The freebie of many parts - all in one place

part one

a mini freebie for all website customers ::
for every £10 spend in the shop I will randomly select 3 of the new mini ribbon spools and add them to your order - if your order is worth £20 you will receive 6 spools, if it's £30 you'll receive 9 spools...and so on

part two

an extra freebie for facebook followers
I have posted a picture on my Facebook page and if you share the picture on your facebook page/profile I will end up with a list of everyone who shares it, and one sharer will win a prize bundle containing:
1x mini kit :: 1x medium kit :: 1x large kit :: 3x fat quarters of fabric :: 3m of embroidered ribbons :: 5 packs of new buttons - all of which is worth a hefty £51
so go, go to Facebook and share my picture :-)

part three

win some mini kits!
there are 3 prizes in part three - 3 winners will each receive 2 of my mini kits ....

part four

win some fabric!
there are 2 prizes in part four - 2 winners will each receive 3 fat quarters of fabric .... 

part five

win some embroidered ribbons!
there are 3 prizes in part five - 3 winners will each receive 3 metres of gorgeous embroidered ribbons....

part six

win a medium/large kit!
there are 4 prizes in part six - 4 winners will each receive one of my larger kits....

that's a grand total of 13 lucky people each winning a prize - I thoroughly enjoy hosting my freebies and I hope you enjoy playing along too!

ps comments on this post aren't entries - you need to comment on the correct blog post please

The Freebie with many parts :: Part Six

Welcome to Day Three of my newest Freebie Day offering - aptly named 'The Freebie with many parts'
Over the past few weeks I have added a lot of new products to my shop - lots of buttons, ribbons, fabrics and, most excitingly of all,  lots of new paper-and-string kits, and this freebie is a freebie to celebrate All Things New!
So how does it work?
It's simple : the prizes (of which there are many) are all split over different blog posts and all you have to do to enter is leave your answer to a question I will ask you in a comment at the end of each blog post.
There are also a couple of added ways to join the freebie - parts one, two, three, four & five have already been posted so scroll down to see them....and stay where you are for part six!

 this is the final part of this 'many part freebie'
there are 4 prizes in part six - 4 winners will each receive one of my larger kits.... just visit this page or this page of my website to take a look at the medium and large kits that we make and sell and put the name of the one you would most like to win in your comment below....

rules:
one comment per person
your comment must name one medium or large sized kit (the one you would like to win)
you must come back at the end of the freebie to see if you have won (freebie ends and winners will be announced on Thursday 5th September)
I will post worldwide
you can enter every part of this multi-part freebie, but you can only enter each part once
multiple entries/incomplete entries will be deleted before the winners are drawn
Good Luck!


I'll be back with a freebie round-up in a mo......

The Freebie with many parts :: Part Five

Welcome to Day Two of my newest Freebie Day offering - aptly named 'The Freebie with many parts'
Over the past few weeks I have added a lot of new products to my shop - lots of buttons, ribbons, fabrics and, most excitingly of all,  lots of new paper-and-string kits, and this freebie is a freebie to celebrate All Things New!
So how does it work?
It's simple : the prizes (of which there are many) are all split over different blog posts and all you have to do to enter is leave your answer to a question I will ask you in a comment at the end of each blog post.
There are also a couple of added ways to join the freebie - parts one, two, three & four have already been posted so scroll down to see them....and stay where you are for part five!

  there are 3 prizes in part five - 3 winners will each receive 3 metres of gorgeous embroidered ribbons.... just visit this page of my website to take a look at the whole range of embroidered ribbons that I sell and put the names of the three you would like to win in your comment below....

 rules:
one comment per person
your comment must name three embroidered ribbons (the three you would like to win)
you must come back at the end of the freebie to see if you have won (freebie ends and winners will be announced on Thursday 5th September)
I will post worldwide
you can enter every part of this multi-part freebie, but you can only enter each part once
multiple entries/incomplete entries will be deleted before the winners are drawn
Good Luck!
I'll be back with part six tomorrow.....

