This week we’ve been traveling all around New Zealand: Hamilton, Auckland, Christchurch, and tomorrow we’re off to The Mount for our first Little Big Market - four cities in six days, wowee!

As you may have seen, we have sold out of the black and gold ‘stay awesome’ tote. A new batch will be in next week or in the mean time you can purchase yours today from one of these stores.

To continue with the Spring theme from last week we have a few more bits and bobs to help celebrate the turning of the Season.

1. Hand painted Fine herbs poster.
2. A perfect accessory for your back yard – handmade disc chimes.
3. Pretty gardening tools are always a bonus.

4. Green House Fill in the Blank Moving Announcement.

5. Hanging Air Plant planters.

6.  Screen Printed Oversized Garden Herbs tote – Reusable and Washable – Great for everyday use.

All items can be purchased through Caroline’s website CINQMAI. She also has a blog where she posts some of her beautiful photography and introduces new products.

This week’s roundup is very close to my heart. I am part of an amazing group through Etsy of talented artists from around the world called Elite16. I was approached to join this Etsy team last November. Now, never being a part of a team before I wasn’t really sure what it meant. The requirements were pretty simple, 12 treasuries featuring at least 6 team members each month. Sounded simple enough, 3 treasuries a week, easy! But little did I know what it really meant to be part of a team.

This group of artists have been an amazing support team for me. You can always count on them to seek support when you find yourself in hard times and they are also there for long a distance high five when celebrating achievements. The forum has provided me with an immeasurable amount of advice, support, and knowledge. Because we are all small business owners, some full-time, some doing their craft on the side, we all benefit from each other.

The latest advice I received from my team is how to deal with stress, workload and saying ‘no’. We all want our businesses to succeed and grow – which usually goes hand and hand with stress. Over the last few weeks there is no denying that the Toodles Noodles workload has increased exponentially and it’s extremely exciting to see this business taking off. But with another full-time graphic design job (yup, for those who didn’t know, I have a full-time job apart from Toodles!), and wanting to look after myself, things can get tricky.

Here are some great words of wisdom from my fellow team members with stress and tackling a growing workload:

• Do you have anyone helping you? That would be the first step ( if it’s feasible) to have someone help out with shipping, etc.
• Price increase is the next step. If people are buying it might be time for a price increase and reward yourself for all your hard work.
• Don’t over commit yourself. It’s exciting to get lots of orders, but if you can’t or don’t have help you will just wear yourself out.
• Extend your lead time with custom orders.
• Take a day off.  It’s probably one of the hardest things to do….but when you work for yourself and/or from home it’s hard to “turn off.” It’s hard to do but that you come back reinvigorated, more organised and with a clear idea of what needs to be done in an orderly fashion.
• Sit down at the end of each work day day and write down everything about the business that you’ve worked on that day & what your next steps are. It’s different from a To-Do list because you write down future tentative plans and try to decide if they are practical or not.

In this week’s roundup I’ve selected some items from some of my amazing teammates.

1. karoArt – home of quirky and creative ceramics handmade in Ireland.
2. A Quiet Curiosity Award Ribbon Brooch, Stamped Polymer Clay Ribbon Brooch handmade in Arkansas.
3. Handmade healing lip balms from LittleFlowerSoapCo in Michigan.
4. Hailing from Brooklyn, NY woven Jute bags great for everyday use by IndependentReign.
5. Made to order linen towel from bonnbonn in Illinois.
6. Hand-hammered silver nailheads adorn this natural linen pillow cover in a sleek polka dot pattern by JillianReneDecor in Virginia.
7. Beautiful art blocks, perfect for any home, by redtilestudio in the big hearted state of Texas.

I hope this post brought you some helpful tips.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Spring is well and truly on its way and with Spring comes new beautiful, fragrant blossoms!

This past week I was in Christchurch for a few days and seeing daffodils and cherry trees blossomed all around the city was a truly beautiful site.

These past few weeks have been extremely busy around here. Getting all the new summer products printed, shipping out big orders to our lovely stockists, designing a wedding invitation (to be shared soon!), geting the summer market lineup ready, and traveling to Christchurch for a big design job. Needless to say I’m really looking forward to a mini break we’re taking over Labour Day!

To view what markets we will be doing this summer just click here – this list will be updated with a few new ones over the next few days!

I hope you all have a lovely Spring weekend!

1. Hand illustrated gift tags by Australian designer Amelia Herbertson.
2. Superfoods tea towel from New York, each towel is screenprinted by hand with olive & pink water-based inks.
3. Cheerful hand illustrated 2014 wall calendar.
4. Citrus floral recipe tin by Rifle Paper Co – the perfect addition to bring cheer to your kitchen.
5. Limited edition, screen printed canvas tote bag hailing from Spain and illustrated by Depeapa.
6. Beautiful hand illustrated wedding prints and invitations for Maryland.

Time to introduce a stockist that is close to our hearts: Mixt. Miranda and Marc know all about selling NZ made products and own two beautiful shops in Kingsland. The only danger when stepping into the store to hand deliver their orders is leaving empty handed. Their stores are beautifully curated and are full of fantastic treasures.

