Entrepreneur Mudlets

December 3, 2017 by Elaine 2 Comments

Ready for business

All the hard work put in by the Mudlets to produce pinecones and salt dough ornaments paid off this afternoon, when they had an extremely successful stall at the village Christmas market. Paper chains were added to the mix, with the last few of my knitted toys, as well as the last few glittery cones from last year which I found, carefully packed away in a shoe box, hidden amongst the tinsel and streamers in our Christmas decorations boxes.

“What if nobody wants my ornaments?” a worried Little Mudlet asked me as we made our way to the market site.

“Then we’ll keep them all,” I said, “Because they are beautiful.”

Middle Mudlets’ pinecones did really well

Middle Mudlet wasn’t too worried about her pinecones because they had sold really well last year but she tried her hardest to reassure her younger sister, stating that she was sure at least some would sell.

The Christmas market was sited amongst the trees, on a slight hill near to the village church, which has a convenient gravel path sweeping up from the main road and Victorian style electric lamps at regular intervals, lighting the way. Approximately a dozen stalls were set up in an oval and multi-coloured fairy lights were strung from tree to tree and each stall had its’ own set of Christmas lights adding to the atmosphere.

Many stall holders (including Middle Mudlet and I) were dressed in Victorian costumes, most of which had been made by a very talented lady from the village. It’s odd how willing and eager we all are to dress up, especially when you consider how cold it gets at this time of the year but the overall impact of men and woman dressed Dickensian style is priceless and most of us do have several layers, hidden from sight (leggings and tights for me) and I also had the benefit of the lovely, warm cashmere shawl Eldest Mudlet bought me a few years ago.

Little Mudlets’ salt dough ornaments and the display ‘tree’

We decorated the Mudlets’ table with a fun Christmas table cloth, tinsel and a set of battery operated fairy lights. I’d also fashioned a display ‘tree’ from some small fallen branches which I’d put into an empty glass jar and then backfilled with gravel to hold the branches firmly in place. I covered the jar with an offcut of wrapping paper, added a red ribbon for good measure and then the girls dangled some of the salt dough ornaments and pinecones from the smaller side branches. Their handmade signs finished the table off and with everything laid out ready for visitors, we were good to go.

Fast forward two hours and a pleasing number of people had visited the market and the girls had made several sales including all but three of the salt dough ornaments Little Mudlet had been so worried wouldn’t sell, a large number of the painted pinecones, a couple of paper chains and two of my knitted toys! In total the girls made £8.23 each (11.09 US or 14.57 Australian dollars) but spent £2 each at the market. They are absolutely delighted and already talking about what they can do to improve their sales next year.

What really touched me was the incredibly positive way people reacted to their creations and the comments they received …… and as for the left over paper chains, pinecones and salt dough ornaments, they, along with the display ‘tree’, are now gracing our home.