Wow exciting news!

So as I was driving home from my less than successful fair last weekend I was talking about how I would now take the bull by the horns and contact some local boutiques to see if they would stock some of my bags.  On getting home I checked my email and saw that a lady who organises the local Congleton craft fair was setting up a shop in Congleton and wanted to stock some of my work!  What makes this slightly more spooky is that my daughter has been reading about cosmic ordering and I had been poo pooing it!  Beth has picked which items she would like and the terms are very reasonable so it is all systems go, so excited!!

Also, here is a creation I made especially for the 1940s theme weekend which I thought would be a bit more popular than it was, ho hum!

So let me know whether you have had any experience of selling your goods in local shops and how that has gone....

New Shop on Etsy & Another Bag!

First of all apologies for becoming tardy with my blogging! I can assure you that the reason is that I am unbelievably busy and there simply aren't enough hours in the day.  I am not just simply sitting on the couch eating jaffa cakes, drinking coffee and watching Johnny Depp films, honestly, although that does sound good now I have mentioned it... mmmm .. ok and back in the room.

Todays creation is made from an old suit, so my advice to Cheryl would be don't chop his suits up send them to me and I will make you some very nice bags from them, especially the Saville Row ones! 

I love the lining on this one, it was an old piece of material I rescued from my local charity shop and brightens up what would otherwise be quite a dull bag!

This is a variation on my first clothing related bag which was this made from an old tweed jacket again rescued from a charity shop.  Both bags can be bought from my shiny new shop over at Etsy,  I am still on Folksy but the lure of being stateside became too strong!  So drop by and give me some love if you are passing!

So if you have an old item of clothing that needs a new identity, drop me a line and we will see if I can transform it into my clothing protection programme.

New line, new pricing and new outlook, very excited!

Well today has been quite productive considering I have 2 kids loitering around the house!   I began the day by catching up on my various web places one of them being the folksy forum (good place for picking peoples brains!)  Anyhoo, Woody had started a thread about USP & Sales, part of this thread involved how much we artists charge for our goods and this got me thinking, which at the moment is no mean feat, well done Woody, lol.  I read the various bits of advice that were given and then had a look at my own little shop and I had to admit he was right, again something I don't do very often Woody, ask my hubby!  I think I was selling myself and my bags short.  I think this stems back to when I began and the fear I felt at putting 'myself out there' in terms of asking people to purchase my items in exchange for their hard earned cash.  I have assumed before that because I know how to sew and create that everyone does and as my hubby and others have pointed out they don't.  In the same way as I am in awe of people who turn wood, crochet and knit, people are in awe of people like myself who sew and create items from seemingly uninspiring pieces of material.  Soooo.. I had a rethink and had a reprice (and apologies here to anybody who was about buy something, blame Woody for starting me down this course!) and something miraculous happened, well something slightly strange anyway, I began to look at my little shop differently and I actually am beginning to feel like a bona fide professional, type little shop now.  So thank you Woody.

So here is todays creation I am toying with the idea of purses at the moment and different shapes.  I made this one this morning and although the shape hasn't turned out too well I am pleased with the fabric, lace and buttons combination.  Let me know what you think.... either about my purses or Woody's article...

Day 7 Another Bag and a Rather Funky Brooch!

Ok here is day 7's offering another cute evening bag and a rather funky brooch even if I do say so myself!  The brooch is made out of some felt and a cascade of buttons, I told you I had gazillions!  Not much more to say other than it is heading straight into my folksy shop I think.  There is not much happening on the folksy shop front, however, it has only been 3 days and patience never was one of my virtues ;-)  Anyhoo I have just been to Dunelm Mill and have managed to bag some very nice material in the remnants basket so will see what goodies I can make from that.

Thank you for all the kind comments regarding the blog award yesterday, it was a pleasure to share the love!  Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Wow what a Year!

