A little throwback… Annalise Paints in Peppermint Magazine 🥹

 

Before the paw print kits, before some of the huge milestones Annalise Paints has reached recently, there was a very nervous me getting ready to have my first stall at The Finders Keepers Melbourne.

And somehow, along the way, I ended up being featured in Peppermint Magazine.

In October 2023, Peppermint included Annalise Paints as one of nine makers to discover at The Finders Keepers Melbourne.

At the time, getting into Finders Keepers felt HUGE.

I had visited the markets as a customer for years, so suddenly being on the other side of the stall was one of those little “how is this my life?” moments.

Read the original Peppermint Magazine feature →

From visiting Finders Keepers to becoming a stallholder

One of the things I spoke about in the Peppermint feature was how excited I was to experience Finders Keepers from a stallholder's point of view.

For years I'd wandered around looking at all of the beautiful products, meeting artists and small business owners and thinking how amazing it would be to have Annalise Paints there one day.

Then suddenly, I did.

It was a pretty big milestone for my little business.

And I was TERRIFIED. 😂

Annalise Paints looked a little different back then

Reading the article now is such a fun little time capsule.

At the time, Annalise Paints was centred around my hand-painted watercolour pet portraits alongside lots of pet-inspired goodies.

I was bringing cards, candles, stationery and plenty of other cute things to markets.

For Finders Keepers, I was even launching new washi tape and my little candle collection, The Cheeky Litter.

A lot has changed since then.

But the reason behind what I create hasn't.

It has always been about celebrating pets 🐾

Whether I'm painting someone's dog, drawing a ridiculous cat onto a greeting card or helping someone capture the tiniest details of their pet's paw, Annalise Paints has always revolved around how much we absolutely adore our animals.

They're part of the family.

They're in thousands of photos on our phones.

We buy things purely because they have their breed on them.

And somehow they manage to take over our beds while we're left clinging to approximately 10cm of mattress.

Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. 😂

The creative community that helped me get there

One part of the Peppermint interview that still means a lot to me was talking about the creative community.

When I started doing small markets, other artists and small business owners were the people cheering me on and telling me to apply for bigger opportunities.

Eventually, they convinced me to work up the courage to apply for Finders Keepers.

That's something I've never really forgotten.

Running a small business can sometimes feel like you're figuring absolutely everything out by yourself, so having people around you who understand the weird, wonderful and occasionally chaotic world of being creative for a living is pretty special.

Looking back from where Annalise Paints is now…

This is probably my favourite part.

At the time of this article, getting my first Finders Keepers stall felt like one of the biggest things I'd ever done with Annalise Paints.

And it WAS.

But I had absolutely no idea what was still to come.

Since then, this little business has continued to change, grow and reach milestones that 2023 Annalise probably wouldn't believe.

And every time something exciting happens, I think it's important to look back at moments like this.

Because none of the big milestones happen without all of the little ones first. 🤍

Read the original Peppermint Magazine feature

You can still read the original 2023 article and see the incredible group of Australian makers Peppermint featured alongside me.

Read the Peppermint Magazine article →

Where Annalise Paints is today 🐾

Things might look a little different around here now, but celebrating pets is still at the centre of everything I make.

🐾 Capture their real paw print with an Inkless Paw Print Kit

🎨 Have your favourite photograph turned into an original hand-painted watercolour pet portrait

And thank you to every single person who has followed along from the tiny market stall days to now.

 

There's still plenty more to come. 🤍