Credit Crunch?

What credit crunch??

Today I did my little man's school fair - I couldn't believe the amount of people that turned out for it. It's not a big school and to see people queuing up to get into the school hall this morning, was just lovely. All of the school fundraising events are extremely well supported by the families of the pupils and the Parent's Association did a fantastic job this year with organisation, advertising and generally getting some of the best local crafters to attend with their wares.

Whilst I did really well with my usual goodies, my secret weapon today (and it's the first time I tried this) was a Lucky Dip. £1 got you 1 go and Mum had very kindly wrapped up lots of stock that had been sitting around for far too long, not having been sold previously and popped it all into a Christmassy box. Well, they were like bees round a honeypot. And once word got round about the sort of gifts they were getting (generally pen & pencil covers, keyrings and hair bobbles), I actually ran out of gifts ! So there I was, trying to find other stock in my numerous boxes hidden under the table, that I didn't mind off-loading for £1 a piece. In the end, I ran out of that too !!

Of course, the rest of my stuff was things like bags, corsages, and lots of pocket money priced items, which always sell well at School fairs, but I have to say, all this talk of the credit crunch just doesn't ring true when you attend events such as that and everyone is so kind and complimentary about your goodies and will happily part with their hard earned pennies.

Thank you Elm Green School PA - for organising such a fun event and helping to support small local businesses !!

It's happened again !

Yet another 2 weeks seem to have flown by without me realising it !!

I did a school fair last Friday evening which turned out to be a complete waste of time. The only stuff I sold was to my friend, another stallholder and the Headmistress !! Never mind - you win some, you lose some. Last night's Pamper Evening was better, but not fantastic - I think possibly the credit crunch is starting to take hold. Personally, I would much rather buy handmade gifts than some of the junk that you find elsewhere, but each to their own !

Talking of handmade gifts, last Saturday was spent at my favourite Christmas Shopping venue - the Country Living Christmas Fair ! I LOVE that place - I know I keep raving about it, but if you've never been before and live near to London or in Scotland (Glasgow I think also has a Country Living event), next year you really should go. I bet you wouldn't leave there without spending something !! Sadly I can't show any photos of the goodies I bought in case the intended recipients read this blog !

As well as spending lots of money at the Fair, it's great to just wander around checking out all the different stalls and chatting to the stallholders - many of whom I know as they are either suppliers, customers or just people that I've come across in the blogging or my Blooming Felt world. And it's amazing to see some of the handmade creations - it's at times like that, that I wish I had more time to sit and create, but as my various online shops are all so busy, particularly at this time of the year, it's impossible. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it and feel I am very lucky to run a business that I love, but my creative side sadly has to take a backseat for the time being. I'm really hoping that I'll find some time to make some felt ball garlands to adorn our Christmas tree this year !

Now, a quick website update. This last week has seen the arrival of lots of lovely new ribbons onto the site. Vintage style cotton ribbon sold on lovely 3 metre spools, in a lovely selection of colours and designs (vintage red is shown below)

and cards of 5 metres of the most gorgeous muted colours of ric rac !

All of these ribbons are priced at £2.99 each and are perfect for wrapping those pressies and using in all of your crafty projects.

I've also added a new button bag mix to the website - entitled "Christmas Pudding".

These lovely button bags contains all sorts of shapes, colours and sizes and are VERY Christmassy !!

I'm awaiting deliveries of lots more goodies in the next couple of weeks, so as soon as they get here I'll let you know !

Enjoy your weekend and if you're visiting any Christmas Craft Fairs ... have fun !!!

Time Flies !

I can't believe nearly 2 weeks have passed since my last blog post. I'm so sorry !!!

Things have gone absolutely bonkers here - my first Christmas Craft Fair has been and gone and was a great event - although I do think a little too early for Chrismas.

I've got a school fair this coming Friday evening and then next Saturday I'm off to the Country Living Fair in London. I just LOVE this event - it's my favourite favourite place to go and I've been saving all of my hard earned pennies (or rather Paul's hard earned pennies) to do all my Christmas shopping there.

I've realised that I'm booked to attend 5 Fairs before Christmas and am slightly panicking over my stock levels and wondering how on earth I'm going to find time to make new goodies for these events, as well as keeping on top of my own website and in particular my NOTHS shop (which is turning into a complete nightmare saleswise as they don't give you the option to put how many of each item you have and I've been selling out of stuff and not realising it !!) Added to that I was fortunate enough to have my fabric covered drawing pins featured in Cosmpolitan Bride magazine last month, so have had a run of sales on them.

So, last week was Halloween and my little madam and little man wanted to go trick & treating, but as we live in a village which is what I'd call a "drive through" village, and there aren't many footpaths, thought it was a tad dangerous to go wandering about in the dark knocking on the doors of people that we don't know. So, we jumped in the car and drove over to my parents and did trick or treat on them instead.

And we also did our Bonfire Night last night. Fortunately, last night was cold and clear (unlike tonight which is wet & windy) and we'd bought some of those single ignition firework boxes and lots of lovely sparklers. After a false start on one of the boxes with Paul lighting it and it not going off, we finally managed to get it going. I have to say though that I think those all-in-one boxes are a bit of a rip-off. The just fire up into the air for about 20 seconds and that's it !! Never mind, the children enjoyed it.

And today was spent taking Sam to a friend's go-karting birthday party this morning and then this afternoon, I managed to sit and cover over 100 teeny tiny buttons to use on various projects.

Oh, while I think of it - I've had a new delivery of felt balls - this time I've got embroidered felt balls, mirrored felt balls and tie dye felt balls. They're all available for sale on the website right now ! I'm hoping that on Monday I'll get my new shipment of plain and beaded felt balls, which I've been waiting nearly 2 months for ! Never mind - I know they're worth the wait !!

Right - Saturday night is "Strictly" night - I'm off !!