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Thursday, April 28, 2005 - (see all news for this day)
markets this sunday - 10:22 PM
(filed under 'creative')
the markets are on this sunday & this sunday is the day that i'll be setting up a stall with my jewellery.
i'm hesitant to say it in case i jinx myself, but everything's coming together beautfully!
when i went to rocky to pick up hellie we stopped by bunnings (there isn't a bunnings in emerald) to get a small table with folding legs & an umbrella stand. the table was just under $30. the umbrella stand is one of those plastic ones which you can fill with sand or water. it had some part missing so they offered it to me for $5. it looked perfect to me & i thought that even if i had to make some modifications & even if it turned out to be no good, for five bucks, it was worth a try.
so today i set up my stall as i hope for it to look on the day. i didn't want to just turn up on the day & set up 'cold' to find that i was missing something major that i hadn't thought of, or spend ages getting the display right.
it's perfect!! the table's size is spot on. much bigger & my small stand would have looked half empty. i have only sixteen pieces to sell, you see. it doesn't sound like a lot, but it's actually a good thing. if i had hundreds of pieces on display then it might appear as though my stuff was mass produced. with only a small display then people will more easily believe that everything is handcrafted with care & love by just me.
for a cheapy table, it's quite sturdy, too. i'm impressed. 
i put all my little hand written price & description tags on each piece & despite my lack of penmanship, they're all very legible & they look more than just acceptable.
i had a look for our patio umbrella today, which i was pretty sure i'd seen around. it could have been almost anywhere amongst our boxes & boxes of stuff, or packed away right in the back corner of the shed, but it was in the front corner, totally reachable & not even hidden by other stuff.
i brought it inside & tested it with the umbrella stand. it's a perfect fit! there's a handle built into the side of it & one of my table legs even fits through that hole to help with extra stabilty for the umbrella.
like i said, i can hardly believe how well eveerything's coming together.
i printed up some discount labels & stuck them on the back of some of my business cards. i'll give one of these to any person that buys something. it will entitle them to 5% discount off their next purchase from the day after they buy until a year later. they can use it at the website or the next time they see me at the markets. 5% isn't a lot, but everyone loves a discount, even if it is small. they can keep the discount code for themselves or give it someone.
i put these cards in my little money purse which i filled with $50 worth of change in notes & coins.
i have little velvet pouches to put their purchases into & some black tissue paper to wrap them before going into the pouches. i have a small handheld mirror so that people can try things on & see how it looks.
i must remember to pack a soft cloth to give the items a quick polish before i wrap them. that'll be a nice touch & possibly even a necessity after people have been handling them all morning.
tomorrow i'll find some sort of plastic storage box (of which we have about a billion around here) to pack all the small things into. i'll then use it while i'm there as storage for things i want access to, but which i don't want on the table, as well as a kind of low table to work from since i'll be bringing my tool box & beads & be making jewellery while i sit there. not only will it be spending my time well if it's quiet, but i imagine that it might act as a bit of a drawcard. many people will be interested to see the process & how it all comes together to make a nice piece of jewellery.
one of the last things i have to do is find a folding chair. we have camping chairs & patio chairs, both of which fold up nice & compact, so whichever one i find first i'll probably use. then again, i might try to find the patio chairs since they match the umbrella. it doesn't really matter, i suppose, but hey, looking all nice & color coordinated ceratinly won't hurt. lol! 
anyway, they're quite comfortable chairs & they're not as low as the camping chairs.
it's all very exciting. i'm quite keen for sunday to come around, but i'm glad that i have two more whole days to get ready.
it's entirely possible that i may not sell a thing, but i'd be surprised. i have a good range of prices & a good range of styles. with mothers day next week, people might even decide that my stuff will make a lovely mothers day gift.
regardless, i want to hand out as many business cards as i can to interested parties. i'll also have a sheet of paper on which people can write their email addresses if they'd like to be notified of new items listed at the shop. (if you are interested you can sign up here.)
so .. sunday's the day. very exciting, indeed.
Life is real peachy when a good plan comes together... Well done!
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Sounds like you have everything ready and have thought about all the details. The cloth to wipe the jewellery is a really nice touch. I hope you sell everything and more.