Coolah Creations

Tent Up… Tent Dow…er… not down.

On Mar 29, 2013 0 No Comments

My new market tent arrived yesterday. Just in time for my Easter Sunday market. Nice timing. It’s one of those so called ’60 second, easy pop up marquees’. I’m putting that advertising statement alongside the “just 3 minutes a day to a flat stomach” lies. 60 seconds my behind!

But, after struggling to get the roof on, which as there were no instructions included in the kit, I first had to work out which piece was the roof (as opposed to the side panels, door panel, etc.) And being on my own, I can’t just stretch it out like all the YouTube videos show. But, we got there. Eventually.

At first I couldn’t get it to stay up. Every time I let it go, the centre part collapsed in. One last push up, a locking ‘click’ sound and the above picture was taken. Awesome.

After half hour or so of being up – enough time for the kids to run in and out from under it, have a snack in the ‘circus tent’ as Miss 5 called it, it was time to pack it up.

Popped right up (ha!), so it should, theoretically pop right down too, yes?

NO!!!

I found the four buttons on each leg and was pushing them in to release them, trying to slowly walk each corner in. Nothing. They resisted and then forced their way back into a locked position. With no instruction manual on how to work the tent, I was left to the mercy of YouTube and Google to work it out. Only one problem with that. While there are a million and one video’s showing how to put it UP, there were non specifically on how to pull it down. The ones I did find, were of different tents where they just pushed on the beams and it all folded up, almost on it’s own.

Mine. Did not.

After another hour of YouTube – attempt – Google – attempt – YouTube – attempt, I found what I think is the problem. The tent… is broken!

Now, I’m not the handiest of people. My kitchen light has been out of action for at least 6 months as I have NO idea how to get the cover off to locate the globe. Plus, you know, I’d need a chair or something…

But this, just doesn’t look right. This is the top of the main support in the middle. The part that makes the peak in the tent at the top. Three of the join flaps are bent, and one is broken right off:

I’m assuming this is the ‘click’ that I heard. While it allowed the tent to stay erect, it seems to have snapped a support as well. Not happy.

I’ve emailed where I got it from (seller on ebay), but that won’t help me for Sunday. And now the icing on the cake – I can’t fold the flipping thing down!!! I have this white metal scaffolding looking contraption taking up half my pergola area. Any attempts to press the little button release on the legs does nothing, and no amount of gentle (or frustrated and hard) pushing on any support works. It’s … stuck. I’m … screwed!

Going to locate some chocolate and curl up on the couch. I’d make some soap to sooth my sadness, but I discovered this morning I am out of Castor Oil and it’s Good Friday here – nothing is open. Waaaaaa!

Thank goodness this is the part of the year when chocolate is very, very easily found.

ShareMy new market tent arrived yesterday. Just in time for my Easter Sunday market. Nice timing. It’s one of those so called ’60 second, easy pop up marquees’. I’m putting that advertising statement alongside the “just 3 minutes a day to a flat stomach” lies. 60 seconds my behind! But, after struggling to get the…

Return of the Market!!

On Mar 3, 2013 0 No Comments

Guess who’s going back to Markets? (clearly the answer is ME!) But this time, I am doing it RIGHT!

On the 17th of March, a mere 14 days away, I will be pimping my soaps out alongside the lovely folks at the Mulgrave Farmers Market!! I’m very excited!

The decision to return to Markets after last yeas traumatic experience was born from the need for more money (long story, no child support, struggling with bills, not enough food, etc, etc, etc) and the desire to not be buried alive by a product that could, at the same time, mask my decaying body with it’s awesome smells.

Already I am thoroughly impressed with the team behind Mulgrave Farmers Market. I’ve received newsletters letting me know what’s going on, an email with information on this weekend’s market, AND I’ve already been added to the list of stallholders on their website with my designated Sunday marked with a dot!