The Freebie with many parts :: Part Four

Welcome to Day Two of my newest Freebie Day offering - aptly named 'The Freebie with many parts'
Over the past few weeks I have added a lot of new products to my shop - lots of buttons, ribbons, fabrics and, most excitingly of all,  lots of new paper-and-string kits, and this freebie is a freebie to celebrate All Things New!
So how does it work?
It's simple : the prizes (of which there are many) are all split over different blog posts and all you have to do to enter is leave your answer to a question I will ask you in a comment at the end of each blog post.
There are also a couple of added ways to join the freebie - parts one & two & three have already been posted so scroll down to see them....and stay where you are for part four!

 there are 2 prizes in part four - 2 winners will each receive 3 fat quarters of fabric .... just visit this page of my website to take a look at the whole range of fabrics I sell and put the names of the three you would like to win in your comment below....

 rules:
one comment per person
your comment must name three fat quarters (the three you would like to win)
you must come back at the end of the freebie to see if you have won (freebie ends and winners will be announced on Thursday 5th September)
I will post worldwide
you can enter every part of this multi-part freebie, but you can only enter each part once
multiple entries/incomplete entries will be deleted before the winners are drawn
Good Luck!
I'll be back with part five in a mo .....

The Freebie with many parts :: Part Three

Welcome to my newest Freebie Day offering - aptly named 'The Freebie with many parts'
Over the past few weeks I have added a lot of new products to my shop - lots of buttons, ribbons, fabrics and, most excitingly of all,  lots of new paper-and-string kits, and this freebie is a freebie to celebrate All Things New!
So how does it work?
It's simple : the prizes (of which there are many) are all split over different blog posts and all you have to do to enter is leave your answer to a question I will ask you in a comment at the end of each blog post.
There are also a couple of added ways to join the freebie - parts one & two have already been posted so scroll down to see them....and stay where you are for part three!

there are 3 prizes in part three - 3 winners will each receive 2 of my mini kits .... just visit this page of my website to take a look at the whole range of mini kits and put the names of the two you would like to win in your comment below....the 5 kits below are my newest designs, and there are 21 to choose from in total.

rules:
one comment per person
your comment must name two of my mini kits (the two you would like to win)
you must come back at the end of the freebie to see if you have won (freebie ends and winners will be announced on Thursday 5th September)
I will post worldwide
you can enter every part of this multi-part freebie, but you can only enter each part once
multiple entries/incomplete entries will be deleted before the winners are drawn
Good Luck!
I'll be back with part four tomorrow .....

The Freebie with many parts :: Part Two

Welcome to my newest Freebie Day offering - aptly named 'The Freebie with many parts'
Over the past few weeks I have added a lot of new products to my shop - lots of buttons, ribbons, fabrics and, most excitingly of all,  lots of new paper-and-string kits, and this freebie is a freebie to celebrate All Things New!
So how does it work?
It's simple : the prizes (of which there are many) are all split over different blog posts and all you have to do to enter is leave your answer to a question I will ask you in a comment at the end of each blog post.
There are also a couple of added ways to join the freebie - part one has already been posted so scroll down to see that....and this is part two: the Facebook part

 I have posted the above picture on my Facebook page and if you share the picture on your facebook page/profile I will end up with a list of everyone who shares it, and one sharer will win a prize bundle containing:
1x mini kit :: 1x medium kit :: 1x large kit :: 3x fat quarters of fabric :: 3m of embroidered ribbons :: 5 packs of new buttons - all of which is worth a hefty £51
so go, go to Facebook and share my picture :-)
see you back here for part three ......
ps there is no question to answer - you can only enter part two by sharing this pic on Facebook

