Where did the last four months go?!

Oh my gosh it's been so long since I blogged I've almost forgotten how to do it!!! I'm so sorry for the abrupt lack of posts since the Summer, things just got so incredibly busy that I didn't have the time to blog for a few weeks, then I went on holiday, then it was just super busy when I came back and it hasn't stopped since! I've been meaning to write a post for weeks now but it's hard to start again once you stop.

Anyway enough excuses.... it's nice to be back, I've missed blogging! I kind of don't know where to start though as it's been so long and I've added so many new products to my range over the last few months. 

Think I'd best blog about my Halloween things though - if I don't then I'll have a whole year to wait before I can show them!

I haven't gone too overboard but I have lots of Halloween badges and compact mirrors, great for kiddy's party bags as well as Halloween party games - one lovely customer this week bought some to use in a spooky game of 'Pass the Parcel' which I think is a fab idea, way better than sweeties!

Halloween badges are available in packs of 5, 10 and 25 here in my Not on the High Street shop - and if you use the code OCT10 at the checkout, you can get 10% off until this Sunday 28th October. 

I've got lots of fabric covered handbag mirrors too, great for teenagers and older girl's Halloween parties.... available here and here.

You can also purchase direct with paypal through my facebook page, there are some special prices for fb fans too :) Just see the Halloween album for more details...

Anyway hope you have a fab Halloween night whatever you're doing! Ours will be a quiet one I expect, though we will probably get a few trick or treaters calling! Sorry this post's been a bit of a hard sell on the Halloween goodies by the way but at least it's got me back into the swing of writing again! Hopefully I will be back soon, my mission is to write at least one post a week, not sure that'll be possible but will definitely give it a go xxx

An apple a day...

Well hello hello... I feel a bit out of touch with my blog at the moment as I've been so busy lately I've not had much chance to post. Mainly it's been fathers day and wedding orders, but I also made some 'apple' mirrors as teacher thank you gifts this week and boy did they go down well!! 

I was selling them direct through my facebook page at first as I didn't even have time to list them and I completely sold out within a day.... I've now got hold of more of the fabric and so they are once again back in stock! It's funny how certain designs and fabrics capture people's imaginations isn't it, I don't think I've ever made anything which has been in such demand :D

If any of you lovely bloggers would like to jump on the apple mirror bandwagon, they are a special price if you can purchase direct through paypal - £2.95 each for one, or £2.50 each if you are buying more than one. Postage is a flat £1.00 regardless of how many mirrors you purchase... email or message me at jenny.arnott@hotmail.co.uk with your paypal address and I will send you an invoice. Or if you prefer I have listed them in my Etsy shop too!

Anyway as well as all the father's day cards and apple mirrors being made, I also had a little run on badges this week so have been frantically making up more...

 ...available here in my Etsy shop :)

I've also been in the press which is always exciting for me! This time it was my London Bus compact mirror which is in the current issue of Now magazine!

And I've also got a few new stockists which I need to post about soon. Things are going really well with my business and I am so pleased! I work hard at it and I finally feel like I am getting results which is fantsatic. I will never be a millionaire (unless I win the lottery - which considering I never play it, is looking quite unlikely) but if I am able to make a comfortable living with something I love doing then I will be happy!

Anyway hope you all have a fantastic Jubilee weekend - I am actually going to visit my parents for a couple of days - so my shops are now shut over the weekend (not sure if this affects the links I've put into this post actually, sorry if it does) but I will be back soon, and will still be around to answer emails and send invoices if needed! I'm taking my neglected hexagons with me, so hopefully when I get back I might have figured out how to join them and have something resembling a cushion cover, wish me luck with that! Happy weekend xxx

An all sorts week...

It's been a funny sort of few days here. I've been getting quite a few orders through but for a real random variety of items, so there's been lots of different things being made.  I've also been trying to get my Father's day range up but the weather's been so awful that I've not had a chance to photograph anything yet!

I have added a few bits to my shops recently though...

