Organise, organise, mess...

A year and a half in this house, and my workroom has become the storage room...
So the last few days have been a mass of fulfilling orders, getting other freelance work sorted and trying to throw out junk and reorganise this workroom.

Its getting there. At least, that's what the 3 or so black bags outside are supposed to tell me. Sigh.

Then its to sort out a carefully layed out custom and supply order book, as these last 6 orders (not to mention customs) just flattened me.
Appreciating the business goes hand in hand with only sleeping 3 or 4 hours a night between life.
So... gotsta get that organised better.

Somehow I have managed to make even more stock in preperation for September markets, inbetween the mass of ...everything.
Then its on to packing and planning the last final details for The Night Market at The Shed (5 September) and our highly anticipated stall at The Magical Medieval Fayre (6 September).
Heatherlyn (from The Journeyman) and I are just too excited for words to see you at our stall again once we're out at markets again.

Then comes all the stuff I have been putting off...repeatedly.
Got some GREAT people to feature and great HOW TO's waiting.
Shew.
Working for yourself can be a bit rough...

Laters!

Markets...lots of them.

Well... Wanderland has decided on its first three Spring markets... And that's probably only so far in our diaries.

5 September - from 18:00 to 22:00
We'll be set up inside the wonderful Night Market at The Shed.

6 September - from 15:00 till late.
We will be at our highlight of the year (and because we get to dress up in jest). The 3rd annual Magical Medieval Fayre.
Go over to Webtickets to buy your tickets for the day. R20 entry and R10 per car.
It'll be worth it!

27 September - from 9:30 to 15:00
We will be out at The Walkerville Farmers Market.

July isn't even over yet, so the chances of adding to our September schedule is still possible.

Keep your eyes and diaries open.

Solar powered ...

I have probably lived in these parts for long enough to know what temperatures each season brings... knowing and accepting are vastly different.
Sitting in the least windy, sunny spot I can find so I can do this update.
Because -5°C at 9am.... is no joke.

Alrighty, so what do I have for you guys today?
Well, I am struggling with the resin curing in this weather (for those who might like to add to their general knowledge, the *optimum* curing temperature for epoxy resin is around the 30-35°C mark).
And though I try to keep heaters on in the workroom to raise the temperature, I can't leave heaters on when I'm not at home.... so we're heading into the 50 hours curing time instead of 24-48.
Its sucky.
And if I could be home working all the time on Wonder Struck Inc full-time, *maybe* I could do more... but bills need to be paid and any crafty, entrepreneur will probably beable to lecture you on patience and how nothing happens overnight...or even in the first year of full time work on your business.
I do freelance "jack of all trades" jobs as they come up right now, and maybe that will secure my sanity for a bit longer :/

With that said, I continually (CONTINUALLY) find myself beyond grateful for the feedback on our Facebook and Etsy ...because its NOT just about the sales.
Knowing that people found your page, liked what they saw and took that time to join or like or comment, is immensely appreciated.
I cannot be down in the dumps for long with the great people on our pages who go look and click and share.
Existence is far more bearable with validation, no matter what species.

And while on that subject...
Its amazing what a few weeks can do, but I chucked all my HOW TO ideas out the window since the last post... and cannot seem to find something I like enough to share for tomorrow's HOW TO post.
So the search continues.
And though some might suggest I take a HOW TO on personally...let me state how horrid I am at being on camera, even faceless. That will need much bravery and planning from my side.
I do however have a list of people I want to share here on the blog, so if you get an email asking for photos and a profile... ;)

Hmmmm markets.....
Well, as I have said on a number of posts, and if you dont already know, Heatherlyn (The Journeyman) and I talked for years about joining as a store/shop. And this year we became jointly known as Wanderland.
And Wanderland will be doing our next market on 5 September at The Shed Night Market and 6 September at The Medieval Fayre.
We'll then be heading for Walkerville Farmer's Market on the last Saturday of September (the 27th if I can remember).
We really will be upping our game for the markets for the rest of the year and we cannot wait for you to come visit and find something special in our stall.
We're also hoping to have some really great news for you as the remainder of the year progresses, but nothing can be said just yet (shhhhhh).

And to end...

I never really discuss such things... or try to?
Whether its still the corporate worker in me (lingering after all these months) or that I have been imprinted with business nots....
But I will bring it up here, because Winter sometimes brings it around for some, and sometimes people deal with it no , matter the season...

It's hard to be positive, and kickass 24/7. We get down, stomped on, spoken to in less that positive ways... obstacles rise up, and we get tripped up and fall (sometimes destroying our wills completely).
And not just from my own experience, but from knowing that there are many going through whatever you're going through (good and bad) right now.
If we are void of compassion, consideration and kindness, even in our darkest moments, we will not have any of that in our lightest moments... and we will not receive any of it either in return.
I see profile pictures on Wonder Struck Inc's page, most of you strangers that I may never get to meet in person, but the smiles all seem genuine and that passes on to everyone who sees it!
We must know that when we wake up after a hard trial (as broken as we are after it) the next day follows, and the fact that you are in that next day, is proof that you're stronger, harder, and hopefully more understanding.

If nothing else is good today, go outside (in sunshine or moonlight) take in a deep breath and know that you are really great.  You're beautiful. You're strong. And that you are an even more awesome version of yourself than you were before the fall.

Lots of love and gratitude goes out to each and everyone of you, whether I ever meet you face to face or not.

falling all over ...

Those that have tuned in regularly to our blog (which also serves as our "official page") would notice the rather big gap in our updates.

Where do we even begin?

