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Sunday 11 March 2012

IT'S BEEN A BIZEEEE WEEK

Hi everyone

What a gorgeous day it has been.  We went to a good friend's birthday lunch today and it was great and the fantastic weather was a bonus.  I made the name cards and menu's for the meal in West Ham colours, as our friend is a great supporter of their team.  It was a lovely day.

I have had a hectic week.  As well as the name cards and menus, I also had two card orders to finish, plus get everything ready for my first event of the year in Godalming.  This is the second event I have attended that was organised by Loretta and she really does work hard getting everything right - in addition to regularly checking that we were all OK, she spent a lot of time outside encouraging potential customers through the door.  Although the event wasn't all handmade, there were some great stalls there.  I was next to Fran McCaskill who is a fused glass designer - her work is absolutely beautiful and I do recommend you visit her website.  I bought one of her glorious big red hearts - it looks so lovely with the sun shining through it.

Events are interesting in that people will pay a high price for things that are not handmade, but  refuse to pay what, to us who make handmade, are reasonable prices.  Do you find this happens at events you take part in?  My mini-cards did well again, so I need to get making more.

One of the card orders I had has been posted and received by the recipient, so it is safe to put it on show.  I used various layers of gold card and other lacey and numbered papers and then topped this off with two champagne glasses with a figure 50 in the middle - I added gold star glitter to the figure.

The 21st birthday card should have been received by the birthday girl this time next week, so I will be adding that to my next Handmade Monday post.

The week before last I spent a Spa Day with a good friend and as usual it was more chat than spa - I did do some gym work though, so felt pretty good about that.  During the day, we talked about business life in general and crafting in particular and decided that we would have a go at a joint-venture later this year, so watch this space.

My Friday Guest blogging has taken off again, and I have some great posts coming up over the next few weeks - not all craft-related, so look out for some great topics.  It would be lovely to host some Handmade Monday bloggers, so if you have a topic you would like to share, please do get in touch: christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com.  Thank you Hannah (Spans Studio) for your post last Friday - it was great and certainly struck a cord with the handmade community.

A bit of a short post today as I am so tired - it has been a week of hard work (as well as socialising).  Next week I have some more card orders to complete, plus we are still battling our way through all of the 'stuff' that we have accumulated over the years.  Why the walls haven't fallen over trying to contain the things we have 'held onto just in case' I will never know.  Phyllis Tuckwell, the RSPCA and Cats Protection are benefiting from our 'down-sizing' and I hope it helps them.

Have a great week everyone and thank you to everyone who stops my my blog and leaves a comment - I love to read them all.  I don't always get the chance to reply to all of them, but I do appreciate them especially the great advice and helpful suggestions many of you leave for me.  Don't forget to visit the other Handmade Monday bloggers to read this week posts and see everyone's lovely makes.

I'll see you all on Wednesday.

Jill

15 comments:

  1. Love the card stunning with the gold and the West Ham name cards would be off course perfect just a shame they are not doing better with the results, one unhappy DH

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  2. Beautiful card - 50 years eh? I think joint venture projects are a very good idea - someone else who knows the project inside out and is really interested - good luck. Keep the rest of us informed!

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  3. Wow, that's an amazing card bet they loved it. Agree that people will pay lots if made in a factory but not if hand crafted!

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  4. Love the card Jill. You have had a busy week! (the guest blogger post was good this week and the things that Fran McCaskill makes are gorgeous - just had a look at her website.) Mich x

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  5. The 50th card looks lovely, and the joint venture thing sounds interesting. Look forward to reading your guest posts.

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  6. Wow you have had a busy week! Great to celebrate 50 years with a beautiful handmade card!

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  7. It's a beautiful card-I'm looking for some inspiration for my parents' 50th anniversary and this is a great example.

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  8. Gorgeous card !
    I agree people seem to have no quarms with paying high prices for mass produced factory items, but wont even contemplate paying a reasonable amount for a genuine hand crafted unique item.
    Not sure why?
    Hugs Sue x

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  9. Oo, love glasswork. Will go and check out your link.

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  10. Gorgeous card, I really don't understand why people would even want to buy mass produced cards when they can get original handmade ones. x

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  11. It's a gorgeous card, classic colour scheme and the glitter is a lovely finishing touch! Sure the recipient will love it! It's so nice of you to help the RSPCA and Cats Protection through your 'down sizing'! Do agree with you that people would rather buy generic goods rather than unique handmade cards, can't understand it!

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  12. It always confuses me as well that people pay a lot for mass produced stuff but like to pay as little as possible for handmade!
    Lovely card.
    Hope you have a great week.

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  13. Lovely card and perfect colours for a 50th anniversary.

    It confuses me a bit why people pay more for something that is not handmade. My theory is that some people think that because something is handmade by us, we don't have a lot of costs involved with the making, (which is completly untrue), so they expect things to be cheaper. Meanwhile the companies who mass produce everything have huge machines to pay for, so the public think they need the money. However I've never seen a machine getting paid wages for its work or getting money for each item it makes.

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  14. Love the 50th Anniversary card, what a milestone! Can't wait to hear about the joint venture. Not been in touch recently as computer died on me and I had to buy a new one. Only got it today! Know what you mean about 'busy' so much to catch up on now!

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Thank you for your comment - it is always lovely to have feedback and I hope you enjoyed my post.