Up Late In Mt Hawthorn

On Friday 6th December, it's your chance to shop til you drop and experience the food, fashion, music and art of Mt Hawthorn. Watch as every store and restaurant comes alive with one night only offers, in-house parties and exclusive shopper entertainment. The party continues on the footpath and alleyways with pop up exhibitions, art installations, gourmet treats and guerilla performances. For lovers of fashion, you will be treated to live runway shows, mini makeovers, personal styling and more shopping than you can poke a coathanger at! When you have conquered the street, Axford Park on the corner of Oxford and Scarborough Beach Rd is where it's at with a pop up bar, international street food and live music rocking your socks from 4pm - 9pm.

Joondalup Fesitval Market Stallholder Expression of Interest

The Joondalup Festival is back in 2014! There will be two massive market days attracting over 40,000 attendees across the weekend. If you are a stallholder who can bring quality products such as gourmet food, fashion, jewellery, design, arts, crafts, home-wares or gift-wares to the Joondalup Festival Markets then they want to hear from you.

The Joondalup Festival will be held in Central Park, Joondalup City Centre on the following dates:

• Saturday 29 March 2014, 2.00pm – 10.00pm
• Sunday 30 March 2014, 2.00pm – 9.00pm

Complete the online expression of interest form in order to apply to be a stallholder at the Festival. Applications close Friday 20 December 2013.

If you have any queries please contact Tara Deans, Events Officer at City of Joondalup on 9400 4926 or email: Tara.Deans@joondalup.wa.gov.au

25under25 Art Exhibition

Applications are now open for the City of Fremantle's annual 25under25 Art Exhibition! If you're a creative young thing between the age of 12 and 25 you're invited to submit an application to take part in the next 25under25 exhibition, happening in April 2014.

The 25 under 25 Art Exhibition is held during National Youth Week each year at the Moore’s Building Contemporary Art Gallery in Fremantle. Young West Australians are encouraged to submit artwork of any medium for the chance to be amongst 25 emerging artists selected to exhibit.

This event is an excellent opportunity for young artists to gain exposure and experience in exhibiting artwork. A series of workshops led by a variety of established artists and industry professionals will also be held in the lead up to the event, offering young artists the opportunity to learn about presenting work for exhibition, submitting exhibition proposals, grant applications and more.

Applications close on 21st February 2014. The exhibition opening night and award presentation will be held on Friday 4th April 2014, with the exhibition continuing until the 13th of April, 2014.

For more information and to apply, go to: http://www.fremantle.wa.gov.au/communityservices/Youth_projects/25under25_art_exhibition/

Or email queries to: ashleighw@fremantle.wa.gov.au

Do you have an Etsy or Madeit shop?

Do you have an Etsy or Madeit shop? If you don’t have one, and you want one, then what’s stopping you? There’s no time like the present to start making your dreams a reality.

Cross Stitch Jewellery Blank - rabbit shape by osmosis on Etsy

Lots of our Made on the Left blog readers are big handmade fans that dream about selling their own designs but haven’t fully committed to taking that step of opening an online shop and filling it with what they make. So why not? What are you waiting for? Turning your craft into a thriving business is really hard work but opening an online shop and selling what you make on there is a simple step that doesn’t require masses of time and dedication.

You can just start with listing one item.

Don’t keep your amazing designs hidden from view. Get out there and show everyone what you can do to the rest of the world. Once you start you’ll see that you really can do it. Start small but dream big.

Tall Rabbit panda brooch on Etsy

And it doesn’t take much time either. Just a commitment of 15 minutes a day will get you slowly but steadily to a fantastic looking shop full of products you have made with your own two hands. The feeling of satisfaction and joy it will give you is indescribable.

Some Etsy and Madeit sellers have been able to quit their day jobs and work from home doing what they love the most. Others take it easy and sell what they make as a hobby, using the profits from each sale to buy more materials. It’s the perfect hobby, one that pays for itself.

It doesn’t matter where you want to end up, now is the time to start it. Take action. Dream big and take those small steps to a creatively satisfying lifestyle.

Head over to Etsy or Madeit today and open that account.

Jacquie Hughes is on the Made on the Left committee and is the founder of delightsociety.com

Spotlight: Kelsie White

Gift wrapping at its finest

Kelsie is a newcomer on the block and my-my are we excited to tell you about her! She is a young creative who is adding a bit of fun and a bucket of love to wrapping anything and everything! Kelsie uses paper-based products that are mostly recycled materials to jazz up any little goodies you might have. You can see her wrapping up at our next MOTL event!

How would you describe K Gets Organised?

K Gets Organised is a paper based organisation goodie store. It’s for everyone out there that can’t find the perfect diary, to-do list and the most on-trend paper goods in Perth. It’s also in large about collaboration and supporting other WA creatives around me.

What do you use as material for your products?

It’s all about paper for me! I like to bring it back to the basics and strip back the toxics. I try to use recycled materials wherever I can and I see texture as being integral to what I do. Kraft paper in particular has such a unique feeling to it. Similarly, I like to include wood in products and the grain of blackboard paint when it’s dry.

Is there anything in particular that inspired you to create K Gets Organised?

Well, I opened the Facebook account while I was on a one-week study break in the middle of my last semester of my undergraduate degree. I had just moved out into my first house and had set up my first studio desk. The name came to me after trying to find the perfect to do list (which is still a pretty unsuccessful search!). I have always loved paper goods and the first product I ever sold was a line of little quote cards for people to use as motivation. K Gets Organised has always been about finding freedom and reaching goals through being organised by paper and that’s what inspires me every day.

Do you prefer to wrap things in a messy or a neat fashion?

Always crisp and neat in a very minimalist style – there is nothing better than the perfect crease along the edge of a present or the perfect fold at either end. I’m a complete perfectionist when it comes to wrap. The messy part comes in getting creative with personalization for me – creating a beautiful card or a gift tag is where the mess and the fun is had!

How do you think that your paper products will stand out against other wrapping products sold in larger stores?

Like everything at Made on the Left, instead of my product coming from somewhere, changing hands many times and being served to you from a shelf; I can see you, speak to you and understand your personal needs. My products are made with my hands allowing for so much more, including personal touches, tweaking products and designs and even just simply conversation!

Do you have a favourite design that you're keeping all to yourself?

I have a little something special for the first 10 customers at my market stall – they’ll get an incredible gift-wrap service that will be gorgeous and very Christmas. If there is anyone out there that wants to have that experience, they’ll have to get in nice and early!

Have you appeared in markets before?

I’m 21 and I started KGO earlier this year (May) and have been doing product design, marketing, sales and everything in between since then leaving little time for me to organise a stall – but Made on the Left has made this process so easy and exciting for me for their Christmas market. This will be my first market (but certainly not the first market I’ve attended!!).

Will you be opening up a store in the future?

I’ve been in contact with some beautiful retailers in Perth and I’m hoping to have my products in stores very, very soon. I’m always looking for new opportunities though – there are so many gorgeous stores in Perth I day dream about having KGO sitting proudly in their stores!

Do you feel that your brand represents you as a person?

I am the K of K Gets Organised, so of course my brand represents me and people like me – people that want value for money, people whom desire beautiful as well as on-trend paper goods and people that want to speak to the person creating their goods with a personal touch.

Where do you see your brand in 5 years?

I see KGO sitting proudly on the shelf, wall, on the desk and in the hearts of a lot more beautiful people around WA. I’m incredibly excited and honoured to see where this journey is going to take me.

www.facebook.com/KGetsOrganised