'London Bus' mirrors

and  'London Guards at Buckingham Palace' mirrors

I am actually quite in love with this fabric! I haven't gone to town with making Jubilee products as I don't want to be left with lots of unsold stock afterwards so this is my token effort! I thought the London bus would be the most popular but so far I've sold an exact equal amount of both designs. Do you have a favourite out of the two??

I've also been concentrating on handmade personalised cards in the last few weeks. I've nearly completely changed my entire product range on Not on the High Street in the last few months, taking off products that haven't sold that well (or ones I was bored of making!) and trying out new things. I only get to have thirty products live at any one time, so I'm trying to make the most of them!

Thanks for all your lovely comments about our garden by the way! The weather has been awful this weekend though, torrential rain and such scarily strong winds that we have not ventured out there at all since I took these pictures. The grass has not been laid two weeks yet though so it's giving it a good chance to root before we start walking on it! It is still growing fast though, in fact at the moment it is looking gorgeous - the sun is shining and making it look extra green! Come on Summer!!

Anyway in other news... I finally started using my Debbie Bliss yarn! 

 

I'd been sat looking at it for a couple of weeks whilst I worked on my other patchwork blanket (so must get around to taking some pictures of that one soon!) I didn't want to rush into anything since I only have one little ball of each I couldn't afford to be making mistakes, but eventually I gave in and started making.....

...mini hexagons! Aren't they just so sweet?

They are made with Jacquie's pattern, except I've added an extra round to make them a little bigger. They're not joined yet, just laid out so I can see the colours together... They're destined to become a cushion cover for our sofa... the softer more muted palette is just right for our living room and I'm really loving working with these colours though I am missing the brights a bit! You might notice though that I took out the brighter pink from the pictures above, it just didn't quite sit right somehow as I really want a muted vintagey look with this one, like an old (but much loved) patchwork blanket...

 

I've made 32 hexagons so far, not sure how many I actually need, probably double that so it will take a little while to finish yet. Although I did a lot of them on Saturday, I've only been doing a couple in the evenings since, though hope to make some more tonight. They're really quick to make, though I find that if I'm not concentrating properly I tend to miscount the stitches!

Right I best go, as I am trying to clean up my computer this evening too. The one I do all my image work and blog posts on is my super ancient desktop as the screen is better than on my laptop. But it only has 70GB of disk space in total including for all the programs so it gets full so quick (my image files are always huge!) I have copied everything onto an external hard drive and am now going through it and trying to delete what I can. I have to do it every few months, which is really quite tedious but I'm fed up of the 'C drive full' message popping up every two minutes! So far today I've deleted 19GB but I want to see if I can clear off just a little bit more!

Anyway have a great rest of the week, back soon xxx

Short and sweet... (well that was the idea)

 

Morning! 

Bet you didn't expect me back so soon... but I've decided little and often is the way forward with my blog! Thanks for all your sweet comments on my last post - it is so nice to know that there are lots of us in the same boat! I've woken up this morning feeling positive and motivated though which is always nice... even though have been awake since six! Karl had to go into work this morning, so I got up, made myself a drink and went back to bed to read and do a little granny square making! I've only done a few so far, even though they are really quick. Having been inspired by both Jacquie and Heather, I've decided to go for solid colour grannies this time and make a kind of patchwork blanket! 

I originally was only doing three rounds per square but then I decided to add another to each, as otherwise they are super tiny and it will take me absolutely forever to join them all together at the end! (Don't even want to think about that part now.) Anyway, I have bought a couple more yarn colours which should be arriving this week, hopefully in time for when I go visit mum and dad next weekend. I haven't really got too much of a plan colour-wise, just making squares and will see what looks nice as I go along!

Apart from the crochet, I haven't done that much over the last few days really. After I wrote my post on Thursday, I took the rest of the afternoon off and lay on the sofa surrounded by blankets, my hot water bottle, some chocolate and watched a nice girly film. It was just what I needed even though I still felt a bit guilty about taking the afternoon off! I've kept my personalised products off the website even though my new embroidery foot has arrived (yay!) to give me some time to catch up on other stuff. Yesterday though I got another large order for my floral mirrors to be used as wedding favours so spent the morning making them up.

