Do you love stitching ?

Yes ?  Then you'll love our latest offer .....

Buy any 2 Sublime Stitching Embroidery floss sets for just £8 - that's a saving of £2 !

For a limited time only !!

Even MORE special offers !!

Now that our offer on felt bags has finished, you're probably wondering what our next special offer is right ?

Well, we've decided to offerr FREE SHIPPING  on all Michael Miller cotton fabric on our site (from now until 10pm on Friday 10th May) - that's all spotty fabric, all striped fabric and all tiny gingham fabric ...

YIPPEEEEEEE !!!

We've got a Special Offer going on !

Oooooh look !!

We're offering 2 of our fabulous felt bucket bags for just £12 !!!
That's a saving of £4 !!

Mix & match available across the colour range !!

Be quick .... this offer is only available until Friday 3rd May 

Fancy holding a crafty party ?

Then check out the latest addition to our website .... CRAFT PARTY PACKS !!!

Available for either 5 people

or 10 people

Each pack works out at just £5 per person .... Happy Crafting !! 

Come visit us !!

Hurrah !!  Now that we have a new Shedquarters (with lots of space), we have decided that we'll open to all felt fans, buttonaholics, ribbon addicts and all other crafty peeps on a regular basis.

So, starting on Friday 19th April, we'll be open most Fridays from 10am until 2pm for you to visit our crafty paradise, have a cuppa, take a look at all of our lovely supplies, ask for advice, meet other craft addicts, maybe buy a few bits and bobs, swoon at our pink carpet and just generally have a nice time !!

If you'd like to pop in, our address is:

Blooming Felt

Unit 27 Chamberlains Farm

Sporhams Lane

Danbury

Chelmsford

Essex, CM3 4AJ

Tel: 01245 471690

Parking is available, but bring your boots if the weather is wet as the carpark tends to get a bit muddy !!

Hope to see you there !!

Bonkers for Buttons !

We've had a HUGE delivery of buttons this week - which are your favourites ?

You can find all of our new buttons (and lots more fun stuff) here 

A new home !!

Hurrah .... we've moved !!!

Well, I say hurrah, but I really was sad to leave my old Shedquarters in our garden.  Tuesday was moving day and fortunately for us it was a lovely sunny day.  The removal guys were fantastic and didn't complain once that they had to make another trip when they had only quoted for one.

Everything fits perfectly into our new shed

The pink carpet is REALLY pink (but I absolutely love it)

We've even got some spare shelves now that we can spread everything out and we've got loads of room left over to fill with new units (when we've got a bit more money!) and also lots of new product lines, which is just as well because after spending a rather large amount at the trade show  last Sunday, we'll need the extra room !

Unfortunately, the store room is still a bit of a mess - but we just shut the door on that and pretend it's not there !!

We've got a lovely new sign on order that will take pride of place on the outside wall

and once I've put a couple of pots of spring flowers and a couple of hanging baskets outside, our new home will be ready to receive visitors !!

Once Easter has been and gone, we'll be telling you all about our regular open days.  We're hoping to open 1 day a week and then occasionally on Saturdays for those of you that can't make it during the week.  Keep your eyes peeled for more info

xx

Look what I saw .....

This is the display on the F&W Media stand at the Craft, Hobby & Stitch International trade show currently on at the NEC in Birmingham.  A sneak preview of some of the projects you can expect in our book, due for publication in October !!!

Excited doesn't even begin to describe how I feel 

xx

A new home !

WARNING .... this could be a long post so you might want to get a cuppa and a biscuit before settling down to read it !

OK - are you ready ??  Then I'll begin ...

As I haven't been around for a while, I haven't been able to tell you the exciting news ... we're moving !!  

Yes, after 3 brilliant years in our little purpose built Shedquarters in my garden, we are now bursting at the seams and working not only from Shedquarters, but also using my summerhouse as a storage unit and renting a mini warehouse !!  Sadly, it has become impossible to continue working like this .... we spend a lot of our time going backwards and forwards to the warehouse bringing stock back, which then goes into the summerhouse and is then transferred to Shedquarters when we run low on stock in there.  We also spend an awful lot of our time looking in boxes for stock that might, or might not be in there !!  We're not very organised at all !

