Friday's List ::

cut & stack

weigh & box

make more kits

button therapy

one of my favourite regular jobs that I need to do is to pre-pack my loyalty card Free Gift Packs...I make them up in small batches so when a customer fills their card the Gift is ready to go straight into their parcel.  It's great fun deciding which buttons to pick and which colours to include...

....I think picking buttons can brighten up any miserable grey day!

website gremlins

I've had website gremlins!
I have no idea what went wrong, who's fault it was or which buttons they pressed - but my website has been on the wonk, along with my website emails!
BUT - hip hip hooray - the peoples who broke it also fixed it!!
yipppeeeeee!
thanks to everyone who emailed to tell me - and thanks too to everyone who managed to order  - and for everyone else who hadn't noticed it should be all A-OK now and we can just pretend it never happened :-)
***the photo is proof that whatever words you google you get a good picture - I typed in 'computer with gremlins',  and what a perfect Perfect Photo it found!***

waiting list ...

my waiting list for hand sewn items has been growing and growing and I *hate* to take ages send out parcels, so a few weeks ago I took all my hand made items off sale from all my shops apart from my own website, so I could manage the waiting list a bit better...and last night, after a mammoth 9 hour late night sewing session my waiting list has been almost cleared - I have one more order to make asap and then the waiting list is gone, so if you are thinking of ordering something handmade from me now's a good time!

pom-pom-ing

I haven't blogged much about all the kit making going on round here, mostly because it's quite repetitive and really, there's not much to say other than 'we made more kits today'

But today the pom poms seemed particularly share worthy, pom poms as far as the eye can see!!

it must be decorating time!

I love sending kits out and imagining all the Christmas trees up and down the country with a little bit of paper-and-string cuteness on them, although today I am mostly imagining fireplaces with Christmas Tree Garlands...9 were sent out today alone!
I do try to keep the stock shelves filled up but today I was tree-less and promptly whipped up a few more to make sure all the orders were sent on time, phew!

This last photo made me laugh - there I was thinking I was all on top of everything, happy to have all the orders made and sent out and look in the background - 2 trays with 2 weeks of accounts still to do, a pile of to-do things on the printer and another pile of to do things next to the printer!! oh well, paperwork can wait :-)

sunshine!

 the workshop looked bright and cheery today after quite a few days of overcast miserable weather ... just look at the sun pouring in through my stacks of not-yet-rolled-but-nicely-cut-and-folded mini rolls!

Sadly, the downstairs entrance hall never looks cheery BUT it has now got it's very own Collection Point Barcode Sign *woo-hoo!*- I have finally  bitten the bullet and decided that I need my parcels collecting rather than carrying them myself (or rather John carrying them because they are too heavy for me!)  Sometimes John went by himself, sometimes we both had to carry & walk and sometimes we had to go in the car and park in the NCP to get them all there so I weighed up the time involved and costs etc and decided to have a daily collection - today is the 3rd day and it's marvellous!...it does seem a little crazy because it only takes 10 minutes to walk there but all in all a good decision made!
Oh and if you're wondering why the sacks are balanced on the stairs it's because Royal Mail charge more for collections from the 1st floor so I put them all in the hall just before they come and save a whopping £200-ish a year !!

back to normal

things are all back to normal around here...all my shops are open again and today I sent huge sacks of parcels out to all you kind shoppers that still got your felt fixes whilst I was busy elsewhere!
The meetings went well...but as usual I can not spill the beans yet....soon though, soon!

advance warning

just a quick note to let you know that I am briefly stopping sending out orders - don't panic though it's not for long! 

I've put my Etsy, Folksy, eBay and Not On The High Street shops into Holiday mode - even though I'm not going on holiday (ooh how I'd love a holiday!), just super-busy having out of the workshop meetings (which are all very exciting!...and which I will tell you about as soon as I can!)  I've managed to calender juggle and shoe horn them all into a couple of days so disruption will be kept to a minimum .

So if you'd like to order here's the plan:  orders placed BEFORE 5pm today will be sent tomorrow .... orders placed AFTER 5pm today will be posted on Tuesday 27th November (some may get posted on the Monday if I am back in time, but I can't promise, so lets keep it to Tuesday!)

