Markets and Publicity

Well we had two markets this weekend, we had Werribee on Saturday which Simon and I went to, and then we had Flemington on Sunday which Angeline and I did.



Both were great, on Saturday we did our best market sales ever, and then on Sunday we beat Saturdays result, so we were really really pleased! We delivered the photo frogs on Saturday that we had a custom order for, and the customer was so pleased, we have now added this to our etsy shop so feel free to go check it out http://www.almondtreeframes.etsy.com/, or here is the sneak peak

Saturday at Werribee, once again our Marquee got blown over, however this time we were more prepared, and rather than having to display the products on the ground, (which is never a good look!) we had tables and display stands ready so it didn't look too bad, though without the marquee shade, I did get pretty badly sunburnt! I love going to the markets, walking around and seeing all the gorgeous pieces that everyone has, I always seem to buy something, on Satuday it was a great dress for Neivh (Angeline's oldest) that is in Christmas colours, and hopefully looks great, as well as some doggy treats for Coupy (who scoffed them in 2 seconds and didn't even notice how nicely they were presented! And then on Saturday I bought some Strawberries that were direct from the farm, and tasted heavinly and some soap that smells so great! I can see that I will probably do most of my Christmas shopping at these markets!

We found out today that our designs are likely going to be in the next issue of Shop 4 kids, which is due out in February 2009, so between the Herald Sun, Cosmo Preganancy and Shop 4 Kids we should be getting plenty of publicity for baby butterflies - who knows it might even be enough so that I can pack in my day job!!!

Paper Forest - New OOAK art work

I finally got around to listing all of Angeline's great new designs on etsy today, we have moved away from Nursery art with these designs, and are now making the paper designs more general. There are four designs on Etsy at the moment, and I am absolutely in love with the paper reflections design, I think I am going to have to get one to put up in my house... Here is a peak at the designs in our Etsy store ( http://www.almondtreeframes.etsy.com/ )

We will try and get these framed in time for our next market, as I feel really good about these designs!

We are working on our new website, and have come up with some great ideas, hopefully the new website will be up by the end of the month, just in time for Christmas! Keep your eye out for it http://www.almondtreeframes.com.au/

Off the topic of the shop for awhile, I was shopping the other day, and saw the most gorgeous puppy (well most gorgeous after Coup of course!), and it started me thinking that it would be great to have another one, so Coup had someone to play with all day. I was pretty close to buying this puppy, only it was a boy and I was worried with two guys there might be some territorial issues - plus that would mean our house would have 4 guys, and 1 girl - I am already outnumbered as it is! IThe other issue that we have is where will they sleep.... Coup currently sleeps on the bed with Sime and I, so it is quite cozy, if we get another dog, they would need their own sleeping arrangements, which I am struggling with - I love having Coupy sleep on my feet in winter - it is so cozy!!!

So I would love to hear all your thoughts about buying another dog, I am worried that as Coup is nearly 2, he might not adjust to another dog, given he really hasn't had much interaction with other animals, and also your thoughts on how I can get Coup to adjust to not sleeping on the bed...

I mentioned in my last post that we had seen the proof pictures from the newspaper, I have included some below so you can have a look. These pictures were taken in Angeline's youngest's nursery, Shyla, you can see the tree in the background which Angeline has painted on the wall, it is just gorgeous, and makes our designs look even better.

Neivh, Angeline's oldest, has a similarly gorgeous painted wall, that looks like a kingdom, so we are going to take some pictures with these as the background and update our Etsy pictures.

Speaking of Etsy, we have recently dropped the prices on our unframed designs given the decline in the AUD, so these are now $10 cheaper at $33 - you can check them out at www.almondtreeframes.etsy.com

If the AUD increases, these will of course go back up to their normal price of $43....

In the middle of getting this business off the ground, we seem to be surrounded by weddings in the family at the moment. Simon and I are planning our wedding for October next week, so far we have gotten as far as booking a place for the ceremony and the reception, and chosing a colour scheme - chocolate and pink, and that is about it... I really need to get cracking on picking a photographer and dress (though that means that I need to go on a diet first!).... We also have Simon and Angelines brother, Paul, getting married in December this year - He is getting married at Angeline's house, so that makes it more interesting, and also my sister is getting married in January 2009 - so it seems that at the moment we are running from market to market for the shop then to dress fittings, to invitation supplies... At least things are never dull!

