To market, to market and home again, home again dancing a jig

Wow, what a fantastic market, I am still exhausted!

We all thought it would be a quiet little Christmas market, being the first one and coinciding with sporting events and the A & P show, boy were we wrong....there were people lined up long before opening and queues out the door most of the day!

Here is my little stall, all quiet and looking as neat as I could manage...

And these are a couple of photos I snapped when I had a free moment...people everywhere from the moment the doors opened...1200 people in the first hour!

I had a wonderful day, meeting customers, chatting and of course selling lots of items - what a buzz!

I shared a table with the lovely Linda who does wonderful paintings and was selling cards made from her art.

We barely got to speak for the first four hours but finally got to have a chat as things finally wound down in the last hour. Linda brought the Sunday paper to read and needless to say it never left her handbag.

There was so much talent in the room and before the market opened it was lovely to wander around and see all the beautiful hand made items and chat to all the creators. I met many people from my local area who I didn't know existed so hopefully we can have a crafty get together one day soon.

Check out the Great Christmas Market facebook page to see more photos of the stalls (through the sea of people!) taken by Rachael. The couple of photos of my table show how 'trashed' it became. I gave up trying to pretty it up after about an hour. It is great that people want to pick up and touch the items, which is what handmade is all about.

There is also links to all the stallholders for those who missed seeing something in the great crush.

I have been hurriedly restocking my felt store with market items. So if you saw something at the market but can't see it listed in my store just contact me and let me know.

I have totally sold out of Gingerbread houses so tomorrow I will diving into the felt bag to start making more.

For any international buyers visiting my felt store I do post overseas just send me an email through Felt and I will get you an exact shipping price.

Now I need to go and catch up on a bit more sleep....

Getting ready for a Christmas Craft Market. Part 1

Yay for me....I've got a table at the Great Christmas craft market!

I love going to craft markets and it has been well over a year since I have been to one.

Now after the initial excitement the panic has set in! 10 weeks to get myself sorted sounds like a lot of time but not when you have 2 kids to keep fed, entertained and out of trouble.

So I am approaching this venture in a very sensible and organised manner (for once!). So bear with me as this post is really me thinking out loud.

First up I pulled out all Cupcake Cutie stock left over from previous markets to see what I had...

This is just some of what I found so I think it is a good starting point. Now I don't really want to use all of this as I quite like to have some kind of theme that ties everything together and I like to have at least 5 of every item as it displays well. So everything I have only one of is staying at home, unless I particularly like it and want to make more.

Being a Christmas market I definitely want to focus on my felt decorations....

These gingerbread houses have been my best sellers for a couple of years so they are keepers. I really fancy making a pink candy version of the 3D house so that is on my consideration list.

I also have a few needlebooks and pincushions left over. Not sure about including these or not. The square needlebooks (shown in the main picture) have always been popular but to be honest I am a bit bored of making them so if my heart is not in it they won't turn out well.  I think the hedgehog needlebooks I will take as I already have 5 of them and this hedgehog of mine seems to appear in all my items so it keeps the theme running.

Mr Gingerbread Man....Yes, he is a big seller so I will definitely have to make at least 10 of him.
I think I will do some slightly different version though, change the colour of the hearts and frills just to add variety. By the way if you want to make Mr Gingerbread Man for yourself you can find the free pattern and tutorial here.

Right so these are my first thoughts and I need to start writing lists of what definitely needs to be made and then I can start the fun part....ordering supplies!!!!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my Christmas Craft Market preparation. If you have any tips or opinions on what I should make I would love to hear them.

Can I leave you with this question......Do you like sale/bargain bins at a craft market or do you think they detract from the 'good stuff'?