The Freebie with many parts :: Part One

Welcome to my newest Freebie Day offering - aptly named 'The Freebie with many parts'
Over the past few weeks I have added a lot of new products to my shop - lots of buttons, ribbons, fabrics and, most excitingly of all,  lots of new paper-and-string kits, and this freebie is a freebie to celebrate All Things New!
So how does it work?
It's simple : the prizes (of which there are many) are all split over different blog posts and all you have to do to enter is leave your answer to a question I will ask you in a comment at the end of each blog post.
There are also a couple of added ways to join the freebie - one is to do with Facebook and I'll tell you about that in: The Freebie with many parts :: Part Two.
The other is what Part One (this part) is all about........so some on, join in the freebie fun and see if a prize will be coming your way soon :-)

Now we all know how great freebies are - but we also know that it's not so great if you don't win....yes, taking part is fun blah blah blah, but getting a prize posted through your door is even better!!  I would love to be in the position that I could offer a prize to everyone who enters but I just can't - but what I can offer is a little mini freebie to everyone who places an order in my website shop between now and the end of the weekend

for every £10 spend in the shop I will randomly select 3 of the new mini ribbon spools (they come in packs which you can see here) and add them to your order - if your order is worth £20 you will receive 6 spools, if it's £30 you'll receive 9 spools...and so on

you don't need to do anything special to get the ribbon spools - there's no code to enter at the checkout or anything, just shop as normal and your parcel will have a little present in it :-)
Offer is valid on orders placed between now and the end of Sunday 1st September on my website www.paper-and-string.co.uk only
See you for part two!

craft focus

 

I'm not sure if many of you will already read this magazine, if you do you'll already have seen this - it's called Craft Focus and it is a trade magazine, mostly aimed at the buyers in retail shops.
If you subscribe you get every other issue posted through your door, or you can read every issue online.

and in the latest issue you can see a little piece about my kits, in amongst lots of other lovely kits

....or a whole page little interview, that was done via emails,  on the inside back cover - how lovely is that???
:-)

re-jiggling

it's amazing how much stock we can squeeze into our teeny stock room....we thought it was full but after re-jiggling everything yesterday* we managed to fit in all the new items - 23 bolts of fabric :: 200+ ribbon gift packs and 100+ kgs of buttons...I took photos but it's hard because the big table gets in the way!!

 Button Corner is slightly overflowing, so please can you all buy lots & lots so we have room to move again??
It was suggested yesterday that I may have bought too many buttons - but that, as we all know, is complete nonsense - obviously we have the correct amount of buttons - it's just that the workshop is too small :-)

 Today we came to work in our super-full and newly tidied workshop and concentrated on clearing the back log of Bank Holiday Weekend orders - a sudden flurry of die cut kits were ordered, so I got busy with my iron and die cutting machine  whilst Becky picked orders as fast as lightning.....

 ...after the colourful fun of die cutting I duly stood at my packing position of Pink Tissue Paper and didn't move until I had packed every single order - all 5 sacks of them!!

 * I'm not a terrible slave driver of a boss - Becky asked to work on the Bank Holiday and is having Thursday off instead!

Bank Holiday Fun

I hope you are all having a great Long Weekend?
Saturday was a normal working day for me (accounts/bill paying/emails/tidying-up/ cutting out & sewing) then we went to our local pub and spent the evening with friends, it was raining so we were in the bar rather than in the garden which meant we could play loads of old tunes on the jukebox and have some games of pool - it was a great night!

 Today is our lazy day - food shopping and sewing were the only two must-do things - and I've just popped into the workshop to print out all the orders so I can keep up to date with it all, and thought I'd take a couple of snaps of the sewing I finished today - 12 cupcake keyrings and 9 pebble keyrings

I'm going back home now for a barbecue and then a dvd with some more sewing :-)
PS the freebie day is on Thursday - I've planned it all and it should be a great one!

new fabrics are now in the shop!

 I had a lot of sewing to do today  - 7 Alphabet Boxes have been sewn and are on their way to customers Tom & Zack - I did think I would run out of time to update the website but I didn't!

 and 22 new fabrics are in the shop now :-)

Happy Browsing - you can click here for an instant fabric fix

new fabric is coming

A long awaited fabric delivery has arrived, been unpacked and cut into FQ's and will be photographed and in the shop tomorrow*  Here's a little teaser of the loveliness ::

Once all this loveliness is on the website stay tuned for a freebie to beat all freebies (well, there have been tonnes of new things arriving at the workshop over the past few weeks, and it's only fair to share them round as best I can!)
*I tried very hard to get it all done today but time has just fizzled by and disappeared!

picking of your brains....