I also made up another couple of mirror designs which I have literally just put into my shop... there will be a blue paisley design to match the pink coming soon too but just not got around to photographing yet.

 Love this fabric, it is so fresh and Spring like - Tulips are one of my favourite flowers!

And of course the pretty paisley fabric is also a favourite of mine. Funny how taste changes as you get older actually as I never liked paisley designs a few years, I don't know why... but this one is gorgeous! It is discontinued now but I managed to buy up a few metres of it, so hopefully it should last me a while yet.

 For more crafting ideas, go to www.crafts-beautiful.com

I also made these fabric covered storage pots for the March issue of Crafts Beautiful. This was actually out a little while ago now, as the current issue is the April one, but I thought I would post the pics anyway! I really do mean to make more of these pots as they are so useful for holding bits and bobs and can be made out of any old tins you have around the house. These three actually started out as a cocoa powder tin, a tin of dried milk and a tub of bicarbonate of soda (which were the only things I could find in the cupboard that morning!!)

Anyway, I think that's enough writing for today - it's actually a slightly longer post than I intended, I just can't help myself! Hope you have a nice weekend though and you get a bit of sunshine to enjoy, back soon xxx

Balance

Being self employed is wonderful in lots of ways... I get to work from home, I can decide the hours I work, and most of all I am able to do something I (for the most part) enjoy every day. But it also means that I never really switch off... the laptop is never far away and I always seem to be checking my emails for orders and queries. It is so different from a 9-5 job where the hours of work and the amount of work is constant and set. When big gift and card giving occasions are approaching, such as Christmas, Valentines and Mother's Day, things get so very busy, then often tail off again once the day has passed. These last few weeks have been just that, especially in my Not on the High street shop - lots of mummies out there being given handmade and personalised cards and mirrors!

I do love to be busy, I kind of thrive on it in a way - I'm not very good at just relaxing with nothing to do.  But there has to be a balance between work and 'life' (mine are very much intertwined though I am trying to separate them!) One of my new years resolutions was to make more time to spend with Karl, with family, or just doing other things I enjoy, like reading, pottering outside, or crochet... I did well for a couple of weeks in January, and spent the evenings finishing my granny stripe, but then it got busier and it kind of went out the window!

The thing is, it is kind of silly really as I am in control and it is up to me whether my shops are live and if products are available to order. I could easily put my shops on holiday mode and not accept orders for a while to catch up on things... but I don't! I'm so incredibly grateful that people want to buy my stuff and I still get a little thrill every time an order pops into my inbox! There is part of me that just wants to cram in as many orders as I possibly can, especially as I know that some months will always be much quieter than others. I have had to turn down some commissioned work recently though, I didn't really want to but there is only so much I can take on at once.

It's not as if I am having to work through the night or anything (I really would close my shops for a bit if it came to that) but I haven't had a day off in ages and just feel tired and drained. All my energy is wrapped up in my work and it doesn't leave time for much else. When it is busy, I sometimes feel more like a factory production line rather than a designer/maker.

This post is ending up to be a bit of a moan - sorry I really didn't intend it to be!! I just struggle a bit with the inconsistency where some weeks I am so busy I am rushed off my feet and others it can feel a bit like I am twiddling my thumbs!! In the quieter weeks though, I do try and make the most of having the time, and spend it making stock, designing new products, or just catching up on some sleep!

I have actually had to take off a lot of my products this week, as my sewing machine embroidery foot broke on Tuesday and I still haven't got a replacement. It was a very stressful day as I still had lots of things to make that had to go out that afternoon in time for Mother's day but I was so amazed and overwhelmed with the support and help of all my facebook friends! I had so many people re-posting it for me on their pages, offering their suggestions, offering to post me a spare foot and some truly fab people who even offered to drive over here to help me out!! It really was so nice of everyone to rally round in such a way and I really appreciated it. It can sometimes be lonely working by yourself and to have that support network of other crafty similar people out there on blogs and facebook is great.

