Web shopping...so many benefits

I've always been a fan of shopping on the wonderful world wide web. As mothers Alison and I knew that providing our shop online and assistance via email would be extremely valuable to our customers as we knew how useful we have found it since we had children!

This Christmas I really threw myself into internet based shopping. Heading into my third trimester and experiencing all the normal aches and pains that come with pregnancy and a 2.5 year old in tow I wasn't so keen on finding the time to walk around the shops finding gifts. Like many I've appreciated the various store newsletters I have received with the Christmas Sales, and let me tell you I have jumped at the opportunity to buy many gifts as a result!

So what have I purchased? Many things including photo canvases and photo books, personalised kids lunch boxes and drink bottles, clothing and more. My latest purchase was this morning; for some weeks now I have been on the hunt for a backpack for my son. Keen to find something different to the mainstream Disney character bags I have searched all the usual sites and just couldn't find something that grabbed me. That was until a friend reminded me of Penny Scallan! I saw these bags a few months ago and was immediately attracted to them, so when I finally came across the website it just took me a couple of days to decide exactly what I was going to get and the order was placed.

These gorgeous bags are made from lined PVC and are just so cute! There are a number of lines available at Penny Scallan to interested you although I did find the boy prints a little restrictive - but this seems to be the case everywhere so I was not in the least surprised or put off! So I placed my order for a Lunchbox, Kindy bag and Wheelie travel bag in the Blue navy star design. So I am now excitedly awaiting another package in the mail :-) I think the postie might know me on a first name basis soon!

Big Christmas SALE

Instead of relaxing and enjoying the festive season with our families we have decided to have a Christmas sale!!! And a big one at that

20% off all myMonkeymoo pram liners and blankets
10% off all nappies and nappy accessories
FREE express postage on all orders over $100 value
15% off EVERYTHING else in store!.

Get in quickly to snap up a bargain, we have many one off’s you don’t want to miss out on.

Sale ends 24th December 2009

Due to the complex nature of the sale a standard 10% discount will be applied to all orders used with the coupon code ‘Christmas’, for orders over a certain value or pram liner orders we will manually adjust totals, so if you pay by paypal we will provide partial refunds.

Another market has come and gone which has finished up our market run for 2009! It's been a couple of weeks now, the Handle With Care team finished this market and subsequently checked out for a few days, resting and just playing mums for a while!

The Handmade market was held on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st November and mother nature was certainly not kind to us! For the Friday twilight market we were left very uncomfortable with sticky 50% humidity and 35+ degree heat. Alison’s little 8 week old Emma tried so hard to just enjoy her night out with the girls but ultimately the heat made it very difficult for her, whilst we were left throwing down the bottles of water and fanning ourselves counting down until the end of the night! Saturday was slightly more comfortable, we came armed with a fan and the humidity was down again.

There is no doubt that the heat kept people away; the September market left us without a minute to spare the entire day but this time we were actually able to have the odd short break and spend a little bit of time with some of our customers. Despite the heat though we still had many many people come through those doors all seriously shopping for Christmas! Our beautiful Bobishi booties were a favourite once again, as were the Little Bean ice packs and Ivy Designs head scarves.

Here are some photos of our set up...unfortunately I was so flustered from the heat I just took a few of the same photos and then resumed my seat by the water bottle, so excuse the poor quality!

Once again I was not in the headspace to shop (well other than for food which once again satisfied me 110%) however Alison did purchase a beautiful lantern from Electric Firefly as well as some gorgeous felt handbags from Heart Felt Australia.

In true form my father checked out what the food vendors had to offer and came to show me some rather interesting looking wine from Disaster Bay Chilis, the wine of course is none other than Chilli Wine. Clearly the handmade market caters for EVERYBODY from young to old!

We are looking forward to the 2010 instalments of markets, we will keep you posted on which ones we decide to attend with March being the big ‘due date’ for myself we are just not sure at this point which markets we will attend and when!