paper-and-string: October 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

cut stitch fold

yesterday I gave myself a day off and spent the day with John and my Mum, Dad, Sister & Niece who had come for a visit. Lots of chatting was done, lots of tea & coffee was drunk, we had a bracing walk on the windy seafront (!) and wasted quite a few 2p's playing games on the pier...a lovely day all round!

afterwards I cosied up on the sofa and cut, folded and stitched the evening away!

Friday, October 28, 2011

John Lewis Email

My Christmas Tree Garland has been featured in a John Lewis email which they sent out to customers today...I'm not signed up but my friend Jackie *hi Jackie* is and she sent it over for me to see...what a good way to end a Friday!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

i can't resist

I've been busy counting and sorting and re-stocking my shop with lots of basics...all the orders were being placed over the last week or so and some have finally started to arrive (yay!) first the postman arrived with lots of metal:

which means my findings pots are nice and full:

and then the courier bought a BIG box of buttons:

literally hundreds and thousands of polka dot buttons....AND...because I couldn't resist:

yellow polka dot star buttons! Perfect for Christmas crafting.
quick links:
findings: click here :: all polka dot buttons: click here

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

my favourite kind of busy

there's lots of sewing being stitched round here at the moment...this little lot is a wholesale order for a new customer, there are 42 mini cupcakes, 20 Christmas trees and 24 Christmas puddings, all finished and ready for the postman tomorrow...tonight there are Christmas decorations & boxes to stitch...I'll be back with photos tomorrow!
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WARNING
a comment was left on my previous post and it contained a link to an outside site, when I clicked on it my computer (thankfully) warned me that there was malware attached to it and it wasn't safe to proceed...I have removed all traces of the comment now but I didn't do it immediately so there was an hour or so in which you may have clicked it...the comment was left by a regular blog reader and I'm sure no malice was intended...sewmbie if you read this I can't email you or leave a comment on your blog...but I didn't delete your comment because I didn't like it...just that the malware scared me!

Monday, October 24, 2011

working in sunshine

:: piles of stationery cut and folded :: Christmas decorations made for orders :: swatches ready to be made :: rainbows waiting to be piled ::

Saturday, October 22, 2011

more new goodies

button boxes

with lots of new buttons...there are 11 boxes altogether

The hard-to-find magnets have finally returned!

I've re-packaged my Christmas Ribbon mini spools

AND look at my new pom pom trim!!

quick links ::

button boxes click here

magnets click here

christmas ribbon bags click here

pom pom trim click here

Friday, October 21, 2011

computer time

Today I started adding some new things to my shops, starting with ::

Christmas Decorations! I've re-drawn my Pudding decoration ...

designed a new Tree decoration...

..and added a pom pom scarf to my snowman decoration...

...the pom pom scarf makes me ridiculously happy!! They can all be found in my NOTHS shop, etsy shop or on my website!
I'll be back with more new things tomorrow :-)

Thursday, October 20, 2011

working hard

This weekend I am planning on spending a lot of time online....I need to fill my Not On The High Street shop up, start listing on Folksy again and update my eBay & etsy listings...quite a big task!

Luckily a big part of doing it means I get to play with ribbons and buttons whilst pretending I am working very hard indeed!!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

reclaiming some space

my latest order to John Lewis has been sent .... which left me needing to do a ginormous tidying up operation! I still have 2 more smaller orders to make and send to John Lewis but I won't need so much space which means there's now more room for everything else!...no more boxes on the stairs...no more boxes on the landing...no more boxes in the kitchen/bathroom...you get the idea!

before photos can be seen here & here & here & here & here & here & here

I started on Saturday and it took me all day....it was hard work, but it was so much fun! ...my desk is clear(er) and I've sorted out places to put all my paperwork & printing stuff

the cupboards are full

...and orderly...

...I've stored all the kit bits in these boxes (stickers, instructions etc)

...The small room is the best bit...proper neat & tidy boxed up storage

...the amount of boxes will shrink as I make more kits .... and an actual mini stock room:

all the extra felt bolts are here with a little bit of space for other stock...moving the felt means that my packing room has been cleared...

...look, you can see the carpet and get through the door!! I've tidied and re-arranged some shelves, but haven't quite done them all....that's for next weekend!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

trick or treat?

last night I put the finishing touches to 3 new designs ::

BOO! did they scare you? nope, me neither, they are much too cute!

Little felt Halloween decorations ... and the best bit? I have made a free pattern so anyone & everyone can make them! So whether you'd like to make a Happy Pumpkin ::

a happy Ghost ::

or a Happy Bat ::

just click the picture below to print off your free patterns & instructions and get ready to sew, sew, sew!

I've also put the pattern on flickr for you to download/print off...happy halloween sewing!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

an early mark

for the past few days I've been busy sketching and cutting and gathering supplies for some new felt ideas that have pinged into my brain....

...and after I've tidied up my messy workshop, put away my cardboard box delivery and been to the post office I will be going home early for an evening of TV and sofa sewing!

Bliss!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

and the winners are...

351 names have been put in the hat* and the 3 winners are:: 1. comment # 224 hAand-i 'Oh! They look so yummy! I want it!' 2. comment # 133 dazzledania '1st give away to enter..love your crafty stuffs..18th October will be my husband lucky day, his birthday. hope I will win!!'

3. comment # 299 Katy 'Ooh, what lovely Christmas goodies! I'm in...'

I will email all the winners to request their postal address shortly

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throughout the freebie I was asked a lot of times if the freeebie kit would be available for sale...I hadn't planned on it but I have just priced it up and added it to the website for those who are interested....all the contents would cost £25.83 to buy separately (+ the box) but I have listed it at £20 which is a 20% discount (and a free box!)...there are only 10 up for grabs so be quick if you want one!

quick link :: click here and scroll to the bottom