How time flies !

Well, it is almost upon on.

Another year has absolutely flown by and I've watched my little darlings getting older by the day - sometimes I panic that I can't remember what they were like when they were really tiny and then I have to go and get the videos/DVDs out - and then it all just seems like yesterday.

Every day they learn something new - Sam started school in September and is now able to read quite well along with writing with lovely spidery back to front writing !! Grace gabbles away ten to the dozen and gets more and more bossy every day - she likes to stand next to me when I'm ironing, using her own little iron and ironing board, chatting away like a little old lady. I wonder what I will be saying this time next year ?!

The above photo was taken on Boxing Day when we decided to have a day at home and spend it by ourselves (well, apart from saying goodbye to my sister who was going back to Guernsey). My 2 monkeys wanted to climb the old Mulberry tree in our garden and then insisted I take photos - well of course, who am I to argue ?!

Looking back at the last year craft / business wise, I cannot believe what I have managed to achieve in such a short space of time. At the time, it seemed to take forever to get off the ground and I apologise now for all my grumblings to anyone who was kind enough to listen. I'm just impatient and couldn't wait for things to get going ... of course, once they did things just seemed to get better and better.

I can't believe Picture it in Stitches (as it started out) is a whole year old (even though it has now changed its name to Blooming Felt) and that when I started out, determined to design and stitch beautiful textile pictures, that I would end up with a different named little Company and a completely different product range !

Sadly, the pictures just didn't take off. Despite my very best efforts with marketing, press releases, selling through various websites, knocking on doors of shops etc., it seemed that textile pictures weren't popular and I was wasting my time !! However, once I ventured into the wonderful world of felt, it became quite obvious that I was not alone in loving this wonderful medium. The people I have met through "felt" are absolutely amazing and have become real friends (even though I haven't actually met half of them !) and similarly the people I have connected with through blogging are equally amazing and have also become friends - thank you to all of you lovely people. I really appreciate all of your kind words and support.

As 2007 ends and I look back I can be truly thankful - to have a business (albeit a tiny one) that is slowly getting off the ground and people are starting to recognise and buy from ~ to have met lots of fantastic people through Blooming Felt and through blogging ~ to have a wonderful family that support me all the way (hugs and kisses to all of you) and finally, to be doing what I have always dreamed of doing ... designing and creating lots of crafty items for other people to love, appreciate and enjoy... just as I do.

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR !!

Lots of love

Sarah xxxxx

PS. My SALE is now on !!!

Blooming Felt

Hiya

Well, most of the presents are wrapped, the tree is up, I've posted out all of the orders and fingers crossed, they all seem to have been received.

And just for good measure, I've decided to redesign my website (please bear with me whilst it's being updated) and introduce a whole new range of fantastic felted goodies !!

As most of you regular readers of this blog will know, my main line of business when I started out a whole year ago, was designing and creating hand-stitched textile pictures. Sadly, after a year, it has become apparent that hand-stitched textile pictures aren't the best sellers in the world and so I have had to take the decision to stop creating my pictures and concentrate on my felted accessories. My shop at notonthehighstreet.com has been manically busy over the last 2 months and as a result has virtually depleted all of my felt accessories. So, a radical rethink was needed. As I wasn't lucky enough to have a little set of elves that came out at night and made lots of new stock, I was working myself ragged trying to keep up with orders, look after the house, look after a husband and 2 small children and still do my part-time job. The time came for me to admit that I'm not superwoman and that I would need to work out how to continue to produce beautiful felted goodies without running myself into the ground.

Enter a fantastic company employing a small team of women in Nepal. So, for the last few weeks I have been designing lots of lovely felt accessories, sending the designs over to Nepal and the wonderful ladies there have been producing numerous samples of my designs. We're now in the finalisation stage and I am VERY excited to tell you that these goodies should be available for sale through my newly designed website in the New Year.

As a consequence of this, I have decided to drop the "Picture it in Stitches" name from my website and rename it "Blooming Felt". Unfortunately I can't change the name of this blog without scrapping this one and starting again, so Picture it in Stitches will stay here for the time being.

