paper-and-string

swing tags

2010-03-19T19:46:00.002Z

as you know I like making my own stationery and here's the latest addition to my packing ::

swing tags ::

to attach to my handmade items.

more...

2010-03-18T19:58:00.003Z

when I photographed my apples the other day I forgot to take photos of these ::

3 new apple-y needle cases

I really love the repetitive blanket stitching...it's so relaxing to do

and my new labels look neat (even if I do say so myself!)

I'm still trying to get used to the light in my workshop....there's too much electric light and not enough sunlight, but I'm sure a few more photo sessions will help me find the perfect place to take photos!

cupcakes

2010-03-17T17:36:00.002Z

Today I caught up on a lot of admin work. I updated my website, did the last few weeks accounts & paperwork, and basically spent a long time on the computer!

In between all that I packed orders & visited the Post Office...

... photographed my finished cupcakes...

...and visited the local fabric shop, they finally had some bondaweb in stock so I was a happy shopper!

sharing

2010-03-16T17:27:00.003Z

one of my favourite things about the crafty-blog world is the openness. The atmosphere is such that people feel comfortable enough to ask questions which help them find new methods and supplies to work with on their projects....

...not a day goes by without a new email in my inbox asking something craft related....

....sometimes I can't answer them but I do try to help find out the answers...sometimes I refuse to answer (in a nice way I hope!) because sometimes spilling the beans would potentially harm my business .... I've been asked for names, addresses and product codes so others could order from my suppliers...I've even been asked how many orders and how much money I take every week!

Today I'd like to answer a question I've been asked quite a few times since this post about apples

where I gave a sneak preview of my new labels.

I used a new-to-me printer paper...it's amazing!...you can print fabric on your printer! AND you can feel the backing off and iron it into position!

The paper came from craftycomputerpaper and the one I used is the iron and wash cotton, but there are loads to choose from.

cupcake a making

2010-03-15T18:15:00.002Z

it's an evening of sewing for me....

...there are cupcakes on my tray in need of stitching....

...as if I could resist doing that!

apples

2010-03-14T17:51:00.002Z

this morning I finished sewing my new apples.

I made some key rings ::

some brooches ::

and some ornaments ::

I've put a few in my etsy shop ... I shall get them on the website but not till later in the week because Mr Site isn't working very well at the moment and I'm scared to change anything or add something new in case it goes even more wrong!

packing area

2010-03-12T18:21:00.005Z

The first area of my new workshop that I set up was my packing area. My giant white table is in the middle of the room surrounded by shelves holding all my stock and I can see through into the sewing room which is a mighty fine view! I made the table using bookcases for legs and a BIG piece of white board for the table top ::

I use the whole table whilst preparing orders....to pile up orders, cut felt & ribbon, count and bag buttons, pack kits, tie rainbows and pick felt-y colours....but I saved a dedicated corner of the table for my leaf green tissue and paperwork (the cardboard box holds all my completed orders, ready and waiting for when I do the weekly paperwork & accounts)

The shelf under the tissue has a space for all my packing stationery, cardboard (so things can't get bent) and white paper bags ::

sellotape, stickers, post office items, address labels and thank you cards are all close to hand ::

in the gap between shelves I keep all my large size purple packing bags & paper bags (in a wood CD rack from Wilkinsons) ::

the next shelf has smaller purple bags, shiny white boxes and a few (!) spare notebooks waiting for lists! ::

the next gap has my roll of bubble wrap, spare ribbon gift boxes and used jiffy envelopes; all stored in old boxes from the day job ::

the last shelf on the packing side of the table is where I stand to cut ribbon and count and bag buttons ::

It holds ribbon gift boxes, my tag gun (it's new...I'm still designing the swing tags so it has yet to be used!) and lots of different sizes of grip seal bags for buttons & findings, along with lots of little boxes that I count items into and then tip in to the bags.

It has to be said that I do really enjoy packing up orders...I enjoy shopping for nice stationery items but most of all I enjoy making my own stationery. I print and cut out all my thank you cards & address labels and I've just learnt how to print circle stickers which I have fallen in love with!

All my handmade products are made with care & attention to detail and all the supplies I sell are handpicked for good quality and design and I think they deserve to be packaged with care ... what about you? do you believe that packaging is important too?

wrapping

2010-03-11T08:19:00.002Z

I cracked open my old college art box and got busy 'sawing' with my bread knife ::

found some pretty wrapping paper & double sided tape::

wrapped all the polystyrene blocks ::

positioned the drawing pins/thumb tacks/push pins ::

and finished with polka dot ribbon and a sticker ::

winners!

