Indie Marketing

As my nearest and dearest...and some of my facebook followers...may know, I've decided to start planning for the day I can play in Alison Sarah land full-time!

Or even part-time! or any-time....

This process has led me on some intense internet searching (thanks to my good friend google!) and along the way I've found some gems, in terms of help AND inspiration - both of utmost importance at this stage. And thus I shall share them with you...

Today I happened upon Makery - a web design site, that also runs a blog on topics to do with marketing your indie business - Perfecto!

 

One of their posts was immediately useful - Less Telling, More Selling: Add Etsy Mini to Your Blog - and I have now used this to set up a shop page, and then an about page, to my blog!

Thanks Makery for enabling me to put more of what I love and what I do in the one place!

I also really appreciated the series on target markets - gold for someone into the planning stage for progressing an indie design label...aka. me!

Grecian Journey

We spent almost 2 weeks in Greece, from a few days in Athens, to a week sailing the Greek Islands.

Athens was a diverse place, with some close ties to Australia. It's said that Melbourne has the largest Greek population outside Greece itself!

One thing that struck me about Athens was the effect the GFC has had on them - there were stores closed everywhere, usually the smaller, locally owned ones, and poverty was more obvious than in Italy or France.

I found the Greek islands to be quite different in that respect, as they gather more of a tourism industry.

We went on our sailing adventure with Gadventures (well recommended to anyone thinking of taking this approach of their Greek island touring), and shared a 50 foot yacht called 'Paris' with 6 other travelers and our Skipper.

They even trusted me to steer for a while!

This was one of the more breathtaking parts of our travels, seeing the stunning islands from the water by day, taking time to explore some of them in the afternoon and enjoying the amazing food each night!

I even got to do a little shopping in Mykonos on our last night after the sailing tour ended - and made the most of the end of season sales...

We then made our final leg of the journey to Turkey...

Magnifico Italiano!

And so we move onto Italy!

We started our adventure in Venice, which is a beautiful town, but really feels like it was just set-up for the tourists. It was hard to believe anyone lived there!

But in the true spirit of Venice and it winding streets and many canals - we got lost - and found some parts that tourists were not (as there were no shops!) and saw the areas that the locals habited.

We also found our way to the ritzy area of shops, and got a few pics with some of the big names!

After Venice, we made our way to Florence, and spent our days exploring the galleries and restaurants...

Our hotel concierge gave us a recommendation to catch a bus out of town to the hilltop village of Fiesole, which overlooks Florence. We arrived close to sunset and got some amazing pics overlooking a small olive grove, with Florence spread out in the background...

From Florence we then had a weeks stay at an Agriturismo in southern Tuscany, in a town called Chianciano Terme (known for its thermal springs and spas). Each day we travelled to nearby villages and towns to explore, shop and eat - ending the day with a four course meal by our chef Stefano!

One of my highlights (being the twilight fan that I am) was visiting Montepulciano - also known as the village of the Volturi where Edward plans to reveal himself to a square filled with red caped humans... I got a pic of myself in the same doorway - but with less body glitter...

Rome was a challenging experience for me as I was feeling rather unwell, but we still spent the day visiting the ancient ruins, Trevi fountain and - of course - The Colesseum.

What struck me in Rome was that you would be walking down a rather normal, modern street, and turn a corner to see such an icon! 

There were ruins everywhere, even at the train station!

We ended our Italian adventure with an overnight trip - aiming for the Amalfi coast, but only making it as far as Sorrento...

We spent a wonderful romantic evening here, and even did the walk to the base of the cliffs to check out the 'beaches' after dark...not much sand space, but the water was amazingly clear!

The dress in the picture above was bought in a small market in Ovietto (Southern Tuscany). I never thought I'd buy into the whole 'hem longer at the back' look, but with this dress it just works so simply and stylishly! Love it!

And so onto Greece....

En Francais

My husband and I recently took a trip of a lifetime to Europe - more specifically France, Italy, Greece and Turkey!

This is why I have been absent for the past few months...Sorry!

I will make up for it with some travel tales and photos of the lovely things we saw (and bought!)

We started, where else, but Paris!

I had always dreamed of visiting paris, for the fashion, the ambiance and the romance!

It did not fail to deliver...

I loved exploring the fantastic boutiques and characterful streets and lanes - but the true magic of 'The City of Lights' is after sunset...

After Paris we did some cycling around Provence, and despite the sometimes grueling rides, I really loved exploring the villages for their food and shopping!

On a free day in the red ochre hilltop village of Rousillon I found a lovely boutique and tried on five dresses - funnily enough they were all from the same parisian designer label - Sinequanone.

I bought a lovely floral dress, and was so excited to have my first european fashion under my (proverbial) belt!

Pics to come of the dress my Greece entry, so stay tuned...

The Sundress

I recently completed this sundress for a client...

Have I mentioned yet that I love sundresses? 

So it was to my joy and delight that I discovered this focus on the humble sundress on Modcloth.com, with such a darling array of fun, bright colourful and lovely dresses...

And I came to the realisation that I do not have nearly enough sundresses, particularly for one who lives in the tropics and can so easily make my own! 

I had thought earlier in the year that I would make one a month, and by the end of the year I would have enough to wear a sundress most days... but sadly I let time get the best of me...

So this is something I look forward to remedying - and I hope to brighten up my days (and even yours perhaps) with expanding my (dare I say) 'collection' of handmade sundresses!

Here are some of the sundresses I have done for clients and some are for sale at my etsy store...

 

 

Crochet Love

I have been away from my blog for a while...a long while!

I recently began full-time office work, which has somewhat encroached on my sewing and craft time...

I have learnt to treasure my weekends at home, and also learnt how to fit crafting into my weekdays by learning to crochet on the ferry trip to work and back!

I owe my first crochet success to Aunty Anima from Hammond Island, who patiently showed we how crochet a trim for my first island dress.

Since then I didn't want to do anything to big or too naff...so I was lead to these gorgeous patterns for christmas (see tree and star) and valentines at The Royal Sisters tutorials. They have fantastic pictures and easy to follow directions for even the most basic of beginners... I am now attempting my first pair of slippers...stay tuned!