The September market is full

Just a quick post to let you all know that all of the stalls for the September market have been snapped up. Thank you to all of the wonderful businesses that applied, I really wish I had the space to fit you all in.

If you are curious who is retailing this time around have a looky at the September retailers page.

Ali xx

Spoil yourself ... stay for the weekend in Woodend!

We are very excited to announce a fantastic accomodation package at the very beautiful Campaspe House in Woodend.


The bed & breakfast package for a double is normally $280 per night, but for those of you attending Sugar & Spice it is a ridulous $160 a night!! That is a massive saving of over 40% and is available the Saturday night prior to EACH market. Here is a description of this package from their website:

• Be spoilt on arrival with our Campaspe Country House welcome drink, served in our gracious guest lounges, or in the historic Edna Walling gardens.
• Relax in our intimate accommodation, with a choice of either a courtyard room with ensuite, or one of our two historic manor rooms (which are not ensuite but have their own private shower facilities).
• Indulge in our extensive continental buffet, which is followed by an a la carté cooked breakfast, served in our restaurant.

Gorgeous!!

So why not treat yourself to a lovely relaxing evening in a beuatiful boutique hotel, a sumptious breakfast in the morning and then a short stroll to all of the delights Sugar & Spice market offers ........ bring the kids along too (or not!!!)

To book this wonderful package simply contact Campaspe House and mention that you would like the Sugar & Spice Market accomodation special. Then simply sit back and dream of the lovely weekend you are going to have!

So back to Woodend ...

With all the chatter of Ballarat it would be easy to forget the Woodend market!

Applications for the September market opened last Sunday and there has simply been a flood of application, and may I say how many simply lovely businesses there are out there making gorgeous bits and pieces for the kidlets. The September market is going to be very lovely too!

I am also trying to be being super doper organised by starting to plan the Woodend Christmas Sugar & Spice and I would really like to have a bigger venue. Now do not get me wrong I really do love St Ambrose Hall, but a bigger space = more retailers = more variety with the added bonus of more space .... and a lot of you have told me that more space is really important. So, do you have any suggestions of a suitable location. I would preferably like to keep it in Woodend but I am open to any suggestions really!

Ali xx

Brace yourselves Ballarat!

The Sugar & Spice Children's Market is definitely setting up shop (so to speak!)

When: 28th November 2010
Where: St Patricks Hall (adjacent to St Partrick Cathedral on Sturt Street)
Time: 10am - 2pm though this is negotiable

St Patricks Hall is simply magnificent and twice the size of St Ambrose Hall in Woodend, so there will be oodles of room for the lovely businesses that have already contacted me expressing interest! Seriously, do not buy any Christmas gifts for the kids, neices or nephews .... I promise there will be loads of gorgeous stuff to buy them at the market

Who is up for a road trip .........

...... to Ballarat??

If you have not caught wind of our news yet, Sugar & Spice Market is coming to Ballarat!!

The news was broken in the local newspaper (The Courier for those of you playing along at home) on Monday and the response has been VERY positive already, YAY!! Luckily my parents live there still and mum has saved me a copy of the article.

I am really hoping to have a Ballarat Sugar & Spice by the end of the year (late November is the current plan); that is if everything falls into place nicely for me. Now to continue my search for the perfect Ballarat venue, it is proving to be a little more challenging than I orginally thought!

Ali xx

P.S. "Like" us on Facebook to be kept up to date with our progress in the B town!

A few gorgeous pics from the market

I just know it is going to be a great day when I receive an email from the lovely Kate of Tea & Jam Photography. Monday's email was no exception as the gorgeous photos they took of the market were sitting there patiently waiting for me.

So yes I have been a little slow to get these up, but I hope that you enjoy them!!

Many thanks to Kate and Nathan for these photos. You will be able to catch them again at the September market but if you can not wait that long Kate will happily book a session for you via email........ be quick though as appointments for this year are filling quickly!!

Did you take any photos of the market? If you did I would love it if you would share them on our facebook page.

Ali xx

Well & truely launched!

As I was frantically doing all of the last minute things Saturday night I paused for a moment and realised that organising the first market was very much like getting married. Months and months of preparation and planning for 4 hours of fun.....

.........but what a 4 hours that was!

• The scrumptious cupcakes from Cupcake central sold out in 2 hours flat
• The 100 goody bags were all gone in 45 minutes
• Dad's corner was an absolute hit with the dads (& the mums hehehe)
• The poor face painter did not stop for 4 hours, there was even a ticket system!!
• David Cosma's music set the most wonderful vibe for the day
• I did not count the number of people through the door & I will not even try to guess. Safe to say it was over 100!
• I finally got to put a face to my lovely virtual friends, some of whom I have been chatting with for ages!

In amongst all of this chaos, I did not get a chance to take photos, tweet or sit down really. Luckily the amazing Nathan from Tea & Jam was given the task of taking photos and I can not wait to share them with you!

I did, however, manage to find the time to shop up a storm!!

This beautiful doll from MissRuby May is for my little girl Tess who turns 1 this Saturday ... but secretly she might end up being mine!!

This gorgeous little coin purse is from Robin Street Market and it was just perfect to carry my ever dwindling money yesterday


My sister announced at the begining of last week that she is pregnant with her first bubba and the timing on her behalf was magnificent because I was able to grab a few things for my new neice/nephew!! Above is some lovely burp cloths from Smallish and a beautiful body suit with an owl ... my sister loves owls!

