Something new for the weekend

The BIG ribbon delivery is half unpacked :: I have ordered A LOT of ribbon packs - I forward ordered them ages ago which meant I got the best discount I could.  There are tonnes to choose from, including Jute String,Glorious Ribbons and Baker's Twines packs 

 Each pack has 24 mini spools and they only cost £9.50 a pack!  which means the ribbons are only 33p a metre and the jute and twines are only 8p a metre.  Definite Bargains.

 They are all American Crafts ribbons - which means they are all top quality...I think the only bad thing is having to choose a favourite ;-)

 I've also had a small button delivery,  lots of lovely wooden buttons...

 ...which are perfect for Christmas Makes

 ...a folksy heart button ...

 ...and a super cute neon heart button on a rainbow stack!

here are some quick links for you ::
ribbon packs are all here
wooden buttons are here
neon heart buttons are here

feeling famous

today I was interviewed for a feature in craftseller magazine!
it's all about me, paper-and-string and Christmassy things - it's due out sometime in November
my lovely interviewer arrived at 1pm and the photographer arrived at 2pm - lots of staging and moving of unsightly things (ie 26 boxes of ribbons!) later and lots of photos had been taken .... I can't wait to see it all in print - though I don't envy her the task of condensing 4 hours of chatting into a few pages!

hello Mr Fed Ex

 it doesn't look like a lot from the top of the stairs ....

 ...but looking up from the bottom looks a bit daunting!

 especially when you know there are some on the landing...

...and some in the doorway of the stock room !!!
If you need me, I will be unpacking boxes and revelling in all the ribbons I have bought!!

boxes of cute

amongst all the usual day to day goings on here at paper-and-string 3 exciting things happened today.
1.  I remembered to pay my VAT bill a whole day early! I don't mind paying VAT, in fact I'm actually quite proud that we need to and that paper-and-string is contributing to the country in it's own tiny way, but I don't like to pay way before the deadline, and I especially don't want to pay a fine cos I'm a day late.  So a day early is good :-)

 2. The first Autumn/Winter delivery for John Lewis left us and will be there tomorrow (all being well).  16 boxes containing 1850 kits - which means SOON, really soon, the new kits will be revealed!!!

3.  I chased (for the third time!) a FED EX tracking email and after paying customs duty etc was told my 26 boxes should be released from customs and out for delivery tomorrow...all 26 boxes are full of ribbon - yippee!!  hhhmmm I don't know where I will put them, but I'll worry about that when they finally get here!
and because all 3 of those exciting things have no photos I thought I'd show you my newly labelled boxes (labelled with my Dymo Label Maker) - all my weekend makes now have a nice new home.

Becky is back!

hooray! 
Becky is back and we are a team of three again - and perfect timing too because today was another crazy busy Monday with another 5 sacks of post!!  I added some more to the group of finished decorations after posting yesterday - 2x penguins and 2x gingers, and today I finished the 3 boxes you can see at the back there - all round, a very busy and very satisfying day :-)

a sewing day in pictures

 

 

...and I am still stitching :-)

home alone*

Two entire days of sewing are all mine! 

First I did my paperwork - it's nice to get that out the way so I can feel free to sew - then I spent ages in the workshop cutting out lots of sewing to do - next I sat at the machine and stitched up a special order (that's the boxes in the photos) and tomorrow I am spending the entire day at home, sewing all day long :-)

*John has gone to the Saab International car show in Northampton - two whole days full of all things Saab - John's favourite cars: his everyday car is a Saab 95 (it's in this picture) and he is amazing at restoring them!

orders & orders

It's all about orders here today - orders from customers being sorted out and picked & packed...and the other kind of orders, the ones where I send emails, ask questions, get samples, argue about prices, wait the waiting game THEN give the go ahead and sign on the dotted line (all of which happens over days & sometimes weeks but a lot came to fruition today!)  there are TONNES of ribbons on the way (I think they will arrive first?!?!?) and TONNES of buttons and lots & lots of NEW goodies which I am keeping a secret until they arrive :-)
I am such a teaser
and I am also a box maker ::

and in a moment I am going to help John and be a Kit Maker for a few hours (day 2 of late night kit making - these pesky new kits are taking a long time to make!)

yesterday's flock of robins....

...left some unanswered questions (in the comments bit) so I shall answer them now, whilst I show you todays little posse of finished decorations

 Leanne said...
How do you sew so quickly?! It took me 3 hours to make one of the owls from your box last night!!
How long would 1 of these take you to make? ( Just so I can see what I'm aiming for!) 
Well, one decoration, from start to finish, takes about 45-50 minutes - but I make them in batches - cut out one day, sew the details another, then sew the edge & then stuff them - you get the idea - there's no secret to it - do it a lot and you'll get faster !! and never stop sewing - I always have my sewing tray full of stitching, and it's always next to me on the sofa...when I wake up I sew, when I get home I sew. All those snatched 10 minutes here and there really add up PLUS I love sewing, which helps :-)

 Michelle Fallon said...
I hope you use your sewing machine to sew all those buttons on - omg ! :O) 
UUmmm NO!  all hand cut & all hand sewn...I actually think I'm quicker at hand sewing buttons than I would be machine sewing them!!!