2010-03-10T08:04:00.003Z

finally it's winner's time ::

all low numbers this time, but there's no second guessing how this random number generator's gonna pick 'em!
WINNERS ::
comment number 9 ::
Julie said...
These are soooooo cute - please count me into the giveaway.Thanks - Ju xx
comment number 39 ::
Jak said...
These are just lovely and so is your blog. I find you energy and enthusiasm very inspirational.Jak x
comment number 48 ::
Revathi said...
Lovely!! Your blog is so colourful & interesting! Regards, r***c**ta@yahoo.com
(I have disguised the email address!)

I'm going to email everyone in a mo, and then get the prizes all packaged up and photographed today :-)
Thanks for waiting...here's hoping next month's freebie isn't rudely interrupted by sickness, eh?

nearly back to normal!

2010-03-09T18:41:00.003Z

I went back to work today, I had to go in really early to let in some BT men but that was great news because it meant I could leave early too....I went straight home for a quick lunch (more toast!) and a bit of computer time, then spent a couple of hours packing orders and visiting the Post Office.

I'm all caught up again, which feels good, and it means that tomorrow I will announce the freebie winners...so stay tuned folks!

PS :: thank you for all your get well messages, they really cheered me up yesterday :-)

i've been poorly

2010-03-08T10:47:00.002Z

If anyone mentions NoroVirus to you I would recommend quickly running away from them!
John went down with it in the early hours of Thursday morning and it appeared to be my turn in the early hours of Saturday morning.
I spent 12 hours being sick on and off then all of Saturday and Sunday sleeping and feeling awful.
On Sunday I managed to eat 2 pieces of toast and half a bowl of soup...this morning I've eaten some more toast and am feeling slightly more alive...I'm off work today mainly to avoid spreading this around...it is truly a horrid bug and I'd hate to spread it to colleagues or customers!
I feel bored today which is definitely a sign that I'm getting better, fingers crossed I'll be back to normal soon :-)

march 2010 :: freebie day

2010-03-04T06:54:00.003Z

For Christmas 2009 I made my sister & some friends a selection of pretty drawing pins (push pins)*

I really enjoyed making them ....fast forward to March 2010 and I've made dozens of them ::

in lots & lots of colours ::

every single one is hand cut & hand stitched and has a drawing pin firmly glued & sandwiched between the layers.

FREEBIE ::
3 winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on this post and each will win a box of flower drawing pins.

RULES & HOW TO ENTER ::

1. I must be able to contact you through your comment.

2. If a name is drawn and I cannot contact the winner another name will be drawn.

3. One comment per person please

4. I will ship internationally so all are welcome to join in

5. Leave a comment on this post to enter yourself into the draw

6. Winners will be announced on Sunday 7th March

Good Luck!

*it seems that drawing pin isn't a universal term...they are also known as Push Pins!

ready to sew

2010-03-03T16:57:00.003Z

I know I'm not alone when I say that I've so many ideas, lists and sketches of things that I want to make, but not enough time in the day to do them.

I find they always go to the bottom of the to-do list but yesterday I decided it was time to try another idea.

It involves apples and key rings.

and apples and brooch bars.

bet you can't guess what I'm making!

a tuesday off

2010-03-02T19:10:00.002Z

ordinarily Wednesday is my day off the day job but this week we had to shift the rota round so I had today off!

I ticked lots of things off the to-do list: accounts, paperwork, orders, post office....nothing I can really share photos of here!

I did finish off some sewing ::

and I did finish off this months freebie (it's freebie day this Thursday)

so all in all a really good day :-)

sunshine

2010-03-01T18:24:00.006Z

this morning was beautiful here... lovely bright sunshine pouring through the windows and filling me with bright felty thoughts & new ideas.

It's been great fun reading your button-love comments from yesterday's post...it's great to know there are quite a few people out there as crazy-in-love-with-buttons as me :-)

the apples in the photos are now on the website

lovely new things

2010-02-28T16:38:00.006Z

I've spent the day counting, packing, weighing & photographing lots of lovely new supplies for my shop...

Jumbo Ric Rac ::

in 5 colours ::

lots and lots of polka dot & gingham buttons

2 new colours of bulk buttons, brights.....

and see-through buttons ::

AND......GIANT polka dot buttons!

they really are quite ginormous!

I've stitched each one onto a card that I made on the computer ::

lovely!

delivery!

