Business Time // Southern Crafters Market

Yes...this post title does sound familiar!! I have just attended another Southern Crafters market here in Invercargill. It wasn't as busy as the first one but it was still pretty good!!

I thought I'd share some photos of my stall. I was really proud of it this time, I put a lot of thought into my display and  think it paid off! I ordered a banner off Vsitaprint and am stoked with how it came out - its huge! I got lots of nice comments so that was cool.

I made 8 flavours of cupcakes (lemon blossom, candy floss, double choc, carrot cake, malty milkshake, rainbow vanilla, peachy bellini and cherry bomb) a chocolate raspberry brownie & gluten free blueberry & lemon friands. Yum!

I made all my business cards myself, as well as the price lists and the cupcake menu's (I'm so pleased with the menu's! They work really well!)

Another exciting thing - my lovely friend Laura made me a website!! So check out Sequin Corner Cakes on the web - www.sequincornercakes.com - she's added all my prices and photos which is pretty cool!

Do you guys have any little businesses on the side? Do you have a stall at a local market?

Outfit Post // City meets the Forest

 Black Blazer - Jay Jays, Grey Denim Shirt - The Warehouse,  

Silver Leaf Necklace - Pagani, Black Jeans - Melbourne,  

Grey  & Black Leather Shoes - No. 1 Shoe Warehouse

Here are some outfit photos I took the other weekend in Te Anau. My boyfriend was playing in a golf tournament up there so I tagged along as I wanted  to have a look around, I haven't been to Te Anau since I was about 10 so it's changed a bit!

I spent the weekend drinking coffee in a local cafe, sitting down by the lake with a magazine in the sunshine (between rain showers!) and driving to Lake Manapouri for a look.

We had dinner at  a cool Italian restaurant called La Toscana - garlic bread, 2 mains and 2 desserts for $45, pretty good deal!! 

I found a little track at Lake Manapouri and took my camera & tripod with me to take some photos. It's so pretty!! Sunlight was filtering through the leaves and a wood pigeon was flying around the tree tops. Plus there was no one else around, it was so nice and quiet.

I tried to pack light for the weekend, I took my mini suitcase with me and a couple of changes of clothes. Although it's Spring here now it was pretty wintry! There were a few snow and hail showers so I was glad I packed jeans, jerseys and my blazer. This black blazer is my new favourite thing! I love wearing it to work and it was perfect for a weekend away as I could layer it up over things (like the dark denim shirt I'm wearing) and it kept everything looking tidy. 

I've been pretty busy lately, every weekend in November I have something on and December is filling up fast too! I can't believe how close to Christmas it is, are any of you guys getting organised yet??

Recipe Post // Blueberry Pancakes

I kind of treat baking as an experiment. I know some people say you should follow the recipe to the letter - but there's so many variables! I quite often change recipes slightly to get a better result, or just make them up from scratch - like this one!

One of my favourite cafes in Dunedin makes amazing pancakes. Like, plate sized pancakes! Filled with chopped fruit (watermelon, apples, bananas, grapes...whatever is available) and yoghurt. Capers was always the first stop for a tasty hungover breakfast on a Sunday morning when I was a student. 

So, I experimented. I had to have a go at making these at home! After multiple attempts (and a few fails!) this is my recipe. They turn out like giant pikelets, kind of cake-like in texture. I hope you'll give them a try on a lazy Sunday morning one weekend!

Blueberry Pancakes

 50g Butter, melted
1 1/2 C Plain Flour
1 Egg
 1/4 C Sugar
1 C Milk
3 t Baking Powder
Blueberries

Melt butter in a bowl in the microwave. 
Add all the other ingredients and whisk/beat with an electric mixer unti all combined. 
Heat a frying pan & grease with a touch of butter.
Scoop 1/3 C lots of batter into the pan and spread out slightly until about 7mm thick. Drop 5 or so blueberries on top of the pancake. 
When the pancake starts to bubble and turn matt, flip it over.

I stack mine up with Greek yoghurt and sliced bananas inbetween, sift over some icing sugar and then douse the whole thing in maple syrup. YUM!!

I hope you enjoy my pancake recipe! What is your favourite weekend breakfast meal to make?

