Time

Oops, it seems I failed to keep it going with blogtober!

I've decided linkys aren't really for me anymore as I just do not have the time, and any time I may have I am often too tired to think straight let alone type anything readable.

Time is definitely something I which I could have more of right now.

I have so many tasks I would like to do.

And never get around to finishing them off properly, or even starting in some cases.

Some things that I'd like to get done are:

A photo wall

We have a lovely big plain wall on our stairs that is crying out for some artwork.

I've pinned many photos of them on pinterest, and James obviously must have remembered.

It was our 10 year anniversary (of being together not married) back in Sept and James did a bit of a treasure hunt around the house to the end present of lots of frames, and a 'let's fill them with the last 10 years' note.

After returning the original frames he bought (not because I didn't like them but because I thought Ikea ones would be easier to match year after year as we add to them) came the task of slowly trying to work through the thousands of photos on our Onedrive.

This is why the whole thing has been halted as we really do have so many photos, and we really haven't kept on top of them, probably since having Sam!

 I have literally spent hours deleting the rubbish ones, and putting them into folders so that it loads quicker, as much as I just like them all chronologically ordered year by year rather than by event!

I think I've got to about 2013/14 fully done...but it's so easy to be distracted and go down memory lane!!

DIY

We've been in this house for nearly 3 years and even areas we have done are crying out for a freshen up.

That said the lounge is a priority as we have ordered some new sofas from DFS.

 Although our current one isn't old it is just too small for us now, we bought it in our old home and it's never really fit our look or our growing family in the new house.

It will be so nice to have a bit more space when snuggling to watch a film together, rather than one of us ending up on the bean bag!

Also when we have visitors we will actually have some seating!

There's not much to do decor wise thankfully, just a freshen up and possibly paint the gloss, we have ordered new carpet from carpet right, and want some new radiators, and James being an electrician wants to change the lights as we aren't happy with what we have now.

The other room that needs doing is Zachary's, we planned on doing it before he was born but ran out of time, then thought we'd wait until we knew whether it was a boy or a girl.

Now nearly 6 months later, the room is more of a dumping ground than a babies room! I've so many boxes of baby things ready for the loft or to pass onto friends.

We've a patchy wall from tester pots and furniture than needs tweaking!

Zachary is growing out of this next to me crib soon for sure so this is something that needs doing NOW really!

Declutter

I've made headway on this already as I've sold most of my maternity clothes this past week.

I just wish the rest of the family could tidy up and sort through their bits a bit more as there's only so much I can sort through!

James has so many wires and cables for random bits of technology so I am hoping he has a good sort through it all soon!

Time to create

I've actually had a few crafting chances this past week as Zachary has slept longer.

But I do need to create more time so that I have enough stock for the 2 school Christmas markets I'm doing in Nov.

Time to write

My blog has slipped, I know that!

I feel I've missed out so many moments to record, the little things I know I'll forget.

The boys have completed a term at school and Zachary is nearly half a year old already!

Sometimes I wish I could just pause time, get all the boring house jobs sorted and enjoy our family time together!

Posting handmade orders with Davpack

Now many of my readers will know that I have a small business, both on Etsy and Facebook.

With the Etsy shop especially I am often posting off orders across the country, as opposed to the Facebook page where it is more local orders.

My most popular items are the frames I make, mainly the baby name ones and the wedding lovebird ones. Since selling on Etsy I have been on the look out for a sturdy box to fit the frames as well as the bubble wrap layer too, most places I have found sell them in large numbers so I have always been reluctant to buy just in case I got the measurements wrong-especially with not ever having the biggest budget going.

So when I was contacted to try out some packing from Davpack I jumped at the chance.

I managed to find a box that fits the frames nicely, it is actually classed at a Brown Pizza box in the size 290 x 290 x 50 this is the perfect fit for the frames I use.

