Vintage style and a New Year

First things first

Happy New Year

Now for the business stuff......

I love Vintage. Making in the vintage style, altering items to give the vintage twist. 2017 for me is going to be more of the same and a new style of using vintage items to turn into unusual gifts such as silver spoons (you will have to wait and see what comes of that later in the year).

In the meantime my first makes for 2017 vintage style embroidered cards, these are for special occasions and could be bought with a frame to become a keepsake gift.

Vintage girl and puppy an 8 X 8" card stitched onto white cotton, gingham mount and pearlised flowers.

Another sample next week....

Getting Organised

Okay don't all fall about laughing but I do try every year, just does not always seem to work. My hardest bit is remembering to put all my ideas down into a notebook, not scraps of paper that then got lost or eaten by the DOG!!!! Been looking at the bullet journals for some time and settled on a Leuchtturm1917 Medium A5 Notebook 

 with squares rather than dots, as think will be easier to split up.

Arrived on Saturday and excited to start. Think this system with an index at the front and numbered pages is ideal as all my other notebooks I spend ages going through them to try to remember where I noted something down, hence the bits of paper everywhere.

Pricing Projects

Okay this is another new idea, although always done pricing never had a proper record of what I have used etc. Found these downloadable sheets online, don;t ask where as cannot remember but they are proving brilliant and being able to add a picture is even better. One thing I forgot to do was note the suppliers but as only started can go back an add those details onto the sheet.

Okay scrap the bit about not knowing where I got it from as has the link on the form, stupid me. http://tolmema.com/go/download-free-product-pricing-worksheet/

Treated myself to a wonderful album as well to keep in alphabetical order

Now to tackle the sewing room, Lee is dreading this as want him to move a desk from my workroom upstairs into the sewing room, this means I would not have to keep moving the embroidery machine, which weighs a ton. The workroom is so cold and can only be used in the summer. The fault is because the house is so well insulated and we converted the upper end of the garage for my workroom, not heated either. Do keep thinking of having a night storage heater put in there, maybe in 2017, this would at least take the chill off. Good in the height of the summer when scorching though as lovely and cool. A smaller table in the sewing room can then be moved downstairs and may be able to get another shelf unit for stock storage.

I hope you have all recovered from last nights revelling and hope we all have a prosperous New Year.

Check out the other blogs at Handmade Monday

See you all next week

Happy Christmas

Wishing you and your families a very Happy Christmas

Eat, drink and be Merry, see you in the New Year

Last Event of the Year

Phew! last event of the year, all stock packed away until next year. As usual Julia pulled out all the stops, Christmas songs playing,  a jolly atmosphere, lovely customers and stallholders. Really Christmassy and loved it.

Apart from 2 pairs all my lace Christmas tree earrings have sold, yippee

Now for the planning for new lines next year, first on my list 'Wedding's' in of course a vintage style.

Another New Years project is to sort my sewing room. Did my workroom a while back but my sewing room is so bad!!! drawers that will not shut because of too much fabric crammed into them, Spare spools of thread overflowing, ribbons cascading down from on high every time I lift the box down and they never fall out as they are but proceed to unravel across the floor.  Ordered a ribbon storage box from Amazon, think it holds about 17 reels. Will need more than the 1 but thought would give a go first, these should feed the ribbon out through a slit so you just pull and cut. Have not told Lee that I will be buying more storage boxes as he thinks by now I should have enough, little does he know how much 'stuff' I have, lol. All needed of course.

After packing away the stock from Saturday going to have a well earned rest for a couple of weeks. Apart from snowmen and tree cookies, caramelised cointreau cream cake to make and maybe some sweets, perhaps some fudge and chocolate covered turkish delight, yumm!

Have fun

Almost Christmas

Well a busy week, had an order for 12 of my cutwork sachets, concentrated on them over the weekend and into Monday. all done and winging their way to a new home. 

M & S for Food goodies on Tuesday.

Christmas tree up and decorated over Wednesday and  Thursday. Collapsed at that point and watched Jason Bourne after eating a delicious Chinese from M & S.

Friday Waitrose delivery and repacking stock from last weeks fair. 

Saturday & Sunday sorting for the Vintage Brocante on the 10th. Next week will double check have pricing labels and props etc. Only a 4ft stall at this event that has to be born in mind when thinking of props and placement. Want the stall to look enticing but not overcrowded like a jumble sale.

This is my last event of the year and over the holiday's I look back at events diary some on for next year and delete others. Look at other opportunities etc. Got chatting to a lady at the Headley event, met her before through the fair and the WI, she has joined with about 12 other ladies and they have formed a craft co-op. They hire out the cricket pavilion in Grayshott and hold a mini event. May go along and have a look to see if would suit me. A small event but those should never be written off as sometimes they can be as good if not better than larger events, when you are competing with 50+ stallholders.

January and February are also my planning months for new lines, directions I want the business to go in etc. etc. Also the months when I start making Birthday cards and gifts for friends and family for that year. Planning Christmas 2017 gifts, I know sound a bit odd but as this is my busiest time like to be organised.

Check out the other blogs at Sum of Their Stories

Until next week, have fun

Local Christmas Fair

I have been attending the Headley Christmas Fair for years, small local event but worth doing normally, this year? an unmitigated disarrster. Lovely atmosphere, music playing, laughter, chatter but no sales to write home about. Have I reached the end of the road for this event? I think so. A shame but must not let my heart rule my business head.

