Thread Spools Some Crafty Ideas

So, here's what happened to some of those spools. I thought they would make good hooks for the side of my craft table. Can't take the credit for the implementation of the spools on desk that was my husband. Apologies for the messiness, sometimes there's no amount of fancy angling of camera to avoid it. However it really isn't too bad.

Ribbon storage with pretty pin.

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Masterclass in Packaging

This happy little package arrived at the weekend, the sturdy outer was merely a clever disguise. Every part of the inside was BEAUTIFUL.

The box within the box.

Stitched imagery on the box.

The cake box (very apt)opens to reveal the tasty contents. Crocheted Oreo Cookie, Jammy Dodger, Cup cake and flower pin.

Note printed bird tags, each a different bird. The items themselves are gorgeous and perfect in every way. Taman you are brilliant and have a very bright future ahead of you. THANK YOU !

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Social Media Marketing - (Yes it's still the I must draw blog)

So, the other day as part of my day job I went to Social Media Marketing training. You may be noticing that I've been more active than usual in the social spheres and this was in part due to the overwhelming statistics which I couldn't ignore. I used to think I was quite techy I can no longer make that claim as I don't even have a smartphone. I am making the assumption at this point that you have a website, blog and e-newsletter.

Here in a nutshell is what I learnt - Websites which used to be the piece de resistance are no longer the behemoths of old. You have 4-6 seconds to capture your viewer, marketing people are seeing websites as hubs for social media marketing e.g Facebook. Everyone is suffering from major ADD and like 24 want real-time updates and interaction. So, you need a website but you need to maintain a presence.

Facebook- billions of people have their own personal page however you can also create a business page handy if you don't want to share every aspect of your life with the entire world. So after umminng and aaahing I caved in and created a business page and whoosh the satisfying acknowledgement of like. Post badges on your blog and websites so that you can spread the word. If you get 25 likes you can claim your own unique name. I still need 3 more likes, hint, hint.


Twitter - In the past I have made half-hearted attempts with this media and couldn't see the point, now if I had a smartphone it would probably make more sense, imagine real time thrift store find, to buy or not to buy ? I could interact directly with anyone reading my tweets. There's a bloomin' useful tool that manages your tweets (you can pre-program up to 30 days in advance, imagine that) it's called hootsuite.com and drumroll when you tweet you can simultaneously send it to your facebook, now that's more like it. I'm not that witty when it comes to tweeting, does anyone really care what type of sandwich I'm eating etc so if you like me are tweetless then simply link to your new blog posts, flikr uploads or anything else you find interesting on the net. Use it as a way to thank people too.

Flickr - I've had a Yahoo account for as long as I can remember and in all honesty I get so much spam that I barely use it but that's what you need if you are going to use Flickr. On Wednesday I created my Flickr stream, which has a gargantuan audience if you tag your pictures well. If anyone comments and says "Is that for sale"? it arrives via email and you can respond to potential purchaser which 2 days after I posted my pics occurred, really.

Foursquare.com -  I had never even heard of this but apparently Yahoo wanted to buy it for $100,000,000 so they must see potential in it. Again, you need a smartphone, the idea is that you can connect with your friends, collect badges etc by checking in. The GPS in your phone posts your exact location, (no good for Tiger Woods) and lets your friends know where you are. Other people if looking for say a happening bar could see how many people have checked in and make a decision about whether to go or not. I don't have a bar or shop and sadly spend most of my time crafting away in my house so I don't think I'll be using this just yet.

But, I haven't got the time, I hear you say, think about it this way apart from the time investment all this stuff is free marketing. As long as you respond in a timely manner to requests you build relationships and help to build your brand.

There endeth the lesson, if like me you are a one-man band on a miniscule advertising budget, why not give it a go.

Summertime and the sanding is easy....

What a glorious weekend of sun filled weather. Apparently the rain is coming back mid-week so I'm enjoying it while I can. For me sunny weather is the equivalent of inducing copious amounts of caffeine, so it was on Thursday night that I found myself on my hands and knees sanding a table. Dan and Angel our lovely neighbours will soon be moving to Denver and have been having clear outs in preparation of the move. On Thursday I find Dan outside of his garage with a stanley blade and a very shiny looking table. Curious, I wander over. "What are you doing ?" I ask. " Trying to get rid off this resin coat?" I offer my nickel's worth of suggestions which include use of a hammer. It transpires that they will be getting rid of this table and I put in my claim and offer to chip off the rest of the resin, which is strangely satisfying. Dan is no stranger to projects (he is a carpenter pro) and beneath the layer of resin, is a very thick coat of copper paint, a layer of primer and some remnants of black paint. The table has had a few makeovers since it's days as a naked rubberwood table and it's time to take it back to bare. With the aid of a sander I spend about an hour and a half slowly removing the stubborn copper layer before I'm pooped out. Where I stop my husband picks up and over the weekend we have it stripped. Off to Osh to buy some stain and the transformation is almost complete. The similarities between my dream table and the the one I got for free (with some elbow grease) is uncanny. I am very happy. While it is relatively easy to pick up old stuff in London, not so here, it's antique with an antique price tag!!

The table I wanted (which was in Oregon !) note weathered surface.

 My newly stripped almost finished table. As I said, uncanny. (those are sun rays not weird patches)

 Sanford and the coffee table.

The excitement at using the sander didn't stop there and we set about giving our coffee table a revamp too. This was a second-hand find and the coffee ring stains on it had been annoying me of late, but they are gone now. Due to the sun however a few spots were missed so a bit more sanding is required it just feels much cleaner now and it will be getting a natural wax coat.

So, in craft news I've been working on a new design for a Matryoshka plush, I made a speedy mock up but I need to make the head a softer curve. It is only after stuffing that you make these discoveries but I'm confident I'll get there. I also started to use my gargantuan felted jumper stockpile, I have recently come to the realization that most of it is too thick to comfortably fit in the sewing machine which requires hand stitching and well frankly I'm all about the machine!! In an effort to diversify my range of products for the show, I made some sample flower pins but I'm thinking I can put them on headbands too.

I managed to find some time to go surfing and quite frankly I got pummelled. I took myself on a time out as my ears were hurting a lot from being pounded. I did consider calling it quits but I figure you can only learn and become better by sticking at it (if you don't drown that is...) I had the weirdest dream last night which featured crocheted cushion covers, Johnny Weir at an airport and David Beckham. I don't know what it means, maybe I should watch less TV.

Oh and here are some paintings in progress. Before sun and after sun. I'll take better pictures once they are finished.