website update x2

My wholesale website has *finally* re-opened...I needed to update and re-list a lot of products and today I finished it, hooray!  AND because I was on a website updating roll I've added a new category to my main website....it's called BULK....it's for serious crafters who make a lot of items (perfect for this time of year!)  there are a lot of products in there already and more will be added as deliveries arrive...and all the BULK products have a 15% saving- hooray!
Good news for Trade Customers & good news for Bulk makers too :-)
quick links : 
for my Trade only wholesale website click here
for the new Bulk category on my main website click here

button-y goodness

It's raining and dark and dampy, but I don't care-I'm in button heaven!

Yesterday our BIG Christmas order was sent to John Lewis (Christmas kits will be in store soon-yippee!!!)  so I've been doing lots of buying of supplies to make the next batch of kits (and extras to fill up the shops too!)  I've added the polka dots to the website already....

..but the colour mixes....

...and the shape mixes need to be weighed and bagged first...I still have a few colour mixes left to unpack, but thought I'd best take photos before it turned dark!

stocking up

before ::

and after::

lots of lovely supplies have been replenished :: findings :: mini brads :: pick and mix buttons :: wooden hearts ::

...and they even manage to look bright and cheery on a miserable weather day!
my ribbon spools have arrived too...some old designs have been discontinued (boo!) so I have changed the settings on the website, now when they sell out the item will 'disappear' which will make shopping more fun  :-)

 quick links
findings: click here
mini brads: click here
pick and mix buttons: click here
wooden hearts: click here
ribbon spools:  click here

the tidy & the not so tidy

 ta-dah!  thanks to John's handiwork with the flat packs I now have two new drawer units - much tidier than before when it was all being kept on the floor -  I can swing to the left for paperwork things or swing to the right for all printing things...I love my swinging wheelie chair and my new tidy office corner!

and this is the photo of the door way into my new super-tidy & super-organised office corner/workroom...piles and piles of boxes of stock to rummage through count, list on the website and put away :-)

weekend making

Over the summer (my quietest time) I like to try and build up my handmade stock so when orders are placed for handmade items they can still be dispatched quickly...this summer though I never seemed to get quiet or have excess free making time, so orders are being made as and when they are placed - and I have been nicely surprised at how well it is working! 

 I'm still sending handmade orders out nice and quickly and I always have some sewing that I have to do in the evenings (I prefer it when I have sewing I have to do....it makes me more productive!)  These photos are of this weekend's making ... thankfully it stopped tipping it down after lunch today so I could take some photos!

the need for more space

when I had my window replaced a week or so ago (you can read the post here) I decided it was also a good time to re-arrange my working space.  Here's a link to the post about the day I moved everything in (when it looked empty and tidy and not at all like it is!) the furniture had stayed where I put it on that day...but now I have moved it around a bit...It's been in it's new arrangement since Window Day and it's working really well, so it is staying like this!

The table under my BIG pin board has stayed but I have added another table at right angles which can be pulled out if I need more room.  This is my new cutting out area,  I have my big worktable in the other room if I need to cut big things, but mostly I am cutting out little things here.

 The computer table has stayed in the corner, next to the window...

 

To the right hand side is the printer, with extra paper, card etc stored mostly on the floor!*

 To the left of the computer is this pile of stuff.  This is actually the most important pile of stuff I own...it's my accounts and paperwork, invoices waiting to be paid, and everything that is important paperwork that I do.*

This last table is my sewing machine table...I try to keep it clear but it's a good space to put things on!
* the two piles of things-on-the-floor are being transformed into piles of neatness courtesy of another Ikea purchase, the flat packs arrived on Friday and John very kindly made them for me today ... I'll take some finished photos when I've tidied everything up!

*finally*

two months ago I ordered some more teeny tiny pom pom trim ~ it's been very popular so I decided to extend the range of colours I stock, and today they finally arrived!  Even though I waited so long I still didn't get the whole delivery *sigh* but I did get a lot of Christmas colours...yummy!

quick links :: for teeny tiny pom pom click here

the Ribbon Man cometh

I don't get many work based visitors to my workshop,  but when they do come they have the best names....I have the Felt Man (only been once, but he does have to get on an aeroplane to get here!)  I have the PomPom Lady, she sells tonnes of things but the pom poms stick in my mind!...then there's the Fabric Man, he's lovely but I don't like it when he comes because it's always expensive!...I also have a Button Man & and a Fluff Man, but only deal with them on the phone....and American Lady, she's soooo far away so conversations always happen over emails....but today I'm being visited by Ribbon Man....just a general stock up and he has new things to show me (hooray!)  it meant that this morning I got busy with the spreadsheets* .... and then got all the ribbon out & counted it...and now I'm ready to order!
*I use a spreadsheet to work out how much stock I need to make up kits...I need to be super organised because each kit has so many different components

it's all about numbers

number of feedbacks* left today:  approx. 527
number of parcels posted today:  23
number of minutes I have left to do the post office drop** and still get to my eye test appointment on  time:  53 45...aaahhh!!!

