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)

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.

Pretty Wedding Orders

I recently shipped out a fab custom order of bridesmaids clutches. When I saw some of them nestling together on my new fabric shelf I snapped a quick photo.

Yummy-ness.

My Creative Space

This week my creative space is all about inspiration. This piece of ribbon was on a gift I give my mum. I purchased her birthday present and got it wrapped in the store and they tied the bag with this ribbon and I fell in love with it. My family are completely used with me looking longing at ribbon and wrappings now and I don't even have to ask if I want them, they just pass them directly to me. I can see this on a little mini clutch but just haven't found the right material for it.
I love this fabric combo and I am looking forward to making something lovely with it,maybe for me.

For more creative spaces pop over to Kirsty's.

Exciting Places

It is amazing where a day can lead you. Today was planned as a lunch date and catch with a friend who has just come back from some grown up back packing. I had arranged a playdate for my hubby so he did not feel abandoned as this was the third day in a row I have a girlie lunch date.

I went to pick him up from having coffee with my brother and he told us, that he and his partner - Sally the Artist - were going to the play resource centre and did we want to come along.......did i want to come along - silly question ..... I have heard people talk of this special place you need a card to get into and of all the wonders it had inside. So of we went on an adventure.

I will try to explain what a play resource centre is: it basically has two parts. One part is a shop with lots of craft bits - more of this later - the other half is full of free (yes free) resources. There were things like corrugated plastic, giant sheets of cardboard, silver and gold card...... then there was odd things like thread cones, waxed paper, old seat belts. It was just paradise, it really was a find a box and dive to the bottom and see what you find. These things are free because companies maybe make cardboard for sweet boxes and there is a misprint, so instead of throwing it out or paying for it to be removed they donate it for artists and youth groups. It was fantastic.

The shop side was equally as fun, lots of craft resources for you to buy - I came home with some paper fans, a big block of mutli-coloured felt, a giant bag of buttons and some ribbon. I was just so excited to finally find someone with an access card I will have to go back for another nosey soon. No pictures of the centre I'm not sure that's allowed but here's what I got from the shop.

I haven't decided what I will use any of these things for yet, but that's what I love about craft shops. You can go, like things, bring them home and then it hits you.

Lazy Summer Days

I heard on the radio today that the summer has passed us by in Northern Ireland. I was a little surprised by this comment as I thought we still had a full month of summer left but then again the radio was also complaining a few weeks ago about the heat wave we had in June :0)

Anyone who is familiar with Northern Ireland knows it rains often and a lot and it's been doing that to monsoon standards of late.I have to admit the rain is something I love about living here, weird I know - It gives us a rich green landscape, hence the term the Emerald Isle.

You may well ponder the path my thoughts are leading.

I often just let the days float past in the summer.

I know I should be sewing as much as I can, preparing for Christmas, but I like to chill out. Sometimes this is drinking coffee with friends (decaff of course), meeting my mum for lunch and a spot of shopping or just watching some of my favorite TV. Lately I have been doing rather a lot of all of the above. It's great but I do hear the sewing machine calling. More later, but for now back to a box set of "Sex and The City".

Lovely treasuries

SweptfromtheSea included me in their treasury on Etsy.

My Creative Space

After a short (!) sewing hiatus, I now have a long list of custom orders to complete, like yesterday. As a result so I have been confined to my cutting area, which occasionally doubles up as my breakfast bar :0). It is a perfect space as it is large enough to spread the material out on and is just the right height to work at.

Ready for the next steps of ironing and attaching interfacing, then to the sewing machine.

For more creative space, nip over to Kirsty's

New Bag

I have been toying with the idea of making a tote for a while. They are the most useful things, great for magazines, shopping or just for all those things a girl needs for during the day. This is my first attempt.

I am thinking of introducing these for Christmas craft fairs.

Warm Weather

The last few weeks have been blissfully warm and sunny and I have been taking a blog sabbatical. It is nearing the end of term and things are starting to wind down on the work front but pick up on the handbag front. I have been booking the odd craft fair for christmas time and finishing some custom work.

