My first ever craft bazaar!

Yup! It was an exciting experience, albeit very tiring! *grin*

I joined my very first ever Craft Bazaar, organised by Azarine at Yee Button House at SS2, on Saturday, 6th September 2014. 

When Vivian first asked me if I’d be interested to join the bazaar, I immediately said YES! without giving it much thought. It was only like 2 weeks before the bazaar that I suddenly got all panicky when I realized that I don’t have much to sell and I was heavily travelling for work almost every week! I was even travelling right up to 2 days before the bazaar, coming home too tired to even pick up a needle!

There were also the weddings to attend at almost every weekend. So, how am I to work on the craft items to sell? 

I had plenty of WIPs (Work in Progress) which I started months ago but never fully completed any of them. I had started making Cross Body pouches, Little Missies, pincushions and other smalls, but they were all half done. 

So, 2 weeks before the bazaar, I forced myself to make a list of things I needed to make and complete for the bazaar. 

I came up with a quite a long list and it got me all nervous and anxious! LOL!

I was nervous because I don’t know what to expect. I was anxious because I wasn’t sure if I am ready for the bazaar. I am pretty much still very shy about selling my craft items publicly. But I told myself and hubby that I am just going to go ahead with the bazaar, at least to have some fun!

I was glad that my first ever bazaar was going to be held at an almost enclosed space where if I can’t get over my shyness, I can still hide in one of the rooms available at the shop! LOL! *wink* 

Anyway, in between heavy travelling for work, I managed to spend a few nights, late nights, I might add, before the bazaar to finish up all my craft items and to print labels and business cards as well as other things I think I would need for the bazaar. 

I wasn't sure what I would need to make and bring, and so I made plenty of assumptions. I kept telling myself that this is a learning process and I should not be expecting too much. 

Anyway, the day came, and despite planning to get there early so that I would have plenty of time to get the table, which I shared with Zarina, ready, I ended up getting there later than plan when my cat decided to spill his pooh bin that morning.

So we had to get that cleaned up first before we could have breakfast and I could make my way to SS2.

When I got there, Zarina had already set up her side of the table and Vivian was already halfway in getting her table ready.

I quickly set to work getting my side of the table ready, getting all hot and flustered in the process! LOL! 

I managed to get the table ready in the nick of time when the organizer announced that customers are starting to come in! 

I had my first customer an hour after the bazaar was opened to the public. She bought a pair of scissor pouch. My first sale!! Yippee!

Soon after that, my Cousin-in-law, Idah, dropped by. She has always been a strong supporter of my craft works and also a strong supporter of works by Artisans. 

She bought an Owl Sewing kit and a pouch which she said she was planning to gift it to her mum who does lovely cross stitch work. So sweet of her! So sweet of her too for coming over to lend me support! I really appreciate it, 

Idah, thank you so much for your support!

While I was entertaining Idah, hubby dropped by. Yes, another strong supporter of mine, always encouraging me to go for it! Thanks, Dia! Love ya! Hugs!

Both hubby and Idah stayed awhile. Idah went on to visit other stalls while hubby left to get some drinks.

Soon after, my mum, sister and niece dropped by. Despite getting lost finding their way to the shop, they made it!

My niece, Kuyana, is also a very talented and creative crafter. I think she is even more talented than me because she can come up with creative items just by looking at them in photographs.

In fact, after visiting my stall and the other stalls at the bazaar, she was so inspired that she went home and made herself a backpack using old jeans belonging to her ex-boyfriend. My mum said now my niece will always have her ex-boyfrined on her back! LOL!

My mum, sister and niece stayed awhile and my mum, after much hesitation and haggling (LOL! *wink*) finally bought a maroon cross body pouch from me!!

Thanks, Ma, for your support! It means so much to me to have you support me in this other venture of mine. I really appreciate your trouble coming, despite getting lost!

Thanks, Lin and Kuyana, for driving over and bringing Ma along. 

I may not have made that much sale that day although I had some people interested in my items. Zarina had a lot of inquiries for her HDTs though.

