Things I love to make......

I love to sew.....BUT!

I have been making hair accessories for a good few years now made mainly with Felt and although I do have a pretty big Fan base and many returning customers I am a bit sick of making them...
I think it can get boring making the same things day in day out and I do love to make other things.

Also there is another problem that is bugging me.
I have always sold my Designs on Ebay but last year I got really peed off with the ebay fees.. I was forced to take a look at what I was earning on a monthly basis and to be honest after calculating the fees I felt sick and wondered why oh why am I carrying on when some months I am simply working to PAY fees and making absolutely no profit at all. :o( I have been told by several people that I do not charge enough for the quality of work I produce but when I have raised the prices slightly I have sold less.. it is frustrating I do work really hard and try to keep costs at a fair price but I am really thinking of going elsewhere because I can no longer justify keeping my prices so low and making hardly any profit.

I have tried to sell on other websites such as Etsy, Folksy and another store but buisness was so bad I was forced to close these other shops.
The competition on Etsy is pretty huge and although I had lots of followers and people favouriting my shop I hardly sold anything and I wondered why?
I know there are quite a few people making felt hair clips and most are brilliant but I did also notice alot of the prices were more expensive than mine and looking at the sales history I was puzzled as to why mine were not selling? So I closed my shop :o(

I think I am going to have to close my ebay shop also and I feel sad about this but no one want's to work hard and see no return. :o( I can't help wondering what I am doing wrong?
I get excellent feedback and emails privately telling me how fantastic my designs are.. this I think is what kept me going and inspired me alot but the buisness is just not thriving and I think after nearly 5 yrs its time to Jack it all in...

Christmas Blues....

Ok so like many people this year it was Christmas on a BUDGET... I hate not having enough cash to Give pressies and I have to say this year was THE worst by far where pressies were concerned.
So I decided I was going to make as many handmade pressies to give to my family but it didn't quite work out :o( how I planned......
I am really busy @ BOBBLELICIOUS at Christmas time so the 2 weeks leading up to Christmas were hectic and I did not manage to finish all the gifts I planned to make.
Then on boxing day I was STRUCK down literally with the Flu..
I have had the flu a few times in my life but this BEAT the lot.. Bed ridden, high temp, pain in every part of my body.. shivering feeling so sick I could hardly move I literally felt like I had been kicked by a horse EVERYWHERE! and now don't know how many day's later, although I am still coughing I feel a bit better but not well enough to get back crafting as my main "crafting obsession" is felt.
I really cannot face the fibres getting on my already congested chest.

 

So I thought I would blog...

 

Its not hard to see at a glance that I am rubbish at blogging I really am..
I really admire bloggers who seem to:
1. Know what to say
2. Have interesting subjects
3. Generate lot's of followers
4. Have the time,
I am totally full of admiration for them all and enjoy reading them but I really do struggle with interesting things to say myself but thought this year I will give it another go and see what happens!

So here are a few of the Handmade goodies I did manage to make....



I made at least 6 Handmade wreaths this year for my Family Members..

This one I made for my Daughter and her Hubby and as you can see it is definately not a traditional Christmas Wreath made for 2 very untraditional people lol!!

I personally wouldn't have one of these but I really enjoyed creating it with them in mind and they Loved it!

This is the design I made for the rest of my Family and I sold quite a few in my shop this year too...

I actually love putting these together although they are time consuming I really did have fun making them.

And last but no means least I made this precious little Rag doll for my equally precious little Granddaughter Summer.. I have always loved Rag dolls and this is a pattern I made up myself and it is kind of Based on Her!

 

 

 

Precious Princess Summer!

:o) x x

 

 

 

 

Selling my House!

Ohhh what a mad few days I am actually aching all over, busy getting my house ready to put on the market.. I have got to get in shape I feel like my whole body has seized up :o/ I use to be a really mad DIY fanatic but in the last 10 years being on my own with 2 daughters still living with me its been a struggle and well I guess when you don't have the funds to keep on top of things, everything looks old and drab.

 

So I finally summoned the energy to stain my poor thirsty floorboards, I have a really big through lounge and its a lot of floor to cover but I did it! and I am really happy with it... As usual my Camera does not do it justice but well you can get the general idea...
Then I realised that the woodstain I Paid £25.00 (and thought that was outrageous) was so worth the money I stained 2 floors the one in the photo and a huge back dining room and there was loads left so I decided to stain the 4 dividing doors between the 2 rooms which were looking really orange and dull I am amazed how far this is going... so I then did my lounge door and the top of my white sideboard and I still have enough left to give the floors another coat tomorrow... so well worth the £25.00... B&Q Quick drying woodstain! is the best and the great thing about it is it has no SMELL!

Its Bloody freezing in this loft...

I am sat here in the loft (my workroom) and its is absolutely freezing..and the wind is so loud sounds like the roof is about to blow off..
I am having a welcome relief from HOT SWEATS at the moment so because I have been avoiding Jumpers and nylon haha..I am just wearing tee shirts and leggins but I have just had to dig out my reliable Cardi :o/ because working through the night in this cold is awful.
This has to be the worst April ever! the wind is so cold its like it blows right through you...

Oh well the sky looks lovely from my loft window!! Off to get some work done. :o)

Jo and Pauls wedding anniversary!!

2 Years ago my beautiful daughter Jo married Paul!

It was a beautiful Sunny Day....

They were married at the edge of a Loch in Scotland so I just thought I would post a few photo's of their special day.

And say Happy Anniversary!

Jo and my two other daughters Laura and Faye.

My Big sister, little ole Me and My Mum!

The adventures of Summer!!

Every wens thursday and Friday I look after my little precious princess Summer she is my first grandaughter and she is full of mischeif at the moment.

We go for a walk (weather permitting) and on the way back she sits on my next door neighbours step and won't budge.

I have decided it would be a great idea to take a photo every week of her sitting here until she decides its no longer fun lol... it would be great to see her sat here when she is a teenager and show her all the photo's.

This last photo was on friday I took her in the shop and she grabbed a bag of Wotsits from the shelf and took them to the counter lol...(even though she is not really allowed them) This was the only thing that got her off the step this week. :o)