Oh Josephine - November/December

In November and December, my Oh Josephine life revolved around setting up shop at the Olive Tree Market, as well as building a social media presence. As a result, it is critical for me to become visually savvy and create imagery that works hard to sell my creations. I think I have managed to set a cohesive language with white backgrounds and my colourful creations but I still have a way to go on the styling and quality of the images. 

The design of my hangers has also evolved and improved a fair bit since the Impossible market which was a first draft. The 'collection' I had for the markets worked well together and was quite consistent which made it easy to price. 

I had a few surprises with what sold well and what didn't. I expected my mini hangers to sell fast but they didn't. They might have done better if I had had pots included. Or they are simply too small to be interesting to people. I am not completely giving up on them yet but will be refining how I present/sell them. 

My side products, like the bags and necklaces, weren't a great success either but again, more experimentation and better presentation could be all it takes. 

The 'classic hangers' went really well, especially with the glass bowls, so I'm pretty happy about that since in the end, they were the main item there. People liked the colours, (as well as white) and the designs, so I'll be continuing with those. 

The wall hangings did OK. I sold a few which was gratifying but it is another area I plan on practicing and experimenting lots with. I made a very colourful one today and while I love it. it's hard to know whether it is something to pursue. A lot of people seemed to like neutral tones so maybe a bit of both? 

I also think my stall itself will need some work. I want to refine the display of the hangers, use the space better and allow people to see all the items better. 

Anyway, I'll stop thinking out loud and post a few pictures.

Eloise & Granny Love.

8 months with Eloise.

To say Eloise has been on the move this month is definitely an understatement. Within the space of a few weeks, she has taught herself to sit, crawl with ease, stand and even dance. Our little baby girl can not resist a catchy tune and will sway back and forth as long as it is playing.

Meanwhile, Hugo's vocabulary is multiplying faster than mosquitoes on a hot night (which we are getting plenty of). His ability to express himself is improving in leaps and bounds at the moment. Hopefully this will continue to lead to less whinging from him, a habit that is becoming truly exhausting.

It is adorable of course to see Hugo delight in Eloise's daily improvements and ask to play with her. He laughs when she is being cheeky and cries out "Eloiiiiiise" when she is messing up his toys or chewing his shoes. She continues to think he is the very best thing since sliced bread, or in her case, mashed avocado.

I packed up my last market for the year yesterday which I am happy to say was a great success, turning my first profit as a craft-preneur. I am now giving myself a couple of months to decide how to continue on this adventure with a probably return to my market stall in March. I need to do a lot of thinking, designing and planning in the next few weeks.

Chris is almost done with work for the year as well. We'll be driving to Albury for Christmas on Wednesday at the crack of dawn. We are planning a super early departure to try and avoid traffic and hopefully have children sleeping in the back for the first few hours. We are both feeling nervous about the long car trip since Eloise is proving a rather unhappy passenger. We will see but in any case we are both looking forward to Chris' break.

At the same time my family festival continues with both Paul & Marc (+Sabina) joining us in Albury for a few days. It's just a shame we'll be farewelling Mothe + Lolo tomorrow after a four week stay that went by far too quickly.

Eloise's eight month and Hugo's 33rd was busy, fun and filled with family. Let's see what the next one brings...

Eloise at 7 months

At 7 months, Eloise is starting to be able to keep herself busy for little moments at a time. More in control of her body, she can twist and turn and crawl and slide all over the floor in search of toys to carefully analyse and eventually chew on. As a result, she is keeping me pretty busy too, having to constantly be watching her and fishing things out of her mouth. On the other hand, it means I don't have to carry her quite as much when she is awake. I still have to carry her when she is asleep though... Something I am slowly trying to address with very little success. Thankfully, our nights remain peaceful and we are all rested enough.

Hugo meanwhile is turning into a little chatterbox. While pronunciation continued to be approximative, he is able to make himself understood more and more. With Chris, we often laugh about some things Hugo has said that day. It is funny and adorable to listen to him express himself, but more importantly, it is a great relief for him. I have noticed that he complains less often and I think it is due to his ability to describe what he wants better. We have spent some time at his pre-school in the last couple of weeks and I am so excited for him to start. I think he will love it and I hope he thrives there. The staff are wonderful and the atmosphere friendly and caring. He will have plenty of freedom as well as structured activities. It should be wonderful for all of us. 

Chris continues to be very busy at work but he is still so helpful at home. I have been talking recently with a few friends who have extremely unhelpful partners and I feel so grateful with such a caring and loving husband and father. Despite it being a pretty ambitious goal, Chris was successful in passing his Architecture registration exams which is a great achievement, particularly when preparing for it with a newborn. At last, he can now call himself an Architect. 

And finally, after several frantic weeks of knotting, packaging, photographing, and planning, I set up my bright and cheerful stall at the Olive Tree Market yesterday and had a great day. The crowds were modest for the time of year but I still made plenty of sales and excitedly added up my earnings last night. In addition to the sales, I also received so much positive feedback that I feel quite confident that the next two markets will go very well too. I just wonder if I will have enough stock to sell... In any case, carving out this creative activity for myself has been such a breath of fresh air. It has also been very challenging and stressful at times but I love the challenge of making it work and finally gaining some first-hand insight into the life of the many creative people I have interviewed in the past. I feel that I will probably go back to writing for work eventually but for the time being, this experience certainly is food for my soul. I have no doubt it will lead me to other exciting pursuits later, in whichever form they take.