Bird a Day - Final Thoughts

So the Bird a Day Challenge is over... here are a few questions I've been asked over the last week.

How do you feel now?

It's finally over... it's a strange feeling to be at the end of something, I do feel a sense of achievement at having done what I set out to do and I am tempted to make it a regular thing in my crafting as it forces me to be creative.

Doing something creative everyday has had a positive impact upon my well being and peace of mind too. I feel a lot better than I did at the beginning of the year, when I felt burnt out. People find it strange when I talk about not feeling creative considering the job I do but sometimes even a creative job starts to feel like a bit of a slog. I do feel more invigorated... things are starting to feel normal again.

What were your favourite birds to make?
My favourites surprised me! They were the ones that were most challenging initially but turned out the best. I'm very fond of the Spoonbill, Pelican, Dodo and the seagull... but my favourite is the Tree Creeper, because I saw one in the park and he caught the feeling of him perfectly!

Was it hard to make a bird in an hour?
The felting part is the easy bit! Making them tiny and starting with the bead cuts the time down... It's the photographing and blogging that really takes up time! I didn't take that into account when I set out to do this so it ended up taking up 2 hours of my day rather than just 1... next time I think I will find a better way to just snap a quick picture. 

Did you miss any days?
I didn't miss out a day of making but sometimes there just wasn't time to photograph things or I was too tired. That just meant a couple of days when there were double posts. 

Are you sick of looking at tiny bird feet?
Never!

Wait next time? You're going to do this again?
Yes... but maybe not for a while... or on a weekly basis rather than daily.

When will the birds be up for sale?
I'm hoping to get them up for sale by monday... I will keep you posted.

What Advice would you give to anyone taking on a challenge like this?
Go for it! Even if you think you might fail... you should go for it. Find something that works for you and make sure you find a way to share it as being held accountable by others is great motivation. II have to admit... I tried something like this once before and didn't share it and I failed, sharing was the best thing, it's hard to work in a vacuum. You'll be amazed how supportive people can be! 

Also... make the time to do it, it could be anything, make a bird a day, a drawing a day, write something, bake something... it's worth it, you'll feel like a different person at the end an you will want to keep being creative!

xx
mel

Bird a Day: Day 17: Seagull

Bird a Day: Day 17: Seagull

These chaps (along with pigeons) are probably the birds I see most of! Living in a seaside town they are unavoidable, be it nesting on cliffs or mugging tourists for chips you are never far from a seagull in Scarborough!

As usual I got carried away taking photos and took too many!

Day 11: Bird a Day : Scarlet Ibis

Day 11: Bird a Day : Scarlet Ibis

This one became a challenge for 2 reasons... firstly I decided it would be a great idea to give them legs, cue an afternoon of fiddling with bits of wire and get frustrated because while my regular birds are build around their legs getting the wire to stay in the bead and the bird to be the right way up was quite tricky!

Secondly I learned that red is a pain to photograph and that a lanky bird with a long neck presents a unique challenge to an amateur photographer with a slightly dodgy macro lens! But I managed it and here he is! 

Day 9: bird a Day Challenge - Love Bird

Day 9: bird a Day Challenge - Love Bird

Making this little guy's perch was more challenging then making the bird itself! My wood working skills being none existant!

Bird a Day: Day 8: Black Swan

Bird a Day: Day 8: Black Swan

Day 8 and things are feeling a little surreal.. mostly because Mr Felt has a habit of snoring like a hibernating bear thus earning him the name "The Snorenado" and me a sleepless night! But we do have a little black swan... aw cute!

Kickstarter Advice Part 2 - Building Your Campaign

Hi Guys! Sorry it's been so long... it was my intention to write this a month ago but apparently my body said no and decided to shut down for a few weeks after sorting out the studio! But I'm back yay!

 In part 2 of my Kickstarter advice I want to talk about building your campaign, this means writing your Kickstarter proposal, making your video and the things to do before you go live!

Writing your Kickstarter Blurb
Before I wrote my Kickstarter proposal I spent a lot of time reading other people's blurbs and thinking about what I liked about them, what I didn't like, what made me back one project and not another so this is what I found.