From everyone I have spoken to that’s been or knows of the market, they have always been thoroughly impressed with it – both in how it’s run and the amount of people that it pulls in. Being close to home is a bonus. Being located on the grounds where I used to work is just amusing! (in the grounds of The Body Shop Headquarters).

I’ll be taking as much product as my car can carry including soaps (both bar and liquid), the lotions, bubble bath, room sprays, hair detanglers, lip balms and what ever else I can come up with before then.

Mark your diaries! March 17th! If you are close to Mulgrave, or can get to Mulgrave, be sure to come on over and say hi. Not only is it fantastic to meet my customers and fans face to face, it’s also a super opportunity for you guys to smell and see the products first hand!!

ShareGuess who’s going back to Markets? (clearly the answer is ME!) But this time, I am doing it RIGHT! On the 17th of March, a mere 14 days away, I will be pimping my soaps out alongside the lovely folks at the Mulgrave Farmers Market!! I’m very excited! The decision to return to Markets after…

Busy, busy, busy!!

On Oct 17, 2012 0 No Comments

Despite Miss Talkative (my 5yo) bugging me every 30 seconds today, I’ve actually managed to accomplish a few things – including a cooked lunch! Which, turned out crap, but still, I cooked! Huzzah!

I’m slowly getting on top of the website and getting products listed. I decided to wipe it all clean and start from scratch again. A great move as I’ve been able to implement some new features like the ability to order items that I then make AFTER requested. This is huge for me as what I think is cute and will sell, isn’t always the case. So now, I can list everything I am capable of making, and then make it after someone actually requests it.

A new way of managing inventory stock, ability to use the website on a mobile phone and a few other neat tricks has me very excited. Plus, it looks wickedly cool now!! So much more personality! So much more, ME!

Now is when I start casting my eyes on the next stage, which is bigger production. I’ve designed a mould that will allow me to make approximately FOURTY bars of soap each batch!! 40!! Woo Hoo! I just need to get it made first…. oh, and get more soap supplies! Yup, I’m out. Again!

Good reason (sort of) this time. Last weekend we had the Melbourne Pregnancy, Baby and Children’s Expo on in the city. It’s a MASSIVE three day event with over 20,000 people passing through the doors. Huckleberry Market, which is the only market I sell with currently, had booked a stall and requested items from a few of the varying stall holders to display. In return for this free advertising, we all chipped in an allotted amount of time to hand out flyers and promote the market.

I offered the lady that runs it all some of my soaps in sample size to hand out at the Expo, and handed over five hundred and six of them. Getting a phone call around 11:30am the following morning informing me they were OUT was not a call I expected to receive!! It’s also the reason I am now completely and totally out of all my base, soap labels, and soap bags. Nothing left. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Eek!

On my shift on the Sunday, I was handing the soap samples out to anyone who stopped and showed interest in the Market stand. This made the soaps stretch a tad further, a relief since I had spent every waking minute for three days straight making more!! But still, I could see why they were running out so fast, and it wasn’t just the pram-lock inducing, hordes of people coming through…

We had to tell one lady in particular that it was only “one per person” as she was sifting through the bag of different colours looking to add to her handful of six or seven she had already collected!!! She was basically looking to get one of each colour. Generally “free sample” does not mean stockpile yourself!

The snort of disgust when she realised we weren’t going to let her take half the bag made my eyes roll. I mean seriously…?! C’mon!

Sadly, she was not the only one that this happened with. I heard from the girls that worked the other days that people were grabbing three or four at a time. People hear the word ‘free’ and their common sense jumps out their ear. Maybe I should have changed my speech to, “Feel free to grab yourself a goat’s milk soap sample…. that I spent three full days slaving away making, ignoring my kids, my housework and the complete loss of a weekend” which would end of a cock of an eyebrow at them. Good thing I’m too nice…

At the end of the day, I realise that 50 – 75% of those who grabbed a sample were only interested in the freebie. This was obvious when you saw people overhear you give a sample to one person, and then they would either turn back to the stall (that they had no intention of stopping at previously) or they would just stop and look directly at your hands waiting to grab theirs.

