Sniffing flowers

This week it was time to return to my beloved Royal Melbourne Exhibition Building for some flower sniffing and viewing with the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. It finishes on April 1st, so get in while it lasts!

I've gathered some photo favourites. I had to put the camera away pretty early on in the flower show after visiting a few plant stalls! There's always something unusual that we've never seen at a market or is just so pretty that we have to give it a go in our own gardens :)

I always love the flower fashions! I loved this 'Mother Nature'. She was a bit different and had an air of grace and warmth about her.

I love those exhibits that have a little fun! Poor Humpty Dumpty!

Just how I like my soft boiled eggs in the morning! haha :)

Now, I love this flower, but it has a name I always forget. I had never seen it with a white body and purple tips before. Stunning!

There is always wonderful tulips on display at the Garden Show.

Perfectly pink! I love the rose-sniffing section. There's a lovely purple one there that smells like passion fruit! Delicious!

I thought I recognised Elizabeth I at the gardens! This is a sculpture by Bronwyn Lewis in the sculpture competition walkway.

And some party roses to take home! :)

Way We Wear on the Way

Image source

The Way We Wear Fair has returned!

Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November, 2011

Just taking a quick break from editing the hell out of my thesis to let you lovely ladies know :) I remember last time that people were in need of a little more heads up? As I only received an email about it today, I hope it gives some people a chance to organise their weekend adventure around the fair.

I went to the last one and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Hopefully I'll be able to get along to this one too!

Go here for more information.

Now, back to the firey depths of Word Documents and red pen! I will be finished soon though! Have no fear!

The Way We Wear

I ventured out to The Way We Wear Fair today. And what an adventure it was! Over the Westgate Bridge and everything haha!

The Williamstown Town Hall

Many many treasures were shared inside this building. I kept gasping to myself at such beautiful precious dresses, smiling at adorable hats and goo-ing and gaa-ing over gorgeous jewelry. I'm afraid I don't have any pictures inside; I had figured photography wasn't allowed. Check out The Secret Lives of Op Shops for a picture of the Adelaide fair. The Melbourne one, I must say, seemed a little smaller, although I can identify a few of the same stallholders.

Photo source

Unfortunately, I missed the Titanic Fashion Parade as my parking was about to expire. What fashions they had on display were stunning, particularly the display of Dorothy Gibson (the white lace dress on the left with the rose sash).

Outside the fair, Williamstown is beautiful.

The city, the boats, the sea and the sky. Beautiful!

This is where I sat and had lunch.

Coffee scroll and brownie with caramel and rice bubble topping. I skipped on the rice bubble layer; everything else was delicious :) And $3.10 total.

As for what came home with me?

A couple of gorgeous postcards, once upon a time destined for Carlton and Fitzroy.

I loved all the different women's faces in 'Madge'. Click on the picture for a larger image and closer peek :)

And this stunning ring. It made my heart sing!

The fair continues tomorrow. Check the website for more info.

A vintage heads up

Hello lovelies! I promise I haven't forgotten you! I've been super busy trying to tutoring at a holiday program the past week. It was a long slog, but I've gotten some good money out of it and it's burning in my pocket!

Image source: Weheartit

Lucky for me, there is a vintage fair on this weekend in Melbourne. Not only will there be stalls with vintage dresses and antiques and goodies, there will also be a fashion parade showcasing the fashions of the Titanic. Count me in!

Vintage at the Willi

The Melbourne Vintage Fair

Saturday 23 & Sunday 24 July, 2011

Gumboots.

The hunt was on last Friday. I was in need of some gumboots for the market on Sunday, which the weatherman predicted to be a muddy mess.

I hunted everywhere for some pretty gumboots, like these:

But they do not appear to exist in non-internet shopping land. So I had to give up and go for the ol' Bunnings boots.

Booyah being Size 7 for once!

And, of course, after all that running around, there was hardly a puddle to be seen!

They will have their day though. I am determined.

Image source: weheartit.com

Smell the roses.

I picked up some beautiful budding roses from the craft market on the weekend.

Look how beautiful they are as they come to bloom.

They smell wonderful too!

May the force be with you.

As well as a big love for hand knitted jumpers, I also have a growing love for big warm jackets. Especially with this terribly cold winter weather today .

Introducing my Yoda jacket:

My mum has a gumtree green yoda jacket. I've been jealous of it for years. It's super warm and snuggly and when you put the hood up, you transform into Yoda.

And look almost as cute as this Yoda puppy! (Image source: weheartit.com)

The blue isn't a super Yoda-ery colour, so maybe it should be my Jedi jacket?

Mum's gumtree green didn't suit me, so I was super excited when we went to the market and found the lady selling more Yoda jackets in different colours. Now all the market ladies in my family have a Yoda jacket to keep warm in at the markets. Horrah!

Hope you lovelies are staying warm in this cold!

Taste tester of Flower Show

For now, here is a taste tester of the Melbourne International Flower and Garden show currently on at the Royal Exhibition Building and surrounding gardens.

Despite predictions of 19degrees celsuis and showers, we were blessed with a beautiful day.

We spied four Australian gardening celebrities; Don Burke, Graham Ross (Better Homes and Gardens), Jason Hodges (aka, the one with the pretty eyelashes from Better Homes and Gardens) and the guy from the ABC gardening show. Exciting stuff!

Outdoor garden design. I prefer the floral artworks inside (as you can no doubt tell...)

RMIT Floral Fashion Show, which is always a favourite for me!

Tasty flower design.