2010-02-27T16:40:00.004Z

this morning I found a delivery man on my doorstep with a very heavy box full of buttons!

I managed to get them to the workshop before work and snapped a couple of pictures, but it really was too dark!

tonight I'm counting and sorting and packaging so tomorrow I can take photos and get them on the website....I've got some new items that you are going to love!

pah! computers!

2010-02-26T20:29:00.003Z

my website update yesterday morning turned into a bit of a disaster!

I somehow managed to change every single one of my picture links so when they were clicked they took viewers to the wrong pages!

it only(!) took an hour and a half to sort it out....at least I had Footloose on the TV to keep me company....and at least I was able to sort out the mess I'd made on my own....one day I'll get the hang of this website upkeep ;-)

The hexagon ornaments in the photos were ordered whilst I was moving workshops so have taken a little while longer than normal...I really enjoyed making them though and hope that their new owner likes them as much as I do.

website wizardry

2010-02-25T17:43:00.005Z

John's getting up for work really early at the moment and this morning I too was wide awake at 6.10am! That gave me a good 3 hours to spend on my website....I've re-jigged a few pages and changed a few photos in the supplies section ::

...and I've added an extra page or two to the buttons section (I've been busy ordering quite a few more buttons!) ::

all I have to do now is keep my eyes peeled for the postman!

***edited to add***

oops! it seems I messed up all the links on my website and when you clicked on pictures they took you to the wrong pages...I think it's all fixed now (fingers crossed!) thanks Justine & Claire for taking the time to let me know :-)

lots of halfway there's

2010-02-24T18:05:00.003Z

items waiting to be sewn ::

thank you cards waiting to be folded & chopped ::

packages with new stationery for labelling my made items ::

I'm also halfway through a special order which I forgot to photograph, but hopefully it'll be finished tomorrow

some sewing

2010-02-22T19:10:00.003Z

this blog has been more about furniture than crafts recently.....so to even things up a bit here are some photos of orders that were finished this morning (before work at the day job) and have just been posted at the Post Office...

I made a bunch (haha) of fabric flowers and 18 owl ornaments

luckily I'd started some owls before the move (before I would even talk about the move in case I'd jinx it!) so it wasn't as big a task as it seems!

unpacking :: finished!

2010-02-21T20:12:00.002Z

supplies ::

each drawer has just 2 or 3 colours of felt in it for easy access when I'm cutting out

fabric ::

all neatly folded again!

...and looking rather yummy

the other room

2010-02-20T17:40:00.003Z

John surprised me today by re-making my table!

which means my sewing room is all ready to be moved into...the sewing machines are all in position ::

and my materials corner is ready to be filled ::

in between all the moving and carrying and pretty-fy-ing I've been sewing special orders and the first is complete ::

8 giant cupcakes, I had fun making these :-)

a half ta-dah!

2010-02-18T18:24:00.004Z

today was started very slowly with aching muscles and a slightly twinge-y back (and a vow to never move again!) but after a good bath I was slightly springier and managed to get a lot done!

I'm back at the day job tomorrow so getting the Packing Room fully operational was at the top of the too do list, and you'll be glad to hear it's been busy and all orders have been wrapped, packed & posted.

the 6 Billy's are the legs for my packing table...we still need to iron the edging on the table top, but at least I have a table!

all the bigger shelves have items on them in some sort of order ::

and although it doesn't look quite finished it does mean I know where everything is again!

before the move I was running very low on felt and was itching to order, but I didn't want to move anything unnecessarily so I waited and the order arrived late yesterday ::

and a few hours later went from a pile on the desk....

into my new storage unit ::

The top three rows are 12" squares and the bottom two rows are 24" squares

I love how it looks!

which is more than can be said for the Making Room...all my vital supplies are at home in the lounge for evening sewing so it's not so urgent to get this room ready...

John has the task of re-making the giant table he made for me...and I have the task of unpacking the remaining 10 or so boxes!

still lots to do!

goodbyes.

2010-02-17T19:43:00.002Z

after much heavy lifting the old workshop now looks like this ::
by 9.30am the van looked like this ::

Goodbye lovely old workshop and even lovelier old door ::

A lot of time was spent today carrying way too many heavy things today...John was a superstar removal guy and I truly couldn't have done it with out him...we're both absolutely knackered and enjoying a lazy evening with beer (john) and wine (me) and in a mo I'm about to crack open a wickedly chocolatey Waitrose Mississippi Mud Pie, well, we deserve it!

The fabric?

that's what I bought whilst shopping with my sister and niece...check out what they got on my sister's blog.