A little bit of Retail Therapy

Sometimes, just sometimes (not very often though), I get a little fed up with just buying stuff for the website. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE all of the stuff that I buy to sell in my little webshop and for the most part it does satisfy my shopaholic tendancies .

But when there's a nip in the air (ok - so it's been almost 80 degress here over the last couple of days, but you get what I mean ?!), the leaves start to change colour and I get a little stressed out whenever I look at my TO DO list, I think that there has to be some perks to working so hard . So I hit the internet in search of goodies just for me !!

Etsy is usually my first stop because I love to wear stuff that's a little different. I had this gorgeous necklace in my favourite items list for ages and ages and kept looking at it and deliberating whether I should treat myself or not. The last time I went to look at it, it had been SOLD !! Arghhhh.

Not to worry - I will convo the shopkeeper and ask ever so nicely if she would mind doing me another one. "Of course" came the reply "I'd love to". So, to Gill (if you're reading this blog) - THANK YOU !! I adore it. And to make it even better, the other lovely item I bought from her had a little freebie with it as well. Double THANK YOU !!

Hmmm - what next ? Maybe some new clothes? I'd had in my mind that I wanted a denim pinafore dress that I could wear over leggings but despite searching most of the high street type shoppies on the net, no-one seemed to have any. So I went to that dreaded site Ebay. I know, I know - it's not the ideal place to go clothes shopping, but when you can't find what you want anywhere else, chances are Ebay will have it. And they did !!

I found a BNWT Alexa Chung denim pinafore in my size and a bargain at £2.99. Lovely - thank you very much. And I have to say that when it arrived I was thrilled to bits with it - it fits perfectly (even if it makes me take wonky photos !)

Then, one of my favourite clothes websites sent me an email announcing their Autumn catalogue so I thought I'd have a look and see if they had any nice jeans. Unfortunately not ... BUT look what I did get !!!

The description for this top said "its fun and funky and should never be worn by miserable people!" How true - I'm a happy bunny (or should that be happy owl ?)

This is really fab and I wore it yesterday drawing admiring glances and comments - well, I think they were about the top - I did check that it wasn't tucked in my knickers or anything and am pretty sure it wasn't so the comments must have been about my cool new top ! I'm definitely going to wear this at Ally Pally.

Then - can you tell I was really getting into shopping just for me by now?!! I found a gorgeous tunic dress / top in Next - ok, so everyone else will be wearing it as well, but it's just soooo nice that I couldn't say no !

And finally, with winter on the way I thought I'd treat myself to a new pair of boots. And guess what? They look great with all of my lovely purchases !

SORTED !!

It's great ...

.... what being featured on the front page of etsy can do !!

I was very lucky to be featured, for the very first time, on the front page of etsy on Thursday night. Unfortunately it was in the middle of the night here in the UK, so I didn't actually see it. Someone contacted me (from Barbados) to tell me that my felt balls had been featured, but sadly I never got to see my 5 minutes of fame. But never mind, it resulted in a flurry of sales and over 60 people hearting me ! Thank you to whoever it was that added me to their treasury - I really do appreciate it.

Now, BUTTONS !! Carrying on with my latest obsession, take a look at these gorgeous gorgeous buttons that I am now stocking on my website. They measure 1.25 inches in diameter and come in sets of 3 (as shown). Each set costs £3. I've been glueing brooch pins onto the back and selling these at local craft fairs - they're going down a storm !! Buy them here

I've also got some of this lovely felt string now listed on the site - £3 will get you 3 metres of handmade felt string - use it as gift wrapping with some of my felt flowers on your pressies !! You can buy it here !

I've also been having a bit of a spend-up. Sadly not on me, well actually, thinking about it, yes I did treat myself to a bit of Boden - the most gorgeous lime green cord coat that I just want to stroke all the time - me thinks I'll have to put one of those lovely brooches on it ! But I digress - I've been having a bit of a Blooming Felt spend-up on etsy. I LOVE etsy. How is it that you can find just about everything you could ever want on that site?? I use etsy to buy a lot of my supplies. I wish I could support more UK stockists and sellers, but sadly here in the UK it seems really difficult to buy what I call "different" supplies. They seem to be so much more readily available in the USA, hence the reason why I use etsy so frequently. I've been really lucky to find some fantastic sellers on there - actually - I think all etsy sellers are fantastic because we all come from the same crafty mould !!

So today I spent an almost obscene amount of money on supplies which will be winging their way to me very soon. I can't wait to receive them because I'm now cranking up for all the Christmas Craft Fairs that I'm booked to attend. At yesterday's craft fair I was speaking to some of the older girls that attend Sam's school to find out what they thought would sell and what they would buy if they saw me at the various fairs. So now I've got lots of ideas for new stock that I will make specifically for the Christmas Fairs. On top of that, everyone else is obviously thinking the same thing because sales on my website have gone through the roof this last week with all manner of things being purchased - thank you if you are one of those people who has spent some of your hard earned cash on my little website.

