I like the grey one best

I love it when customers choose different colours for their boxes - I make lots of pink, fuchsia
and turquoise boxes, and quite right too cos they are great colours, but I like it when customers choose different colours - today I particularly like the grey box with red tortoise - very nice choice indeed :-)

 The freebie is still running - 10 winners will each win a £10 money off code for my website.
Just click here to read all the details
The Christmas in July offer has now closed, it looks like there are a lot of crazy Christmas crafters out there - glad to see it's not just me!

come on Andy!

The freebie is still running and you can find the post by clicking here
**************************************************
It's the hottest day of the year so far and I have just finished stitching a dozen reindeer decorations!

 My Christmas in July offer is still on - 15% off my Christmas section - and will be until tomorrow morning, so get shopping quick smart other wise you'll miss out!!  read all about it on this blog post

And now it's time for tennis - we're having a carpet picnic whilst watching the Wimbledon Final - I hope it's as good as the semi!

July 2013 :: Freebie time!

A BIG hooray - it's freebie day!

This freebie day is in two parts ::
PART ONE :: as a Humongous Thank You to all my customers, supporters, leavers-of-kind-comments and emailers-of-words-of-wisdom, part one is for you all.  I've just re-opened the Christmas section of my website and every single thing within (over 100 products!) is discounted by 15% if you use the special code!

PART TWO :: is the freebie draw - this time round there are  10  winners and each winner will receive a £10 voucher to spend in the shop, which means the 10 winners can pick their own prizes!

freebies normally get 150-200 comments so with 10 prizes you've a pretty good chance of winning!
Here are the rules:  
PART ONE
To shop the Christmas section of the website and receive a discount of 15% use the code:
christmas
and your discount will appear automatically.  you can combine Christmas products with other products  but only the Christmas ones will receive the discount
PART TWO
To enter the prize draw just leave a comment on this blog post
You can leave one comment, and one comment only
all comments are numbered  and 10 comments will be chosen by the random number generator
winners will be sent a £10 voucher via email which is redeemable on my website
CLOSING DATE:
discount valid until the early hours of Monday 8th July (it will remain live until I start work on Monday Morning, sometime between 7am and 9am) ***discount extended :: code will now stop working at 5pm MONDAY 8th JULY 2013***
all comments must be entered by the end of Wednesday 10th July
the 10 winners will be picked by The Magic Number Generator and announced on Thursday 11th July
GOOD LUCK !
********************************************* 
COMMENTS HAVE BEEN CLOSED AT COMMENT NUMBER 100

a bobbin-y tale

Whilst I was at University sewing machine bobbins became a great source of misery* .... our sewing room was full of industrial machines, rows of blue Singers and two super-fast brown Brothers, we all had our favourites but we shared them and it was first come first served.....we all paid £7 for our own bobbin case, and no one was ever allowed to loan or borrow a bobbin case, and god help you if you lost it or left it at home and had to borrow one from the sewing cupboard, never mind leaving your bobbin in the machine and walking away!!
I think I owned a grand total of 5 metal bobbins and they never ever had the colour I needed on them...and I used to get so mad with them when they ran out half way through setting a sleeve and I didn't notice!
But now,  14 years after graduating,  I have a thread stand with room for every colour of thread I use and room for me to have a matching bobbin too....and my sewing machine has a top loading bobbin with a sew through cover so I can see how full it is and it never runs out.....I can't remember the last time I got annoyed at a bobbin - I highly recommend having loads of them!

*I was doing a 3 year degree course in theatre design at a drama college so every slight annoyance was jokilngly turned into a great big drama, just so we could keep up with the actors!

*new* ribbons by the metre

A rather sad and bashed box arrived on my doorstep today, but after a close inspection it was just the packaging that took a hammering - the ribbons inside are perfect!...

 the spools are a bit squashed round the edges, but it doesn't really matter as these are all being sold by the metre, and no one will see the squashed bits 'cept you, me & Becky :-)

 After a little debate the two aqua and pink flower combos are our favourites today ... but I do love them all - and they get even better when you know that the narrow ones are only 38p a metre & just 49p a metre for the wider one.

