I am very excited about my new notebooks.
The say it shop originally focused on cards, but the map notebooks became very popular so I decided to try a few other notebook designs. I also sell a lot more of the personalised items than things that are ready made - it seems that people like to buy handmade because they can get the extra special touches that make the item just perfect for them. So, combining these two selling points, I designed the latest new addition to the say it shop: personalised notebooks.
It took me a little while to perfect the making of these books and I have quite a few samples that my husband is keen to get his hands on! They are totally handmade, starting with a piece of coloured card and some plain white recycled paper. I cut all the pages to size, fold, staple, trim and round the corners. Then I stamp a name onto the front in my snazzy new letter stamps.
Having added these two colour ways into the say it shop I realised I was being name-ist! I could only fit a name up to five letters long across the width of the notebook. I was excluding people with longer names. Larger notebooks was my first thought. Perhaps A5 size. But then, what if people with a name longer than five letters wanted a pocket sized notebook?
This was the solution I came up with, and in fact I think I like it even better than the original notebooks. I love this landscape version, and you can fit a name up to nine letters long. Perfect. (Well, almost. I'm very sorry to people called Francessa or Christopher, I don't mean to exclude you!).
If you'd like to get one of these new personalised notebooks for yourself or someone you know - a little stocking filler perhaps? - head over to the say it shop.
Or why not pop over to Handmade Monday and find out what other creative peeps have been making this week.
Monday, 3 September 2012
Friday, 31 August 2012
Folksy Friday: Music
It's amazing what you can do with an old piece of sheet music...
Each of these items has been handmade and is for sale on Folksy. Click on the pictures to find out more.
Each of these items has been handmade and is for sale on Folksy. Click on the pictures to find out more.
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Monday, 27 August 2012
10 tips for craft blog topics
So, you've got a blog, but what on earth do you write about?!
I've had several comments on my blog from others wanting to start their own little craft blog but being too unsure of what to talk about. It's all very well making it look pretty (have you seen our tutorials?) but you will need some content. Well, I never seem to be stuck for ideas so I thought I'd share a few.
Here are my top ten ideas for what to write about on a craft blog:
1. Write about things you've made. Tell people a little bit about the items, where your inspiration came from, how you got started making them etc. Include a few pics of finished items. And don't forget to tell people where they can buy them.
2. Blog about things you like. Find things other people have made, or things that give you inspiration, and share photos of them.
3. Join in with Folksy Fridays and Etsy Treasuries. Choose a theme (e.g. yellow or elephants) and take a look on Folksy / Etsy to find items that you like fitting that theme. If you let people know that you've featured one of their items they often come and take a look - it's a great way to gather new readers who've not seen your blog before. Ello Design regularly does a Folksy Friday post, and sometimes features Etsy Treasuries too.
4. Come up with another original way to showcase handmade talent. Find a way to feature some of the sellers you admire. I do folksy five posts to share my favourite folksy shops. Inspiral Silver has a series of posts called Two for Tuesday. Bread and Jam do a monthly Focus on Folksy. Get your thinking caps on!
5. Share what you've been learning. Maybe you've tried a new craft - tell people how it went, share some tips for if they want to give it a go too. Or perhaps you've learnt something about running a little craft shop - show people how to set up a facebook business page, give some tips for using twitter, write about the nightmare you had with your tax return and help others avoid getting into the same muddle.
8. If you're good at making something, write a tutorial. Or link to others' tutorials that you have found helpful. It's great to include lots of pictures showing each step of the process, as well as the finished product. Span's Studio has some great tutorials, and shows how they don't need to be long and complicated, just enough to give people ideas.
7. Blog about your favourite supplies shops. Where are your top places to go to for buying the best buttons / ribbon / paper / beads / ink etc.
8. Add something a little bit different. What did you do at the weekend? What's your favourite recipe? Blog about little bits of your life as well as your craft. Helen Limbrick is great at this.
9. Tell your readers about your favourite blogs / websites. If you've been reading something interesting let others know about it. You could do this as and when you find things you like, or collect them up and do a post with a monthly round up of what you've been reading. Handmade by Emily does a regular 'link love' feature, sharing some of her finds.
