Another Month Gone! Ennui, websites and newsletters!

This year is just flying by... I had plans which I wrote down then lost, then found again and now can't make head nor tail of. Surprisingly in these plans was absolutely nothing about making a bird a day or holding auctions... or should that be unsurprisingly as I'm not the most organised person in the world!

The good news is the Feltmeupdesigns Newsletter has now got over 100 subscribers, you can join up here on my website. The newsletter gives you automatic entry into all my giveaways so you will never miss one and subscribers get discount codes for my shop delivered straight to their inboxes!

Now I have found the plan I am hoping to get back on track with things, I've been to the studio this week for the first time properly in 2 weeks and I am nearly on top of my gallery orders. Since closing down my Inkmeup shop I still haven't re photographed all my prints so that's priority one. Many of them I only have one of so they are going into my Etsy Shop where stock control is easier.

Priority 2 is rephotographing everything, updating all my product listings and having a cull of products that just don't sell anymore. This is a hard one for me, I'm incredibly attached to some of the designs but I need to be realistic and if they aren't selling I need to move on. It's also hard on another level as since the beginning of 2014 I am basically making everything to order, so to rephotograph things they need making first.

I've started slowly with prints and the big owls, you get some funny looks walking through the woods with an owl and a camera!

My website is also in dire need of an update and I am looking around for other options to my webstore. The hardest part of running this business is having to be a jack of all trades, you have to be maker, photographer, designer, accountant, web designer... and a hundred other things which totally get in the way of the fun stuff!

If you've been following me a while you'll know this year has been a tough one for me, so I bit the bullet and went to the Doctors, waiting on some test results but the verdict is they will all be negative and I have stress related depression (again). I've struggled with depression my whole life so it's a blow to be back here again, I'm hoping that things will improve as the summer arrives and the weather improves so I can be at the studio more. The leaking roof at the studio really was a blow, not being able to use the space as intended for so long was heart breaking and really put a dent in my plans. Fingers crossed it's fixed now and I can move on.

 I'm hoping to launch some new designs next month... watch this space for updates!

Kickstarter Doodle Birds Tea Towel Project

So I launched my Kickstarter last night and we are already at 63% funded which is amazing after just 24 hours. I'm raising funds to turn my doodle birds design into a fabulous tea towel. Read all about the project and listen to me waffle on about it here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/feltmeupdesigns/feltmeupdesigns-rainbow-doodle-birds-printed-tea-t

If you aren't familiar with Kickstarter have a gander at their site and see how fab it is! Basically Kickstarter is a crowd funding site. A way in which normal folks like me can raise funding for creative projects which otherwise we wouldn't be able to afford. So I'm going to use my funds to produce a run of at least 100 lovely tea towels!

It works like this, you check out a project and if you like it you pledge funds towards it which are collected by Kickstarter once the project is over, in return for your pledge you get rewards which each project creator makes themselves ... if the project isn't fully funded, the creator of the project (me) get zero funds, you don't get charged and I cry for a bit. If it does get funded I jump up and down like a crazy person, have some pink wine, your funds get sent to me and I make pretty stuff! Get it? Got it? Good!

I have some awesome rewards that you won't be able to get anywhere else, prints, stickers, original artwork, felty birds and tea towels of course. So have a gander and if you can't pledge please share... any help is appreciated.

Blog A day 4 Take 2... Gloria to the Rescue

Phew... finally the plumber has gone and there I was getting annoyed cos I couldn't work! He's coming back tomorrow so I thought while I had the chance I would get a sneaky bit of work done.

I decided to make a chicken friend for Doris to stop her getting lonely, I called her Gloria... for a while she was called Florence but she had more of a Gloria feeling to her!

I took the opportunity to stamp several Gloria's on to cloth in prep for tomorrow so while the plumber man is finishing off my boiler I can sew some Gloria's together!

Blog A day 4 Doris saves the Day!!!

My fabric experiments yesterday were an over riding success with everyone agreeing that Chicken shaped lavender bags were the way to go so I have had a morning making more! My chicken has been christened Doris and Doris's are available to buy at Etsy Inkmeup http://www.etsy.com/shop/inkmeup and Folksy in Great British Pounds http://www.folksy.com/shops/Inkmeup
Ok and I know this is a bit of a cop out for my blog a day but I can't get anywhere near my work today cos there is a plumber ripping apart my kitchen and I don't want to get my work covered in plaster dust!
If he goes away I'll try and do a proper one later!
xx

Blog A Day 3 Stamp Happy or Gocco Loco

I couldn't wait to try out my gocco stamp yesterday when it arrived, so many ideas were rushing around my head but I decided to start by using one of my existing screens to work out the principles of the stamp.The gocco stamp basically works with the screens you make with the gocco machine, so you still need a gocco to use it. It has a sticky pad on the base which attaches to the cover on the screen and plastic clip on bits which hold the screen above the fabric so you can position it correctly without getting ink everywhere. All in all it's a simple bit of kit

I stamped alot of chickens all over this lovely white cotton I bought, snipped them out and sewed them together with a ribbon hanging tag, I stuffed them with stuff, popped a little lavender sachet in each one.

I am totally in love with my gocco stamp... plans for future projects include tea towels and tote bags, draft excluders, aprons, mini plushies and Christmas decorations... squeeee... can't wait.

Chicken lavender bags will be available in Inkmeup very soon... just as soon as I decide which design I prefer square or chicken shaped! Which do you like best?

Mother and Daughter Gocco Day

At mother's day (which is earlier in the UK in case you were confused) in this storque article I rather foolishly promised my mother that I would show her how to use my gocco printer. One month on we finally got the opportunity and where both of us were able to get in the same room at the same time!
Mum was a little tentative at first but she had brought lots of ideas with her, she drew a little boat and burned it on to a screen.
She inked up her screen...
And began printing...
On prepare backgrounds she brought with her...
And cards, and papers and soon we were searching for more things to print on and after a while she had what we generally refer to in our house as... AN INKSPLOSION!!!!! I counted 105 prints! Mum had a really good day and was all inspired so much so that she wants to come back soon and try and do some coloured prints!
We rewarded our selves with a coffee and a little bun!

Blog Giveaway Inky Prizes!!!!

I am feeling generous this week, I am looking forward to my week off and moving my boyfriend into my flat and I reckon I need to declutter a bit! So I am having my first inky give away. You may have noticed I have another wee shop on etsy called inkmeup which is edging ever closer to 100 sales. I am offering one lucky winner a great big inky prize of a music wrens print , a blank notebook of their choice plus a great big inky pile of post cards and mini prints... in a big prize haul worth over $50
How to enter
This time there are 4... yes 4 ways to enter!

To enter simply leave a comment on my blog telling me what your favorite item in my shop is or buy an item from from either shop or leave a Twitter comment mentioning this blog post with link @feltmeupdesigns

Finally become a fan of inkmeup at our face book page here ... If you do all 4 you get 4 entries... simples!!!The best thing about having a week off from my day job is I will be getting my fingers well and truely inky and working on new designs. Yay! I will draw the competition by the scientific and totally random way of sticking the entries in a hat and making John pick one out, with his eyes closed, probaly looking dopey... there may even be pictures ... competition closes February 24th.