a great Sunday

John took me out for Breakfast today and I had poached eggs on toast...yum, yum!

I spent the rest of the afternoon at my workshop finishing off the last parts of a wholesale order and packing up parcels

tonight?? hand sewing at home on the sofa for me :-)

made to order

he's all packed and ready to go to his new home too.

goal!

I was sitting at my worktable yesterday evening cutting out teeny-tiny squares of felt and gluing them into place onto swatch cards and my mind was wandering round and round, lots of small incomplete thoughts, then I re-focused on what I was doing and realised how much I love every aspect of this business I have created...

...and how proud I am that I have achieved a big goal.
I have set lots more big goals for myself this year, I've written them down and given myself time lines to (hopefully) ensure they get done...I'll keep you updated as I go :-)

r.a.i.n.b.o.w.s......

I had a very rainbow-y day today...and I also found the function on my camera which takes clever wide photos!

I've always sold 12" rainbows and 4" mini rainbows and now I have middle sized 9" rainbows too!

I think they look great piled up on top of each other!

each and every rainbow has 45 different colours of felt and is tied with pretty ribbon

I hope you spent your day having as much fun as I did!

a taster

I found a new supplier a few weeks ago and I did a small order to make sure I liked the quality of what they sent...and I did! Which is good because it means I can order lots more!

here's my sample order ::

I used to have deco tape in my shop 'till about a year ago but the supplier I used no longer offered competitive prices so I am so pleased I found a new one ::

just look at that monkey!!
I've added them onto my web site, along with the last few from my old supplier....I was hoarding them because I couldn't get any more...no need to do that now!!

cupcake kits

as you can see I have been busy making piles!
piles of cupcake kits in the making...I've printed and cut front covers, instructions & patterns, counted and folded felt, measured & cut ribbon and felt ric-rac, counted mini brads & buttons and put them in bags...

...they should all be finished tomorrow :-)

in :: out :: in :: in :: in :: tidy :: move :: pass-out(!)

received :: fabric from China ...I only officially 'needed' the top fabric....but couldn't resist the others!

posted :: an order for 12 mini heart ornaments....

received (part 1) :: kit pieces...

received (part 2) :: rainbow pieces...

received (part 3) :: my biggest felt order EVER

tidied :: made room for biggest felt delivery ever ::

moved :: re-homed all handmade items moved to make room for biggest ever felt delivery ::

nearly exploded with joy at seeing felt by-the-metre in my little shop ::

it looks like a fabric shop...except it's better, because it's felt!

and I've been working super hard to get it all listed on my website!

hurrah for felt by the metre :-)

Felty-Details ::

same gorgeous felt I sell in squares :: cut straight from the bolt :: 180cm wide (71") that's really wide! :: sold by the half metre :: £8.50 for half a metre (50cm x 180cm) :: a felty bargain!

availble here

filling up

All my new stock deliveries are fairly imminent (I am getting SO excited!)

so I thought it was probably a good idea to stock up on some made items...in no particular order we have ::

new tortoises

new cupcakes

new mini cupcakes

and new owls too.

and they are all in the shop right now!

craft hope for Haiti

Craft Hope have set up an etsy shop, all the items have been donated by crafty people, and all money received goes to Doctors without Borders in Haiti.

you can read all about it here :: details

and go shopping here ::shop

I've donated a 12" rainbow of felt and will pay for worldwide postage, which will be a bargain for the buyer and, more importantly, will help to raise some much needed money.

The ladies behind Craft Hope are super busy and it's taking them a little while to list items (understandably) but i'll try catch when it's listed and put a link here for you.

***UPDATE***
wow! that was fast, at 2.30pm I received an email from CraftHope letting me know my listing was live and by the time I got home from work at 4.30pm it was sold!

hard ware

I've ordered A LOT of stock since the new year and this is the first delivery containing something new!! (it's also the smallest one!)

I've filled up both sizes of brooch bars and teeny-tiny black beads AND got some split rings too!

I had a very hard job finding these when I used them on Christmas presents ...when I did finally find them they were 12p each...these lovely keyring rings are TEN for 50p!

***btw all the freebies are now gone, they'll be more freebies of one kind or another in February***

car travel

the snow has all melted away which means I can finally drive to the workshop.
Which means I can finally transport all the workshop items that were 'temporarily' at home.
Which means I can finally put my buttons back where they belong.
Which means I can finally show you my newly tidied button collection :-)

pretty ain't it?

sewing marathon

I started sewing around 5pm yesterday...I stopped to eat sausage casserole (made by John) which was very yummy...and I checked the computer a couple of times (can't keep away !)

and I didn't stop sewing till 11.30pm: the end of Slumdog Millionaire (on the TV) and look at my lovely finished order ::

I've been working on it all week and I'm so happy it's all done :-)

...in other news... today I ordered a VERY exciting something for the shop...it should be here early next week, and you'll be the first to see it !

hard at work

I'm in the middle of sewing a wholesale order ... I cut out the last pieces today and plan to spend the rest of this evening sewing them up...finished photos tomorrow (hopefully!)

sorry...

...to the people in the Post Office who were behind me in the queue!

I've been a very busy bee, wrapping, packing & posting off orders, all with a little freebie added to the parcel...there are currently 29 freebies left, so if you hurry you may still get one!

first orders of 2010

unlike my other shops, my etsy Bulk shop is full of products which are all made to order.

this week I had an order for 6 owls (of the pink variety)

and 24 cupcake embellishments

two of my favourite items to make, how lucky is that?!

a strange sight

this sight hasn't been seen in a while ::

a pile of wips on my work tray, all ready and waiting to be turned into felt goodies (cupcakes and owl ornaments).
I hope your weekends are filled with such pleasures :-)
***freebie update :: flying out the door but still enough to go around***

freebie day :: January 2010

hurrah!

It's freebie day.....since February 2007 I have held a Freebie Day on my blog.

The freebie is announced on the first Thursday of every month and prizes differ every time, sometimes they are handmade goodies, sometimes supplies for making your own.

Because next month is my two-year-freebie-anniversary I have split my celebration into two BIG freebies (this one and February's one). This month I am including freebie gifts in packages I send out from my shop, and next month winners will be picked from comments left on my blog.

The prize this month is that WHOLE box of ribbon...192 mini spools of ribibon, each one is 4ft long ...the box has been split into 75 freebie gifts, each freebie gift has 2 or 3 spools of ribbon in it, and one package will be added to every order received once this post has been published...I'm hoping that this way the freebie will reach regular & new customers and *fingers crossed* more people have the chance of a freebie gift!

The next 75 orders I receive from Etsy, Ebay, Folksy or my Website will have a freebie gift added to them and I will put a note here once all the freebies have gone.

I hope you enjoy this month's freebie....see you again on the first Thursday of February for two-year-freebie-anniversary Part Two!

snow

I was all on my own at the workshop today...my workshop is in the car park of a very busy gym but today, after I had walked,skidded and slipped my way there the gate was locked and all the snow in the car park was untouched!

my workshop in the snow
I love my little workshop building...it's so cute, I just wish that whoever owns the house that's behind it would paint that ugly grey wall!

Mind you I don't often see that view...this is what I look out on ::

view looking out of my workshop door

view looking out of my workshop windows

and it looks even prettier in the snow :-)

ooopps I nearly forgot!

I've been working on January's freebie tonight....I've been planning it since before Christmas and I'm really enjoying putting it together, so much so that I nearly forgot about a photo I took this morning ! ::

That's one tray of buttons....I'll photograph the others tomorrow!