Fresholi | Melting Pot Café

For the next 3 weekends, there's a Christmas Fair down at the marina in Brighton.  Free entry and a Santa's grotto thing (although it looked suspiciously like a 40ft inflatable snowman to me  ;D )

We're going to be down there with leather jackets, bags & jute bags etc, and I bumped into Danielle today who's also down there with her soaps & goodies.  Looks like it might be quite fun - it's in an empty restaurant (round building on 2 floors so the layout is a bit different) and they're going to have a bar with mulled wine, hot cider & coffees etc.
Yipee, guess who's stall is surprisingly near the bar  ::) Endless coffee for me......

Are you gonna take a few of your fab soapies, danglies etc too? You really should  ;)

I couldn't agree more, Corrie, she really ought to. Maybe if we all pester her like mad, then she will. Hmm. Worth a try, anyway.

TAKE DANGLIES AND SOAPIES !!!

Agreed++

Are you there? Are you listening? Don't slope off pretending not to hear us!
C'mon, do it (I won't shout) but if we can so can you  ;)

She's watching Little Dorrit at the mo, but we can all have a got at her a bit later when she gets back

I might well do for next weekend.  That means labelling & stuff  :o

Going off now to hunt for a bumbag to use as a till  ::)

He he.... like Stacey in stenders  :mwaha:

Oh even if you take a couple of things, it might be just what you need to boost your confidence and then you might get more and more courage for other events  ;D

 :hap2: @ JJ

Found one - well it's a cross between a handbag & a bumbag but sadly not quite big enough to use as a balaclava for a disguise.  In case he asks, as far as my OH is concerned it's a bumbag, not a handbag  ;D

I'll see how this weekend goes and what else is there - not all the spaces are taken for this weekend and some people are only going to do the next 2, so it might be difficult to gauge (sp? that looks wrong).  I'll be there on my own most of Saturday as OH is going to a joint birthday party for his little grandsons.  :o  There were mutterings about us running my OH's friend's stall too. Gawd, haven't run one yet, let alone 2, and I don't know their stock at all (all Indian/African furniture & lovely bits & pieces).  Don't think "yes madam, that table fits you really well" will go down too well with customers  :mwaha:

Dunno JJ - worth a try  :mwaha:

I probably will anyway H.  I've been a bit prone to blone moments lately which is worrying as I'm blunette.  ;D

Amazing what Nice n Easy can do to ya innit  :mwaha:

 :shakef: :handbags:

Hmm H, stop picking on me mate. and H I found a link to a site just for you. It was something to do with the home of blonde moments. I'll find link and post it for you.  :mwaha:

Ta Joy, you tell her  :mwaha:

can i join you? :mwaha:

If its the one I am thinking of, don't worry about posting the link, I submitted most the content to it so am more that familiar with 99% of it  ;D

hello jo,

great idea to advertise this market on the forum....bloody hell someone had to :shakef: that fist was for the organiser.
after you 2 left they were talking more about signage so hopefully someone will sort that out for tomorrow & maybe some people will come.  maybe I'll bring my book as well or maybe some cards to keep myself occupied just in case.  I will pray for us all tonight if god's listening he might send in some customers....


                           ..... :anglll: :anglll: :anglll: SEE HERE THEY COME

Was a bit dire today wasn't it Danielle!
They're very disorganised for a company that organises raves & stuff!  There aren't exactly a lot of us are there?

Maybe we should bring Scrabble tomorrow  ;D

Fingers crossed eh that your prayers work - I think the 5 people who wandered in today were just lost  :mwaha:

The only other person of interest I saw about was a particularly peed-off looking elf holding a large penguin.  No sign of Father Christmas - I missed him.  Probably running to his grotto through the torrential rain & howling gale  ;D

Flippin eck!  You sure you were at a fair/market and not Disney Land?   :mwaha:

What a shame for you both  (:hug:)

There's a gigantic inflatable snowman too H.  Oh, and a massive Christmas Pudding, I think Santa's grotto is a pirate ship of some description, and there are a few large lit-up snowmen around the place.  Not that we can see anything from the dark building we're in  ;D

Oh JJ what a shame, something like this in somewhere in Bbrighton should be a hit. Hope it picks up tommorrow  (:hug:)

It's a real shame C.  It could be a really good event - mind you it's going on for the next 4 weekends including this one, so fingers crossed it gets busier as it gets towards Christmas.

oh i wish i had of seen the peed -off elf that who would of topped off my day..thanks for the group hug H.  dont have scrabble but i do have another word game called boggle i'm sure i'll have time to teach it to u ;D.  i'm getting kicked off now so i'll say goodnight to all & a merry christmas goodnight :mwaha:  (thats from the night before christmas)

Boggle is the bestest ever game, we play it a lot! Doesn't take up much space either, which is a definitely bonus.

