CRAFTER OR EVENT ORGANISER - CAN I BE BOTH?

Hello everyone

Wow!  What a hot week it has been.  If anyone dare says we haven't had a good summer, I will be just a little bit upset.  Okay, I know we still have lots of potential summer-time to go, but so far, so good.  The garden loves this weather, means lots of watering, but everything is blooming (including the weeds!), my tomatoes are doing very well and the sweet peas are gorgeous.  We planted some near to our back door and they have done really well, they are in a position where it is easy to water them, which really does help.

This week was spent getting work ready to photograph to send with my application to take part in the Farnham Maltings Christmas Fair.  This was a very successful event for me last year, so I really would like to be part of it again this year.  One of my submissions was a hessian bag I had decorated with glittery butterflies - these bags have proved to be and still are very popular and I do enjoy working on them

I don't take part in many fairs these days, I am more 'this side' of the table and working on my application did make me stop and think about where I am going.  Organising events is incredibly time-consuming and hard work and even though I have planned for my events to take place in the last four months of the year (one or two at the beginning of the year as well), they still take up around 2, sometimes 3 hours a day on admin.  I have also added a new string to my event organising bow: Surrey Village Vintage.  The aim of these events is to have all things vintage, but only vintage - I am being helped with this new venture by Fee Fraser, who is my 'Vintage Consultant'.  Fee has a lot of experience in this area, lots of contacts and great ideas to help the events go well, standout and become established.  If you are into vintage, check out the events on the website and make a date to visit one of them.

As the title of this blog post says, can I be a crafter and an event organiser?  The event organiser part of me wants to continue with them because apart from the hard work, I really do enjoy them and the chance to see an incredible amount of beautiful handmade work all in one place makes if worthwhile.  Much better than a department store - and the staff are often much more fun and friendlier.  When I begin work on an order or to make some stock, or browse a website of gorgeous card-making materials, fabrics, ribbons and buttons, I wonder why on earth I am spending so little time on what was my original craft-world, and craft-love.

It isn't decision time in Christmas Pie Crafts, but possibly time to become more organised so that both crafting and event organising can be part of my life without feeling one misses out.

Off to the garden now - our pond is looking a bit too full of water lily leaves.  Beautiful though they are, they are rapid growers and soon cover the surface of the pond.  The fish just about manage to peek out - mind you it is partly their fault that the lilies grow so well.

Have a great week everyone - see you at my next blog post.

Jill

A LITTLE BIT OF RAIN WOULD BE NICE, PLEASE

Hello everyone

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:

Christmas Pie Crafts

Surrey Independent Markets 

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

IT'S HOT, HOT, HOT

Hello everyone

Do you get the feeling we are never satisfied in the UK when it comes to the weather?  It rains - we moan; it snows - we moan; it's hot - we moan.  I know it's a great topic, but while we are moaning think how lucky we are to have changing seasons.  At least we know we will have different weather - even if it sometimes
happens all in one day and we can go through at least two changes of wardrobe.

It is, as seems to be the norm this year, hectic at Christmas Pie Crafts.  Planning new makes for the Christmas market.  Thinking what can I do as an alternative to the Secretts Christmas Fair and Emporium that runs (or ran) for the month afterwards.  Sadly, it is not taking place this year as the owners have decided not to run it any more.  I don't understand their decision, it must have been a financial success for them: both by marquee space hire and the increased number of customers they had in the farm shop.  Their decision is a big disappointment for me and the other regular stallholders.  I really enjoy a 2 or 3-day event (it is so nice being able to walk away on days 1 and 2 without having to pack-up) and I have been looking into others.  However, the two or three that are interesting are at least an 80-mile round trip for me and with a finishing time for some of 8.00 pm (coupled with an onsite time of, at the latest, 8.00 am) I don't think I want to take that on - not with everything else I would be juggling at the same time.  So, back to the drawing board and if not for this year, then definitely for next year.  Perhaps I should organise my own 3-day event.

