Woohoo again!

Yay two sales in two days! I know that I'm only doing well because everything is half price and I'm not really making much of a profit but it's getting me noticed and hopefully people will come back again when I've listed my new stuff next month! Just need one more sale.....

Lovely Feedback.

I'm really happy, the lady I made the skull appliques for gave me some lovely feedback They are so awesome. Thank you sooooo much. That was quick! Nice work ;) I'm so glad she liked them, I was quite apprehensive as it was my first custom order but I should be cool if I get any more. The best thing was they got there really quickly (in just over a week) normally it seems to take 2-3 weeks so it was an excellent transaction all round!

Another Sale!

Yay! Another sale and my very first British buyer! Until now I've only sold my bags to Americans (and that lady in Norway). So my Safari tote finally sold, I'm glad as it was one of my favourites.

Most of today I've been thinking to myself  'If only I had more money' then I could create all the weird and wonderful things I think about when I'm at work and buy lots of lovely fabric without feeling guilty! I know they say 'you have to spend money to make money' but I really have to save for my holiday next year. The original plan was for me to go to Borneo next year for a month's volunteering work at an orangutan sanctuary but I've put that idea on hold for the time being as it's my mum's 50th birthday in April. I decided I wanted to take her somewhere special as she's had a hard few years so I booked us a trip to Egypt for a week (4 night Nile cruise and 3 days in Cairo). I can't wait the only problem is that I need to save up for it and I'm not doing very well so far!

I was reading one of etsy's featured seller interviews last week and she mentioned that she created her work around a theme or idea using a different one each week. I thought that was a fantastic way to work and thats a concept that I should adopt, it would help me focus my ideas (as I have so many that I never do anything about!) Anyway I am thinking that I could have a monthly theme to create around - obviously next month will be Halloween. 

I'm also thinking maybe over the next few months -

-pirates 

-dinosaurs

-cowboys

But then again I guess I should be seriously thinking about stocking up my shop for Xmas as it's not that far away! Aaarrgh! Where has the year gone! 

Woohoo a new sale!

Finally my sale has started to show signs of paying off! I decided that I would make a bigger deal of the 'half price' by putting it in the title of each bag and then decided to re-list two of my older listings (pink cord & pink/black stripey skulls) and within 15 mins they were both snapped up by a lady in California! I'm gonna go re-list some more items (although I'm worried I may get addicted to re-listing!) and keep my fingers crossed for some more sales. 

New Ideas.

It has really surprised me how therapeutic I've found writing this blog. I was really sceptical at first about posting aspects of my life on the internet for anyone to read. But it's been great to have somewhere to put down my random thoughts, I've not got anything particularly interesting to say but then I guess it doesn't really matter if anyone reads this as long as I'm finding it helpful.... And it really is helping me, it has made me think more about what I'm doing and has given me more motivation to move forward with my little shop.

Anyway still no new sales!  Don't think anyone is interested in my half price sale, although I guess I should go on the forums and ask for some advice.

On the other hand I had a much more productive day off yesterday, I had loads of ideas and made two more tote bags (photos to follow) to put on etsy in October.  I've been thinking of maybe starting a new range of cushions, I bought some great new fabric today (even though I can't really afford it!), some lovely blue cord and red/white stripes.

I'm thinking pirate cushion! ARRRGH!!

Yay, I'm in a Treasury!!

My tartan star tote made it in to a 'UK Goodies' treasury! I'm very pleased as there are some really talented people on there.

OMG huge custom order..... then again maybe not!

I was excited to see I had two convo's waiting for me when I checked etsy this morning. I couldn't believe my eyes, the lovely Texas lady had contacted me again to see if I could make 125 skulls!!!! Unfortunately the second convo was also from her two hours later saying she no longer needed them! But hey, she says she loves them so much that she's looking for reasons to buy more and she hasn't even received the original ones yet!! Which is great, I only hopes she likes the ones she's already bought! Maybe I should seriously consider adding appliques to my shop but for now I'll wait and see what my customer thinks of hers first before I start thinking about that.