With the pizza style boxes I can now pack up  my orders much, much quicker. Before I was saving old cardboard boxes and cutting squares out to sandwich the bubble wrapped frame, and then covering with brown paper and lots of tape. So I now save a lot of time and also a lot of materials too!

I had a double layer of bubble wrap on the frame and as you can see the box still just about closed, ideally I could do with the box being about half a cm deeper so as not to be quite so snug but really that's just a personal preference for the items I sell.

I did cover the box with a cellophane bag, more to protect the frame inside from possible water damage, but if the product had been something else I would be confident in sending it with just tape along the open edges as the box itself is nice and sturdy.

If you have your own business and post off lots of orders I would definitely recommend Davpack, they have a huge range of products perfect for small and large businesses.

I now I have the confidence that my products will look more professional, which is always great when you have your own business and I am so pleased I have finally found something to fit my main product.

I received some of these boxes to review however all photos and words are my own

Snowed under!

It's been a busy few weeks! 

I'm trying to get myself organised for the Christmas evening at Alex's school, I have booked a table to hopefully sell my makes...! I'm hoping it goes better than the couple I tried in the summer months!

On top of that I have had some orders coming in too and I feel like I am juggling it all and panicking I won't have enough stock made up!!

With pregnancy tiredness and the dark nights I must admit I am getting a little stressed out about it. 

It's such a busy time of year at home too, it's Alex's birthday on Sunday, mine the following Saturday James the Saturday after and then finally Sam's on the 9th of Dec. 

As always money is at a tight squeeze, normally we try and cut costs on parties and have it at home but I just couldn't face that with Alex this year, we have booked bowling for a few friends, so all I have to worry about it making a Thor hammer cake on Friday or Saturday-I've not baked in so long so hopefully I get it right!!

Anyway I better get back to the making...

Do check out some of the latest makes on facebook.

Tips for craft stall first timers!

So the past few weeks have been busy, not only with the end of school fundraisers (and the long list of days where the kids need to bring in bottles/raffle tickets/chocolates and tombola gifts...) but also because the end of the school year has been busy with teacher notebook orders, and I took a first step. After a year and a half of trading online, I finally did a stall (in fact two)!

So obviously I am a complete newbie at this type of selling, and with some social anxiety chucked in the mix it was always too much for me to contemplate. But I thought long and hard, and this was the next step I needed to take! I chickened out of proper craft fairs but went along to a local school fete and Sam's preschool fete, I mean I couldn't chuck myself into the deep end first time could I!?

I had quite a lot of stock made up already (internet selling is also proving more difficult than I thought it would...) and I made up a fair amount of smaller and cheaper items up for the summer stalls. 

Thankfully both my venues I knew I was inside, and with them being school fetes the tables were cheap at £10-15, so were good for a taster to starting out. 

My top newbie tips!

Before you get there

1. Target Audience

Find out who your target market will be at your event, these were at schools, so I did some lower priced items (hair clips, bookmarks, piggy wallets etc) alongside my more expensive frames and hoops). 

2. Stock
Make up enough stock, although you don't want to be overloading your table, you want there to be enough to show, excess stock can be kept hidden under the table if need be and restock should things sell.

3. Practise setting up
I don't know about you, but sometimes I can't visualise something until I am actually physically doing it, I did a mock set up which helped me see what I needed to do, what was missing, and any changes I needed. I also took a photo to help me for future reference.

4. Insurance
You should have it already, and all venues should ask for it, but if you haven't set it up now, it isn't worth the risk these days!

5. Storage
I got myself two plastic tubs as well as the crates I was using for displays to store my makes in, makes for easier travel.

6. Money
James bought me a reduced lockable cash tin/organiser in Makro, and although it's massive, it is practical. Take note of how much money you have before you head off, and make sure you have plenty of change too.

7. Card reader
This is up to you, and depends on the price of your items also, I took my iZettle along with me, sadly no one bought an expensive item at my stall, but I do know of other crafters who love them at proper craft events.

