It has been a good week - a little too hot, but hey, it is nice to have sunshine. On Monday, I meet up with Lara Beardall of Lovecow to collect the rosettes she had made for me. These match the lovely bag I also bought from her. You can see pictures here of the beautiful items that Lara has made for me.
I decided recently that instead of a Friday Guest Blogger spot (although if you are interested in being a guest blogger, please get in touch) I would have a Friday Review post in which I write about a website I have found that I like, a product I use, am keen to use or something I have bought - all handmade related. Lara is my first Friday Review - don't forget to come back and see who has been blogged about next Friday.
This week has also been spent locating and booking another venue for a Christmas Fair; this one is in Tongham Village Hall. It is not a large venue, but I am hoping it might be a good place for other events next year. I have hired a Town Crier to promote the Godalming Bazaar events for the remainder of this year. This particular venue/event needs a lot more oomph to get it noticed and I can't make up my mind if it is the venue or it has run its natural course. The Town Crier will spend one hour on the day of each event 'encouraging' people to come in and buy.
I love to try out new techniques and something I had a go at this week is hot crystal fixing - embarrassed to say I have had the gadget for a long, long time and as with so many things, put it away to use another time! I have some work-in-progress pieces that should be completed by next Sunday's blog post and I will add some photographs of my makes then. I can imagine just about everything in my home will have crystals on it! Nothing dares to stand still for too long.
I have been working on my Christmas Pie Crafts website and my events one and although not completely finished, here they are for review:
I am not completely happy with the SIM website as the pictures on the home page are slow to load - not very slow, but I don't like what looks like white blanks when it opens. Let me know what you think.
I started writing this weekend's blog post yesterday while quietly (as if!) waiting for a delivery I was expecting to arrive between 7.06 am and 9.06 am. 9.06 am came and went, no delivery, no phone call, no email. I checked the courier's website to find a message saying the delivery company (City Link), City Link, were running late and my package would arrive before 12 noon.
Like everyone, I hate waiting around for deliveries, the time we waste is gone for ever. I rang Wilkinson's (my order was for 5 flip-top packing crates) and explained the situation. They were very sympathetic, checked their records and told me that the delivery driver had marked his records to show that the delivery had been made at 12.15 pm. I don't know where to because it certainly wasn't to Christmas Pie Crafts.
Shock, horror! A 'white-van-man' turned up at 2.50 pm with my parcel! I asked what had happened but unfortunately, he didn't understand what I was saying and just kept replying 'thank you', 'thank you'. I rang Wilkinson's to let them know the order had arrived and I have been busily filling the crates since 3.00 pm with more craft materials, stock, etc for my storage unit. (Sadly, one of the crates is badly damaged, so the saga hasn't quite ended.) I did a quick check on the City Link website and it said my delivery had been made at 8.06 am yesterday morning and signed for by me!
No parcels expected this week - thank goodness, I couldn't take the stress! Decision time - pack more 'stuff' or do some gardening? As it is a little cooler today, gardening wins. Have a great week everyone and don't forget to drop into Handmade Monday to see how one has been coping with this 'gorgeous' weather.
See you next week.
Jill
I completely hate waiting for delivery drivers too. I like how both websites are shaping up, I think the hessian style backing for the markets gives it a great feel. Have a good week.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for deliveries is always a nightmare. If you pop out for 2 mins you can be sure they'll arrive, and then take your parcel to some far flung corner of your county for you to collect
ReplyDeleteI think you've done really well with the websites, i especially like the collage on the SIM homepage and it wasn't slow to load for me (although the first half of the words on the left of the screen were cut off... i'm not sure how that happened!) x
ReplyDeleteAha! So the rain today is your fault! Hope all your furries are OK? Have a good week x.
ReplyDeleteOOOO sounds like it isn't just me having delivery issues! That is awful! Hope they sort out your broken crate sensibly and don't make you wait! Good luck! xx
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have lots of fun activities planned. I wish I was close enough to attend the Christmas fairs.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure a lot of delivery drivers just make the times up when they fill in their sheets because I had something similar happen to me. It was a re delivery because they had tried to deliver in the 5mins I popped out, but hadn't sent the time slot message till after the time slot was finished!
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of a Town Crier, so original :)
ReplyDeleteI really hate waiting around for deliveries too, the whole process is excruciatingly painful, you'd think it would be easier now you can track parcels, but it's seems to be worse than the old it'll be deliverd between 7am-7pm days.
Hope you have a good week xxxxx