See you tomorrow!

Good luck JOJO and Danielle,theres a market on by the libraray in Jubilee st today, and I think next 3 weeks.
My friend has my very first batch of smellys on her stall, and the chocolate body whip,and some massage bars and melts, my very first ever batch whooopppeee!! will let you know how it goes,I am very excited,and was up half the night doing labels and packing.
You never know ,I might make my assessment money back lol. actually I have used all my butters and the money will go straight into more goodies.
Look out Helen!! more smaellys needed lol
Good luck and I am sorry the organisers are so pooo at advertising grrr! x

i wonder how it went today? better I hope. I went to one like that myself recently and it was tumbleweed city. I can never understand why people alway seem to think that customers are psychic.And really with the public , in my experience you would have to use a loud-hailer and a lot of very bright, flourescent balloons/fireworks/naked dancers to make them even turn their heads, never mind actually turn up ::)-so a bit of signage is the least they could do for you.

Ta Michaela - you coming down some time to say hi? Good luck with your stuff on your friend's stall too!  Exciting stuff.

Sue - it was a bit  :tumbleweed:: again today but better than yesterday.  There's some sort of Treasure Hunt thing going on for kids, and I think some people only came in looking for the clue  :-\  They didn't actually realise there was anybody in there!  Needless to say, some kind person near the clue was pointing them in the right direction  :angl:  Maybe I should pin the clue to the back of my stall  ;D

I think the organisers have got the message now - they couldn't fail to hear us moaning today, and some of the comments made by the people wandering about.  Apparently the outside stalls (poor devils, they must be frozen stiff) are booked up from next weekend so hopefully it'll get busier.  Have to say though, it's typical Brighton IMO - advertising scattered about and not much to look at when you get there.

I have to tell you though, a certain Australian person (begins with D, and she lives in Brighton too  ::) ) was threatening to pinch the Christmas tree from the foyer and put it outside.  I so hope she does it tomorrow 'cos I'm too chicken  :mwaha:

Feisty little madam, is she, this D person  :mwaha: ? And since when have you been too chicken to do anything? I think we oughta dare her, in fact double dare her, to at least give D a hand nicking the tree, errm,  repositioning the tree I mean of course.

Bet you planted the idea though  :mwaha:

I'm much too far away from the tree, tucked in the corner as I am LLL.  Couldn't possibly give her a hand  ::)

For once, it wasn't me H  :mwaha:

*bok bok*   :mwaha:

You are not glued into the corner, JJ, you can come out of it, you know! Lame excuse, humph.
" Insert proper chicken clucking noise here " ( had to think for a moment what Helen's post was meant to be )

Kes, can we have sound bites, please??

I'm bright yellow you know.

Like big bird?

JoJo I came to the Marina today, and I walked around the huge snowman and wandered over the road, and looked in the shops by the bookshop and I could not find you grrrrr!! was there an upstairs bit? if there was then there was no signs telling us theres more upstairs....very poorly done.
Anyway, I bought a bar of CP soap,handmade, from a stall near the fountain,she had a lot of bath bombs and soap.I asked who made it all, and she said it came from someone in Wales.
I walked away and then unwrapped the soap and to my amazement there was no ingredients label,no label at all actually, so basically if I used the soap at home and had a reaction to god knows what, theres no label,no address, and no contact for the maker of the soap.
I was not able to get back to the stall, but I assume she will be there nxt weekend,and I think its discracefull that this person is doing this,breaking all the rules and putting people at risk.
Especially as we are all working so very hard to get our assessments,and to comply with all the rules and regs.
Any suggestions? maybe we have a word with her next weekend.? I am willing to, Its makes me very annoyed......anyway I hope you did very well and I WILL FIND YOU  :mwaha:

How annoying Michaela - now you know why we've all been moaning like mad at the organisers all ruddy weekend!!!  For next week, you go past the enormous snowman (if he's inflated - apparently if it's raining they can't blow him up  ??? ) and the "Bratwurst" stall to the Aquabar (round building on 2 floors with a domed top).  We're in there - it's got "Beachdowner Christmas Market" or something written on a sign somewhere  ::)
It did have a Christmas tree outside the door today (wonder who nicked that and put it there  ::) and it wasn't me  ;D ) and we tied a load of balloons around the doors etc.  We've all moaned at the organisers but it seems to go in one ear & out the other, so what's been done has mostly been done by the stallholders.