Outfit Post // Going Aztec

 Velvet Blazer - Temt in Melbourne, T-shirt w a tail - Cotton On, Aztec Skirt - Kmart,  

Black Fringe Boots - Butterfly Hospice Shop, Dunedin

It has been a while! I can't even use the excuse of being ridiculously busy, it's been the complete opposite. The last few weekends have been spent lounging on the couch, relaxing by the lake in Cromwell and hanging with my family in Dunedin.

But anyway, I finally have an outfit post for you! I wore this to work about Wednesday last week. Usually I stick to black and white for work. Even though I don't always wear the most office-friendly outfits, I try to stick with this colour scheme to at least keep it a little bit tidy!

The velvet blazer is a well-worn favourite. It makes an appearance at least twice a week in my work outfits! I bought it in Melbourne in May and it's been a great investment. The Aztec patterned skirt was a cheap buy from Kmart last Summer, I can't wait to wear it again during the warmer weather as a comfortable alternative to shorts!

Oh and the boots! These boots caught my eye at the Hospice shop in Dunedin last weekend. They are a size 7 (I'm usually a 5 or 6) so I almost didn't try them on....but I did! And they fitted me perfectly! Plus they were only $5. I can't wait to wear them in Summer, I feel like I need to find a music festival to attend just so I can dance around in the dust with them!

Have you found any amazing items lately? Especially ones you can't wait to wear for the new seasons we're heading into?

Business Time // Southern Crafters Market

A couple of weeks ago I had a stall at one of the biggest markets down South - The Southern Crafters Market. It was held in the Velodrome which was pretty cool! I spent the 2 weeks before the market getting everything ready - planning my cupcake flavours, practising my stall set up and buying all the little bits and pieces I needed for the weekend. 

I was up the Friday night before the market until 4am baking and decorating cupcakes and then 2am the Saturday night! It was well worth it though, I managed to sell everything I made and I ran out of business cards and price lists to give to people. I got some awesome feedback about my stall set up too, so even though I was a bit of a Zombie by the end of it I was feeling pretty happy!!

I'm loving the community feel of the markets down here, everyone is so friendly and helpful (I'm always running out of change and asking people to swap me all their coins!)

I hope you've all been having a good month or so, I'm hoping to be able to fit some outfit posts in soon now that it's almost spring and the days are getting longer!

Outfit Post // Leopard to the Max

Denim jacket - Recycle Boutique, Leopard Maxi Skirt - Cotton On,  

Black Wedges - The Warehouse, Turqouise Earrings - Diva

Ahhh patience - sometimes it pays to be patient! I saw this maxi skirt at Cotton On a few months ago, at the time I didn't want to spend $40 on it, so I waited....and picked it up the other day for $10. Bargain! 

I love clothes that can be worn in multiple seasons. I can't wait to eventually go travelling (I've been meaning to since I left polytech, that was 5 years ago now!) and I'm forever buying clothes I can imagine wearing in far off places like wandering through markets in Morocco or drinking coffee in a cafe in Paris. I can't wait to wear this skirt in summer with a bright singlet top and some strappy sandals!

Hopefully soon I'll get a chance to post some of my work outfits, not just my weekend ones! There's a bit of difference between the two. Hope you're having a great start to your week!

 

Business Time! // Sequin Corner Market Stall

I mentioned a little while ago I was taking part in some local markets selling cupcakes. So far I've had a stall at 3 monthly markets and it's going pretty good!! (please ignore the unironed table cloth!!)

I thought I would share some photos from the market I had a stall at today. It was a quiet day, although with the temperature still at -3C at 12pm I can understand why people didn't want to venture out! I had 7 cupcake flavours today - Candy Floss, Pumpkin Spice, Double Choc, Orange Sherbet, Banoffee and Peanut Butter, plus a chocolate raspberry brownie. Yum!

The hardest part of having a stall has been figuring out how to display everything nicely. I love stalls that are dotted with different cake stands, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on them plus drive them around all over the place. From my days as a Chef at a cafe I know how the Health Officials like all food to be covered so when I found these plastic stands I thought they would be perfect! Add in some cheap plastic food trays and I'm good to go.

I designed all my packaging labels and used my home printer to print them all out. One day when I'm rolling in dough (heh) I'll probably get stickers made but these will do for now!

I hope you enjoyed this little sneak-peak into my cupcake venture. I have a couple more markets this month, including a big 2 day one which should be interesting! In 2 weeks I'll be going road tripping to Lumsden (about an hour from Invercargill) to have a stall at a market there, then again in august to Arrowtown (near Queenstown) so I'll be all over the place!