Bye bye old, hello new…
Posted on | June 30, 2009 | 1 Comment
Phew, it’s all over! I moved house on Friday and boy was it a palava? Not only was it incredibly stressful and tiring but completely draining too. I spent most of Friday and Saturday worrying about getting it all done before the transit van had to go back and worrying my dad was going to have a heart attack what with all the lifting! I know I probably said this the last time but we aren’t moving again if we can help it and if we ABSOLUTELY HAVE to move then we’re hiring removal men! We did 6 van loads with the transit over two days - the last at 10pm on the Friday night then starting again at 7am so that my dad could get the van back by 10am on the Saturday!
Anyway, it’s all done and most of the boxes are unpacked but I still can’t find my mobile phone charger! I think it ran away, they say you always lose something in the move though don’t they? My new house is much nicer, in a quieter and better neighbourhood and already the neighbours seem lovely! My internet has been off since last Thursday though and was only put back on today so I’ve been having some serious internet withdrawal symptoms, seriously! I’m happy now though and spent all afternoon responding to the mountain of emails, it’s all good fun though.
I got a nice surprise in one email, I got featured in another treasury:
It’s a great treasury called Hot Fun in the Summertime, it was created by Zell Bell Designs so a big thanks to Anna! I love it when my glasses cases get a little praise, in fact they seem to be one of my most publicity worthy items even if they’re not the most popular sales wise! I think I’ll make that design one of the first I create when I start my printing fabric sideline. Talking of which I’m getting closer to my dream as the wall came down in my studio today. It’s been very delayed with some ‘official’ stuff but things are really moving now. Whilst we had the van at the weekend we moved some of my larger items down to the studio as they wouldn’t fit in to my dad’s car. Which means I’m without a printing table at the moment which is a little hard but I have a very teeny tiny table set up in my attic here at home as a temporary solution. After all, I have 2 fairs over the next few weeks to prepare for! I’m visiting the studio tomorrow so will try to remember to take the camera to show you the latest developments! I’m back at work tomorrow though so my brain might not be completely focussed!
Why does tax have to be taxing?
Posted on | June 21, 2009 | No Comments
Yep, that’s right, I attempted my self assessment! I won actually! It wasn’t a fair fight though, lots of nasty-ness, Internet access trying to sabotage me by cutting out whilst submitting my application, trying to the odd rogue receipt which turned up like a bad penny at the end - all the usual kind of stuff.
I’m unbelievably glad I’ve done it though, we always need to do ours a little early anyway as July is the Working Tax credit info deadline date when we have to send info of everything we’ve earnt the previous year so the nice big Tax Man can decide whether to give us more money or to take some back. Luckily they’ve never taken any off us cause we’re pretty good at keeping it all up to date!
I’ve also been super busy preparing to move this week, the evil neighbours really outdid themselves a couple of weeks ago so we’ve had enough! We’ve been at this house for 2.5 years but we’ve lived in this yard for 5 in total (it’s a long story but we’ve lived in three adjacent houses!!!). I’ll really miss it actually - we’ve already said by to the guys who run the garage at the end of the road and will be delivering a huge box of biscuits to say thanks for taking our post in all these years! We’ve also said goodbye to the people at the chinese (yum yum, will miss their food) and various other places we always shop, now we just have to catch our fab postman and give him a big box of chocolates. I took a pretty picture of my back yard before we took all the plants to the allotment.
I love our little back yard, it’s only tiny but we’ve done lots with it over the last few years. We’ve always grown veg at home apart from this summer when we decided to get rid of all the veg beds on the lawn and make the grass space bigger for our two little puggies. Our lovely cherry tree sits on the left hand side, it was teeny when we planted it nearly 3 years ago and now it’s 8 feet tall! Goodbye garden! xx
Lovely little mention…
Posted on | June 6, 2009 | 1 Comment
It’s been a good week this week, not only am I one of Folksy’s featured members this week but I also got a lovely mention from Sew Scruptious who saw my glasses cases on Misi. Naughty me though, I’ve neglected my misi shop terribly. I think I’ll just concentrate on Etsy and Folksy, that’s where I tend to do most of my business and it’s difficult when you try and do too much!
Don’t you just love finding new blogs though? Every time someone points a new blog out to me I really must get around to adding it to my list - will do that later today. Thanks Sew Scruptious - will definitely be adding you to my list!
Must mention someone else today too - Treaclezoo. When we had our Spring Fling craft fair I found Treaclezoo’s shop on Folksy, but just a little too late! I was looking for decoration for our members welcome table and naturally looking for sweet related things to go with the whole theme of Craft Candy. I found these gorgeous items in Treaclezoo’s shop but it was just a little too late to order and get them in time for the fair - how fab are these though?
