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!

What we love...

Living in Canberra, we were fortunate enough to have a public holiday yesterday for Melbourne Cup Day. In a bid to avoid more housework that never seems to end anyway, I decided to finish unpacking our latest beautiful Ivy Designs order and hang them ready for our upcoming markets.

It is always good fun unpacking our latest orders and this one was no exception.

As Summer approaches we enjoy dressing our little boys in light and fresh clothing, and it is just as fun helping other people have the opportunity to dress their little ones in beautiful unique clothing too.

The amazingly talented Wynona and Anna of Ivy Designs design and handcraft all their gorgeous wares. The have once again created a beautiful range of girls clothing for summer.

This season features a lovely range of clothing and accessories that meet the light and fresh requirements of Spring and Summer!
The theme for this season is Tea Parties! and as you can see from the the photographs featured, the range certainly does bring back memories of tea time in the garden and picnics in the countryside.
The modern vintage collection brings together florals, ginghams and polka dots which are not only pleasing to the eye but look absolutely delightful on any little girl.

Ivy Designs clothing is so beautiful and is always made with close attention to detail and are superior quality- we can't wait to showcase Ivy Designs in the Canberra market.

Ivy Designs range is now available in store, online or you can visit us at the Canberra Mathilda’s market on Sunday 15th November, and the Canberra Handmade Market on Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd November.

Heather & Alison

Kids in the Shed

On 21st June we will be holding a stall at The Old Bus Depot Markets, the theme of the day being - ‘Kids in the Shed’.

This market has a focus on the little people in our lives. Come by the Kingston Markets and pick up something special for every occasion.

Not only is this a nice thing to do on a Sunday for parents, but it is also enjoyable for the kiddies- Milo the Clown will be there to help entertain them!

We love going to the markets as it gives us an opportunity to show off our beautiful range of hand crafted children’s clothing made by designers such as Ivy Designs, Brusselsprouts, Tikiboo Kids and Evie Lala.
These gorgeous clothing lines are unique and beautifully made by extremely talented people, your little one is sure to stand out in the crowd.

We will also have our Modern Cloth nappies with us and will provide assistance on the use, care and other general information to help people who are converting to cloth or building on their stash.

Attending markets also allows us to meet more of our customers face to face, so please come and say hello and introduce yourself if you happen to make it to the market!

Sleep well and bye for now

Heather and Alison

Canberra Handmade Market...

Well Alison and I have nearly recovered from our big day at the markets on Saturday! The Handmade Market brings together talented artists, designers, stylists, craftspeople and gourmets all at one destination. It is a unique event to connect the makers of beautiful things to people who appreciate the quality, handcrafted and locally designed. The time put in to organising the Handmade Market, not just by each individual stallholder but also the Handmade Market organisers truly shows on the day.

The hall was crowded and certainly exceeded expectations, perhaps a sign that people are keen to spend their money on those unique and high quality items! One particular thing I was impressed with on the day was the choice of music (not that you could hear it that well once the crowd arrived!) Michael Buble and I have had a love affair for many years now so he was the icing on the cake, it made setting up even more enjoyable!

Rack of clothing, Brusselsprouts, Ivy Designs and Tikiboo

Evie lala Reversible baby shoes

Bobishi Newborn baby booties


Wild Things of Noosa Ellie and Ivy Designs Top
Brusselsprouts Cardigan with Buttons

We were so busy we didn’t get much time to search the other stall holders items (probably a good thing for our wallets), I think this was the case for all the stall holders – the crowds astounded us all! We did however get a taste of a delicious White Chocolate and Raspberry cupcake by Little Miss Cupcake before they sold out, we also had enough time to eye of some of Col Ellis’ photographs- his photographs are truly amazing and we wish we had more money to satisfy our children’s clothing obsession and to make our homes look beautiful!

We were familiar with some of the other Stalls items as they have been fellow stallholders at other markets we have attended and whilst we didn’t get to chat to them it was nice to see familiar faces around, it was equally nice to see some other products that we were not familiar with! I really want to know how do all these talented people actually exist? How can there be so many unique items in the one place?! Certainly something to be seen to be believed.

It was lovely to see some of our previous customers come by with their gorgeous little babies and swelling bumps – we really enjoy being a part of our customer’s lives and sorry we couldn’t catch up more during the market! We had some wonderful feedback on our products; it was really nice to see them all so beautifully set up on the racks.

We also discovered that some customers who have seen us at previous markets have had problems contacting us. Once again we apologise for our unreliable email system, this is something I am getting on to first thing tomorrow morning!!! If we do not reply to your emails within 12 hours please chase us up! One of us is online almost all the time!

Well that is it from me tonight, still feeling very weary from a day on my feet and keen to hit the pillow!