Tell us a little about yourself...
My name is Jacklyn James
and I am the designer and creator of the Safety Food Peeler. I am also
the Sole Distributor of the Kiddies Food Kutter in Australia and New Zealand.
I was a Corporate Accountant until 4 years ago when I changed my whole
career around.
What
inspired you to start your own business?
I have created this business from a simple idea of getting children
involved in cooking and being able to cut their own dinner at meal times! I
promote healthy eating for Children 2 years onwards, Special Needs and the
Elderly.
I have spent the last 2 years creating the New Safety Food Peeler which
I designed, I wholly own and have it made in Victoria Australia!
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| Safety Food Peeler |
How did you name your product?
I have been amazed how many adults have bought my product in the last 5
months since I launched it, when I really originally designed it for Children,
it was to be named Kiddies Food Peeler but after most of the first 500
Prototypes were sold to adults I changed it to Safety Food Peeler as I was
limiting my Market.
Where do you see your business in 5 years time?
I took 12 months designing the Safety Food Peeler, and sourced one of
the last Plastic Manufacturers in Victoria - Lilydale - KCS Plastic
Manufacturers! I paid $12,000 for the moulds so I could own it in OZ (could of
paid $1,000 in China) and now can proudly display the AUSBUY logo, as this
product is Designed, Wholly Owned and Manufactured Product of Australia.
I have sold the whole batch of 9,000 pieces I first had run off in
September 2013 and have just placed an order for my next batch of 9,000!!...
This is the first blade less Peeler in the World and I have just sent my
first batch to the US to break into the US Market with an Aussie Product!
I do not stock these in retail (yet) but attend Farmers Markets and sell
wholesale right around Australia into Child Care Centres, Stephanie Alexander
Garden to Kitchen Programmes, Kindies, Disability Schools, Cooking Schools, and
Nursing Homes!
I have been nominated for most Innovative Product with Biz Mum
Awards & Expo!
Tell us about your new product The Safety Peeler...
The Safety Food Peeler is
perfect for young children (and special needs adults) who need to peel fruits
and vegetables safely. People of all ages can now prepare food with a peeler
that doesn’t use a blade! The Safety Food Peeler is Australian Designed and
Made – and makes peeling fun for everyone
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| Safety Peeler in use |
Where else can your fans check out your products ?
Roma Lily
Tell us a little about yourself...
My name is Alisa and I live in Bendigo with my husband and our two daughters, aged 4 and 6. I am a primary school teacher by day (part time) and I usually get my creating and making inspiration at night time. I am a ‘night owl', so I am often sewing/making things after midnight. My products include one of a kind wall arts, rag dolls, chenille softies, appliquéd towels and personalised cushions. I create my own patterns and continue to modify these patterns until I am happy with the end product.
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| One of a kind wall art |
What inspired you to start your own
business?
As a child I loved sewing, knitting and anything crafty, but as an adult I only started doing this all again after I had my children. I enjoyed making clothes and toys for them. I then started making gifts for friends and before I knew it, other people were asking me to make things for them. About two and a half years ago I decided that I must have products people want to buy, so I started selling at markets.
How did you name your business?
Roma Lily was the name of my grandmother. She was a beautiful lady who spent hours knitting clothes for my sister and I, as well as clothes for our dolls. She also spent lots of winter days teaching us how to knit. She was one of the first people (along with my mum) to introduce me to handmade goods. Even though she is not on this Earth any longer, she lives on in me and the things I make, so I think this is the perfect name.
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| Fox and Hedgehog wall art |
What is your favourite piece from your own range?
This is a bit like asking me which child is my favourite. I don’t really have a favourite piece from my range, because each and every piece that I make is different to the next. I love that my products all seem to develop their own little personality by the time they are finished. I get quite attached to each piece that I make.
Where do you see your business in 5 years time?
Life is so busy and who knows what is around the corner, but I would like to think that I will still be taking the time out to create my products. At the moment my sewing space is actually our family living space, so my dream in 5 years would be to have my own sewing room.
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| Custom order for personalised cushions |
What are you creating on your table at the moment?
At the moment I have some orders for personalised cushions and I am also busy building my stock for the next market. I am currently making some more rag dolls and working out which fabrics I will use for the different parts.
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| Working out fabrics for my rag dolls |
Where else can your fans check out your products ?
Jilly Junior
Tell us a little about yourself...
At the
tender age of 15 my stepfather and mum gave me my first sewing machine. I
looked at it and thought ‘great what do you think I am going to do with that‘.
Never to be beaten I set about teaching myself to sew. Scouring book after
book and seamstress after seamstress. I now have my second machine some 40
years later. I find myself each day at that machine creating. I have tried most
things if not once at least several, but my love now is making childrens’
teepees and dinosaur tails.
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| Dinosaur tails ready to be filled!! |
My
inspiration for our business was our eldest daughter who is a primary school
teacher. Our girls have a habit of coming to me and saying mmmmmmmmuuuum….
Could you please make me, but this time it wasn’t a dress or skirt or top it
was a teepee. That was April 2013. We thought about the determined use and that
gave us the required dimensions. So after several hours of discussions, measurements
and indeed some swearing, so was born a design. With roughly drawn measurements
on a scrap of cardboard from a box lying on the ground in the shed, the first
prototype was made. I was bored on nightshift one night so I happened to put a
photo of the said teepee on Facebook and by the time I got home from work that
morning I had 15 orders!
How did you name your business?
The teepee is designed for the children of the world so a play on words junior
- plus our daughter loves sewing she is my junior partner - hence Jillyjunior!
So our
business began….. Within the next 5 years I would love to see it being our full
time employment. I am already transitioning from nursing to the amazing studio
we created at the end of last year. We are beginning to send overseas now so I
would love for that to grow more.
