Goals for 2012

*  Read 12 Books.  I definitely want to do some more reading this year as I never seem to finish a whole book these days, so I’ve set myself the modest task of a book a month. I received a Kindle for Christmas so I’ve got no excuse not to! Let me know if you’ve got any good book suggestions…

*  Go to the cinema more often. I love going to the cinema and I used to go every Sunday but I hardly ever go these days, so that’s going to change this year (providing there's actually some films on worth watching!)

*  Get back in the driver’s seat. I hate driving and I have to admit I have developed a bit of an irrational phobia of it. Since passing my test I’ve only ever driven once on my own and regularly try to avoid it. Of all my goals this is the hardest but I am going to try my best… Eeep.

*  Do more baking and try some new recipes. I love watching cookery programmes and when I was at University I used to bake every weekend, but it’s something I never seem to have time for these days. I also want to try some different evening meals too, as we seem to mainly eat pasta and curry!

*  Try some new crafts. I've been meaning to try needle felting and screen printing for ages I even have a needle felting book and a screen printing kit, this year I'm going to give them both a go and maybe some other crafts too, who know's I might even find my new hobby!

*  Start saving for a house. I really don’t like renting as it’s so expensive and we will never see that money again. I can’t wait till we have a house of our own that we can decorate and furnish how we want.  It’s still a long way off though...

*  Take lots of photos! I really want to get good with my SLR camera which involves lots of practice. The problem is I’m really bad at remembering to take it with me and whenever I see something interesting to photograph I never have it! I also want to brush up on my photography skills as although I’ve got pretty good at product photography (it is my day job after all!) I want to be able to take professional photographs outside of the studio.

Minifelts Goals

*  Organise some press coverage. Top of my list is getting some much needed coverage for Minifelts in a magazine or even on some more blogs. I really don’t have an excuse for not doing this sooner but it’s definitely time I pushed myself to get a press kit together and start contacting people.

*  Keep up to date accounts. I am not a naturally organised person and have worked really hard to be more organised at my day job and now I need to apply that to my own business. I’m going to keep records as I go along rather than struggling to find the right information months later!

*  Write some How To’s.  I really want to challenge myself to design a couple of simple projects that I can share on my blog for other people to make. I’m just not sure what yet…

*  Use social media more often. I love twitter and facebook and spend ages reading other people’s blogs, so I will definitely be keeping Minifelts up to date more often too.

*  Organise some more wholesale orders. This is something I’ve only just got into recently but I want to be able to offer bulk orders of Minifelts at a discounted rate for retailers. Which means organising some regular suppliers rather than just buying materials on ebay!

*  Keep more stock. No matter how many times I try and stock up on designs I always seem to end up making things to order. Now that things have quietened down after Christmas I’m hoping this will give me a chance to build up some stock again.

How about you, what are your goals for this year?

Little Big Planet

I must admit I'm a bit of a computer games geek (I blame this mainly on my boyfriend!) One release that I've been particularly looking forward to this year is a game called Little Big Planet 2.

The first game (Little Big Planet) was extremely fun and having just played the demo I can safely say the sequel looks even better! However, the main reason I'm such a big fan of this game is because of it's distinct handmade feel.

You play as Sackboy a knitted character who you can dress up, sew buttons on, change the material of and decorate however you want by collecting outfits and accessories through out the game. The game world itself also looks handmade from all sorts of different materials such as cardboard, fabric, wool, and wood. It's like one big craft adventure! 

Also when you've finished playing through all the pre-made levels that come with the game, you can use your own creativity to design and build your own handmade adventure using the level creator. (I'm thinking of making a Minifelts level, with little felt characters!)

Take a look for yourself! I can highly recommend giving this game a go even if your not normally a computer games fan!

Moo!

Look what I've just received in the post!

It's my brand new Minicards from Moo! This is my second order from Moo as I was really impressed with the quality of the prints. They cost about £10 for 100 and you can use up to 100 different images!  

                            

I think that packaging is really important especially when selling handmade goods as it can really add to the excitement of unwrapping a parcel, and is a great way of making your products and brand more memorable to your customers. Recently I've been putting some thought into my packaging so that I can try and present my products in the best possible way!

Each parcel will come with a Minicard and now a cool little sticker to brighten up the tissue paper that I wrap my products in. I also decided to order myself a Minicard holder to attach to my keys as I'm always forgetting to carry business cards with me.

I chose 10 different designs for the stickers, although for a book for 90 stickers you can use up to 90 different images.

I love how Moo package their products, the Minicards arrive in a lovely little cardboard case and the stickers in a little book with tear off sheets. 

Happy New Year

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. I had a very relaxing week off which I spent back home on the Isle of Wight with my family, eating way too much food, drinking lots of mulled wine, playing board games and watching Christmas telly!

Anyway I just wanted to take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to all of you for reading and following my blog, as well as of course my customers and everyone that's supported Minifelts over this past year, it really means a lot to me.