10. Talk about events you've got coming up. If you're off to a craft fair let your blog followers know when and where it is as there may be someone local who wants to pop in and meet you. Or perhaps you're going to launch a new range of products, or have a special offer or a sale. Tell your readers what you've got coming up; let them be the first to know about any exciting events you have on the horizon.
I hope that gives you some ideas. If you've just started a blog, leave a comment to let me know and I'll pop over for a nosy.
One of the best ways of gaining further ideas for what to write about is to read other people's blogs and see what they write about. I've linked this post in to Handmade Monday, and there is a fab collection of craft blogs up there for you to browse.
I've had several comments on my blog from others wanting to start their own little craft blog but being too unsure of what to talk about. It's all very well making it look pretty (have you seen our tutorials?) but you will need some content. Well, I never seem to be stuck for ideas so I thought I'd share a few.
Here are my top ten ideas for what to write about on a craft blog:
1. Write about things you've made. Tell people a little bit about the items, where your inspiration came from, how you got started making them etc. Include a few pics of finished items. And don't forget to tell people where they can buy them.
2. Blog about things you like. Find things other people have made, or things that give you inspiration, and share photos of them.
3. Join in with Folksy Fridays and Etsy Treasuries. Choose a theme (e.g. yellow or elephants) and take a look on Folksy / Etsy to find items that you like fitting that theme. If you let people know that you've featured one of their items they often come and take a look - it's a great way to gather new readers who've not seen your blog before. Ello Design regularly does a Folksy Friday post, and sometimes features Etsy Treasuries too.
4. Come up with another original way to showcase handmade talent. Find a way to feature some of the sellers you admire. I do folksy five posts to share my favourite folksy shops. Inspiral Silver has a series of posts called Two for Tuesday. Bread and Jam do a monthly Focus on Folksy. Get your thinking caps on!
5. Share what you've been learning. Maybe you've tried a new craft - tell people how it went, share some tips for if they want to give it a go too. Or perhaps you've learnt something about running a little craft shop - show people how to set up a facebook business page, give some tips for using twitter, write about the nightmare you had with your tax return and help others avoid getting into the same muddle.
8. If you're good at making something, write a tutorial. Or link to others' tutorials that you have found helpful. It's great to include lots of pictures showing each step of the process, as well as the finished product. Span's Studio has some great tutorials, and shows how they don't need to be long and complicated, just enough to give people ideas.
7. Blog about your favourite supplies shops. Where are your top places to go to for buying the best buttons / ribbon / paper / beads / ink etc.
8. Add something a little bit different. What did you do at the weekend? What's your favourite recipe? Blog about little bits of your life as well as your craft. Helen Limbrick is great at this.
9. Tell your readers about your favourite blogs / websites. If you've been reading something interesting let others know about it. You could do this as and when you find things you like, or collect them up and do a post with a monthly round up of what you've been reading. Handmade by Emily does a regular 'link love' feature, sharing some of her finds.
10. Talk about events you've got coming up. If you're off to a craft fair let your blog followers know when and where it is as there may be someone local who wants to pop in and meet you. Or perhaps you're going to launch a new range of products, or have a special offer or a sale. Tell your readers what you've got coming up; let them be the first to know about any exciting events you have on the horizon.
I hope that gives you some ideas. If you've just started a blog, leave a comment to let me know and I'll pop over for a nosy.
One of the best ways of gaining further ideas for what to write about is to read other people's blogs and see what they write about. I've linked this post in to Handmade Monday, and there is a fab collection of craft blogs up there for you to browse.
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Folksy Five #7
Many thanks to everyone who has nominated Folksy shops for the next folksy five post. I've had a great time browsing new shops I've not seen before. I'm very excited that for folksy five #8 I get to show you some of the nominated best folksy shops.
But that's two weeks time, so back to today. I've got five wonderful shops to show you today, some of which I've been a fan of for quite a while.
Your name: Kate

Your name: Jenny Greenslade and Liz Maggs (twin sisters from Bristol)
Shop name: Little Red Robin
Describe the items you make in 3 words: Rustic, quirky, metal
How long have you been selling on Folksy: One year and a half
What's your top tip for someone selling on Folksy: Have good shop name and branding image i.e banner matches colours in packaging you have and business cards and we always put in red heart confetti or silver stars in our organza bags for extra special touch for a gift that people will remember and have original unique items not easily available elsewhere.
