My Cat and Crafts officially had its third pop-up market here in Saudi Arabia and second one at Eurovillage Compound for their Spring Market!
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Read about my first two pop ups here:
Eurovillage Compound Winter Market 2025 - My First Craft Fair in Saudi Arabia
Twinkle & Sparkle: Craft Fair #2 in KSA
Despite having two really successful markets last year, I still went into this one trying to manage my expectations. It’s almost summer, the heat is starting to become intense, and a lot of people are already traveling for vacation. So once again, I told myself the same thing I always do before every market:
“If I make one sale, I’ll already be happy.” And that the time and drive was just a day out for the husband and I to do something together.
Thankfully, that one (first) sale came pretty quickly - two boys stopped by our table, carefully looked through all the cards, and eventually picked two: one pretty Happy Birthday card and another with a bunny. For the third time now, it has been kids who were my first sale. It was cute because I can only imagine what they will write or to whom they will give the cards to.
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| Our first 2 sales! |
Then little by little, more people started coming.
Looking.
Touching.
Opening albums.
Buying.
And then came Vivi.
She was our neighboring vendor selling really gorgeous fancy jewelry, and at one point she walked over to my table and started looking through everything. Like… genuinely everything from one end of the table to the other. She kept ooh-ing and ahh-ing over all the details, especially the pop-up cards and the mini albums with interactive inserts.
Then she noticed my bag and suddenly said we had the same one. That’s when I remembered her - we had actually met during the Winter Market last year because she excitedly pointed out the exact same thing back then too. She was just as warm and friendly this time around.
She picked up my Traci Reed “Brighter Days” mini album and asked to see it. I told her it was one of my favorites, so I started flipping through the pages, showing the flaps, pockets, inserts, and interactive elements.
And then the compliments started.
“Mamacita this is so gorgeous!”
“Oh f*ck you’re really really good!”
“Mamacita you are so talented!”
Tbh, if I ever needed validation for my crafting, she probably gave me a lifetime supply of it that afternoon. Every time I showed her another favorite project, she’d immediately go:
“Sold.”
Then after buying one album she said:
“Okay now show me your NEXT favorite album.”
And then:
“Sold.”
Again.
It was one of the sweetest and most heartwarming experiences I’ve ever had in a market (or maybe in life haha) - just seeing someone genuinely appreciate handmade work, let alone my own - with so much excitement and enthusiasm.
Right in the middle of all that though, I had a little girly emergency, so Ton and I had to suddenly leave the booth for a quick emergency pants run while our friends watched the table for us. Thankfully, these friends really are the best kind of people because when we got back, everything was perfectly fine + they’ve made sales and even took the initiative to go through what’s under the table for more stuff to display and sell.
Apparently while we were gone, a lady even came by twice looking for me - though sadly no one got her name. I think it was my friend who introduced me to one of the organizers though.
Later on, Che and her family arrived too. She has been supporting me and visiting my tables since my very first market here in Saudi, and I’m really so grateful for people like her who continue showing up and supporting my little creative corner. She’s a crafter too!
Then Vivi came back.
YES. Again. Hahaha.
This time she said her husband saw all the things she bought and was amazed too, so he wanted her to get more. She started going through the table all over again, and it became such a fun chain reaction because while she was enthusiastically flipping through albums and reacting dramatically to every detail, more people started gathering around too out of curiosity.
At one point, there were enough people around the table that my husband and our friends had to help assist customers too. We joked, of course, that my staff are not being helpful. Haha!
It was chaotic in the best way possible!
By the end of her second round, she had bought around another dozen cards, more mini albums, and several smaller albums too. Then she went back to her own table and started proudly showing her husband every single thing she bought - and not just showing them one by one but actually opening cards, flipping through albums, showing inserts. It was not just a quick “look what I got,” but genuinely appreciating each piece like a little show and tell in their booth!
An hour later, her husband himself came over to my table.
We all thought he was going to jokingly complain that we had emptied their wallets because of his wife, but instead he sincerely told me how beautiful and well-made my work was and that I made his wife really happy. He said she used to make things too and that she was so excited about my projects. He also said that I should charge more because of how nice my works are!
That heartwarming conversation stayed with me the whole night.
Then yes…
Vivi came back AGAIN. Hahaha.
At this point she had already seen practically everything, but she still found more things she wanted. One of my friends helping at the booth brought out a ziplock bag of Cricut projects I originally planned to use as freebies but didn’t because I had already run out of table space earlier during setup.
She saw my Saudi National Day stickers and immediately loved them too. She asked how much they were, and I told her they were supposed to be freebies so I’d just give them to her. She said no, the will pay for them but of course, I insisted on giving it to her.
Then she joked that if they were free, she wanted all the remaining packs.
So I said:
“Then I’ll give you all of them!”
She tried insisting on paying and even attempted to force me to take change from her 100 SAR payment. When I refused, she dramatically (and sweetly) demanded:
“Okay then show me MORE stuff!”
So I showed her the remaining easel cards.
And of course:
“Sold!”
At that point I just ended up giving her the remaining square easel cards too.
Somewhere in between all the laughter and chaos, she pulled me aside and seriously told me I should raise my prices because my work was genuinely good and worth more. She even gave specific prices I should charge!
I explained that many of these projects were originally made for my design teams - using products I received, affiliate earnings, or projects that had already rewarded me in other ways - so I was happy just being able to share and sell them affordably.
She still insisted.
Then she turned to my husband after he joked that I’m simply happy making things and asked him:
“Don’t you have business skills? Are you an engineer???”
Which made all of us burst out laughing because yes… he actually is. And so was another friend with us.
The whole day was just full of really good vibes, kind people, laughter, support, and unexpected moments that made my heart feel so full despite the little emergency in the middle of it all.
I didn’t even get the chance to properly look around all the vendor tables because the day got unexpectedly busy. I actually brought a book and one of my journals as backup activities in case things got quiet - but apparently, I didn’t need them at all. Yayyy!
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| Lucky cat pen from Kaye |
Still, here are some photos of the tables I managed to snap throughout the day - mostly the ones near mine.
Alfao Minerals, Rocks and Fossils - The table right in front of mine filled with minerals, rocks, fossils, bracelets, pendants, and all sorts of shiny tempting things. I was this close to buying another bracelet because I love collecting them as souvenirs, but remembering the box of unopened bracelets I brought from Manila somehow gave me enough self-control not to. Barely. Hahaha.
Our next-table neighbors didn’t really have a shop name displayed, but they were selling really lovely bedsheets, linens, and home textiles.
DecoTen - I remembered her immediately from last year’s Winter Market because of the gorgeous hand-decorated Christmas jars she sold back then. Her booth was just as pretty this time around too.
Maria’s Slime Factory - One of the cutest booths in the market! Maria and her mom were both wearing matching shirts with their logo, and all the slime products were handmade by 8-year-old Maria herself. So cute and impressive at the same time!
We ended the night with a late dinner at one of our newest favorites, Five Guys - where once again the Kabayans working there spoiled us with a huge extra bag and cup of fries for free.
Then cutest ending to the day…
As we were leaving, almost the entire team - cashiers and kitchen staff included - waved goodbye all at the same time and loudly called out their thank yous and byes like we were regulars who owned the place or something. And during that time, the place was packed with locals in thobes and we were the only ones who were not (plus we were all in pink!)
It was such a simple and cute little moment.
But after such a warm, happy, laughter-filled day, it somehow felt like the perfect ending.
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