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Such a wonderful relaxing and fun weekend and so wonderful to have been involved in both the ANZIQ funday and the Ritz Festival.  Saturday saw us all make our way to the Rugby Club to help fellow Ozzies (and New Zealanders) put on a fun day for kids and parents alike.  A day full of activities and games, and plenty of good stuff for parents to wash down as well, everyone seemed to have a great time, especially us vendors who sat outside in the glorious sun watching everything unfold and discussing the finer things in life.  It is so lovely that so many of us fellow vendors get along so well and enjoy each others company so much.  Bless Gabs, Dom and Vida for making me laugh so hard all the time.  Three very special chickies I feel very honored to know.

At the same time as ANZIQ, my dear friend Cammy was slaving away all on her lonesome down at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) for me, and by all accounts she had a very successful day down there on the corniche in the sun. 
You should know that I could do none of the things I do without the help of Camy, she keeps me well grounded, and on time, and she tries very hard to keep me organised.  Bless her, she also strives to make sure I do not misplace my phone.  Gotta love the bossy boots Cammy, without her I would be clueless.

Sunday saw us then all head down to the Ritz for a bit of a festival of lights.  It was a truly glorious afternoon/evening, and as is my usual form, I was the very last to leave, coz I had such a great time and because I always seem to take a long time to arrange pack up etc.  I was on such a sugar rush when I got home that it took me a few hours before I could go off to sleep, but eventually I did and awoke this morning to realise we only have one very small fair left on wednesday before our 2012 craft fair season ends.  I am feeling a bit sad about that but also very relieved as I need some time to reorganise my craft room, my office area and my life and I need time to start getting excited about my fabulous India journey that I undertake just before xmas.

For some reason I have trouble putting up photos at the moment and might have to go about resizing a bunch of them before I can put any up.  Hopefully in a few days time I will get a chance to work on the website and put up some photos.  Till then just imagine how

 
Yesterdays CNA-Q Fair was a huge success for us.  We were so busy all day meeting with and talking to so many wonderful and very fun people.  I honestly dont think I stopped talking for one minute all day, and my friend Hira who took me home afterward will attest to that fact as I am sure he kept offering to stop somewhere to pick up some dinner just so he could have some respite from my gabbling.

So many great things happened yesterday I do not know where to begin.  So first up, Cammy is a legend and with me being so busy trying to get ready for all these xmas fairs, Cammy has started helping me to package items, come up with design ideas, cut paper, etc.  I would never have been able to get out so many new craft kits this month if it were not for her.  Cammy as usual did her most amazing best and worked like a trojan all day to help people and make sure they too had a great time at Pink Peppers table.  Big thanks to Cammy as always.  xxxx

Gabi came by and spent alot of time with us showing off her lil Benji Bubba who is the cutest little thing you ever did see, except maybe when he cried but thankfully he didn't do too much of that.

We had so much positive feedback and compliments to our kids craft kits it was such a big boost and has inspired me to put together even more new ones before next week.  In fact we sold about 50 kits yesterday which was a fabulous result and shows just how much people love the fact they can buy well priced and entertaining items for their kids.  It was marvellous that so many people came up and said oooh we bought this kit last time and my kids loved it, what else have you got.  So I know for sure we are getting repeat customers to our kit creations.  The other great thing is that I had put on sale some of the kits I wish to discontinue, and when I worked it out this morning about 20 of them sold.  What I think is so great though, is that means that around 30 of the remaining kit sales were predominately all my newest kit designs combined with the all time favorites like the bling your own notebook, and the fairy wand kits.  This is so great because it shows people like my whacky ideas.  Yaaaa, go team Pink Pepper.

We had many vendors, the organisers and even customers saying how wonderful our display was and many thought it was the best display at the fair.  What an ego boost that was.  I truly think my fellow vendors Dom, Vida and Gab's suggestions and advice is finally paying off and I am actually learning a thing or two about how to present products.  Yaaaay, go team QatART.

I got to tell so many zombie doll stories in order to explain the zombie side of our products which was so much fun trying to come up with a different story for every customer who was interested.  I told so many stories I am now not sure what even the original story was, and will have to go look at the Zombie Page to refresh my memory.  So much fun.

We have some photos to put up from the last few fairs and will get around to doing that when we have some time, but for now, we have some bunting to make and some clay numbering and decorations to do, so I best get off this computer and start working again.  12 hours of sleep last night it took to refresh my batteries :)
Till next time,
Toodleooo
xxxxxxx
 
We had a wonderful AWA International Holiday Bazaar today.  Thanks to all the lovely people who stopped by to say hi and offer their encouragement and support and a big thanks to all who purchased from us.  We hope that you are happy with and enjoy your products as much as we have enjoyed making them for you.
We will put some photos up as they come rolling through our facebook page, so you can check out how it went. 

And to all those we mentioned to check out our website, and the craft fairs page within it, we hope that you now understand why we wanted you to take a look and we hope that you will come say hello again at any of the fairs comming up.

For now it has been a huge day and it's off to hit the hay for me.
Goodnight everyone and thanks to the organisers, vendors and customers who made this such a marvellous day.
Also a massive thankyou to Cammy, who helps me at every fair, always with a smile and a wicked sense of humour.  I could not do any of this without the help of this remarkable woman.
 
