VivoCity Xmas 2013 Craft Market

I'm all packed for my VivoCity Xmas 2013 craft market. I've done craft markets so many times that if I forget something, it's like whatever. Unless it's my wallet. Or my bags. How to forget my bags, right? Actually, there was one occasion...

Sadly, I don't have a lot of stock. I tried. I really tried. It's enough for 6 days though. I actually fear I don't sell much and have to lug them all home again. Sigh. There's a lot of competition nowadays. It seems everyone sells bags and pouches. I still remember the good old days when I was the only one.

This year I'm going to have to drag both my kids to the craft market every day. I've been told there's a new rule. We can no longer have our meals at our stalls. I guess we all look so low-class wolfing down our meals while customers are gawking at our wares. Of course I literally fainted when I heard the news. I rely on eating to keep myself awake throughout the long hours. So my kids have no choice but to man the stall while I dine somewhere. I might finally lose some weight after all. Woo hoo!

Still, it's difficult to say with my kids. So in case you've come down to buy or collect your bags from me and no one is at my stall? Just hang around until I come back, okay? I'm probably lurking in some dark corners eating.

The rule of odd numbers

I often feel exasperated when it comes to displaying my bags and pouches for sale at craft markets. There are a few rules I try to follow faithfully. In case you're not familiar with these rules, they are:

♦ Avoid clutter
♦ Group similar items together
♦ Avoid displaying everything on a flat surface - use varying heights
♦ Avoid displaying in such a manner that when one item is moved, others will collapse

During the Christmas craft market, I tried out something new and I feel it worked for me. I had read that displaying items in odd numbers will capture the attention of customers more than even numbers. Now I have never really paid attention to whether my items are displayed in odd or even numbers.

On the first two days of the craft market, I was, as usual overwhelmed with the setting up and just relied on old instincts to display my wares. But my sales on the first Sunday dived compared to the first day. I had really thought my bags would go snap, snap, snap.

On Monday, I felt desperate and decided to display my items in odd numbers. I tried out in 3's and 5's. I felt that anything more than 5 would be too cluttered. I forgot to take photos of my display for Monday but my sales improved tremendously!

The following are photos I took later in the week. By then, I no longer displayed in 5's, just in 3's.

I noticed that my sales were quite consistent from Monday to Saturday with this new display. On the last Sunday, my sales dived again. By then, my stock had dwindled and it became quite difficult to keep to the 3's rule for similar items. When you put different items together in 3's, they just look messy. Anyway, customers tend not to be interested when you have a sparse table. Like they keep searching up and down with their eyes and they still can't find anything interesting to buy.

I am very excited by the success of displaying my bags in odd numbers. And don't worry. I'll try not to be too OCD about it.

I thought I'll show you one more thing I did with the display. At the craft market, I get one grid wall to display my bags. I hang the long bags on the left hand side. The right hand side of the grid wall is usable so I created a grid wall shelf by securing using a combination of plastic cable ties and a string. I ended up with 2 shelves!

via

I knew my shelves would not collapse as SMRT (train) had used these same plastic cable ties to secure rail "claws"  along the North-South and East-West line.

You can find me at VivoCity Singapore

Dear friends,

From this coming Saturday 15th Dec till the following Sunday 23rd Dec, I'll be manning my craft market at VivoCity. If you are in Singapore, I welcome you to drop by and have a look. (Ha ha. I really just want you to buy something!) There are many other craftsters at this market selling dolls, hair fascinators, accessories. I'm sure you'll find something to buy. (But make sure you buy something from me first.)

Alright then. I won't see you guys for a while. I may pop in or I may not. We'll see.

TTFN

p.s. I saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey today. Warning: Expect it to drag here and there and there and some more over there.

VivoCity Craft Market 2nd to 3rd June 2012 Post-mortem

Hello friends,

Are you ready for my weekend craft market post-mortem? I'm wondering if you have ever wondered how my post-mortems came about? Well, a long time ago, hubs worked in television. After a show he worked on aired, the team would group together either on the same day or the day after to do a post-mortem. Mistakes were pointed out, scoldings given out, lessons learnt and the whole idea was to improve. When I first started selling my wares, I decided it would be a good idea to do a post-mortem for my craft markets as well. Same motivations here - to remember my mistakes and improve. In the past, I used to announce the exact number of bags and pouches I had sold. Yes, even when the figure was really, really low, I would announce it. No shame. I simply wanted to reference the sales figures in future. But that practice has now stopped. It seemed to irk some people who sell at the same market as me and especially so when my sales figures were good and others didn't do so well. It seemed so insensitive of me. Nowadays I no longer care so much about how many items I sell. I'm more interested in the total sales revenue.