The annoying part is that there's a sign saying "warm indoor market" which is in an unused shop under the boardwalk!  Nothing to do with our side of it.  :-\

Anyhow, there were more people around today and I don't think some people did too badly - wasn't much good for me, but hopefully next weekend will be better.

I know which stall you got the soap from - I had a little snoop about this afternoon (was probably standing next to you!).  There were some very unpleasant looking m&p soaps about too.  They were labelled properly but without a maker's name/details which I didn't think you could do either!  It's quite frightening really from what I've read on here & other forums - and not having ever done a market before, I'm quite shocked to have seen it with my own eyes - but there seems to be a lot of people that blatantly flout the "rules" and to get away with it  :-\

ooo bugger, I saw the ruddy sign saying warm indoor market.....and it was out side the calvim klein shop, or near by. and I looked in the shops as that was where the sign was alluding too, grrrrr, I am very disappointed, there was NO indication that there was anymore upstairs, Its really shoddy !!OK hows your memory then......5 ft 8 with tied back, very fuzzy afro type hair, but blondish, very pale, slight blue tinged face lol, black pants and a frenetic, windmill armed toddler with white blonde hair, out doing the whirling dervish dancers ,flingimg me around like a twig, and tantruming every 10 seconds, and thats a good day for marcus!
I have a resigned and hopeless look on my face, whilst trying to find an invisible warm market.
Do you remember me now??? OH is also there trying to control the dervish.
He he !!!

Can't say as I remember avoiding seeing you  :mwaha:  There were quite a lot of blue people with manic toddlers around though.

Right, ignore anything on or under the boardwalk.  You're heading for the enormous inflatable snowman & the Santa grotto across the road.  Factory shop & Reebok outlet to the left of the "square" (although it's not square, is it?), to the right is a Chandlers and a boat agent.  Right at the end is the Aquabar.  Got it now?  It's soooooo obvious  ::)  :mwaha:

sooo obvious I would never have found that!!! really had no idea there was anything there, ok I know now....gawd its a hard life being blonde :mwaha:    I will put the manic one onto the nearest most expensive boat I can find, and pull up the anchor hehehe!! loook , play with the boat sweety.........
hope you did well ish today............. ;D

I think quite a few kiddywinkies came close to being dunked in the water today  :mwaha:

Right, I'm not convinced you've got this yet  ;D  Behind Santa's "grotto" (it's supposed to be a pirate ship isn't it?  :-\ ) is some water with a few boats moored.  You can only walk to either the left of the water and there's a pub at the far end, or to the right and there's the Aquabar.

Got it yet?  :mwaha: 

Danielle, where are you?  I'm not explaining this well am I?

I almost made the money back for the stall, so pretty disappointing but it's a good learning experience, and I'm surprised how much I'm enjoying being down there even though it's boring at times.  There's a really nice group of stallholders in there so there's a nice sense of camaraderie IMO - mind you, we have got a bar with mulled wine & cider, and there's music & heating.

 ::doh:: you just explained that so well, yes I do know exactly where you mean now...silly me went over the road to the bookshop side, please be convinced that I do know where you are now, and I will be there next weekend, I only wished I had put your mobile no on my phone today, oooh well...... :mwaha:

 (:hug:) :hap2:

 :woohoo:  By George, I think she's got it!
 :hap3:

Eureeka!! the blonde comprende, you cheeky woman :mwaha:

Glad I'm not trying to find you JJ, sounds tres complicated.
Hope things pick up the next few weekends  :)

Finally got through then M  :mwaha:

C, the odd thing is that the marina isn't exactly a big place!  That's what's so annoying about it  >:(

maybe my brain isnt such a big place either (:hug:) :tumbleweed::

Nor mine.  We should get on well  :mwaha:

Well, we survived another weekend at the marina.  Good grief you've got to have eyes in the back of your head, and very strong legs & back for all the standing around!  Hats off to those who do this regularly.  It was a lot busier this weekend but there seems to be a lot of mooching about and not much buying going on  :-\

I have to say, Danielle has been an absolute poppet to me the past couple of weeks - she's given me some pointers on displaying things, and bless her has had some of my wax melts on her stall and has been doing the hard sell for me.  So Danielle, if you're not unconscious yet
 (:hug:)

Aw....  Good when you can support each other isn't it?  Well done to you both.  Is there another week left still?

