Crossed Words

Some of you may know already that I'm running a second book stall at the moment instead of my craft stall at the Milk Market. Well as a promotional tool I'm now giving out these nifty crosswords that were compilled by the very intelligent John. They will be given away free at the stall from this weekend onwards, and in a selection of old man pubs throughout the city. Or you can click on the image here to download and print it.

I love crosswords, I used to do The Irish Times Simplex one every day for years when I worked in a newsagents in Dublin. There is nothing more satisfying than sitting down for an extended cup of tea/pint and letting the world roll by while trying to drag random words out of the recesses of your brain.

If any of you finish it please let me know! The answers will be included in the next issue, this is going to be a fortnightly venture.

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Bazaar Tales at the Milk Market

I will be back at the Milk Market tomorrow but I'm gonna to take a little break from selling crafts for the first two months of this year. I learned from my experiences last year that in the first few months people don't spend a penny on crafts, my sales for this period in 2011 were disastrous. So in an effort to evolve with the situation, rather than beating my head against a brick wall and expecting a different result, I will be selling second hand books instead. Some of you might have seen in the latter half of last year I gave this a try, I was encouraged by the results and I'm excited to push it more over the coming months.

The name for this business venture is Bazaar Tales, and you can find the facebook page here. New arrivals will be posted each week on the page, along with book nerdy links to fun stuff on the internet and sporadic Word of The Day entries too. The stall is organised by genre,and usually there is about 600 books for your browsing pleasure. The lovely thing about selling books is that there is less 'selling' involved, you don't really have to chat to people too much, you just leave them to nose through and if they want to buy something they so so, there isn't really a sales pitch, which is very different from what I'm used to.

I'm really happy with this short change as it will give me more of a chance to build up new stock, without the pressure of not making money. If you are looking to buy any of my craft work then just pop over to Nice Day Designs or Nice Day Supplies, with all this spare time that I will have I'll be listing much more of my items that I had before. Within a few weeks I hope to have my full range of brooches, necklaces and earrings listed as well as expanding my supplies shop too.

Ps: Anyone who is into Sci-Fi and Fantasy we have an amazing selection at the moment, we got a massive delivery just before xmas.

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Wishing You All a Very Merry Christmas

I've been totally off the radar this week as I've been up the walls trying to make stock for all the extra days I'm doing at the Milk Market. Things have been really busy which is fantastic, now I just need to figure out how to clone myself so I can keep up with stock production! Today is my last day before I take a well earned two week break, after I finish up at the market it will be a speedy dash home to collect my stuff and then I'll be running to catch a train to Dublin.

I'll be back blogging normally in about a week or so, but until then I wanted to drop by and let you all know that I'm still alive...albeit completely over worked and exhausted! Thanks to everyone for all your amazing support throughout the year, for coming down to the market, reading this blog,and leaving your lovely comments, it all makes a difference, and makes me feel really lucky that I have the job that I do. I hope you all have an amazing Christmas, and a super fantastic New Year!!

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This Sunday...Creative Wonderland

I'll be selling my wares this Sunday in the St.John's Square Daghdha Church. I spent many a lovely evening enjoying performances there and i was delighted when the asked me to sell my crafts at their event. It looks like it's going to be an activity packed day for kids with dance,face painting,Santa, Limerick Youth Theatre shows, and music. There will also be a mix of craft stalls there so you can get a bit of Christmas shopping done while the kids are entertained. The event is on 12-5pm, and is free admission.

For more info head to the Limerick Youth Theatre website.

It's such an amazing space I had to include a photo here, thanks to LCGA for the image.

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A Stall Face Lift

Over the past few weeks my stall display has gone through a lot of changes. Mostly this came from a decision not to sell haberdashery supplies a the market anymore. When I looked at it I was allocating 1/5 of my space to selling buttons, and they just weren't making me any money. On top of this I ended up in endless conversations with people about buttons, but then they wouldn't buy anything. When I realised that they were becoming a drain on space, my time and energy I decided to to cut them out. Now I only sell my supplies in my Nice Day Supplies shop, which I'm currently trying to get back in order.