Trying to think of everything else I have been doing since my last blog post and have to resort to my diary - must be an age thing, if I don't write it down it's gone for ever.  Just completed a  battle with TravelZoo (TZ) and Experify; 3 friends and I bought one of TZ's deals that provided us with vouchers for a River Thames cruise (which was really lovely) and a meal at the Altitude Restaurant.  Sadly when got to the restaurant they knew nothing about us and had declined over six months ago to be part of the TZ deal.  Because it was gone 9.00 pm and we were starving, we had our meal but had to pay for it (again).  Emails and telephone calls were getting us nowhere, so I resorted to Social Media - the response and resolution of the problem was pretty quick and a refund was received this week.  I didn't like having to resort to naming and shaming, but having waited over 2 months for the money to be refunded, it seemed to be the only way to get something done.

My pottery sessions having now finished until September, but lucky for us, our tutor has organised a one-day workshop in her studio to take place mid-August - she will be sending out suggestions of what we can make, so I am looking forward to that.  I have been busy with my Hat Family and here they are so far:

Jackie O type sunglasses and a large brimmed black and white hat

I mucked up the lips on this one, so bought some bright red paint and she now sports luscious red lips

My original Mr Hat man

What do I have planned for this coming week?  I have recently begun renting storage space very local to me and having carried out quite a bit of research, it is much cheaper than the other places I have looked at.  Supplies and makes are getting a bit too much here and it was either move Richard into storage or my 'stuff'.  Hard decision, but it is easier to store my stuff than it is to store Richard, he would need to be let out every day!  This week will see more stuff being moved from our home to what could have been Richard's summer-home - oh well......

I am organising another event at the Fairlands community Hall - this is a Christmas one, is in a popular residential area and the venue is in regular use by residents of the area.  Always lots going on, lots of publicity about the venue and its activities so I am hopeful of a good foot fall for this one.  It takes place on 13 December so if you are nearby come along and see me.  I am also looking into arranging some other sorts of events, so lots on at the moment.

My good news of the week is that my two lovely foster kittens, Sage and Angelica, were adopted yesterday.  They have been with me for a long time and will be off to their new home next week.  Here is a lovely pic of them (Angelica is the one sticking her tongue out):

I think that is me pretty much up-to-date, I am re-joining the Handmade Monday crowd this week.  I feel very guilty about not blogging regularly, not visiting other crafters' blogs and generally getting behind with everything.  Busy times as I have changed my website hosts - I was with Vistaprint and spent so little time on the websites, that I decided a complete change was needed.  I have gone with Wix, bought domain names (which I couldn't before as the ones I wanted were not available through Vistaprint) and I am currently working on my new Christmas Pie Crafts website (details next week) and also a new one for Surrey Independent Markets, my event hat business (details of that one next week too).

That is definitely me up-to-date!  Have a great week everyone, let's hope the sun stays out but the temperature drops a little and it rains at night to save watering the garden.

Jill

SPRING IS ON THE WAY

Hello everyone

Lots of lovely sunshine during the last week, unfortunately interspersed with not so lovely rain!  Hey ho, it's that time of year really - sun, rain and hail stones the size of well, not quite golf balls, but they were pretty big.

I went to the Make-It show on Friday and bought lots of lovely card-making things.  I came across a range of gorgeous decoupage that featured hats, shoes and dresses and I couldn't resist buying several sheets and think they will be ideal for Mother's Day cards.  Following last week's Handmade Monday, I bought a download from Wendy's Handmade Harbour website of her gorgeous red and cream background sheets - a pure stroke of luck as they compliment the decoupage I bought at the show beautifully.  Here are three I made up today and I am really pleased with how they have turned out:

I will work on the dress and shoes decoupage sheets during this coming week and am sure they will suit the other background sheets from Wendy's lady bird pack.  I am so pleased with the backgrounds that I might tempt myself to buy the other set Wendy has to download - lovely colours and the patterns are really nice.

It's been the usual busy week here at Christmas Pie Crafts; a mix of event organisation, card-making workshop, kitten homing and numerous other things that were not on my written or on my 'in my mind' To Do list.  The card-making workshops have finished for a while - my next one is an Easter special in early April.  In a way I am glad, because it takes a lot of planning and preparation for a two-hour workshop, although I do enjoy them.

It's raining and getting dark, but I am sure spring is on the way.  Have a great week everyone and don't forget to visit this week's Handmade Monday bloggers.

'See' you next week.