• Be clear and conscise (what do you want? what are your offering in return for backing?) too much info and I tend to switch off... sorry, I have a short attention span and if I do chances are other people will too, same with your video keep it short and sweet,
• Make sure you bullet point your rewards as well as having them in the sidebar, you can go into more detail, include pictures of the rewards
• Be yourself... I'm nuts, so I kind of went with being a little crazy. Remember you aren't standing in front of the Dragons in Dragon's den, you can talk to people like you would your friends... although probably with less expletives. Oh and try not to go too far the other way... don't be too nuts! I'd like to know what I am paying for, if you are dancing around in a tutu and waving a wand when you want to be selling a new line of greetings cards I'm probably going to cross the metaphorical street and pretend I can't see you. 
• Don't be negative... even if you are doing it for comic effect, it doesn't always translate. At the end of the Kickstarter page there is a section on risks and challenges. Be honest about the risks but say how you will over come them, emphasise your experience... "I have X years of selling online and 100% perfect feedback scores on Etsy" you can even include a link to your etsy feedback. Let people know you will keep them in the loop.
• and what was that last thing? Oh yeah ASK FOR SOMETHING!!! I've read dozens of Kickstarters where you get to the end and your not exactly sure what they want from you. It's know as a "call to action", if you feel uncomfortable asking people to back you well get over it... you want their support! You can ask people to share your project on their social media... don't be so blatant as shouting "GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY!" but you shouldn't be shy about asking for support both you  and your readers know it's what they are there for.

I started by breaking my blurb down into section headings and planning it out that way.

Introduction- who am I? What's the project about?
Why a tea towel - What am I selling? Where did the idea come from?
A product description - Sizes, stats, pictures
Rewards - Break down of the rewards, pictures of all the rewards
Stretch goals - I had a couple worked out but I wish I had planned for a best case scenario instead of the the opposite and had more planned out in advance. This would have helped me stay focused and not blow my budget by screwing up postage adding more things later on!
Call to action - Please back me, please share!
Risks and Challenges

So once it's written check it for spelling mistakes and then get a bunch of other people to check it to make sure it makes sense and check for spelling and grammatical errors.

This advice also stands for making your video... yes... you need one... but no you don't need to put your face in it if you are terminally camera shy. I just made a slide show with a voice over because some days I hate my face and videos are not my thing! (I tried... it was awful! Panda eyes!) Be your self, mine was slightly clumsy but I still thought it was cute and most importantly it was me (despite being unable to say tea towel). Don't ramble on too long... again... my attention span is about 90 seconds long but make sure you say everything you need to say and don't forget to ask for something. (You can flesh it out in your blurb) practice, write it down, edit, re edit, re record... take your time and get it right... or as right as your abilities let you!

Upload your shiny video or slide show.

At this point the pressure to click the big green launch now button will be immense but don't! Live with it for a couple of days so you can edit further, polish it till it shines and decide when to launch. you can ask a member of the Kickstarter team to look it over before it goes live which is worth it just to make sure you aren't breaking any of their rules.

I chose to launch just after a giveaway as lots of people were hanging around my facebook waiting for the winner to be announced so there was a buzz there already. Sunday nights around 6 are a good time as many people go online then too but chose a launch time that is when people will be around online... probably not best to launch at midnight as this means your project will end at midnight too, chose a time that is good for you and that you know you will able to be around when you campaign ends so you can bring in the last few backers (or drive everyone nuts with a count down!)

My Kickstarter campaign looks nothing like it did when I started out. I edited it as things progressed and goals were met. You have to treat it like a living breathing thing and update as things change to keep it fresh and keep the backers you have interested and engaged as well as being able to attract new ones.

So this seems like a good place to stop... next time (hopefully not in a month this time!) I'll talk about what to do during your campaign.

You can read Part 1- Things to do Before you start here:
http://feltmeupdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/my-kickstarter-advice-part-1-before-you.html


Or check out the original campaign page here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/feltmeupdesigns/feltmeupdesigns-rainbow-doodle-birds-printed-tea-t/description

Tea Towels Ahoy!

Life at Felt Towers has taken on a distinctly tea towelly quality lately! I have become a total bore and it's all I talk about! Yep! I'm a tea towelaholic!

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut!

Tea Towels Ahoy!!!

THEY'VE ARRIVED!!!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!

 It's really nice to see all this hard work turned into something physical, The Clever Baggers were super fast and super helpful in getting them all printed in double quick time. I spent most of this week and last week making the no tea towels rewards and getting them sent out. Which was fun... and now people are beginning to tell me they have arrived and posting pictures on facebook, which is lovely!

 Tea Towel mountain was a bit overwhelming when it arrived yesterday but I dived straight in (or should that be I strapped on my safety harness and started to climb!)

 The first bag of things went to the post office today... I'll be taking more later when I've filled in a massive pile of customs labels.

 This picture represents about a quarter of the parcels I need to wrap... it's pretty massive!

 But luckily I have a big bag of malteasers and a lot of coffee to keep me going. I also just got word that mugs will be arriving tomorrow so I'd better get my butt in gear and start clearing some space cos I have no idea where they are going!