What are your 3 favourite items from your shop:

Your name: Kate
Shop name: Kate Bowles
Describe the items you make in 3 words: hand-bound books
How long have you been selling on Folksy: A little over 2 years
What materials or resources do you use most of: I'm a bit of a scavenger so I use pretty much anything I can my hands on: recycled papers and fabrics, waxed linen thread, a bone folder, a beautiful cast iron book press .... oh ... and I have a bit of thing for vintage haberdashery ephemera.
What are your 3 favourite items from your shop:

Your name: Anna
Shop name: Anna King Jewellery
Describe the items you make in 3 words: A jewellery rainbow
How long have you been selling on Folksy: Around 18 months
What’s your top tip for someone selling on Folksy: Over the last few months, I have really worked on my titles and descriptions. The majority of my customers are new to Folksy. I like to think that they find me through search engines. Having descriptive titles and putting the important information at the beginning of your descriptions can really help with visibility in searches.
What are your 3 favourite items from your shop:

Your name: Milly
Shop name: Milliemishmash
Describe the items you make in 3 words: Colourful fun textiles
How long have you been selling on Folksy: Since the end of 2010
What materials or resources do you use most of: Lightweight, colourful, patterned cottons, particularly I work with Amy Butler and Joel Dewberry fabrics as both designers generously allow people to make stuff with their fabric and sell it on.
What are your 3 favourite items from your shop:
And their favourite items from the say it shop are:
But that's two weeks time, so back to today. I've got five wonderful shops to show you today, some of which I've been a fan of for quite a while.
Your name: Kate
Shop name: Buttercup Boutique
Describe the items you make in 3 words: Unique textile accessories
How long have you been selling on Folksy: Almost 3 years
What materials or resources do you use most of: I mainly use felt and add details with pretty floral print fabrics. Liberty designs are a big favourite that I can never resist!
What are your 3 favourite items from your shop:
Describe the items you make in 3 words: Unique textile accessories
How long have you been selling on Folksy: Almost 3 years
What materials or resources do you use most of: I mainly use felt and add details with pretty floral print fabrics. Liberty designs are a big favourite that I can never resist!
What are your 3 favourite items from your shop:
Your name: Jenny Greenslade and Liz Maggs (twin sisters from Bristol)
Shop name: Little Red Robin
Describe the items you make in 3 words: Rustic, quirky, metal
How long have you been selling on Folksy: One year and a half
What's your top tip for someone selling on Folksy: Have good shop name and branding image i.e banner matches colours in packaging you have and business cards and we always put in red heart confetti or silver stars in our organza bags for extra special touch for a gift that people will remember and have original unique items not easily available elsewhere.
What are your 3 favourite items from your shop:
Your name: Kate
Shop name: Kate Bowles
Describe the items you make in 3 words: hand-bound books
How long have you been selling on Folksy: A little over 2 years
What materials or resources do you use most of: I'm a bit of a scavenger so I use pretty much anything I can my hands on: recycled papers and fabrics, waxed linen thread, a bone folder, a beautiful cast iron book press .... oh ... and I have a bit of thing for vintage haberdashery ephemera.
What are your 3 favourite items from your shop:
Your name: Anna
Shop name: Anna King Jewellery
Describe the items you make in 3 words: A jewellery rainbow
How long have you been selling on Folksy: Around 18 months
What’s your top tip for someone selling on Folksy: Over the last few months, I have really worked on my titles and descriptions. The majority of my customers are new to Folksy. I like to think that they find me through search engines. Having descriptive titles and putting the important information at the beginning of your descriptions can really help with visibility in searches.
What are your 3 favourite items from your shop:
Your name: Milly
Shop name: Milliemishmash
Describe the items you make in 3 words: Colourful fun textiles
How long have you been selling on Folksy: Since the end of 2010
What materials or resources do you use most of: Lightweight, colourful, patterned cottons, particularly I work with Amy Butler and Joel Dewberry fabrics as both designers generously allow people to make stuff with their fabric and sell it on.
