A slight change of plans

Due to some unforseen circumstances Tea & Jam Photography will not be able to attend next Sunday's market.

However, we are very lucky that the lovely Kim Selby has agreed to be our official photographer. Kim is mum to two gorgeous boys and a Woodend local. She takes the most magical pictures, especially of busy little people and their families. Kim's style is very relaxed, natural and candid. She aims to capture the smiles, frowns, laughter, kisses and cuddles but most importantly your family just being themselves!


Make sure you pop over to her blog to see some more of her gorgeous photos. And stop by her stall next Sunday & have a chat!

I am also very thrilled to let you know that Kim has also agreed to become the official photographer for Sugar & Spice Market in Woodend. You will still be able to catch Tea & Jam Photography at the Ballarat market.

See you next Sunday

Ali xx

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!

Head over heals for Flip & Tumble

I am passionate about our environment and I try to tread very lightly on the planet because it is the only one that we are ever going to get. In my quest to be kind to the environment I wholeheartedly embraced the evolution of reusable shopping bags. And boy do I use them for just about EVERYTHING! But to be honest I am really not feeling the love for my supermarket green bags anymore, they are really looking tired, I need to move onto something more exciting, better looking....... sorry bags, it is me not you ...............

You can imagine my excitement about the very gorgeous, the very environmentally friendly and the very ace Flip and Tumble reusable bags that arrived in the mail for me today! I put them to very good use straight away, never has my grocery shopping looked so good! And then these bundles of gorgeousness had the good sense to scrunch down into virtually nothing making them easy to store (unlike those tired old green supermarket bags that take up so much room ...)



















I had been particularly hanging out for their produce bags because I absolutely refuse to use those silly little plastic bags. I always believed that there was a much better alternative to bag my fruit and vegies, so when I clapped my eyes on Flip and Tumble's produce bags I knew I had found what I had been searching for!

So what could be even more exciting than receiving this gorgeous eco goodness in my letterbox today? The chance to announce that Flip & Tumble are sponsoring Sugar & Spice market. Together we will be handing out 100 FREE Flip & Tumble shopper bags at the market that will be filled with lots of goodies!! So make sure you get to the market nice and early so you do not miss out!Also do not bother to bring any bags with you to the market as you will be able to pick up a few gorgeous resuable bags from the very lovely Marls of Flip & Tumble at the market. If you can not wait until the market (and to be honest I am going to stuggle to wait that long for some more of these bags myself!) then head on over to their website and order away!

Robin Street Market

Bringing you handmade and unique goodies from around our globe!

The very lovely Sharon, who owns and runs Robin Street Market, loves three things (apart from her talented hubby and pets of course) travelling, buying unique, handmade lovelies and eating good food and it is these three passions that Sharon builds Robin Street Market upon.

In Sharon's words "Buying something unique that is a "one-off" has always appealed to me. And buying things when travelling is particularly enjoyable. It is lovely to look at something when you are back home and know that it was made by someone over the other side of the world. Imagine stumbling across a market in a beautiful square in a foreign country, meeting the interesting people who have made what they are selling, and munching on yummy local food at the same time. Heaven..."

Sharon recently embarked upon a world tour with her husband David to meet as many artists and crafters as possible and to source a whole collection of unique and handmade gifts to bring back to their nest to share. And what a lovely nest they have built themselves at Robin Street Market.

Mothers Day is completely sorted this year, just head on over to Robin Street Market and pick out something unique, there is plenty of gorgeous products to choose from. Start dropping hints to your family now ......

So which corner of the world would you like to visit today? Robin Street Market can take you there in an instant via their clever interactive map. International travel without jet lag ... fabulous! And just so you feel like you are actually at the market there is a profile of the makers on Robin Street Market. Do not forget to do some local shopping here in Australia, Sharon has been working very hard on finding some fabulous new makers right here on our shores!

So fly on over to Sharon's nest, I am sure that you will find a few treasures there to help feather your own! And you simply must meet Mr and Mrs Robin, they will jump with joy to meet you!




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Is your munchkin modern?

Today I am excited to introduce you to another of our gorgeous sponsors, Modern Little Munchkins!

This wonderful online shop has been created for those modern parents and their relatives who aren't necessarily hippies but are hip enough to be aware of the importance of using organic and eco-friendly products for their little people. Of course you also want them decked out in the coolest threads, but that just goes without saying ... thank goodness for Modern Little Munchkins! The children's clothing labels Moppit, Pram Rock and POLKA are just so hip and funky it hurts, the fact that they are eco-friendly are a massive bonus! But the funky products are not limited to clothes ... check out the awesome and edgey range of eco-friendly cleaning products (yes thats right cleaning products with a bit of sass!) and one of my absolutely, positively favourites is the Chalie and Lola story book that has the message of recycling and looking after our planet!

Louisa, the lovely owner of Modern Little Munchkins, is mumma to two little men (Harry and Charlie) and these gorgeous boys also happen to be the inspiration behind Modern Little Munchkins. Lousia only stock products that she would be happy to use on Harry and Charlie and she lets her imagination comes into play when it comes to the girls fashion! (P.S. Good job with the girls fashion Louisa!)

Modern Little Munchkins is based in NSW so unfortunately Lousia will not be bringing her fabulous products down for the market (sad face). However, she will be very generously donating her stall at the market to one of the businesses who have applied to retail ... more details to follow soon so make sure you have put in your application!!

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 !!!