Since I had prepared myself for this eventuality, I wasn't too disappointed. I may not have made that much that day, but enough to cover my overheads, but I gained a lot of new friends, crafty friends who were more than willing to impart their knowledge and advice when they found out that this was my first ever bazaar.

I made a lot of connections to widen my networking into the craft community. I also gained lots of experience and exposure by joining the bazaar. It was a very good experience and I am looking forward to the next one sometime in November!

This time, I hope I will be far better prepared for it! LOL!

The rest of the day, while waiting for customers, I went around chatting up with the other stall owners/crafters.

There was this sweet guy, Ali, who was selling bags made by his mum, sent all the way from Sri Lanka. He is working as a Lawyer here in Malaysia.

And then there were two stalls selling everything owls.

I bought a owl keychain from this stall.

There was also a stall selling art T-shirts or something and a stall selling hand-painted postcards.

There was also a stall selling Juki sewing machines.

This is Faridah. A very friendly lady selling some soaps.

I just love all her bags!

Vivian has a table next to ours...

Here's me with Nicole, a very nice and helpful lady.

She gave me lots of tips and advice and gave us ideas on how to make our table look more interesting.

She gave us the idea to put up Zarina's quilted table runner as a background for our stall to make it more attractive.

Thanks, Nicole!

I just love Nicole's table! So vibrant and colourful! I bought a pair of chicken pincushions!

Here are the rest of the stalls selling all things crafty, just to give you an idea as to what were being sold.

Overall, it was an exciting day! I truly enjoyed myself!

I had some flustered moments when I had people inquiring about my stuff all at the same time! I got so anxious that I was sweating all over! LOL! *blush*

Thanks, Vivian, for inviting and suggesting me to join the bazaar. Thanks to Zarina for willing to share a table with novice me when she could have taken a whole table to herself!

Thanks to Azarine for organising the bazaar. I am looking forward to the next one. Hopefully I will be free to join the next one.

Thanks to cousin-in-law Idah, my sister Lin, my niece Kuyana and my mum for your support. 

Big hugs to hubby for his continuous understanding and support. Love ya! Muaah!

A Trip of a Lifetime - to the US and the UK (Part 10) – Stranded in New York

Gosh! The last time I wrote on the trip was on 22^nd May 2013!

There is still plenty to tell about the trip and there’s also the craft stash I acquired during the trip which my Stitching Friends are waiting for me to show off!

I have been so busy with work and life that it is getting harder and harder to find time to spend on another one of my passion and that is writing and blogging. 

I hope it is still not too late (stale) to continue where I left off, if not for anything else, but for my son to read in years to come.

In my last posting on the trip, on the 6^th day of my stay in the US, I mentioned that all flights out of New York, including my flight, had been cancelled due to unexpected severe weather condition within the next 24 hours.

I hardly slept that night. I had the Weather Channel on all night, so that even as I sleep (I am a light sleeper), I could hear the weather condition being reported continuously.

I prayed that the weather condition would improve in the next few hours or so, so that we may fly out of New York the next day as per our schedule.

However, as I stayed up for most part of the night, I could hear the snow storm coming in and could see the heavy snow fall through my hotel window.

By morning, it was almost certain that we were going to be spending another day in New York when the airport was closed for all incoming and outbound flights.

A colleague joked that we have been snowed in because someone had made a wish to visit Central Park but because he never got to make that wish to become a reality yet, he had wished for another day in New York to make that wish become true! LOL!

Anyway, back to the current situation and the crisis at hand, once it was determined that we won’t be able to make it for our scheduled 6.00pm flight out of New York, the next thing was trying to get the next available flight to London.

We spent the whole morning in the hotel lobby as frantic calls were made to our respective travel agents in Malaysia.

Mind you that we have a 12 hour time difference where it is night time in Malaysia as we struggled to get whatever possible flights out of New York.

Some of us were lucky when their travel agents stayed up late till 10pm to try to get us flights to London.  Some were not that lucky when their travel agents could not be contacted and they ended up having to make their own flight arrangements.