I just posted these questions on facebook, but I know not everyone is on there (what with me being a newbie there myself)
I'd love it if you could spare a moment or two to answer in the comments:
random question #1
do you / have you / would you sell your handmade items in a proper bricks and mortar shop on a rent-a-shelf scheme ?  I'm thinking a dozen hand picked sellers of only the most gorgeous crafting abilities......
random question #2
if your favourite online only store had a bricks and mortar proper shop how far would you travel to come and shop / come to classes / craft courses?
answers below pleas, and thank you in advance :-)

weekend work

Wow!  I did a lot of sewing this weekend!
Boxes & a Needle Case::

Christmas Decorations::

Hello Mr Snowman :-)

3 new name banners (which are a bit like buses: I didn't sell any for ages then I sold 4 in one week!!) ::

and a fleet of diggers (for the blind/curtain makers in Ireland) ::

A lot of work, but also a great deal of fun :-)

£1.50 Mixed Button Bags

I've added a new button section to the website - it's called:
£1.50 Mixed Button Bags
there are 18 different button designs and they all come in mixed bags which each cost £1.50 (genius eh?)
the bags all contain different amounts of buttons and a random selection of colours - they are all so bright and cheerful, I can't wait to see what you all make with them :-)
quick link : new button section is here

the power of the mind

On Wednesday I posted one of my handmade name garlands - and today I received an 'it's not here' message from my customer :-(

it needs to be there for a birthday bash on Sunday, so can you all spare a second to send some telepathic messages for me?...along the lines of...please deliver it tomorrow Mr Postman?
It's not a practical solution but it's the only one I have right now!

...please lovely Royal Mail, please deliver it tomorrow
UPDATED Saturday 17th August
it has been delivered!!!! hooray :-)

New Ribbons

ooohh it's all about the new around here !! new kits yesterday (which are selling super fast, we're chuffed to pieces!!) and today it's a whole gorgeous stack of new ribbons!

I've not stocked embroidered ribbon before because the price has always been prohibitive but these gorgeous designs are just £1.25 a metre - I couldn't really say no could I?
new embroidered ribbons are here

New Kits

hooray!  the new kits are in John Lewis as I type so it's time for me to be able to share them with you too :-)

 there are 5 new mini kits (which are £5each)

 a new Medium size kit (£10 each) to make a purse and keyring - either an owl...

 or a monkey! 

 and there are two Large kits (£15 each) to make two new garlands - Felt & Fabric Trees or Felt & Fabric Holly

it's so exciting to be able to share all of these - they first came to life in February so I have had to keep quiet for a long time now!!
mini kits are here
medium kits are here
large kits are here

A little bit of making ....and a lot of DIYing!

This weekend past by in a blur of Ikea Flat Packs! 
4 chests of drawers, 3 wardrobes and 2 bedside cabinets, mixed with a trip to Brighton to meet with John's Cousin who was there on a mini holiday, a sunny Saturday evening in the pub garden with friends, not to mention all the usual weekend tasks of accounts, unpacking a new button delivery (see how I snuck that in?) and general house jobs like food shopping, hoovering and the like.
At least our bedroom has finished it's make over and we can move out of our makeshift living-room-as-a-bedroom and back into the bedroom again - and a marvellous bedroom it is too, John is fab at painting and decorating - we finished in the nick of time because my niece is coming to stay for a few days, and she'll be here in ooohh about 10 minutes, and this evening the living room will be her makeshift bedroom ;-)

7 flowery years

 This little pile of goodies was ordered eariler this week, and have now been posted and delivered - I never tire of making these flowers ..... I just looked back at the blog and found them here in August 2006 - so they have been around, in different forms, for round-about 7 years....I wonder how many I have cut out and made over those 7 years?