Giveaway winner

First I've got to say a massive thank you to all of you who entered my Seaside Home book giveaway this week, and a big hello to new followers too! As someone who loves the sea and the beach very much, I have so enjoyed reading all your fantastic entries, thanks for putting so much effort and detail into your answers, I really have loved reading them as they have come in!

Anyway,  down to business... I've assigned each comment a number from 1-134 (includes one facebook entry) and let the random number generator do the hard work - phew no writing out names for me this time!

So the winner is.....

Number 23 - Rosa Lily

Congratulations, I will be in touch soon to get your address!

 

Anyway thanks again for entering if you did and I hope you've all had a nice Eastery weekend. Ours seems to have flown by without actually achieving much, though I did spend a couple of hours having a bit of a sort out this morning (for more pics, click the 'Studio' tab under the header image!) Oooh there's nothing like a bit of colour organisation is there :D 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

Just about unpacked...

Hello again!! So we have now moved and as the title suggests, are just about there with the unpacking! Things went relatively smoothly all in all, and we are enjoying making the house our own... I just hate the stage where half the stuff is still in boxes lining every room so we've worked hard to sort everything out and I so am pleased to say all the boxes are now gone!

We've been waiting on deliveries of bits and pieces over the last week, including some Ikea furniture for my new studio space which came on Wednesday. Have spent the last two days putting it all together and sorting out my workroom... and I have to say, I just love it!!

I wasn't going to post any pics until I came back from my hols, but I just can't help myself! Excuse the lack of a chair in the photos below... it is currently dismantled and awaiting a spray paint makeover (am thinking red which I think will look fab - boring black just won't cut it in such a colourful room!!)

So.... this is my new studio space.... what do you think?

 

I hope you like it... I LOVE it!! It just feels like such a nice space, one where I can be really creative. You can't really see from the pictures either that there is a lovely big square floorspace in this room. I do a lot of my work on the floor, cutting out fabrics...etc (would it be totally greedy of me to want a cutting table too? Yes... OK, I can make do with the floor instead!) Sigh... so much looking forward to working in here!

(Note the other side of the room at the moment is still a complete tip. Though as it homes all the really ugly but necessary stuff like cardboard boxes, bubblewrap, padded envelopes, all my folders and files, big bolts of fabric, lots more boxed stock etc I'm not sure I will ever really be able to make it truly 'pretty'! Will (maybe) show you some pics of that side once it is a little more organised!)

Anyway, as I said before, I do have a couple more things to sort for this room, like my chair for example... it is just one of those boring plain swivel chairs, but hopefully with a lick of paint and a bit of re-upholstry, it will be good to go. Will show some before and after pics when I get around to it!

Also need to sort the other side of the room. May buy some more of the jumbo storage bags you see in the pictures above... They are amazing, they can hold so much, are super cheap (about £4.00 each with postage) and come in such pretty designs too. In fact, have got another of the duck egg doiley ones in the kitchen - it holds all our recycling instead of having it in those big ugly boxes!)

Right best go, have lots of things to sort out this afternoon, but just before I do, here are some pics of a couple of my seaside-y products in this month's CrossStitcher magazine - the August issue...

Anyway, hope you've all have a good couple of weeks - sorry for my complete abscence visiting your blogs over the last fortnight, have just had so much to do, but will hopefully be able to catch up on what I've missed very soon :) Have a great weekend, hope the sun comes out!

p.s never in a million years will it all stay as tidy as this! Nice to have some photos though to look back on though, haha! x

A good spring clean!

My little studio had been getting messier and messier for the last few weeks - which really gets me down. There were piles of fabric everywhere, with ribbons, papers, buttons, receipts, bank statements and all sorts of other things all jumbled up everywhere I looked! 

Although I'm usually a complete neat freak, I am a messy worker - I like to be surrounded by everything as I design, but it is so tempting at the end of a long day just to do a cursory tidy up, put everything into piles and close the door! Especially as more often than not I know that I will need it all again the next day.

But last weekend, I decided to have a complete spring clean, and it looks soooo much better now, and so much more lovely to work in...

I sorted out all my cottons into my vintage letterpress tray where I keep many of them.

I then set about tidying my fabrics... I bought about 30 clear plastic baskets and sorted all my fabrics into them by colour. I also made 'scrap' boxes for each colour with all the tiny fabric scraps I had lying around, which I can use for my applique designs.

I also organised all my stock into plastic boxes and sorted all my badge, mirror and magnet components into separate baskets too so they are all easily to hand when I need them.

 

I then organised all my sequins and jewels into individual compartments in various plastic containers and baskets. I also sorted all my jumbled up bags of ribbons into individual little grip seal bags to make them easier to find - yes I really was that pedantic - once I got going with it all, I just couldn't stop!

There is just something I find so satisfying about having everything all neat and ordered again. It's amazing how many things I found that I actually had forgotten buying! So I am going to try my very best not to mess it all up quickly because I really do find it so much more pleasant and productive to work in.

 

Anyway, thanks as always for popping by, hope you all enjoy the Royal wedding tomorrow! I for one will be watching the coverage on telly with a couple of friends (didn't know this til this morning though so not really planned anything special!) Have a wonderful long weekend too, let's hope it's another sunny one xxx