giant swatches

I am half way through re-vamping the 'felt for sale' pages of my website...I seem to have planned* this re-jig properly and have got to a good point where it's ok to stop for the day...I can 'hide' the unfinished pages and the shop still works!!

I love my new giant swatches...they have been photographed for the website and the original plan was to bin them, but I love them in BIG scale...I think they may find their way onto the walls around here some time soon!

*there was no planning involved...just luck!

Sidney is For Sale

Sidney the Singer Sewing Machine needs a new home....

He's a very handsome Industrial Sewing Machine, he works well and sews fast and if I had the room I would be keeping him! He got left behind when I moved to the new workshop because he won't get up & around my new stairwell...and poor Sidney has been left in an empty foyer ever since...

he's been well used by me for the past 2.5 years and by many people before that! John put a new power lead on when we got him, because the original was very old and tired.

the enamel is wearing away...as is the formica on a corner of the table, but apart from signs of wear he's in great condition (none of the edges of wear are rough though)

He has a drawer full of needles and different feet (and my fluff dusting paintbrush!)

plus a packet of 20 brand new bobbins. The thread holder and bobbin winder are included too.

if you have a good home for Sidney where he can be kept busy sewing for hours on end then please get in touch...I'm only asking £100 for him.

He needs to be picked up from the BN11 area (Worthing, West Sussex) and he needs to be gone by Saturday 6th August. (they want their foyer back!!) He is very heavy but we can help lift this end!!

I shall be listing him on eBay at the end of the week but thought I'd Blog him first!

If you need any more info please just email me:

mail {at} paper-and-string {dot} co {dot} uk

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I will be back tomorrow with felt-y news!

pallet time

ta-dah!

this is my first delivery for my John Lewis order.....it is due to arrive at the distribution centre on Monday 1st August, I don't know how long it takes to get from there to the shop floor but I will let you know!!

My new workshop isn't accessible for pallet deliveries (it's on the first floor!) but luckily a friend of mine has the perfect pallet place, just round the corner...I needed to provide a pump truck and what a lovely pump truck it is!! (bought 2nd hand from ebay) it certainly saves a lot of back ache ;-)

Goodbye little sewing kits...I hope you all get sewn into wonderful creations!

a weekend of....

sewing!

I turned these little piles of cut out pieces ::

into these little piles of special orders ::

the needle case and Happy Tree are for custom orders and the pastel cupcakes are a top up order for Sophie

which colour is your favourite?

My latest felt delivery arrived which means I've spent a lot of time unpacking, unfolding and sorting all my felt-y colours!

at the moment I think my favourite colour is Pistachio. But I am very fickle and I'm sure it will be different next week!!

bus-y-ness

wow!

yesterday just flew by in a flash of phone calls and a pile of paperwork ...a boring day that will (soon) result in something good!!

Today I've been restocking ...

counting buttons...

into bags

and now the shop is full again!

shopkeeping

I love being a shop keeper. When I had a day job I managed a shop and I loved it.
Of course, now my shop is an online shop, not a bricks & mortar shop, but still a shop with the same kind of problems to solve and tasks to do. My favourite thing about being a shopkeeper has to be the unknown, everyday I don't know what orders I'll have or what people will be buying, or if I'll have one order or twenty (I'd rather have twenty!)....these past few days I have been making & posting out lots of my giant iron on letters...I've not made any for quite some time and then BAM they're flying out the door! I wonder what I'll be doing tomorrow...

Planning...

Every now and again I like to take a little look at paper-and-string and plan some future changes....and this weekend saw time for a little hand sewing (for the orders in the photo which have been finished and are now on their way) and a little planning...I'm always a little impatient when I get a new idea but for now I'm happy to sit and think and plan....and make lists of course!!

Friday Fun

thank you all for your kind words and support yesterday, it really helped me a great deal....I shall continue to update yesterday's post if & when anything new happens.

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yesterday evening (inbetween emails & blogging) I sat with a glass of wine on the sofa and stitched some flowers...the perfect project to add a bit of cheer to the end of a crappy day!

and today I've listed them in the shop, and then I dealt with some different boxes ::

for my John Lewis order I have had to find a supplier who will make me some boxes to my exact measurements....easier said than done when you only need a few (well, the box making peoples think 200 is a few. I think it is a lot!) so after getting some quotes and doing a little research I found ASCDirect who have a made-to-order tool called BoxBuilder and it's the best thing ever! you just pop your measurements in and they give you a price...and 2 days later you have your boxes!! I have tried it with a few sizes and it's quite a pricey way to get small boxes, but for medium and larger size boxes it's great! Plus with ASC I don't need to order 200 in one go to get a good price...which is good because they'd take up a lot of room!

