Thursday, July 29, 2010

To Market...

Devonport Craft Market this weekend. The weather is looking lovely so I think it is going to be a great weekend for a Market!

A few new things for the market this weekend.. YAY!

Hope to see you there.

Sx



Saturday, July 24, 2010

Pinterest Fun!

Have you met Pinterest?  Pinterest is a pin board site where you can pin and share inspiration. I have been so inspired by the things I have found on Pinterest. You can set up your own inspiration board or pin to ones others have created. When you are lacking inspiration it really gives you a boost. It is also a really good way to 'bookmark' beautiful images you don't want to lose track of AND you can find new blogs and other sources of inspiration from it. Fab don't you think?


You also get your own Pinterest URL! I am just starting my boards but it is so addictive it won't be long until they are plentiful!


I have 5 invites available to join Pinerest - if you want one, flick me an email and I will send one to you! You will love it I promise.



Sx

Monday, July 19, 2010

To Market...

Eastern Bays Mid-Winter Evening Craft Market on this Thursday night.

Come along and check out the offerings from Songbird and a bunch of other lovely crafters!

The where and when:
St Heliers Bay Church
Thursday 22nd July
5-9pm
98 St Heliers Bay Road
St Heliers

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Shop Update

New earrings in new colours. Check out my FELT store!



Monday, July 12, 2010

You Wanna Piece of Me - Part Three

In a little suburb in Tauranga in the lovley Bay of Plenty. A wee gem of a store has opened.
Owned by Sharon Blaike who previously ran the Red Moki Gallery. Sharon is an artist and local art and craft promoter and Songbird Designs are lucky enough to have been spotted by Sharon! Some of our Button Rings are winging their way to Flax Gallery and Gifts as we speak and will soon take up residence (not for long we hope!!) in the gallery.

Check out some of the photographs of the shop. You can also check them out at their facebook page here.



Thanks for your support Sharon and Flax Gallery and Gifts.

Sx

Sunday, July 11, 2010

A Craft Affair Road Trip - Executive Summary

Well. It was awesome. Christchurch sure knows how to craft and shop! They put on a pretty good fair.

Our day (our= Cat and myself) started very early. A 3.30am wake up call. Really. But we were pretty excited so it made it worthwhile.

A very fast plan ride down, we hit Cafe Roma for breakfast and much needed coffee. I would recommend a breakfast stop there (thanks Emma and Rose for heading us in that direction). A mere 50m walk from the Cafe and we were at our stop. Our City O Tautahi. What a lovely venue. Very beautiful on the outside and exquisite on the inside.





We had spots upstairs in the hall. Down one end (check out the crowd shot below) was a beautiful stained glass window which made the hall radiate with a soft light. Perfect.

We unpacked and started to set up and before we knew it it was 10.20 - time for shopping, swapping and looking around. I got really excited then - there was so much to take in I had a quick look and thought.. I'll go back later and get a few things. (insert Tui beer advert here).

The two minute call from Lucy came and we were OFF. It was like a tidal wave of people turned up at our tables. Scary stuff when you weren't expecting it. I had 4 deep of people in front of my stall. I am sure I had a fixed and slightly manic smile on my face for the first hour. Actually the whole day probably as the crowds and the people kept coming and coming.

And they were so nice and so supportive. There was a great feeling in the room throughout the day. I can only speak for the room as I had not one moment where I was able to get away from my table! 

I can safely say that this was one of the best markets / fairs I have ever been to as a seller or as a buyer. Lucy from Felt puts on a damn fine event. THANK YOU Lucy and your team for all  your hard work. It was much appreciated.

The end of the day came. I looked up and everyone was gone. So much for me getting to buy those things later. Beginners mistake me thinks!

The day would have been perfect if it wasn't for our plane getting a sore paw and having to have its tires changed (one by one) delaying our departure. Christchurch, it wasn't that we were desperate to get away from you, its just that it was a long and energy filled day and by then, we had run out of steam and needed bed.

Some photos below:



Morning Breaks - view from the plane

Some mountains - I should know which ones...

Cat's Table and my table

My table - it looked good at that stage...


Photography courtesy of Julia from Relique Vintage Jewelry 

Big Shout outs to those people I did get a chance to meet: Rose; Maddie; Emma; Colleen and Jo and to those I didn't Julia; Elisabeth - will catch up to you next time! If I met you and I can't remember - SORRY Please forgive me - it was a whirlwind!

Double big shout-out to my road trip buddy Cat - a great road trip companion!

Sx

Thursday, July 8, 2010

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks. Think Tazmanian Devil or whirling dervish and you will understand how I have been - at least how I have been feeling. I have also been battling an eye infection which - altho not supposed to - has made me feel tired and unwell at the same time. But enough of the 'poor me' stuff....

We had a wonderful day at the Devonport Craft Market on Sunday. It was so busy and there were some great new sellers to meet as well as new and very supportive customers.
It was great that it was busy and I hate to even hint at a complaint but it has meant a reasonable amount of replenishing my stock for A Craft Affair this weekend.

I am SO excited to be heading to Christchurch. I am looking forward to meeting loads of other NZ crafters and also eyeballing their products in real life. I have a feeling a few new bits and pieces will be heading home with me.


I have also had to do some emergency preperations as I realised (yesterday) after reading the fine print on my plane tickets. They read "No fragile items to be included in your carry on luggage". For those of you who have seen how I display my table at markets, you will see my issue. My table is made up of vintage, cut glass bowls of varying sizes, styles etc. I had planned to wrap them up with bubble wrap (in fact I had already done  this to make sure I could fit all I needed to in my bag) and take them on the plane with me.. sorted.
But now I am having major second thoughts about the wisdom of this. 1) I don't want any of them to break and 2) I don't want to have them 'removed' at the airport and be stuck with nothing...
SO, I have been on the hunt for suitable replacements. I have a few bits and pieces and will be trying them all out this evening so that I can finish packing and planning tomorrow in time for the VERY EARLY airport pick up.

I also returned to full time work this week. That has certainly made a dent in my available crafting time........ Enough said.

To add to the madness of me... I have created a bunch of new necklaces this week. Similar to my scrabble tile necklaces but different. They will be coming out for their debut on Sunday.

So, That is where I am at. Manic in a word.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Sx