 

Sorry for any inconvenience....Sarah x
PS I'll pop a little note on the website checkout to make it really clear :-)
PPS the photos are all the items I made over the weekend...on Saturday they were just little bits of uncut felt and by Sunday evening they were finished!!

Exciting News!

I've got Polka Dot Felt!!!

I am so excited about this felt - It's designed by me, magically reproduced on the computer by my clever sister, printed by a company who are experts at that kind of thing and expertly cut into squares by John - the perfect collaboration!

It arrived during the busiest week ever and I have been very impatient to get it listed and in the shop!  I love being able to offer unique products - it makes the items that you make out of them even more special.

*wOw* Just look at all those dots!
 In other shop news:  I have stocked up as much as I can on Jingle Bells - my supplier has sold out and once they are gone they are gone - anyone would think it was nearly Christmas!

Polka dot buttons have been re-stocked, and I have every colour again - including the hard-to-keep-in-stock Red!

 

AND I have new Pom Poms!  I love Pom poms and these new ones come in three delicious colour mixes

AND, as if that wasn't enough shop news in one day, I have reduced all my original 30% wool felt to super-bargain prices - definitely a good time to stock up your stash!
 - 12" squares were 75p, now 45p
- 24" squares were £2.75, now £1.75
- half metres of felt cut from the roll was £7.50 now £4.50
it can all be found in the sale section - please buy lots, I need more room in my stock room!

Quick Links
Polka Dot Felt click here
Pom Poms click here
Jingle Bells click here
Polka Dot Buttons click here
Bargain Sale Felt click here

in love with a robin

Today my favourite make was the Robin.  I spent *ages* picking the buttons - it was great fun!

stocking up

 It's been a full-on order packing day today 8.30am - now (it's now 5pm & I'm just about to go to the Post Office) but along the way I took some snaps of busy piles of crafty-things !! 
9" rainbows in the making ::

re-stocking the 12" squares ::

 and a few handmade pieces ::

deadline met

 

17 boxes of kits have been dispatched to John Lewis today.

There are a lot of large kits, oh-so many mini kits and many, many hours of hard work in these boxes.

This could not have been achieved without the hard work of John (boyfriend/kit maker/felt cutter/box packer/amazing man) me (I wasn't at home with my feet up!) and two willing friends who helped.  a lot.

hurrah for team work, hurrah for coffee and toasted cheese sandwiches and hurrah for John, he's the best!

Good Bye boxes, I hope you get there safely!

I missed you

Hello Blog,  I have so many millions of things to tell you, things you need to know so when I look back at you next year I'll remember this week, because this week has been phenomenal -  this week is officially the busiest week ever in paper-and-string history ... my to-do list has nearly self-combusted and I have little piles of 'things to do' all over the place - but Blog, remember this bit - This week has been the most fun week of working EvEr!

Oh, and next year, when I'm looking back you need to remind me that I didn't quite get everything done - tightly cropped photos of things on floors = no time for hoovering!!

winners

... the ribbon winners have been picked by the random number machine ::
64 :: 171 :: 108 :: 57 :: 147
in numerical order .........

comment number 57
Anne said...
I would love to win, they are so pretty!!!
The christmas collection would be great for the handcrafting lessons i give in school. (we are going to sew a christmas tree!!)
With love Anne
(http://www.marasdesign.blogspot.nl)

comment number 64
  KatiW said...
Hello, yesterday I found your blog. Everything is so lovely.
Greetings Kasia
http://galeriaparadiso.blogspot.com/

comment number 108
M'G said...
What shinny and cute packs you have!
I wish I'll win it all :P
XOXO

comment number 147
Sara said...
Loving the ribbons. Super colours and patterns.
Fingers crossed. sara***gins*4@hotmail.com

comment number 171
peggy nickelson said...
Your creations are wonderful!
Your kindness is too!
Peggy in CA
Please can all 5 winners email their addresses to me (my email can be found in the contact me tab up the top there)
thanks for taking part - the blog will return to normal tomorrow!

monday making

the freebie is still open and the post can be found by clicking here

there's a lot of kit making going on around here - thousands of bags have been filled with fluff - hundreds of metres of ribbon have been cut into lengths - lots of little bags have lots of little brads/buttons/pom poms/bells in them - and in between I have done some sewing too!

freebie day :: November 2012 :: ribbon gift packs

I started 2012 with the intention of hosting a freebie every month, but since the freebie extravaganza in August/September I stopped!  I'm blaming busy-ness and my birthday holiday and lack of freebie inspiration!!

