It's February already?!....

January has flown by and the year so far has been busy; planning the year ahead, filing my tax return and making new products.

Work has started on one of my goals to grow my business online by making new products and I have recently listed new goodies for Valentine's Day....

Find all my new products in my Folksy Shop

My designs aren't too mushy but made to make someone feel loved and appreciated. 

One of the stamps I used for some of my cards took me back to my childhood as it reminded me of the retro label maker I had back in the 80s (I'm probably showing my age now!).

You Inspire Me

You Are Awesome

You Are My Sunshine

A Funny Valentine

 I also added a coaster design....

You Are Just My Cup Of Tea Coaster

February looks like it is going to be a busy one as well with more new products being made for Mother's Day, a #CraftBlogClub challenge to start and I'll be attending an Enterprise Nation seminar as well as an inspirational trip to the Liberty in Fashion exhibit.

fizzi~jayne x

More 2016 planning and looking back at 2015....

I have been so busy planning 2016 that I hadn't looked back on 2015 until I started to read Your Best Year 2016: Productivity Workbook and Creative Business Plannerby Lisa Jacobs.

It's so important to look back and review what has worked and areas for improvement.  My 2016 plans haven't changed since doing this exercise but the book has helped me plan the tactics and behaviours that I need to change in order to succeed.

I'll review this book properly next week, but in summary it's a must read for any creative business, it has made me take a step back and look at what my successes, challenges and happy memories were. I thought I would share some of these with you.....

My accomplishments of 2015....

• One of my biggest achievement has been the success of my range in my first stockist, No3 Royston. The local support has been phenomenal and I have been pleasantly surprised by the response to my products, especially my coasters.

• I designed and launched my own website and for someone like me who isn't a natural with technology this is a big deal! Especially as it had been on my to do list for about 2 years.
• I was excited when this tutorial was featured on Wayfair.co.uk.

• I ran 10km and raised £315 for the Stroke Association.

Happy memories....

• I had a couple of holidays with my hubby in 2015. First up was a driving tour around France and we were lucky enough to be in Carcasonne on Bastille Day, by pure fluke! Little did we know that people travel from all over the world to see their firework display and we now understand why, it was awesome! The firework display is around the walls of the old town. We watched them from the other side of town but it was a view point that a lot of the locals used and the views were amazing. 

  

  Photos are of the old town by day, the fireworks were taken on my iPhone so they are not great and an old sewing machine on display in our hotel which I fell in love with.

• We also spent a few days in Skye with friends.  It is such a beautiful place and we were very lucky with the weather so we got to do a lot of walking and exploring.

  

  An amazing day was spent exploring the Fairy Pools and a trip to Skye would not be complete without visiting the Talisker Distillery!
  
  

  We drove up to the Isle of Skye and to break up the journey stayed at Gretna Green, it worked out to be exactly half way and as it was our wedding anniversary we thought it was a fun place to stop over.  On the way home we stopped off at my University city of Newcastle.

  

• One of my happy memories from last year is seeing one of my favourite bands, Garbage, play live on my birthday.

• Any time I spent with family and friends has been time well spent.

What 2015 has taught me....

That I can't do everything! I spread myself too thinly and put too much pressure on myself when I don't manage to do everything I set out to do.  Last year I booked more craft fairs than the previous year, had a range in No3 Royston and took on lots of custom orders! This year I will be doing fewer craft fairs and limiting the number of custom orders I take on, I am not good at saying "no" so this may be a challenge.  I am taking these steps so I can grow my business as well as look after myself.  I don't want to be working through the night and work every weekend because I've taken on too much, it's not good for my well being.  As I write this on a Sunday afternoon after a work free weekend, I feel recharged and ready to take on the week, which will hopefully mean a more productive week!

I have also learnt it is important to celebrate successes, no matter how small and learn from your mistakes but without beating yourself up!

You can read all my 2016 plans here.

fizzi~jayne x

Disclaimer: The Amazon links in this post are affiliated.

#CraftBlogClub Secret Santa reveal....

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great festive break and 2016 has started well for you.

My first post of 2016 is another #CraftBlogClub challenge reveal....

#CraftBlogClub organised a Secret Santa, it's the third one I've taken part in and it's my favourite challenge of the year. Each year names are picked at random for us to make a gift for another participant.

As soon as I received my parcel I had to open it, I couldn't wait until Christmas day!  Gill from The Little Soap Kitchen sent me gorgeous smelling handmade soaps. The box smelled amazing even before I unwrapped the beautiful box the soaps were wrapped in....

Gill sent me a selection of her handmade soaps

I've started using them and they are gorgeous! You can tell they are made with love and they aren't harsh on my hands that tend to get dry easily, I'm impressed with how soft and smooth my hands are, thank you Gill!

My Secret Santa was for Sue from The World of Suzy Homemaker. When I did my research, I found she was a fellow Bon Jovi fan! I was very excited by this so I made her a coaster with this in mind....

I painted MDF and stamped the phrase with black ink before varnishing.

I've been making and selling a lot of my beaded snowflakes which are fun to make so I also sent Sue one of these....

I also made this card which you might recognise from this tutorial....

I made a box in Kraft card using my Silhouette Cameo to fit Sue's gifts and added a pom-pom. I made pom-poms for all my gifts this year using sparkly red yarn, they are fun to make and I think they look fab on a gift.  I've also added pom-poms to my tree this year as well. There has been a lot of pom-pom love this festive season!

Have you joined in with the #CraftBlogClub Secret Santa? I can't wait to see what everyone has made during our first chat of 2016! 

fizzi~jayne x

Pssst.... Our first #CraftBlogClub chat of 2016 will be on Tuesday 5th January at 7:30pm (GMT). 

