Monday, April 30, 2012

postage prices 2012

Today is the day that Royal Mail's prices change... my prices for postage will be: nearly the same as before!
I've tweaked it a little bit, but I've kept my price changes to the minimum (the biggest change is to the Europe/Rest of the World split, it was all one price before)
1st class : £1.95
1st class recorded : £3.00
Special Delivery (UK) : £6.50
Anywhere in Europe : £3.00
Rest of the World : £4.75

I'm taking a gamble with the 1st class prices, it now costs £2.70 to send one packet weighing up to 750g but if I send as many parcels as I can in Large Letter Format (from 90p+ for tiny, light weight orders) it should all even out...that's the theory, and it keeps prices low for everyone so lets hope it works!!!  I shall be checking it all over the next few weeks and if anything changes I will of course let you know!

Friday, April 27, 2012

a mammoth shop update

Today the sun came out and many many photographs were taken...I've done a lot of sewing over the past week or so but the bad weather meant no photographs round these parts!  
Hooray for bright cheery weather!
*New*  Medium Felt Flowers
 
*New* Large Felt Flowers
 *New* Tall Mini Cupcakes
 
 *New* Happy Cupcakes
 *New* Owl Ornaments
 *New* Mushroom Ornaments
 *New* Bird Ornaments
*New* Cupcake Ornaments
AND .... best of all, my new Needle Case designs: Alphabet Needle cases...
  
...they come in 5 different colours & you can add whichever Initial you like!...
 
Or, if initials aren't your thing, there are new embellishment needle cases too!
I still need to list everything on NotOnTheHighStreet but I think I've stared at the computer for long enough already today...time for more sewing I think!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

tidying: interrupted

OH NO!  such a shame!.....

.... my mammoth tidy up was rudely interrupted  by a button delivery !!
*sigh* so much work to do,  and all of it so much FUN!!
PS for those that asked yesterday, yes my new drawers are FAB!  they are metal, come in red, white or silver, each drawer fits A4 paper and is nice and roomy...and they didn't take too long to make!

right, it's back to work for me...there's no rest for button addicts hard working crafters!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

space making

I bought more Ikea furniture!...this time I succumbed to Helmer (x3!),  handsome Bright Red 6 Drawer Units, which just so happen to fit under my counter (which is in fact a Lack shelf, originally purchased for Workshop #1, turned on it's side because there was no where else for it to go!)   I'll show you another photo once it's all tidied up properly!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

stacks

...busy working on some new needle cases...all the cutting is done, now it's hours of hand stitching & machine stitching ahead, my favourite kind of home work!

Monday, April 23, 2012

a happy stitcher

This weekend I stitched a few designs I haven't sewn in a while...it was the cupcakes that started it,  I made a few a few weeks ago for the John Lewis display and they were fun to make, so I needed to make some owls... and some birds .....AND some mushrooms!  And I definitely needed to use the new pom pom trim that came just the other day!  The owl & cupcake pattern are patterns from my kits and the the birds and mushrooms are from my free patterns section...once the sun comes out they will be photographed properly and offered for sale on my website.
Quick Links:
Kits : click here
Free Patterns :  click here
new pom pom trim : click here

Friday, April 20, 2012

the day of many ribbons!

 Today two big boxes arrived from America...tonnes and tonnes of ribbon spools & loads of mini brads too!
 Which is perfect timing because my ribbon stocks were looking a little bare!
Lots of counting and packing-note ticking off later and ......
 all my gorgeous ribbons are back!  AND if that isn't enough the parcel man also bought a parcel which was ordered 10 weeks ago and which I thought may never arrive!  But it was definitely worth the wait because it contained:  Teeny Tiny Pom Pom Ribbon !!  Look how teeny the pom poms are!!
 And look at the scrummy colours!
Ribbon Spools are HERE
Mini brads are HERE
Teeny Tiny pom pom trim is HERE

Thursday, April 19, 2012

still stitching!


I'm having so much fun!  
Spending my days choosing the perfect fabrics, felt colours, ribbons and buttons, and my evenings at home stitching everything together...bliss!
 
All new items can be found by clicking here

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

handmade made-to-order


I've been busy sewing and photographing and website updating!
I am gradually changing all my hand made items from ready made to made to order, today I changed 7 embellishment designs...hopefully it will mean the end of 'out of stock' messages on the website!
I already do a lot of making-to-order for my NotOnTheHighStreet shop and it works well....fingers crossed it will work on the website too!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Ginormous Flowers

Mondays are a little hectic round these parts, it's always the busiest day for picking & packing parcels and getting all the orders out the door in a timely fashion takes most of the day (which is a very good thing indeed!) But today I have managed to squeeze in a couple of photos and a tiny bit of website updating so I could share these buttons as soon as I could!
Bright and cheerful Flower buttons......which just so happen to be HUGE!!!!

