Yesterday I had a stall at the Melbourne ETSY Made Local Markets. It was a one day market for Melbourne people who have an ETSY online store. 

What is ETSY?  A global online market place for handmade, craft  and vintage goods. My “store ” is here  You can purchase with Paypal or a credit card .

I was one of 136 Melbourne stallholders with handmade goods including homewares, clothing. ceramics, jewellery, stationary and arts and crafts.  The markets are part of a national initiative by ETSY to connect shoppers to the local makers and designers living and working in the area. As well as the handmade gifts available on the day there was live music, a selection of food trucks and a bar serving local Melbourne brews. 

A coffee at 9.50. The doors open in 10 minutes !. 

The day went quickly as we were saying hello and talking to people all day. I had interesting conversations with a few people, when they started looking at particular greeting cards. Or we talked about drawing or sketching. 

I was very fortunate to have a friend assisting, who not only was a great salesman and  assisted carrying my gear to the markets, but also gave me the opportunity to take breaks and sit down for a few moments every now and then.  It would have been a lot bigger day if I was on my own. A few friends popped by and also a few Instagram followers introduced themselves, which was delightful. 

I only left my stall a few times during the day and it was not until about 3.30 that I had the opportunity to look around and speak to other stall holders. The variety and quality of things for sale was amazing.  I talked to some really interesting people. 

I had a steady trickle  of greeting card sales, gave out a lot of business cards and have a potential collaboration. I will be interested to see how many views and sales I get on my ETSY online store over the next week or two, that may have come from interest at these markets. 

We left the house at 7.45 am and got home at 6.45 pm. It was a big day, from getting there to setting up, chatting with all of the lovely people, working with cash (and PayPal credit card reader) and all sorts of different things. Great fun . Energising, but exhausting. Today is a day to put my feet up (sketch them ) and relax !