As you know, we do love to explore and visit wonderful small businesses as well as explore markets and Clove Lane Design is one of those businesses we love to visit again and again.

It must be said that a boutique market held in a gorgeous wedding garden that offers High Tea and Devonshire Tea amongst handmade wares sounds like a dream come true.

The Handmade Expo Market turns seven this month and this Saturday they are celebrating at their Ipswich location.

The  Ipswich market which is held at the Ipswich Turf club, Brisbane Road, Bundamba is the birth place of The Handmade Expo Market.

Did you know it is Alice in Wonderland's 150th birthday this year?  We are thrilled to be taking part in the Mad Tea Party blog event hosted by A Fanciful Twist . We have been sipping tea and taste testing little treats for weeks and finally the day is here.

My annual family holiday is camping at the holiday park in Cotton Tree on the fabulous Sunshine Coast.  Each year, we wander up to the Cotton Tree Markets held in the main street on Sundays.  So for this market visit even though I was with my family, I was sadly without my market tart partner in crime. Insert sad face here.

Without fail, every year delicious home baked biscuits and cakes are bought.  The chocolate chip macadamia biscuits being a firm favourite. The children usually have pocket money to spend and buy beaded bracelets or shells as holiday mementos. Each time we go, there are regular stalls we see year after year mixed with lovely new stalls to investigate.

The Cotton Tree Markets has a lovely community feel and has been running for over 20 years.  The market is held every Sunday morning in King Street, Cotton Tree, Maroochydore.  And once you've finished your market shopping there's a choice of cafes for a late breakfast or coffee.

 M xx


Link Love:
Cotton Tree Markets on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cottontreemarkets

A market doesn't have to be huge with hundreds of stalls to attract our attention, sometimes boutique is what we love.


Handmade Samford (one of the Love Handmade family) has its home at the Old Samford church Hall (the catholic church on the hill) and is as quaint as it sounds.

The lovely Janmaree is the curator of this boutique handmade market and is the country cousin of Handmade Redcliffe.

This is a sweet little country market, with around 20 stalls including coffee and wood fired pizza.
It is a great place to relax and take your time looking at the various stalls and chatting with the stallholders and breathe in some lovely country air.


Their next market is on the 16th May and further dates can be found on their website. Love Handmade Home

You know how some weekends, there is a good market on and then others there are heaps that you want to visit and you don't know which one to go to?

Well the Two Market Tarts did a triple treat market weekend {actually they were all on a Saturday} recently as we tarted around, flitting to and fro, market to market.

It was a lot of fun, but incredibly hot and in a hire car we weren't sure what the petrol warning signal meant and had to rely on Mr Google to find us the nearest petrol station and then had to race home in  front of a huge summer thunderstorm.

An eventful day all in all.

The three markets we visited were Artisans of Brisbane Markets where we found a fabulous blackboard bunny and some natural skin cream.

The Carseldine Farmers Markets where we had a very late but delicious breakfast.

We also had a little giggle at their signs.

The Two Market Tarts had a weekend of market hunting planned, however the horrible weather created by Cyclone Marcia has changed that.  Oh well, there's always next weekend.

Two Market tarts... join us on a journey of many markets, fairs and unique small businesses as we search for the very best of products, displays, artisans, creators, events, markets and fairs to visit.
We are looking for things that make us swoon and feel giddy with delight. Searching for the pretty, the vintage, the shabby, the unique and those things we didn't know we needed until we happened upon them on our travels.

We are based in Queensland, Australia, but have our eyes set on the world. If you know of a market or handmade loving business you think we should visit or an artisan you think is amazing, please send us an email with details and we will do our best to visit them.