Jill

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hello everyone

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that it was not ruined by power cuts or flooding.  Bad weather is never welcome, but at Christmas it seems even harder to cope with as it is a time when families get-together and this year that may have been impossible for some people.  I hope the New year brings better weather for all of us.

We had a mini power cut on Christmas day (not long after the turkey had been put in the oven), but as our power is via overhead electricity cables, this is something that happens fairly often and didn't cause us to rush out and light the BBQ (believe me, we had planned this as an alternative way of cooking Christmas lunch).  However, two roads very near to ours were without power for most of Christmas Eve and friends in Godalming and Shackleford were without power off and on for long periods of time over the holidays.

We had a lovely Christmas Day.  A close friend spent the day with us  and once we had eaten our way through a mountain of food (well , it felt like that) we were able to relax, listen to music and play some 'old but fun' Christmas quizzes.  As always happens we seem to have catered for a coach party - plenty of leftovers to munch our way through while we catch up on television programmes we have missed over the Christmas break.

Christmas Pie Crafts made it into the Surrey Advertiser in time for Christmas.  By chance I was at home when we had a visit from one of the newspaper's journalists who was asking residents about the name Christmas Pie, its origins and what people though of the name.  How could I resist mentioning my business?    I love a bit of free advertising, always very welcome - thank you Surrey Advertiser.

2013 is nearly over and it's time to reflect on the highs and lows of the year and make plans to move my

business forward in the New Year.  I have some ideas and there are new things on the horizon for me and my business and rather than rush into new things and possibly regret some of them, I am taking time to plan.  Although there will be new activities for Christmas Pie Crafts to get to grips with, top of my 'To Do' list is to spend more time on CPC Wedding Stationery than I have in the current year.  I have already booked two wedding fayres for 2014 -with companies I have been with this year and they were successful for me.  The fayres are both in March so I have time to plan new ranges, marketing and promotion - however, as I am very good at putting things off, I must make a concerted effort to begin making for them very soon.

The sun is shining, hardly any breeze, although still frosty but a good time to get out into the garden.  Because most recent week days and weekends were spent in the Christmas Emporium very little work was carried out and there is still quite of lot of tidying and pruning to do.

Happy New Year everyone.  I am looking forward to reading new and 'old' blogs in 2014, welcoming new followers and hopefully starting up the Friday Guest Blogger spot again - anyone interested in being the first guest blogger of 2014?

Jill

JUTE ADORE

Hello everyone

Sorry for the pun-ish title, couldn't think of an appropriate one and this popped into my head.

How are your Christmas plans going?  I am no further forward and can see that the bulk of our Christmas shopping will take place during the three days before Christmas.  This is the second year I have been involved in the Christmas emporium at Secretts, but this year has been busier because an extended range of 'makes' has meant lots of lovely extra orders.  We have had some poorly stall holders this week, which as you can imagine has put pressure on others to jump in to help out.  For the second weekend running Saturday was not great for sales, but Sunday was.  I wonder why?

Jute bags completed this week have included 12 butterfly-decorated ones for Lesley, a second Scottie dog one for Denise, a black cat one for a customer at Secretts and another butterfly one (purple) for Carrie, one of my fellow stall holders.  In addition to orders, I am decorating a small stock of bags to take to an event I have been invited to on Thursday evening at Barnett Hill, which is just outside of Guildford.  The event is to promote the venue to existing and new clients and although the advised attendance will be low, fingers crossed they are in a Christmassy buying frame of mind.

As so often happens, I have no photographs to show of bags made - I try to remember and I always so, once they have been passed to my customer!

Another busy week looming although some social things too.  Catching up with a couple of friends tomorrow evening and then I will be having a Christmas lunch/get-together with my pottery group.  Hard to believe another term is over this week - but guess what?  I remembered to take photographs of the pieces I was working on this week and here they are!

This is a very tall wraparound vase, with a slightly fluted top.  I am not sure what colour to use and as I will have the Christmas break to think about it, I might buy some glaze as we have a limited range of colours available at the centre.

This candle holder was made with the left over trim from the fluted vase.  It just seemed a waste to return it to the bag, so I rolled it and lo and behold another piece of pottery.  I have blended some of the edges, made the centre wide enough to take a thicker than normal taper candle, and I am rather pleased with it.  Again, not too sure what colour to go for but rather fancy a bright shiny red.  