Well it is hurtling towards the end of 2009 now and time for some reflection.  This year has been a mixed bag both professionally and health wise.  At the beginning of the year I had everything planned out and the plan was to finish my 2 year art and design course and then progress onto a graphics course.  This was to ensure that I had some sort of 'trade' to fall back on should the crafting/creating side not work out.  However, the powers that be had other ideas and I was prevented from even applying at one college for the graphics course,  apparently they didn't want old farts!  In truth I overheard a conversation between tutors and the reason was that they received no funding for mature students, therefore, didn't want them to apply!  Yes, I was a little slack jawed as well.  Anyhoo, my interview at another college was I thought a done deal, however, they too had the same policy so now I was out on my ear with no course and no plans!!

After consuming a lot of sugary treats and a few glasses of wine I regrouped and considered my options, these were:
1. To return to my desk job be bored out of my brains and run the risk of running amok in the office armed with a stapler!
2. To stay at home, hide under the duvet and eat jaffa cakes all day.
3. To dust myself off look to my strengths and what I enjoy doing and somehow create a business from it.

Having weighed up the options I decided to plump for number 3.  To achieve this goal I enrolled on a web design course in order to build my own website.  This resulted in me discovering that I am in fact a closet tech geek, who knew??  I really enjoyed building my own site from scratch.  However, it is like looking back at your first crafting attempt, although you were really proud of it at the time now it looks a little bit sad.  I am currently building a sparkly new version that will go live towards the end of January with a new line of stock, vv exciting.

So here I am at the end of the year a long way from where I began and I can honestly say that the ride so far has been fantastic!  I began absolutely petrified with absolutely no confidence in my ability at all and with absolutely no business experience either. I have met a wonderful range of people through this experience and want to thank you all for your support so far and for allowing me to pick your brains when needed. 

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful successful New Year! Elissa x 

Craft Fair was it worth the wait..................

Ok so it was my big day on Saturday I have been building up to this day for a few months now.  I had been beavering away building websites, cutting and sticking, and sewing like a lunatic.  The big day dawned and I was very nervous as I had not yet had a sale and was feeling a little, shall we say pessimistic about the whole business experience thus far!  Anyhoo we tootled off having previously been given dimensions of the stall we would have we had a trial run as suggested and had a layout in mind.  I had also worked hard and created a large sign advertising my little site that I was quite proud of.  We arrived and unpacked only to find that the stall was about half the size we were expecting and I was also sharing it with a friend. EEEkkk was not expecting that!  So we had to suck it up and quickly re-design how we were going to display our wares and to be honest despite the initial panic we rose to the challenge.  So an hour later the stall was set and we had quick refreshment break before the hoards descended.............. we waited, .......... and we waited.  Alas, they did not come and after about an hour and a half I decided that we needed to make the best of a bad situation and handed out as many leaflets as I could, I even handed them out to the other stall holders!  However, by the end of the day I had sold 5 fabric brooches and three of those were to other stall holders, so I at least made my money back for the price of the stall and may also have a few leads from the leaflets.  So my big day did not go to plan, ho hum so it is back to the drawing board.

To re-assess the situation yesterday I decided to post a thread on a craft forum that I use, that possibly was not my wisest move given the delicate state I was in after Saturdays disappointment.  I was aware that the website needed some rejigging as it was my first project of my web design course and like your first craft project when you look back on it even though you were proud at the time you cringe a little!  However, I was not prepared for shall we say the honesty of some, talk about not sugar coating it!  Whilst honesty is the best policy there is also room for a little tact and diplomacy so the next time you are replying on one of these web forums please be aware that the person asking for advice maybe in need of some truth and also a spoonful of sugar to make it go down!  I forgot my camera and had to take a pic with my phone (reason for it being a little blurry)..

So the plan for this week is to re-jig the website completely still keeping the pictures but displaying my wares in a more business minded way, heres hoping for that first elusive sale..............

Remember, remember the 5th November!

After last weeks excitement of Halloween this week we have bonfire night a night in which we remember the chap who tried to blow up the houses of parliament! I guess that even in those days there was discontent with the expenses, however, attempting to blow it up was a tad extreme..... Anyhoo we shall be having fireworks, hotdogs and trying to dodge the rain as part of our annual bonfire night activities.

