Oh dear Oh dear, I do miss blogland a lot! I miss you all!But really… I have work coming out of my ears, as the Spaniards say… I’m “on holidays” from the primary school where I have been working as a Special Needs Assistant, but I am still working for the charity organisation as a social carer. I’m happy though that I can breath a bit more. So what have I been doing?
It is Chrsitmas Eve now and we have lovely stormy weather out on this tiny island. You should see our hens trying to walk against this wind! Sometimes I think they’ll fly across the bay over to Galway city…
Last night, after a few days of madness, just when I had the children in bed and I was snuggling on the sofa, looking forward to doing nothing but to watch a filim (as the Irish say it), the electricity went off. The only time I decide to watch TV. So no filim for me. Anyway, I’ll try to snuggle up later on, after making sure that Santa has left all the pressies…
Besides doing my duties as WOHMACWASAHM (Working Outside Home Mum And Continue Working As a Stay At Home Mum) I kind of managed to frantically sew a good decent amount of stock for (wohoo!!!!) my stall at the local Christmas Market!!! It took me 4 years to finally get myself sorted and make it to the market. I had so much fun! I was sharing table with my crafty neighbour who makes the most beautiful hand bound journals. People were saying our stall had the best cutest display… I learnt a lot about displaying though, people seemed really attracted to the stall because there was a lot of colour, a lot of stuff on the table and they were allowed to touch. Athough I booked the place for only one day, somebody had cancelled their place so I was offered to go back on the next day. Then my stock was much better displayed, a friend had lent me a nice cast iron screen where I could hang the bibs, cardigans and dresses. You can see some shots (sorry for the quality of the photos, taken with my phone!)
The different sized baskets worked really well and the linen cloth over the stripy fabric was nice too. It was funny though, that before I had made any sale, a lady approached to ask me how much was the bunting… Altough I made it (for my daughter’s birthday party) it wasn’t for sale… and when I was packing up at the end of the day, a lady came to ask me how much were the baskets!!!
some of the knitwear I have under the label “Lamama Knits”
So here’s a few things I learnt (and if you have any tips to share the more the merrier!):
– Have different height levels to display on your table, use boxes or baskets stacked on top of the other.
– Go around your house to see if you have any little bits and bobs, nice wooden boxes, baskets, bowls, etc to display your stock in.
– Have something made that is easy and fast and can sell at a very affordable price. I had lots of hairbands that didn’t seem to sell online on my Etsy shop. People go to crafts markets prepared to buy at least something. If you have something less than €10, it will probably go quick. So I put all the hairbands in a basket (Hana’s doll’s clothes basket) at €5 together with the dummy holders at €7. They sold fast!
– I didn’t have any patchwork quilts for sale for 2 reasons. I didn’t have time to build a good stock and I thought they’d be too pricey for what people would be looking for. Instead, I had patchwork blankets, they sold and people now know that I also make quilts.
Overall, I think I did pretty well, I wanted to let people know I am here and I am local and I handed out lots of business cards (and what a good idea it was, I got a call yesterday from a customer who wanted to buy one of my bags that his girlfriend liked!).
I hope you are all doing well, stitching a lot and making beautiful things! Have a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you so much to those of you who have made contact in some way to say hello and ask about my whereabouts. It is really so nice to feel appreciated like this! And I’m sorry that I haven’t visit your blogs or participated as much as I’d have liked to… Life is a bit crazy at the moment! Crazy but fun…
Una’s hand bound journals, cards and bookmarks
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Buf buf, com trobo a faltar llegir els vostres blogs i els vostres comentaris! Pero es que no paro no paro i no paro! Per fi estic “de vacances” de l’escola de primaria on he estat treballant pero segueixo com sempre a la organitzacio de treball social. Aixi que quan no estic treballant fora de casa, segueixo treballant dins de casa (com tothom, oi?).
Aquesta nit ens estem preparant per a que Santa Claus aterri a la teulada amb els rens. Ho he intentat, pero cada vegada que parlo del Cagatio la gent em mira com si estigues ben boja, i ja no us dic res del Caganer… aixi que segueixo la tradicio del Santa que baixa per la xemeneia…
hairbands in a basket, dummy holders, fabric covered notebooks and business cards…
No se per que els catalans som tan escatologics, em pregunta el meu company: entre el Cagatio, el Caganer, el conte del Patufet, que ma mare li desitji molta merda abans de pujar a l’escenari i que ens caguem en tot quan ens emprenyem o enviem allo que no ens agrada a la merda… apa aqui, es curios que mai no m’havia adonat fins que ell m’ho va fer veure… Doncs si, debem tenir una fixacio amb les femtes. Que hi farem. Segur que a hores d’ara tota Catalunya esta fent cagar el Cagatio a cops de pal (aixo tambe els va sobtar als irlandesos, que despres de cuidar-lo i mamnt-lo tant durant dies, ben calentet sota la manta, acabem fotent-li pals per fer-lo cagar).
Be, us dic que es el que he fet aquests dies. No se com, vaig poder fer d’una revolada un estock prou decent per poder tenir una parada al mercat de Nadal! i que be que m’ho vaig passar. Per sort, una persona va cancel.lar la seva parada, i en comptes d’estar-m’hi un dia, m’hi vaig estar dos! Vaig compartir taula amb la meva veina que enquaderna unes llibretes supermaques. La gent ens deia que la nostra parada era la mes maca del mercat… he he, tampoc deuria ser per tant, pero si que feiem goig…
cardigans, dresses and bib-aprons
Si algun dia teniu pensar fer parada en una fira, aqui teniu el que he apres:
– Intenteu tenir els articles sobre la taula a diferents nivells d’alçada, apilant caixes o cistells, etc…, queda mes atractiu a la vista.
– Segur que per casa teniu coses maques com cistellets, capsetes, bols, plats…etc… on podeu posar les coses de maneres diferents.
– Tingueu articles que siguin facils i rapids de fer i que es puguin vendre a preus molt assequibles. La gent acostuma a voler comprar alguna cosa, el que sigui, i si es a menys de €10 ja ho teniu fet. Jo tenia una pila de cintes per al cabell que no es venien gaire be a Etsy, en canvi a la parada, posades dintre d’un cistell a €5 van volar quasi totes.
I be, si teniu alguna idea o consell mes que podeu afegir a aquesta llista, compartiu-la!!!
De mentres, espero que passeu un Bon Nadal i us desitjo un Feliç Any Nou 2014. Moltes gracies a tots (totes, vaja) les que heu contactat per una via o altra amb mi per saludar-me i preguntar com anem. De bolit! Perdoneu que no visiti els vostres blogs i no hi participi tant com m’agradaria. A poc a poc anire treien el cap!
El Petit Taller 