From beginning to end

Thought I’d give a little insight into how my items begin life and evolve to become a finished product.  This journey can take several weeks, especially once I reach embellishment stage and my own quote, “an artist can’t art unless they feel artistic” rings true many times!

Although I’m not a night bird, never have been and most probably never will be, I do find my brain gets a spurt of energy around 9:30 in the evening and it starts to fill with new ideas, colour schemes and what not.  It’s a little annoying to be honest as there’s no way the rest of my body can start to put these thoughts into practise as I’m physically too tired. Before hitting the sack I’ll jot down any light bulb ideas and perhaps pull out a couple of fabric squares or embellishments to remind me to pick up the inspiration the next day.

Sometimes a new product will come from something I’ve seen or heard that day, or perhaps from a client with an idea for a commission.  My first port of call is either the felt colour or the fabric choice, or perhaps the combination of both. I have a cheerful selection of felts to choose from and an even bigger collection of fabric which has surprisingly stayed in it sorted divisions by colour.  The vast majority of fabrics have been donated ready to be recycled into something new but I can’t help but buy a few pretty offcut squares or fat quarters to add to my collection.

Once the initial colour scheme has been decided and the charm or main feature has been picked, then it’s down to finding embellishments and having a good old play around to get a feel for how I’d like my new piece to look.  This will include ribbons, lace, buttons and seed beads, perhaps with printed words too, but I’m toying with idea of including other media in my work in the near future – building up the confidence for this one.

Neatly sewing everything in its right place is the final stage, often with additional stitching or further decoration as I move things along.  I love the process and how everything gradually comes together, producing a totally unique item with many hours of love and attention given to it.

Advertisements

Look back … look forward.

Happy new year to all my readers, I hope you’ve all had a good festive season with time to recharge and look ahead to 2019.  

Christmas themed bag charms – the little black cat with a Santa hat was a personal favourite!

The lead up to Christmas is often a busy one for small businesses, especially those that involve selling, and it is quite a relief to have a little downtime to collect thoughts, look back on the past year and then look forward to the new one with new ideas and optimism.  For me the beginning of the year is often quiet on the selling front and I should by now be used to this and try not to get a too twitchy!  There are so many things involved in running an indie business that a space of quiet like this should really be a blessing to catch up on non-sewing work, but naturally you can’t help hearing those inner voices casting small nuggets of doubt about your craft and where your path is leading.

As these thoughts can pop up at any time, I keep a month by month journal listing anything positive that happens with regard to Ellie’s Treasures. When the doubt sets in, I find it a help to look back and see that business is not stagnant, there is always something in the pipeline, always something to work on and improve and, hopefully, a lovely customer or two that comes along at the right moment with a compliment that makes you start to believe in yourself again.

The last few months have been a whirlwind of sewing, listing, restocking and selling so I thought I’d share with you a couple of lovely things that have happened since the Autumn and a few plans for the coming year.

I can now show you photos of an artwork commission I received back in September and completed in October.  It was a privilege to work alongside my client and be trusted with such a personal birthday present and seeing it come together, piece by piece, was really fulfilling.  

The end of November and beginning of December were busy craft market times for Ellie’s Treasures with Pensthorpe Craft Fair and Deepdale Christmas Market over two consecutive weekends.  Both were extremely busy and great fun. It was a pleasure to meet so many supportive sellers, customers and visitors, it really does make the early mornings and late evenings worthwhile.  I’d like to thank Lottie of Lottie’s Little Treasures (who was also selling at Deepdale with her beautifully gorgeous goodies) for taking the time out of her busy days to track me down so we could meet in person – it was a lovely surprise, thank you so much.

Plans for 2019?  Well I have a few new ideas up my sleeve! I’ve just started to introduce planner charms to my range, two are now listed, one is waiting to be photographed and several are ready for sewing. The clip charms are cute and original little accessories that will brighten up any thin ring bound notebook, diary or journal – perfect for the stationery lover.

cute unicorn planner charm in pink – a new line for Ellie’s Treasures

I’ve been hearing on the grapevine that nature will be featuring big this year, so I’m in the process of developing a range to include more tactile embellishments along these lines.  Also, getting Ellie’s Treasures out on the road is something I’d like to do more of as I really enjoy meeting folk face to face. This does mean I need to be sewing a lot more than I already am so a big challenge there for me as time always seems to be against me.  Finally, perhaps this year will be the year I start my own shop website – we’ll see … one step at a time!

Do you have exciting plans for 2019?  Drop me a comment, I’d love to hear how you see the year progressing for you.

Christmas market time

The year has whizzed by so quickly and I can’t believe Christmas is just a few weeks away.  Popping along to local Christmas markets and fairs is a great way to get into the festive season and do a little shopping from small independent sellers, providing you and yours with unique lovingly made gifts.