Store Name: MIXT

Your Name: Miranda Pritchard and Marc Knott

Job Title: Owners

Location: Kingsland, Auckland

How did the idea of the store come about? We opened the original MIXT store in February 2004. We decided to combine our joint interests in vintage, mid-century furniture and collectables (Marc) and contemporary New Zealand made craft and design (Miranda). The result was MIXT – the store continued with this combination in the same premises until November  2012 when we expanded to two stores side by side.

Why the name? After much brainstorming we settled on MIXT – the name reflects the original combination of new NZ made and retro that we sell.

What kind of products do you sell?  Vintage collectables and furniture, contemporary NZ made gifts, jewellery, ceramics and prints on paper.

What are the best and worst things about owning your shop? We love owning MIXT – it is a great job! We have a lot of wonderful, loyal customers and suppliers who we have become good friends with over the years. We get to sell beautiful vintage and NZ made objects and support local designers – what is not to love? Worst things… Probably the scale of commitment required – we both work every day on the business, both in the shop and behind-the-scenes.

What’s your favourite creative outlet? Arranging the shop displays! Gardening, cooking and crafting with our beautiful daughter Violet (aka the ‘Craft Queen’) – Miranda

How do you find new designers / products to stock? This is one of the surprisingly difficult and time-consuming parts of the job – finding unique NZ made products that make our store stand out. We visit fairs, look online and increasingly new suppliers are contacting us directly as we have been around for so long and are well-known for supporting local makers.

What song or album are you currently playing in the shop? We sell a range of CDs from NZ distributor Ode Records and have purchased a number to play in the shop – current faves are Ladi 6 and The Eastern and Waves.

Where can people find you physical shop and on the web? MIXT is at 502-504 New North Road in Kingsland, Auckland. Best contact online is our Facebook page

All photographs taken by Liora, Toodles Noodles

A very happy Friday to everyone!

This week has just been a blur with the Gift Fair and meeting so many great vendors! We have some amazing new stockists on board from all around New Zealand and will be updating our stockists list as we go. Everyone seemed really excited about our special, limited edition ‘gold and black’ stay awesome tote bag! If you are interested in acquiring one of these fun totes for yourself please email us and we can make sure you get on the preorder list!

I promise to post pictures from the trade show, new summer tea towels and some yummy baking recipes soon – so stay tuned.

In the mean time I hope you enjoy this black and gold inspired roundup!

1. Tiered Lukas Pendant, online exclusive at Anthropologie
2. Fun sparkly stationery supplies from Inkkit
3. Saw so many amazing Meadowlark cocktail rings this week – want!
4. Make a statement with this geometric gold necklace.
5. Our limited edition ‘gold and black’ stay awesome tote (order yours today!)
6. Great everyday card by the talented Rifle Paper Co.
7. Wish these sparkly shoes came in my size!
8. Currently sporting this fun nail polish, great for parties.

A lot has being happening this week here at TN HQ.

• Our 2014 calendars have arrived from the printers and are looking FAB! This year we’ll be offering our traditional desk calendars and also introducing some new wall calendars (different format from last year) and a daily planner!
• The 2013 Spring catalogue for our wholesalers has been finalised and going out to in the post (just in time for the Gift Fair!)
• New holiday limited edition tea towels are with the printer
• We’ve added 3 new stockists to our amazing list of supporters (otherwise known as the fantastic shops that stock our products)
• and to top it all off we’ve been contacted to be featured in 100 client gifts by a local business!

So all in all, it’s been a very busy, exciting, and encouraging week for this wee business!

This week’s weekly roundup is a bit of a hello to Spring which is just around the corner. I hope you all had a fantastic week and a fun weekend ahead. We’ll be post some great photos of the new products, so make sure to follow the fun!

1. I can never have too many purses, and for me, the bigger the better.
2. Love this handmade lamp, crafted in Barcelona.
3. How great would it be to have your summer herbs in hanging planters right on your kitchen wall?
4. Cranberry-Almond cookie, get in my belly!
5. Another fantastic new design by Quill and Fox.
6. Adorable hand illustrated bookplates.
7. Love how this necklace reminds me of childhood macaroni necklaces but with endless class.
8. Warm weather means iced coffees, yum!

Oh to dream a little dream. One day I’ll have a lovely little studio located in a cottage in my backyard full of beautiful, fun, functional (and maybe not so functional but more pretty) elements. I do love my current studio but it’s still fun to dream! Here are some of the latest treasures I’ve found.

Stool from Cast and Crew, USA // Trestle desk from Seven Hands High, Australia //  DIY lights from Light Cookie, Greece // Metal baskets from Story Tellers Vintage, USA // Metal cabinet from Love in Vintage Finds, USA // Metal cash drawer from Oh, Albatross, USA // Vintage magazine display from Love in Vintage Finds, USA

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.

This last weekend we attended our first Matakana Indie Market! Located only 45 minutes out of Auckland City, this picturesque village instantly brings a smile to my face. Surrounded by beautiful farmland, cute vintage buildings, and wineries – no wonder this place has become a big hotspot. Sunday turned out to be a beautiful winter’s day – the sun was shining, lot’s of people out and about, and friendly smiley faces everywhere you turned.

We had an absolute blast and can’t wait to do another one in Summer. Here are a few shots we were able to take on the day.

To find out more about Matakana and their markets you can visit the website.