What are your 3 favourite items from your shop:
And their favourite items from the say it shop are:
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Friday, 17 August 2012
Folksy Friday - The Owl and the Pussycat
When I was little, one of my favourite rhymes was the owl and the pussycat. My Dad used to recite it to me before I went to bed. I still love nonsense rhymes and the owl and pussycat remains one of the best, closely followed by several other Edward Lear poems. So continuing on the theme of my favourite things, this week I looked on Folksy to find some fabulous handmade gifts inspired by the owl and the pussycat.
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Wednesday, 15 August 2012
A few more blogger tutorials
Last week I wrote a post about how to set up a blog, and I promised that I would add a few more tutorials this week to help you jazz up your new blog a bit.
So here are some things that you might like to do. Clicking on the links will take you to the posts I've written about each topic.
Add pages to your blog - like tabs along the top
Add 'you might also like' suggested posts to the end of each post
Add a slideshow of items from your shop
See how many people have viewed your blog
Let me know how you get on. And feel free to ask if you've got any questions.
Next week I'll be sharing some suggestions for things you could blog about.
So here are some things that you might like to do. Clicking on the links will take you to the posts I've written about each topic.
Add pages to your blog - like tabs along the top
Add 'you might also like' suggested posts to the end of each post
Add a slideshow of items from your shop
See how many people have viewed your blog
Let me know how you get on. And feel free to ask if you've got any questions.
Next week I'll be sharing some suggestions for things you could blog about.
Monday, 13 August 2012
Making a covered footstool
Something a little bit different from me today. This weekend I finally finished covering a footstool, a project that I started nearly a year ago...!
When we bought our sofa and chairs my husband really wanted a footstool to go with them, but we have a small living room and the ones that went with the suite we had chosen were pretty large (and expensive). A kind friend from church had given him an old footstool that was just perfect, but very old fashioned. So I rashly promised him that if we bought some of the fabric to match the chairs I would cover the footstool for him. Well the old green embroidered footstool has sat in our living room for the last year, with a pile of neatly folded fabric, waiting for me to work some magic.
I have a GCSE in textiles but my project was a teddy bear in a pair of dungarees, so it wasn't much preparation for covering a footstool. However, at least I had a sewing machine and knew how to work it! And after several hours of unpicking stitching that had gone wrong, desperately trying to sew in a circle and hand stitching the bottom on, I'm very proud to say that I managed it.
When we bought our sofa and chairs my husband really wanted a footstool to go with them, but we have a small living room and the ones that went with the suite we had chosen were pretty large (and expensive). A kind friend from church had given him an old footstool that was just perfect, but very old fashioned. So I rashly promised him that if we bought some of the fabric to match the chairs I would cover the footstool for him. Well the old green embroidered footstool has sat in our living room for the last year, with a pile of neatly folded fabric, waiting for me to work some magic.
I have a GCSE in textiles but my project was a teddy bear in a pair of dungarees, so it wasn't much preparation for covering a footstool. However, at least I had a sewing machine and knew how to work it! And after several hours of unpicking stitching that had gone wrong, desperately trying to sew in a circle and hand stitching the bottom on, I'm very proud to say that I managed it.
The trick, I discovered, was to pin the fabric around the footstool so that it was tight and I knew exactly where to sew. I sewed the two ends of the long rectangle together first to go round the side, then put this on the footstool inside out and laid a large circle of fabric over the top, upside down, so that I had the back of the fabric showing. Once again I pinned the fabric together whilst it was on the footstool so I knew it would be a perfect fit (then spent half an hour trying to get the footstool out the middle... it may have been a little too tightly pinned!). I sewed round the top in a (sort of) circle, trimmed the seams and turned it out the right way. I popped the cover on the footstool, turned it upside down, laid another circle of fabric over the top and tucked the edges in all the way round. Then I spent a fun few hours hand stitching the bottom on. I finished last night whilst watching the Olympic closing ceremony.
Whoop! I think it looks really good. It's not perfect, but it's good enough for us. I don't think upholstery is really for me though...
I'm linking this post up with handmade monday again. Do pop over and take a look at what others have been making this week. Hello to fellow handmade monday-ers who have come over to see what I've made :-)
And if you're looking for the tutorials about how to set up a blog, they're here. And more coming this week as promised!
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