We took Coup to the canine country club on the weekend - I love that place he gets to go swimming in the lagoon pool, then has a shower, goes on the agility course and has an absolute ball - as do we! If any of you are in Melbourne you should check it out - it is a great plus for your pooches

http://www.kepalak9countryclub.com.au/

When we were there we saw that they have classes for dogs on rounding up sheep, given that Coup is a working dog, we thought that we would enroll him in this over summer, once his knees have been given the all clear - I can't wait, I am sure he is going to love it!!!!

Angeline has been busy designing the new logo for baby butterflies, to make is a seperate entity from Almond Tree Frames, so keep checking out our website www.almondtreeframes.com.au

to see when the new logo goes up!

So who is Nicole

As you may have seen in the about us section, Almond Tree Frames is a family business owned by a brother and sister - Simon and Angeline and their partners. So far you have had two blogs from Angeline, but I thought this time I, Nicole, would blog. Angeline is my sister in law (or soon to be), Simon my fiance is Angeline's sister.

So while Angeline is the creative one of the two, my role in the business is really to take the internet orders, do the bank rec (hey I'm an accountant!), attend all the markets and other boring odds and sods!

This is my first market free weekend for a little while, and I think it is the last one until Christmas, but I really love doing the markets - you get to be outside all day, which given that I am in my office at my day job all week long is great, you meet so many lovely people, other sellers and buyers alike, and you get great feedback on your product pretty much instantiously. Some of our most popular product lines have come from suggestions that we have had at markets, such as the rabbit design below.

When I am not at markets, you will pretty much find me at home, or at the park with our dog, Coup. Coup would have to be the most spoilt puppy (not that he is a puppy any more at almost 2 years) that I know - he is most definately our surrogate child!

Coup has had a pretty bad run, though thankfully (touch wood) the last few months have been incident free - Coup was born with hip displacia, and that has meant that he has had to have 3 knee reconstructions and a hip replacement, so has spent far more than his fair share of time at the vet hospital in Werribee - which if anyone should ever need to go to, is an absolutely fantastic centre, and so understanding about how traumatic the whole process can be. So I think that is partly why I spoil him so much, though Simon thinks he was just as spoilt before he had all the operations! Here is a picture of my baby

Angeline and I were sent the proofs of the photo's that are going to be used in the Herald Sun article, and they looked really great - I will have to see if we can get a copy so that I can upload them to show you all! We will let you know when the article is going to be in the paper as well.

OK, I better sign off - I have a work ball to go to, and have not yet picked what dress I am suppose to be wearing!!!

Don't forget to check out our website www.almondtreeframes.com.au make sure you look at the monkey page - the cheeky monkies are easily my favourite!

Markets

I have spent the last week or so trying to get ready for all the craft markets that we have coming up. From now until Christmas pretty much every weekened we are going to be at various markets, from Flemington, to werribee to Lardner Park and I have been stock piling to make sure that we don't run out of stock. Also our new website is going live tonight - so check it out www.almondtreeframes.com.au - also if you register your interest, we can also send you emails to let you know of any sales that we are having - such as our October unframed print $29 sale!

I have also designed a new paper collage range that I am incredibly excited about, and will list on our etsy shop within the next week or so. This range is looking at branching out (when you see the picture you will get the pun!) into art work for adults as well as kids. I have also been working on some ninja designs to go with the geisha girls that we have.

Shyla (my 11 month old) is now standing, and on the verge of walking - so looks like I am going to have to baby proof the house again! They are so cute at this age!!!

Publicity

I am so excited, not only is this my first every blog post (which is in itself pretty exciting!), today I had a photographer come around from the Victorian paper, for all you Australian's out there - it was the Herald Sun....

Now why was the Herald Sun photographing me I hear you ask??? Well they are going to be doing a feature on baby butterflies, in their Saturday home magazine (not sure when I will keep you all posted!!!)...

I got over the sick feeling of knowing that I was going to be photographed, knowing everyone I went to school with would see me, and changing my outfit 5 or 6 hundred times, when the photographer (who was just lovely) started to explain the process to me, and in the end it was pretty pain free - well until I see the pictures anyway!

I will keep you all posted about when the article will be out!

Now I was hoping to spend the first post introducing me, the blog and the business, and I have gotten all side tracked! I am Angeline and I am very excited to have a blog for baby butterflies. Baby butterflies was something I created when my two littlies were born (they are now 11 months and 3 years), and when I bought a frame shop with my husband, brother and his fiance I had a forum to start selling these designs a little more seriously... They started off simply being personalised butterfly motif's, however have grown now to include geisha's, cars, aeroplanes, rabbits and so on - and I still have so many more design ideas - such as the elephant below!

I would love to hear what motif's that you would like to see so please email your idea's through and I will try and cut some samples.