Aren't they great???
and best of all they are the bargain price of 85p each!!!
Click here to see them :: GINORMOUS flower buttons

Thursday, April 12, 2012

new fabric


the last 3 bolts of my fabric order have finally arrived and are now on the website. hurrah!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

back from the land of parcels


phew-ee! yesterday was a manic day....I picked and packed 4 big Post Office sacks of parcels! I looked like Father Christmas walking to the Post Office (luckily John could come with me so I didn't have to go twice!!) But I managed to get every order out, so if you're waiting for a parcel it's on its way...clearing the orders yesterday meant I had some machine sewing time today......and sewed 10 boxes! I do the hand sewing part at home in the evenings and then machine sew them at the workshop, the hand sewing takes a long time so it's so satisfying to see them finished and piled up beside the machine.

Monday, April 09, 2012

call me Mrs Scissorhands!

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter? Ours was very relaxing and included some nice wine, a huge roast dinner, a GIANT kinder egg for me (including giant toy!!) not to mention a handful of old films on the TV!
I've been busy cutting out A LOT of flowers which are ready to be packed up and sent with orders tomorrow.
I've closed the freebie and ......the winners are.......da, da....dahhhhh::

55 :: The Krafty Cupcake said...Great giveaway. I would go for the Pastel pack I think as there is a pastel fashion theme this year and they would match beautifully. Sue x
43 :: Manu said...Thank you Sarah!! You are unique!!! I would pick the pastel pack!!! I love it!!! A big hug and.. Happy Easter!!!Kisses Manu manu@artecu***.it
82 :: sarsah said...Super super cute! I like the brights the best!sarah sarah.s**u@talk21.com
62 :: Jenevieve said...I would definitely choose the brights pack, great giveaway! have a fab Easter! :) x
CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners (I'll send you all an email in a moment) The free flower pack offer is still open on the website but it will be gone in the morning so be quick if you'd like a free pack! (details of the offer are in the post below)

Thursday, April 05, 2012

Freebie Day :: APRIL 2012 :: the Easter freebie extravaganza

Freebie Day (today) has nicely coincided with all the Easter Bank Holidays & a new product being launched so what better way to celebrate than to combine everything into one great big freebie?
These are my *new* Sew-Your-Own felt flower packs...each cute little pack contains everything you need to make 6 felt flower embellishments...and you can choose between 4 different colours: Pastel, Bright, Citrus or Pink/PurpleEach pack contains :: 6 hand cut felt flowers (approx 5-6cm across) :: 6 hand cut flower centres :: 6 pretty buttons and they are priced at £3.50 eachSo what's the freebie? well, there are TWO freebies....Number ONE:: ...from NOW until Tuesday morning (10th April) every single £15+ order placed through my website will receive a free pack of sew your own flowers! The website is all set up and all you need to do is shop & then, when you checkout you'll be asked to decide which colour flower pack you would like me to send you, here's a screen shot of the checkout ::

there are no limits to the amount of packs I will send, so every order that qualifies will receive one....it really is that easy! FREEBIE NUMBER 2 :: .... leave a comment on this blog post answering the question below and 4 winners will be picked at random!!

Which Sew Your Own felt flower pack will you pick?

please note, due to Easter holidays I will next be posting orders on Tuesday 10th April, in a first come first posted system...it may take a day or two to work through all the orders, but I'll be as quick as I can !!

FREEBIE CLOSED AT COMMENT # 86

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

4 day week!

I am definitely looking forward to a little break this weekend...the first months of this year have flown by and so many tasks have been done/started that my head is whirling!!This coming 4 day weekend is officially dedicated to sewing...I'm going to chop and cut and pin lots of little piles of pieces and happily look forward to a relaxing time sewing them all together.

Sunday, April 01, 2012

off on a jolly

John and I popped up to Oxford Street to take a peek at my butterflies in situ and John snapped a few pics so I could show you.We saw my kits on the shelves, on the table under the display AND then, round the corner opposite the tills we found my Egg Cosies kit, one kit had been sewn up by someone at John Lewis .... I wondered if someone had taken a shine to the tortoise example, because he was nowhere to be found!


I made two sets of Butterfly bunting and John Lewis kindly sent me a photo of the other display, which is now hanging in the new Habby department of John Lewis Milton Keynes! I'm super-chuffed to be the first ever display at a new Habby department...Last year I didn't get the chance to see the other display I made (hedgehogs/foxes etc) so it felt good to take the time to see this one, it was so strange to travel up the escalators looking at all the items for sale, knowing that soon I would be seeing my things for sale on the shop floor...I had a beaming smile on my face once I had seen them!