The next terrifying thing I did in 2025 was a craft fair.
On the surface, it sounds small. A table. Some stock. A few hours. In reality, the planning consumed my waking moments. Every spare thought was taken up by questions, lists, and what-ifs.
When the Work Suddenly Felt Too Big
One of the first problems was realising that the artwork I’d drawn years ago for my notebooks wouldn’t translate properly to anything over A5 without being redrawn. That alone felt overwhelming.
And then came the bigger realisation. Notebooks couldn’t be the only thing on the table. If I wanted people to stop, browse, and buy, I needed a range of products. Things that made sense. Things people actually wanted.
That thought nearly stopped me in my tracks.
The Beautiful Rabbit Hole
I initially went down a tarot card air freshener route. I’d made them before for sea swimming friends and they were loved. But I had no scents. No process. No clue how to scale it.
I disappeared into a complete rabbit hole of fragrance research, suppliers, testing, and indecision. It became its own obsession, and honestly, its own future blog post.
Eventually, I had to step back and ask myself what I was really trying to do.
The Comment That Changed Everything
The breakthrough came from a casual conversation. Someone picked up one of my notebooks, looked at the artwork, and said something that stopped me cold.
“This looks like the cottage from those fantasy books. Are these literary related?”
And just like that, the product list was born.
All the little designs I’d been working on for years did have a literary feel. I just hadn’t named it yet. Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it.
Finding the Words
I started pairing the artwork with quotes. Carefully chosen lines from books and authors I loved. Jules Verne. Herman Melville. J.K. Rowling. J.R.R. Tolkien. Sarah J. Maas. Lewis Carroll.
Suddenly everything clicked. Book-themed gifts. Literary notebooks. Pieces that felt intentional instead of improvised.
The work I’d already done finally had a frame.
The Day Itself
The craft fair was a roaring success.
I didn’t sell out, and I didn’t need to. I had stock left, but I also had something far more valuable. Experience. Confidence. Proof.
I loved talking about my work. I loved hearing people’s reactions. I loved the audible gasps when someone saw my filled-in notebook and asked if they could take a photo.
What Stayed With Me
For a long time, I thought my notebooks were just a messy place for my thoughts to land. Private. Unpolished. Nothing special.
That day changed how I see them.
They weren’t just pages. They were evidence. Of living. Of noticing. Of time passing with care.
Closing Thoughts
The planning nearly broke me. The fear nearly talked me out of it.
But standing there, sharing work I’d made quietly over years, I realised something important. Sometimes the thing you think is too messy to show is exactly the thing people connect with most.