Now with all the extra space I was able to put out new stock, a friend got a large magnet board for me in Ikea, which means I can sell magnets separately now and it also helps to show off my ABC sets(which are now selling much better thanks to the improved display).

I also expanded my range of shrink plastic jewellery, I've now started making brooches and necklaces(more on them later in the week) Not only did I broaden my designs I also improved the packaging and display for the earrings. I couldn't believe the difference in sales, just by putting the earrings on a little card.

I wanted to play with the levels on my stall, to create depth and interest, and not just rely on using notice boards. I read this great guide to improving your display and I fell in love with the idea of sing a suitcase. I got the box in Guineys for €20 and then I used some scrap fabric I had to line the inside of it to brighten it up. I covered a small canvas I had with some gingham wrapping paper to tie in with the blue of my table cloth and logo. I inserted a covered shoe box to bring up the level inside the box, then I placed my new cup pincushions on top.

The ring display was a genius idea of my fathers, he is friends with some jewelers in Dublin and he asked them for a ring tray , knowing I needed a neater way to display my rings. Yet again this little tweak brought me a lot more sales than normal. I think people can see them a lot better this way, rather than jumbled up in a pot.

Overall I'm delighted with my new look, I could definitely feel that the public were engaging with the pieces a lot better and easier, and a lot more people were stopping to browse. When I think about that the display I had before, and how in a few small ways it really wasn't working, it just goes to show it's worth reassessing your packaging/display/work, just to see what can be improved.

Ps: Speaking of face lifts, I did a bit of work on the landing page for my facebook page. A while ago I started using Pagemodo which allows you to have info/images that people land on when they first see your facebook page, instead of seeing the clutter of the wall. What I had posted was fine, but I was unhappy with the layout of their template, and it didn't feel in any way crafty or innovative. So I put aside an hour last night and I made a single image in photoshop with integrated text. I'm much happier with how this looks, and it reflects the look of my website too. I used the fun Polaroid app that I mentioned last week for the images.

Pop-Up Event

I'll be selling my wares this Sunday at the new event Pop-Up Super Boutique. I was chatting to the organiser, Siobhan,  the other day and it sounds like a fun event. She has organised vintage styling, a chill out zone, and yummy cupcakes, and even some bubbly-sounds like my kinda event!

I'm really looking forward to seeing the other sellers there, and will probably do some of my Christmas shopping while I'm there, and maybe a present for myself too. Here is who I know of so far:

Be Fabulous

Marian Murphy Cooney

East73rd

Elegance Bags

Life Style Coach

The Body Tree

Imasa

Alexia McInerney

and lots more(a total of 40 traders I hear!)

I have 10 free passes into the event, if anyone is interested come to my stall on Saturday and I'll give one to you, first come first serve though.

Bar-Bootsale in Bakers

I love being friends with proactive people who do something positive rather than moaning about how crap/boring their life/city is. My friend Nora is one such person, she is always busy organising something or other. One of her more recent projects is the Bar-Bootsale, a carbootsale without the cars and with a bar instead. Where poor cool people go to sell their stuff to other poor people who like to buy cool stuff, it works out well for everyone!

My friend Peter spinning some choons

This time the event will be taking place tomorrow in Bakers Place (Limerick), 1pm-6pm. I'm hoping I can make it in after the market to have a bit of a gander around. Last time I picked up a great dress for only a fiver and there was tonnes of other great stuff too. I like the idea of having a beer while shopping, although I'm still on the dry so I won't be partaking this time.

Also graffiti artist Square Bear will be sell some hand drawn badges there (made by your truly, so buy 'em up so her orders more!!), and also Dish Pig will be selling some of his graffiti art too, hopefully it won't be sold out by the time I get there as I want to get a few for myself.

Square Bear

Dish Pig

Jack Frost is Nipping at my Bits

Winter has definitely hit me with a bang, it doesn't seem that long ago that I was wearing a jacket over a dress with some runners, but this weekend I was attempting to wear all of my wardrobe at one in a vain effort to stave off the chill.