On a completely separate note - has anyone ever attended the "Make-It" shows which are held in Farnborough and Bolton each year? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts on them.

Right - that's it from me for the mo - I'm off to look at etsy ...... AGAIN !!

Byeee xx

SALE NOW ON !

Yes, as promised, my SALE is now ON !!

Lots of the items are single pieces and won't be restocked so if you see something you fancy you'd better be quick because when they're gone.... they're GONE !

And whilst I was rummaging around sorting out sale items, I decided to have a bit of a destash of my own craft cupboard (well, plastic drawers really !) Lots of these items were purchased on my various trips to the US, so aren't as readily available here in the UK as they are over there. This is just a small selection of what's available at the moment.

Rather than sell these items on my own site, I decided to put them into my Etsy shop and they're selling fast ! I'm putting 3 or 4 items a day into my Etsy shop, so that I can hopefully raise my profile a bit more (as mentioned in my previous post).

As well as doing all of this, I've been looking into new suppliers as I'm hoping to expand the range on my own website very soon. Having said that, I can't believe that some companies are soooo inflexible ! I called one particular supplier this morning (they're actually the UK distributor for the US company) and said I was interested in opening a wholesale account with them. They said that they would need to get one of their regional reps to come and visit me to show me the product range and that their minimum order value is £1000 !! I explained to the girl that I didn't need to see the rep as I was an online retailer and not a B&M shop and I already knew exactly what it was that I wanted to order. I then went on to explain that I couldn't possibly place an order for £1000 to which she replied "well, when the Rep comes to see you we'll see what we can do". Errr - I don't think so !!

So I then decided to call the head office in the US and explained the situation to them and told them about what their UK distributor had said. The girl was really helpful and went away to speak to the CEO. After a short while she came back and said that she'd spoken with the CEO and he couldn't believe the conversation I'd had with the UK distributor. Apparently the UK company has just been taken over and their customer service "obviously isn't quite as it should be". The US were going to call the UK and explain the conversation I'd had with them and get them to call me direct with some new terms & conditions !

Now, why can't we be more like the US? To them, customer service is everything (as it is to me). I wouldn't dream of trying to fob someone off that had taken the time to call me and show an interest in my products. I'll let you know the outcome soon !

Oh, and my funky button drawing pins were featured on Cuteable yesterday. Thanks Cuteable !!

Sarah x

Etsy Update and Trade Fairs

Sadly my shipment from Nepal didn't arrive today so I STILL can't put my new website live yet. But I've added the following items to etsy today. Hopefully these will generate a bit of interest and I might get my first etsy sale !!

Next weekend I'm off to the Craft, Hobby & Stitch International Trade Fair up in Birmingham. I'm really excited at this because last year, despite not having a clue what I was doing, I found 3 fantastic companies that I now use on a regular basis to buy items / supplies from.

This year, I know what I'm doing and won't be wandering around aimlessly getting totally confused at everything that's on offer. Of course, I'm sure I'll still get confused and side-tracked by all of the fantastic products, but this year I've gone through the exhibitor list with a fine toothcomb and made a list of all the companies that I definitely want to see. These include a publisher that stocks a really fantastic book that's not yet available in the UK. I really want to get copies of this particular book to sell on my website. The next is a German company that sells the most amazing colours of merino wool, also a couple of companies that produce great craft kits for children.

I'm sure there will be plenty more once I get there, but I must try to be focussed and not get carried away ! And the great thing about trade shows is that they satisfy my shopaholic tendencies because what's the point of having a webshop if you don't actually have any stock to sell !!! Well, that's what I tell hubby anyway - the fact that a lot of the items I buy are because I secretly have to have them, even though I have no clue what I'll do with them - has absolutely nothing to do with it whatsoever!

Enjoy your weekend

Sarah x

Lots of lovely labels !

Look what the postman brought me yesterday .... 500 of these lovely, lovely, lovely woven labels ! I am soooooooooo pleased ! Can you tell ??

These will be stitched onto all of my new felt goodies, so that everyone knows exactly where they came from ! I actually bought the labels from this guy on etsy and can't recommend him enough. I haven't found anyone in the UK that could produce the labels to match my logo so perfectly and at £42 for 500 including postage, I think it's a pretty good deal.

Talking of felt goodies - I had a shipment from Nepal earlier this week and whilst I didn't receive everything that I had ordered :o( I did get these

Felt ball samples for a jewellery designer in New York

Keyrings

Pencil cases

Coasters (these designs will also be available as placemats)

All of the above will be available for sale through my website very soon. The remainder of the items are due in next week so I'll post piccies as soon as they get here.