BUT, then there are the ones that are genuinely thankful and surprised at the freebie, hear that it’s goat’s milk soap and either say “Oh I’ve heard about this, thank you!!” or, as in the case of a couple of people, they would stop, talk about it and then buy some of the soaps that were on display. One lady was SO happy that I handed her a sample as she had been looking everywhere for goat’s milk soaps and bought three full bars then and there!

Hopefully, with over a thousand of my soaps out there now, it will generate some new customers, likes on my facebook page, or at least help make some people more aware of the benefits of handmade soap over commercially purchased detergent bars.

It was a good learning experience, a chance to clean out some old labels and organza bags that no longer match my colour scheme, and a fantastic test of my ability to generate a mini production line to do everything on my own in record time. On top of all of that, what it has done already, is make me think of a better way to make my soap samples both for now, and in the future. A way to make them cheaper (not just melting down $20 a kilo base!), more consistently and to build up a stockpile so I always have them there, for what ever the need may be.

Onwards and upwards!! Exciting times ahead!!

ShareDespite Miss Talkative (my 5yo) bugging me every 30 seconds today, I’ve actually managed to accomplish a few things – including a cooked lunch! Which, turned out crap, but still, I cooked! Huzzah! I’m slowly getting on top of the website and getting products listed. I decided to wipe it all clean and start from…

August is over!! Hurray!!

On Aug 30, 2012 5 5 Comments

While not officially ending until tomorrow, for me, August wrapped up on Tuesday. The busiest month of my year is finally over, hurray!! Four weekends in August and mine consisted of Market ~ Adult Toy Party ~ Market ~ Girls Night Out! Only the girls night out turned into partying Friday, Saturday AND Sunday. And the Toy Party was a massive weekend too!! So basically, I’ve had no sleep for the past four weeks! Now that I’ve sat down, rest, breathed a sigh of relief it’s over…. I’m sick. Boo!

It always happens with me. I go, go, go with a busy period and once it’s all over I let my guard down which results in me coming down sick. Tuesday was the official end of my busy period – a new tattoo, my largest, added to my collection. Then Wednesday I woke up with a sore throat and could barely swallow. Today is Thursday and while the throat is better, my ability to breath has been taken away. I knew it was coming, but that doesn’t make it any more bearable…

Tuesday afternoon I sat the wrong way on a chair with perfect gaps for my thighs to squeeze the crap out of the back as a couple of tender areas were worked on, enjoying the three hours that ended my month. It’s a hard feeling to describe, but knowing that I was just about done with a month that I had slightly been dreading (due to the busy factor) was awesome.

As is my tattoo!! Check out this baby!

This is a firebird / Phoenix. It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites. Both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. This has a lot of meaning for me right now, and the words I chose to include with it are ‘I will always dance again…”

Dancing has always been a huge part of my life (in a non professional / I think I look way better than I am kind of way), but it’s something that I have not “felt” inside of me for nearly a decade now. Separated from my ex, I am finally feeling it once again and am loving my body having a rhythm and grooving along to the music. No matter what happens in the future, I will always, dance again!

This is my biggest tattoo to date – about 10 times the size of all my others lol. He is located on the back of my right shoulder, and I LOVE him!!

He also marks the end of my month. I literally felt myself go “aaaah” after he was done. My shoulders dropped, my pace slowed down. The month, was over.

It was a good month. The first Market (Expo) went fantastically, and the second was a great chance to catch up with friendships blossoming with other stall holders. It was a really quiet market, despite Elmo and Mickey Mouse being there!

Elmo was mute. With a guy in the suit, there was no high pitched ‘Elmo Loves You’ voice coming out. I had to chuckle at some of the kids being confused that larger than life Elmo was just waving and not speaking hehe.