I am off to catch up with the Handmade Monday bloggers but I must thank everyone who took part in last week's blog hop for visiting and commenting on my blog post.  I know it is a frantically busy time of year and I appreciate you and all my other lovely visitors/commenters stopping by.

Have a great week - see you next Sunday

Jill

HECTIC TIMES AT CHRISTMAS PIE CRAFTS

Hi everyone

A busy week and getting busier all the time.  Being busy work-wise is always very welcome but getting behind with our own Christmas arrangements is not so good.  Like lots of people I haven't bought any Christmas presents, written any cards or even thought about pre-ordering food for 'the day'.  Never mind, only 24 days to go and I am sure between now and 25 December everything will come right.

You may remember my Scottie dog jute bag?  I had an order to make one with two Scottie dogs on and the customer was so pleased with it that she has ordered another one.  As well as that I have one to make with a black cat on (to be collected by the customer tomorrow) and another one with purple butterflies on.  Here is a photograph of the double Scottie dog bag:

The Christmas Emporium at Secretts has been busy although rather strange, yesterday was very quiet.  Our first Saturday of opening was very busy and we were all hoping for something similar yesterday.  It may be that there were other events taking place locally that prevented visitors coming to our 'show' - I think some of the local towns turned their Christmas lights on yesterday and Godalming (very near to Milford where Secretts is) had lots of activities on during their 'switch-on'.  A good friend of mine, Jan , covered yesterday afternoon in the Emporium for me - thank you Jan, I hope you enjoyed your session.

A fellow crafting friend, Dawn of Stone Pit Crafts, has some space on my table in the emporium and her hand-knitted head bands and bangles are proving very popular, as well as her wellie-boot toppers.

I have spent today working on customer's orders as well as decorating candles - lots of beads, baubles and ribbons in use.  I am so pleased that I have three whole days off during the week - woo hoo!  However, they are three days off from working in the emporium, but here at Christmas Pie Crafts it will be three days of making scented Christmas candles, cards and decorating jute bags, as well as taking my foster kittens to the vet and two of them to their new home, pl,us pottery on Thursday.  All very hectic,but also very enjoyable.

Thank you to everyone who visited and commented on my blog post last Sunday and I am so sorry it took me a long time to return the compliment.  It seems to get harder and harder as the weeks go by to visit everyone who takes part in Handmade Monday and I am sorry about that because I love to catch up on my fellow crafters work.  However, I do recommend you try to visit as many as possible taking part in this week's blog hop as I know you will really enjoy reading about their week.

Have a great week everyone  - just seen on the news that snow is forecast for the end of the week!  Hope it's not too much though.  'See' you all next week.

Jill

HAPPY WORLD CARD-MAKING DAY 2012 EVERYONE

Hello everyone

My 'out of the ordinary' Saturday post is dedicated to all of the lovely handmade cards created around the world - and to celebrate World Card-Making Day.  A BIG thank you to everyone who entered my blog competition - your cards are beautiful and I am so pleased you have joined in and shared your beautiful work and I want to wish you good luck.

You will see a wide variety of  styles, techniques and finishes in the display: some are photographs of flowers mounted onto a card, lots of lovely decoupage, thank you cards, birthday cards, lots of lovely reasons for sending a card.

I have given each card a number, so please leave a comment saying which three cards are your favourites - I know the makers will be really pleased with your feedback.  Why three cards?  New craft magazine, Make and Craft (first issue to be published on 12 October 2012) have generously donated three great prizes.  Thank you Make and Craft and here are the cards:

 

Card No 1

  Card No 2

Card No 3

Card No 4

Card No 5

Card No 6

Card No 7

Card No 8

Card No 9

Card No 10

Card No 11

Card No 12

 Card No 13

 Card No 14

Card No 15

 

Card No 16

Card No 17

Card No 18

Card No 19

Card No 20

I will announce the winners in my main Sunday blog post which will be published tomorrow evening.  Have a good weekend everyone.

Jill

TUESDAY CONFUSION

Hi everyone

This is very confusing - I haven't got to grips with blogging on a Tuesday and consequently I am writing this much later than planned.  I promise that by next Tuesday, I will have sorted my head out.