8. Remember a snack and a drink and comfy shoes if it's a long event

Once you are there

1. Time
Leave with plenty of time, I always get into a bit of a flap if I'm running behind. Most places leave you an hour to set up-it's amazing how fast this hour goes by!!

2. Set up
Deep, breath, work out your surroundings and table space (varies if you don't have your own to bring) and work out how best to set up your makes.

3. Smile
Once set up smile and look approachable. This is probably the bit I struggle most with if I am honest, I'm not rude just very shy and self conscious

4. Hand out cards and leaflets
Even if people aren't buying try and engage and hand over business cards if you can, with any purchase I made I tried to remember to add something with my details on it also. Here's a leaflet I made up

Tips and things to remember

A flat sheet is great as a table cloth.

There are many places online to get business stationary. Mine were done through Essah Aitch and I have been so pleased with my stickers, cards, tags and notes, nice to know you are helping another small business too. If you don't have money make your own leaflets on word or pic monkey.

Use shelving, crates, and boxes to add height to your table (this is one thing I need to work on in the future).

Buy a frame and print off your logo and basic info to put in it to show it all off.

If you can, get some one to help you, a). to keep you company and b). give you a helping hand if you need

Try not to get too disheartened if you don't sell much, I have learnt that school fetes people don't really spend much, but again they are a fairly cheap way to be seen too, it just depends where you are positioned too I guess.
.............................................................................................................................................
In terms of my events, the first was in a primary school and it was very busy, I had some lvoely comments about my work, but I only sold £29 worth of stuff (table was £15) if you exclude the £30 frame someone had pre-ordered off me that is. I thought the hair clips would have sold like hot cakes but sadly not!

The second was my son's preschool, much smaller footfall, £10 table and I sold £11.50, so not the greatest success, but in all honestly I didn't expect to do well there. I was a bit miffed as I had to turn down a day trip with James and the rest of his family to the Isle of Wight for it but ah well. You live and learn.

Hope these tips are of some help to someone :)

Handmade valentine's gift ideas

With Valentine's just around the corner I thought I'd show a few of my makes which would be perfect for the occasion!

Here is one of my personal favourites, hand stitched love heart on an embroidery hoop.

If you just like saying it with a card then I have three designs this year:

Love balloon.

LOVE.

Love you felt heart.

Do you celebrate Valentine's day, or do you just treat it like any other day. I know this year James is working all day and into the evening so no celebrating at all here, but as some say who needs a day to show someone you love them!

How to gain orders in small business? And a special offer on Danielle Louise Designs

That is one question I have been asking myself recently.

I set up Danielle Louise Designs almost a year ago, now I knew that it would be slow going and hard work to get seen etc, I just had no idea quite how much!

Apart from a couple of small orders I have still only sold to friends and family. A lot of the things made on my page have been for gifts for us to give-in hope that those that see it will either order that thing, or those who see the gift in it's new home will like it enough to check out my work.

It's so disheartening to see other pages do so well, so quickly, I have had a lot of feedback from networking that has been really positive, but my 'like' counter doesn't move up much compared to other pages, and I am lucky to get an order or two a month. I'm not really sure what I am doing differently.

Towards the end of last year I set up an Etsy page in hope that, that too would boost my sales a bit, but had no views for months. Etsy has been a HUGE learning curve, I have realised it is very hard to be seen, that selecting the right category probably makes a huge difference to views, keywords and SEO are something I need to learn more about! With that in mind I have recently joined a facebook page Etsy resolution which is full of hints and tips, this week it was photography.

When I look at my pages I know my photography isn't the best, not the worst, but not stand out enough, a lovely lady messaged me with lots of help for photographing my frames and yesterday I put this into practice!

I know real photographers would probably still pick problems with these but I am really pleased with them, it took some time but now I know what to do it should be easier in the future!

Now when people see my items in the Etsy search the thumbnail photos will hopefully stand out more-at least they look more professional now!