Saturday did not start as well as I hoped for. I have had good luck with taxi drivers for quite a while but on Saturday, I was not too happy with my taxi experience. First of all, when I stand by the kerb waiting for a taxi, I don't hide my giant luggage. It's out there in full view. So I really wondered why my taxi driver stopped to pick me up. I mean, he had the choice not to. Well, he did and he came out to help me put the luggage in the boot. But he asked me to help him and while we were heaving the luggage in, he casually mentioned he had just had an operation. What! I felt really bad that he had to help me with the luggage. I mean he could seriously hurt himself. While he was driving, I noticed he was really uncomfortable and kept putting cold packs on his back. Sometimes he hunched forward. Sometimes I thought he was gonna collapse. He grunted a lot. Okay, I empathize with him. He needs to make a living. But I could see that he had difficulty turning his head to look out the window and we had a number of close calls. It was quite frightening for me but I kept hoping everything would turn out all right. A lot of the journey was on the highway. I contemplated asking the driver to let me out which could have been worst but I just froze and kept on going. Finally we reached VivoCity but he dropped me off at a bad location because he lost his way. I just wanted to get out. I told the driver not to help me with the luggage (I was trying to be a hero) but he insisted on being a hero and heaved the luggage out with some help from me. Hope he learnt a lesson and stayed home till he recovered.

I had pretty good sales on Saturday. In fact, I was just setting up the display when I sold 2 bags. The first one to go was the skulls and roses crescent bag which I had been hoping to gift to myself. Shortly after my camouflage sling bag was sold. Sometimes you get lucky and get sales right away. It seldom happens to me. My first sale usually happens after noon.

Sales on Sunday took a dive. I can't explain why. Yes, there were fewer shoppers compared to Saturday but there were many shoppers who looked at my stuff. Perhaps I had fewer items on my table?

Interestingly, the last 2 items I made were not sold. The sexy zippy wristlet, I made quite late on Friday night. Again, interestingly, these 2 items were the most browsed on Sunday! For the sling bag, it came down to the price. But for the wristlet, I suspect it's the colour of the fabric. It's not a common colour and I do notice that buyers tend not to buy stuff they aren't familiar with.

Saturday's display

Sunday's display

My weekend was quite ordinary. I felt pretty good. No migraines. No headaches. No one annoyed me. I sat with the aviation guys - 2 retired men who sell aviation books and model airplanes. They were quite the gentlemen and helped me man my counter whenever I went away. My counter position faced an exit. Outside the exit is the sea and across the sea is Sentosa, an island resort owned by Singapore. I used the zoom feature on my canon S100. I took the pic at the exit of the building.

This is Lili. She bought a flower-flower felt brooch and wore it right away! She didn't know it but she made me so happy. I sold a total of 3 of these flower-flower felt brooches, 1 tatted lace brooch and 1 bird brooch. The next time I make the flower-flower felt brooches, I will use a brooch pin that also comes with a hair clip. That way, it's more versatile! It's hubs' suggestion.

I had a visitor. This is Amy. She reads my blog. And she came bearing gifts - 2 kinds of fabric and a crochet little purse. We had a nice chat. I won't lie to you and say it wasn't strange to have a total stranger come up to you who knows some bits of me. But this has happened to me before. People coming to tell me they know me from my blog. So I was cool. She crochets but I'm sure you've figured that out.

  Prawn tempura noodle soup

Fried dumpling noodle soup

I could not resist going back to my favourite noodle place for 2 of my meals. But I tried different items. My BFF (the old lady) saw me slurping the prawn tempura noodle and told me the way I ate, it looked really good.

On Sunday hubs came to help me and we tried the Vietnamese bagette. It has some spicy pickles. I'm very certain my kids won't like it. They are so subway kids.

It was nice to see some sellers I know. Corinna of Cute and Cosy lent me 2 embroidery books. Mandy of Forest Flame Millinery, poor thing lugged a whole giant roll of interfacing to give to me. (you could knock a person out cold with it) I only appreciated how hard it must have been to carry it all the way to VivoCity when I brought it home!

This week I'll probably try not to make anything for my next craft market which is at the end of the month. I'm honestly quite tired and I don't want to burn out. Hopefully I get to work on my ePatterns, take care of some housework, read some craft books, crochet a few flowers, work on a few tatting, embroider a little, go on a supply run, visit a few bookstores, learn PhotoShop Elements and have a good rest. I'll see you soon.