On a business note had a very exciting package delivered the other day my paper bags in readiness for my first craft fair, very exciting, yes I have acknowledged that I need to get out more! I have adapted my carriers as I have insufficient funds to have proper ones printed, lets actually sell a handbag first! Also, whilst I should have been doing website design course homework I decided that I would make an apron instead! As you do. So, this morning has been spent ironing, checking bags, stuffing and packing away in readiness for my first fair. Starting to get very nervous now as I have spent so long (well a couple of months!) building up to this moment, wish me luck! Ooh also, would love to know what you think of apron, not bad considering I just plucked out a lot of bits of fabric and didn't use a pattern! By the way homework still hasn't been done, need to find a cure for procrastination......

Busy, busy, busy!

I don't know whether I am coming or going this week or the way back! What with hospital visits, bag making, halloween costume making and I have just been asked to quote for some wedding stationary, phew! I am pleased, however, when I was doing card making full time I never got asked, isn't it always the way. Ho hum! Will have to put my card making head back on again and retrieve all my craft stuff from the garage. I am gearing up at the moment for my first craft fair to sell my bags on November 14th at our local college. I am getting quite nervous now, however, some sales would come in handy and also some feedback. I could really do with some honest feedback as I get the feeling that friends and family are getting sick of being asked 'ok what do you think of this one?'

College last night was a bit heavy going, cascading style sheets, frame style, standard style and layers. Trying to stay awake let alone actually do any work once the tutor had stopped wittering was a feat in itself! I think I spoke too soon when I claimed that this web designing lark was easy, I think those words are coming back to haunt me.

Anyway back to work I go, if anyone is still reading my witterings please feel free to leave a comment on anything doesn't have to be bag related and I promise I won't pester you to rate my bags! x

These are two bags I have managed to finish this week the one at the top of the page reminds me of chocolate lime sweets. I really like the colours on this hobo bag and with the padding it is really comfy.

A Slow Start, but hey Chanel was not created in a day!

I don't imagine that she created nappy bags either! My latest creation was a nappy bag I was asked to make for a friend of a friend. The design took me back to when my 2 were small and I was racking my brains to try and create something both useful and nice looking and I think I succeeded.


I like the combination of brown and pink and think that considering I designed it as I went it has turned out pretty well! Mind you I have to sell it now. The website is up and running and I have to resist the temptation to tweek it everyday.

My friend and I have decided to do a local craft fair in November and are both furiously trying to make enough items to sell. I have decided to use this as a deadline to polish off the website and complete all the little tasks that I keep putting off in favour of my sewing machine!

Those handbags are not going to sell themselves!

This week has been hectic! Getting the kids back to school after the long holidays is always an effort with new uniforms, shoes and books they always look really neat and tidy well for one day at least! I don't really feel as though I have accomplished much this week just little bits of things. I am still trying to get my head around this blog and still cannot understand why despite my best efforts I still cannot find any sort of link on Google Blog Search!! I figure if I cannot find it how is anyone else supposed to, ho hum! Also, I have made some labels to go in my handbags and quite chuffed with them even if I do say so myself.

Why buy them when you can print them yourself using transfer sheets, an iron and some material. For anyone that is interested,

1) you insert a table into word and decide on your wording. When printing make sure you tick the mirror option, when you print on the transfer sheet it will reverse the wording.

2) Now for the tricky bit, make sure your iron is really hot and place sheet facing down. You need to iron for at least 4-5 minutes any less and when you pull off the sheet bits will be missing.

3) Once cooled cut out your labels and sew!

Simples!


Today I have been creating brooches to go on my bags there is bits of felt and beads everywhere! However, I really like the effect and feel that they finish the bags off nice also, they can be removed and added to something else. Have a look and tell me what you think...






I think I am going to have to stop sewing long enough to get my site up and running. I am gathering quite a collection now and need to start selling some.