Gorgeous AND a bargain....what more could you ask for?
they are all on the website here

The Seagulls have landed!

 Rose (John's Mum) has made a whole flock of seagulls like Cyril the seagull which she made for me for Christmas - aren't they fab? 

 I have given each one a name, all 6 can be found on my website here.  I am selling them on behalf of Rose - whenever each seagull gets rehomed the money will go straight to her.  I can't imagine they will be here for long so get your skates on if you want to own a seagull sculpture too.

They are quite tricky to photograph and capture their character, they are all the same, but each one is so different from the next - I just hope I have done them justice? - - - it was fun to do a photo shoot outside with such well behaved models - we even had a cheeky hanger-on who kept trying to join in ::

Quick Link ::
see the seagulls by clicking here

A quiet Saturday

I LOVE working on Saturdays - It's quiet in the workshop today - no radio, no TV...all the doors and windows have been flung open and from time to time I can hear music from the park in the next street over(it's Armed Forces Day today) around lunchtime a Hurricane flew over and I got the best view from the roof garden.  John is spending his day in the garage - and I am finishing off all the jobs I didn't get a chance to do earlier on in the week.  The new drawing pins are on the website ::

 I made 10 new colourways AND did you spot I made my new two-tone die cut roses into drawing pins too? 

They work really well!...whilst I was finishing these off this morning (I was up at 5.30am making these - not because I'm short of time, just because I was wide awake!) I thought of another idea to try ... I'll keep you posted on that!

I've finished off last weeks accounts today- I run my week Monday - Sunday so one more day and I'll have another load to do....and then another VAT return will be due, it's definitely worth staying on top of it because it's so much quicker and easier that way.

I've just got to clear my inbox and gather together some new sewing projects and then I am finished for the day - hope you all have a great weekend - I'm hoping to get some serious sewing time tomorrow...we're also going to start clearing every single thing out of our bedroom so we can start on the decorating and I've a funny feeling it may take a while!

scruples

When I watch Dragon's Den on TV I sometimes watch businesses pitching to the dragons who are similar in size to paper-and-string...they rarely, if ever, get investment.  Normally the Dragons’ class them as lifestyle businesses that can't grow big enough to warrant the Dragons being involved. 

paper-and-string is my lifestyle business - it allows me, John and Becky to do jobs we enjoy, and for that I feel very lucky indeed.

The Dragon's always focus on USP 's – and ask ‘what is your unique selling point’?  ‘What is so special about your business that someone else can't just copy it and make it successful too’?  And my answer is ‘me’ (and my team).

paper-and-string is me. 

Every single handmade item is designed and made by me. 

Every single kit is designed and sourced and put together by me, every single length of ribbon and every single button is a supply I would use in my day to day crafting. 

All the felt colours are dyed to colours I like to use, the quality and extra wool content is paramount because I use this felt and I only want the best.

All the fabrics are patterns I know will look good on products I make, in kits or for you to make something with.

All the supplies and tools are items I use every single day. 
All the packaging is designed by me (and then polished to perfection by my designer, who happens to also be my lovely sister)

And all the ideas are mine.

All the ideas come to life as I craft.  Because I do craft.  A lot.  And that means I have a lot of ideas.
So yes, Peter, Deborah, Duncan & Theo; people can, will and do copy my business. 

They can (and do) follow me like a shadow, they can (and do) introduce products that I sell just because I sell them.  They can (and do) undercut me by 5p here and there

BUT do you know what?  - They can't BE me.  They can't have my ideas before I do.  They can only follow and copy and try to imitate....they can lie and be dishonest and try to keep up...but paper-and-string (me, John and Becky – we’re a good team) will always be here, I’ll be doing what I love – and I’ll be doing it better than the followers because it comes from my heart, not from the greed. 

If you have read all of this blog post I thank you.  I hope you like my newest idea – die cut kits for you to make your own 3d flowers - the paper-and-string way.

 Please click here to see them on my website.

