Christmas on Etsy!

These are some new colour scheme options for the blankets on my Etsy store, just in time for Christmas so get ordering to have them done in time and ready to wrap. In my mind the colour schemes run left to right and a new scheme starts on each row, however there is nothing to stop you deciding you would like a different combination or even different colours altogether.

Maybe you have an elder relative who would like something different and a bit more special this Christmas in the colours they would love, or a relative who lives away or is at University and would like a handmade touch of home. Whoever this gift may be for it is a lovely keepsake and is a beautiful, thoughtful Christmas present.

I make bed runners for all sizes of beds, and blankets for all ages at varying prices. They are all great value for money given the careful effort and time taken to put into these beautiful woolen items. I can adapt very well to requests and I am quite happy to work with you to get the design and colours you would like to make the item perfect.

If there are any items you would like to see in my Etsy shop and don’t see please feel free to message me on here, comment on this post, or contact me via the shop.

Please give this post a like, me a follow, and feel free to visit my Etsy shop to have a look around, and I hope to hear from you soon!

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Baby Bobble Hats! (Part One)

IMPORTANT  DISCLOSURE: This pattern DOES  NOT belong to me, any pictures that have a caption also DO  NOT belong to me and I  DO  NOT  OWN  THEM. For the original owner and the pattern please click here.

I’m really excited to finally be able to share this with you all, my latest project and order! As soon as I received a message on my Facebook page, I was slightly apprehensive as bobble hats, and indeed hats all together is something that I’ve never done before.

As I’m sure you know by now I love to have a story behind all of my orders, and I got just that with this order. The lady who contacted me had not long had a baby boy, and was looking for some hats to be made, Freddie was born prematurely and she really struggled when he was born to find wool items for him. Luckily, her Grandma was able to knit her a few for Freddie, as with everything however he had started to grow out of them and didn’t have any to wear, her Grandma was struggling with her arthritis and so she set out looking for somebody who could make her some. At this point she found me and put the request to me.

I was upfront with the lady and told her that it wasn’t something I had done before, so I’d like to practise before I committed to being able to sell her the product. She initially had wanted cute outfits making such as the turtle ones that lay on the baby’s backs more for photo shoots than  anything else, and at this point I explained to her that they aren’t something I’m that interested in investing my time in, as I feel they can be very temporary and not much use practically. She therefore chose to stay with the hats, and I spent the next few free hours I had pouring over all kinds of patterns. A lot of my struggle lay within trying to search through the website or contact the creator of the patterns to ensure I would have permission to sell items that I had made from the pattern providing that I clearly stated my use of it and provided a link to their site. Eventually I managed to find one, and after what felt like a million and one practise attempts to ensure it was just as I’d like it, and the right size, I got back in touch with my customer.

We discussed colours, and styles, and eventually got to a point where we thought this hat was the best design and style:

Please note that this image does not belong to me, and is not mine. For the original owner and pattern please see here

I also let her know that I could also personalise the hats and that it would be included in the price, and she expressed her desire to have this on one of the hats.

I adored the colour combinations she chose and we also discussed specific sized to ensure that they would fit or if Freddie could grow into them. The age brackets for the sizes as stated in the pattern above was also helpful, and would mean that Freddie’s hats should grow along with him right up to him being 3 months old.

This time in terms of delivery I chose Royal Mail, and a part of me really wish I hadn’t have. It cost me a substantial amount more to use them than if I had stuck with the original Hermes service I have used, however in this instance the saying ‘it’s swings and roundabouts’ is ideal in that I wanted to get the item posted as soon as possible, and due to my busy schedule the nearest place for me only had the Royal Mail service available. A positive that I can take from my use of Royal Mail however is that it arrived well and quickly for my customer, and that is my primary focus.

As with my last post, I will be adding a second part to this post as soon as I have received official feedback via my Facebook and/or Etsy shop.

Please note these hats are available in a variety of sizes right up to men’s and women’s sizes, so if you are interested in having a look at my items or this one in particular, for yourself or for somebody you know who may be interested please click here 🙂

My First Sale! (Part One)

I am so so very excited to share with you all that I have finally had my first official sale on my Etsy shop!