My John Lewis boxes are perfect and on Monday I decided to buy some boxes to fit in my expedit Ikea cupboards....I love my cupboards but they seem to waste so much space...and these new boxes will hold all sorts of things .... who knows, soon I may have some room to move in here!!

box shock horror

today in Good Box News we have FIVE finished fabric boxes newly listed in the shop

I already had 3 completed and I just about managed to sew another 2 yesterday ...but then I gave up because I felt fed up/angry/sad because.....

In Bad Box News I've seen some photos of copies of my work... here are 2 pictures of my boxes ::

I know you've seen them before but take a good look...
and then take a look at photos taken from the copier's website ::

my lovely little pussy cat COPIED, my cute panda face COPIED

my owl COPIED

and worst of all my monkeys COPIED....I love my monkeys ... I made my first Monkey Face in January 2007 (Blogs are great for finding out things like that!)
*sigh*

I feel fed up

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I have emailed the site but have had no response

I have emailed another UK crafter whose designs have also been copied on the same site and she's fed up too!

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edited at 8.15pm to add ::

I have received an email and the boxes have now been removed from most of the site...I have asked that all the photos that show 'my' boxes be removed and hope they will be gone soon.

I have removed the link to their site as requested ... and now I'm off for a glass of wine!

I shall reply to your lovely comments in the morning, you are all superstars and have made me feel so much better!

is it a happy day ??

how can I not be happy when I'm surrounded by all these smiling faces?

these are the last batch of wholesale embellishments for one big order which I've been making over the past few weeks (I already made 36 original cupcake, 36 tortoises & 36 cats!)

next on the list?....finishing this pile of WIPS from a few weeks ago!

winners announced

the 3 winners are ::

#149 ... ncw
#81 ... erica (from Italy)
#75 ... gill
WELL DONE everyone!
I shall email you all for your addresses in a minute.... the freebie will be back next month (Thursday 4th August) and it's going to be a good one (even if I do say so myself!!)

hours of stitching

July's freebie post can be found here

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I started sewing these little cuties weeks ago, and managed to finish them off yesterday!
Next on the list? Happy Cupcakes for a wholesale order....

freebie day :: July 2011

Today is a freebie day with an added bonus!*

Regular readers will know that I run a Loyalty Card scheme, stickers are earned with every purchase and once the card is full it is swapped for a Free Craft Kit (like the one up there!)

All of the details for the loyalty card can be read here

For this month's freebie I have created a new Summer Colours Free Craft Kit which includes ::

5 sheets of 12" square wool mix felt

25g of sunshine yellow and orange buttons
5m's of co-ordinating grosgrain ribbons & 1m of felt ric rac

key rings & brooch bars AND some super cute teeny tiny polka dot buttons

There are THREE of these new Free Craft Kits up for grabs in the usual way

How To Enter
Simply leave a comment on this post to enter
I will post worldwide so everyone is welcome to enter

Rules

Strictly one entry per person

I must be able to contact you through your comment
Closing Date

The freebie will close on Tuesday 12th July 2011 and the winners will be announced shortly afterwards

*The added bonus!
extra loyalty card stickers for every blog reader!

For every £10 spent you will receive an extra sticker, to qualify simply let me know you read my blog by adding 'July Freebie' to your order (you can add a comment on the paypal payment page, or send me an email afterwards)

Offer valid whilst the freebie is open

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freebie is closed at comment #187

button work

I didn't have many orders to send out today (perhaps because it's so hot?) so it was the perfect chance to weigh out a whole load of buttons for the next lot of kits....my favourite part of the job is weighing them out and mixing the colours together. In this bowl there are green, purple and yellow mixes all jumbled together....yum!

weekend working

This weekend John had time to help me in the workshop and boy, did we got a lot of work done! John's a hard worker, and cheap too...he got paid in beer!! (we went to the pub after working so hard, and sat in the sunshine drinking, relaxing & chatting...the perfect end to a very busy day)

Finished kit total this time last week :: 0

Finished kit total today :: 600

(I told you he works hard!)