We are 3!

Happy Birthday to us!  

3 years ago Anthony and I embarked on our journey, appearing at our very first market.  After a period of umming and ahhing we made the decision to go for it and signed up for a week at the Cardiff at Christmas market.  We had no idea how much stock to make, never having done even a small craft fair! I still have the notes I made about how much we could make in the time (it was October and there were 41 days until we had to start).  As it turned out my caluclations were way too optimistic - I reckoned that we'd be shifting 200 units per day!!!! Poor, naive, me. But remarkably, sticking to a very tight daily manufacturing timetable, and despite losing a week when our 4 month-old baby was admitted to hospital (he was OK by the way), we managed to generate enough stock.  We launched with three product ranges - soap, bath salts and bath tablets.

However, the making of the stuff was the easy part. We then had to wrap and label several hundred items! We gave it a valiant try, but ended up staying up all of the night before our first day.  The house was a tip! These pictures were taken on the morning of our first day at the market.  If you look closely - you can see my son nestled in amongst the chaos!

We arrived at the stall in dreadful weather - it was lashing down, and then realised that we probably should have given the display a little more thought. There was nothing to cover the walls of the stall with, the table coverings didn't quite fit, we hadn't considered how we would layout the soap and there was nothing to say who we were.  The few signs that we had prepared were completely dwarfed by the space.  I had to rush to the market the next morning to get some material to hang on the walls.  There was a whole heap of last-minute bath tablet failures, which then formed the basis of the Bargain Basket!

Our stall

Our display

 Despite the apparent shortcomings of the stall, we had a very successful week, which cemented our resolve to carry on with the business.  Three years later a lot has changed, but our commitment and passion haven't. I'm very proud of how much progress we've made.  

Anthony and I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all of our supporters - especially our family - and customers.  It's been an incredible journey so far, and one that we hope will continue for many years to come!