It's an early, and therefore very cold start to the morning at the Milk Market, and this week I relinquished any effort to look good in favour of warmth. I wore from head to toe;

Marino felted wool hat

Huge knitted scarf

Triple layered rainbow jacket

Woolly Jumper

Warm vest

Gloves & mittens

Jeans

Legging

Slipper Socks

Knitted Uggs

...and I was still cold!!! Mari, the owner of a coffee shop at the market was selling hot water bottles, pay €5 and get €4 back when you return the bottle, what a fantastic idea!! It was really great for keeping the aching chill out of my fingers. I've heard that Pennies are selling thermal vests and long johns, I'll definitely be taking a trip there this week to stock up on some winter warmers.

Peig Sayers at the Market

This is a rarity, a photo of myself on the blog, that's me on the left. This was taken last week at the market when all of us fell in love with the new scarves from Hanora.K.Designs and we had to try them on. I bought the orange one, Branden eventually gave in and got the grey one( he tried to restrain himself until he saw someone else trying it on, and then he had to buy it before they did). They are so cozy, they feel like you are wearing a blanket-a very comforting feeling when doing a 7am market.

Noreen sells her work at the market Fri-Sun every week and will also be at the craft fair tomorrow 11-7pm. The scarves are about 50-60 quid, but believe me they are well worth it, I've had loads of compliments on mine.

Tips for Setting Up a Market Stall

I posted the following article yesterday on the Etsy Ireland blog, I thought some of you who didn't see it might be interested:

Hi this is Ruth from Nice Day Designs. There has been lots of talk recently within the team at meetings and on forums about markets and I realized that after 3 years at trading at a weekly market I may have a few bits of info to impart. There are two sides to doing a market, the nuts and bolts of display, tables, and getting your stall. And also what to do/say to your customers to make the best of your stand. Both aspects have their difficulties, and trust me I've learned the hard way by making every mistake in the book. Later in the week I'll be posting the second half, so stay tuned!

Firstly lets look at the basics, how to get a stall. Lots of people have been asking how can they get a market stall, and is there one basic source of info, and to be honest I'm not sure. In Ireland it mostly seems to be work of mouth, the best advice I can give is go to your nearest market and start talking to the traders. The likelihood is that they sell at a few different locations, and they will be able to tell you which are the best ones, and they'll be honest about footfall. Always try to check out a market before you do it, organisers will promise you the earth, but quite often they deliver very little. Find out things like do you need to supple cover, tables, what is parking like, do they require insurance? The company that I use is IOMST, they do a yearly rate that's very reasonable, most markets insist on it these days so it's just one of those things that you have to fork out for at the start. Also ask the market organiser do they advertise locally, they is no point paying them 50 euro for the day if there are no customers.

Next you need a great display, this can take a long time to figure out, it's taken me years to really figure it out properly. Maybe try to do some research online and at market, take photos of the displays that you like and try to learn from them. Here are some easy pitfalls.

-Don't put all your products flat on a table, people will be walking past and judge what you're selling in about 2 seconds, if it's not visible they will walk on.

-Don't have an empty stand, if there isn't lots to choose from people won't buy. If you don't have lots of work share your stand with a friend. It cuts on cost and it fills up the table better.

-Price your work, people will be afraid to ask if there is no price on it, especially with crafts people always assume that they can't afford it.

To help with creating a better display use risers, I made mine out of notice boards, Tesco are selling them at a really reasonable price at the moment. Buy two of them and put a hinge in the middle so they can be free standing. Also use things like boxes underneath your table cloth to raise the level of the table. Other things like pretty baskets and hat boxes are fantastic for displaying your work in. Shop around in the Euro discount shops, even in the garden or kitchen ware sections, think outside the box for what you can use. Also places like Aldi and Lidl sell mini easels and chalk boards, which can really add to the charm of a display. I got little brightly coloured picnic pots in a pound shop last year and I still get people commenting on how well they look on the stall. If it's possible try to contrast or conordinate the colours of your table cloth to your logo, it will really give your display that extra punch that it needs.