Needless to say the Olympics are top of everyone's agenda.  The enthusiasm and friendliness of the participants and spectators is amazing and I hope it continues long after the games have finished.  Apart from the spectacular results, the great thing is that the event has far exceeded everyone's expectations in that so far it has gone without a hitch (OK, some technical blips and the odd doping issue, but all dealt with very well).  I am sure a large part of the UK population held their breath when it was announced we had won the games for 2012 - the majority wondering how on earth we could afford it, how could we cope with the massive increase in visitors to London and where on earth would the events take place!  But it is here and we are coping and having a tremendous time whether at the events or watching it on the television.

As mentioned in my Handmade Monday (HM) blog, I am devoting my Sunday blog to my craft work to fit in with the aims of the event.  That doesn't mean to say that I won't mention any crafty type things in the other blog posts I produce.  However, no new work to mention so far as still working hard on finalising my wedding order.  I had some lovely comments left on my HM post about my chatty style of blogging - thank you all very much, they almost made me feel I should have left my weekend post as is.  However, decision, made and I am sure it is the right one.

This morning I did an early morning kitten collection run in my role of Cats Protection Cat Catcher (always sounds a bit cruel).  I had to collect a kitten from a lady in Egham and take back to Woking for a vet's appointment; then I had to do the journey again to return him to Egham.  I feel shattered already and the day isn't over yet!  He has been poorly and although he is putting on weight and looks good, he is back on the anti-biotics.  I will probably have to do a repeat of today's trip in a week's time for his next appointment.  One of the good things about the volunteering is that I am getting to see parts of Surrey that I wasn't previously familiar with.  Thank goodness for Tom-Tom as I have no sense of direction.  I walk out of a shop and have trouble remembering whether I should turn left or right.

I am out this evening to have a meal with a friend.  She is having a fun-type wine-tasting get-together.  Thank goodness it is in walking distance!  Luckily there will be quite a few people there, so if I nod off to sleep in the corner nobody will notice - oh, I hope I don't snore!

That's my blog for today - a little less than I normally write, and I must get my post-Sunday blogging head working.  No blog tomorrow - think I will remove Wednesdays from  my blogging calendar as I will now be blogging on Tuesdays.  However, I am hopeful that I will have a Friday Guest Blogger (FGB) this week, so do please come back then.  Don't forget, if you would like to join the growing group of FGBers, please do get in touch: christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the Olympics - I will  be back on Sunday with my HM post.

Jill

GOING FOR GOLD

Hi everyone

What a fantastic week it has been for Team GB; some heart-breaking moments for some of the athletes and some really wonderful achievements.  Can there be a more exciting medal-winning day than yesterday?  Well done everyone.

This week has been wall-to-wall wedding invitations plus two 'need it now please' card orders: one for a friend and one for my sister.  As always, I forgot to take photographs!  I purchased some material for fabric wreaths this week, because I couldn't resist them when I saw them in the shop, but as the invitations (and now the Orders of Service) have been top priority the wreaths are further down the Crafts To-Do list.  Here is a pic of how the invitations looked in the early stages (a cream pocket with orange ribbon - the colour combination is lovely):

I am moving ahead with the Craft Workshops I want to set up; a message has been posted on Twitter and Facebook and I am producing some posters to place on local noticeboards.  My plan is to have everything in place to begin the workshops around late September.  I would also like to run Christmas card workshops and think this is a good time of year; school holidays will be over and perhaps parents may have time to attend a workshop on a Friday morning.

From feedback and comments posted this week on a very interesting Handmade Harbour blog post about blogging etiquette, I understand that chatty, newsy blog posts may not always be welcome in the crafting world and as my followers/readers know, I have a tendency to write (and enjoy writing) this type of post.  Handmade Monday (HM) followers take part in the weekly event because of the blog's aim to bring crafters together to share and talk about their work and see the creations of fellow handmade artists.  Even though my Sunday blog post is not written specifically for HM (it is my main weekly post), my future Sunday posts will be for HM only and will be about my creations and craft-related topics.  This will, as usual, be published on Sundays and from this week onwards I will publish my chatty, newsy round-up of the previous week's goings-on at Christmas Pie Crafts on Tuesdays.