Promotional Thread

I've just posted my very first thread in the promo section on etsy (to help me promote my sale). It started of well with the help of Alix (Big Blue Bed) and a few other people she mentioned it to on the uk chat thread. I'm hoping more people will find it but I have a feeling I may have to keep going on it with random comments to keep it at the top of the list!

Also today I've found out I am sooo not cut out for ebay! I can't stand the waiting and the fact that my 24 Season 3 boxset is still only at 99p with only 6 hours to go! I hope that the 6 people watching it will have a bidding war at the last moment, but I think I may have a small heart attack in the mean time!!

Everything must go!

It's strange the ideas you come up with at 2am when you can't sleep! I decided in the early hours of this morning that to celebrate my birthday this month I would make everything in my Etsy shop half price for the whole month of September. It seemed like a good idea at the time and I guess that if I can sell everything in my shop this month it would encourage me to make more bags (and possibly create other new and exciting things) for next month. Well I guess we will have to wait and see if it works! 

Yesterday I wrote that I was going to be really creative but it didn't quite work out that way! I was trying something a bit different, a spot of painting, but I just couldn't get it right! Strangely I was attempting to paint stones! It's annoying when you create something for the first time and it turns out really well but when you try it again it just doesn't seem to work at all. I got the idea from my friend at uni who gave me a stone on which she'd painted a strange little orange monster (whom we named 'Miguel' bizzarly named I think after her favourite character from the prison drama 'OZ') I thought he was fab and kept him on top of my TV for years until his paint started to peel, so now he lives in a box under my bed. A few years ago I found the most amazing stones whilst walking the beach on New Year's Day, the best one looked like a grey and white ladybird, I remembered my friend's creation and decided to take it home and paint it. It turned out great and he makes a really good paper weight (I have also named him 'Miguel the ladybird' in tribute). I thought yesterday that maybe I could paint some more ladybirds or maybe some bumblebees as I have a few stones lying around that I've picked up over the years (a friend at work was shocked when I suggested this as he told me that it is against the law to take stones from the beach but I'm sure no one would mind me taking two or three stones, it's not like I took a bulldozer and scooped half the beach!).  Anyway the point of my ramblings is that I just could not get the stones I painted to look as good as Miguel! I obviously just wasn't in the painting zone yesterday and it was really frustrating!!!  Oh well, maybe I'll try again another day, it might be quite cool to sell them in my shop as paper weights but I think today I'll go back to sewing!

What should I make today.....

Well I finished my appliques and yesterday sent them off to the very nice customer in Texas. It was so great to have a really nice person as my first custom order. She was really patient as I think it was very clear that I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I'd never made an applique before and had no idea how to go about making one. On the bags that I sell I just cut a pattern from fabric leftover from other projects and sew them directly on to the bag. So I went on etsy and sent out a distress convo to my very helpful friend Alix of Big Blue Bed who gave me a few great ideas. A bit of embroidery and some iron on interfacing and the makeshift appliques were good to go! I only hope I made them right and that the customer likes them. The only shame is that I didn't get much money for the them, I find it really difficult to judge how much to charge in dollars but I would rather have the sale and create good relationships with customers. Anyway she may come back for more or tell her friends about me and who knows maybe I could have a whole new line to sell in my shop!

The big question is what should I make today? I have a weekend to myself, my housemate is away in Ireland and my boyfriend is at the Bestival so I have lots of time and no distractions (it really doesn't take much to distract me and I've always got some excuse!). Anyway I've got loads of ideas and the creative possibilities are endless but knowing me I will probably end up watching TV and browsing etsy!

Starting as I mean to go on.

Following the example of my fellow etsians I have decided to start this blog, mostly to show myself how lazy I am when it comes to crafting! I'm not really writing this expecting other people to read it, more using it as a way to document when and how often I create things. I think my main problem is I have too many things I want to try and make that I never get round to actually making them! Well anyway I should really get on, I've got to make three skull appliques for a lady in Texas and I guess they're not going to make themselves!