It's a good time of year to go shopping for market equipment, things like fold down tables, chairs and gazebos are all easily available in Argos, B&Q etc, look in the camping and garden sections. In the past I've used fold down tables that are used for wall paper pasting, they are very affordable and the heavy duty one is still working 3 years later. What ever you do if you need to provide your own stall do not buy the one in Argos that is a pole assembly, it is a nightmare to put together and it's useless in Irish weather, it may look like a bargain but trust me it will break your heart (and your back!). At the start try to find a market that is indoors or provides cover for you. For your first market it will be quite daunting to deal with this aspect as well as your display and selling to customers.

Signage is also very important, you want people to remember your brand and know what to call you when talking about how amazing you are later to friends and family! I made my own banner with my sewing machine, but in the past I've used a long laminated sign, that cost about 40 euro from my local printer. Just like with your etsy shop it's good to keep your look consistent, so my banner matches my tags, and my smaller price signs.I got this great stamp on etsy from Jlmould, and it's really helped with my packaging, while keeping my costs low. Also it's essential that you have business cards on hand, they sell little perspex holders for them in Easons. I'll talk more about business cards in the next post about interacting with your customers.

I hope this helps, and if any other readers have market tips I'd love to hear about them, just leave a comment below.

Selling at the New and Improved Milk Market

I had such a lovely weekend! Friday was taken up with crazy amounts of work, but I love doing that, locking myself in the studio all day until I go to bed, it's exhausting but incredibly satisfying!

Saturday I was up bright and early to go to Cork for the Etsy Ireland meeting, more of that later in the week. Because it was my birthday we went for dinner when I got back. I eventually got to go to Freddys Bistro, 10 years of living in Limerick and I only manage it now! This lovely meal was followed by a fantastic gig in Dolans by my great friends Vertigo Smyth and The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra. I also got to catch The Rubberbandits playing in the main venue of the Warehouse. The latter band are pretty hilarious but probably entirely baffling to anyone outside Limerick, and especially outside Ireland, but they drew a massive crowd I've never seen the place so full.

I was rather bleary eyed on fuzzy brained for the early start on Sunday morning for my first day trading at the Milk Market. The truly glorious weather, general excitement, and two Anadin Extra Strength helped to wash away and residual hangover. Wow it is such a treat to trade in the new premises!! There are no worries about weather, or hauling down tables, and it looks so clean and modern. The large white roof reflects the light beautifully so it feels very light and spacious. Also the set up that they have dividing the stalls into little blocks is perfect,which means I was back to back with my fellow traders. I was delighted with my lovely neighbours of Vinny and Noreen, although I was sad that I'm not beside my friend Orla. I blame my rather compromised state for the fact that I forgot my camera, but my good friend Rebecca from Lucky Rainbow Designs took a few cute pics when she was down, thanks for these missy!!

Being honest I think it will take some time for people to realise that there is a market on Sunday, and for traders to come back. Things had gotten very quiet down on Bedford Row, with some of the regular traders giving up the ghost. With new venue they are sure to come back, and I was assured by the organisers that we will have lots new people joining over the coming weeks. I'm really excited about the move, and I'm hugely positive about the potential that it has. In the words of that corny 90's film The Field of Dreams: 'If you build it, they will come'....and I'm convinced they will.

Green Travelling

I'm sure I've mentioned before that we don't have a car. We transport everything to the market on a trolly, it's quite an ingenius idea of John's. In this picture you are looking at 2 flat pack tables, 2 display boards, 1 rotating card rail, and 1 bag of stock. We also carry on our backs to more bags of stock, and that's all the gear for the market!! I can't afford a car at the moment, and I can't drive(which I swear I will remedy this year!!), so this is the perfect solution.....and it's much better for the environment too.

Sick Lady

I hope all of you had a great Christmas and New Year. I will return to blogging soon, but I'm pretty sick at the moment with a super cold/mini flu, looking at the screen hurts my eyes so this isn't much fun. Last night I even tried to watch a film wearing sunglasses to cut down on the stinging and headaches( John threatened to take a photo of me with my dopey sick head wearing shades indoors and post it on this blog!!).
I just wanted to post this picture taken of me while I was selling at the Christmas market, it was minus 3-8 most days, so I layered up on all the woolie clothes I own. I love the contrast of my crazy colours compared with my friend Richards dark coat. Special thanks to Eamonn MacCarthy for the image.