The last few weeks... months, have just been a swirl of custom orders, supply orders, freelance jobs, heartache, bodyaches...
But here we are! The work has continued inbetween all the madness.
So apologies for the blog quiet >.<

To those that have added themselves to our Facebook page, we must first say, thank you for all the messages a few weeks ago on the passing of our beloved Sonny (Son of Man).
Sonny was nearly 30 years old and lived over 10 years with us and was a daily part of our everyday lives.

Though I am very much still very heartsore over his leaving and his permanent absence, work continues.

Planning on getting into gear again with the HOW TO entries for you guys, trying to find some weird and wonderful things for you all, as well as fulfilling previous requests.

;)

So keep a look out for when we notify you via the social media portals.

We have been FILLING the stockbox with *SO MUCH* new stuff. Even some revived old populers.

Its crazy in this workroom, with barely any room to move lately >.<

All worth it though.

We're getting around to doing heaps more promoting of the store, and are working on getting stock into some new and some established shops so that there's a place of brick and mortar to access our madness... ahem. Art.

Heatherlyn (The Journeyman) and I have spent some time deliberating over the market schedule for the rest of Winter, and we really don't feel like it would be of any use getting WANDERLAND out on the road until Spring again.

So lookout for our very rad little stall at the Medieval Fayre on 6 September.

Then we'll be heading out to several other dates again as Spring welcomes us outside again.

So, though we've been really quiet on our blog, we *have* been rather busy otherwise.

Catch all you amazing humans in the next post ;)

Quickly...

Sorry for the huge gap in updates.
Sometimes it really does feel like you've lost the reins...

Been busy with alot of stuff and most of it has nothing to do with Wonder Struck.
Like... Son of Man, my injured horse. His foot hasn't improved much but hasn't gotten worse, its just one of the most difficult places to treat on a horse because they need to be on their feet 90% of the time.
To those who have helped, we have so far, managed to buy 6 whole days worth of extra feed for Sons without affecting Leroy's share of kunchies, so thank you!
You guys have been so great.

Then, Heatherlyn (The Journeyman) and I have been carefully assessing what markets to attend and not to attend over the next couple of months, mostly because of how cold Winter gets here on our side.
We have decided to do more work online, and considering how my to do list has built up, and how I need to get through it, maybe spending more time o that is better anyway until Spring.

We are, however, going to be at a Metal Festival on 15 June. We'll be setting up a table and watching some awesome bands while selling our wares.
We'll post all the details for you on our Facebook page.

We have a few new pieces in stock and we're having so much fun with them, we hope you'll like them.

A HOW TO post will be back up and running this Friday,  in line with winter it'll be a knitting post, so come peek in to see what it is.

Until the next post have a great day ♡

Inbetween madness ...sanity. almost.

Its Monday, but it feels as if we're already midway through the week with the crazies.

Several HOW TO posts will be caught up shortly...in this week.
We'll send out the notification over our social media as per usual to let you know there's updates.

I have been so busy with late night creating, thanks to wicked bouts of sleeplessness, and now...the stock box wont close.
Will hopefully rectify that little problem with the following dates:

31 May ~ Walkerville Farmer's Market (Main Rd, Walkerville) 9:30am to 3pm.
1 - 2 June ~ 25% off Facebook sale
15 June ~ Armageddon Fest (Sundowners, Kliprivier rd, Alberton) from 1pm

Though Heatherlyn (The Journeyman) and myself tend to not stall out much in Winter, we'll probably be adding dates after and inbetween these.
So keep your eyes open.

Well...the coffee mug is empty and the floor is freezing up the entire workroom, that probably means I should get back to work... lates!

HOW TO NO. 5

The last few HOW TO posts have featured polymer clay
projects for you guys to try out, and I really hope you’ve enjoyed them.

If anyone’s tried them out, I’d really love to see how yours turned out. Drop
some pictures on our Facebook so we can spy on your polymer clay creations.

After putting a request out on our Facebook to see if there
was something in particular you guys wanted in our weekly HOW TO posts, one
request came up asking for sock and glove posts… and your wish is our command.

I’ve been scouring around on YouTube to find the raddest,
most easy to follow “how to” channels/videos.  Really liking JoannesWeb at the moment for
some great knitting and crocheting projects, so if you’d like to see what else
she does, go visit her channel on YouTube. For today I’ve loaded this
fingerless gloves tutorial.

Sit down and be ready to watch as it’s a nearly 30 minute
video. Really worth it though.

ENJOY!

More knitting tutorials will be coming up soon, you know, so we can update our winter wardrobe with some handmade goodness ;)



Until the next post.

MWAH!

HOW TO NO. 4

* SIGH *



Ok... Chrome just bombed on me after completing this really long blog post... so this is the second attempt.



Sorry for having to make you guys wait for another HOW TO... but I've been down with the sickies and hanging onto this video share till now, so ... for all of those who are "in the know" with polymer clay and haven't tried a set of these, let us know how it works out!

Defenitely needs to get me a pair of these from you crafties who can do it...











We've really had dismal market attendance over the last few months... the markets themselves have been fantastic and the atmospheres have been so awesome... but the sales. Argh.

It's pretty much a downer when this is what you do for a living full time.

But we fight on! just not so much during winter...

We'll be limiting our market attendance to The Shed's monthly night market (First Friday of every month).



Then, we've started loading stock onto our Hello Pretty store for you SA peeps that want the convenience of single site online buys.

And hey, thanks for the flood of visits and favourites on our Etsy! it really does bring a smile to my face when I see the stats increasing everyday.



And talking about increasing.

OUR FACEBOOK! How great are you guys?!

You're actually better than great. All of you.

You make this worth it for me!



Alright, before Chrome bombs out on me again (mass uploads of pictures happening on albums in our Facebook are causing it I suspect), update happening!