The Markets this week...

The Shed on the R59

Tea and yawns...

Eeerrrrr....

I really do feel like just a bit of a zombie today, but blissed with happy.

This weekend roughed me up around the edges, with a night market at The Shed and then a Saturday market yesterday at Wyetti.
We had great fun with fellow stall holders, who even helped me set up when I got to the night market late after some really awful accident traffic on all the highways coming out of Joburg.
Thanks guys!

To the visitors at the markets, thanks for coming out in the chill to come look at the stalls and eat the home made food (market made food?) ;)
Like the wonderful Catherina and her food stall "The Stables" at Wyetti.
Her food was out of this world, and we tried out both the cheese platter and the eisbein & bean soup. Wow! Can you hear me purring at the memory ?! Because I am!

But back to business ;)

If you've been spying our blog, our facebook and the instagram, you'll see all the goodies that are being made/loaded.
Some pieces are already up on our Etsy store and ready to ship once you snatch it up.

I've also been on the search for some really great "standard" packaging for the store and I've found some of the greatest things!
Just about all of our necklaces and bracelets will now be packaged in reusable little round steel tins. They look great!

Octo necklaces that we stock for our markets (and for custom orders)

Some are up for sale on our Etsy too...

We've released our "Black Market Baby" range, in 3 necklaces on our Etsy store, but will be working on other forms of the idea during the next few weeks. It'll be interesting to see the feedback on the new items in this new range.

They've been fun to work on so far!

We've also got one of a kind pieces coming through and inbetween all the other work, but alot of them will be pieces I *can* repeat if I see people want some more of them.

Though, these repeats will be limited.

As it's a long weekend for me (I'll try not to brag too much), I should beable to fit more photo taking in, in the next 3 days.

It's going to be fun getting all the newness to your eyes!

Peek in regularly to see what we're up to ;)

~CJ~

Paper delights...

It's a cold rainy Friday evening here, so instead of braving the weather for a night out, I decided that the Wonder Struck Inc. workroom, coffee and puppymonsters, were a far better way to spend the evening.

Also, some visual updates from the latest at Wonder Struck Inc. ;)

White skully pendant necklace - a favourited item on our Etsy store today.

Our Black Market Baby series is being listed as the pieces are made.

These "key hole" pendant necklaces are looking amazing!

We're starting to work on two tone resin pieces like these roses, which sell out so fast via Facebook.

Once we have some stock available again, we'll list them on the stores.

Also, we have loads of octopus necklaces available, like here

Now... time for more coffee refills and a snuggle with the puppymonster Astraeus while we watch the new anime we've been downloading.

Have a great evening/day/Friday ;)  !

Back to business....

Ha. Thought it was highly appropriate that as I started getting this post ready, that AC/DC's "For those about to rock, we salute you" comes on.

I'm not sure what other Etsy/Storenvy/online handmade artists' experiences have been (past and present) with a drop in self confidence, when it feels like things are just going nowhere...
But the self confidence and motivation at Wonder Struck Inc dropped so low lately... And it was hard being in that.
But I'm back and fighting fierce. With a smile on my dial of course ;)

And have you noticed? Autumn has started closing its arms around us.
Chilly mornings and evenings. Warm, sunny, clear skied afternoons.
*bliss*

More inspired work is definitely on the way, to celebrate one of my personally favourite seasons.

Now... I know I've mentioned several handmade artists/stores in previous blogs, but I really don't recall mentioning the talented dreamcatcher maker married to one of my (19) cousins.
Adri has been making dreamcatchers for a year or two now. And like me, she's developed her own style and product range. Growing as a handmade artist and perfecting her art.
And in this... I'm hoping to add some of her wonderful pieces to the Wonder Struck Inc lineup.
Where there are limits to Adri making her stall available to buyers/collectors, we're hoping to make her gorgeous pieces available through our stalls and online stores.
We'll keep you updated. ;)

To visitors of our Etsy, we're sneaking in this discount code just for you: HAVE10OFF
Use this code at checkout in your cart, it's valid for the rest of 2013 and is not limited to number of purchases.

To our South African/non Etsy buyers. If you see anything you'd like to buy, (marked here on our blog or in any of our stores) contact us to buy and we'll hook you up with payment details.
We'll also be adding a freebie in with your purchases over R200/USD30 (this total is excluding shipping).