Tomorrow, Paul and I are off to Long Melford for a child-free weekend - a belated Christmas present to ourselves !

Enjoy your weekend whatever you get up to.

Sarah x

Moo !!!

They came !!!

My first purchase of 2008 was some of the wonderful little cards known as "Moo" cards and they arrived yesterday.

I'm sooooo pleased with them, even though a couple of my photos are a little dark, the cards still look pretty darn good ... even if I do say so myself !

Last night I also bought 500 custom woven labels from Etsy. Fingers crossed they too will look fantastic when they arrive - I always worry about buying stuff "blind" from the internet, but fortunately most of the stuff arrives looking absolutely gorgeous.

I also placed an order for some gorgeous green and pink felt with paper-and-string. It seems silly I know, there's me with a website selling loads of felt items and I go buying sheets of felt from elsewhere !! Mind you, in amongst my latest shipment from Nepal should be something rather exciting of the felt sheets variety - I don't want to tell you too much about it just yet (in case it turns out to be not quite what I was expecting ... see, it's that buying "blind" effect again !!), but if it is what I was expecting, be sure to check out my next blog post and also my website.

I've been busy, busy, busy redesigning and re-ordering my website. I think the structure is pretty much there now and I just need to load lots of lovely new goodies onto the site. I'm awaiting a delivery of my latest designs from Nepal and have been told it will be with me before the 10th January, so that is yet another thing that I am very excited about.

Because I haven't got any pictures of new felt goodies to show you, (I've been trying to restock my shop and also my NOTHS store with my standard stock) I thought I would show you a couple of the lovely books I received at Christmas. Both are extremely interesting reads and I can highly recommend them.

While I think about it, I am considering doing the Country Living Christmas Fair in December and would love to hear from anyone who has exhibited at one of the Chrismas Fair's in the past. Samantha at Plump Pudding did the Spring Fair last year and very kindly gave me the low-down on it all, but I would be interested to hear your comments about the Christmas Fair.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend !

Sarah x

Felt, Buttons and Etsy

Hiya

Still busy here in Essex ! It's Grace's 2nd birthday tomorrow and I've been wrapping up all of her lovely pressies (tea sets, toasters, ironing boards, irons etc - not that we're stereo-typing her of course!). Our poor postman has been staggering up to the front door this past week bringing lots of these goodies, and today he also bought me another fabulous shipment of ceramic buttons (which are now for sale in my shop) and some felt samples. Now, I'm not trying to do my friend Sarah over at paper-and-string out of any felt sales, but I found a great company that does a wonderful range of adhesive backed felt. Me thinks a little order could be placed this week.

I finished this picture over the weekend which will be framed in a white square box frame and put for sale on my own website or maybe added to my etsy shop (minus the frame). Yes, I took the plunge and opened an etsy shop in the hope that I might be able to sell some of my goodies worldwide. Take a look over on the right hand side of the page and you can see some of the items I have for sale in my shop.

Sarah x

Interesting Articles

Greetings !

Unfortunately I haven't got much to report Picture it in Stitches wise today, so I thought I would put a few links to various other sites that I visit on a regular basis.

Feeling Stitchy (click on the link above) - is the Embroidery Blog of one of Flickr's Groups that I'm a member of. They have some great members who have submitted some fantastic photos of their work (including me of course - haha !)

Sublime Stitching - is another fantastic site which sells great stitchery/embroidery patterns - the fact that their selling line says "This ain't your grandma's embroidery" will give you an idea of the type of thing they do (or don't do !!)

SYKO - this is a link to a lovely lady that I have come across on both Flickr and Etsy. She creates the most beautiful hand stitched applique items and has inspired me no end.

Little Quilts - one of my favourite Etsy shops

Kenshop - another Etsy shop which I just have to look at every so often because it makes me laugh !

Gifts Define - another of my favourite Etsy shops that makes the most gorgeous felt softies

Jan Constantine - this lady has the most amazing talent for creating embroidered pieces. I first met her at the Country Living Christmas Fair last year and spent a long time chatting to her about her gorgeous work and also gleaning any tips I could from her on setting myself up as a craft business. She's such a lovely lady and I'm looking forward to catching up with her again this year.

Willemien Stevens - This lady is my hero !! I attended one of Willemien's courses back in May this year and this lady has given me SO much inspiration it's untrue. I have ideas buzzing around in my head and little notepads full of sketches and ideas that I'm hoping to use in a new range of textile pictures that I will be producing. She also exhibits at the Country Living Christmas Fair and I shall be popping along to say hello and have a good old chat

My next post will be my 50th !! To celebrate I will be giving away a freebie, so please make sure you check back next time to find out all about it.

Sarah x