*I am terrible at leaving feedback, eBay, Etsy & Folksy all ask for feedback to be left...and I always put it off for waaayyyy too long...I always have nice communications with customers and write little notes and pop them in their parcels so feedback always seems a little repetitive/redundant for me...But I know it is valued by others and I have finally caught up today!
I'm sorry if you were waiting for me to do that!
** lucky for me I have a Post Office account so print all my own postage and sort all my parcels into sacks so I just have a tiny queue at the sorting office to contend with everyday, nowhere near as bad as the main post office queue!

weekend stitches

I had a little flurry of Christmas Decoration orders to make this weekend....the Robins were already finished and the reindeer were half done, but the rest were finished yesterday. 

Today I had the busiest day I can remember and parcelled up 56 parcels!  Lucky for me I had worked on orders over the weekend so I managed to get them all done and off to the post office this afternoon (which involved a trip in the car and two people to carry it all!) ... here's hoping for another 56 orders tomorrow! ;-)

swatch day

today my mission is to make lots and lots of swatches....

... and I've got piles of printed swatch cards, piles of felt & my trusty pritt stick at the ready.

a little bit of making

I have done a lot of paperwork today (boo!)

but I did start the day with a little bit of hand sewing (hooray!)
and now I have a spare half hour to work on something new, which is rather exciting!!

whirlwind wednesday

time for a quick catch up ::

new Christmas ribbons have arrived

10 boxes finished and posted yesterday

millions of ribbon pieces cut over the weekend

and a collage of all the new things I've added to the website this afternoon!

Quick Links ::

Christmas Ribbon click here

tiny star buttons click here and scroll down

bunting ribbon click here

flower ribbon click here

pom poms click here

today's chaos

 This morning I had to move everything away from my office window...all my paperwork, my computer and desk & everything that was pinned to the wall....then I covered everything with sheets and let the workmen in ::

they promptly removed my crappy old sash window and made a BIG mess....

and then they put in a marvellous new sash window that I can now open and close ... hurrah for fresh air!  They have now finished and everything is *almost* back where it should be .... the new window is FAB and they even hoovered and took away all the rubbish.  Marvellous :-)
I managed to be super organised and do all my work in the other rooms ... I even did sewing machining whilst standing up...never done that before!  

Weekend Working

I'm having a busy working weekend, lots of jobs to do but it's fun!   I'm mostly cutting ribbon for kits, with a little sewing in between when it gets a bit tedious (cutting ribbon into 10cm pieces 1000's of times gets a bit dull after a few hours!)....I've just popped to the workshop this morning to cut out some orders which were received last night and thought I'd show you the robins I have *finally* finished...they have been on my work tray for about 3 weeks so it's nice to see them completed!

 I started with 3 dozen cut out but they've been so long in the making that some have already flown to their new homes!

Right, time to get back to work...see you tomorrow!

BIG buttons

 I stock a lot of teeny tiny buttons...and I stock a lot of middle sized buttons ...and I stock a lot of flower buttons....actually I could make it easy and just say I stock a lot of buttons! ... but from time to time I get asked for buttons I don't have!  BIG Buttons, in a mixed bag, for a little price have been on my shopping list for a while!

 And now I've hunted them down ....and this morning I weighed them (150g a bag) and bagged them into BIG bags....I still love teeny tiny buttons but when I was taking these photos I was soooo tempted to just sit and play BIG buttons for a while!

So if you need BIG* buttons for your projects I have them, hurrah!
*BIG buttons are 2-3cm diameter, some are bigger.  Some are 2 hole, some are 4 hole, some have shanks, some you sew through, some are toggles, some are shapes.  All are BIG!
Quick Link :: for  BIG bags of BIG buttons click here
and now I've finished my to do list and am going home to sew!  double hurrah!

it's Friday

 the sun is shining....my favourite flower buttons have finally arrived back into stock

and I plan to spend the next few hours sorting, weighing and bagging

what a lovely way to end* the week!
*really my week never ends...I have lot of weekend work planned!

ways to say 'hand made'

 ooohhh look what came in the post today! 

5 different ribbons, with 5 different handmade messages, simply marvellous!

Quick Link :: all handmade ribbons are here

rough cuts

 when I am making a lot of one item I like to rough cut the pieces I need to cut out into more manageable sizes...these piles of rough cuts will (eventually) become 3 dozen Father Christmas and 3 dozen penguins decorations...I'm hoping to make a big dent in them this weekend, but I need to finish 3 dozen robins and reindeer first!

stocking up...

 All sorts of useful & pretty supplies arrived yesterday and they are now listed on the website ::

 

 silver Star Key Rings are here

 

 Jingle Bells are here

 Hair Clips are here

 Swivel Clips are here

and HOORAY!!! teeny tiny polka dot buttons made a welcome return (whilst the freebie extravaganza was running so I forgot to tell you!)  and this time they are in fab-u-lous mix packs! HOORAY!! oh, and they are listed here