It was also quite a task trying to coordinate among the travel agents, us being so far away on the other side of the globe, as we tried to get all of us on the same flight to London to make it easy to make transport arrangements in London.

When that was not really possible as thousands of other passengers who were also snowed in like us scrambled to get whatever flights available out of New York, we decided that whatever flights we could get, we will just grab it.

As if struggling to get the next available flight to London was not bad enough, we also had a crisis with our lodging arrangements when the hotel where we had already stayed for 2 days wanted us to vacate our rooms to make way for new customers coming in.

It took a frantic long distance call to the Malaysian Embassy in Washington D.C. to assist us that finally managed to get our lodging issues resolved.

When it was all finally settled – the flights and the lodging, it was already close to 1.oopm! Only then did we all suddenly feel hungry! LOL!

Everyone went back to their rooms to change out of their travelling clothes and into something more comfortable for another day in New York.

At that point, it suddenly dawned on me – WE GET ANOTHER DAY IN NEW YORK? Wow! Does this mean that I will get an opportunity to visit a craft shop which I found out through Google is actually just within walking distance from the hotel?

Ok, ok, don’t get excited! We are not actually out of the crisis yet as the snow storm had not actually subsided. Even though we had our tickets booked for the flight out of New York for 6.00pm tomorrow evening, everything depended on the weather tomorrow and whether the airport will be opened for operations.

But for now, we just had to make the best of the situation, and first things first, we had to get something for lunch.

I followed my colleagues to lunch at a nearby halal restaurant.

After lunch, many wanted to take the opportunity to do more sightseeing despite the snow still falling heavily. Others wanted to do more shopping.

Me? I wanted to try to make way to the craft shop nearby, but, I thought that I’d follow my colleagues for a while to Macy to see what’s there as I did not get an opportunity to visit Macy before this.

I managed to get myself an extra blouse to wear for the extra day in New York.

After that, with the snow still falling heavily, and it even started to rain a bit, I made my way in search of the City Quilter, 5 blocks from the hotel.

Oooh! What I’d do without a GPS! I have always been bad with directions, but ever since I could get Google map on my hand phone, back home, I have been able to go to places on foot and by car where I would have never tried venturing before, for fear that I might get lost.

With the help of the GPS and Google Map, I have become more adventurous, and what more, when it comes to going in search of a craft shop! LOL!

It did not feel like it was a long walk as I took in the sights around me, still not believing that I am actually in New York!

After walking for about 30 minutes or so, I finally arrived at the City Quilter!

Gosh! Pinch me! I am here! I am here! I am in front of the shop that I could only see in the pages of my quilt magazines before this!

I excitedly entered the shop and was in awe of all the quilting and sewing stuff I see before me! I feel like grabbing and buying everything! LOL!

But alas, reality sank in, and I had to be practical. I have limited bag space and there was the weight of the luggage that I am limited to that I had to take into consideration.

It took a lot of will power to control myself not to go overboard when choosing out what I wanted to buy. I had to keep reminding myself to only get those things which are not easily available in Malaysia, too expensive to order and ship it to Malaysia, and uniquely New York.

Despite all the limitations and constraints I set myself, I actually managed to get quite a good haul. I think my Stitching Friends are going to be so envious of me! LOL!

After paying for my purchases, I managed to get the Sales Assistant to allow me to snap a photo in the shop. 

I told her that this photo will be a part of my blog journey in search of craft shops that will get my craft friends jealous! LOL! *wink* 

   

Sorry for the almost identical photo, but some reason, photos taken in vertical comes out in horizontal when I upload it to blogspot. 

I can't figure out how to resolve it. So, I decided to put 2 vertical photos together to force the photos to stay vertical.

Happy with my purchase, I made my way back to the hotel, with the snow still falling heavily, and rain coming out in full force too. 

I made a stop at a souvenir shop to buy some souvenirs to take home for friends and families.  