Now that I have changed these photos in the listings I am wanting to update the photos of my other listings. So I have an offer on my page 10% off the items I have listed in my facebook post, it's 1st come 1st serve as only 1 of each available.

For the full details please look here but these are the items I'd like to make so that I can photograph them better (personalised to your colour/names):

If you like my makes please do visit me on facebook or Etsy (or both!) and please share with anyone you think may like it.

If anyone has any tips on trying to make it 'bigger' and more 'successful' I'd love to hear it :)

Handmade teacher notebooks

I really can't believe that another school year is coming to an end soon.

Especially this year, Alex's first year at school!

I really don't know where the time has gone ( I know we all say it all the time)!

He came home with the copy of his class photo yesterday which was just so cute! 

With the end of the school year it is time to think about thank you gifts for teachers, now I don't know about you but I think they deserve a medal with 30 or so kids-unfortunately not may people's budgets stretch to solid blocks of ;)

I have made a couple of handy notebooks instead, which would be nice on there own or with something else too. 

One of these is for Alex's TA and the other just an example perhaps more suited to a male teacher? I can make them personalised and suited to your needs. 

They are £2.50 + p&p

Do pop over to my Facebook business page Danielle Louise Designs if you'd like to order (or have a look at other things I make too)!

Life lately

Oh my, has it really been nearly two month's since I last posted!!

Is it really already half way through May already!?

This year seems to be going by in a flash, Alex has nearly completed his first year at school, which is pretty scary! He is doing well there though, and enjoys it as much as any 5 year old boy would-he does complain on a day where they "had to do writing", and getting him to do his homework can be a bit of a chore! It's amazing how much they get even at such a young age! Must admit, as much as I say I am going to be organised with it we always leave it until last minute!!

Talking of schools, I finally heard back about Sam's preschool place in April, luckily he did get a place (I had been worried that he hadn't got in as a few other's had heard weeks before me). Unfortunately he didn't get given a full day as they didn't have the space and not the full 15 hours either (which doesn't bother me too much for next year anyway), which is a bit of a pain for me with not driving and it taking me 20mins each way-I won't get my town shopping without kids just yet! It's scary to think that come January I will have him at preschool though, my little one growing up! Mind you I am already wishing for those few hours of just simple peace and quiet...

Being in our new house (which I really most post some photos of) has made the world of difference recently, the boys have been enjoying their new addition to the garden-a trampoline (paid for with xmas vouchers), it's just a shame that the weather has been a bit pants the last couple of weeks for them to really try it out. We have made the most of having a garden and have already had 3 BBQ's-making up for the lost time of not having a garden for the past 5 years, our neighbours probably think we are a bit mad!

I am enjoying having my own little craft space to make and create for my own small business Danielle Louise Designs, although I still haven't sold anything to anyone other than friends and family yet so I would like things to pick up a bit, it is so hard to be seen when there are so many people trying to make themselves seen in the same sort of market. It really does eat up so much time too, and I do find it hard to balance it all!

We have just booked a weeks holiday to the south of France with my parents, one of my brothers and my Aunt with her family, so have that to look forward to at the end of July. Looking forward to a bit of sun (hopefully) and James has already found out there is a large water park nearby too! It will be nice to show James the sort of holiday's I went on as a child-he has been very spoilt and gone to Florida far too many times over the years but hasn't really experienced a more cultural holiday in the most recent years (unless you count Mickey Mouse as cultural)!! I am not sure my parents will find it as relaxing as they may be hoping for with my two in the mobile home too-fingers crossed my two will sleep in a bit (crosses everything)!

Now only a few more days of the school run (probably in the rain, what is with the weather at the moment?) and then it's half term, we have 2 TD days tagged on at the end of it too, my parents are off to a Greek island too so don't even have my Mum as a half term saviour (we often meet up over the holidays a lot as she works in a school and with me not driving she often takes us to places I can't get to very well) so half term could prove interesting!!

