today I finished ::

.....a couple of boxes for 2 different special orders ::

.....and a box full of kits for a wholesale order ::

A busy day, but a fun one!

apples & pears

There are lots of new apple & pear varieties in the shop ::

I especially like the crunchy red apples!
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I've spent the best part of today sorting my stock...making sure that when the website says I have got something I actually do have it (it was almost right!) next on the list is re-arranging the shelves into some sort of order!

virtual window dressing

I have a new shop!

paper-and-string can now be found on the amazing NotOnTheHighStreet.com !!

Ta-Dah! Here's my new 'window'

How It Happened ::

WAY back in February I was invited to join them and I took quite a few weeks to decide to wait until I had more time .... so once I'd handed in my notice at the day job (July) I took the plunge and signed up (gladly they still wanted me!!)...I merrily handed them a BIG wadge of cash (a one off joining fee...always best to hand it over merrily, otherwise you may faint at the amount of money leaving your bank account!!) and I have been spending time making & photographing items & getting used to their system of adding products and working it all out....last week I submitted my shop to be assessed (it felt like I was sitting an exam!) and after a 3 page list of things I'd done wrong (oops!) I made corrections and today it's all there for everyone to see....I'm slightly nervous and am completely unsure if it's the right next step but I have a good feeling about it and decided I must try :-)

Hurrah!

A swap for me!

Trash's parcel of Swap Goodness arrived today....I couldn't wait to open it!!

The Keywords I'd supplied were :: Corduroy, Polka Dots, Monkey & Orange

Are you ready for pictures?

GORGEOUS corduroy Shopping Bag filled with lots of parcels

with hand drawn labels & messages

pretty cloths

Doughnut Pin Cushion

YUMMMMMMMMMMM

Beautiful smelling handmade soap

and this? This is Alfonso the monkey...isn't he cute??

Trash, I love him & his orange dungarees AND the mini orange ric rac too!!

John's reaction of "someone painted that? that's bloody amazing!" sums it up rather nicely me thinks!!

And here's my new bag waiting for some shopping action tomorrow (it might be disappointed because it's first outing will be the not-very-glamorous Post Office!!)

and the buttons came too!

I managed to fold and unpack all the felt, just in time for the button delivery to arrive ::

hundreds more polka dot buttons AND a new extra large size!

just look at them, aren't they all lovely???

the extra larges are available in all 12 colours ::

and because I thought you'd be as excited as I am about these buttons I've just spent 2.5 hours battling to get them on the website!!

they have all been counted and put away in super-organised fashion....aaahhh that makes me happy :-)

a Felt Filled Friday

a great BIG felt delivery is keeping me super busy....and tomorrow the buttons are due!!

such colourful chaos, doesn't it look great!

routine

I've spent so long fitting paper-and-string around my old day job that finding a new routine is a little bit trial & error...I seem to have settled into one that's working for now, but I'm flexible if it feels like changing again!!

Early Morning I spend time on the computer, answering emails & sorting orders and quite often I fit in a little hand sewing time (along with coffee #2!)

About 10am I make my way to the workshop & I make stock & special orders, photograph items and start cutting out the next things to make.

Afternoons are dedicated to order picking/packing/posting (I keep experimenting with the time I go to the Post Office and so far the queues have been smaller than when I had to go at 5pm~and that means a BIG saving of around 30 minutes every day!) when I'm done at the Post Office I spend a few hours doing computery/website/paper work type jobs

... Evenings are for hand sewing, planning & list writing!

(or going out but that doesn't happen every night!!)

Working by myself still feels like a bit of a novelty...like I've taken a holiday from the day job and am due back soon...I'm sure that feeling will wear off eventually, but either way I'm loving every minute of it so far!

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Today is my Mum's birthday ~ Happy Birthday Mum, I love you xxx

flowers

more finished flowers...packed & wrapped, photographed & listed

tonight...I'm sitting down with the ribbon catalogue & shall not surface until decisions have been made, and the order written out...sounds tough doesn't it?

photo shoot

today I had a mini photo shoot!

nothing grand...just me and my camera, in my workshop ::

lots of fake-wrapped up parcels...

new brooch packaging...

and new brooches...

AND lots more drawing pins...what a fun way to spend the day!

flower power

I had such a productive weekend!

iron-ons completed ::

fabric flowers complete ::

and I managed to spend quite some time on the computer, doing lots of invisible things, like feedback leaving, re-listing sold items, re-writing descriptions....simply hours disappeared doing that!!

tray work

I've started work on some fabric flowers .... soon to be :: embellishments, iron-ons & drawing pins. John is off to Goodwood Revival tomorrow (a friend's friend dropped out so they had a spare ticket, we tried to get one for me as well but they have all sold out!) so I'm going to have a very crafty Saturday indeed :-)

K.I.T.S.

4 dozen of my kits are on their way to Fabric Rehab!

so if you need to buy some fabric and a kit you know where to go!

a cupcake-y day

I've so many things on my to do list ... and what better place to start than with my favourite cupcakes!

there's been a lot of photographing and a lot of web fiddling to make room for them all!

custom alphabet boxes

Hannah & Jane please look away now! (unless you fancy a sneaky peek??)

Today I got to spend some long awaited time at the sewing machine

putting the finishing touches to these Alphabet Boxes

Ever since I made the S.E.W. boxes I have had plans to add these Made-To-Order alphabet boxes to my shop, they aren't there yet but will be soon*

*soon = hopefully by the end of September !!

*if you fancy a set send me an email

*£9 a box in any colour you like

PS :: if you're feeling lucky there's a freebie giveaway going on over here

car boot treasure!

John's Mum & Dad came to visit this weekend and we went to a local car boot on Sunday...the sun was shining and all 4 of us found a bargain or two!

My bargain resulted in some furniture moving/tidying up in the workshop...ready for a quick tour?

view from the door, down the right hand side

view from the door, down the left side

my metre felt is now in the left hand corner...

...ugly (but necessary) packaging in the right hand corner (I'm a dedicated box keeper...I used to keep them at the day job but had to move them when I left!)

and the reason for all the moving around was to get an empty bit of wall to put my new cupboard on!

it's old and battered and rusty round the edges but I fell in love with it!

I almost didn't ask the price because I assumed it'd be quite a lot and I didn't really need it....can you guess how much it was???

£1 !!!

bargain of the year me thinks!

John was called into action to hang it on the wall...and whilst he was at it he also screwed my rail into place

...so no more bags and coats chucked on the floor :-)

as you like it swap

I took part in a swap organised by Trash & now my partner has received her parcel I can show you what I put in the package ::

The swap was called 'The As You Like It Swap 2010' and each swapee had to give keywords so the person sending to them could theme the swap around their 'likes' there was a minimum requirement of 4 items and 1 had to be handmade....the words Emma gave me were :: Vintage, Green & Bling

Vintage Barkcloth :: Vintage spools & new ribbons

Vintage Brooch with Green Sparkles (bling)

Patchwork Initial handmade needle case

and a picture in an embroidery hoop (I've always wanted to try this and had fun stitching it)