A few weeks ago I went along to an Etsy meet up with Matt, one of the founders of Etsy. After seeing a few familiar faces from when I first started on Etsy I realised that it had been five years since I started my shop. Before Able and Game I had a label called Anna Laura and I like to think of it as the training wheels for Able and Game. It's nice to look back on the five years and think of all the things that have changed, we have shifted twice and Gareth and I have both left our jobs to work full time on the business. I'm excited about the next five years and seeing which direction we go with the business.

Here are a few images from last five years:




The very first stall I had at Rose Street in January 2007. It was a bit of a mess, I shared the stall with my sister and I think I thought doing a market was hard going and maybe not for me. Just over a year later I was doing it every weekend and realised the errors of my way.






This is one of my felt lady badges used to make and I often see a resemblance between the images on the cards and their little stitched faces. Although I've not seen this for more than a year I still remember her name was Danica.







These were some of the cards I sold at Rose Street in 2008 and I like to think of them as the seeds that got Able and Game started. Just after selling these for Mother's Day I decided I wanted to start a card business and that Gareth and I would do it together. He came up with the 'Thanks for the lift" copy so I knew he would be a good fit. Plus he has skills with computers.






Gareth used to help me with the modelling of my bags. This was from when we lived in Upwey and had a big lush garden and I was teaching full time.