And that, ladies & gentlemen, will be another paper-and-string idea ;-)

a wonderful wednesday

today has been fun! ...and it sped by at the speed of light too -
Rainbow Stacks have been made :: 

Boxes have been made ::

and the rooftop 'garden' outside my workshop window now looks even prettier with some Crazy Daisies that John bought for me this morning ::

and following on from yesterday's blog post: 12" squares were super popular today!

Felt MANIA!

Since the super-dooper-fantastic news that my felt prices have dropped it's really interesting to see what felt is selling best....yesterday it was definitely mini rolls, and today it is definitely 12" felt packs...

... John has turned into a felt cutting machine and Becky has proven to be a felt-pack packer extraordinaire, I have had a panic that we may run out and added to my felt order *just in case* (the turn around for felt is huge...and I am now ordering for September/October sales) ....now, I wonder what we will be sending out tomorrow??

PS :: my buttons for the free buttons offer have nearly all gone - I will be disabling the code tomorrow morning, so be quick if you want some free buttons in your order :-)

my famous neighbour

My friend (& just-round-the-corner-neighbour) Ellie's Dolls made the front cover of this months Mollie Makes:

Aren't her Dolls amazing? - you must check out Tommy Tashmen too!!

babushka!

 I'm trying to get a head start on some Christmas making. 

 I know it's only just the start of Summer but last year I had to stop selling handmade Christmas Decorations in October (I think-can't remember-Christmas was a fun filled /felt filledblur!) This year I want to keep them listed for sale for longer, if I can....last year they were mostly made to order, but this year I plan to have some in stock too.

Four Russian Dolls complete - I find it really hard to work out how many I should be making...has anyone got a Crystal Ball that will help me guess?

for serious button crafters

 All serious button crafters will know how it feels to have *the* perfect button for a craft project.  The perfect size, perfect shape AND the perfect colour.

Sometimes one perfect button is all you need - but sometimes you want to re-make the design and that means you need more perfect buttons.

 I re-make lots of my designs and use a lot of the same buttons over and over - which is why, way back in 2010, I started to dye my own buttons and soon after I started selling my dyed buttons too.

 In February this year I was VERY excited to launch two teeny tiny buttons collections .... both dyed (not by me this time!) to match all 45 colours of my felt --- and now I have BIG button news!

In my shop I have ::  NINE different styles of buttons ALL have been dyed to match my felt (in every single one of my 45 colours) AND they all AVAILABLE in my button pick n mix selection - so if you need 4 purple buttons, you can have 4 purple buttons - if you need 47 red buttons, guess what?  I have them too!
It is button heaven for all serious button crafters.
QUICK LINKS ::
all dyed to match my felt buttons are here
all pick n mix buttons are here  (I do lots of different pick n mix buttons!)

Buttons In Boxes

Remember the other day when I had a MASSIVE button delivery?  And all the empty button trays I had to fill (27 of them)?  and remember how I said I'd tell you about them another day?
Well, today is the day!
These, my lovely blog readers,  are my new and fantastic Button Boxes :: 

 All of the buttons have been dyed to match my felt

 there are five colours in each box

 in 10 different button styles

 and every box has 150 buttons

and each box is only £5!
There are 9 colour collections and you can see them all by clicking here

early morning making

 I got up with the sunshine today and by 8am all these decorations (and flower brooch!) were finished...not sure I could get up that early every day, but once in a while it's OK - and it's a lovely time of day to sit in the peace and quiet and sew, sew, sew!

packing the packs

I feel like I have done a million and one little jobs today but I now find myself sitting down at the computer to blog about them all - and they all seem a little un-blog worthy....apart from these packs that is:  tonnes of hand cut felt flowers (that I blogged yesterday) plus fab buttons equals lots of different flower colour combinations. 
Lovely :-)

weekend stitching

phew-ee!
what a Monday - so many felt-y orders have been parcelled up today and it's good to see it's not just me that likes the new prices :-)

 Yesterday I finished some Owl embellishments, finished cutting out piles of flowers for my craft packs

 and watched some more Columbo whilst on the sewing machine !