Flea market finds.....

Blogtoberfest day 17:

We headed off for a drive to the country yesterday, just as a little break from hustle n' bustle and found us some lovely finds.

At the Daylesford bazaar we picked up....

This gorgeous print that I spied on Larks blog during the week. (I was amazed and quite excited that it was still there)

A lovely blue jug to put my incense in,

Some red bull salt n' pepper shakers,

and Mr. Finki found the most amazing camera's to add to the collection.

To see more fabulous Flea market finds be sure to pop over here.......
and for more blogs joining in on Blogtoberfest visit here.......

Paper and kids stuff.....

Paper and kids stuff indeed!
That's what my weekend was all about.

On Sunday we headed over the Mathilda's market. To support the bloggers I knew, tiges and weince, buttons by loulou and Lark.
Mathilda's is a market stocking sellers promoting kids only stuff. You know we have a few babies on the way in our little circle, so I was on the hunt for more little gifties to add to my stash. High on the agenda too, was to find some new shoes for Finn. He's quickly out growing all his old ones.

It was such a busy market. I'd highly recommend it, as a buyer and a stall holder. Such a great offering of goodies. From clothes, handmade toys, blankies, and rattles to jewellery, artwork and footwear. It's a feast for the eyes.
The only bad things was the sheer volume of people, including those silly enough to bring prams, made it really hard to get around, and to see things properly. We knew it would be a mass gathering of parents with babies and children, so it made sense to put finny in his backpack and try to ease congestion a bit. If only everyone else had thought of that too!

I got some fabbo screen printed singlets for the Queensland Bub, which i intend on making little floral shorties to match. I did find some shoes for Finn. they had the cutest ones to chose from, with dragons and dinosaurs stitched on, but the stars were the winner today, Some more little goodies from Lark and lastly some cards from Print space. I have admired their prints at a few markets now, and could never decide on just one, so the offer of 3 gift cards for $10 settled the deal. I'll frame them all when we move.

Mathilda's was an early market, so we had time in the arvo (arvo...how aussie am I), to head over for the last day of the Paperific expo at he showgrounds. Thanks to Beky at Pivotal expressions for the heads up on that one.
I managed to find my self a new hobby, more about that later...and the most amazing selection of papers. Usually used for scrap booking purposes but you know I like to think outside the box. Suffice to say you'll see a few of them built up into my range of three dimensional stitched items. Very exciting.

Lots on the drawing board this week. With clay, embossing, and stitching. All revealed in my next post.

Saturday's day at the Sister's Market.

Another market over and three weeks to go till the next one at Sonny and Coco. So, plenty of time to get my act together and produce lots more goodies.

I've got a bit of re stocking to do, as I sold all my story book baskets, most of my pen holders and nearly all of my new art journals. But high on the agenda will be some knit rings for Jen, a lovely blogger who always pops by to say hello and brighten my day.
I'll do some basic block colors, but I think I'll do a few with contrast crotchet edges, and maybe some needlework too.

I had the chance to catch up with quite a few bloggy peeps, thank you for taking the time to stop buy and out yourselves. It's so nice to put a faces to all the wonderful, crafty posts I read.

It was a funny market today, lots of early shoppers....lots. Then a dead stop at 2. From then on, I think it was just locals drifting in. None the less it was a profitable day, and aside from making money, I always walk away having met lots of nice people, having had the chance to get to know my fellow stall holders and of course getting immediate feedback on my goodies...the good, bad and ugly. All of it is so valuable.
I am none the wiser as to 'what people want', which really just reinforces the fact that you should just do what you like, rather than guess what people might like. At least that way you can stand there and really love everything you have to offer, knowing it wasn't influenced by fashion or fad, just pure personal inspiration.

Moving along, let me tell you about my shopping adventures at the market. Fortunately my partner in crime came along to help man the stall, so I could duck away for chit chat's and shopping.

My first stop was to say hello to Kylie over at tiges and weince. I had bought a t-shirt transfer from her during the week and loved the end result, so I had to buy more. I got a blue starry giraffe, which I'll stitch on with orange I think for a fun contrast.
I also picked up some of her funky book marks, I'm glad I did cause they were going like hotcakes. If I left it any later I would have missed out.

Next up I grabbed some chai & honey (yumm) lip balm, from back of the moon day spa. I got heaps from her last time I saw her at the sisters, so I knew it was good.
My neighbour again, was the fabulous miss piggy tales. She's always expanding her range with the funkiest Japanese fabrics, so I just had to have one more piece from the range. I got this red and white babushka pony tail holder.
My across the road neighbour, was Bronwyn from retro bub, where I got Finn the cutest little boy tee with a blue retro space ship on front. All her stuff was just so cute, especially for little girls, but I had to stop and remind my self that I was there to make money.....

Well not before a visit over at Lark. I'm sooooo glad they came all the way from Daylesford. I just had to get a donut rattle for one of the babies on the way, and when I saw how super special the price was I also grabbed peas in a pod, and a watermelon.
Later in the day my daughter popped in for a visit with grandma, sporting a badge that said, I love craft........'where'd you get that from I said'. At Lark's stall.
aggghhh, how could I not see it.
Back to the table, and I found a heap of too cute badges that I just needed to have.
Then My lovely boss Sarah, popped by to say hello. I showed her my Lark rattles, thinking she might like them for her niece. She came back and showed me the cutest knitted beanie she found. 'Where's that from' I say.
Lark......oh my god, how could I have missed it.
So i was back there again to add a beanie to my collection for new babies on the way.
I promise I wasn't stalking Alison and Steph!
I'm amazed at my poor skills of scanning a table and actually seeing all the things I might like. I must have done a 'boy look'

Lastly but not leastly, I finally committed to buying something from Shannon at rabbit and the duck. I love her stuff, and I'm always there touching it...poor Shannon, probably thought I was a stalker too. But what I needed was something to use as a new cosmetics purse. Being the difficult customer that I am, I couldn't commit to oneof the patterns that were there could I?
So I'm getting one made in a babushka print, with a zip. I'll be picking it up at the next Sonny and Coco market, so I'll post you a pick, when it's done.