Happy News and Sad News

I have news.

Exciting news.

2 lots of exciting news actually !

I have STAFF !! Can you believe it? I can't really, but how cool is that ?!

2 lovely new ladies have joined the world of Blooming Felt so we are now officially a team !

If you read the piece about me in issue 13 of Sew Hip you might recall that one of my "things for the future" was to look for someone to help out with my little business. Well, that happened sooner rather than later. I finally admitted to myself that I couldn't carry on the way I was, spending 90% of my time picking and packing orders and dividing the remaining 10% up between updating the website, replenishing stock, general admin, researching new products, analysing website data etc. So I decided that the time had come to find someone who was of a similar mind to me in that they loved craft (felt, buttons and ribbons in particular) and who was happy to help out with the day to day running of the business, whilst listening to 80's music and drinking cups of tea.

Enter SUE !!

Sue has very kindly agreed to help me out a couple of times a week. She's a mum, like me and lives about 5 miles from her new place of work. And the best thing about Sue ? She's enthusiastic, has some great ideas, is happy to muck in with whatever needs doing and is great fun !!

The next addition to the BF team wishes to remain anonymous. But what I can tell you is that she is a very lovely customer of mine who has the most fantastic ideas. She was always sending me photos (and pressies) of various projects and items she and her daughters had made with their Blooming Felt goodies, so one day I had a bit of a brainwave. How cool would it be if Mrs J (that's what we shall call her) would agree to pass on some of her fantastic ideas in the form of tutorials, for publication on the Blooming Felt website ? Did she agree to my job offer ? Of course she did !! So, very soon you'll be able to see Mrs J's fantastic tutorials on the website.

However, just as Sue and Mrs J enter my life, very sadly someone leaves it.

As with some things in life, happiness is balanced and sometimes tipped by sadness. My beloved Grandad (Pop-Pop to my 2 kiddies) sadly passed away this week. I've never known life (neither have Sam & Grace) without Grandad and his passing has left a huge hole in not only our lives, but of course my parents, my sister, his sister and her family and so many of his friends. Everyone who met my Grandad always, without fail, commented on what a lovely man he was. He brought happiness to so many people and it's extremely hard, in fact at this moment in time, almost impossible to think of our future lives without him. Of course, he would probably be very cross with me for writing all of this in such an open way, but I hope by doing so (even though it's a little selfish), it might make me feel a teeny weeny bit better. He was so proud of all of us and in the last month or so eagerly awaited my visits with Blooming Felt news and copies of magazines that I had been featured and mentioned in. My determination to make Blooming Felt a success is now more of a goal than ever. I'm sure he's looking down on us now and willing us all to succeed in our own goals and lives.


Sleep well Pop-Pop - we'll miss you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx