Oh do I hear those bells jingling....

While it is still August Christmas is just around the corner. Large shops, like Selfridges, have already started to launch their Christmas lines. As all crafters know, the festive season starts much earlier. I ordered some xmas fabric a couple of months ago for some limited edition purses, more of these in a later post, but it isn't just fabric me have to think about.

The big thing is supplies. The postal service goes nuts, so what usually takes 6-8 days can take 3+ weeks, this coupled with product demand means we need to start stock piling now.

My two big requirements are purse frames and fabric. One comes from Hong Kong and the other mostly from the US. So over the past few weeks I have been ordering in extra stock. I still have lots to order, but I like to do it in little bits.

The second big thing is stock. I have 3 confirmed big craft fairs between now and Christmas and lots of bags to make for them. It is always a dilemma of what type of item to concentrate on, experience has told me to makes lots of all types. My mini and medium clutches definitely are the most popular, so I am concentrating on them.

I also have to think about my shop. Last year I focused a little too much on fairs and custom work and didn't promote my store enough. As a result I didn't maximise my sales. Now honestly I'm not sure how I would have handled a truck load of orders last year, but things have improved a lot over the last few months as my business has grown. As a result I am confident that things will be fine this year. Now I just need to sew all those bags and maybe a few other little things :0)

Treats

I go back to work in just over a week. I have still have a list of things to do, but I decided to treat myself. My OH and I are dedicated coffee drinkers, albeit decaf for me. We have a fab nespresso coffee pod machine at home. What makes this machine so good is that the coffee is completely contained so there is no cleaning and it produces great coffee every time, the downside is that it was very expensive and pods are only available online.


As a treat for going back to work I have treated myself to a dolce gusto coffee machine.

It is a much cheaper version of the nespresso, it has much more limited functions, but by all accounts it makes good coffee. This little beauty should be here in a few days and we will have a little testing session. It will take up it's new home in my lab's prep area and will make each day a little more cheerful. It should also cut down my trips to starbucks - well a little - a girl still needs the odd decaf latte.

Playing with Photoshop

I have been looking at different ways of presenting my photos and I came up with this for larger orders.

Heavenly Handbags

This is supposed to be a mobile phone charm. Even though my mobile doesn't have somewhere for a charm to go I had to have it. I think it will look fab on my key chain.

Hard at Work

I have been filling custom orders over the last few days. This morning I was finishing an order and was waiting for some glue to set. I started to doodle about. Here in follows a short extract of the conversation I had with my husband.
Him: Ohh do you need to finish that as well?
Me: well no.
Him: Are you working on new stock?
Me: well....no
Him: So what you up to?
Me: A little something
Him: Looks good
Me: for me
Him: Ohh

I am loving the zip pouches and decided to make a zipper with a base in it for myself. I have made these before but this time put a bigger bottom in it.
I used the new black and white stripe out of Ikea and lined it with some fab new bright pink polka dot. I love putting funky coloured zips in them, so I teamed it up with a pumpkin orange one. I put a little pink polka dot ribbon out the side as well. Yum
This little beauty is a perfect size for my mobile, keys and cash. Super for lunch dates.

Needless to say my orders did get finished and posted today. I think sometimes I forget to make things just because I like them or I want to, so this was really just a little indulgence.

Custom Work

I often read about artists complaining about how making their work to sell squeezes their creativity. I actually find working with customers and working up their ideas a great seeding technique. I have been asked for many odd and wonderful things and sometimes these lead to something fab. Here are two examples



The Bag-uette
A stunning little addition to my clutch stable. I sort of had this one in my head but just couldn't quite .... then a lovely customer asked me to make something to put their cards and cash in that had a snap frame and this is what arrived.


Custom Labels

Brides are great because they always want something that is just a little bit different. Making custom labels is not new to anybody but me. The big challenge I had was finding the printable cotton, but I did and it is very cool.