My First Etsy BNR

What's one of those then!  Well, I belong to the British Sellers on Etsy Team and they have this thing called a BNR - don't have a clue what it stands for.  Over a given weekend which is announced in their forum you can choose some nice goodies from one of the featured shops and once you have purchased something they feature your shop in its place.  Cool huh!

I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing when I first had a look on Friday night just gone but it is curated by members who are always helpful and there to answer questions.  It's great fun as once you have decided what you want to buy you shout out (capital letters) the name of the shop and then the curator tells you if you can go ahead.  Once you have completed your transaction you post the number on the thread and then your shop replaces the one you have just purchased from.

Now I know that this may sound like a false economy i.e. you have to buy something before someone else buys from you but it's great for stocking up on presents that you would have to buy anyway and at least you get a few sales.  It's even better for exposure though, which is half the trouble - getting people to even notice your shop on Etsy is a challenge at the best of times, which is why the team chats are really useful.

So my first BNR and I bought a beautiful pair of earrings from Nanfan, a mug cosy (for my mum for Mother's Day) from Bekaboodesigns and a gorgeous glass dish from Flyingcheesetoastie.  Here are some pics with links to their Etsy shops in the caption.

Earrings from Nanfan

Mug Cosy from Bekaboodesigns

Glass Dish from FlyingCheeseToastie

Hope you like my purchases.  I love them.

Craft Hippy xxx

Some Of My Suppliers

I thought it would be nice to give some of my suppliers a mention - not the big ones, you understand - they have PR departments and huge marketing budgets so they can do their own publicity! - but the little ones who have supplied me with some gorgeous goodies to use in my crafts.

This post is a shout out for Lupin Handmade - run by Laura Howard - who makes the most beautiful felt designs and turns them into brooches, but who also sells felt supplies - to me - among other people I am sure!

The choice of felt is huge and the colours are gorgeous.  She has done all the hard work for you by selecting packs of felt in various colours otherwise the choice is too much.  You can also get embroidery thread from her website, which is on my "to buy" list.

As well as all of this, Laura has written a book called Super Cute Felt, so check out her website and have a look at all the goodies.

Craft Hippy xx

Do You Do It Standing Up?

I bet you thought I was being mucky!  Or is it that you have a mucky mind!  What I am referring to, dear readers, is sewing.  You see, I do it standing up!  Now this may sound odd but I've been doing it standing up for so long now, that I don't think I could do it sitting down, even if I tried.

Since working for the lovely Lisa Dawson Soft Furnishings based in North Norfolk - take a look at her new website by clicking the link or better still pop into the shop if you are passing (which I understand might be difficult for some of my readers, especially the one in the Ukraine) - I have had to get used to sewing, upright, at a work table.  You see, we make beautiful curtains and blinds and those of you who know a bit about sewing will know that firstly, it is crippling trying to make curtains on the floor and secondly, once all the layers are together they need to stay together otherwise you have yourself a hanging disaster.  So you need to sew them straight from the worktable i.e. standing up!

I have to admit, when I was first asked to do this it was hopeless and after a couple of hours I felt like I needed a hip replacement but you get used to it fairly quickly and, apart from the hip issue, it is actually very comfortable as you are not bending over or hunched up or in a similar uncomfortable position.  So there you have it - the result is beautiful, straight, perfectly sandwiched layers of gorgeous curtains or blinds, all perfectly square and sewn in the vertical position.

So how do you do it?  I'd love to know so leave a comment - and please keep it clean!

Craft Hippy xx

A Card Frenzy! (I think I've taken creative pills!)

Well, it's been a busy couple of days but I have got a lot done on the greetings cards front with quite a few in production now.

As you know, I only had four listed in my shops so thought that looked a bit pathetic but the trouble is that the designs take time not only to design (brain freeze) but also to make.  Once they are complete it is just a matter of photographing or scanning (a whole separate blog entry I think) and then printing (another issue altogether!)

I got all inspired by the thought of spring and wanted to do some simple designs (a la folk art theme) so plumped for a single flower.  Instead of making the design and then printing it I decided to sew straight onto the card - not very many other people seem to use this method, hence a good USP - and here are the results - I'm very pleased with the outcome I must say.  I was even more pleased when one of the orange flower cards was sold on Etsy about half an hour after listing it - if only all sales were that quick!

I then moved on to some Mother's Day designs and a New Home design, both of which are simple (there's a theme here isn't there!) as well as producing some nautical notelets (good alliteration) in red, white and blue.  Joking aside, I don't personally like crowded greetings cards - one simple strong design does it for me, which is very helpful if you can't draw (which I can't). My notebook looks a bit tragic but I know what I want to produce and thankfully this seems to work when translating my ideas to fabric - just as well really!

