Queen Beez Craft Group Breaks Up for Christmas

Today was my last day at my craft group.  So, instead of taking along my craft gear, dressing in my paint-stained outfit and smock and taking along something to share, I dressed in a lovely outfit and took along something to share and left my painting gear at home.

Yes! I went there today to socialise, not to paint. 

And everyone noticed what I was wearing.  One lady complimented me on my lovely skirt and top; and I said I wanted to have a good day off and just hang out for the last day... and she smiled saying that it's good I do keep my good clothes separate from the clothes I use for my paintings and artwork.

But we all brought along a plate and there was so much food we all went back for seconds and had a lovely time just sitting around and chatting about what we were going to do for Christmas, what the Christmas Party was like for the craft group and how our weekend was too.  
Before we knew it, two hours has passed and we all packed up and left to go home one by one... not to see each other until next February.  Coral and some of the other ladies bid me farewell and told me to take care of myself until next year; and I told them that Mum might be joining us next year too.  Coral smiled saying 'the more the merrier'... and I really do hope Mum does, she'd love the social arena of it.

This arvo when I arrived home, I got changed into my painting clothes and sat down at my craft table and worked on a few things before dinner.  Then, I worked for an hour and half after dinner until the semi-final of 'Supernatural' came on.  Tomorrow, I'll be out for a good part of the day to lunch, but for the rest of the week, I'll get my butt into the craft chair and working hard at my Crafty Pegs.

So, what are your plans for the holidays?  Working at your craft like me?  Or are you going to take a well-earned break?  Until my next post, keep creating!

The Creative Markets!

5:45am:

I was woken by my alarm.  I didn't want to get up, but I did.  The morning was nice and cool.  It had been raining only about a half hour before, and it looked like it was going to be a rainy day.

6:40am:

I had eaten breakfast, put on make-up, loaded up the car with my goodies, packed my lunch, bought a litre of milk (yeah, I drink that much in a day) and then bought a paper and was off to the Springwood State School. 
The roads were clear.  It was such an easy drive... and I forgot to buy some tissues, so I went to the 7/11 down the road from the school and bought a travel pack.  Ironically, I didn't need them.

By the time I arrived at the school, it was just on 7am.

7:30am:

I was set up, put all my boxes, excess stock to the back of my stall and opened my green chair.  I had an hour to kill before the Creative Markets actually opened.  So, I took some business cards and walked around to some of the other people's stalls to see what they were selling.  There's some very talented people out there... 

8:45am:

People started coming in dribs and drabs.  By 9am, the place was filled with stall owners and customers.  I had a few people walking and looking at my stuff, but not buying yet... then they'd come back with their kids and they'd buy something.  When the kids didn't like the prices of the pencils, I made them a deal and made a quick sale... they walked away happy.  So did their folks.

10am:

Kellie Smith came to my stall and had a quick look-see.  She loves my work!  She picked out some pegs and sprung pegs too and was my first sale of the day!  She was amazed at the detail work that went into the designs!  

11:30am: 

My feet were killing me.  I was on my second home-made ice coffee (and boy did I need it!) and Vivienne Treagus showed up with Little Miss Zoe in tow... they were wonderful to see!  Vivienne bought some pencils and a couple of magnets and then went away to give Zoe some lunch.  But they returned to sit with me for the rest of the time until 1pm.

12:20pm:

The crowds came in waves - I found.  So there were rest times of around 5 - 10 minutes at a time... this is good.  But I was told by some of the stall owners that sometimes, it's more hectic... while other times, there's no sales at all.  
Then, my folks come through the crowd that was there.  Dad first, then Mum.  They had driven up from Brunswick Heads to collect the boat and take it back down there.  They were so proud of me and Dad said I looked tired; but it must be fun doing this kinda thing.  

12:56pm:  I pack up in 3 minutes... seriously!  So did everyone else.  Mum had walked away 6 minutes ago, came back and I was packed up!  She was stunned!  Dad was a great help with carrying a few things out to the car for me, so I didn't have to carry them out in two trips.

Summary of the Creative Markets:

I had a great time.  It was under cover, so we didn't have to worry about getting sunburnt or the weather.  But it was very humid as the multi-purpose shelter we were using wasn't designed to let in much air.

I made enough money to cover my $55 rent on my spot.  Otherwise, I made $3.00 profit after that... which isn't bad seeing it's my first time.  

I've decided to have another go there at Springwood in February when the Creative Markets come back next year... I'll have more stock, more variety and more designs to choose from.  