Well it is utter chaos here at Pink Pepper Qatar at the moment with Saturdays fair approaching at a rapid rate.  We are still trying to finish up all we wanted to achieve, and some more, and as a result we are neglecting this poor old website for a short time.
Still we are super pleased with our efforts so far and if I have the time before Saturday I will put up some photos as a sneak peek.
So wish us luck and if you are in Doha, swing by and say hello at the International Bazaar at the Grand Hyatt this Saturday 17th November 2012.  I think it's QR20 for
 
Have a look at our fair list for November.  It's huge.  And it seems to be getting bigger and bigger.  Even December fairs are starting to roll in. 
We are so super busy getting ready all our christmas bling in preparation for these markets, I have hardly had time to look at the website.

It has also been busy with an increase in the number of enquiries and phone orders.  One customer has loved our goods so much she actually placed to separate orders in one week which had me jumping up and down with excitement.  Yes I know, I am not difficult to amuse.

But never fear, I am always thinking about the website, and continue to have big plans once things settle down a little.

On the horizon I am planning to do
*  At least one DIY Craft Tutorial each month for children, and at least one for adults.
*  Continue to put up the backlog of photos and prices of our regular handmade items.
*  Continue to mull over whether or not having an actual shop on this website will be of any advantage to us given we can only cater at this time to the Qatar market.  Exciting news on this front is, however, a group of our local vendors are currently trying to determine the logistics of setting up one online shop that will allow us all to sell from it.  This is something we are looking into and from what I gather it will be something similar to say ETSY or Madeit.com.  I think this is probably a better way for us to online sell at this point until such time as we can offer goods and services to overseas customers.

NEW Products This Month
I have put together a number of new xmas and birthday cards, which I will get photos up soon I hope.  I saw on pinterest the other day these gorgeous little bottle cap snowmen xmas tree decorations and fell in love and I thought, I want to do something similar on cards.  So today I whipped up a few to see how they look and I am stoked, they are gorgeous.  I think they will be popular here and I can't wait to test out the reaction on Friday.  I have done a few girly birthday cards too, very simple card itself with some gorgeous accordian fold rosette badges.  I love this idea because rather than just look at a card and pitch it after, the girls can bling themselves by wearing the badge.

I am also in the midst of a number of boa xmas trees which look preety cute at the moment but are only half finished.  I have also gone and made so many different types of xmas poops and reindeers that I dont know that I ever want to see any of these again.  Bahahahaha.  No I am kidding, I adore them all.  They were very popular last year so I have done some improvements and alterations to make them unique for this year.  Sadly for me, the shops have no candy canes anymore, so my stocks of reindeer are limited to the candy cane supplies I purchased last year (they do have a 2014 expiry which is why I bought them).  Fingers crossed they hurry up and get some because certainly based on last year, people love their candycane critters.

I have spent a whole day nutting out a way to cover notebooks and postit notes in little pocket book type folders, and finally have a prototype that I like, so after this weekend I will get cracking and put together some more of those for the upcomming markets. 

I have also designed, or am in the process of designing about 10 more new kids craft kits.  The first of these I will release on Friday as DIY Xmas Ornaments.  They are so cute, made of air dry clay.  The kids should love decorating them, and I will be releasing it with a pile of different techniques and ideas that will keep them busy for hours.

So on this note, given it's now 2.18am, I best go hit the hay.  Gotta be up again in a few hours to do the finishing touches to labels and pricing for Fridays fair.





 
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The Hispanic fair yesterday was alot of fun.  The entertainment was awesome thanks to all the musicians and dancers.  There was also alot of cheeky fun going around between many of the vendors.  Cop an eyeball of what we g

 
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Well the Doha Mums fair was a huge success for us.  We received so many positive comments about our handmade products and we made so many sales I am busy trying to get together some more bunting and cupcake picks.  I will also have to whip up a few more craft kits because we sold out of our fairywand kits very quickly. 
The Zombie Invasion was also a big hit, many people loved the zombies and although they remain in my care I am sure that they will find their forever homes very soon.

Another fabulous thing is that Doha Mums have asked me to do a kids craft photo tutorial for their November magazine, so I am super chuffed and am trying to come up with something that is perfect for girls and boys alike to do.

This week it is the Hispanic Fair held at the American School of Doha on Friday

 
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Ok so excited, can't wait till Saturdays fair at the Raddison Blu (formerly Ramada) from 11am till 4pm.  Soooo excited.  I have so many new things I have created, but I dont want to put up photos till after the fair coz I want them to be a big suprise to everyone.  I have pulled alot of late nights to get things done beforehand, which for those that know me is nothing at all unusual.  However a few hiccups with equipment and logistics have meant some things that go rattling around in this wee little skull of mine will just have to wait for another fair.

Add to my stre

 
So stay with us, we need to work out what we are doing and get some photos, thoughts and news up here. 
Have to say this is alot easier to manage and set up than our old blog.  Yaay.  I found the old one too frustrating.
For now I will get back to trying to set up the webpage. 
All for Bling and Bling for All.  Chow.