My Creative Space

My creative space is filled with these little pretties today.
They are waiting to get their frames put on them for a craft fair this weekend. I always feel I never have enough of these for fairs, so I made some more just for this weekend.

I made a batch of my new zipper pouches/ pencil cases. I still have some more of these to sew tomorrow. I am hoping these will do well as they are a slightly lower price point. The rest of my space is a little cluttered at the mo. We have plans to revamp the space in the next few weeks, watch this space..... sort of speak.

For more creative spaces amble over to Kirsty's place

Etsy Finds - Finland

While in search of some lovely Finnish fabric I found some treats from Finland, which I felt I had to share.

The first is a lovely zip pouch is by syko. Kajsa has created some stunning creations and I am very jealous of her appliqué work - only because I can only appliqué when I hand sew. I am really drawn to zip purses at present, especially since I have been having a go making them. What I really like about Kajsa's work is that it's all original from her hand-drawn drawings. Her birds are especially lovely.

This bunny, from InnofHeart is so cute and reminds me I really must finish the bunny I started a long time ago. I also quite like that pink striped cushion he's sitting on.

This little Scottie dog brooch from vietto has given new life to an old piece of gingham

My car boot is filled with non plastic carrier bags, as so many shops now charge you for them. Some are bought, some are handcrafted in rare moments of down time. The ones I like have witty slogans or comments. An this one from 2ndlife caught my eye. I like it green or in yellow.

Zipper Purse

I have finally got round to trying to sew a zip in. After finding out that I did actually own a zipper sewing foot, I followed instructions from a tutorial I found on Liels Made blog. I fiddled with the pattern to make it a straight edged pouch.
This was my first attempt. I made it out of a little scrap of Japanese fabric and lined it with silver cotton. It is a little odd on one side as I didn't quite line up the fabrics. So I decided to have another go and came up with this.
I used pink martini fabric by Amy Butler on the outside and a jailbird stripe on the inside.

It's a nice little size for your card, lipstick and change. I think I might put a little bit of ribbon through the zip pull.

I have been looking for something like this to make for craft fairs. This little purse falls into the under £5 ($7.50) category, which is missing from my current range.

I have to admit I really enjoyed sewing this little purse and I didn't have to fight with a frame at the end of it all. I will do some market research tomorrow on what people think of these little purses.

Photo Light Box

My fabulous husband built me a photo light box.

This little gem should make editing pictures much easier and quicker.

He included a hole in the roof so I could take overhead shots.

And this is what an un-edited picture looks like

He based it on this tutorial, that we downloaded from this blog. We did make a few adjustments. Instead of foam we used painted hardboard because it was readily available and because we thought it might be more durable. White masking tape was impossible to find, so the only alternative we could find was white electrical tape.

I think I need stronger lights but I will have to hunt them down. Hopefully this will make the editing process more straight forward. Thank you brilliant husband.

I want one of these so much

If you remember not long ago I wanted one of these

So today I log into my email and discover this
The new Polaroid Two, a 5.0 Mega Pixel instant digital camera. I nearly bought it on the spot. This will definitely be coming home to live with us, and hopefully soon. I hope it is as much fun as the PoGo printer, which has provided much amusement.

Strange things - happy kitten

A strange thing happened on Thursday.... I just chilled out. I know how weird was that. Work was good - kids are doing exams so they have study leave in the afternoon and teachers have marking leave. I came home and did very little. No sewing, no photography, just surfed and had a cat nap - oh I missed those. My sleep levels are coming back up to minimum from critical and that makes all difference.



The weekend will continue this way and I will hopefully get caught up on some TV.

Etsy Favorites

I need to stop adding things to my Etsy favorites.

For those not yet aquainted with Etsy, favorites and hearts, it's sort of like a wish list. You see an item and you can add it to your favorites (sellers also), so if you want to go back and buy the item it is easy to find. The seller on the other end gets a heart, to tell them they are liked :0) {Apologies to those who know}.

The reason why I need to stop is I want to buy all my choices - mostly fabrics. I have been trying to hold back on buying more material as I have loads (& loads &loads), but I am really struggling.

See why...... I could just a litlle bit of this and just square of japanese fabric.