I will continue to produce the corsages, bracelets, hair accessories, keyrings etc., that I have always made myself, but everything else will be designed by me and handmade in Nepal. All of the items from Nepal are Fair Trade, made of 100% wool and are of fantastic quality. Do please join my mailing list on the welcome page of my website and you will be entered into a special draw to win one of my lovely new items. Below is a sneaky peak of just some of the samples

Oh, and if you fancy a bargain, all of my textile pictures are on SALE on my website with 25% off every picture - be quick because when they're gone, they're gone !

HAPPY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sarah xx

Something rather exciting is happening ...

Yes indeed ! I'm getting a little bit excited (not just about Christmas), but about a new project I have on the go. All will be revealed in the New Year, but you can join the mailing list on my website if you want to know what's going on.

In the meantime, I wanted to tell you about a great offer one of my customers is running specifically for readers of this little old blog. Beverley of "All Things Bright and Beautiful" in the Channel Islands is offering a free keyring with any purchase from her shop until the end of January to anyone who mentions me/this blog when they place an order. The keyring is shown below and is partly filled with Jersey lavender.

You can also order any of the items shown in the pictures above by contacting Beverley direct. These pictures were taken at a National Trust Fair that Beverley exhibited at recently and if you look very closely you can see a number of my own items - thanks Beverley !!

Aches and Pains !

I'm suffering !

On Saturday, me and 3 friends had our first training session for the Breast Cancer Moonwalk that we're doing next summer. We decided to go to London and walk for 2 hours from Liverpool Street Station in one direction, and then turn round and walk back again. I was amazed that we managed to walk approximately 10 miles ! And in the torrential rain that was no mean feat !! At least we had nice views of the River Thames and we stopped for lunch at the Gourmet Pizza Co. on the Southbank and I managed to devour the biggest bowl of pasta in record speed - walking certainly makes me hungry. I have to say that I am very proud of all of us because we all did extremely well. Well done girls !! Here's to many more walks ... hopefully in the sunshine !

Now - crafts !

Below are photos of some of the badges that were left over from Sam's school fair. All great stocking fillers for boys and available for sale to you at £1.50 each (including postage - UK only). Just email me if you would like to purchase any.

Christmas is kicking in !!

Well, so much for having a bit of a rest after the Christmas Fair !! My shop at not on the high street has suddenly gone a bit mad and I'm getting 3-5 orders per day !! It's starting to rapidly deplete my stock - arghhhhhh ! Please don't think I'm complaining because I'm not - it's great that my NOTHS shop is busy because I invested rather a lot of money in it, so I guess it's payback time !

Remember me telling you that I was playing around with some ideas for boys that I could sell at the Fair? Well, I did manage to do them and have to say I was rather chuffed with myself

Spiderman keyrings

and

Batman keyrings

and they sold well too! I've just got one Batman keyring left if anyone's interested. It's £4.00 including postage. Of course, if you would like to place an order for either keyring, do please email me

Next time I shall be showing you some of the lovely badges that Samantha at Plump Pudding made for me - they will be for sale through this blog, so do check back if you're interested.

And finally, I just wanted to say a special thank you to Beverley of All Things Bright and Beautiful in Jersey, Channel Islands. She placed a wholesale order recently and sold lots of my bits and bobs at a National Trust Christmas Fair she did at the weekend. She then very kindly bought all of the gingham yoyo bobbles I had left over from Saturday's fair - thank you Beverley !!

Sarah x

...... and breathe !!!

That's it !

Today was Sam's school Christmas Fayre at which I had a table.

It was extremely busy and I had a constant stream of visitors throughout the 2 hours. Unfortunately, I didn't do as well as I would have hoped, but I certainly can't complain. This time I was very pleased because, after moaning that all I sold at the last fair were the peg doll kits I had bought in, this time I sold only 2 kits (a bit disappointing considering I had bought in extra supplies!), but I sold absolutely loads of pocket money priced things that I had made myself. Everyone was extremely complimentary about all of my goodies and I actually ran out of my brochures which, considering I took almost 100 with me, was pretty good going. I also had lots of enquiries about my "name in a frame" pictures and am expecting a few orders as Christmas presents.

