Thrift Store Find - Cotton Spools

I found these empty wooden cotton spools and bought them as I had seen an article where they had been used to store bits of ribbon. Nowadays the spools are plastic and not nearly as nice. I think I am going to attach some to the side of my craft table as hooks for extra supplies. Another idea is draw pulls. You can paint, stain or decoupage so many ideas...... Have you got any ?

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 !

Please join me on facebook if you haven't already.

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.

UniqueLA - Check

Desiree B. Antarctica, originally uploaded by Desiree B.

Here's a snap of my booth featuring the antarctica scene and owl tree.

And relax... In the build up to the show it was full steam ahead with a ramped up production line of all things felt. I was for those few weeks a self imposed half-chinese sweat shop (although I use the term sweat figuratively.) This is the 3rd time I had done the show and with each one I aimed to raise the bar a little bit higher. So it was was that a tree and arctic scene were created in addition to a display frame. You can see the final product on my newly created flickr account. Blogger can get a bit tedious uploading pictures so this way you get to see many many angles.http://www.flickr.com/photos/desireebflickr/
I also recently stumbled across these Uplifting tales of Success and thought I'd post the link if anyone fancies some motivation.

Thumbs and Roses

Pardon the pun but I've been trying to think of catchier blog titles. After an action packed Easter weekend, it has dawned on me that I have 2 weeks left till UNIQUE LA. Maybe I'm panicking prematurely but it seems that not a minute goes by without a needle in my hand. Of late I have become obsessed with felted flowers and if I continue at the current rate of output will have a veritable garden of brooches and hairclips. In my quest for more colours I stumbled upon the holy grail of wool, a ginormous Ralph Lauren black woolen cape, several yards of smooth fabric. The possibilities are numerous, it can be used for the penguins as well as many flower brooches. There was also a nice XXL cashmere jumper that got the hot water treatment, I love the feel of cashmere so soft and what luck finding the largest size! My husband voluntarily came with me and held my bag while I rummaged through, he had no desire to try to differentiate between acrylic and wool. Still I felt pressured into speeding my usually leisurely pace which probably wasn't a bad thing as I managed to get a load of washing done when we got home.

 

Daffodils and improvised vase. I did have a fancier one I just preferred this one more.

 My sweet windswept nieces and their custom flower headbands. 

Thrift Store Find - The Perfect Jug

In between the sanding, sewing and surfing I popped in to the thrift store and here is what I found. A very sturdy hand thrown jug which just happens to match my fruit bowl which was given to me by ceramic Dan.

Miracle Dog

April 1st is Boss, our chows birthday and he was 4 yesterday however henceforth it will be known as Miracle Dog Day thanks to a minor miracle but miracle nonetheless. What is she talking about ? What's with the mystery ? What happened to the craft stuff ?Well in recognition of Boss's special day the dogs got given some cooked beef ribs which they happily ate on the balcony outside. It was fairly windy and Boss made easy work of his rib and wanted in again. My husband opened the screen door to let him in and in he came. Sanford continued to chomp and in the blink of an eye the wind caught the screen door and pinned Sanford against the barbeque, as my husband got up to release him from this trap he disappeared. He had backed off the balcony and dropped 12 feet. I never saw it happen and I'm glad I didn't, we rushed to see him sat on the asphalt. My husband tore down the stairs and picked him up, fully expecting a trip to the hospital. He looked up at us as if to say "Am I in trouble, did I do something wrong ?" So with great trepidation we put him down on the carpet, and this is the miracle part, he walked casually up to his partially chewed bone (no limping, no sign of discomfort) and picked it up in his mouth, crawled under the coffee table and continued to chew on his treat.
I don't know how he survived that fall without a scratch but I am so very grateful that someone up above was keeping him safe. So to add to his long list of nicknames he has another Miracle Dog.