I think I might have to find some random pictures to put in this post, it is so text heavy! That's the trouble with never having the time to blog, when I do, I go on a big long rant! I have actually wondered whether to give up my blog... but I do really like this little space and I get so much inspiration and happiness from the blogging community, but it is just a time thing. I used to spend at least half an hour every day reading my favourite blogs and finding new ones but now I'm lucky if I find half an hour a week. Same with sites like Pinterest, Flickr, and Twitter, I rarely use them any more.

A few weeks ago, I did design a couple of new cards actually, here are some pictures to break up the text a little! The first one is a new home card...

and also a wedding card...

...embellished with lace, beads and sequins. This one is quite different to my usual style, probably because the colours are so muted. I have quite a lot of lace, ribbon and more neutral coloured fabrics that I collected a few years ago now, and they are just crying out to be used for wedding-y products. It's quite nice to work with a different colour range once in a while actually.

So anyway as I said before, I have taken all of my personalised products off this week, and will probably leave them off for a little bit, as I have some commissioned work to do and then  next weekend, I am going to visit my parents for a week! My sister Harriet is a dancer and I am going to be a very proud sister and go and watch her dance in a musical on Saturday! Since it is such a long way and I haven't seen any of my family since Christmas I'm going to stay up for the rest of the week which will be so nice... I wanted to start a new crochet blanket before then, so I could take it with me for something to do on the journey, so I  need to do a bit of yarn shopping in preparation I think :)

Anyway, best go get on - I actually tidied my studio yesterday after weeks of complete chaos and it looks sooooooo much better now (at least you can see the floor again!) and so much nicer to work in. Will leave you with a few pictures...

I really need some more shelves - there has been quite a bit of new fabric purchasing going on around here and I'm running out of places to put it all!! Anyway have a lovely rest of the week and a great weekend, will try and pop in again next week before I go away! Take care and enjoy the sunshine if you get any (it's been foggy here for days and it's forecast rain and thundery showers for the weekend so not holding out too much hope here!) Back soon xxx

New things

Hello, have you had a nice weekend? It feels a bit odd to be here writing on a Sunday, I usually do my posts mid week... Now I know this was supposed to be the giveaway winner post, but I do have an apology to make - I may have to leave it for a day or two, I'm so sorry, as I have so much still to do this evening, and with all the various names/shares etc on my facebook page in particular, it is not just a case of doing the random number generator thingy like I usually do, it's going to take some serious name writing out I think!! But I promise I will do it in the next day or two.

Things are still quite busy, and I have commission work deadlines looming this week, as well as quite a few orders trickling in for Mothers Day already. I have also been trying to organise all my online shops a bit better and spent quite a while this morning sorting my Etsy shop out! It's been pretty much neglected since before xmas, I hadn't listed anything new for weeks and I hadn't even taken my Christmas products down. But I gave it a little spring clean and it's looking sooooooo much better!

I've also been making new pretty mirrors and lots of new cards in the last few weeks and have been working hard to get them all photographed and listed in my shops... it takes so much longer than you think to write all the copy and edit all the pics doesn't it??

So these are some of the new designs I've been working on lately...

'Jug of Roses' embroidered mother's day card, can be personalised with your own message, and can be found in my Etsy shop here

'Best Mum'embroidered card

Embroidered cupcake card, really for birthdays but as it can be personalised with your own message it could just as easily be a mother's day card too! 

 Birthday balloons embroidered card...

...and some new mirrors too.... how I love this fabric especially the turquoise!! I've actually been on a bit of a fabric buying binge in the last few weeks, with the excuse that I 'need' it all for my work.... so looking forward to lots of parcels arriving this week!

You can find them here and here

I also made matching magnets as I had quite a few spare bits of fabric which weren't quite big enough for mirrors but a perfect size for the slightly smaller magnets and badges!

So that's about it for tonight as I can't believe it's gone seven already, so quite short and sweet for once! Anyway hope you've all had a bit of sunshine these last few days... We've had lovely weather this weekend (makes up for the miserable weather last week when I was completely miffed as everyone else in the whole country seemed to have sunshine) but haven't actually been out much in it. It just makes such a difference to have the house lovely and bright with the sun streaming in the windows... Really hope Spring is on it's way and it's not just a little tease!

Anyway back soon with my giveaway winner news, have a good week xxx