If you have a question just ask - I'll try my best to answer :-)

packing like crazy

the shop is still MEGA busy (thank you - I LOVE being mega busy) it's not quite as manic today as yesterday was - just 4 sacks of parcels today!
My homework at the moment is all Christmas related - I'm trying to build up some stock of handmade Christmas Decorations - 6 robins have been completed, and hopefully there will be more to show throughout the week :-)

thank you to ....

...everyone who ordered over the weekend - you all helped to make last week one of our best & busiest weeks ever!
Becky is on her holidays this week so I put a few extra hours in over the weekend to sort orders, write addresses and prep for picking so I didn't get swamped today, because Monday is always the busiest day for picking & packing, and boy am I glad I did - those 5 post sacks in the photo are 8.5 hours of solid picking and packing!!! and there are just 19 minutes to spare until the postie comes to collect, phew, that was close!

all cut out -

 

- and I'm ready to sew!

I don't know how much I'll get done because there are many sewing interruptions today ::
Worthing's best American Car Show is on just round the corner from our house
House DIY still needs to be done
I need some computer time in the workshop (45 minutes should do it)
and as tradition must be adhered too we shall be in the pub's road side front garden as the car show shuts to watch all the amazing cars drive by!

five head off for christmas...

 ...and I wonder where they will spend their time until December?

Another organised shopper's order for some of my decorations, I sent some out on Monday and this little lot went out today :-)

open the door, get on the floor

everybody walk the dinosaur!

and if you have no idea what i'm going on about you can see a video here
just don't blame me if you find yourself singing it All Day Long ;-)

felt overflow

so it turns out that getting a discount from your felt supplier because your felt orders are so large can have unforeseen disadvantages...I mean, if I had thought about it sensibly it would have been obvious - buying a lot of felt means you need a lot of room to store the felt - humph !!
My current felt order (the discount breaking one) has been split into two shipments - this is part of the first one - two pallets full of felt bolts...by the time I got there with the camera John had already put a load of them away where they normally go and what you can see in the photos is the 'leftovers' ...
I did suggest they could stay in the garage and we could remove a car but that option didn't work for everyone (especially the guy who owns the garage and most of the cars and who very kindly lets us plonk our deliveries in there on a temporary basis)

 

 But having too much felt can't strictly be possible can it?  Surely it's like buttons - you can never have too many of them either ... So a web search, a phone call and a trip to the local storage place later ::

and the excess felt has a room of it's own - with plenty more space for the next pallet full, which will hopefully be here by the end of this week!!
Problem solved me thinks  -  and just look at all that extra space for more stock!

b&q :: sewing :: diy :: bbq

phew-ee it's been a busy Sunday!

First thing this morning we were DIY shopping at B&Q - John is renovating our bedroom (in between the hard work of cutting felt & making kits) but today we combined that with finishing off the garden

I made a lot of time to sew today - a special order needed to be finished - whilst John hung lining paper (I am so much better at sewing than hanging wallpaper, and it's best I leave the pro to it!)

once the sewing was done we went flat pack mad in the still very hot sun and built our newly purchased picnic table and put together our new BBQ

and now we are both showered and refreshed, the BBQ is cooking our tea, John has a cold beer and I have a nice chilled glass of white wine beside me and we're both sitting at the new picnic table and relaxing.

Marvellous :-)

preperations

today has been a busy day - the VAT return is complete (yay!) the workshop is tidy and ready for a new week and I have cut out A LOT of sewing to do tomorrow - - - pictures to follow :-)

the weekend is here

and I am going to the pub. 
right now.  
well, once Mr Postman has been and collected all the parcels. 
10  minutes and John and I will be under a sun umbrella with a long icy drink. 
and for those entire 10 minutes I am standing as close to the fan as possible :-)
owls in the photo were made last night and posted today - you can see them here

doing the weekly accounts is fun when ----

 --- it means you can sit still in front of the fan for two hours!!! ... I may even enjoy doing the VAT return on Saturday if it stays this hot ;-)

I hope you are finding a way to enjoy the heat wherever you are :-)
Photos are of handmade orders that were sent out today.
owl ornament
and cute box

here's some I made earlier

When I make items to order I don't like to show them here until the order is complete, the invoice paid and the hand made items are in the post, if it's a new design I wait even longer, until the recipient has received them - but these aren't a new design, and they have been posted out today (after they waited patiently for the order to be paid for) so they have now been photographed and shown on the Blog

I hope they enjoy their 5 minutes of 'fame' :-)