Sunday, November 24, 2013

The Creative Markets!

5:45am:

I was woken by my alarm.  I didn't want to get up, but I did.  The morning was nice and cool.  It had been raining only about a half hour before, and it looked like it was going to be a rainy day.

6:40am:

I had eaten breakfast, put on make-up, loaded up the car with my goodies, packed my lunch, bought a litre of milk (yeah, I drink that much in a day) and then bought a paper and was off to the Springwood State School. 
The roads were clear.  It was such an easy drive... and I forgot to buy some tissues, so I went to the 7/11 down the road from the school and bought a travel pack.  Ironically, I didn't need them.

By the time I arrived at the school, it was just on 7am.

7:30am:

I was set up, put all my boxes, excess stock to the back of my stall and opened my green chair.  I had an hour to kill before the Creative Markets actually opened.  So, I took some business cards and walked around to some of the other people's stalls to see what they were selling.  There's some very talented people out there... 

8:45am:

People started coming in dribs and drabs.  By 9am, the place was filled with stall owners and customers.  I had a few people walking and looking at my stuff, but not buying yet... then they'd come back with their kids and they'd buy something.  When the kids didn't like the prices of the pencils, I made them a deal and made a quick sale... they walked away happy.  So did their folks.

10am:

Kellie Smith came to my stall and had a quick look-see.  She loves my work!  She picked out some pegs and sprung pegs too and was my first sale of the day!  She was amazed at the detail work that went into the designs!  

11:30am: 

My feet were killing me.  I was on my second home-made ice coffee (and boy did I need it!) and Vivienne Treagus showed up with Little Miss Zoe in tow... they were wonderful to see!  Vivienne bought some pencils and a couple of magnets and then went away to give Zoe some lunch.  But they returned to sit with me for the rest of the time until 1pm.

12:20pm:

The crowds came in waves - I found.  So there were rest times of around 5 - 10 minutes at a time... this is good.  But I was told by some of the stall owners that sometimes, it's more hectic... while other times, there's no sales at all.  
Then, my folks come through the crowd that was there.  Dad first, then Mum.  They had driven up from Brunswick Heads to collect the boat and take it back down there.  They were so proud of me and Dad said I looked tired; but it must be fun doing this kinda thing.  

12:56pm:  I pack up in 3 minutes... seriously!  So did everyone else.  Mum had walked away 6 minutes ago, came back and I was packed up!  She was stunned!  Dad was a great help with carrying a few things out to the car for me, so I didn't have to carry them out in two trips.

Summary of the Creative Markets:

I had a great time.  It was under cover, so we didn't have to worry about getting sunburnt or the weather.  But it was very humid as the multi-purpose shelter we were using wasn't designed to let in much air.

I made enough money to cover my $55 rent on my spot.  Otherwise, I made $3.00 profit after that... which isn't bad seeing it's my first time.  

I've decided to have another go there at Springwood in February when the Creative Markets come back next year... I'll have more stock, more variety and more designs to choose from.  

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Work Progress

I've decided to work hard on getting as many pegs done as possible... and it's working out well.

Yesterday, I got:

Sprung Pegs:  2
Dolly Pegs:  4
Magna Pegs:  3

I have enough 'Cool Pencils' for the market so I'm only concentrating on pegs right now to get the numbers up.

Today, I got:

Sprung Pegs:  3
Dolly Pegs:  3
Magna Pegs:  1

So, I'm getting a fair bit done in 3 hours each time.  This afternoon, in about an hour's time I'll be back at it until later tonight... then tomorrow I'll record how much I got done all day (as I won't be going to my Craft Day with the ladies at the community centre).  I'll spend the whole day at home working on my pegs.  Then, on Tuesday, I'll varnish and wrap up the pegs I painted up and finished.  Let's just hope the parcel arrives from the UK of Dolly Pegs so I have more to paint tomorrow... if not, I'll report to e-bay what has happened and get them to talk to the retailer I bought them off.
Well, I hope you're being as creative as I am right now.  Until my next post, keep creating!

Friday, November 15, 2013

Only A Week and a Half To Go!

I don't have long to go until the Creative Markets at Springwood State School are going to be on!  And I'm working nearly every day and night to get my stock up and ready for that big day of selling.  I'm looking forward to it all as it's going to be fun and exciting - as well as a little scary - for me as I've never done a markets before.

So far, I've got plenty of stock, but I'm looking at working on more.  Here's what I have so far:

Sprung Pegs: 7 dozen (yeah, I need more)
Cool Pencils:  33
Dolly Pegs:  7 sets
Magna-Pegs:  21

My lots are coming up and I'm looking at working harder at making more Sprung Peg lots and Dolly Peg lots as well as more Magna-Pegs... seeing I have more than enough Cool Pencils right now.

Today, I set up the market stall in my car port and timed myself and found it only took me around 10 minutes to get the initial table and main stuff set up.  Otherwise, it'll take me another 10 minutes or so to get the rest of it finished with the decorating, pricing and other bits attached to it, hiding the boxes under the table and then sit down to have a drink... yeah, I'll be set up within around half an hour.  But then, I'll have to move the car.  So, it looks like I'll have to have somebody mind my stall while I'm gone for those few minutes... maybe a relative.  I'll have to organise that.  
You know, I don't have that much to organise now... it's mainly just details that are to be done up... you know, pricing and working out how much of a discount I can give if things aren't selling (which I don't think will be a problem, really).  

So, what are you getting into at the moment?  What's been your creative element you've been getting into?  Until my next post, keep creating.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Work Update...

Since my last update only last week, I've been burning the midnight oil.  I've been working around 6 hours a day - off and on - and making sure I have more than enough stock to work the markets.

It's been hard, and yet a lot of fun to get these things done.  But I've been almost burning myself out - which isn't good.

So, I took a few days off this week and have been happy about doing that.  One of those days was to watch over the Melbourne Cup... where I won in a sweepstakes and at the TAB; both places I won $48!  Sweet!

However, since the last time you were updated, I have gotten a lot more done:

Sprung Pegs:  7 dozen
Dolly Pegs:  3 lots
Cool Pencils:  13
Magna-Pegs:  13

Over the last 24 - 48 hours, I've managed to get in do more work:

Sprung Pegs:  4
Dolly Pegs:  7
Cool Pencils:  7
Manga-Pegs:  5

So, I'm getting a good lot of stock up in just over a week since I last wrote here.  With only 2 1/2 weeks to go, I wonder how much more I'll get done before I go off to the Creative Markets on 24th, November?  With the amount of work I'm doing, plenty I'm guessing.

What work are you doing at the moment?  Are you progressing with it well?  Or is it going slow?  Until my next post, keep creating.