Another gorgeous purchase for my little girl a skirt from Mira Narnie.

I also brought myself a wonderful flower from Bursaria but I can not find it at the moment ......

We also got a mention in the Sunday Herald Sun yesterday! I am yet to see it, I have managed to bring the paper in from the car but I have not gotten much further.

For those of you who asked (and there were lots that did) the next market in Woodend will be on the 12th of September. To be kept in the loop make sure you sign up to the mailing list - the sign up box is at the top right.

...... and I was right, it was very much like getting married!! A little stressful but loads of fun with lovely music, food and wonderful people. I also can not remember that much of it (but that is not due to alcohol consumption this time!!)

Have you made it over to madeit yet?

Love handmade - check

Love shopping online 'cos you can do it in your jarmies - check

Love Etsy- check

Hate paying for Aussie made goodies in American dollars - double check

Then you need to head on over to madeit. Lovers of handmade will rejoice at the abundance of gorgeous Australian made fashion, art, homewares, accessories, stationery, children and babies clothing and toys and much much more. Lots of our lovely retailers have a madeit store ......... Piper+Lily, Here We Go Loopy Lou, MoonMum and MooBee Tees spring to mind (I know there are many more but, forgive me, they are escaping me at the moment).

Shopping on madeit is a breeze and great way to support local designers & crafters, I have been shopping up a storm over there today. I am in desperate need of some fabulous new cushions to go with my fabulous new couch arriving the day after the market (!!) and I really wanted something different to the mass produced (and totally over priced) blandness I have been seeing in the shops recently. I love that I can purchase something unique and lovingly created with just a few clicks!

Sprinkled throughout this post is some goodies I am absolutely loving at the moment, I wish I could figure out where to hang some of these divine tissue paper Pom Poms at the market .........

If you are maker of lovely handmade goodies you should give some careful consideration opening up your own online madeit shop!

Say hello to LouandBoo

Introducing the very gorgeous LouandBoo, one of the lovely retailers you will have the pleasure of shopping with at the June Market.

We are two sisters on a mission, with the gracious help of Lou and Boo and their friends to bring back some spunk into the lives of your precious little ones! You've guessed it LouandBoo is all about the kiddy-winks! We specialize in handmade baby sleep sacks and original art prints for a lovely addition to any nursery.

You can get a sneak peak at beautiful LouandBoo products on their online store.

I can not wait to see to see Lou, Boo and thier friends at the market!

Our custom buntings

The very gorgeous Amy, creative whizz behind GiggleBerry Creations, whipped up some super sweet Sugar & Spice Market buntings last week. They arrived in the mail today and they are fabulous!
Now to figure out where the best place to hang these will be!!

Sweet & Innoscent

In my household we take our skin care very, very seriously! That is quite a strange statement to make. I know. However, we need to pay extra attention to the products we use use on our skin as I suffer from psoriasis and Owen has eczema. The reality is that Tess will more than likely have quite sensitive skin too (we are a bundle of fun aren't we??!!)

I have many not so fond memories of my mother soaking me in various smelly potions, all in the aid of ridding me of my itchy, dry skin. Bless her, she was trying to do her best for me with the limited products available at the time but anyone who has experienced the pine based (yes as in pine trees) will know just how horrible children skin products were back in the early 80's. Oh and there was a phase where mum used an ointment on me that she had to buy from the vets ... as a teenager that is quite a traumatic experience!

Now having my own children with sensitive skin I have been very anxious not to subject them to the same smelly products that I was. Fortunately skin care products for children have advanced quite significantly in 30 years but I was still not thrilled with the choices until I discovered Little Innoscents.

Little Innoscents produce the most beautiful pure, organic and chemical free skin care products I have ever had the pleasure of using. And the best bit, they are all naturally scented using the finest organic essential oils so they smell fantastic .... so fantastic in fact, that the use of the products are not limited to the children! I love using the baby massage lotion as hand cream and I regularly pinch some of the hair and body wash for myself!

Owen's favourite product is the hair & body wash. Owen has always been very resistant to washing his hair as he hates getting shampoo in his eyes with a passion. Washing his hair became such a battle that it turned into a task I rarely attempted but not any more!! Now Owen quite cheerfully rubs the hair & body wash into his hair, and the beautiful essential oils that it contains has an awesome staying power. I love to use this body wash myself!

Tess's favourite at the moment is the bottom balm (well, yes, ok, technically that is my favourite for her). My baby has started teething recently and as a result the poor little popette has had some horrid nappy rash (even with using cloth nappies). Whenever Owen had nappy rash I always used a popular brand of paw paw cream because I believed I was using something natural on his skin. I have recently discovered however that this particular brand is petroleum based and they fail to mention this in their ingredient list!!! This time round I knew exactly where to source a gorgeous natural and organic bottom balm for my darling. Within a few hours of using the cream her little bottom looked much much better and the rash was gone within 24 hours. And of course it made her bottom smell oh so lovely too!

I am terribly excited that Little Innoscents is sponsoring the market so you will be able to smell these gorgeous products for yourself! Also they will be including some samples in the goody bags so get to the market nice and early to grab some samples!

Our local paper advert

Check out the simply gorgeous advert that the mind blowingly talented Sarah from Style Me Gorgeous whipped up for me today.



Many thanks also go to very lovely Dot and her trusty side kick Jenny from the Letter Bug for helping get the words oh so right, just like they always do!

I simply can not wait to see the flyers Sarah designs for the market ... and then get them out there so people know (and absolutely positively want to come) to the market.