Join The Party At The BrisStyle Indie Designers Market!

Well, it's another super busy week here at Pannikin headquarters!

This week I am gearing up for a big day out at the BrisStyle Indie Designers Market, which is being held on Saturday 4th September from 9am til 2pm at St. Augustine's Church Hall, Racecourse Rd, Hamilton.

I'm super excited for this one, as my stall will be PARTY THEMED! Yessiree, I am planning on taking you back in time to your 2nd grade birthday party with a stall decked out with colourful bunting and balloons galore!

NEW illustrated badges celebrating the festive party theme will also be on offer - think kitties with party hats, popcorn, cake, lollies, games and more!

Of course, no party is complete without candy, so drop by and help yourself to some yummies from the big lolly jar to keep you going throughout the day. Oh, and you can't leave without your purchased packed up safely in one of my printed party favour bags!

*Party hats optional but encouraged!

See you on Saturday, lovelies! x

Valley Laneway Markets: Pannikin's Return!

I returned to California Lane on Sunday 29th August to hold another stall at the Valley Laneway Markets, and even though it was a much slower day, I still had a lovely time chilling out with Tom and getting to know my stall-neighbours.

(On my left side was Rachael, who makes pretty earrings, clips and headbands from lace, ribbon, buttons and beads. On my right side, the super sweet Bianca, who not only has incredible art skills but also an enviable bunch of suitcases, filled to the brim with vintage and retro clothes, shoes and records for you to sift through. I bought the coolest turban from her - it makes me feel like some kind of crazy mix of 70's flowerpower-gypsy-housewife!

(PS. The blouse is from another wonderful lass by the name of Kiara Notaras, who makes the sweetest purses from repurposed material and shared a stall at the VLM with her fiance, artist Angus Wheelan (who paints, creates mixed media artworks and is equally wonderful). You can catch the pair selling fun things at Suitcase Rummage, Sunday 5th September.

During the lead-up to the market, I managed to find time to sew up 10 brand-spanking new clip-on bowties! These are made from a variety of thrifted fabrics taken from vintage dresses, linen, ties, pillowcases and my personal stash of Japanese quilting fabric and other fun remnants.
My outfit that day included a bowtie I had created for myself from a length of wide, pink velvet ribbon. Since I have started making these, I have amassed a collection of more than 10 handmade bowties to add to my stash of 6+ thrifted ones.
On Wednesday I dedicated my time (roughly 7 hours from start to finish, no stopping!) creating a mix of 35 hand-illustrated plastic brooches and, drumroll please...rings!

I am particularly fond of the cute teeth and moody cloud rings. Oh and the mini teacup rings for the little ladies. And for the 'tuff kids', the skull brooch (which is similar in design to my 'Dinner Date with Death' postcard illustration.
I aim to create a few new embroidered badges for my next market - are there any special requests? I will do my very best to accomodate them!

Be sure to pick up some flyers from my stall, as well as business cards so we can keep in touch! The VLM flyer has a very handy and simple to understand map of the 3 different laneways you can visit, and the pink BrisStyle flyer has every market date for the rest of the year!

Oh, and don't forgot to sign up to the Pannikin newsletter interest form! I'll be sending off newsletters very soon, when I catch up with a few things that are on my to-do list. Until then, please keep your eye on the Pannikin blog, facebook and twitter for updates!

The stall, all set up and complete with bunting and the ever-so-helpful companion, Tom!

Thanks to everyone who came along on the day, you are what make these markets happen.

My Very First: Valley Laneway Markets!

Hello dear-lings, I do apologise for being out of the blog-loop lately. Things have been mighty hectic here at Pannikin headquarters a.k.a my house but I am back to share stories about the last two weeks of marketeering I have done at the Valley Laneway Markets!

Yes, this is me, in my silliest, pink-est nanna get-up yet! I love hats, especially berets. At last count I had 6 in various colours.

Sunday August 22nd saw me at my first-ever Valley Laneway Market (or for the purpose of faster reading and 'in-the-know-ness', will be shortened to VLM).
I didn't really know what to expect from these markets, but I was pretty chuffed with the day's results, which included meeting some super wonderful people and catching up with other thrifty/creatively-inclined stall holders and friends.

It was a steady day in California Lane (where my stall was situated) with a slow start to the morning. Things picked up around lunchtime when the live music kicked off and people came to dine at California Cafe, browse the markets and (I assume) shake off the remainder of their obligatory Sunday Morning Sleep-in.

In my opinion, there is nothing better than having the kind of passers by who come to have a little chit-chat with you. I was flying solo that Sunday, as my boyfriend Tom (who is always keen accompany me and lend a helping hand) needed to stay home, so as usual, every bit of conversation, no matter how small, was enjoyed very much.

This was also the market day where my Fun & Games fridge magnets and Spell It Out badges made their debut!

The ability to have a wall behind me was a huge help, as it provided the perfect backdrop for my screenprinted tote bags!

Sometimes the simplest things really make my day, whether it is the squeal of glee some people emit when they spy a really cute item or the chuckles shared between friends when they notice my 'Talk Crafty To Me' tote bag or the '99 Problems But A Stitch Ain't One' badges.

I have been drawing new badge designs during the week whenever I get the chance, and my latest brainstorming session saw me hand write enough illustration ideas to completely fill 3 A4 pages.

