Just another day

Well, I'm still waiting for the postman to bring both the lovely stitchery and peggarty kits from Primitive Beginnings and also an order of merino wool I purchased through a website over 2 weeks ago !!

I'm really hoping that the Primitive Beginnings order arrives tomorrow because I'm keen to get them listed for sale on my website and also because the winner of the monthly draw (which will take place on Saturday) will be able to choose one of the lovely kits. Don't forget - to be entered into the monthly draw you need to sign up to my website mailing list (on the front page of my website).

The website I purchased the merino wool from is being SO slow in delivering. I've emailed and left voicemails for them to try and find out where the order is (it's holding me up!), but they haven't responded. My final email to them on Friday told them that if I hadn't either received the goods or a reponse to my messages by Tuesday, then I would request a refund from Paypal. It's just not on !! I wouldn't mind if the goods were out of stock or something, but when I ordered it said all items were in stock and delivery would be within 2-3 days. Grrrrrrr

I visited the Hylands House Gift Shop on Saturday with some of my textile pictures to see if they would be interested in either buying from me or selling them on a commisson basis. Unfortunately they weren't interested. I then read a very interesting article that a friend told me about on the Whip Up blog about how best to go about approaching possible buyers of your items and read, to my horror, that the worst thing you could possibly do was to just turn up unannounced and expect them to look at your products. How could I have got it so wrong ??!! I should really have thought about it much more before bowling up like that - how unprofessional must I have looked? :-( So, the upshot of this is that I shall be producing a mini catalogue of all of my items and sending it out with a nice introductory letter to all of the outlets I feel might be interested in stocking my products and asking whether it might be possible to arrange an appointment to show them some samples. I'm so THICK sometimes - and to think I used to be in Marketing !!!!! Durrrrr

This leads me nicely on to showing you all of the textile pictures I have produced to date - if you haven't yet had a chance to check out my website, all of these pictures are available for sale through my site - just click on the link below to view them. All of the pictures are priced at £20 each, except the "Name in a Frame" pictures, which are £30 each, as these are made to order.

Picture it in Stitches - Textile Pictures

I'm on countdown now to our holiday which is in just under 3 weeks time. We're off to the US and I can't wait !! I've started buying stuff from US ebay and US etsy sellers so that I can have the items delivered to my parents house and so save on postage !! This is a great big bag of gosgrain ribbon I purchased from the US ebay site. It only cost me $5.00, so about £3.00 - I shall be using it to make up "Grab Bags" of ribbons, buttons and fabric etc to sell at the craft fairs.

I'm off now to see what else I can buy !!

xx

Look what I got today

... these lovely goodies !!

How excited was I when the Postman knocked on the door and delivered me a parcel?

It was from Paper and String - and in it were all these lovely miniature dresses, bags and flip flops. This is a wholesale order I placed and will be used to make up various pieces for the craft fairs I'm attending. As soon as I have pictures of what they have been turned into, I'll show you, but until then it's a bit hush hush !!

S - if you're reading this (which I know you are !) I just want to say a massive thank you. It was an absolute delight to open the parcel and see how beautifully everything was packaged up and how amazing all the little bits and pieces are - you are so clever :-)

I was hoping also for a parcel from Primitive Beginnings, which sadly didn't arrive today, but should definitely be here within the next few days. This is again another wholesale order and I found Primitive Beginnings at the recent trade show I attended at the NEC in Birmingham. All of these kits will be available for sale through my website within the next few days and the winner of the monthly draw (which will take place on 31st March) will be able to choose one of these fab kits. So, it's definitely worth subscribing to my website mailing list if you would like to win one of these.

Today, we can't do very much as Gracie is still suffering with the dreaded pox and I daren't take her anywhere there is likely to be other children for fear of her passing it on. So, we have a beautiful park (not sure if it's National Trust actually) in Chelmsford, called Hylands Park. It's where the "V" Festival is held every year and Hylands House, the beautiful old house has at last been fully restored to its former glory (it's only taken them about 15 years !!) I remember going there when I was small and seeing the house in its derelict state with the roof having fallen in and pigeons nesting in it. All of the windows had been boarded up and it was just so sad. Fortunately, the council then bought the house from, I'm presuming, its former owners, and have spent an absolute fortune restoring it. It's now used for craft fairs, as a wedding venue, music festivals etc. Anyway - I'll get back to my original point and say that they have just finished restoring the old stables which have been turned into a craft centre and tea and gift shop. So, I shall drag the children over there, along with some of my textile pictures, and see if they might be interested in displaying them for sale. The children can then run about in the grounds (which I believe is around 600 acres), without fear of bumping directly into any other children (I hope!)


I spent virtually all of yesterday evening cutting out these felt flowers which will be stuffed and then hopefully turned into a baby mobile. It's the first time I've tried something like this, so IF it turns out ok, I'll post a picture. If not, I'll never mention it again !!

Right - I'd better go and so some ironing.

Oh, while I think of it, if anyone knows where I put the great big bag of hair clips I bought the other day, can you let me know ???

Byeeeeeee xx