Work Progress

I've decided to work hard on getting as many pegs done as possible... and it's working out well.

Yesterday, I got:

Sprung Pegs:  2
Dolly Pegs:  4
Magna Pegs:  3

I have enough 'Cool Pencils' for the market so I'm only concentrating on pegs right now to get the numbers up.

Today, I got:

Sprung Pegs:  3
Dolly Pegs:  3
Magna Pegs:  1

So, I'm getting a fair bit done in 3 hours each time.  This afternoon, in about an hour's time I'll be back at it until later tonight... then tomorrow I'll record how much I got done all day (as I won't be going to my Craft Day with the ladies at the community centre).  I'll spend the whole day at home working on my pegs.  Then, on Tuesday, I'll varnish and wrap up the pegs I painted up and finished.  Let's just hope the parcel arrives from the UK of Dolly Pegs so I have more to paint tomorrow... if not, I'll report to e-bay what has happened and get them to talk to the retailer I bought them off.
Well, I hope you're being as creative as I am right now.  Until my next post, keep creating!

Only A Week and a Half To Go!

I don't have long to go until the Creative Markets at Springwood State School are going to be on!  And I'm working nearly every day and night to get my stock up and ready for that big day of selling.  I'm looking forward to it all as it's going to be fun and exciting - as well as a little scary - for me as I've never done a markets before.

So far, I've got plenty of stock, but I'm looking at working on more.  Here's what I have so far:

Sprung Pegs: 7 dozen (yeah, I need more)
Cool Pencils:  33
Dolly Pegs:  7 sets
Magna-Pegs:  21

My lots are coming up and I'm looking at working harder at making more Sprung Peg lots and Dolly Peg lots as well as more Magna-Pegs... seeing I have more than enough Cool Pencils right now.

Today, I set up the market stall in my car port and timed myself and found it only took me around 10 minutes to get the initial table and main stuff set up.  Otherwise, it'll take me another 10 minutes or so to get the rest of it finished with the decorating, pricing and other bits attached to it, hiding the boxes under the table and then sit down to have a drink... yeah, I'll be set up within around half an hour.  But then, I'll have to move the car.  So, it looks like I'll have to have somebody mind my stall while I'm gone for those few minutes... maybe a relative.  I'll have to organise that.  
You know, I don't have that much to organise now... it's mainly just details that are to be done up... you know, pricing and working out how much of a discount I can give if things aren't selling (which I don't think will be a problem, really).  

So, what are you getting into at the moment?  What's been your creative element you've been getting into?  Until my next post, keep creating.

Work Update...

Since my last update only last week, I've been burning the midnight oil.  I've been working around 6 hours a day - off and on - and making sure I have more than enough stock to work the markets.

It's been hard, and yet a lot of fun to get these things done.  But I've been almost burning myself out - which isn't good.

So, I took a few days off this week and have been happy about doing that.  One of those days was to watch over the Melbourne Cup... where I won in a sweepstakes and at the TAB; both places I won $48!  Sweet!

However, since the last time you were updated, I have gotten a lot more done:

Sprung Pegs:  7 dozen
Dolly Pegs:  3 lots
Cool Pencils:  13
Magna-Pegs:  13

Over the last 24 - 48 hours, I've managed to get in do more work:

Sprung Pegs:  4
Dolly Pegs:  7
Cool Pencils:  7
Manga-Pegs:  5

So, I'm getting a good lot of stock up in just over a week since I last wrote here.  With only 2 1/2 weeks to go, I wonder how much more I'll get done before I go off to the Creative Markets on 24th, November?  With the amount of work I'm doing, plenty I'm guessing.

What work are you doing at the moment?  Are you progressing with it well?  Or is it going slow?  Until my next post, keep creating.

Working, working, working!

As you all know, I'm at The Creative Markets on the southside of Brisbane - in Logan City actually - and I'm looking forward to it!

So far, I've done a lot of work - more than I normally would have; and I'm proud of myself:

2 dozen Sprung pegs
10 Cool Pencils
12 Dolly Pegs
13 Magna-Pegs

And this is all in the last week or so... it's taken me a long time to get it all done, but I am thankful that I've had my Crafty Pegs work station all set up.  And I've also bought a Load&Go card from the post office (this is where I can load money onto it and use it online safely without accumulating debt - even though it's through VISA).  

Well, I'm going to hopefully keep myself busy throughout tomorrow and have this weekend off (as there's a party to go to of my brother's) then keep myself working on everything more!