Apologies-my blog has been a bit quiet of late, and also apologies to any blogs I normally read too-I just haven't had the time/have been far too tired when I do.

I have been busy trying to get my craft business up and running-even got around to letting the tax man know about me last week (not that I will be making that much from it!).

It is going quite well, slow and steady but I am getting a few orders in and spreading the word (and my work) out there a bit.

In our new house I am lucky enough to have a craftroom, my husband still calls it his office but the desk is usually covered in felt, a glue gun, buttons and papers so I think I win there.

It is so nice to finally have a space where I can a. do any craft I want to and b. be able to leave it all out, exactly as I want and come back to it when I can. I feel very lucky to have this as it is something I have pretty much been dreaming about for years!

The last few weeks have seen me busy with new home makes and Mother's day makes too, I am thankful that my friends have given me a chance in ordering some of my items too.

Here's a little peak at some of my recent makes:

A personalised new home make

Mother's day doesn't have to just be for Mum's :) felt rose heart

This colour card has been popular with my netball friends-Mother's Day card

I must admit the hardest part of having this business on the side is the feeling that I am not really being there for my family as much, far too often the tv has come to keep the kids entertained whilst I have been up stairs making. So time management is something I really have to work on a bit!

I also get a bit anxious when sending out parcels as to whether they will get there ok, I am always worried the glass will break and with the cards I am worried they will get badly bent-but then I always like something to worry about don't I!?

If you like what you see I would be ever so grateful (if you are on facebook) to give my small business a like, just remember when you buy handmade you aren't paying for some fat cat at the top to enjoy a swanky holiday you are helping a small family save for day's out, clothes, or after school activities.

Finally taking the plunge!

So I said I was going to give it a go like I have pretty much every recent year!

I have finally set up a Facebook page for my hopeful business venture!

Eek very nervous and not quite sure how I will work the ins and outs of it all yet!

But really happy to be giving it a go!

If you would like to take a quick look at a couple of items I have made over the last year or two and like the page itself I would be ever so grateful.

I am mainly for the moment focussing on children's items for the time being I think (at some point if it goes well I may make wedding/anniversary/home items) as need to start slowly as I am not quite sure how I will manage my time.

Do you run a business from home? How do you balance work/life/kids/husband and fit everything in?

If you run a small craft business I would be especially grateful for any tips...I really don't have a clue when it comes to anything business!

Things I may need some help or pointing into the right direction with:

-How is it best to keep on track with orders and money etc?

-How long do you allow for handmade orders?

-Who is best and most reliable to post items out with-especially when said item is a frame so has glass?

-Where is the best place to buy packaging? And what/how do you package up fragile items best?

-Do you need liability insurance or is that just for when you do craft fairs?


AND if there is anything else you can think of that might be handy for me to know I would be ever so grateful as I really am a novice at this!

When does a hobby become a business?

So I have been thinking a lot lately and to be honest for years...

I've never known what I have wanted to do career wise, always knew I wanted to be a Mum, but never ever known what I'd like to do other than that.

I've always liked crafts, and dabble in quite a few of them but recently have been making a few personalised things like this and this which I've really enjoyed doing.

I've already been asked by an old school friend whether I could make one for her, and I'd really like to be able to make them to sell.

I always stumble on the business side however, and here's where you can hopefully help or point me in the right direction.

I'd like to start trying to advertise/sell products through a Facebook page

-Do I have to register the name I'll be using as a business?

-Do I have to have a separate bank account for any purchases and earnings for and from my makes?

-Do I have to keep records and receipts of anything I have bought and the price I have sold my makes?

-Do I have to register as self employed?

I'm sure I have other questions but they are the main ones that have stopped me from thinking I can do this and I can never seem to find the right or up to date answers. Please if you have any of the answers to these questions I will be forever grateful! Thanks in advance x