The last couple of months have seen me busy sewing at every available opportunity, building stock levels for the busy season, in particular, two forthcoming Norfolk based Christmas Markets. 

The first event will be  Pensthorpe Natural Park:

followed by a return visit to Deepdale Christmas Market:

If you are in the area and fancy a trip out to either of these lovely venues, do come and find me for a chat, I can assure you your day will not be wasted as each venue will have a wonderful Christmassy feel.

Both venues will be offering a good selection of stalls including food, drink and gift ideas as well as refreshments to keep you going throughout the day.  There is also free parking and free market entry at both of these events with Pensthorpe also offering a reduced entry fee to the park on the day – a popular place for nature lovers and those that wish to stretch their legs in beautiful surroundings.

Many of my new items have been sewn exclusively for these two events and are not currently available to purchase online.  If a particular little lovely catches your eye in this post, please do get in touch so I can reserve it for you (just hit that “Contact” button above and leave me a message or click over to my Etsy shop and leave me a “Conversation”).

If you are venturing out to fairs and markets this winter, wrap up warm, soak up the atmosphere and enjoy your day.

Self employment – the importance of getting out of the workroom

As much as self employment is liberating, it is also hard work!  There are so many positive aspects to starting your own business: the chance to do what you love, learn along the way, progress and reach your personal goals, but there are downsides too.  One of these, and it is often talked about, is the feeling of isolation – those get up from your desk for a catch up in the coffee room with fellow workers kind of situations are missing when you work from home.  Social media can be a fantastic way to chat with others from so many walks of life, but many of us still need face to face contact that can be absent in the world of self employment.

Last Saturday I had the opportunity of meeting a wonderful bunch of local indie business owners and found it was the perfect time out solution.

Organised through the Facebook Group The Indie Rollercoaster by Kate of Clumsy Kate and Small Biz Straight Talk, I had the pleasure of also meeting Beci of From Little Greenwoods, Rudy of Roodles Runique and Hannah, together with her adorable son, of Apples and Pips and Budding Smiles blog.

Colourful vinyl sticker by Rudy.

We met at Cosy Club in Stamford (Lincolnshire) and got to know each other over a delicious lunch (or in my case a cooked breakfast).  As each of us is at a different point on our business path it made for an enjoyable, interesting and informative few hours where we could pick up tips (so many tips), bounce around ideas and get inspired to continue keeping our businesses ticking along.

After lunch we headed off to The Meadows, a large green area positioned alongside the River Welland. It was a warm and sunny day so the perfect opportunity to take a few product shots surrounded by picturesque scenery.

“BEAUTIFUL” framed print by Beci, t-shirt by Kate and pin brooches by Elaine (oh, that’s me!)

It will be fabulous to get together with these ladies again in the near future and hopefully encourage the group to grow so we can begin to support each other on a regular basis.

 

King’s Lynn craft fair – kick start to Christmas

Ellie’s Treasures kicked started the run up to Christmas with our first fair of the year on 9th September organised by Creative Orchard Events at St. Nicholas Chapel in King’s Lynn, Norfolk.  It was a most beautiful venue and although small, the Belles at St. Nick’s event with its friendly and welcoming stall holders was the ideal market to find that unique perfect treat or gift.  With stalls selling vintage goods, jewellery, pottery, jams and chutneys, leather ware and garden ornaments, I was thrilled to be part of it selling my accessories and artwork.

This was my view for the day – stunning don’t you think?

A little history.  According to the ‘net, St. Nicholas, built as a chapel of ease for nearby St. Margaret’s, is the largest chapel in England (200 feet long).  With the stone tower dating back to c.1225 and the spire being a 19th Century replacement, history dates the original chapel, probably made of wood, as being built between 1146 and 1175.  The amazing stain glass window shown in my photo is just one of many delights.  The late medieval oak vaulting and carved angels, engraved stone fonts and a memorial dedicated to “Robinson Crusoe” are just a few of the many features worth viewing .  My stall was pitched to the side of a set of benches erected to form a medieval church court where the Archdeacon would have the say on divorces and marriage issues!

We had flurries of customers throughout the day but by early afternoon things dried up a little so the stall holders were invited to learn about the chapel bells (a peel of 8 that are still in use), and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to help ring them!
To top the day off nicely, a gentleman came into the chapel and began belting out tunes on the Willis organ – that was quite something!

If you are ever in King’s Lynn, a town steeped in history, do try and pay a visit St. Nicholas’ Chapel to marvel at the architecture and learn more about its history.  Although still consecrated, the chapel is cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust with events taking place throughout the year including the Jingle Belles Christmas Fair in early December.

References
http://www.stnicholaskingslynn.org.uk/index.html
https://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=4090
http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/lynnnicholas/lynnnicholas.htm