Don't forget to check out the other Handmade Monday blog posts this week - lots of beautiful crafts, tutorials and interesting posts to read.  I will be back next Sunday with my Handmade Monday post, but do visit my blog throughout the week to catch up on the tales of life in Christmas Pie Crafts.  There will be a Guest Blog post on Friday of this week, and I have 4 lovely bloggers who are already writing their posts for publication in the coming weeks.

Enjoy the Olympics everyone - it's getting more exciting every day.

Jill

WEDNESDAY'S BLOG BITS AND PIECES

Hi everyone

Despite promising myself that I would not watch too much television, it has been very hard not to sit glued to the Olympics.  I am not a big sports fan, but like most high-profile events, they just have to be watched, don't they?  I have been so impressed by the good humour of everyone, spectators are clearly enjoying their time in London and (so far, I hasten to add) the predicted problems on the roads seem to have either not occurred or have been very minor.  Lots more to watch, so come on Team GB.

In my last post, I forgot to write about my visit to see the potential workshop venue at the Normandy Therapy Garden.  It is such a lovely spot, gorgeous flowers and veggies all looking really healthy and well tended.  The room is a good size, naturally lit from two sides and perhaps my only concern is that it seems to be a bit of a thorough-fare to all other rooms in the building.  However, I don't think that will be a problem.  The catering facilities are good and there is plenty of outdoor space (tables and chairs available) to enjoy a coffee break or perhaps lunch for a full-day session.  I am advertising my sessions on Blink Collective and I will begin to promote them locally, on my blog and my website - when it is finished of course.

Possibly no Friday Guest blog post this week, but the good news is that I have three lovely bloggers who are currently writing posts and these will be posted from mid-August onwards.  Can I ask a favour of my previous guest bloggers please?  Would you mind very much mentioning the guest blog post on your blog and asking if any of your followers would like to join in?  Thank you - it would be lovely to get more people interested in what has proved to be a great 'event'

Working very hard on my wedding invitation order - I am really pleased with how it is going.  I have a deadline delivery date of Monday, 6 August for the wedding invitations and later in the month for the Orders of Service.  As you can imagine, it is all systems go at Christmas Pie Crafts.

Back to the invitations.  Do come back on Friday as you never know there may be a guest blog post and if you would like to be a guest blogger, do get in touch on christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com

Enjoy the Olympics

Jill

RAINING AGAIN? SURELY NOT.......

Hi everyone

Is it true what everyone says, that once you hit 21 the years rush by just a bit too fast?  21 was quite a few years ago for me, and I can truly say that the weeks/months/years do whizz by.  Is it because life is so busy or that I (like lots of people) set myself targets which I don't achieve and therefore feel time is rushing by?  A friend of mine completes a Tasks Done list each day - the main reason is to see what she has done with her day, but how nice it must be to be able to tick everything off as finished.

Still on days whizzing by, I left my count-down to Christmas clock on my blog and it caught my eye today and I was very surprised to see it is only 177 days to Christmas!  Best get a move on making Christmas cards and get the decorations down from the loft!

An interesting week at Wimbledon.  The first big surprise was seeing Venus Williams lose inthe first round, and an even bigger shock followed not too long after with the exit of Rafael Nadal.  We almost saw the last of Roger Federer as well - he teetered on the brink of going out in the first week.  This tournament never fails to keep you on the edge of your seat, does it?  So, who do you think will win the Men's and Women's Championships this year?  We have been lucky to go to Wimbledon Tennis Championships on a few occasions and even managed to get on to the Centre Court once.  One year we watched Bjorn Borg play on Court No 1, but I can't remember who he was playing (this getting older and memories disappearing thing is a nuisance!) but I do recall it was a great match.  It's a great game and I just wish we had more facilities and finance in this country to support and encourage it.

Have you read my Guest Post from Friday?  Alix Beech of Big Blue Bed wrote about becoming the person she is happy to be.  It proved a very popular post and I recommend you read it if you haven't had the chance to do so yet.  Thank you Alix - love the picture of you in the Snowy the Dog hat.