Has it been a better weekend? I saw on the news this weekend was supposed to be the busiest of the year - where did they get that from?? :mwaha:

We've got another 2 weekends to go yet H.

I'm really grateful to Danielle - this is the first time I've done anything like this so it's lovely to have some support.

I made enough to cover the cost of the stall (more than last week!), but quite a few people have asked for and taken cards for the shop so I suppose that's a good thing.  Free advertising & all that.

Don't know where they got the busiest bit from K - it's yet to happen at the marina  ;D

How did it go today JJ?

 'kin awful, ta for asking H  :mwaha:

Severe gales, heavy rain & waves crashing over the marina wall didn't really help.  Apparently Santa disappeared & was spotted lurking somewhere trying to get warm, and they couldn't inflate the bouncy snowman 'cos of the gales.  I took a whopping £17 today - still £33 short of the money for the stall.  Forecast is better for tomorrow but who knows?  Ho hum.

 (:hug:)

 :woohoo:  it's over!

Four weekends of sheer, unadulterated......errr, errr, standing up  ;D

I managed to finally make enough to cover the costs of being there, but for me other than a great learning experience, it wasn't financially worth it.  Shame really.  Brighton Marina has gone downhill recently - most of the shops are empty now so there's nothing to draw people in, and the whole place is quite soul-less to me.

On the plus side, quite a few people took cards for the shop, and asked me for directions so you never know.  I suppose when you look at it, from an advertising point of view, it cost the same to be down there for the 4 weekends as it does for one little advert in the local papers.

Danielle was a star, not only with advice but for selling some wax melts for me, and overall I think she did quite well, so good for her because she certainly puts the time & effort in.  My only complaint about her is that the woman never sits still and at times made the rest of us look very lazy  :mwaha:  I did learn yesterday however, that I can crochet standing up and whilst talking  ::)

My bottom is now safely tucked up on my settee, and shan't be moving very far for a while.

Well done JoJo for persevering with the fair. Hope some good comes from it, whether it be business for the shop or a boot up the butt to get your soaping off the ground. Well done, all that standing can't have been easy  ;)

Thanks C.  It's taught me a few things acksherley. 

I CAN stand and talk to people face to face and not just on the 'phone as I've done for most of my working life (believe it or not, I'm naturally quite shy until I know people).

There is a possibility that my stuff will sell

I need to get off my behind and sort myself out properly, and stop faffing about if I want to sell stuff.

I can set up a stall in about 10 minutes flat now  :o

I can stand up for hours & hours on end  :mwaha:

 :woohoo: JoJo has seen the light!
Go for it girl!
You'll do great  ;D

 :mwaha:  Ta C.

Can Jo do it?

YES SHE CAN!!!


Well done JJ and it is great that, although you are not rolling in the ol' spendoola from it, you have pulled lots of positive things from your experience  ;D  (:hug:)

Well done to Danielle too (for both your enthusiasm and for looking after our JJ)    (:hug:)

You're right Corrie, I think our JJ has finally seen the light. Sometimes the positive side of things aren't always apparent but I think it has been a worthwhile experience and let's face it no experience is ever wasted. At least JJ knows her wax melts will sell if nothing else so in the New Year JJ will be organised and attend at least one craft fair ever month.  :mwaha: Or at least put her soaps in her shop.

Obviously a goodly, if not profitable, experience.

Go JoJo!

Good on you. Any advert is good & if you broke even at the end of it well thats something at the moment.

Well done to you!  Where I used to live has a regular farmers' market and I've strongly considered selling there, but I'm certainly going to have to have a chair...I don't do that standing up all day lark so well.  And I don't drive either so I've no idea how to get anything there and back again.

Brave soul, and I hope the new year brings you some profit as well as learning experience.

well done JJ, we will have to meet up again in the new year if you want to!!!! :buttrf:

Good for you JJ!!  :woohoo:

Aw thanks all.  I think I've just about recovered now - wasn't easy with a cold/tummy bug & a migraine,
but I soldiered on  ::violin::   :mwaha:

I really admire people that do that on a regular basis - takes stamina!

Michaela - just shout when you're free & we'll meet for a coffee

will do JJ!! Meryy xmas tomorrow,i am not looking forward to it much :'(