Sadly, I only sold one of the fantastic little badges that Samantha at Plump Pudding had made for meonly 2 of the red gingham hair bobbles that I made specifically for the fair as they match the girls blousesand not one single piece of fair trade felt that I had imported from Nepal.

On the upside, I sold lots of bobble bracelets, keyrings, fridge magnets, stitchery kits and loopy corsages.

So, what shall I do with the surplus of stock that I now have. Well, I will be offering it for sale here - a few bits and bobs every couple of days. If you would like to buy any of the pieces offered, please email me and I'll mark them as sold and send you a paypal invoice.

First up - Peg Doll Kits !!

I have 2 of the Adventure kits - suitable for boys from age 4

5 Fairytale kits - suitable for girls from age 4

and 4 Nativity sets again suitable from age 4

Each kit contains everything you need (including full instructions) to make each of the peg dolls shown

The Adventure and Fairytale kits are £10 each including postage (these kits are exactly the same as those in some of the upmarket mail order catalogues which retail at £12.99 each + postage) and the Nativity kits are £13 each including postage. If you want more details, please click here

I look forward to hearing from you !!!!

Sarah x

Fair Trade Felt

I am slowly losing the will to live !

I am working until at least midnight every night trying to get enough stock together for Sam's school fair on Saturday and am panicking (as usual) that I won't have enough stock. The trouble with this fair (I think) is that I'm catering for both children and adults and so am conscious of the fact that I need to produce lots of pocket money priced items. Thankfully, Samantha at Plump Pudding has come up trumps and has done me some lovely badges - thank you so much Samantha. As soon as they arrive I shall post some pics here. I sat last night and made 20 yoyos to turn into hair bobbles for the girls, and then realised that I didn't have any buttons to finish them off with (durrrrr). I haven't even started on my new idea for the boys keyrings yet - but fingers crossed Mum is on her way over from town with supplies, so I might be able to make a start this evening, and I am manically needle felting felt balls/beads to turn into bobble bracelets.

I really don't know how everyone else is managing to cope with the Christmas rush this year. I take my hats off to all of you lovely ladies (and guys, if any read this blog) who seem to produce absolutely loads and loads of different items and keep up to date with your blogs and shops etc as well. Maybe it's because I have 2 small children to look after and a part-time job as well, but all I know is I can't keep going at this rate !!

Consequently, I have decided to try and source some Fair Trade felt items to add to my own little felt collection and to take the pressure off me slightly.

These are some of the samples that I've had come through this week - I shall be selling them at the Fair on Saturday and if they're popular will be stocking a much wider range for sale through my website and this blog in the New Year. I am also looking to source some felt supplies ie. felt balls which will be sold loose so that they can be bought in whatever quantity the customer likes and can be turned into lovely funky jewellery.




Do let me know your thoughts on my new line - I'd love to hear from you.

And now I'm off to try and make a shepherd's outfit for Sam's Nativity play - no rest for the wicked then !!

Plodding along

Hiya

Since my last post I have managed to get the wholesale order that's off to Jersey finished.

The needle felted daisies have been stitched onto hair clips, and remember the needle felted balls in my last post? Well, this is how they ended up - bobble bracelets !

Lovely soft spotty heart keyrings

and a needle felted bucket bag.

After sending this order out and a couple of orders that I've received via Not on the High Street, I need to get my head down and start producing some new goodies for the Christmas Fair at Sam's school on the 1st December.

Lots of pocket money priced pieces incuding yoyo hair bobbles in the school colours for the girls (probably a bit boring I know, but as I've had lots of comments and enquiries from mums about the set I did for Sam's best friend Chloe, I'm pretty sure they'll be good sellers), bobble bracelets, loopy corsages, keyrings, fridge magnets, purses, bags and I'm also hoping to get some lovely boyish badges from Samantha over at Plump Pudding. She's just bought the most fantasic badge making machine (I'm very jealous) and has agreed to make up some badges for me. I'm also playing around with some ideas for keyrings suitable for boys - I'm not sure if it's a general craze or just at Sam's school, but all of the children seem to love to clip keyrings onto their book bags, so I'm fiddling around with a couple of designs suitable for boys. If they work out, I'll post some pics here - if not .... forget I ever mentioned it !!!