So, I had to make a decision.  If I want to grow my little business into a bigger business and offer lots more fantastic product lines, get the wholesale side of the business up and running and have regular "open days", then we need to move.  It was a hard decision to make, after all, Blooming Felt was born and has grown up to be nearly 7 years old in my house, but I'm pretty sure it's the right decision.

So, the hunt for suitable premises was on.  You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find the right place.  There wasn't a huge amount on the market anyway and I was quite specific about, not necessarily the type of building, but where it was located.  Craft businesses, in my mind, shouldn't live on industrial estates.  We don't want to be looking out of the window at giant lorries delivering goodness knows what to other premises, or hear the constant sound of cars being mended / revved up etc.  We want to be somewhere relatively small and quiet and close to home.  So, despite being on the books of all the local commercial premises agents, no-one could offer us what we were looking for.  I decided to take matters into my own hands and start looking at the classifieds section in the back of the local paper and spied an advert for workshop / office space in the next village to ours saying the following "NO MOTOR TRADERS".  Hmmmmm - that's interesting I thought and called them straight up.  Half an hour later I was at the address looking at 2 vacant "sheds".  And they really were sheds ... former chicken sheds.  It's fate, I thought !  We have a Shedquarters and we need a new Shedquarters - it's perfect !!!!  Well, sort of perfect.  It needs quite a lot of work to get it to how we want it but it will be fantastic once it's done !  (It's also nowhere near as pretty as my current Shedquarters, but I suppose chicken sheds aren't particularly pretty!)

Fast forward to today and I have just signed the lease !  My lovely builder friend is starting work on the unit today and I have ordered .... wait for it .... hot pink carpet !!!!!!!!  I know, it's mad to have a pink carpet but d'you know what ?  I don't care !! It's Blooming Felt Shedquarters and if we want a pink floor, we'll have a pink floor !!!!  

All of the walls will be white and with a hot pink carpet I think it'll look perfect !!  White is, of course, the perfect backdrop to show off all of our lovely colourful felt goodies so I foresee a number of trips to Ikea to get lots more storage units (thank goodness for Ikea !!) 

I'll try and post "in progress" pics on a fairly regular basis - we're hoping the conversion works won't take more than a couple of weeks so you won't have too long to wait to see the finished article ! 

Stick with us everyone ... it'll be worth it :o)))

  

xx

We're back !!!

After taking the decision just before Christmas to stop posting on this blog, I have now done a complete u-turn and decided that we'll bring it back to life !!

It's extra work for me, but even though we have a blog on our website, I find that's very "business" orientated and this little old blog always let me post all sorts of random stuff on here including family stuff, holiday stuff and of course, business stuff.  And let's face it, constantly talking business does get a bit boring even though Blooming Felt business stuff is NEVER, EVER boring !!

I'm not sure how many of the people that read this blog also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc and I suspect I'll be duplicating some stuff, but there will be lots of "new" stuff on here and as FB doesn't let you run competitions then we'll do them through this blog instead :o) 

So - we're back !!!

Hopefully you haven't abandoned us completely and it would be lovely if you could spread the word that we're back with "News from Shedquarters" and perhaps leave a little comment on this post so that we know you haven't forgotten about us.

If you don't follow us through other social media type sites, then you won't know that we are now stocking 1mm thick 100% wool felt !!  It has been a long time coming, but it's finally here - 30 colours at the moment, with the likelihood that we'll be taking the full 70 colour range from the supplier VERY soon 

And in my next post I'm hoping to have some even more exciting news to tell you.

In the meantime, do please leave us a comment and let us know you're here !!

See you next time

xx

Exciting News !

Remember, ages ago, I said we had some exciting news in the pipeline ??

Well, I can finally reveal what it is !  If you're one of our followers on Facebook or Twitter - you can switch off now because you will have already seen this news when I announced it earlier this week.  BUT, if you don't use either of those things social media type thingy's, then I'm REALLY excited to tell you that Blooming Felt are writing a BOOK !!!

I can't tell you how excited I am !!  I'm stunned that the publishing company that approached us at Ally Pally last year, want to work with us to produce a book stuffed to the gills with projects all designed and made by Blooming Felt !