Pass or fail?

Last night after I published my last post, I went to work on a couple of pencil cases. Easy peasy. But my brain is still resisting pencil cases. No pencil cases this week! I ended up making a shopping bag.

This is a new fabric I've been planning to use. I bought it with ME in mind. I wanted to make something for myself. The fabric is very light even tho' it's a sturdy fabric. I did not interface the fabric because I wanted this bag to be something you could fold up. Okay, I was lazy. So I was like frightened to death the bag would turn out really awful, like limpy. I'm pretty pleased with the result and if it doesn't sell by end July, I'll gift it to myself! I've made a few of these shopping bags in the past. Usually I have a pocket in front because I like front pockets. But this round I wanted to price the bag lower so I skipped the pocket. Will probably get some grief from customers for that! When I showed the bag to my son, he asked me why there wasn't a pocket in front!

The Great Singapore Sale starts today and ends on 22nd July. It sounds like a great time to be selling stuff. Still....on the one hand, there will be lots of people in the buying mood on account of the sales. On the other hand, people expect huge discounts. Also, how do handmade sellers compete with the big brands which have the ability to offer big discounts on their OLD STOCK.

I shan't be pessimistic though. Easy come easy go. 

*  *  *

I'm finally done with my kids' parent-teacher meetings. So glad to get that over with. It wasn't as bad as I imagined. One of the reasons I dread such meetings is the report card on my kids' performance is also a report card on my performance as a mom. I know I've been a pretty lazy parent especially since my kids became teens. Many times I just don't want the stress and did not put my foot down. My kids did not perform as well in the exams as I had hoped. It's a wake-up call. I have to be more vigilant and more proactive in monitoring my kids' homework and ensuring they put in a good amount of effort preparing for tests and exams. I anticipate a lot of resistance and stress but it's something I have to do. I can't run away from it.

*  *  *

I should be packing for my craft market now. Hope I don't forget anything. I'll refer to my list. Oh, in my next post, I'll announce the winner of my giveaway. Which breakfast will Mr Random Org pick?

Craft market details

Sat & Sun 26th to 27th May 2012

VivoCity, Singapore

 Level one, near Denizen/Carnivore

12 noon to 9pm

What I bring to a craft market

This weekend I'll be back at VivoCity, Singapore selling my bags and stuff. Go here to find out more. I have lost track of the number of times I've gone out to sell at craft markets. I know it's a lot. One thing though - I always forget to bring something. Today I decided to do a checklist of what I bring to a craft market. I'll simply refer to it in future.

1. Signboard

My brother made this signboard for me a few years ago. It's made of cardboard and printed professionally. It's been trampled on, sat on, grabbed at, and once, the wind tried to take it away.

2. Name cards

I forgot my name cards the last 2 times I was at VivoCity. And people kept asking me for them. If you bring a ton, no one will ask for it!

3. Table cloth

I forgot my table cloth just once this year in February. I didn't know how crucial a table cloth is until I tried displaying my pouches on a uncovered surface. There was no friction and my pouches kept sliding down and wouldn't stand proud.

4. Props and hooks

I have an assortment of props which I use to either prop up my items or add height to the display. I find boxes rather useful too.

This time I'm trying out my new carousel which I'm using to display my brooches. Do you think this way of displaying will lure more people to come check out my brooches?

5. Plastic carriers

No, I did not go green. Why? Paper carriers are more expensive. Most customers refuse my plastic carriers anyway.

6. Mirror

Once I offered a customer my mirror and then I couldn't find it. So embarrassing.

7. Receipt book + working pen + calculator + list of item codes

Here at VivoCity, I don't need to bring my cash change as we have a cashier. But I need to write out the invoice with the correct item code and price.

8. Items I'm selling

Once, a long time ago, I packed everything except my bags and pouches. hahahaha

9. Camera

To take photos for my post-mortems.

10. Medication
- panadol and anti-histamine

11. Stuffing for the bags

12.  Little things but they're important
a. scissors
b. scotch tape
c. stapler
d. string
e. extra price tags
f. sewing kit
g. energy bar
h. a book
i. notebook

I'll be back on Monday with my post-mortem. So see you then.

All I want for the next 8 days....

Dear Santa,

All I want for the next 8 days at VivoCity Craft Market:

♥ I don't fall sick.
♥ Good sales.
♥ No run-in with any crazy bitches.

p.s. if it's not too much trouble, get the Abercrombie & Fitch boys to visit VivoCity (level one, facing Denizen) anytime from 11am to 10pm (Saturday 17th to next Saturday 24th)


Done salivating? 


