News

Weekly Roundup 30 August

  Happy Friday team! Well the buildup is over and the Spring NZ Gift Fair has arrived!  We will be at booth 5045 Sunday - Tuesday, if you're at the show, please come say hi! We're super excited to be debuting our new summer range along with some of our favourites. If you don't already, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter to keep up with the action while we're there. We know we promised you images of more new products but due to the tight timeframe we may not have them up until early next week. Sorry for the delay, but we promise it's worth the wait! This Sunday is Father's Day - so we've put a few things together that we think most dad will enjoy! Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

1. Essential skin care is always a safe gift - love this look of Gillette.
2. Does you dad need to update his luggage? How about this amazing tote from Coast.
3. Have a dad that loves working with his hands? Then a home brew kit might just be on his wish list.
4. The Al Brown Go Fish book is a winner.
5. Everyman (and woman) can always use more socks!
6. Lastly, don't forget sometimes a simple card is just enough.

Weekly Roundup 2 August

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you've all had a good week as we head into the month of August. This week has been a big one for us behind the scenes. We met with some amazing people, had a sample of an exciting new product arrive, had an stellar Once'it sale, and started to plan our stand for the NZ Gift Fair! With so much planning and the to do lists growing, stress levels have gotten a bit high. And when stress rolls around, the comforts come out. This week's round up is influenced by things that represent comfort to me - as you can see, I rely a lot on cooking and wine in times like these! Have a great weekend everyone - I'm personally super excited to attend the Auckland Food Show on Saturday and eat way too many tasters.

1. Linen Striped Paonia Tablecloth from Portugal.
2. Beautiful wine packaging designed by Australian company Picturelab.
3. Comfort and cheese platters go hand and hand.
4. Fun metric ceramic crocks - currently on sale!
5. One can never have too many nesting serving bowls.
6. Roasted beetroot and goat cheese tart - yum!

Weekly Roundup - 26 July

Hello Friday, so we meet again. This week we've kicked it up a gear with the realisation that the NZ Gift Fair is only a little over a month away! What does that mean? It means new designs and new products including 2014 calendars and Christmas designs! It's back to early starts and late nights but it's all worth it as we have some super exciting new stuff headed your way. You may have also noticed that there was a large amount of new designs added to the store this week! With the royal baby being born this week's roundup was inspired by the lucky little fella. Have a fantastic weekend everyone. I know I'm looking forward to some more sleep, a brunch date with my Mr, and hopefully going and having a nosey at Kraft Bomb.

1. Beautiful nursery art handmade by the talented Amber from Red Tile Studio.
2. Lovely, peaceful bedding available at The Land of Nod.
3. If I had a baby they'd be wearing this Halloween outfit at least a few times a year!
4. Bunny ear beanie for the win.
5. Handcrafted pyjamas available at Father Rabbit.
6. NZ focused onesie at Nature Baby - cute!
7. Adorable handmade wooden push toy from Lithuania.

Weekly Roundup - 19 July

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you've had a great week, I personally have been struggling come back from holiday and getting into work mode. With the Gift Fair coming up in only six weeks, it's time to stop dilly dallying and really get cracking! There are a few new products and designs in the works and all will be revealed in the weeks to come! In the mean time, stay tuned here and our other social media outlets. This Sunday we'll be at the Matakana Market - a perfect school holidays activity! The market has amazing food, atmosphere, and vendors. If you come on by please do make sure to introduce yourself! Also incase you missed it, earlier in the week we shared a super delicious recipe for some Chocolate Chip Cookie bites! The recipe contains no flour, eggs, sugar, oil or butter - so really they're guilt free cookies! Have a great weekend everyone!

1. Love this scarf handmade by DarkPlum.
2. These unusual vases can be hung or free standing, is ideal for air plants or general decoration.
3. Beautiful handmade pouring bowl made with love in North Carolina.
4. Modern yet classy earrings coming from over the ditch.
5. Super cute kids top - wish it came in my size!
6. I little obsessed with the packaging and product...
7. Fun textiles handcrafted by Belljar in Australia.

Dreaming Big

I read an interesting blog post today by a fellow small business owner here in New Zealand. Emma Makes is a fellow designer based in Featherston and put out a question that I struggle with everyday - how can we turn these small businesses we love into a fulltime, high grossing business. As a one woman show (owner, creater, account administrator, finance, admin, marketer) you become consumed with your vision. My vision - to be able to make this job I love into a full time , full fledged, high marketable and profitable business that people know and love. As a small business that produces mostly paper products - the price that one can charge on products is limited. So how does one take these profits and turn them into marketing material that creates a return? This year I have tried: giveaways, promo packets (submissions) to stores around New Zealand, Australia and the US, markets of all different sizes, facebook promotions - you name it! So what brings people to my site and more importantly my store? Even with all the google analytics and Etsy stats - I have yet to find the one golden ticket. The NZ Gift Fair this year was a great boost to the business. It brought in 14 new stores and a lot of recognition in the giftware industry. I also joined an Etsy team named Elite16 that has brought a lot of attention to my store. The investment in time that goes along with this team has definitely paid off with store stats being higher everyday, being on Etsy Find emails regularly and have even been approached by Etsy itself with interest in my products. But with all this great attention - how does one turn their love into a full time job that pays the bills? My only conclusion thus far is time. If you put in the time the rewards do come. Taking the time to create blog posts, making those cold calls to new stores, spending your Sunday's at a market. If you put in the love - people will take notice. I hope to be able to do a blog post like this one in the future but with the answer of how I turned my love into my fulltime day job. In the meantime watch this space and stay tuned!

Autumn Gift Fair - Part 1

  This weekend we're participating in our first ever trade fair! It runs for three days, from 9am - 6pm where they expect to have about 6,000 attendees...!  Yikes! We are super excited to take this giant step for our company!  We have been working nonstop getting ready for the big event: creating marketing material, product catalogs, getting items for our stand together and new products!  We are sorry if the blog and social media sites have been a wee bit quiet this past week, but we promise you have not been forgotten!  On the contrary, we've been working nonstop on lovely new designs and products that we are very excited to show you later in the week! If you are attending the Gift Fair, we will be in Hall 5, stand 5040!  Hope to see you there!

Weekly Roundup - 22 February

Holy smokes I can't believe Friday is here yet at the same time I welcome it with big open arms! We've been burning the midnight oil around here the last few weeks gearing up for the big NZ Gift & Homeware Fair - our first big trade fair! We're also super excited to announce that we will be exhibiting two new products at the fair...but unfortunately we are keeping mute until then (I know, the suspense is killing us too!). We had the great honour this week to be featured on the Baby Life Online Magazine - Oodles of Delight at Toodles Noodles!  Such a fantastic surprise! Lastly, if you're looking to purchase some items from us in person, we'll be at Ponsonby Central Markets again this Sunday from 10am - 3pm. Hope to see some of you there!

1. During the summer months I cook Mexican about 4 times a week, this new recipe for braised chicken tacos looks like a winner! 
2. These pillows inspired by dawn have just enough pop in colour for that stylish lounge.
3. Really loving the new range of prints by Paper Moon.
4. I think I'll take one in each colour thanks! LOVE.
5. How adorable is this homemade dress? Click here to learn how to make your own.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend and to possibly see some of you on Sunday! x