Take a look in my shops to see the cards in situ - links at the top of the page - feel free to buy some as well if the mood takes you!  Until next time...

Craft Hippy xxx

Greetings Cards on Folksy, Etsy and WowThankYou

Finally I have now managed to make some designs for my cards, actually make them into cards and list them in my three shops - that is a tedious process when you do it first time, but I assume that it gets easier the more you do!

In fact, I have come to the conclusion that I could spend every waking moment on my Mac, writing, blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking (is that a word?) and listing items and then never have time to make anything!  Sometimes I wonder if it's all worth it as I also try to get on the forums for Etsy and Folksy as this seems to make a huge difference to sales - the more you chat the more people check out your shop and hopefully buy something.

And do you know what, it certainly is!  I listed my four new greetings cards designs on Friday just gone and on Sunday night a lovely lady bought three cards from my Etsy shop.  Not a bad start eh!  I am not getting too excited though as this happened to me when I very first set up my shop and that was the only sale I had, but here's hoping.

So now I have four designs listed and I am very proud of them all.  They are all different and I can't wait to add some more - just need to make the pictures first though.  A small shout out for one of the lesser well known (but hopefully not for long) websites where I sell my wares.  WowThankYou is a really lovely website, full of gorgeous stuff, so take a look at mine (obviously) but also lots of other people and the beautiful work they produce.  In fact I may well blog a favourites from WowThankYou to get you all going!

Anyway here are my four designs with links to the shops - I have divvied them up equally so all my shops get a mention.  Comments, as always, very welcome.






Jane xxx

Spot of Embroidery

I wanted to have a go at some embroidery so that I could make a greetings card out of it and today was the day as I wasn't at work.  How hard could it be?  Well hard, and not hard, once you got the hang of it.

Continuing my Folk Art theme I wanted to keep it simple and use red and white (red felt with white embroidery thread) and in my head I seemed to think that producing something for Valentine's Day is still possible - maybe for 2013!

So I began by looking up some stitches on the lovely world wide web!  Pretty easy as there are loads of websites with information on various stitches so first mission accomplished.  The problems arose when I tried to follow the patterns - I am a lefty, you see, and all of the stitch illustrations were the wrong way round!

That was until I found a brilliant website, well worth a mention, which gives a huge amount of pictures and instructions for more stitches than there could possibly be in the world - in a minute ago - as well as a great tip for us lefties - copy the image and then flip it in the image editor on your computer - mine is iPhoto and you just rotate the picture.  Then it all made perfect sense.

I (kind of) mastered chain or daisy stitch, split stitch, stem stitch and satin stitch, so not bad for a morning's work and a first attempt!  Tomorrow I am hoping to make a greeting card from the design - even though it is too late for Valentine's Day this year and will also try to get another free machine embroidery picture started although it is way too cold for the workroom in Norfolk today!

Red felt with white embroidery thread and red satin stitch in the small heart!

Coastal Walk in a Cloudless Sky

What a truly beautiful day I've had today.  I decided that all the boring stuff could wait (even though I only have Mondays to fit in all my craft/home/chores as I work the other four days) and went for a walk.

Not just any old walk mind, but a beautiful 9.6 miles along the North Norfolk coast, and all to help my friend Sarah Morgan get fit for her trek to the Himalayas in April, in aid of Big C - Norfolk's Cancer Charity.  She has got together a group of girlies to keep her company - of which I was one - and it was really refreshing to meet some new people, from all parts of the country (who have all ended up in Norfolk) and go for a walk along the coast.

West Runton Beach

We started out at West Runton and walked along the beach to Sheringham, where we felt the need to stop for coffee and scones - to recharge the batteries, you understand, and then walked along the cliff top over the Beeston Bump (through the golf course) to Weybourne.

There was a keen wind (thankfully I was wearing my rather stupid (but warm) hat) but we didn't seem to pay that much attention as the view was breathtaking and we were too busy talking!

Sheringham

Beeston Bump

Once at Weybourne we had planned to get the coastal hopper bus back to West Runton, but had just missed it so decided to walk back to Sheringham and get the bus there.

Weybourne Beach

A short hop on the bus and we were back at West Runton to pick up the cars.  I took Monty, my golden Labrador with me and he couldn't believe his good fortune at such a long walk - even though he spent lots of time pulling me along and wandering perilously close to the edge of the cliffs!  My legs are starting to ache now but I feel as if I have had a good day of exercise to clear away the cobwebs.

So thank you, lovely ladies, and I look forward to another hike in a couple of week's time!

A very tired Craft Hippy xxx