige or natural coloured fabric for the exterior of the bag, but haven't completely decided yet. I'm going to try and avoid Spotlight for at least 3 days so that I can use up the materials that I already have. Will see how that plan goes ;)

My fave fabric at the mo!

Another bit of exciting news (for me anyway!) is that my glass bits and pieces arrived for my other pendant range I am doing. I've put them aside for now though whilst I am on a mad sewing buzz and will probably pull them out next week to have a play.

One last little note before I get back to cutting and hopefully sleeping at some point, is that I am very excited to learn about a new craft market that is starting in Bayswater. You can never have too many craft markets so I wish them all the best and hope it is a success, so that they continue them. The market is called Love Handmade and is starting up in November. I'll definitely be getting in an application for that! I'm also going to apply for Kraftbomb and the Devonport Craft Markets in their next open applications so wish me luck :)

Evening all x