comments and WIPs

The other day I posed the ever worded 'comments & how to reply' question.

It seems there is a simple answer.

The only piece of action required is that anyone who uses blogger and who would like comments returned/replied to needs to edit their profile. I have not suddenly acquired the ability to fathom these computery things BUT SarahandJack have!

If you would like to activate this bit of blogger then log in, go to 'edit profile' and there is a little tick box (it won't have a tick in it) that says ... show email?

Tick It.

PLEASE ;-)

Then your profile will look like this (with a nice blue link to your email address) ::

Mine does now because I've just ticked my box.......

Doing this means that you can reply to comments via your email...aren't computers clever!!

Christmas in January

My friend Katy sent me a present. It was supposed to be a Christmas present but the postmen lost it :-( but Katy wasn't beaten by the whole of Royal Mail, oh-no she shopped again and sent me another gift, and this time it arrived! Hooray!!

You know it's going to be a good surprise when the wrapping is this cool ::

look what I got ::

Thanks Katy, you're the best :-)

Craft-wise I've joined the crafting 365 group on Flickr, and am slowly adding one photo for every day of this year so far. I like it that there are lots of people out there who craft every day too :-)

you gotta smile...

Today's photos speak for themselves really, I've been making happy faces!
This morning I joined a new group on Flickr called Etsy UK, which I found via a link on one of my favourite blogs, Bugs and Fishes. If you are in the UK and have an etsy shop you should go and check it out.....

On another subject altogether, how does everyone reply to comments? Mostly I find it impossible to reply....Blogger doesn't provide email addresses or anything as simple as that but not replying sometimes feels out-right rude. I'm going to try to reply via the blog, so if a question was asked yesterday I'll reply today and see how that works, but if anyone has any bright ideas I'd love to know what they are!

So mollycupcakes please order when you are ready and I'll sort out a bargain price with you because I kept you waiting so long!

and CraftyB my amazing trays are from Ikea, I have two and they are just perfect :-)

Oh, and Incywincy you won my freebie but I don't have your address PLEASE email it to me, thanks :-)

Valentines Collection

I like the sound of that title!

This year I want to have more structure to what I do :: Last year I seemed to just go from day to day and didn't have any plan of what was going to happen next :: If I was lucky enough to receive a big order then that's all I would work on for hours on end :: Which meant that my various online shops all slowly emptied and never really got filled again ::This year I want to shrink my range slightly, to make it more manageable :: The Grand Plan is to hold stock of everything and NEVER run out !! I only ever sell what I actually have made, rather than making to order (too much time pressure there!) so BIG orders really do knock my shop sales. I toyed with the idea of giving up on wholesale but have had second thoughts and have decided to just be more organised with my time. (sounds easy, right?)This will be a completely new way of working for me, usually if I have no orders to do I flick through my pattern folder and see something (usually the cupcakes) and think...ooh I fancy making a few of those...but this new way (for me) of thinking will be a lot more productive.Maybe this way of working will mean I can manage my little felt business rather than it's customers managing me!!

hellllooooo weekend

I have a pile of sewing waiting for me ::

A new finished pile of sewing ::and some new stickers to look at ::It seems like this weekend shall be a good (and crafty) one.

shopping and sewing

I'm slowly completing the WIPs I showed the other day, I want to finish them all so i can take photos on Sunday, the weather lady on TV said it will be sunny and I hope she's right!

For all you drawer fans out there take a peek at this::

all these beauties can be found here.

If you buy some be sure to share your super organised photos with me :-)

I'm easy to please!

*oh boy was I excited!!

lovely lovely moo cards :-)

John needed to drive to Portsmouth which is really near our nearest HobbyCraft and after a slight bit of arm twisting he went in and bought me this little lot ::

10 sheets of each, what a lovely boyfriend :-) and Kitty? now you know where it comes from you can be a polka dot felt addict too!! yay!!

My sister bought me some new drawers for Christmas (I got some last year too, for ribbons, and I love them so much I asked for more!)

So today I spent possibly too much time and had a little too much fun sorting my cottons into colour order. I have one reel for every colour of felt I own. Super organised or slightly nerdy? Ah well, it was fun and don't they look lovely :-)

happier by design

I seem to be having a little spurt of new ideas, I cut out one and then think of another so I start that and before I know it my working tray is littered with bits of ideas!
I did manage to finish something, what do you think Miss Molly Cupcake?Her twin is also on it's way...You can't beat polka dots!

three hearts & a brave lady

Today was one of those days.We were busy at work today, two new window dressings done and a great big order for new shop fittings was placed (yay!!) Then a regular customer came in carrying loads of our bags and bringing a lot of stuff back because her husband had died.