I am even more stunned to think that in little over a year's time, there will be a book on the shelves of fantastic bookstores such as Waterstones, Foyles (and hopefully, lots of lovely independent bookstores) as well as online through Amazon, with my name on it !  It's bonkers, it really is !!!

We're hopeful that we can combine the launch of the book with next year's Knitting & Stitching Show so that we can sell copies of the book at the show and I might even sign a few !!!  

Form an orderly queue now !!

xx

PS.  We're a bit stuck with choosing a name for the book.  So, if you fancy being in with a chance of winning a signed copy, all you need to do is make some suggestions for the name.  I'll be taking all of the suggestions along to the publishers on the 28th June, and if we pick the name you suggested, you'll be getting a signed copy of our book once it's published next year !!!  Get your thinking caps on and leave your suggestions as a comment to this post please  xx

Friday Freebie !

Just a real quick post as it's half term and I've got 2 little ladies running about, talking in American accents and demanding that I put the Princess & the Frog on !

It's been a long time coming, but I have finally managed to upload a new tutorial to the website.  It's a felt desk tidy / bits & bobs box tutorial and you can download it for FREE from the Blooming Felt website here.

I do apologise the amount of time that it has taken to get a new tutorial up on the site, but I've had a very good reason, I promise !  And I'll be back next week to tell you all about that reason ..

Have a great weekend 

xx

A little bit of this and that ... part 2 !

Following up on last weekend's post about some of the stuff that I got up (that wasn't work related), I thought you might like to see what I've been up to this week !

My children's school will be having a Jubilee Street Party (in the playground) this Friday and all of the children need to dress up as either Kings or Queens or in red, white & blue (as you do !)  The smaller children have been asked to make a crown to wear on the day, and there will be prizes for the best crowns.  Here's our entry ...

How handy that I happen to run a craft supplies business !

I'm thinking that maybe it looks more like a Pope type of hat - but hey, it's the taking part that counts !!

Now - I'm afraid that I can't let this blog post be published with at least some news of what's new on the website !

This week we took delivery of a FAB new range of buttons !  We've got ...

JUMBO buttons - measuring a whopping 83mm 

Cute Scottie Dog buttons

Fun Flower buttons

and

Beautiful Bow buttons !

Also, we've managed to restock the bucket bags that we trialled a little while ago.  Now available in 8 different colours (the same as our purses), they're perfect for embellishing with needle-felted designs, buttons, ribbons, felt flowers and loads of other stuff.

 

Keep enjoying the sunshine peeps !

A little bit of this and that !

Today I thought I'd do a blog post about what I've been up to, rather than boring you all with what's new on the website.  

Don't get me wrong, I love telling you about everything that's going on with Blooming Felt (and I do have some VERY exciting news that I need to tell you about soon), but sometimes it's nice to read about what people get up to outside of the "day job" !

So, this weekend I needed to drop a couple of orders off to local customers (service with a smile and all that!) and on the way back home, decided to pop into a Craft & Antiques Centre in Battlesbridge.  It turned out they had a Vintage & Makers Market on at the same time

 Lots of classic cars were parked up at the back, along with the most fantastic 50's music blaring out of loud speakers - I felt like I'd stepped into the Grease film set !

Whilst in the marquee I spied one of my very lovely customers, Claire of Beautiful Things by Claire Mackaness (that's Claire at the back - Grace is doing her modelling thang at the front!)

So, after having a chat with her and treating ourselves to a couple of her lovely goodies, Grace and I took ourselves off and had a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake .... as you do !

Mr Postman also delivered these 2 books this morning (is it wrong to get totally over-excited about books ?)

If you're a regular reader of this blog you'll know that I'm looking to do up our sitting room this summer, so these books will provide lots of inspiration.  They're what Ally Pally Ali calls "coffee table" books !  Well, seeing as how I don't have a coffee table, they'll be my "bedside table" books instead !!  

So, that was my Saturday.  Sunday news tomorrow !!

What news ??

Well hello there lovely people !

