Robins, Robins and more Robins!

Last Festive season I couldn't keep up with orders for robins so in an attempt to get ahead I have been stockpiling!We have the now traditional feltmeup designs Robins and Chestnut RobinsAnd Little and Big Robinsons Mctweets all decked out in santa hats!Phew... and yesterday I saw the Christmas Coke advert on TV which means folks that we are officially in Christmas mode... sorry guys!

An Online Crafter's Guide to Surviving the Holidays

So the nights are drawing in, the adverts full of Christmas lights are on the telly and this afternoon I heard Christmas music playing in the local shopping centre. Yes It's that time of year again!This will be my third Christmas as in The Felt Menagerie and over the last 2 I have learned a couple of lessons that I thought might be worth sharing in my guide to surviving the holiday season and here they are in no particular order:

Launch your Christmas lines (if you haven't done so already) mine will be hitting the Felt Menagerie over the weekend, have you got your banner and avatar prepared? Do it now even if you don't intend to make you shop festive for a few weeks then it's just a case of changing it and you're ready to go!Sort out your packaging now and set up a packaging station, it's so much easier if it is all set out for you. Make sure you are fully stocked on tape, business cards, boxes, envelopes, shipping labels... what ever it is that usually goes into one of you packages.

Know the last posting dates, last date the UK post office will guarantee a Christmas delivery to the states from the UK is the 6th of December... that's only 1 month away!!! Do your customers know this? You'll need to make sure you let them know early so they can get their orders in! (you can find the dates for elsewhere here if you are UK based)

Preparing your parcels will always take longer than you think it will... and don't forget those post office queues make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to post things, if you do work another job like me (veteran bookslave!) try and avoid doing this on your lunch break... you still need to eat!

Enlist help... John is limbering up for his role over Christmas as Postmaster General as we speak! You can't do it all so even if you aren't getting help with your work ask your family to pull their weight a bit more and help with chores or enlist a pal to stick postage labels on things... I find bribing them with cake helps! Boy is Santa lucky to have an army of elves at his disposal!

Learn to say no... when is your cut off point for custom work? Set one and be firm about it... you already have enough on your plate!Look after yourself, wrap up warm, make sure you get lots of vitamins, make sure you get lots of sleep... set aside some you time because it will get hectic and even you, yes you, need to breathe occasionally!

Enjoy it!... ok it's crazy mad panic but isn't it every year? Find a way to make it fun because it will be over before you know and then you'll miss that buzz!
So now I'm of to put the finishing touches to my Christmas collection, maybe have a Baileys and a Mince Pie and sing some carols while I work....

The Feltanomicon Re- Openth....

I have finally got around to reopening my side project shop The Feltanomicon... I know I have been a bit rubbish with it but recently I have dropped a day in my day job which should mean I have more time to dedicate to creating a little felted chaos!

Felthathulhu's, yeti's, dead bunnies and aliens are on the way plus my brand new needlefelted bat design which I am very proud of.

In my head this little bat is a Russian spy bat... I could tell you why but then he would have to kill you!

Competition Closed.. and the winner is...

Besty!!!

Congrats Betsy you have been emailled, thanks to everyone who entered... look out for a special blog post tomorrow once my laptop has received a good kicking and is no longer playing up!

xx
mel

Sew Hip Owl Mobile Giveaway

A lot has happened this past month, my head is still spinning from it! The Menagerie passed 600 sales... and it doesn't seem that long since 500! We were featured in sew hip magazine with our mobile tutorial, Inkmeup had it's first Etsyversary, we helped orchestrate the UK Etsy silly sale... It's been a seriously busy month!

So to celebrate Feltmeupdesigns 600th sale I thought I should do it in traditional stylee with a giveaway.
The prize is the exclusive, one of a kind, never to be repeated Sew Hip Owl mobile! Plus some goodies, postcards, magnets and generally whatever I have in the felt goody box at the time!

How to enter:

To enter simply first leave a comment on my blog telling me what your favourite item in my shop is.

For extra entries follow me on Twitter and Twitter this message

Win an exclusive owl mobile from @feltmeupdesigns http://feltmeupdesigns.blogspot.com/

Follow the blog by clicking on the follow button in the right hand column of this page, leave a comment to say you follow me!

Become a fan at facebook .and the leave a comment to say you are a fan, if you are already a fan just say "I'm a fan" and you automatically get and extra entry!

.. If you do all 4 you get 4 entries... simples!

The competition closes 23rd October

Let the Silliness Ensue!!!!

Tonight at 7pm (GMT that's 7pm in the UK folks) all silliness will break free in the first coordinated UK Silly sale, 24 hours of silly prices, reductions and promoting each other like crazy.

Uk sellers have banded together to bring you a whole world of silliness by reducing their goodies, offering free shipping, standing on their heads, juggling monkeys... no wait ... I'm getting carried away again!

Just go to etsy and type in UK SILLY SALE to find all the bargains on sale and begin your Christmas shopping maybe! This is the best time to pick up a bargain so get on board! I will be offering half price on selected tweets and silly prices on selected prints at Inkmeup but remember it doesn't kick off in earnest till tonight!

Sew Hip Magazine... Feltmeup Feature

Ever wondered how to make a felty bird? Well now you can make your own woodland mobile from an exclusive feltmeup design original. This is a design that will not be appearing in my shop so if you want one you have to make it your self! Issue 22 of Sew Hip is on sale now in all good UK newsagents!
I don't know who did these lovely little thumbnail drawings but they are gorgeous! I shall certainly be keeping this copy safe!Lots of great projects and free pull out patterns inside too! I'm going to make some handy hampers for my felt!A big thankyou to Sew Hip for the opportunity to do this and for making the How-to so good looking and fab.
x
mel