Salmon, orange and lush green. Beautiful!

Not part of the RMIT fashion show, but drop dead gorgeous!

Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

Wednesday 30 March - Sunday 3 April

Link

More to come, I promise. First I must attend to uni work and resting my gym-sore body.

Reminder: Flower & Garden Show

Just thought I'd put out a little reminder that today the Melbourne Flower & Garden Show commences. It runs from Wednesday til Sunday, 9am - 5pm and is a wonderful feast for the flower-loving eyes!

Inside the Royal Exhibition Building various flower arrangements (as seen above) and flower fashion design (yes, flower outfits!) are displayed, while outside showcases various garden designs and has many a plant stall holder.

I'm a lover of flowers and my mother and grandmother are lovers of gardens, so we'll be heading in tomorrow. Hopefully the weather improves and we have a lovely day! Photos will follow shortly after, I promise :)

Photos found through Google Images.

Trash and Treasure Stall Tips

As mentioned earlier, the other day my sister and I held a stall at a trash and treasure market.. It was a first for both of us, and we learnt a lot along the way. Here are my tips:

1. Know the market and the market audience. I have a feeling we didn't sell much stuff because market stalls were dominated by garage goods and men interested in these garage gadgets.

2. Prepare for all kinds of weather (especially in Melbourne). It drizzled in the morning and the sun was sending serious cancer-bites by the end of the day. So pack umbrellas (great for sun and shade), sunscreen, hat and cardigan. Even better? A tarp or tent if you're planning on going long term.

3. Figuring out pricing is a b*tch. I've volunteered in an op shop for a while, and I priced them as we had priced items in the op shop. Walking around the trash and treasure stalls, most clothes were priced from $1 - $5. Combine your knowledge of the market, the market audience and your items on sale to come up with the appropriate price. Remember, your aim is to sell.

4. Create big signs for prices. I went through everything and stapled individual prices on the tags of each item. The amount of times I had to tell someone to check there nearly drove me bonkers. People don't want to hunt for tags at these places. So your best bet is to do some big groupings of clothes at certain prices. Either make a $2 pile, or make all dresses $4, shirts $3 etc. It'll make your life easier, and the customers.

5. Prepare for hagglers. Me? I'm not a haggler and I find it terribly rude. I hate that first block of super rude haggling early birds. Either mark your clothes at a higher price and prepare to drop it. Or stand your ground (which will lead to people walking away with nothing in their hand).

6. Placement and presentation can change everything. My sister convinced me that people at this market (which I hadn't been to) would be willing to search for bargains off the ground. Looking at other stalls, we would have had much more success with the stuff on top of a table or on racks. I wish we had rented a table or brought our own.

7. Bring (and drink) lots of water and plenty of food to see you out the day. The market we were at had a crummy food court. Other markets have plenty of stalls with yummy food on offer. If you're not certain about the food and drinks on offer at the market, bring plenty of supplies.

8. Keep a record of sales for yourself. Especially if you're sharing a stall.

9. Be prepared not to sell everything. We thought we'd be overrun with demand (coz our clothes are cool, damnit!). We weren't. And ended up a little disappointed, mostly because we had to cart so much back to the car :P Looking around though, this seemed to be the case for a lot of people, not just us.

10. Enjoy it. Make it fun. Make sure you have some company, if only to cover for you when you need a toilet break. Talk to the people that come to your stall, and those in the stalls around you. It is fun. Especially when you reward yourself with ice cream afterwards :)

Images: WeHeartIt

For information on the locations of Victorian trash and treasure markets (both as a buyer and seller) check out this website.

Good luck to future market stall holders! :)

Tea-stained rose trash and treasure

As I mentioned in the previous post, yesterday my sister and I held a stall at a trash and treasure market. We were selling a lot of old clothes and trinkets we had that were too nice to give away but unloved in our wardrobes for us to keep. Initially, it was exciting. Yet soon the reality of waiting in the car at 5am for a stall and three hours sleep began to set in. And once we were in the marketplace, the consistent damp drizzle and horribly rude early bird hagglers could not lift my spirits.

The market truly was majority trash and about 0.1% treasure. Those browsing consisted of men wandering about in the sun looking at garage junk. Not our target audience.

I did find these beautiful tea-stained-red coloured roses though. And we had Cold Rock ice cream afterwards (peanut butter and banana ice cream mixed together with Caramello Koala and cookie dough = win!). So the day wasn't too bad after all :)

Next time (if there is a next time) we shall try for Camberwell. I may soon write up some tips learnt from yesterday though for you lovelies out there :)

Savers Saving

For once, it was not I who instigated our venture to Savers. My boyfriend, having just moved into a share house where apparently only one of the three other occupants cooks, needed plates, cutlery and tupperware and suggested a visit to Savers.

I was more than happy to join him :)

Just Jeans Dress, $12.99

I remember seeing this dress in the shops and trying it on a few times, umming and ahhhing over it. It was $70 then. Now, it's mine for $13!

Belly Basics, $14.95

A lovely red wine velvet dress, short and with long sleeves- perfect for winter! I just realised though, with the brand name... it's probably designed for pregnant lady proportions. Really, though, who will notice?

Laurentino dress, $9.99

This last dress was a spur of the moment grab. It had been disregarded on the wrong rack and I picked it up, held it up to me and thought 'why not?'. Again, the colours are much prettier in real life :)

I'm hoping some of my second hand goodies can make some people happy tomorrow: my sister and I are holding a stall at a trash and treasure market. Very much looking forward to it! Very exciting!