I'm off to make some more felt balls !!

Sarah x

Hooray !!! I'm feeling better

At last, I am finally feeling human again. Thank you again for all your get well wishes and for sticking with me through the horrible bug !!

Yesterday Mum and I decided to visit the Country Living Fair up in London (because we were unable to go last Wednesday). It was a lovely day out and certainly got me in the festive spirit. It also gave me loads of inspiration and gave me a kick up the backside into getting going with my crafting again. Unfortunately because I've been feeling so terrible over the last couple of weeks, the crafting has taken a back seat and I lost momentum with the various orders I had to fulfil. Fortunately, after yesterday's trip to the Fair, I am excited and inspired and raring to go again.

Last night I made these

Felted and beaded keyrings

Pony tail bands

Lots of lovely felt balls which will become beaded bracelets

Needlefelted daisies which will become pretty little hairclips

Tonight's job will be to needlefelt some spotty heart keyrings for a wholesale order and to thread up the felt balls onto the beading elastic.

Last week when I wasn't feeling too bad I managed to make up these little cupcake gift bags with the cupcakes that I purchased from Sarah over at paper-and-string. These will be part of my stock for the next Christmas Fair I've got on the 1st December.

I was amazed at the amount of felt goodies on sale at the Fair yesterday. It's obviously making a comeback in a big way and I guess is pefect for making accessories for this time of the year.

I also met up with a few lovely ladies that I have had dealings with recently - Willemien Stevens whose creative applique course I attended back in May this year, and the 2 Sarah's from Buttonbag who make the most amazing pegdoll kits that I stock on my website. It was lovely to see you all and I hope you had a fantastic few days - you were all extremely busy and I'm sure all your hard work was worthwhile.

And now I'm off to do some Christmas shopping online from all of the lovely people I met yesterday (because I couldn't carry everything home) !!

Fed Up !

Firstly - thank you to everyone who has sent me get well wishes - it's really kind of you and I do appreciate the fact that you are all still reading my blog even though it's very boring at the moment!! Unfortunately I'm still feeling terrible but managed to drag myself out to the Doctors yesterday. They confirmed what I already knew ... that I have a nasty flu bug, along with sinusitus (that would explain the fact that my head feels like it's going to blow up), and that I'm also suffering from stress !!! STRESS??? What's that then?? Consequently, I have had to cancel the Christmas fair I was due to be attending on Friday purely because of the fact that I haven't been able to produce enough stock as I just haven't felt well enough to do anything at all.

I was supposed to be visting the Country Living Christmas Fair up in London today but just don't feel well enough. Hopefully though I might feel a bit better by the weekend and so can go then - I desperately want to go because it's one of my favourite places and I'm planning on doing virtually all of my Christmas shopping there.

So sadly I don't have any photos to show you of my own stuff, but I do have this ....

1. ISBN9784529042659, 2. Broche Morango Rosa, 3. Broche Cereja Rosa, 4. Japanese Craft Book coasters, 5. coloriffic November - received, 6. For Mia's hot cups of tea and coffee, 7. felt coasters, 8. Embroidered Coasters, 9. Mushroom Colony, 10. Ginger Bread Cottage, 11. House scarves, 12. Olli's car, 13. Nature's footprint bird, 14. Love you, 15. More eggs, 16. buttons, 17. brooch2.jpg, 18. Girl and rainbow cushion, 19. buttons2, 20. Pink and Purple heap, 21. Holiday ornament - sent; group 10, 22. Felt Bead Necklace, 23. Felt Beads Wreaths, 24. Close-ups of my little hearts, 25. 3 Hearts, 26. Untitled, 27. Felty Frock, 28. Felty Frocks, 29. done!!, 30. Richa's bag detail, 31. teacups in blue - mini art quilt, 32. cute as a button . mini button flower blank flatnotes, 33. vintage dress, 34. cake 2, 35. cake 1, 36. Clips in Fireworks

It's a collage of a number of my favourite photos on flickr.com and you should be able to click on any of the links above that relate to each picture and then be taken to that particular person's page on flickr so you can read a bit more about them and their lovely goodies.