This week's been hectic. I made it a point to do the price tagging, packing, finishing mid-week. And I got the kids to help. Yes, nerves were frayed (mostly mine) as always when I get the kids involved. But I was dead tired. So glad I have 2 kids. Today is Friday and I'm relaxed as there's no need to rush like usual. 

Speaking of frayed nerves, in Singapore yesterday, the MRT (like subway) suffered a major breakdown. Passengers had to be evacuated (walk thru' dark tunnels), windows were smashed by over-anxious passengers to let in AIR and thousands had to find alternative ways to go home. My kids and hubs were on the train when they heard the announcement that the trains are delayed. I think they got lucky they managed to get the last few running trains. During those moments when they were wondering what was going on, I went to twitter to see what's happening but it was just confusion and questions. That is always the biggest problem. Lack of timely information. When the train reached the stop where we live, me hubs said the carriage sounded like it was breaking apart. I'm just glad everyone got home safe and sound. I hope the transport minister will fix our "world-class" transport system soon. Either that or strike out "world-class". Btw, the breakdown was caused by failure in the 3rd rail. Never heard of the 3rd rail? Neither have I. It's the rail that supplies electricity to the trains.

I have a few bags to show you. First, 3 crossbody bags. I made the straps adjustable.

Houses anyone?

More houses?

I've used the ricco-ricco fabric before. And yes, I've a thing for houses. 

This cross-body bag is in linen-cotton.

Ricco-ricco houses in its magnificence.

Okay, some people like the beige/brown/minimalist look.

And some odds and ends.

The next 8 days are going to be gruelling. I have to be at VivoCity for 12hours every day. If it doesn't kill me, it will make me stronger. See you on Sunday when I announce the winner of my awesome fabric/pattern giveaway. Have you entered?

Post-mortem: VivoCity 29th to 30th October 2011

Hello friends,

Fake tree outside VivoCity - anyone noticed the leaf giving me the finger?

How are you? I slept the whole day away. I'm sick as a dog. My tummy feels weird. When that happens, it means I will have a bad headache. Hours of headache. My face hurts. My eyes hurt. My stomach screams for porridge for dinner. I never want to eat porridge for dinner. Except when I feel sick. Yes, you're thinking what I'm thinking. I'm gonna lose some weight from this illness for sure! Woo hoo!

My son is sick too. He has a fever. He rarely gets sick. It's his first day of his year-end school holiday too. Don't worry. The fever does not affect his ability to play electronic games. Hope it's not a bug. Don't want my girl and hubs to get sick too. We need them to get food.

So I spent the weekend at VivoCity selling my bags. I did not have a good start. After getting my counter, I started to set up my display. Then I was told to move one counter away for my own sake as the counter next to me sells pottery art and painting is involved.  See, the paint could fly in the air and splatter on my bags. It was only one counter away so it was no big deal so I moved. But it took a long time to get the key to the new counter. None of the keys fitted. Then I tried the key from my old counter and boom! It worked. Still I felt the Universe was trying to tell me something!

I thought the new counter was a pretty good location anyway. I snagged 2 sales while I was setting up. I was actually thinking to myself it's gonna be a great day.

Then I was told to move. Again. You know, it's never nice to be asked to move. To be asked to move twice in one morning is bordering on UGLY. This time, my counter was literally carried by the staff to another location, next to the cashier. (Oh yes, there is a cashier system) Once again, I felt the Universe was trying to tell me something. Alas! I'm half deaf so I could not hear.

I'm not the kind of person who acts like an ass in public. I'm usually cooperative and nice. Maybe that's why I'm the one who has to move?

This is my table display on Saturday at my NEW PERMANENT LOCATION. After my move, I had ZERO sales for a few hours. I was quite moody for a while. I mean, you understand, right? I stopped trying to figure out what the Universe was trying to tell me.

I was also moody as on Friday I had found out my portable hard drive where I kept my 2 weeks' worth of work in my ePattern and photos had died and I did not have any other copies. On Friday night I had gone to 2 computer shops to get it repaired and was refused. These are professional PC repairmen and they have no guts to open up my hard disk? What kind of world do we live in?

Around 4pm, me hubs called me with the good news. He had broken into the hard drive and retrieved my data. The clever, clever man. I am so in love with him right now!

While on the phone listening to the good news, I started getting sales. And it got better and better from then on. The traffic was fabulous. My total sales on Saturday was pretty decent. I finally heard what the Universe was trying so hard to tell me.