Among other attractions was a facepainter. A WICKED face painter!!

And my little corner of the room. I only had the one table to set up on, so didn’t take as much as I normally would as I knew it wouldn’t all fit. Still, not too bad I guess. I still find it amusing that the things I thought would sell, didn’t. And the ones I expected to sell none of, nearly sold out. Go figure…

The little duckies were a big hit, even though they didn’t actually sell. Everyone thought they were soap and were fascinated by the detail I had included. The visible disappointment when I corrected them and explained they were toy squirty ducks was almost painful. Perhaps I need to raise my game when it comes to my kids soaps…

Overall it was a good market. I broke even, sort of. I am currently working on a new way of doing my kids soaps as, while it was what I started with and got me hooked, I’m just not that interested in M&P soaping anymore. If I can perfect my new floating kids soaps, I will do all of them that way and do away with the M&P completely.

Between now and Christmas (which by the way, is scaringly close!) I only have two markets to worry about. I am going to be spending the next few months perfecting the items I have been working on, having a go at new ones I’ve been wanting to try, resume my studying and aim to start the new year ready to just “do”. This year has been great learning. Next year will be less learning, more “doing”.

For now though, I am off to “do” my couch. *Cough cough, sniffle, sniffle*.

ShareWhile not officially ending until tomorrow, for me, August wrapped up on Tuesday. The busiest month of my year is finally over, hurray!! Four weekends in August and mine consisted of Market ~ Adult Toy Party ~ Market ~ Girls Night Out! Only the girls night out turned into partying Friday, Saturday AND Sunday. And the…

A Professional Blogger I will never be…

On Aug 13, 2012 1 1 Comment

My biggest complaint as a child? I’m bored!
My biggest complaint as an adult? Not enough time!
Oh the irony…

A professional blogger I will never be. I envy those who can find the time to write daily. Then again, lately I also envy those who can shower daily! Ok, so I’m possibly not that busy, but some days it’s amazing I remember to blink!

I knew August was going to be a busy month – two markets, an adult toy party (tee hee, that was SO much fun on the weekend!), letting my hair down on the one free weekend and getting my big tattoo done (two weeks to go now!). Throw in a bit of a life curve ball early in the month to really throw me off balance and this month just feels so hectic.

I’ve done one of the markets this month – the Pakenham Expo. This once a year event is larger on scale than a standard market and with 70 stalls, roaming entertainers, face painter, jumping castle and stage acts, it was a great day for the family to get out and about.

I freaked out in the morning when the stall holder beside me was telling me how last year was so busy that it was wall to wall people, prams didn’t fit and while checking out my soaps was amazed that was “all” I brought.

Then of course this lady proceeded to basically stand in my stall trying to steal all my customers most of the day. Every time I got chatting to one, she was right there beside me with her 2 cents to add in. She had either been through something similar, knew someone who had, or her best friends untie had a dog that once had fleas and the fleas cousin had been on a cat of a neighbour that knew someone who had experienced what ever we were talking about at the time. /eyeroll

Being a Pregnancy, Baby and Kids Expo, the amount of beautiful bellies and adorable bubbies around made my ovaries cluck until they hurt! But didn’t really help sell the soap. Too many babies, not enough kids. Got to meet some fantastic customers though! My new favourite work is ‘Facestalker’ – the name for those that stalk my facebook page!

I did sell some items – not what I thought would sell, but isn’t that always the way? “Don’t make too many bird pairs, no one will want those” I told myself. “Make lots of Dinosaurs, they are so cute they’ll get snapped up” I thought. And of course what happened?? Birds sold out, Dinosaurs came home. Doh!

Hair Detangler moved well. And I learned that offering variety in Lip Balm flavours isn’t always the best as people were just too overwhelmed with all the choices.

All in all it was another good learning experience – each market done has taught me something knew. I got my name out there, and being hosted just down the road from me, was great networking and meeting locals.

