About us

MAKIN' WHOOPEE GIFT SHOP

Support handmade, local & Australian made!

A little shop of local and Australian made goodness, representing artists, crafters & makers from FNQ & all over Australia! Perfect for shoppers who don't want ordinary or run of the mill products & like to support small businesses & buy handmade! With everything from Jewellery, Ceramics, homewares, clothing, toys, plants and SO much more, an ever changing array of Australian made & handmade goodness! Fun, Colourful, stylish & funky, that’s Makin’ Whoopee style!

 

 

THE WHOOPSTERS

 

FANY WHOOPEE 

Fany Whoopee is French Canadian (Quebecoise) and feels like a polar bear in a sauna at all times in Cairns. She moved to Australia in November 2005 and to Cairns in August 2010. She met the sisters Kirsty & Tracey Whoopee at the Cairns Regional Gallery where they all used to work together. Their friendship and love of handmade (jewellery) lead to Makin' Whoopee. Fany studied Arts in college and got a diploma in film photography (a long long long time ago! She also had a pager!) while working in a video shop for many years! That's where you could rent movies on VHS tapes kids! Fany makes all sorts of things available in Makin' Whoopee under the name of WATSON THE PUMPKIN (her huge baby pussycat that she lovingly calls Watsypoo) like wire headbands, screen printed felt brooches, lasercut dangle earrings and some t-shirts screen printed by her very clever husband. She's a crazy cat lady and has a true crime obsession (big fan of My Favorite Murder podcast).

KIRSTY WHOOPEE

Kirsty Whoopee is born & bred in Cairns, a 4th generation Cairns girl, and Tracey Whoopee is her big sister! She lived in the UK, mainly Scotland for 3 years while travelling the world, and is obsessed with travelling, even though she doesn’t get to do it much anymore, the bucket list is epic!! With a background is in the arts, a Fine Arts Degree, a Diploma of Interior Decorating & a trained Merchandiser, decorating is her JAM!!! She loves displaying and decorating… everything… all the time, even the Whoopee toilet gets decorated! After meeting her “twin” Fany Whoopee while they worked together in the Art Gallery, they couldn’t stop talking about starting a shop, fantasising about what they could do… SO THEY DID IT, and Makin’ Whoopee was born!!! A total nerd, and totally cool with it, Kirsty is obsessed with SO many things they can’t all be listed here, but the main ones are Ancient History, Books, ALL animals, Art & Music, she is full of useless facts on all of those subjects, and will tell you, whether you ask or not… consider yourselves warned! She REALLY loves all things Harry Potter & Marvel, Star Wars & Disney and gets obsessed with Tennis during every grand slam! She gets very excited if you start a chat on any of those subjects… you might regret it! Final confession… she is CHRISTMAS CRACKERS, Like Buddy the Elf’s sister! Her friends have renamed it “Kirstmas” in her honour! Like the other Whoopsters, Kirsty makes all sorts of things for the shop, paper crafts, some sewing, jewellery, and clay creations! You can find her goodies in the shop as “This Bird Has Flown’, named after lyrics from her favourite Beatles song, and because she loves birds! She likes to cook a lot, & also does a bit of sewing… she has a serious stash of fabric, definitely more fabric than she has time to sew! Then there is her cheeky puppy Maisey Jingles (aka Crazy Maisey), who she adorbs, she’s her fur baby! When she’s not at Whoopee you can find her rewatching her fave movies & british TV Shows (The Mighty Boosh!) over & over while making STUFF, rewatching “Time Team” Box Sets (yes… she told you she was a nerd…) and dabbling with plants, or cooking up a storm! Phew…. That’s enough of Kirsty Whoopee for now!

TRACEY WHOOPEE

Tracey Whoopee is Kirsty Whoopee’s big sister, & the Mum of the Whoopsters… she has two red headed terrors, Bailey & Emerson, but is also the worrier of the Whoopee team, therefore, the “Mum”… probably because she does all of the paperwork and figures that the other 2 try to avoid! With a background in finance & administration, she likes to think she is the “boss”, the other 2 just let her think that! She is the oldest of the 3 Whoopsters, but is kinda aging in reverse, or “immaturing” as she likes to call it! She is also the Sporty Spice of Whoopee, a fitness freak, and yes, actually a Spice girls fan too! There are so many things to say about Tracey, it’s hard to know where to begin, but the main thing you need to know is that she is a mega, MEGA DISNEY FREAK!!! Barely a day goes by that there isn’t something Disney related on her body, and she is slowly but surely “bagging” all of the theme parks, end goal= go to all Disneys! She is also the queen of “Matchy Matchy” dressing, if you think you’re good, think again, Tracey wins every time, hands down! Not a big fan of animals, or the outdoors in general (too much dirt & stuff)… the other Whoopsters think it’s hilarious that she has a son who is a cross between Don Burke & Steve Irwin, and she has more pets than she wants, and not your average pets either! First up, a beautiful 12 year old doggo, Honey Bunny & 2 budgies called Dizzy & Whizzy, one of them is the grumpiest bird on the planet & likes to Kung Fu it’s brother (not even kidding!)…. But then there is Jerry Montgomery Fluffikins the Blue Tongue Lizard, aka Fat Jerry, 100 fish and snails…. And last but not least, the newest addition to the menagerie, Julius Stanley Nigel… the Stimson’s Python… not bad for someone who doesn’t “DO” animals hey… oh and they are big on names! Tracey’s other biggest loves are Cake, Cocktails, Shoes, Earrings, and of course planning her next trip to Disney! She totally loves 80’s music and all American TV shows, old & new! She
is also a certified clean freak and has been known to vacuum her floor during parties…. She would like the beach a whole lot better if she could vacuum the sand up first! But we aren’t meant to tell you that! Her crafty hobbies include sewing and polymer clay, you can find her bags, purses, eye masks and jewellery in Whoopee under the name “Sew Hot Right Now”… so very Tracey!