I'm so sorry the blog posts have been a bit sparse lately. The Easter holidays meant it was time for my own family holiday to the USA for 3 whole weeks !! We were lucky bunnies and were able to spend the whole of the school holidays with my parents in Florida. Taking the chance to completely relax and not having to keep a constant check on the website, emails etc was a real treat.

Fortunately for me, I have 2 wonderful ladies that work with me and who were able to hold the fort whilst I was away so I knew that Blooming Felt was in safe hands, and I didn't have to worry about a thing.

But now, of course, it's back to normal. Wading through the pile of paperwork along with a VAT return once I got back was no mean feat. And of course, finding that we were low on quite a few of our lovely goodies meant lots of stock re-ordering. Fortunately, most of the out of stock items have now been re-ordered and should be back very soon. So if you're waiting for any of the Woolpets kits keep an eye on our blog / Facebook page / Twitter feed and you'll be one of the first to know when they're back. We'll also be introducing 2 new kits to our little Woolpets menagere !

So, what other news?

Well, whilst I was away, LOTS of new goodies arrived at Shedquarters. Here's a little taster of what we've added to the site over the last week or so ....

They're all now loaded onto the site (see them in the "Just Arrived" section) and are ready to go to new homes.

Sadly, Royal Mail have decided to hike their prices by a considerable amount. Because of this we will, unfortunately, be having to increase our own prices slightly and will let you know the new prices shortly. In the meantime, take advantage of our current low 1ST CLASS postage cost (a number of companies will try to tempt you to them by offering a lower postage rate, but you'll find that it's a 2nd class postage service which can take up to 4 days to get to you, and of course, we all want to receive our goodies asap don't we, so don't bother with offers like that !). Don't forget that if you register with our website, you'll also be eligible to receive Loyalty Points on your purchases with us. These loyalty points can then be used against future orders with us - it's just our little way of saying "thank you for shopping with us".

Other exciting news is that we have, this month, been featured in both Let's Make Cards magazine - we were the Guest Expert for all things FELT related and there is also a fabulous 2 page feature in Simply Homemade magazine showcasing a number of our felt products. We are very pleased to be partnering with Simply Homemade and you'll be seeing quite a few of our products within their pages over the coming months.

So - where have you been featured ? Do please let us know - we'd love to hear about it

xxx

A little bit of Pomp & Ceremony !

If there's one thing we Brits know how to do, it's how to put on a show. And as the eyes of the World will be on us this Summer we need to show them why we're called GREAT Britain !!

From our iconic Guards in their bearskins that can been seen guarding Buckingham Palace

to black cabs, red London buses, our fantastic Union Jack flag

all of these things make us feel proud to be British

and the thousands of visitors to London this summer for both the Jubilee and the Olympics will be wanting to see these icons in all their glory !

Are you ready to celebrate ??

We are !!

Check out our fantastic new Jubilee & Olympics section on the website. It's stuffed FULL with all the supplies you could want to make celebrating this year absolutely fantastic. From red, white & blue goody bags, to Union Jack Ribbons and pompom trim - we've got the lot !

We've also placed all of our usual red, white & blue supplies into this section as well so if you're looking for a red purse to decorate with a blue flower complete with navy & white spotty button in the centre ... you'll find everything you need in one place !

Get crafting now so that you're ahead of the crowds and have your flags, bunting, corsages etc. all ready and waiting for the big events this summer !!

Great Britain needs

YOU

xx

New Goodies !!!

We've had rather a lot of lovely new products come into the Shedquarters over the last week or so (with more still to come) and I've been busy photographing and getting it all uploaded to the site. Here they all are .......

Cute little ribbon bows - £4 for a mix of 20

Fabric Covered Buttons - £4 for a set of 12 (6 different colourways to choose from)

Mini Felt Rolls - 6 sheets of wool mix felt sheets - available in 5 different colourways - £9.50

Hairbands - sets of 5 - available in either brights or pastels - £5 a set

Rolls of Wonder Under (aka Wunderweb / Vilene / Bondaweb) - 180cm x 43cm rolls

£8.50 a roll

Blimey I've been a busy bunny !!!!

ps. You can see a full list of our latest products here including our new range of Liberty Print bias binding & cover buttons

xx