Talking to another regular we notice that a lot of new stallholders, now that is okay but sadly without the Arford and Liphook WI, who bring in a lot of members, the sales were way down. Too many cake stalls, stalls selling things cheap which made my prices seem expensive. I may ask questions next year and mention to Jo that without the WI and the Lions it is lacking a certain something.

Couple of photos and a case of hunt the customers:

Time to move on and only one more event for me to do, then I can pack away until the New Year. Fingers crossed the Home and Vintage Brocante fairs better for the stallholders, if like the last two should be good, plus all in all not bad for advertising myself and my product line

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Until next week  by which time we should have our Christmas tree and decorations up, such big kids but just love Christmas.

Have fun

Craft Fairs and Expectations

I have been doing fairs for more years than I care to remember, stopped doing them then started again. We all have expectations as to what our craft fairs should produce and the rule of thumb is 10 times the rent. So if the rent is £30 you hope to make £300. Now in reality that has never happened to me or to others I have talked to. 

On a positive note you also have to factor in advertising, a fair is your form of advertising and by handing out business cards you may get repeat or new business via your website.

I use postcards with product images not just small business cards, as these can be lost in bags, thrown away when they get home or if not enough info the customer may not remember what it was you did. The secret is to make it as easy as possible for a customer to look at your card and have a memory jog.

Advertise the event yourself on Facebook and your site, newsletters, notice in your car etc. I do not expect the organiser to do it all for me as I may live in a different area and can reach a wider audience.

Your stall should also be well laid out, worth practising first at home, pricing clear (though you will still get asked 'how much is this'). Be ready in case someone asks for a special order, have an order book with you and explain clearly what you expect from them ie, full payment up front, postage costs etc. Sometimes with fair orders I waive the postage fee but that is up to you. I just feel they have made the effort to visit, pay to come in and place an order, all part of my customer service.

Make your stall as enticing as possible, adding props, lights etc. This is your one chance to make a lasting memory to the visitors. Remember your 1 or 2 or 3 day event is your shop front for that time. Customers may not visit that event again but make sure they remember you and your products.

At my last event, Brocante at the Cathedral, a lady rushed up to my stall, so pleased I was there as she had bought from me at the Grayswood Brocante. She spent some more money with me and said she would come again to Grayswood in December. This made me feel happy as to have a customer that follows you is brilliant, that they love what you do. She even brought her Mum with her and she bought as well.

I was told that my stall was memorable as so pretty and pink. I do tend to make in pink, white and ivory, some say this is limiting my customer base but remember reading some time ago to make your website cohesive. Not too many random colours try to keep to a uniform palette. This way you build a customer base round the colours you use and the products on the website mix and match.
These are mine with an occasional hint of duck egg and grey

I have used random colours before but since following this rule have had far more compliments and at Guildford had an elderly gentleman, whose wife had bought from me, said 'Do you make this all yourself' my reply was yes and he said 'it is all wonderful such pretty colours, I could stand here for hours just looking'. These type of comments mean a lot to me as so good to be appreciated.

So are fairs worth it? well they are a cheap form of advertising, as we all know that can be a horrendous bill. Customers get to meet you the maker and feel the cloth, so to speak. Weigh that up and then decide was the event worth it or not. Some are not as I think all down to the customers. I love meeting up with other business women, have a chat, swap ideas, hear about good fairs and those to avoid.

Best practise smile and look as if you want to be there, talk about what you make with passion.

A new venue this week for Handmade Monday Sum of Their Stories

Until next week, have fun

Book Review - The Natural World of Needle Felting

The Natural World of Needle Felting by Fi Oberon

I have been asked to review this book, this is a subject I have never had a go at but always wanted to so perfect and animals could not be better.

A hard cover book, always makes a book feel better and the photography by Brent Darby is beautiful, so enticing to continue through the pages learning how to make these wonderful animals and birds.

The contents are broken down into easy to read sections:

Nature and Nurture about the author growing up and her love of wildlife

Tools, Equipment and Techniques covering the wool (had no idea so many wools and what each can do). Needles, equipment such as felting blocks how to go about structure from a basic shape. How to sculpt, adding colour, textures, character and wire work.

A special section to me was creating sets to place your animals into, this adds dimension to the item made and natural sets look so good. This covers things such as trees, shells and more.

Farmland Traditional farmyard animals such as chickens, cows, a beautiful swallow with her nest and chicks, the sheepdog, sheep and rabbits. 

Polar Region from polar bears, reindeer (would look brilliant in a Christmas scene and penguins who does not love these cute little fellows.

Uplands more the creatures we are used to goats, fox, hedgehog, snail loved by little boys, the sweetest little dormouse in a conker shell am going to have a go with this one, squirrel and owl

Coast Love this section as all things to do with the sea remind me of times spent in Devon when a child. To make from this section a starfish love the instruction as to how to make the lumps on the body, seagull and an oyster catcher.

I would highly recommend this book for needle felting beginners and advanced alike as inspirational, well done Fi.

How about adding to your Christmas list available from 

Amazon

Thank you Jessica for giving me this opportunity to review a delightful book.

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