Saturday, December 24, 2011

Milestones and a Merry Christmas to you

Yesterday, I was working through my pre-Christmas to-do list. I had just sent my Christmas newsletter out to subscribers, and then moved on the the next item on my to-do list, the end of year blog post. There were a whole lot of marigolds growing in the front yard of a broken house that I had wanted to take a photo of for a while, and I thought it might be nice to use that for the post. The flowers had taken over entire front yard, on what used to be a concrete pad – you can't even see that now! I thought it was a nice symbol of how nice things can happen in the face of ruin. So I walked down to get the photo, then came back, uploaded them from the camera, found the image I wanted to use, and saved it to my blog images folder.

Then came the familiar wobble of an impending aftershock, so I got up and opened the door. It got worse, so I decided to go under the dining table, which involved getting past the chairs while everything was madly shaking, so ended up with a couple of bumps to my legs. As I live on the western edge of the eastern suburbs, the power always goes out here when there is a decent shake, so I wasn't able to make a start on the post, or do anything else on my 'work' to-do list. So I went outside to do some gardening, but after the second slightly larger jolt, decided it might be a good idea to just give up for the day!

So... this year that has already been quite interesting, just keeps on going. I remember looking back last year over a rather eventful year, having no idea how much more eventful this year would be. Who knows what next year will bring!

In that post I said I hoped to build my business into a sustainable source of income for myself. This hasn't been an easy task, but in the last two months I have managed to achieve that milestone. That is, bring in enough money to cover my costs, and pay myself my modest token salary. Now I hope to continue that and hopefully build on it in the new year. A big thank you to everyone that has supported my business this year, in any way, even if in a seemingly small way. It all counts, and I couldn't have done it without you, especially through such challenging times.

As this city has faced some major events this year, I have also had a few milestones myself. I recently turned 30, which isn't a major milestone in itself, but I do feel I have achieved quite a lot in those years. We have also recently purchased our first house, which we move into in January. This is really exciting, and even more of an achievement when one of you is self-employed – banks don't really like lending on little starting out incomes!

So over the break I will be busy sorting and packing everything up, as well as a trip to Nelson to visit my family, and a trip to Wellington for a wedding. I won't be closing my Felt shop per se, but there will be a delay on posting orders. Any orders placed between now and the end of next week will be posted on Friday 30th December, and any placed after that will be posted on the 9th January.

So wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and hoping my fellow Christchurch citizens don't get too shaken up over the holidays. See you all again next year!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

All I want for Christmas Market

This weekend will be my last Christchurch market (but not my last market, I still have three more of them lined up!) It is the All I want for Christmas market, held on Saturday from 10am - 4pm at the Shirley Intermediate school hall. It is organised by the lovely ladies from the Craft Collective who brought us the two markets at Goodbye Blue Monday last Christmas, and the Monster May Market earlier in the year.

I will have some owl candles with me – if they don't all sell on Felt in the meantime! I also have a special on tin candles at the moment if you but three of any one size. Three small tins for $40 (save $8), three medium tins for $50 (save $10) and three large tins for $60 (save $12). The essentials are three small for $45 (save $9), three medium for $55 (save $11) and three large for $65 (save $13). A great way to stock up for Christmas, or yourself. I am planning to phase out the small and large tins, to streamline my stocks a bit more, so this is a way to help clear them out. I will also have some other specials, so I have less stock to move in January. Though as I need to fit everything all onto one table (after getting quite used to my two tables with the outdoor sites!) I won't be able to put a lot out at any one time, and will rotate it throughout the day. Feel free to ask to see what I don't have on display.

The Women's refuge will also be there, and will have a drop of box for gifts for the children for Christmas. If you would like to bring something along to donate, please leave them unqrapped, and here a some ideas for items to give: new toys and books for children, model making kits, colouring in books, jigsaws, puzzles and games. There will alway be a raffle to raise money for the Women's refuge also.

My remaining three markets after this are:
Kiwi Christmas Market: 5pm - 9pm, 14th December at Westland High School, Hokitika
A Christmas Cracker: 12:30pm - 5pm, 17th December at the Baptist Church back room, East Belt, Rangiora
Methven Farmers Market & Christmas Craft Market: 9:30am - 12pm, 18th December at the Heritage Centre, Methven.