I know discussions about commenting on bloggs crop up in various places (and other blogs) quite frequently and it is interesting that a post can get many visitors but few comments.  I wonder why?  My guest posts receive an average of 90 visits for each post, but not all 90 visitors comment.  I am sure lots of people visit the post because they know the guest blogger, it may be because they are a regular follower of my blog, or they may have discovered the post by chance on the internet, Twitter, etc.  One interesting thing I discovered recently is that I have seen visitors have commented elsewhere (in forums mainly) about a guest blogger's post, but not on the actual post.  If you have enjoyed the guest post, it would be so great if you could leave a comment for the blogger - many of my guest bloggers do respond to the comments left for them so it's not just a case of blog and run.

I completed a quirky card order this week and yet again forgot to photograph it.  So much for my proposed check-list!  The card was for a cat-loving, blonde-haired, poolside lounger who liked to drink Rioja.  Trying to incorporate all of these was the usual challenge - I hope she likes her card.  A first for me, but I received an order for a Congratulations on your Divorce card - I know there are some cards out their bearing this salutation and perhaps I should make a few for stock when I make up this order.  It did make me think that I should carry a stock of perhaps blank cards (no greetings that is) and decorate them accordingly either for an order or at events.

I saw an advertisement recently that Moonpig are now offering video cards for Smart phones; it may be something they have been doing for a while.  How does a 'paper' card-maker compete?  This article from the Greetings Card Association makes interesting reading about the UK and their greetings cards 'habit' - hopefully the 'real' greetings card still  has plenty of life left in it.  I hope so as it is a major part of my business.

I thought I hadn't any makes to post for Handmade Monday this week - work-in-progress, etc - then I realised that this week I have spent a couple of evenings non-stop making my mini-cards.  I now have 2 ranges: 3" x 3" and 4" x 4".  Some time ago I purchased quite a few packets of paper flowers with the intention of doing flower-pot displays.  I did some but decided against adding it as a permanent range to my business.  I have lots left over and think they are ideal for decorating cards.  These are photographs of 3 of the larger style:

I had expected it to be a dry, occasionally sunny day today - sadly, it has been raining for about 2 hours.  1 July?  Perhaps I have looked at the wrong month on the calendar.  I can see Wimbledon tipping over into a third week.

Have a great week everyone, enjoy the other blogs taking part in Handmade Monday and while there do read Wendy's piece about Increasing Customer Confidence in your Small Craft Business - a great piece of work and lots of reminders about things that we tend to forget.  Do get in touch if you would like to join in my Friday Guest Blog spot (christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com).

Jill

IN PRAISE OF UK CRAFTS PEOPLE

Hi everyone

My mid-week post is normally a catch-up about what has been happening in Christmas Pie Crafts since the last time I put fingers to keyboard, but this time it is different.  My favourite craft magazine, Popular Crafts, has this week launched an initiative to promote and support UK Crafters - the initiative is called LOVE UK CRAFTERS and you can read about it via this link.

The aim of LOVE UK CRAFTERS is to support and promote the wonderful handmade work that is not only part of this country's heritage, but also part of its future; a major part, as UK consumers are looking more and more for quality products and in particular quality handmade products that are made in the UK.  The majority of handmade items are made by small one-person companies - that one person has skills that they have inherited, improved, adapted, learnt and used to create the beautiful items that we all see at fairs, open days and craft events and in various online stores.  A good example of the work made in the UK can be seen in the fantastic range of items that are displayed every week in the Handmade Monday blogging event.

What better time to promote and be proud of our work than during the year we are hosting the Olympics and celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee - not only a  good year to promote our work to everyone in the UK, but to everyone who will be visiting our shores over the next few months.  Good things come in threes, so we must be the third good thing this year.

The Crafts Council have a very interesting report on their website called Consuming Craft: the contemporary craft market in a changing economy.  It is a lengthy, but very interesting, report and of particular interest was the fact that 40% of adults in England (16.9 million people) have purchased a craft object and a further 23% (9.6 million people) would consider buying a craft object.  Combined, these indicate a total market for handmade craft of 63% of all adults in England.  So who are we looking to for sales?  The 40% who do buy (clearly they know how good our work is) or the 23% who might buy?  Or should we be looking at the 37% of people who neither buy nor consider buying handmade?

With the support of the LOVE UK CRAFTERS initiative handmade artists can support others as well as promote their work.  Katherine Jewitt, the Editor of Popular Crafts is producing a list of ways we can help each other and ourselves to a very successful handmade 2012 and one quick and easy way of doing something now is to send Katherine a pic of a piece of your work along with a description of no more than 140 characters  - check here for full details.