My Handmade Christmas....

Following on from my #CraftBlogClub Secret Santa reveal I thought I would share other gifts I made for Christmas.  

Do you remember the blanket I made for a friend's new baby? Well, it was her first Christmas so I made her a Christmas tree decoration as a memento.  I personalised it with her name and the year of her birth.  She's too young for it now but hopefully in a few years she will enjoy seeing it on the tree and in the meantime her parents can appreciate it. 

I love to make jewellery for gifts as it is the only time I really get to do this craft.

I made these earrings for my Sister-in-Law....

They were fiddly to make but I'm really pleased with the outcome and she loved them too.  I might make a pair for myself!

For my hubby on our wedding anniversary I made scrabble tile cufflinks, so I made some for his Dad and Brother....

I made this cute bookmark for my Mum....

My Mum loves elephants but they have to have their trunks up, apparently it's good feng shui. So I knew who this little fella would be for when I found him.

My friends and I don't give each other Christmas gifts but we do for birthdays and one of my friends has a birthday a couple of days before Christmas.  I decided to put together a gift based around Baileys hot chocolate, mmmm! I crocheted the mug hug using this pattern. I also made her one of my popular coasters to go with the chocolate theme.  The chocolate stirrer with marshmallows in the photo was from one of my fellow stall holders at New Milton, Fiona Ann Chocolates . Fiona's makes her chocolates and they are so yummy!

I crocheted other gifts....

A teapot cosy for my Brother-in-Law and his family.  The colour scheme was chosen to co-ordinate with their new kitchen.

I also hooked up a hair band for my 2 year old Niece and she kept it on so I guess she liked it!

I made this cactus for my husband's desk as a jokey gift. He had a real one but it died and when I came across a pattern for one in Simply Crochet magazine I had to make it!

and here he is in his new environment....

he has a nice view!

Everyone seemed happy with their handmade gifts which is a relief! I really enjoy making gifts, it makes them so much more personal and unique. The run up to Christmas is a busy time of year and at one point I was worried I wouldn't get them done in time! This year I have promised myself I will start much earlier but I'm sure I said that last year!!

fizzi~jayne x

#CraftBlogClub Secret Santa Reveal....

Happy New Year! 

I hope the year has started well for you.  Do you have any resolutions? I have goals I want to achieve this year and I'm thinking about what I am going to do to make them happen, but more of that another time.  I have Christmassy things I want to share with you, first off is the #CraftBlogClub Secret Santa....

In November last year, my co-host Katie launched #CraftBlogClub Secret Santa Challenge, obviously I signed up straight away!

I received my gift from Kay the week before Christmas but I couldn't wait to open these goodies....

They were beautifully wrapped

Kay sent me a lovely package, as well as a very pretty handmade card she also made a Christmas decoration for my tree....

The stocking suited my colour scheme perfectly and looked so pretty on my tree. I loved the bell on it too.  This will make an appearance every year on my tree alongside the Secret Santa I received last year. 

Kay is from Cornwall and also in my present was a Cornish Piskie....

I have put him in my purse with the hope he brings me wealth!

This is not all, Kay also sent me some yummy Cornish chocolate, Christmas pudding flavour Mmmmm! I did wait until after Christmas to eat it but it did go in one sitting!

Thank you Kay! I loved my Secret Santa!

You can check out Kay's crafty blog here, but before you do, check out the Secret Santa gift I made....

My Secret Santa was for Zoe...

After doing some research on her blog and agonising over what to do for a while I decided to make her one of my coasters.  Zoe loves baking as well as craft and I was inspired by her baking posts so I made this coaster....

I also made her this Christmas card and sent a couple of candy canes, because they are just so Christmassy

It is always a little nerve racking making a gift for someone you don't know but I was happy to read she was pleased with her gift, phew! You can find out what she thought of it over on her blog, here.

#CraftBlogClub chats are every Tuesday from 7pm (GMT). 2015 is going to be an exciting year for #CraftBlogClub, we have guest hosts and more super challenges planned, it's going to a lot of crafty fun!

fizzi~jayne x

Psst.... I can't wait to see what you have created, so what are you waiting for?! The linky is live below and ready for your Secret Santa posts.

New products and a saving for this weekend only!!....

This week I have been busy adding new products to my Etsy and Folksy shops.  They have been a little neglected recently as I have been busy with customer orders and getting ready for craft fairs.

I used the craft fair in New Milton to test some new products and I got a great response about these coasters from customers....

 

I was inspired by my love of funny and inspiring quotes.  For the packs of 4 coasters I used the decoupage techniques inspired in a previous #CraftBlogClub challenge.

 

The coasters are glazed twice to protect the artwork from hot mugs and makes them easy to wipe clean. It is important to me that my products are fit for purpose so I tested prototypes this included drinking lots of hot drinks, (it's a hard life!). They also have cork mat on the back to protect surfaces.

 

I have also added wall hangings to my collection and I have one left from my stall which can be found in my shops....



 
I added  more cards to my range, some of which co-ordinate with the coasters.

To celebrate the launch of my new products, and it's a bank holiday yay! I am offering 20% off everything in my shop!! (excludes P&P). 

To receive this great offer use the code MAY20B at the checkout of my Etsy shop and the discount will automatically be deducted.  To shop in my Folksy store, use the same code in the note to seller and I will refund the saving before dispatch.  Unfortunately Folksy do not have the option for sellers to offer discounts so this is the only way I can give you a discount via Folksy.

This offer must end Bank Holiday Monday 5th May 2014, so don't miss out!

To see all the new additions to my range and to take advantage of my 20% off go to either my Etsy or Folksy shop.

I hope you like my new products

fizzi~jayne  x