so delicious: bluecorn, st kilda

Hello! Things have been feeling a wee bit quieter around here which is so nice - I love this time of year, the Christmas craziness has calmed down, and it's been fun enjoying the sunshine, going for lots and lots of coffees (or, in my case, usually a soy chai), hanging out with friends and family and having fun. At the moment we're busy planning lots of fun new products to be launched in Jan, Feb & March, yay!

These photos are pre-Christmas - from the Pocket Carnival Christmas Party, to be exact. I always feel a bit nostalgic for work Christmas parties, so even if it is just Chris and I in attendance I like to have a party! This year we went to Bluecorn in St Kilda - it's modern Mexican food. Yum. And, their margaritas are delicious! And huge. The one above is mango margarita, it's my fave.

We had margaritas & corn burritos with delicious fillings. I usually get my food without cheese because it can all end up very cheesey otherwise! Mmm.

Usually they only have one dessert option - when we went it was churros with strawberry something, chocolate mousse and chocolate & coconut sauce. I love churros. So good.

Mojitos! So lovely.

If you're around the hood, check out Bluecorn! Yummm.

Bluecorn
205 Barkly St
St Kilda, 3182

happy christmas!

Happy Christmas! Hooray! Our internet hasn't been working for the past week-ish (but was fixed yesterday) so it was a lovely enfored break! I wrapped lots of gifts and stacked them in a pine-tree shape.

Sent lots of Christmas cards (I did them in batches to make it easier!)

And made a table full of vegan gingerbread (recipe is here!)

Now, the once fully stocked shelves of Pocket Carnival are rather bare, and it's time for a holiday I think!

Hope you all have a lovely day, whatever you may be doing.

xx Penny

super cute: owl gift tags!

Oh look, it's even more owls! Owls seem to be a permanent fixture on the hot-list, so why not enjoy them? Exactly.

I love these gift tags - I have a ton of birthday gifts to give every December, so these are proving to be a super creation already.

There's 8 tags in each pack, and they're available:
In the Pocket Carnival shop, in $AU
In the Pocket Carnival Etsy store, in $US

the OWLS are here!

I know there are many many owl lovers out there - my affection for owls is growing every day. So, I thought a fun new set of cards might be in order!

So far there are 7 cards, although I'm considering doing the 'I Love You' Owls without the text as well, so people can frame it?

Whilst I hope that I don't know anyone who needs one of these cards anytime soon, and same for all of you, it's still a nice card.

The cards all all available for sale now in the Pocket Carnival store, and on Etsy! Hooray!

And. How delicious is this. Vegan Chocolate Brownies, from Dre on a Tray, at the North Melbourne Market. These brownies were so very extremely pretty AND delicious, and almost made up for the super slow market day!


P.S. - did you see the Able & Game new tea-towels yet?
P.P.S. - check out this market that one of our fave stockists, Nook, is doing in Woolloongabba!
P.P.P.S. - our latest newsletter is out! http://pocketcarnival.com.au/newsletter-2010-7.html

odd one out!

This year I decided I would have finished designing all my new products for the year by October... that didn't actually happen of course. I did design heaps of stuff in October, but I just keep having new ideas!

I have some other new things to share too, but my printer ran out of yellow ink. Hopefully Monday my new yellow ink will arrive! For now, this is my newest (and maybe cutest) Christmas card. (And that is how I take photos of my cards - high tech, huh?)


You can buy the new deer cards:
In the Pocket Carnival store
Or, on Etsy

new on etsy!

Hello lovelies! There is so much happening on Etsy at the moment, almost every day there is a new feature, and I just wanted to share the features that took me by surprise!

The Burger Tee - Pre Order by matthewroland

Activity Feed!
Take a peek with your peepers here: http://www.etsy.com/your/activity
You'll see activities! Sales, likes, etc!

It's a great way to keep track of recent activity in your shop (but if you have a high amount of traffic it's a bit confusing!)

paper garland . scalloped triangles . decoration by gretchenmist

Local Items!
When you enter a search term on Etsy, there's now a neat little 'Local Items' button - if you click this, your search will show you items only in your geographical region, based on your IP Address (like Melbourne, Australia).

Sellers: make sure you're being listed!

A sellers location in the Local Items search is based on the location of the red pin on the google map in their public profile.
Click here to visit your public profile, and if there's no little red pin, add one!

View more about this search change in this forum thread on Etsy.

A3 Print - Patisserie by PeaPress1

Shop Currency!
You can now list items on Etsy in a bunch of different currencies - to change your currency, go to Your Etsy -> Shop Settings -> Shipping & Payment -> Currency.

We've decided to keep our prices on Etsy in $US, as you can buy in $AU in our big Pocket Carnival megastore (well, I wish it was a megastore!)


Hope this helps for your holiday sales! Please do the google map thing for Local Items!

make make make!

I was reading Irene's blog, and was super-inspired by her drawing a day challenge! Good one! I considered doing a drawing every day too, but maybe it'll wait until Jan. I did decide to illustrate some new cards - these are special occasion cards! Often people ask for these at markets (especially birthday ones), so I decided it's time.

New art prints! So many waiting to be packaged. I have a stall at North Melbourne Market on Sunday which is always an unpredictable market - I can't decide what stock we should take. Probably cards, fabric, and some sale stock.

And finally, to keep me going through all the crafty making, I've been making gyoza. So good. So easy.

I cook it with soy beans and broad beans. Mmm edamame.

For more creativity, pop over to kootoyoo!

happy hanukkah!!

Hooray!

xx Penny