After a short rest to regain energy that was drained from all the excitement of the morning of trying to get tickets for the flight to London, reaffirming our extended stay at the hotel and finding my way to a craft shop, I started organising my things to pack up.

It was an art of packing to get everything compacted inside the bags and still be within the weight limit allowed, without having to pay excessively for excess luggage. 

I already knew that I’d be paying for excess luggage when I bought an extra luggage, but I wanted to be sure that I won’t be paying an exorbitant amount.

When that was done, it was already late evening and the snow was still falling heavily.  

I did my payers and prayed that the weather would improve over the next 24 hours so that we may make our next leg of our trip.

All night long, I had only the weather channel on. My brother messaged me suggesting that I go out and buy some food in preparation for maybe another long day in New York should the weather not improve.

I went out to the nearest convenience shop and bought myself these.....

I went to bed after having dinner of leftovers from the meal I had with my brother and his family.

It wasn’t such a restful night, as all night long, I kept listening up to the weather report to see if things would improve....  

End of Day 7 – 8^th February 2013 – an unintended extra day in New York.....  

A Trip of a Lifetime - to the US and the UK (Part 7) – A great time with brother and SIL

After seeing off the rest of the group go off to where ever was planned earlier, my brother and SIL stayed on awhile to snap a few more photos.

Then it was to a craft shop that I have been dreaming of that someday I get to step foot into the shop!

It was about an hour’s drive from New York, with a picturesque view all along the way.

When we arrived at Joann’s, I felt like another dream just came true again!

Thanks and syukur alhamdullilah to Allah for making this dream come true!

I had one hour to spend at Joann’s as we other places we wanted to go to.

Boy! I was really spoilt for choice!

Luckily, or, was that unluckily, I am not a millionaire. If I were, I’d buy the whole store! LOL!

I dabble in so many hobbies, and trying to decide what to buy and to buy something that is worth it, coming all the way to the US, which I can’t find in Malaysia or are too expensive, was difficult, because a lot of the things were either not so easily available in Malaysia or, they cost an arm and a leg.

I couldn’t decide between which hobbies that I wanted to spend on – scrapbooking? Cross stitching? Patchwork and quilting? Rubber stamping? Baking? Crocheting? Sewing? It was like trying to make a major decision! LOL!

I went around and around Joann several times before finally making my choices.

Thanks, NikAi, for taking the photos! I was so excited I was in Joann's that I forgot to snap photos of my own!

Just look at all those fabrics! Trying to decide which one was hard! I want them all! LOL!

I finally decided on some patchwork and quilting stuff, a few things for my scrapbook and rubber stamping hobby and bought a couple of patterns for my sewing hobby.

The stash? You will have to wait for a separate posting dedicated just on the stash that I bought, but I am sure my craft friends are going to be envious when they see the stash that I actually managed to haul from this trip! LOL! *wink*

Next stop? The Woodbury Common Premium Outlet!

I am not actually a person who goes crazy buying branded items, especially when they cost a bomb. I’d rather spend it on craft stash. But, occasionally, when I find something branded that I like and it suits my budget (which isn’t exactly sky high *grin*), I would buy it, but that does not happen often.

I prefer to buy something that would either make me look good or makes me feel good about myself, and gives me confidence to go about my day, and it may or may not be a branded item.

So, I wasn’t initially excited about going to the Woodbury, but since everyone said that if you are in New York, you must visit the Premium Outlet. If not, your New York trip would not be complete. So, I was excited about the fact that I finally get to visit the much talked about Outlet!

It was an hour’s drive from Joann.

I never imagined how big the Outlet was going to be, and now that I have arrived at the Outlet, now I know why it is a must visit place when in New York!

I was in awe of how big it was and how many branded shops could be located all in one location! It was awesome, and yes, I was awestruck! I could not believe I was there! LOL!

When my brother and SIL asked me which shop I wanted to visit, I was at a lost.

There were so many shops to choose from but most of them were selling items I know I could only dream of ever being able to afford them.