My little corner of the market. Thank goodness I was allowed to set up that second table in front of the windows as I never would have fit everything in otherwise!

My new Lip Balm displays in action. Three displays was just way too many choices for people. Next time I will take just two I think…

My Licorice All-Soaps, which, despite selling out at the previous Pakenham Market just a couple of months ago, did not move at ALL this time. Not a single bag sold… weird.

Cupcake soaps don’t move around here, so I decided to use the cupcake display to sneak in some adult soaps as well….

My table of kids soaps.

ShareMy biggest complaint as a child? I’m bored! My biggest complaint as an adult? Not enough time! Oh the irony… A professional blogger I will never be. I envy those who can find the time to write daily. Then again, lately I also envy those who can shower daily! Ok, so I’m possibly not that…

Market Number Two – Better than twice as good!

On May 29, 2012 5 5 Comments

Stop the production of the milk carton pictures – I’m here!! I just went MIA as I had my second market on the weekend!! Apparently a one day market actually impacts me for just over a week!!

Stage 1: The week leading up to the market. This was taken up by staring. Lots and lots of staring. There was staring at my shelves, staring at my soaps, staring at the boxes I use to transport everything to the market. I did way more staring this time. Mostly because my brain decided that it was the perfect time for a vacation!! Like “that” employee that always takes the week before Xmas off from work, my brain abandoned me at the worst possible time. Trying to actually think about what I wanted to take was nothing more than wasted time.

Stage 2: The day before the market. Saturday. This is when my brain returns, craps itself and realises I’ve done nothing with out it and am not ready. I start panicking that I don’t have enough stock to take (which of course I do, in fact I have too much), my signs aren’t done, I’ve forgotten what I packed in the first two boxes so I need to recheck…. and check again an hour later when I forget again.

Stage 3: MARKET DAY! This market was …. aaaaaawesome!!

Stage 4: Collapse and sleep for 24 – 36 hours leaving your children to fend for themselves while you wonder why the hell you have no energy!

The lack of energy afterwards is amazing (not the good kind of amazing either). For one day of work, I need three to recover. Maybe I’m just old? My second market was FANTASTIC! Not only close to home (10 minutes away), but there were easily four times as many people and as a result, I sold about ten times as much stock!

The only troubles I had was actually getting in there, and setting up. Thanks to an awesome tip from a friend, I had purchased a foldable hand trolley to help me carry the boxes in. And this wonderful purchased showed it’s worth on the first run in … by breaking my shoe!!

I wear thongs. Erm… flip flops, sandles, what ever else you call them. The ones on your FEET! I don’t know you all well enough to share my underwear choices. After loading the first two boxes onto the trolley, I went to move it and realised I had trapped the front of my thong. So I yanked my foot out…. and BROKE MY SHOE!! The part between your toes popped right off, snapping. Walking with a broken thong is like trying to walk with flippers, that aren’t actually on your feet.

So, I took my shoes off and trotted over the cold, wet, rough concrete car park and got inside. A few funny looks were ignored. Found some tape and thought I was set. I wasn’t. Second run in and they broke again. Third run in they broke again. The tape just wasn’t holding. Screw it, I just did everything bare foot. And that INCLUDES the entire day hiding behind my stall like a hippy out of place.

Thankfully the table cloths covered my embarrassment nicely.

A bit hard to see, but it’s a corner table (LOVED having a corner position!!) and of course, there’s a goat. In case you can’t see him (/sarcasm), he’s at the front of the pic. Yeah, um, he turned out just a tad bigger than I had envisioned. When I went to the printing place, they had the different poster sizes up on the wall, and AO didn’t look that big from where I was standing. Generally things don’t from about 10 meters away.