And to make it more real, I've just paid the rent on my stall at the Creative Markets at Springwood... it's my first markets and I'm kind of excited and scared at the same time!  Woot!  I'm enjoying the fun and games of learning all of this as it comes along.  So, have you done anything like this?  If you have, let me know anything I should know... until my next post, keep creating!

One Busy Month!

It's been one busy time with Crafty Pegs, and I haven't had much time to do anything but paint them up and organise and try and find Dolly Pegs (which are becoming more and more like Hens' Teeth than anything I've ever come across!).

But!  I'm working this out really well.

Since I've completed my Crafty Pegs Work Station, created my Crafty Pegs Facebook Page and organised the business card and - just recently - bought myself a Load&Go Card at the post office, I'm well and truly on the road to getting my butt into this fun and intensely tiring life of my hobby business.  

I've begun buying paint in tubs as they're $6.99 each and will last longer than the tubs - which are $4.99 each.  I've bought myself my first lot of Dolly Pegs off a supplier in the UK for under $20 and they'll be here next week!  Yay!  I've bought myself a roll of sandpaper for when I need to sand down any rough edges.  And what I do is just cut off a small strip and use that until it's worn out and then toss it out and cut off another strip and keep going; and at $11.99 a roll, that roll will be worth it.

The best news I have right now, though, is that I've put my name down at The Creative Markets for next month!  My market stall will be at the Springwood State School Creative Markets on 24th, November - which is a Sunday.  The markets start at 9am and finish at 1pm.  I can't wait!  It's going to be an exhausting day, but I'm hoping it'll work out for me.  Wish me luck!  And if you're in the Brisbane area, come by and have a look at my stall - as well as the other people's stalls! - it's all under cover and out of the weather.  

Well, that's what I've been up to lately.  Very busy, very tiring and working very hard on my pegs, pencils and magna-pegs too.  I just hope I have enough stock by next month!  Until my next post, keep creating!

Modelling Gig on My Birthday

Last Saturday, I had my first serious modelling gig; it was also my 40th Birthday.  However, it didn't go off without a couple of hitches... but once they were out of the way, my friends and I got into it.  By this time, it was around 5pm and we had music going, the place closed up and I was posing for 20 minutes at a time.  

I did 4 poses for 20 minutes each with a break in the middle and then my birthday cake was brought out.  It was made by one of my art guests.  Candles were lit, and photos taken, then we shared the cake between us.  Before long, we were all back at it with the art and drawing; and soon afterwards, we looked at the time and found it was going onto 9pm!  What a great session.  Coffee was made, served up and we all chatted about the session after I put the furniture back into place (and made my house look like a home again and gave them somewhere to sit down and chill out).  By 10pm, my art friends paid me for my time and I had had a wonderful birthday!  

My family couldn't be here for my birthday, so I did this on my birthday... lots of fun, art and cake!  What a great day!  Until my next post, keep creating.

Busy Working

I haven't been in here very much; and I apologise.  I've been so busy with the Crafty Pegs business that I have had barely any time to do much else but paint pegs, talk about my small business to anyone who'll listen and hand out business cards to everyone and anyone who will take them.  

And now, it's coming up to the time of when everyone is looking for Christmas gifts, I'm working twice as hard to get some of my gift packs together.  I want to be able to pack them up and send them out and make a bit of money without having to keep too many people waiting for too long.

I've also made up a collection of new things that people are loving, such at my Magna-Pegs these are cute and I sell these for $5.00 each.  I also sell Cool Pencils... these are usually sold in twos so I can personalise one and put a nice design on the other and can be sold singularly for $4.50; but $7.00 for two.  

I'm looking forward to having a few things sold when people want me to painted up and sent.  And I'm looking forward to making a bit of money soon.  It's early days yet, and I've been getting into the work.  My workstation is working out well as it's all organised and I love how everything's all just there for me to grab.  Now it's a matter of getting a customer base to work from.

What project have you been working on lately which is going from strength to strength?  Is is working out for you?  Or do you feel as though you're stuck?  Until my next post, keep creating!

Creatively Thinking

Creative thinking is a process - as a good percentage of us know.  However, have you ever felt as though when people ask if you're introverted or extroverted, you really can't answer the question?  Or that you really don't fit into the 'typical' stereotype of what people think you should fit (not that you should as an artist)?  Well, I was looking at Facebook and found a blog posted on there where being an artist shows that we have best of both worlds in a lot of cases.  Read on and find out how!

10 Paradoxical Traits of Creative People