 

Christmas Ribbon Pack #1

BUT today is the first Thursday of the month (officially paper-and-string freebie day!) and freebie inspiration has struck - hurrah!

 Polka Dot Ribbon Pack

For all new freebie-ers here are the rules and details you need to know:
Prize:  five winners will each win one of my ribbon gift packs - 5 prizes in total, prizes picked at random

Grosgrain Ribbon Pack

Rules: freebie opens today Thursday 1st November 2012 and will close Wednesday 7th November. (which is also the day I have to pay the next VAT bill....boo!) winners will be announced on Wednesday 7th November

  Baker's Twine Pack

How to enter: leave one comment and one comment only on this very blog post
Winners: Five winners are each picked with the help of the random number generator machine.  

Christmas Ribbon Pack #2

Postage: I will post your prize for free wherever in the world you are!
Good Luck!!
and if you want to find out more about the ribbon packs just click here

buttony dreams

If I had an actual shop where customers could come in, could see products in the flesh and hold them in their hands, I would definitely have a pick & mix button section.

It would be amazing - I'd have tables & shelves full of buttons in all sorts of jars, bowls, pots, troughs and trays....

 ...customers could come in & scoop up or count out the buttons and fill their own bags with whichever buttons they fancied...I'm sure some customers would spend hours, sifting through to find their favourites, and others would buy in a hurry, scoop - fill- scoop- fill, some customers may be overwhelmed by all the buttons and spend ages looking and thinking and not buy a thing...

...some would be happy to buy a few buttons, others would buy bags and bags and be in button heaven....One thing I know for sure is that every customer in my imaginary pick & mix button display would see these buttons and have to have one...or two!

After all,  I *HEART* BUTTON and I'm sure you all do too!

*sigh* I love my job!
My Virtual pick & mix section can be found by clicking here

ooohhh I forgot to say:  my felt delivery arrived today and all the colours are now in stock again, for those of you waiting for red and natural, it's back...and I have tonnes of it!

a free hour

 I used my free hour* very wisely yesterday - I HAD to finish a new set of felt bunting/garlands for John Lewis.  I have had them in the works since August-ish and have made them as and when time allowed...and as always it was a bit of a panic at the end!!

 I have made 8 strings with 72 felt decorations in total!

Half are for John Lewis Milton Keynes and half are for John Lewis Oxford Street!  They are due to be hung this week sometime so if you're nearby look out for them!
* for those outside the UK our clocks went back an hour so that's where the free hour came from!

bbbbbrrrrrrr

It's certainly chilly outside today, the wind is whistling through the gaps in my old front door and the windows in the workshop ... it makes a great whistle!....but luckily the fan heater, my jumper and working hard are keeping me warm as toast!

I've been absent from the blog because I have been sewing non-stop and have created another colourful pile of cuteness

 AND today I have also photographed and listed all sorts of exciting new things for the shop:

 

I have stocked up on Ric Racs, sewing threads, zips, twine and Mini Brads

I now stock Christmas Papers & Cards and tonnes of Ribbon Gift Packs! (this is what was in the boxes on my stairs!)

Stocking cards and papers is a new thing for paper-and-string ... I got them because I love the design, and although I am not a paper-crafter I can imagine making loads with these:

This year I have TWO Christmas ribbon packs to choose from

AND new grosgrain polka dot packs...

...plain grosgrain packs....

...AND baker's twine packs too!

phew!...it's too early for a glass of wine, so it must be time for cake!
Quick Links:
Christmas Cards click here
Christmas Papers click here
Ribbon Packs click here
Ric Rac click here
Sewing Thread click here
Mini Brads click here