And with that! Back to the rest of the days duties.

Have a great one!

Black market baby..

This song has got me hooked! I'm
*inspired* by it.
New pieces made while listening to gorgeous, heavy, dirty blues pieces like Black Market Baby (by the amazing Tom Waits) will be up in our Etsy before month end.

With shop revamps I've decided to start limited ranges, like the latest pieces I've *just* mentioned.
I'm also, between these ideas, starting to put together sample boxes for stores that I want to approach.
As much as I know that each piece is wellmade, handmade, and unique, it's still nerve-wrecking, the possibility of rejection.

But pre-approach photo session of the sample boxes will happen if you'd like to peek what I'm offering the stores ;)

Other things have been happening "back stage", some good, some sad, some bad, and some amazing.
But to those who look in to read our blog regularly, THANK YOU!

Then in closing....

To Boston, and those directly affected by the bombings at the Boston Marathon finish line, prayers and positive thoughts go out to all of you.
Stand tall and strong with, and for eachpther, and please remember not to lower yourselves to violence in an attempt to make whoever did this "pay"....

Violence only begets violence. We take comfort rather in our strength to be compassionate and to help those affected and to another, rather than mess with those who don't deserve our notice.

Vanilla coffee and paperwork...

It feels so strange not getting up on a Saturday morning, and packing for a market. 

It's 8:43am and I'm sitting infront of my laptop, drinking coffee and "watching" Big Bang Theory episodes.

There are more resin projects / orders curing on the work counter in the kitchen (because that's the room that gets the warmest right now), and the two and half dogs are playing and barking outside. 

There's incense burning and rock doves coo'ing loudly to eachother on the roof just outside the back door.

It's hard not to saturate yourself in days that feel like this.

Stretch...breathe....

Wow. That weekend just felt like it got away from us so fast.

The Henley Arms Market has come to an end as from Friday night. It's so sad to see that a venue gives crafties an opportunity to have a market FREE OF CHARGE, and no one takes part.
To those who have supported not only Wonder Struck Inc, but Heatherlynn's stall, Kopy Kat, and Astra's Pink Salt. Thanks guys! It's been much appreciated.

Saturday was the Pumpkin Weigh In at The Shed (@ Greens Greens on R59).
The Shed is becoming such an awesome venue, perfect all weather venue for those of us that try to brave the elements. It's an indoor venue and though very much a farmers market feel, also very heavy on giving stall space to handmade artists.
The "usual" market hours at The Shed were extended to 4:30pm, but wow, did that extra hour and a half kill us?!
It was worth it though, just for the atmosphere around the whole day. Thank you Carren for being such a professional organiser of this market, and always being available to talk to, to assist the stallholders and yea, to keep our potential customers happy.

one quarter of The Shed venue for the Pumpkin Weigh In.

We'll be at The Shed again for their night market on Friday, 26 April 2013.

This afternoon, inbetween garden revamp, "SPRING" cleaning and trying to stay awake... there's some serious... SERIOUS shop edits happening in the Etsy right now. Then I'll move on to the other online stores to do that same.

Hope you'll like some of the additional new photos/products/shipping cost changes and models wearing some of our new goodies ;)

We have some great local artists that will be supplying us soon... because we're not JUST makers of handmade, but we source fun handmade goods too for our store :)

Keep checking in to see all our changes and happy goodies.

For now, back to those shop edits and changes and maybe a cup of coffee to keep this sleep at bay *yawn*. Have a great Sunday humans!

~Zoo~

Post Easter buzz....

Well I hope everyone had a delightful and blessed Easter weekend.

We have now moved stalls at Wyetti Market, which was as busy as can be expected over the long weekend/Easter/Rand Show ...so sales were dismal. But the company was great...even under all the drizzle. At least we never got rained out.

Wonder Struck and KopyKat (Heatherlynn) are hoping to get stall space for the R59 Shed this weekend, and again for the R59 Shed's night market on 26 April.

If you want some low priced deals on some of our makery, follow us on Instagram: zoocatty

Also don't forget to visit our stores. All of them are linked here onto of the blog ;)