With the age of our customers I'm afraid it does happen but this one got to me. I think because the lady in question was being so brave, one great big sob escaped her as she reached the door on her way out and I was in tears! I never actually met her husband but she shopped for him quite regularly, especially in the run up to Christmas, and all the things she bought back were things I had helped her pick, nice outfits and lots of lovely things, probably a good few hours of her shopping for him, with me.

Sometimes work is hard.

winners

I printed out all your lovely comments and folded them and put them in the pot...John picked out two names and they are ::

:: I love a freebie says the ginger monkey :: AND :: incywincy ::

(just in case a blurry out of focus photo makes it hard for you to read)!!

Please can the lucky two send me your addresses, thanks!!

On another note, one of my WIPs is completed:

Thanks for all your sweet comments, it's been another fun freebie :-)

PS:: Dotty cookie the BIG clock is from Ikea, I've had it for years and years and still love it :-)

wip day

Today is a WIP day.My crafting was interrupted today by John & I winning a new shower on ebay. Luckily it was local so we went to pick it up this afternoon. Our old shower still worked ok, it was an old beige and brown one with not a lot of pressure so it was due to be replaced and the new one looks FAB !! John is just tidying up the mess DIY makes and then we'll be starting the next project...a great big roast dinner :-)

holiday switch over

Tomorrow is 12th night so it's goodbye Christmas decorations and heeellloooooo valentines day!! If you look closely you can find the happy heart ....

I've a feeling there will be a few more of these on my to do list this weekend...

PS thanks for all the wishes for sunshine, you can see it worked well this morning!!

PPS for the eagle eyed amongst you I do indeed start work at 10am and yes I was running a little late BUT I had to take advantage if the sunshine whilst I could!!

supplies

This evening was spent finishing off my stationery supplies.

I now have piles of swatch cards, order forms and address labels and am feeling a little bit more organised.

Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into the freebie draw

January 2008 FREEBIE

it's freebie time again!

Something a little different this time ::

January's freebie is a little kit I have put together for two readers to make some thank you cards with (or cards for any occasion but thank you seems appropriate for this time of year!) I had great fun in the craft shop this morning picking everything out...the kit includes ::

4 square cards :: 4 square envelopes :: 6 bits of textured card ::

2 bits of patterned paper :: 2 bits of glitter card (the glitter gets EVERYWHERE, don't say I didn't warn you!!) :: a small piece of felt :: a felt cupcake :: a blue felt flower (not made by me!!)10 buttons :: and 3 pretty ribbons ::

Leave a comment on any post between and and Monday and I shall enter your name into the draw....

...and in return if someone could sort out the lack of light down here in 'sunny' Worthing I would be most grateful (and my freebies would look much better!!)

yellow split peas

Today I made a frog :: He's a big fat heavy frog, weighing 500g :: perfect door stop material!
he is made from jumbo chunky blue/green corduroy
with crazy needle point cord underneath!

I also finished off the thank-you cards I have been making to slip in with any orders I send out. I used double sided card/heavy papers which are meant for scrapbooking :: I folded over one end which I trimmed with pinking shears and I have left plenty of space for a hand written message.

I love receiving parcels from ebay or etsy but i always feel disappointed if there is no message, it's like the message makes the parcel last for longer...especially when there is a note, a business card AND a moo card !! It always makes the parcel feel a little bit more special to me, so from now on I aim to keep myself (and my packing cupboard) well stocked with parcel additions.

I'm off to order some moo cards...

365 days

I like the start of a New Year.

It's the time of year when everything and anything seems entirely possible.

I never really make new year resolutions, resolutions can be made on any day of the year really, but I am going to use today as a marker, a point in time which I will use to measure my achievements.

The achievements I really want to measure are my crafty ones!
I love crafting and want to keep a record of what I do craft-wise every day this year. How great will it be to look back at it and see everything that I will have made?
365 blog entries, a whole load of sewing, a lot of waffle from me and before you know it it will be 2009 !!!

2008?

I'm quite excited about it........