When I got it home and unrolled it, I realised that my plan for a ‘cute little goat mascot’ to draw people’s attention was in fact the biggest line backer which a cheek ass grin. The really weird thing is, no one really paid him any attention. One little girl cuddled him for about ten minutes which was adorable. The questions of “what type of soap do you make”, not so much. Only one person was dumb enough to ask me if I made goat’s milk soap. “Um…. yeeesss” I replied very slowly.

This is the end part of my table. Showcasing the new bubble baths, bath salts and previewing the bubble balls! I need to get more black material I think. I didn’t intend to have two tables as I actually had a different display in mind for the bottles and such. But unfortunately I was left in the lurch with under a week to go by the friends I had requested (over a month ago) to build it for me. And of course even paying through the nose plus express postage didn’t get a replacement to me in time. Was not happy at all about that. BUT, like everything, the positive to come out of it was picking up a four foot foldable trestle table from Officeworks for $40 that also has three heights to it and is now doubling as a train table in the kids room. Bonus!

Up the other end was the Monster and Sleep sprays (sleep sprays did very well!), the lego soaps (did well) and oh look… the lip balms! Launching on Market day, I nearly bolted from my table at opening time as I had stall holders, friends and customers come running (and I do mean RUNNING!) to grab them! They continually moved all day as a lot of online friends knew that the price was a special opening/market day price. So far feedback from everyone has been super positive which was great!

Moving down to the middle of the table we have soaps. And signage!!! Learning a big lesson from my first market – signage really helped!! Especially that Monkey Farts one. I had stall holders from two rows across come over just to read what was on it as all they could see was MONKEY FARTS!! Surprisingly, although the sign brought the attention, it didn’t bring any sales. For something that was my biggest seller online, no one was interested in them at the market. Even if they were gorgeous little 3D Monkeys.

I am very thankful that all the smurfs found homes however. I thought they would sell out at the first market as everyone went crazy when I previewed them, but no. I dropped the price and adopted them all out on Sunday though which clears up a whole cube on the book shelf. Huzzah!

Cupcakes are still not a hit. Most common phrase heard? “Oh you they look good enough to eat, you wouldn’t want to use them”…

And the corner spot. The clearance / oopsie soaps, the plain goat’s milk and the soapsicles. Again another “looks too good / never want to use” soaps. More surprisingly is that only one child tried to eat them! Boy he was determined though!

Over all was an awesome day. Lots of interest, lots of sales, lots of awesome new people met and chatted with. I LOVED the 80 year old ladies that bought out ALL my glow in the dark spider soaps haha! That totally made my day.

ShareStop the production of the milk carton pictures – I’m here!! I just went MIA as I had my second market on the weekend!! Apparently a one day market actually impacts me for just over a week!! Stage 1: The week leading up to the market. This was taken up by staring. Lots and lots…

My First Market!!

On Apr 30, 2012 8 8 Comments

I wake at 1am. I wake at 3am. I wake at 5am and mentally procrastinate getting up to allow myself even more time to get ready or stay in the comfort of my warm bed for another hour. My phone alarm goes off at 6am… I guess my tiredness levels made that choice for me.

Amazingly, yet not surprisingly, I am wide awake at the first noise of the alarm. Normally I don’t do 6am, that’s just not a decent time of day. But this wasn’t just any ordinary day – it was my FIRST MARKET DAY!! Woo Hoo.

I had allocated myself an hour, broken into segments of 15 minutes, before I had to leave the house.

6am till 6:15am – get out of bed, straighten my hair.
6:15 till 6:30am – get dressed, take my tablets, feed the cats etc
6:30am till 6:45am – Pack the car!
6:45am till 7:00am – wake poor Diesel, get him and myself into the car, lock the house, and head off.

I felt very ready for the day. Highly organised. Everything was packed and ready to just be loaded into the car. Clothes had already been pre-selected. Breakfast had been planned (Hash Browns and Ice Coffee Big M – yum!). Nothing could go wrong… right?

