Isn't she sweet?

I just wanted to pop up a few photos of St Ambrose Hall, the lovely lovely venue where Sugar & Spice market will be held
Aren't those blue doors just divine? Now she is not the size of a Hawthorn town Hall but she sure is just as pretty. She is hot, so hot in fact that she has her own ducted central heating system so she will keep us all warm during our market in the Winter months. She has also surrounded herself with lots of handy car parks and is but a short stroll away from the new and very awesome adventure playground. I just lurve her!

Tea & Jam? Oh yes please

I will share a secret with you, one of my passions is photography and I am not half bad at it ... which also means that I am not half good either!! I have a rather nice little digital camera that takes fantastic pictures and I have quite a healthy competition with my brother-in-law who, like me, fancies himself a bit of an ace at taking photos! Stick a bit of nature in front of me, especially some foliage, and I will do said bit of nature justice in capturing its image .... but put some humans in front of my lens and I loose all of my photography mojo.

For this reason alone I am completely in awe of photographers who can capture beautiful images of people, particularly beautiful and busy little people. So I am sure that you will all join me in my love for Tea & Jam Photography who are in a class of their own when it comes to beautiful photos. Their images are bursting with vivid colour, a sense of fun and vitality.



Tea & Jam are a husband and wife team photographing babies, children and families in Melbourne, Ballarat and nearby districts. Below is a quote from their website:
"Being parents ourselves adds an emotional dimension to our work; we understand the highs, lows, tears, laughter and everything in between that make up the fabric of a family. It’s about being real and photographing people as they are, but also grasping the moments that are beautiful and enduring and perhaps a little rose-tinted."I am thrilled beyond belief that Tea & Jam Photography are the official photographers for Sugar & Spice. Kate & Nathan will be capturing images of the market throughout the day ... which means that I will be avoiding them like the plague!! They will also have a stall at the market so make sure you stop by and treat yourself and your family to a photography session with Tea & Jam. For all of the lovely businesses retailing at Sugar & Spice, high quality and gorgeous commercial photographs of your products are absolute must. Fortunately Tea & Jam also do commercial shoots and I am sure they would love to chat to you about how they can help. Take a peek at their blog to see some of their past commercial shots - just divine!

Centre of your universe baby!

We all know that when a new baby arrives it tends to feel like they are the centre of your universe! Luckily for mum's (and Dad's!!!) there is Baby Universe, a fantastic website filled with useful infomation. Baby Universe really has everything in the one location, fantastic product reviews, informative articles, scrummy recipes (I am loving the basic cupcake recipe at the moment) as well as an entire section dedicated to letting you know all about current bargins and sales! And if that is not enough for you Baby Universe also has a baby directory that will help you find whatever product or service your heart desires.

Baby Universe are also one of our lovely market sponsors ... Kate, who owns and runs Baby Universe, also has another lovely business Tom & Molly! Be sure to keep an eye out for Tom & Molly at Sugar & Spice !!!

Kid's & Dad's corner

In honour of the newer, shinier and altogether prettier blog layout I thought I should reveal a feature of the market that I think mums are going to L.O.V.E!

Welcome to the concept of Kid's corner and Dad's corner!

There will be a kids corner where the kids can play and be entertained while mum shops (because there is nothing worse than trying to shop with bored kids). And there will be a Dad's corner right next door, where Dad can sit down with a coffee and keep half an eye on the kids whilst reading the newspaper. Even better, the "corners" will be in a seperate room off the main hall where all of our lovely stall holders will be.

Combine that with a lovely latte and what do you get? The perfect opportunity for you to shop without being hassled by a disinterested hubby and bored kids! Bliss

You know what they say about assumptions!

They make an arse out of you and me, but in this case it is just me;)

I have had a wry chuckle tonight over public liability insurance! I had made the assumption that most of the businesses would have their own cover. Turns out I am an arse and only one business that has registered thus far has their own cover. I will now have to crunch some more figures and get back to you all!