Jane, we're moving you from a bad place to a good place!

At least that's what I heard.

This was my table display on Sunday. On Sunday, the crowd was different - more families. There were more browsers than buyers. My sales dropped. I managed to make a few sales so it was still alright.

Did I tell you? My neighbouring vendors are very nice folks. The one next to me sold organic baby clothes. Two very lovely ladies. I enjoyed talking to them. There was also a home decor vendor whose wares I kept checking out. Next to her is Corinna, a German lady living in Singapore. She makes really adorable dolls and owns Cute and Cosy.

Here is Corinna modelling my iPhone zip pouch. Psst... so glad she didn't hang it on her ass bum.

My counter faced this shop selling winter clothes. So I'm like staring at it all day. It's a good thing I brought my sweater and scarves because it got really cold. Otherwise I would have gone into the shop and bought myself a winter outfit. But it wasn't like cold all the time. Sometimes, it got really hot so I have to remove my sweater and walk around.

There is a restaurant called Carnivore to my right and all day I keep thinking I want to eat meat. A couple of times I went to the entrance to sniff the food. Sometimes I act like a dog.

This lovely outdoor scenery was just a few metres from where I was. A couple of times I went out for fresh air only to end up inhaling 2nd hand smoke. It's gotten to the point where open spaces in Singapore are always invaded by smokers. Across the water is Sentosa an expensive island experience for tourists.

Anyone wondered how my stamped linen did? I was curious too as it's the first time I'm selling these.

This was a hit. Groped and poked and commented on. I'm just surprised no one bought it.

The girl with balloons and tulips were bought by 2 young girls.

I have another craft market coming up on 11.11.11. I can't think of anything significant to offer on that day. I have around 10 days to make more items for sale but I think I may be out of action for a few days. I can feel a fever creeping up on me. So see you in a while. Good nite.

You likey stripey?

Fellas,

Today was quite an unusual day for us. In the morning, we took hubs to see a mole specialist.

But first we got terribly lost. Me hubs said, "Blame google map." We went to the wrong hospital. Google is no longer our friend!

Despite getting directions to walk to the right building on foot, we still went the wrong way. Finally, the  nice lady who gave us directions drove us to the building. We are pathetic!

Me hubs is hoping to have 3 facial moles removed. But the doc is only willing to do one first. See where the rocket is pointing at? That's the first to go. Turned out the moles me hubs has are not easy to remove. They have to be cut out. Ouch. There will be a scar. It is not cheap. Consultation alone is $71. The surgery is $173 minimum for the each mole. It will cost more than that after adding miscellaneous like gloves, tissue paper. I don't know, just guessing.

The doc was worried me hubs might fret about his fengshui changing for the worse after removal of his mole. I don't think me hubs ever thinks about his fengshui.

We helped hubs kill time as it was too early for him to go to work.

We saw the movie Contagion. This is the kind of movie in which you will see a lot of familiar actors - some you couldn't place but are vaguely familiar. You know, that guy from, from.....

This movie reminds me of SARS. My girl was in K1 when SARS hit. Many parents kept their kids at home. Not me. I sent my girl to school every day. Only a few students showed up. It was a blessing in disguise. The teacher gave my girl a lot of attention. She won "Best Girl" for her class that year.

We had time to look around Orchard. I finally got to see the offensive ad which is making some folks in Singapore as well as a powerless Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) mad last week. Please tell me. Are you offended by the ad below?

Ah, here it is in its magnificence. The offensive Abercrombie & Fitch ad of a topless man. I must say dear readers. I am terribly offended by this ad. Terribly offended. Who is this desirable hunk man? How dare he show off his heavenly bod! And where may I download this ad for my wallpaper?

pic from Strip

And what about this ad Unfurgivable which some folks are offended by as well? I'll be honest. I did not understand the fuss because all I saw was a fur handbag. Today me hubs explained it to me.
hehehehe.

hehehehe.

hehehehe.

We had a couple of minutes to pop into newly opened H&M. It was nice that there was no queue to enter the store. I don't quite understand the fuss over H&M. But I think I'll go back again. I saw a pair of bell-bottomed jeans I really like.

Over the weekend I made a few stripey items. Here they are.....

Stripes look good on a crescent bag.

Good ol' curvy wristlet.

Two simple zip pouches to round up.

This Friday I'll be back at MAAD selling my bags and pouches. Details below:

Maad Pyjamas
7th October 2011 Friday
5pm to midnight

@red dot design museum
28 Maxwell Road, red dot Traffic, Ground Floor
Singapore

See ya.