I can’t crochet very well - I don’t put enough effort into it to be honest, or enough time! So being able to buy cute things like this is brilliant! I am thinking of purchasing something for myself though but I can’t decide between these three:
I love strawberries, Snowies are my favourite sweet and these little Ravioli are just too cute. Which one should I get? The Snowies and Ravioli are brooches and the Strawberries are a charm to hang from a bag. Too many cute things!
I did a design for a purse a while ago based on Snowies (I’m obsessed with them - I could eat millions!!! I probably have!) in fact I have tonnes of designs I’ve never got beyond the sketch phase, the problem is that I never seem to have enough time in the day to make all the things I have to make, let alone try out other ideas. Maybe when I move into my new studio and there are no distractions then I’ll be able to do more? We’ll see!
EDITED: I couldn’t help myself - I bought a Ravioli and I’m also going to give this little guy that I spotted on Treaclezoo’s Flickr a home too! I’m renaming him Juan, I think it suits him! xx
Pretty walls…
Posted on | June 4, 2009 | 2 Comments
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about how to decorate the walls of my new studio. As you saw from earlier this week, I’ve got some postcards to put in frames but I was also thinking about one of these:
I came across Sally Boyle’s work whilst I was looking for makers to approach for stalls at our first Craft Candy fair. I really really like Sally’s designs - please go and have a look at her Etsy shop. This Peacock design is my favourite but there is a Birdhouse design which is adorable! I’d like some of her printables too but my printer isn’t good enough!
Talking of studios - here are a couple of pics finally to share with you:
This is a corner view of the window - I haven’t decided what colour to repaint the red wall yet though - need to get rid of the carpet though - nightmare in a sewing/printing room, I need a floor I can sweep!
Here is a view of the other part of the studio which is still separated by a wall - the kitchen:
Note the yucky stain on the floor - no idea what that is - I’d rather not ask! I’m going to go in and give it a good clean when the wall comes down - if it doesn’t come off then the lino with have to come up! I’m having most of this kitchen removed, apart from the sink, drainer and cupboard underneath (which houses my boiler!). Then next to the sink my industrial sink will be put in which means that I get to have a clean and a dirty sink which is great. Hubby has one of the industrial sinks in his studio but has to wash his pots in it too - I’m glad I wont have to!
More pictures when the wall comes down next week!
Folksy featured seller…
Posted on | June 3, 2009 | No Comments
Two posts in one day? What is the reason for this you might ask - well, I got a lovely message this morning from Beth of The Linen Cat telling me that she’d picked me as one of the featured sellers on Folksy for June - how fabulous is that?
She also picked three of my favourite sellers on Folksy too - have a look at her blog for a list of everyone and check out the Folksy homepage to see me pop up! Sheffield also got a little mention too which is always fab!
Pretty post…
Posted on | June 3, 2009 | 1 Comment
I had a lovely delivery yesterday, my postman gave me a lovely brown envelope beautifully tied in red rafia. When I opened it up this is what I found:
I ordered three postcards from Hide n Seek (Hidden Eloise) on Folksy on Friday and they are absolutely gorgeous. I thought I’d put them in a nice little frame and put them on the wall in my studio. I got some cute free stickers too! Can you see the envelope? It’s in the top right hand corner - it’s adorable - I almost didn’t want to open it because it looked that pretty! I would definitely recommend Hide n Seek - go and have a look at Hidden Eloise’s shop!
Easing back in to work…
Posted on | June 2, 2009 | No Comments
I can’t believe it but I’ve been off work for almost three weeks now, it’s gone by so quickly! I can’t believe that it’s been that long since I’ve done any work - my own work that is. I’ve been taking my doctors advice and resting which means no work. I cheated slightly by making a knitting bag one day and listing a few things on Etsy and Folksy including my new colour print of the Bird Brolly notebook…but other than that I’ve been really good!
I’m not sure it has completely helped though because I’ve worried a bit this week about getting behind with work but maybe this break is a good thing. There’s nothing like getting ill to make you stop and take a break!
Hopefully I’ll be back at work next week so I need to figure out a way to ease myself slowly back into my work. I thought the best idea was to purchase a few new supplies so I bought some purse and glasses cases frames this morning from my supplier in Hong Kong so in a few days they’ll be here hopefully! I’m also waiting to put another big fabric order in but it’s a little different this time. I’ve had a lot of requests over the last year or so for my fabrics which I’ve always said that I don’t sell. I have been thinking a lot about it over the last couple of months though as I make plans for how I want my business to develop. That was the main incentive behind applying for the studio to be honest - a larger space with room for a nice big printing table! So all this leads me to my next big plan - to concentrate on selling my fabrics for a while as opposed to the products I make from them. I think the only exception to this will be my knitting bags which are such a ‘nice little earner’ that I couldn’t possibly stop selling them I think! Plus they are my favourite product too!