Online registration for stall holders is now up and running .... there are a few questions that I make you answer but I promise it is a fairly painless process. Are you super keen to become a stall holder? then show some link love and register your interest here!

A few questions that have been thrown at me have been great and I thought I would share their anwers here.

1. Will there be coffee? Absolutely, I can not function without some decent coffee at markets. I have my eye on one that also does yummy hot chocs for those of you who are not coffee addicts :)
2. Will there be second hand goods for sale? Absolutely not. You will only find new beautiful kids products - admittedly some of them will be made from upcycled fabrics, but that just makes them even more unique in my books
3. Will there be any of my competitors there too? Well without knowing exactly who your competitors are this is a hard question to answer. Stall holders will be hand picked by moi, and I will be doing my utmost to have a variety of stalls.
4. What are you doing to advertise the market? I am in the process of getting my head around sponsorship of the market, so I am really hoping that though the businesses that are interested in sponsoring us I will be able to afford a decent advertising campaign. On the wishlist at the moment is a flyer mail out, print ads and editorial in local newspapers, as well as lots of good word of mouth. Oh and all of the usual social media thingies too. I am working with a marketing guru (my words not hers) on this project, but if anyone out there would like to help out in this department I would love to hear from you. In return you would get my undying love ...... but not much else (ie this would be a voluntary position, just like I am running the market voluntarily)

Oh speaking of voluntary ... if there are any super talented web designers that would love to put a fantastic website together for Sugar & Spice definitely email me. Again I can offer undying love .........

Who knew ....

..... that finding the perfect venue for Sugar & Spice was going to be so time consuming? I certainly didn't! My problem is that I want the venue to be absolutely perfect, not pretty close to perfect. I have at least narrowed it down to two different buildings in Woodend but I am struggling to choose between the two as there are pros and cons for both. Here is a break down of both of them, I would love to hear peoples thoughts.

Option 1-Pro's
- It is located on the main road into town right next to the main shopping strip
- I will be able to annex onto the public liability insurance of the building thereby allowing me to donate more to local charities
- It is recognised as a market location within the town
- easy access for prams

Con's
- It is not the prettiest building either inside or out (that sounds shallow I know, but it is an important element)
- We are not able to use the main doors that face the main road, instead we would have to use the back door
- The internal layout is not going to work well with how I would like to set out the market (you would have to be able to see inside my head to understand completely)

Option 2 - Pros
- It is gorgeous building one street back from the main road
- The internal space will work really really well with how I would like to set out the market
- Easy access for prams
- It has central heating so it will be nice and warm in the winter market :)


Con's
- It is not on main road so there is an extra layer of complexity to find and not as "visible" for people just to walk up to
- It will cost more to run the market here due to public liability so less to donate to local charities

Just when I think I have finally made up my mind, I start thinking about them again. I am going around and around in my head but I am only making myself dizzy! So I thought I would appeal to you for some sensible advice.

The exciting news is that we have a couple of lovely sponsors for the market. I am itching to tell you all about them, but I am going to have to wait for a few more weeks yet!

Ali xx

Our new Logo has landed!

I am thrilled to unveiling our brand new logo for our brand new boutique children's market. Many thanks go to the super talented Sarah from Style Me Gorgeous for our beautiful logo.

A little bit more information about Sugar and Spice - it is a boutique children's market where you will find lots of stylish and unique baby products, many of them will be made by the people you are purchasing them from. It is a not-for-profit market, so after marketing needs have been address the proceeds will be donated to various charities. We are very keen to support charities operating in the Macedon Ranges so please contact us if you would like to chat further. Small details like dates and location are still being ironed out at this point. What I can tell you is that it will definitely be based in Woodend (Victoria) and it will be a quarterly market, starting in June this year.

Sugar and Spice Children's market is passionate about helping local businesses within the Macedon Ranges that producing beautiful products for yummy mummies and their gorgeous children. If this is you then you should email us .... right now!