Fingers crossed I'll be back feeling better and with some pictures of my own crafted goodies at the weekend !!

Sarah x

The Sick Bay !

Well, I am still ill. What started off as a cold, has now turned into full blown flu. Yesterday I couldn't stop shaking which meant that I couldn't thread a needle (picture it if you will !), which meant that I couldn't do any sewing. However, I should really have taken advantage of having the shakes and done some needle-felting because the stabbing motion would have taken no effort whatsoever !! Today I am feeling marginally better - at least the shaking has stopped, but I now feel as though I have been used as a punchbag.

So sadly, as I've been feeling rotton for the best part of a week now, not a lot of crafting has been done. Panic is starting to set in because I'm starting to fall behind on my orders and I have 2 more christmas fairs lined up - one next Friday and one the following Saturday, for which I need to produce a whole lot more goodies.

Fortunately though, my very good friend Sarah over at paper-and-string sent me my order of felt mushrooms and cupcakes today (which I have to say really made me smile when I opened the packet). All of these are destined to become fridge magnets and will be for sale at the christmas fairs. However, if anyone does want to buy one, do please let me know. They'll be selling for £2.50 each at the fairs and £3.00 each (including postage) if you would like to buy them online/through this blog.

Because of the fact that I'm panicking over not being able to produce enough stock for the fairs, I have been a teeny bit naughty and bought some items in - namely some "sew them yourself" christmas pudding and gingerbread men felt tree decoration kits

and some more peg doll kits (as I managed to sell out last week). I have also been trying to secure delivery of some fairtrade felt purses direct from Nepal, but I don't think they're going to arrive in time :o( Oh, while I think of it and before my brain goes dead again ... thank you to Sam at incywincytogs who very kindly tagged me for the "make me smile" award. I am now passing this on (in no particular order) to the following bloggers who make me smile !!

All about Eden
Bugs and Fishes
The Funky Felter
Plump Pudding
Syko

incywincytogs and paper-and-string also make me smile, but as incywincy tagged me and also paper-and-string, I guess I can't really nominate them again.

Now I shall let you go and hope that you don't catch any of my nasty germs from reading this blog.

Sarah x

One down, two to go !

Well, today was the day of my first proper Christmas event - a Charity Christmas Gift Fair.

After spending the last week working solidly every night until almost midnight to ensure I had enough stock, I got up at 5.30 this morning to load up the car and make sure I was organised in getting the children dropped off at their various drop off points.

(Circle Brooches)

(Tags)

(Loopy Corsages)

Mum very kindly doubled up (even though she is feeling lousy with a horrible fluey cold) and so she had Grace from 7.30am until 9.15am, when my Dad took over. And my friend Amanda (who I don't know what I would do without) had Sam from 8am and then dropped him off at school. Mum then had to go to the school to stand in for me on Sam's class road safety walk that ended up being arranged for the same day as the Gift Fair - typical !! THANK YOU MUM !!

After a fairly slow start, things picked up and I ended up doing a roaring trade ... particularly with the kits. Peg doll kits, needle felting kits and stitchery kits virtually all sold out, along with a fair few of my children's hair accessories. Thank you to everyone who bought something from me - I really do appreciate it.

(my little table - sorry about the dim photo)

When I got home I realised I had missed a call on mobile from an absolutely lovely lady in Jersey who wanted to place a wholesale order for a whole load of my children's felt accessories. So that cheered me up even more until ....... I got a call from school to say that Sam had thrown up and could I go and collect him. Back down to earth with a big bump. Unfortunately, Sam has had a horrible cold and terrible cough for the last few days and was actually off school yesterday because he was so poorly. But, horrible Mummy that I am, decided that he had to go to school today because of the road safety walk and with hindsight, he really shouldn't have gone in. But he has got his comuppance now because I am feeling pants, with a bunged up head and hacking cough, which has crept up on me in the last few hours. So I guess we're quits !


I'm off to have a lemsip


xx