The Eternal Maker Crafts

Wednesday 23 January 2008

Some new stamps I've been thinking about...

So, there I was, surfin' the net, as they say, (i think mum calls it procrastinating; I call it 'research') when I accidentally stumbled upon these cute stamps (ah ha! See, research, I told you...) Actually it happened a while ago, right at the beginning of this whole shop melarkey, and I thought, I just don't know enough about rubber stamps. I mean, I know what I like and what I don't like, but who knows if anyone else would like them? I still don't know the answer to that, apart from the fact that me and Becky and then me and Mum went through the images from the website on Saturday and were giggling and 'aww-ing' so much that Shanice was looking at us like there was no hope left. So I decided that that was good enough. And the fact is, I LOVE THEM!!
You have probably all heard of her, she is Just Johanna, and her little birds and trees and owls are just aahh... so arty, kitschy, aahh. have a look at them here here I already have in mind a diorama card with the submarine and maybe an owl and some watercolours - if it comes out anything like what is in my head, it'll be a goodie. I will show you when I finally get around to it - after all, this is me we are talking about, with my time scale and the fact that the stamps haven't even been ordered yet.. we'll be lucky if I manage before next year - although mum has put me down for a 3D card making demo sometime in April and it sounds purrr-fect for then.
The catalogue is winging it's way across the atlantic to me and I will be placing my order hopefully at the end of this week! Hurrah!

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Thursday 10 January 2008

Please Mr Bank Manager...

I just wanted to prove big cats vanity from the last entry. I wasn't making it up, honest...













This morning we went to the Bank Manager (deserves Capitalising, that one) to see if we can get funding to bring in this amazing new machine embroidery thread into the UK - Hemingworth Polyselect. It is gorgeous, if nice Mr Bank Manager says yes we will launch it at our trade show.

It has this dust proof protective cap which stops tangling & breakage, and is available in 300 colours.... now all I need to do is get a machine that'll cope with it....

Righto, back to work...

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Tuesday 8 January 2008

Happy New Year and all that goes with it...

I suppose it's about time I said Happy New Year - 'Happy New Year' - otherwise it'll be too long to be appropriate. I guess I could still wish you a 'Happy Year', but I guess you would all think i'd gone daft if I started doing that in march, which if I don't make time to do this entry now, may have been the first time I would have got to wish it you. Because it is that time of year again. The time of year I take a deep breath and then start moaning and groaning for the next 6 weeks until it is all over. What? I hear you ask... It's our trade show in the middle of February. The big one where we have to get all our buttons in order, nice and neatly presented, reject old ones (don't worry, they go to a nice farm somewhere where they can play until they die a peaceful death in their sleep at a ripe old age) and bring in some funky new ones. Now, imagine, how long does it take you all to sort out your stash? Well, try multiplying that by... well - a lot. That is the job we have to do over the coming weeks. All the nice fun projects I had in mind have to be put back on the shelf for now (and I waited so long for that Amy Butler fabric to come in so I could make a quilt for our shop window and then for me...) and it's down to boring work.
My main job is sorting out what goes in the range - all the buttons come and audition before me and I pass or fail them. Kind of like X Factor, really (kind of like, as in not at all..). Then I decide what card to put them on to show them off to their best advantage. Not greeting card type card, but an A4 layout.
Anyway, the reason I decided to stop this flurry of activity was because big cat decided she was getting bored with the lack of attention, jumped up on the desk, sat on the keyboard and started taking pictures of herself with my webcam. Really. Heres the proof.
*a long while later*
no word of a lie, the pics that big cat took took so long to upload that I stopped them. I will try putting them up again when I have time, or when blogger is feeling a little quicker. In the meantime, it's good to talk, but I gotta go!