All this then leads me to my big fabric delivery - a lovely hemp cloth fabric which is so soft and a perfect craft fabric weight. I’m talking to a couple of places about getting large scale screens made at the moment but I’m not rushing in to this at the moment as I need the time at the moment to get in and settled in to my new studio. Exciting news update this week - they’re knocking the wall down that seperates my studio and putting my industrial sink in - I can’t contain my excitement!!! I’m going to go and measure up for a few things soon hopefully so I’ll make sure I take my camera.
Another exciting bit of news this week - me and the hubby booked our holiday! We weren’t sure we’d be able to go away as we had no-one to look after the dogs but my mum and dad have kindly stepped in so we went ahead and booked the train tickets and campsite - we’re going back to St Ives!!!! I can’t wait, the last time we were there was 2 years ago, the weather wasn’t great but the holiday was still fantastic. We’ve managed to find an even better deal with the train tickets this time too, train travel in this country is far too expensive! Here is a picture from when we were last there - beautiful!!! I can’t wait!
I’m going about this all wrong…
Posted on | May 24, 2009 | 4 Comments
I’ve had a good think over the weekend and decided that this is no way to go about things. If something is troubling you or you’re not very well then you don’t give in, at least that’s what my mother always taught me! My mum is queen of the ‘pull yourself together’ life motto so I’ve decided that I have to make my situation change by having a more positive outlook on life, just wish I could get rid of this stinking illness that’s all (have doctors on Tuesday which will hopefully shed light with test results that are due in!!!)
Also my brain is really beginning to drip out of my ear too with all this rest malarkey. I’m just not the resting type really! I work all day every day and rarely have any time off to actually relax, I suppose that’s the one good thing about being ill - plenty of time to relax and recouperate and plenty of time to take part in more leisurely activities! So in my week off work I’ve read 3 books (working on my 4th) and I love it. I’m a huge reader (or at least I used to be before I started running my own business!) but I haven’t read in so long, a little author called Stephenie Meyer changed all that though. Yep that’s it - I’ve become enthralled in the massive cult that is the Twilight saga. It was inevitable really - I do work in a library and hearing every 14-25 year old come in and ask for the books for the last 6 months or so has finally overcome me. Have you seen the first film too? I loved it and can’t wait to see the next! Here are Edward and Bella - the new Buffy and Angel, and Buffy fans will be glad to know that Bella is just as annoying as Buffy!
The other thing that is keeping me occupied this week is the allotment. When I say occupied I mean it consists of me watching the hubby dig and sitting in the sun! Which reminds me - I have a physio appointment in a few weeks - goodbye bad back hopefully! Will take some pictures tomorrow morning when we go and post soon.
Then of course there is the MAJOR news of me finally acquiring a studio space - this news is so monumental that I can’t even tell you how excited I am! I’ve already started planning and budgeting like a good girl. I’m putting in a funding application to see if some of my costs can be reduced - it’s worth a shot and I’ve also been browsing through the Ikea website. This is first on my list:
Those of you who drool over lovely pictures of fantastic studios on flickr will recognise this cabinet as the Granemo cabinet from Ikea - a fantastic sliding glass door cabinet which is begging to be filled with gorgeous looking things. I need some storage and it needs to be space saving so I’ve decided that a sliding door cabinet is just what I need. I can just imagine it filled with little rolls of my fabrics! Next printing table storage, plan-chest and a fab colour scheme - watch this space! xx
Porter Brook Studios here I come…
Posted on | May 21, 2009 | 5 Comments
I thought seeing as I had some good news today I might as well share it - it’s not often I can post about something positive recently! I got my studio acceptance email today and I’m well chuffed!
Thanks to all those who wished me luck! xx
Etsy purchase & temporary hiatus…
Posted on | May 20, 2009 | 1 Comment
I decided to do a bit of retail therapy yesterday, not for myself though, although that doesn’t really matter! I’ve been searching for a present for my sister as it’s her birthday next week. I’ve more or less decided what to get her now, although I can’t write it here just in case she’s stalking my blog looking for clues. I bought her a lovely card from Etsy today though, I was determined to get something unusual and handmade and I think I’ve achieved that perfectly! I will take a picture when it arrives but wont be able to publish it until after next Thursday!
Whilst I was noseying around Etsy I decided to have a look at one of my favourite shops; Made by Hank and I found this:
I absolutely adore this one! I never thought of myself as a pink person but I am really drawn to it as a colour (as you can probably tell from my website!). I just wish that I had the cash to buy it - I have to be careful this month just in case I get that studio - why is a birthday never around when you want it!
Also I’ve decided that this is going to be my last post for a while, hopefully I’ll be back soon but because of not being very well at the moment my blog posts are getting really depressing. It’s no fun to read that is it? I’ve been signed off work for a while so until I get myself better and back on my feet I’ve decided to take a temporary break. ttfn
xx
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