Eeeeeh! WRONG! Here is how the morning really went:

6am till 6:12am – look for flippin straightener!! Do so quietly so as not to wake the little man too early while simultaneously cursing at a whispers level at the cats who keep tripping me up, twice booting them by accident (really!) half way down the hall while wondering WHERE THE FLIP YOU PUT THE BLOODY STRAIGHTENER!!
6:12am – locate hair straighener at bottom of walk in robe, not hidden, in fact it’s just sitting on top of some clothes. Kick self mentally for being an idiot.
6:13 am – update facebook to inform everyone about hair straightener predicament.
6:14am – 6:19am – Straighten hair.
6:20am – 6:38am – Chase now scared cats into the bathroom to feed them, again cursing under breath as they run to the lounge room, to the kids bedroom, etc. Get one into the bathroom, but as you go to grab the other, the first escapes from the bathroom and takes off again. Spend a few seconds wondering why you got the flippin cats in the first place.
6:39 am – 6:648am – Get dressed. Realise I look fat in this top (what’s new), but by now I just don’t care.
6:50am – Hear Diesel wake on his own and think that he’s going to wake up happy now (he is always a sod if he is woken by someone else) and go in relieved that you are back on track.
6:50am – 7:07am – Try to settle a screaming toddler who is half asleep, confused and acts similar to putting a plank of wood that can wriggle into a car seat.

My poor bubby cried half the way to his dads and I was frazzled by the time I was on my way. But, I managed to make it on time (actually, with 5 minutes to spare!) and that’s when the nerves REALLY set in!! I had manic butterflies while bringing everything in from the car and setting up – I dare say I was almost shaking!

Ten minutes before the doors opened to the public, I was as ready as I was going to get!

Over all, I have to say, I was pretty darn proud of how it looked!! I do have to credit other people who have shared their ‘first market’ pictures and the ways in which they had improved them. It was through reading other people’s adventures and learning process that I was able to start off with levels instead of just a flat table, to group my soaps of the same kind together, to have a banner (even though it’s my old colour scheme), etc. I even remember seeing the soapsicles in a similar jar that I have I think from Soapylove’s website. I can’t remember, but I know I saw it somewhere.

Through reading, researching and learning, I was able to make my first table look respectable. I think anyway. I learnt a lot from the day though, and my next Market (already booked for May) will have some changes made. So it’s still far from perfect…

Over all, it was a good day. Quiet – felt like hardly any customers at all came through, but good. I made some sales (came in $12.50 in profit after stall fee!!) and it was good for a first time. I think I learned more because it was quiet as I was able to watch how people browsed the table, things they didn’t really notice like the cupcakes because they were wrapped in cellophane, and things that were instantly noticed by both kids and parents, such as the smurf soaps. I was surprised only one of the rainbow cake slices sold (to the Market host no less!) as they sell nearly instantly online, but the licorice all sort soaps were a hit with pretty much everyone!

I’m already formulating my plan of attack for the May market (run by the same people) which will include better signage as I noticed a few people looking a bit confused by what I was actually selling, and one lady even commented “oooh, lollies” as she passed. Um…

My market cherry is officially popped though, and I can’t wait for round two!! I now have four weeks to prepare, of which, I’ll be able to take some of the unsold stock from this round along. MUCH less stressful than the three weeks / no stock notice I had this time!

ShareI wake at 1am. I wake at 3am. I wake at 5am and mentally procrastinate getting up to allow myself even more time to get ready or stay in the comfort of my warm bed for another hour. My phone alarm goes off at 6am… I guess my tiredness levels made that choice for me….

My Soaps

$<p><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/people/velcromonkey/\">Coolah Creations</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/velcromonkey/8528062458/\" title=\"Monkey Farts!\"><img src=\"http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8368/8528062458_dfbedc9971_m.jpg\" width=\"240\" height=\"186\" alt=\"Monkey Farts!\" /></a></p>$ Click to see more at my Flickr

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