Etsy Design Awards: I'm a Finalist!?

Dear readers, before I bombard you with a heap of awesome new sewing projects, I have a little announcement to make...
Fozzel & Bean has been selected as one of 58 finalists in Australia's inaugural Etsy Design Awards! Um what!?

There are two parts to the awards. A panel of awesome judges will select a winning store from each category (I am in New Talent), and public votes will decide on one store for the overall Community's Choice. The winner of Community's Choice will be featured in a magazine, and sent to the Etsy headquarters in NYC!
It has taken me a couple of days to publish this post because I'm sort of in shock :P. But there I am, displayed amongst 12 other amazing new Australian stores:

 

In a stroke of truly bizarre timing, the design I entered was sold the day before the announcements. After an emotional send-off, the one-of-a-kind pride and joy of my store is now on it's way across the sea to Texas. I'll miss you, scarfy shawl thing that never had a proper name!

If you would like to help me win an amazing trip to New York, pretty please follow this link and vote for Fozzel & Bean! As an added bonus, voting will put you in the draw to win $250 to spend on Etsy! :D



Thanks so much, and have a great weekend, everyone!

The First Market

Oops! There is a reason for the recent radio-silence.

The last few weeks of term involved some intense essay writing (and gin drinking!). And, because I must subconsciously love crazy deadlines, every spare moment was spent preparing for my very first market stall!

I set up my little table at the Manning Valley Envirofair - an annual sustainability fair in my hometown. It was lovely to get away from the icy Armidale weather for a weekend. The sun was shining. People were smiling. I even went to the beach!

The response to my knitwear was mind-blowing. I met so many kind people, all of them excited to find something warm to take home for the Winter. Previously, I hadn't been sure whether markets were something I wanted to do. Now I'm already looking forward to the next one!

The greatest part of the day was being able to chat to my customers and really get to know the kinds of people interested in my designs. A cello player found a pair of fingerless gloves, perfect for keeping her hands warm during evening performances. A lovely woman undergoing chemotherapy found a warm pink beanie, soft enough to wear against her delicate skin. It was a wonderful feeling, seeing people walk away with smiles on their faces, and realising that there really is a need and a desire for little businesses like mine to thrive.

While we were setting up, I just had to get a photo of another stall-holder wearing her new knit bow! Doesn't it look great in her awesome hair?

My little loot: An cute pair of handmade earrings, and some Greenpatch Organic Seeds.

Have you ever run your own market stall? I'd love to hear about it!

Pretty DIY Envelopes!

Lately I have been working on improving the outer packaging for different items in my store. These DIY envelopes are a fun and quick project, and perfect for shipping out small items like my little knitted bows.

Normally I hate the idea of cutting up books! However, I recently found a huge stack of fairly tacky 80s craft magazines in Lifeline for next to nothing and decided that they deserved new life!

Read on for instructions to make your own!

Monday Motivation - Pretty Packaging

My new, recycled business cards arrived today, just in time join some purple wool gloves on their way to a customer. I love seeing the beautiful ways that other Etsy stores package their items, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to share my own. It's nothing too fancy, but it's very much my style. Clean and simple, a little bit rustic, and of course - entirely recyclable.

What was the most beautiful package you ever received?

More lovely ideas from the world of Pinterest:

(sources here) 

Some Progress

The past few weeks have been rewarding and unproductive in equal measure. I have spent many hours by this window. The bench is at just the right height that I feel as though I'm working - an important tool for staving off Pinterest binges. It is a hard mental task to start a business from a squishy couch. 

The truth about designing knitwear is that it involves many pages of scribble and the unravelling of many hours of work. I'm sure there's probably a much more methodical and mathematical method, but often I just don't know how I'm going to feel about a design until I'm holding it in my hands. Or wearing it on my hands...

I couldn't be more pleased with the fit of these gloves - the position of the thumb, the fit around the wrist. They are beautifully lightweight - I've always hated the cumbersome feeling of bulky gloves. And being 100% wool makes them very warm. Already my mind is full of ways to make them more exciting, but I do love the simplicity of this design.

These gloves are currently available in my shop, in the lovely shade of pumpkin you see here. More colours will be added over the coming week!