Furthermore, I think I have better things I would rather spend my money on. Also, I don’t think I could ever bring myself to buy a handbag where the price is the cost of half of my salary. I‘d be crazy to spend that much money!

But in awe I was, and I wanted to visit them all as I don’t think I will have an opportunity to visit Woodbury again in the near future.

But Coach is a must visit store as this is one brand that many of my friends and relatives have been talking about and I was told it is one of the more affordable brands. I told myself that I must at least come home with one Coach Handbag! LOL! *wink*

I brother said that I should visit the Prada store as in Malaysia, I might never dare to step into one! LOL! He is right about that!

So here I am with a Prada handbag that I could never afford! LOL! Not yet, at least! *wink*

Just posing in front of another store I could never imagine buying from their items – Gucci. At least not yet! *grin*

So, let’s walk away for now.....

We chance upon members of my group who also took the opportunity to come to Woodbury.

We got to the Coach store, and oh my, I was spoilt for choice, and most of the items were, err.....kind of affordable! LOL!

I fell in love with this beige bag the minute I set eyes on it, but the price made me put it down again. But, wait, it was on sale! The final price? I am not telling! LOL! *wink*

The red salmon bag is lovely too!

Checking out a bag at Vera Bradley.

No, I did not buy anything at Vera Bradley as I think most of the items sold looks like something I can make myself. Maybe I can someday promote Uniquely Aznique too? *wink*

We just gave Burberry a pass as it was way too expensive for me to buy anything from there.

We took a short break at one of the many food courts available at the Outlet to enjoy Eli’s home cooked Nasi Lemak.

It was delicious! Really love it! Nasi Lemak all the way from New Jersey! See that satisfied look on my face? I look rounded too! LOL!

Thanks, NikAi and Eli!

After the short break, it was another round of going around to see more stores!

We stopped by Nine West and I almost did not buy this pair of boots when another lady would not let go of the other side of the shoe when she saw me trying it out.

I decided to just let it go. I did not feel like arguing with her over a pair of boots.

However when we came back later, she did not even buy the boots, so I decided to buy it as it was 60% off, if I remember it.

I am glad that we went back to get the boots because it was these pair of boots that kept my feet from freezing up the next few days as the boots I brought with me from Malaysia were not thick enough to sustain the freezing weather of New York and London.

Next stop, Kate Spade, as my brother wanted to get something for my mum.

I like this colourful handbag my SIL chose for my mum.

I feel like a little kid posing with my mum's Kate Spade! LOL!

If I wasn’t too worried about my luggage being in excess, I think I would have gone overboard and over my spending limit buying all the handbags I like! LOL!

In actual fact, I did actually buy an extra luggage, but that was planned well in advance as I had pre-ordered some craft items to be sent to my brother’s house well ahead of my journey and I needed another luggage to bring them back home with me as I started the trip with only a single standard size luggage. My brother had advised that I get the second luggage in the US as it would be cheaper and I would get a better quality luggage at the Outlet.

I could not, however, resist buying at least one Michael Korrs Handbag though! LOL! *wink*

It was another bag that I fell in love with the minute I saw it at the store front! LOL!

After that purchase, I told my brother that we are not making any more stops as I might not be able to resist buying another handbag! LOL!

I have no regrets about buying the things I bought that day, although I am not about to reveal how many pieces of handbags I bought that day *wink*, but, no, I did not go mad and bought 10 handbags! LOL!

Maybe if my luggage could fit,.....maybe..... LOL! *wink*

By the way, I also bought my son 2 pairs of High Top Converse shoes in red and black, and bought my hubby a Bostonian shoes at the Clarks Store. Unfortunately, I bought the wrong size. Hubby said that he will be keeping them for when Aiman can fit into them.

We arrived at the hotel and took a short rest before we headed out to dinner at the same halal shop I had dinner with my friends just the night before.

We were hungry and too tired to venture any further for dinner.

After dinner, we decided to go sightseeing......

Day 5 to be continued...again! – 6th February 2013 – the night is still young!