If you would like to see more photos from my first day at the Valley Laneway Markets, please head on over to my facebook fan page by clicking here.

Coming To Valley Laneway Markets

Yessiree Bob! Pannikin is preparing some new goodies for you to adorn your clothes and home with. First up, Fun & Games fridge magnets!
These are created from vintage children's wooden dominos, with colourful and oh-so-cute pictures including roosters, lady bugs, frogs, ducklings and butterflies. I'm also planning on turning these into necklaces - if all goes well I'll let you know!

Next we have a new series of 35mm badges! The 'Spell It Out' range is a new favourite of mine, for a few reasons.

1. I can spell out almost anything! (For practicalities sake, I'll be keeping these to short words and phrases. Too many letters and your badge loses it's punch. No one likes squinting to see the design, trust me.)

2. You get an insight into my favourite words, which I seem to mentally collect day in, day out. Favourites include but are not limited to: nifty, gravy, cat lady, hand made, lame, super, neat and so on and so forth.

3. I can do custom work! Maybe you want to declare your love for tea, cookies or cats or feel the need to announce that you are amazing, cute, swell, dandy or all four? Send me an email and I'll do my best!

Both of these products will be available at the upcoming Valley Laneway Markets on Sunday 22nd August 2010. My stall will be located in California Lane, which can be accessed via McLachlan St, Fortitude Valley. The markets run from 10am til 4pm.

Please click here tobe taken to the Valley laneway Market website for more information and applications for those who would like to apply for a stall.

Our Adventures at the Marky Markets

Apologies for such a late post, being Thursday evening and all, but I'm sure you wouldn't mind me sharing a photo or two of the Marky Markets that were held on Sunday 15th August at the Hi Fi in West End, Brisbane.

I think next time I will make sure to take a LOT more photos of the whole market, stall holders and market goers. Sometimes it is just a bit too hard to drag myself away from the fun of stall-holding and take pics. Funny thing is, it's all too easy to spend a whole wodge of money on other fun things being sold by local creatives - especially if they are gorgeous fabrics and vintage buttons from Voodoo Rabbit and rad brooches by Polly Gone.

I was also having a great time sharing chit-chats with Svetlana of Lady Sveta and Amanda Whitelaw of Hungry Designs, not to mention sharing a quick little hello with Kiara Notaras and a few other stall holders who I am sorry I have forgotten the names of.

(Oh and I must mention the wonderfully fun chill-times and conversation with 'the boy', Mister Thomas Griffin, stall-buddy extraordinaire.)

For more Pannikin market pics, please visit my facebook.

Suitcase Rummage Re-cap!

Wowee! What an eventful week I've had! How are you all? Did you end up coming along to the Suitcase Rummage?

It was such a wonderful day - I met new people, spotted my friends and had chats (or, rather, they spotted me as I was wearing my brightest, pink-est 60's dress!) bought some things, sold some things and generally had a ball.

I promise not to waffle on as I have to get cracking on hand-stitching some embroidered badges for next Sunday's market (Marky Markets at Hifi in West End, 15th August 11-5pm).

Snapshots:

Psst! Become a fan of Pannikin on Facebook - there are tonnes more photos and regular posts to keep you up to date and in the know!

I Kind Of Really Love Stationery...

...so it goes without saying that I simply could not pass up stationery and back to school printed fabric at Lincraft, especially when they have 50% off ALL FABRIC. These two fabrics were only $4.99/mtr. Keep a lookout for the cute fabric covered badges I plan on making with these beauties!

(PS. That afternoon my friend Tegan made me a very rad dress out of the red fabric - I plan to take a photo with me wearing it and holding a variety of oversized novelty props, like giant calculators, scissors and geek glasses. Not to mention black mary janes and white frilly socks!)

'Lump' Zine

So I'm all kinds of elated today, as I've finally made a new zine.

'Lump' is a micro-mini art/personal zine created and illustrated by myself, Holly Leonardson.

Each little accordian-style booklet measures 7cm wide and 8.5cm tall when folded up and guess what? They all come packaged with a free illustrated badge just for you! Woo!

These will be available at in.cube8r in Fortitude Valley. I will be stocking these this morning along with my new 'Talk Crafty To Me' tote bags.

MadeIt Blog Featured!

I was flicking through twitter on the bus the other day and saw that MadeIt had compiled a blog post on badges for sale on their site. I was super happy when I saw that my origami paper badges were included! Weeee! :)

Etsy News!

Morning folks!

Did you know that you can now view Etsy in Australian dollars? Pretty neat, huh?

I have a teeny issue with this though. It makes my prices go all higgledy-piggledy! What I mean by that is, the prices listed in $AUD aren't the true set price until you check out with Paypal. They are simply well-calculated approximations. BUT! When you check out with Paypal, you are still paying in $USD. Hmm.

For me, personally, I am going to continue shopping on Etsy with the prices set in $USD. It seems to being the easiest, smoothest way. Plus, I have a thing for well rounded numbers (no cents, please!)

If all of this currency conversion hoo-haa is bothersome for you, why don't you pop on over to my shop at MadeIt.com.au? All items listed are all set in Australian dollars and the best part is you will be supporting Australian handmade! Yayy!