Enjoy the rest of the week everyone - I hope that if it snows where you are, that it doesn't lie around for too long.

Jill

WEDNESDAY'S FRIDAY TOPIC LIST: PART ONE

Hello everyone

Sorry for the odd title, but hope it grabs your attention.

As mentioned in my last post, from 3 February I am planning an additional Blog post on Fridays - very little form me, but all from you.  I have already had one great post from a fellow crafter and she has been brave enough to be the first blogger on 3 February - so don't forget to check out the Christmas Pie Crafts Blog on that day.

The topics I am planning so far are:

What inspires you to create?

Do you still make (and sell) the item that set you on the road to being a professional crafts person?

How do you motivate yourself?

Is blogging a good communication platform?

What does handmade mean to you?

I know the last topic is possibly over-done and I was amazed how many posts, notes, etc I found on the web just for this one topic.  However, I feel it is a personal thing and it would be good to include it in the Friday Guest Blog Spot.  I do hope you will all join me in this new venture - it's a two way publicity exercise really.  We both should benefit form more traffic being driven to our blogs and ultimately to our websites.

If you have a topic you would like to blog about that isn't in the above list, go for it, let me know and it's yours to write about.

If you are ready, willing and able to give it a go, please email me on christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com with Friday Guest Blog in the subject area.  Your article should be approximately 500 - 600 words, but please don't panic if that seems too long,  Let me know the date you would like to take part and also your blog and website address will add at the end of your article.  Many thanks for your help and I am looking forward to reading lots of fantastic articles and sharing them with the rest of the crafting world..

Enjoy the rest of the week, I will be back with my post and make for Handmade Monday and some additional topics for the Friday post.

Jill

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hi everyone

First of all, I would like to wish my Blog followers and readers, my Twitter and Facebook friends a very Happy New Year - I hope 2012 is very successful for all of us.

Well, here we are: 2012.  Remember how at the beginning of the century we were all panicked into thinking weird and wonderful things would happen the second the clocks ticked over to 1 January 2000?  Hard to believe we are now 12 years into the 'new' century - and wondering where the time has gone.  I feel I have achieved a lot during that time and especially during 2011 - I gave up my permanent job to devote my time, full-time, to Christmas Pie Crafts.  I also gave it up because my 'day job' had become overwhelming and very stressful and my life seemed to belong to it 24 hours a day from September to July of each year.  The work/life balance almost didn't exist.

Mentally I still seem to be working in 'terms' and after 20 years in education I am sure it will take a while to get out of the frame of mind.  I think the first term was spent doing lots of things that I hadn't planned to do and very little of what I had planned to do.  However, I have enjoyed it and most of all spending time with Richard (normally we were ships that passed in the night) and with friends as well - I have had the time to go on Pamper Days, theatre visits and lunches and it has been great.  Best of all has been going out on evenings when for 20 years I have been teaching - I felt really guilty!  I think I only realised how much my life had changed when Tuesday of this week arrived - the beginning of the Spring term - and I didn't have to get up before the crack of dawn and rush into work to teach, with no time to prepare my lessons.  Yipeeeeee.

I haven't been completely idle over the last week or so though, as I have started my website (as mentioned in my recent post) and I am pleased with my progress so far.  I have decided what my new ranges will be and have begun working on them and also photographing them ready for my website.  Once I have everything in place, I will announce the publication date on here and will also be giving a Blog gift and a Website gift away in the first week of 'going live', so stick with me as you could get something from one of my new ranges.

I have decided to add new ranges to Christmas Pie Crafts as I feel that cards alone are perhaps rather limited.  I love card-making and will continue to make and sell them - in fact one of my new ranges will be card-making workshops, so if you live in the Guildford area and would like to join one of my groups, please contact me as I am hoping to run the first one at the end of January.  I have several other new items that I am adding to the Christmas Pie Craft business and I am really excited about them.  I have based my decisions on looking at what sells at events I have attended over the last year, plus what family and friends have said they buy and like about handmade.  So as well as wishing everyone an amazing 2012, I am hopeful that mine will be absolutely fandabydoozee.

Enjoy the rest of the week everyone - I will be back with my usual Sunday evening blog post.

Jill