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| Our Teepee's |
What is your favourite piece from your own
range?
Aimee has the gorgeous pink teepee in her prep classroom, as a reading and rest
area, but my favourite is the turquoise with a close second being the lace and
satin. We are
currently on the last of our pink fabric and so trialling new fabrics to
replace it. I want it to be
gorgeous, girlie, gentle and pretty with a chic edge.
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| One of my favourites...the lace and satin Teepee |
What are you creating on your table at the moment?
Keep watching lots of
things happening in the Jilly Junior studio. We identified an area within the
younger community of our region that not many women could sew. This prompted me
to want to share my skills learned over many years - with the studio being to
big just for Jilly Junior we have dedicated half of it to a sewing school.
"JillyJunior sewing school". The first 5 week course is just about completed and
the dates for the next block will be up really soon.
Looking forward to meeting you somewhere in the near future. Love Jilly xx
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| Jilly Junior studio and sewing school |
Where else can your fans check out your products ?
Tell us a little about yourself...
My name is Michelle, I'm married to an amazing husband
who lets me buy way more fabric than I need and we have a beautiful 6month old
girl who is by far my greatest handmade creation.
What inspired you to start your own
business?
When
I was pregnant with my daughter I became addicted to everything handmade. There is something so lovely and personal about buying an item that
has been handmade by someone.
I
had always admired the beautiful dolls people made and I thought it would be a
nice idea to try and make one for my daughter. The first couple of attempts
were a bit rough, but with a few tweaks and another couple of goes, I was
really happy with how they were turning out. I got a lot of positive feedback
and most importantly I enjoyed making them. I love being able to create
something that will hopefully be some little girl or boy's favourite toy.
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| Sweet Hugs beautiful dolls |
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| My creative workspace! |
How did you name your business?
The name
Sweet Hugs, was just something that stuck when brainstorming ideas. I wanted
something cute, simple and easy to remember. I think it's very appropriate when
it comes to the dolls, they are SWEET and you want them to receive lots of
HUGS!
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| They are sweet and you want to hug them! |
What is your favourite piece from your own
range?
The
problem with making dolls is, each new one I make is a new favourite, but I'd
have to say at the moment the bunny girls are high on my list.
Where do you see your business in 5 years
time?
Hopefully
in 5 years time, my love for making dolls can support me as a full time job.
Being able to work from home and still have lots of time for my little girl is
very important.
I also
hope to expand the doll range to include some options for the boys...cowboys,
super heroes and pirates.
What are you creating on your table at the moment?
With
Easter just around the corner, I'm in the middle of putting together some
beautiful bunny girls and bunny rattles.
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| New bunny girl's |
Where else can your fans check out your products ?
Blackbird Lane Designs
Tell us a little about yourself...
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| Absolutely couldn't get through life without my darlings! |
What inspired you to start your own business?
I am a self-taught sewer…everything
I’ve learnt so far has come from handy YouTube videos and online tutorials! I
have been sewing for a couple of years now and really get a buzz out of making
things for others. It wasn’t until a friend of mine suggested I start selling
my things that I started to think seriously about starting my own business. It
took me a little while, and a lot of courage to decide to go ahead and create
Blackbird Lane Designs.
I am so lucky to have a very
supportive husband, family and friends who have helped encourage me along the
way.
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| This is where the magic happens |
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| These are the fabrics I'm working with right now...I do have a larger stash! |
How did you name your business?
I went about daily life with a
notebook handy and wrote down words and phrases that I liked. In the end I sat
down with a cup of tea and played with a few favourites and came up with
Blackbird Lane Designs.
I wanted my business name to be
clean and simple, but also able to reflect my products for little boys and
girls. I also loved the fact that my
business name allowed me to have a simple black bird logo which I think
transfers well onto tags for my handmade items!
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| I bought this gorgeous original print from a lovely lady whom I've never met, but have grown fond of and who has her own business and who kindly gave me some lovely words of wisdom when I was just starting out. (From Yellow Poppies) |
What is your favourite piece from
your own range?
I have 3 main products that I’m
currently making, dresses (in 2 styles), bandana bibs and organic maple
hardwood teether's. I have so many
incredibly exciting ideas in my crazy creative head that I sometimes have to
hold myself back and stick to a couple of things. I’m a big believer that quality is SO
important and I therefore intend on making a small number of things and making them
to a really high standard!
My favourite piece from my range
would have to be the bandana bibs. These were the very first things I made for
my little boy Mitchell when he started dribbling and was so proud of myself for
drawing up a pattern and coming up with something very cute for my little man!
I also think the bandana bibs are super funky and stylish and really are
another fashion accessory for little bubs.
There are so many different fabric designs in my collection, that I
think they will compliment almost any outfit!
Where do you see your business in 5
years time?
I recently attended my first market
ever and had an absolute ball. I’d love nothing more than for this tiny little
business to turn into something that I can work on full-time! Spending time
with my family, sewing and meeting new people are three of my favourite things
to do and being able to continue to do these things into the future and
actually earn a living would be absolutely wonderful!
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| My most favourite teacup in the whole wide world. I love that old saying "A cup of tea will solve everything"! |
What are you creating on your table
at the moment?
I am currently working on two new
bib designs! One of these designs will be specifically for girls and will
feature a ‘petal’ shape. I’m very excited about these little beauties and even
more excited to be sharing with you for the very first time! This little number
is fresh off my sewing desk! The second
bib design will help mums with bubs that are starting solids! This new bib will
feature a fold up section at the bottom of the bib fastened by two plastic
press studs and catch all of those little bits that bubs’ drops! Stay tuned for
photos of this new design very soon!
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| This is a new design I'm working on right now. It's coming along nicely! |
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| I hope to have these available at the Jack 'n' Jill Children's Market! |
Where else can your fans check out your products?
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