I was contacted via my Facebook page by a lovely lady who asked if she could have a price on a baby blanket for a work colleague. I agreed and asked politely if she would use my Etsy shop to purchase the custom made blanket, and I am very grateful that she agreed. I really adore the fact that my first sale has such a lovely and personal touch to it. The lady (from this point onwards we shall call her Mrs First Sale) and her colleagues wanted a blanket made for another work colleague/friend who was going on her maternity leave. She was also very instructive about what she would like which helped me a great deal. She wanted blue colours, and a gradient style to it going into white. I’ve never worked with a gradient theme before so I was really intrigued and couldn’t wait to see how it turned out.

I personally at this point in my start up of this ‘business’ love being able to communicate with my buyers at every important stage. Mrs First Sale paid very quickly and also responded quickly helping me improve my turn around time. She needed the blanket for the lady’s leaving date which was the 5th of August. I received payment of the order and a final decision on colours on Saturday 23rd, and discussed with her that my usual processing time is 1-2 weeks for it to be completed and shipped. As I had no other orders to process I let her know that I expect to have it finished in around a week, and for it to definitely be with her before the 5th.

I knew what colours she wanted, however I made sure that I found the colours and laid out a few order variations to make sure I found the combination she wanted. At that point I could begin, I spent every ounce of time I had spare working on the blanket to make sure it was done in time, and unfortunately for me my week became very busy very quickly. This forced me into speedy intense hours of crocheting, and unfortunately the friction became too much and I was a thumb down.

Of course like any sensible crafter I slapped a plaster on and continued, not only was it a case of I couldn’t stop, I didn’t want to! Colour after colour was added and after every single one I couldn’t wait to get to the next, it really was turning out to be a beautiful blanket, and a note to self that I would definitely be using a gradient colour theme again.

It got to the next Saturday and a week had passed, and I had virtually finished the blanket, but I wanted to make sure that I had it all packaged well and neatly, and that I also attached a small card to let the recipient know that I had made the blanket on behalf of her colleagues, and to pass on my best wishes for her and the baby. I didn’t expect this to take so long, as I thought handwritten would make a nice touch. However, I had forgotten that my handwriting leaves a lot to be desired, and so the first attempt was swiftly placed in the bin.  I used word to create a lovely style and feel to the card and message, as well as compiling different components of my social media pages to ensure maximum coverage.

After ferrying various family members to and from work and finishing this in between I had unfortunately missed the post for Saturday. I informed Mrs First Sale that I had missed the Saturday post but that it would be taken first thing Sunday morning. My initial plan was to take it to the post office and to send it first class however I use Amazon, and I’m aware that some courier services deliver and pick up on Sundays. A corner shop local to me actually uses the Hermes postal service, and so I decided to give them a try. At this point I’d like to give you the timeline I had for the parcel as I was extremely impressed with the speed of service, as well as how easy it was to prepay for my label and simply drop it off at the shop.

I was also given the option to allow email updates on the progress of the package, and so I entered Mrs First Sales email address to give her direct access to knowing where the parcel was. Hermes was also cheaper to send my parcel which helps me a lot. All in all I am very impressed with the Hermes service, and until (if) I encounter a problem with them, will be using them for the rest of my sales.

And so we’ve reached the current day. The parcel is out for delivery today and I genuinely cannot wait from the feedback from Mrs First Sale and Mrs First Receiver too! I’m hoping to add an update relating to this post as soon as I get some feedback so please follow if you’d like to see that. I’m hoping now I have a first sale under my belt that eventually the momentum will pick up and I’d love to share the details of each order with you, and to do that I need you to press the follow button to make sure you don’t miss it!

My only issue with the process lies directly with my ability to price my orders, I had heavily underpriced my products when I take into consideration the Etsy fees. A big issue with this first order was also the cut that PayPal took because I had forgotten to fill in the details and confirm my card details in order to be able to take direct card payments. Now I have updated this, and repriced all of my products, and hopefully my future sales will now run slightly smoother.

If you’ve reached this point and are still with me, thank you for reading along with me, I hope you’ve at the very least found my post and process interesting, and I hope to see your name pop up if you like this post or decide to follow me.

Lots of Love

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