The one with another market

One and a half week ago, me and mum attended the 'Zelfgemaakte' (Homemade) market, in the city of 's-Hertogenbosch. The market was part of an art festival named Artibosch and was located at the foot of St. John's Cathedral, which is a beautiful spot. We had a bit of a different set up from the previous market, with a different display for notebooks (at the side of the stall) and we took along some printed baby onesies and a number 1 printed prize. 

For future markets I would like to have a banner with my shop name made, and a display for totebags. I need to cook up something that's easy to take along, and can display lots of different bags. I took more bags with me than the ones pictured, but there was no room to show them. 

We did enjoy ourselves, but sales-wise the market wasn't a big success. Hopefully the next one will be better. We were feeling pretty cold during the whole day, even though it's still only september and both of us were wearing winter coats. I was even thinking about going shopping for a hat! The next market will definitely be one that's taking place indoors. I am thinking about making some cards especially for the holiday season.

I don't like having my picture taken, but here's proof that I was really there ;-)

I did a quick walk across the venue

Our neighbour for the day's stall, who is a seamstress

Loved this display and the brightly coloured dreamcathers

The one with a market and a quick shop update

This sunday I'll be taking part in my third market ever. It's in the city of Den Bosch, where I studied business economics and lived for 1,5 years (until I quit) (it took me quite a while before I realised that I prefered the lessons in law and marketing over the actual economics...) many years ago. My mom is a sweetheart and she will come along to help me out. The market is outside, and so far the weather predictions aren't very good.... As I am typing this, it's raining cats and dogs. Maybe a good thing, because the rain we are having now, can't be falling again on sunday, right?

This promotional squirrel is made by Studio WellWaar and more info about the market (in Dutch) over here. 

Shop update

I've been listing some new items lately, including the pretty pink paper (new quote prints are coming too!). Here's an update.

 you are my person notebook

Never trust a pretty girl notebook

Market print

Nap all day postcard

Hope you're off to a great start of the weekend. Today I'll be preparing for tomorrows market. What are you up to? Enjoy!

The one with the SwanMarket

Last sunday I attended my second market as a seller, at the SwanMarket in Tilburg (a city south of my hometown, which takes a 45 minute ride by train). Lucky for me, my mum went along, to keep me company, to wrap up sold items and between the two of us, we could take more things (and a nice bonus was having someone with me to hold the fort during a bathroom-break :-)

Arriving in the morning

Our set up

the elastic coard keeping cards in place works very well!

I hate having my picture taken, but here's proof that I was there :-)

And an impression of what the rest of the market looked like! 

Awesome necklaces by Naked Design, I'm a fan!

Don't these look delicious!?

I got all sorts of excited when I spotted this one outside!

I had a great day, and I'd definitely sign up for a new market. The kit I made with supplies like pens, pushpins, tape etcetera, made things a lot easier. I kept the kit as it is and stored it in one of the trolleys we took. Last time, I put everything neatly back in its place when I got back, so I needed to make a new kit, next time it will be ready to go! Also, now I know I will be selling at a market again, there is some work to be done, presentation wise. I think I'll treat myself to a banner sometime soon, and I need some sort of display for my tote bags and notebooks. Clever ideas to stand out from the crowd are welcome ;-)

Selling from the comfort of your home, and communicating by computer is a whole different thing than selling from a stall. As an introvert, I never thought I would have liked interacting with buyers as much as I did. Do you like visiting and/or selling at markets?

The one with the things I liked this week (125)

Enjoying good food in good company, with R, L + J

Sunday walk

Same bridge, from a different point of view.

 

 Taken from the same place (an old watchtower)

 This sunny sky

 

Receiving a box full of supplies, like these new, colourful totebags

Those bags have been printed now, and will be taken along to my second market tomorrow! I will be attending the SwanMarket in Tilburg on sunday (from 12.00 - 18.00, Spoorzone).

It's only my second market, so there's still a lot to learn when it comes to making a stall appealing for shoppers, and work easier for myself. Kerry told me to make a little kit, filled with things that might come in handy, like scissors, rope and pens. Last time I did take them, but tossed these items in between the things I wanted to sell. Tomorrow I will take a small bag, with all of those items together. I think this may be a big improvement, not having to go to everything, to get things found! The brilliant idea of making a sign with all the prices listed together, came from Paige. I've made one of those signs in addition to the individual pricetags. 

 

The people from DaWanda asked me if I wanted to be their 'ambassador' at the market and send over this pretty looking box all the way from Berlin, filled with promotional things like a banner and their summer lookbooks. Everything is packed and I am ready to get some relaxing done for the rest of this evening! Hope you had a great start of the weekend, and wish you a sunny sunday!

The one with the MuseumMarket

Back in April I received a phonecall all the way from Berlin, if I wanted to join DaWanda at the MuseumMarket on May 17th in Amsterdam. I've never attended a market as a seller, despite encouraging words from friends, telling me that my products would fit in well and that I should give it a shot. 

Reasons not to:

• What if no one would stop over at my booth? I had visions of myself sitting on a folding chair all day long, feeling miserable.
• What if no one likes the things I make? 
• I am a big 'ol introvert and pretty awkward, so getting out there is not my cup of tea. At all. 

Reasons to do give it a go this time:

• I don't really do New Years resolutions, but two of the things on my sort-of-resolution-list this year are: saying 'yes' more often, and trying out new things.
• My friend Eefje wanted to come with me. It's great to try out new things, and facing things that scare you with a good friend. At least we would have fun!
• DaWanda could arrange a bit of a discount (you know us Dutchies, we like our discounts!) on the booth, and they would take care of the social media part of the market. 
• The whole thing would take place in Amsterdam, that's on the other side of the country. The only person I know in Amsterdam is friend Nardje (Hi, Nardje!), and making a fool of yourself surrounded by people you don't know, sounds a lot better than doing so in a place where you are likely to run into people you actually know, right? 
• Never try, never know. Thanks Lieke ;-)

 

On our way! It was a last minute decision to do take some stools. We were traveling by train, so we couldn't take as much as we could have if we traveled by car. Most of saturday night was spent making a nifty little construction that would enable us to take them along. 

Everything's set up, Eefje snatched us up some coffee, and we are ready!

 I love those fabric packages Eefje made

 

 I've known Eefje since we were 6, but I don't have many pictures of us together, 

so I like having this one!

 

 The I Amsterdam sign, with the famous Rijksmuseum in the background

 

DaWanda's booth

Well how did it go? Great! I had a wonderful time, and was very happy I decided to go. I even want to go again during summer. We had loads of fun, and even made quite some sales. Especially the bags and postcards were a hit. It was pretty busy all day long!

Things I would do differently next time: 

• I expected things to go slow, but from the moment we started unpacking, people were coming over, asking questions and even making purchases already. I thought things would be slow, so I took pen and paper to make pricetags right there on the spot. Next time I would type and laminate them in advance, so I could use them from the getgo.
• Take an extra tablecloth for the front of the booth, so people wouldn't be able to see the mess going on underneath the table
• Take some more bags, some of them sold pretty fast, and I think I may have been able to sell more of those.  

Last but not least, to those of you who commented on the post friday before the market, those comments meant a lot to me. And thanks for all of the useful tips!