I can't believe that Minifelts is now a year old, and that this time last year I was just starting out, trying to learn as much as I could about selling online, promotion and photography. It's great to be able to look back over old blog posts and see how much my designs have changed. When I first set up my shop on Folksy it was selling small felt toys...

and now my product range has grown so much as I've gradually adapted my original designs to include brooches, purses, iPod cases, keyrings, cards, Nintendo DS cases and laptop cases.

The end of 2010 was so busy with me starting a new job as a product photographer (which never would have happened had I not have started Minifelts and developed such an interest in photography) and making loads of Christmas orders that I haven't had much time to work on new designs, so one of my resolutions for this year is to create a whole new range of Minifelts.

I'm also planning on trying out some new crafts and learning a lot more sewing techniques this year. I was lucky enough to receive some lovely craft books for Christmas which I'm really looking forward to reading and trying out. I also want to get better at using a sewing machine, which is going to take a lot of patience and practise! But I'm hoping it'll mean I can take on bigger more ambitious sewing projects so that I can fill my new flat full of lovely handmade things.

Anyway here's to a very productive and fun filled new year!

Knitted Lego

I just spotted this on one of my favourite blogs las Teje y Maneje and had to share it with you!

Genius! I love how it's designed to come apart piece by piece just how Lego does. It's made by Ella Is Lost and you can check out some more photos on Flickr.

Folksy Friday

This weeks Folksy Friday theme is all about the words:

1. Bam Superhero Cushion - Baby Blonde Design
2. Whoosh Necklace - Cherryloco Jewellery
3. Hand Printed English Insults Fabric - Sarah Waterhouse
4. Literary Quote Pinback Brooch Go Away I'm Reading - Bookity
5. Marche Notepad - Tea and Ceremony
6. Edgar Allen Poe Artwork On Vintage Book Page - Wall Envy Art

Minifelts are for sale in a gallery!

I have some exciting news. A few weeks ago I was contacted by the 20-21 Arts Centre in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire about stocking some of my Minifelts and today I finally finished the order and sent them off!


They requested about twenty items plus a few replacements which is practically all of the stock for my Folksy shop!

So I've been hard at work replacing items and working on some new designs.

Including new animal face purses. So far I've made a bear, owl and cat which will soon be available to buy from the gallery, and hopefully I'll be expanding this range for the website and folksy shop too. 

I also made a few keyrings, the Owl Keyring and the Penguin Keyring are for sale on my website.

This is the first time I've supplied a gallery, so it's a really exciting opportunity but scary too as I  really hope they sell! It's also given me the confidence to start approaching more shops and galleries, I just need to get much quicker at making things...

Unfortunately Lincolnshire is quite far away from me so I won't be able to go and see them on display but the gallery have kindly agreed to send me some photos, so I will give you all another update when they go on display. 

Folksy Friday

Today's Folksy Friday has a woodland theme. I've been going for a lot of long walks whilst back home on the Isle of Wight as there's such a lot of lovely country side to explore. It's great as there's always something new to see, suddenly a whole load of wild poppies seem to have sprung up all over the place and I was even lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a hare hiding in a field the other day!

Anyway hopefully these items will get you inspired to take a walk in the woods:

1. Treescape Felt Brooch - Applique Originals
2. Deer Cushion - Bonnie and Jackson
3. Tweet Hoot Little Grey Owl - The Felt Menagerie
4. Natural Leaf Buttons - Charlotte Hupfield Ceramics
5. Portrait Of A Badger - Blackoutwell
6. Felted Wool Acorns - ZM Felt

New iPod cases!

I've been working on some different animal designs for new iPod / Phone cases. I've also slightly expanded the size of them to fit Blackberry phones and other gadgets of a similar size. 

Anyway I thought I'd share some photos of the new range, I keep meaning to take some photos of them in progress, but forget until I've sewn them together! I'll definitely take some of the next ones... 

Fox iPod / Phone Case

Lion iPod / Phone Case

Bear iPod / Phone Case

Tiger iPod / Phone Case

They're all available from my new website Minifelts.com if you fancy one (or you can just click the link below the photos). Anyway I'd love to know what you think, what animals would you like to see that I haven't made so far? 

Raccoon Netbook Cover

I have been working on a very special custom order. After purchasing one of my raccoon brooches a customer asked if I could make her a matching raccoon netbook case.

I love a challenge, so I took the template I'd drawn for the badge and enlarged it to make a mahoosive raccoons head! When coming up with designs I always start by sketching a basic shape/outline on paper, then cutting it out and pinning it to the felt.

I started by cutting out the different pieces of the raccoons head from some redy brown, white and black felt and sewing a few white stitches to add detail to the eyes.

(Check out how tiny the original badge is in comparison)

I decided to make the case double layered to make sure the netbook was well protected, and recycled some old material to make the inner and outer layers. I used an old blanket dyed brown, for the cover and some green baize for the inner layer. I stitched the whole thing by hand, not a sewing machine in sight (plus I'm absolutely useless with one!)

Next I sewed along the top and sides of the green inner layer and the brown outer layer, to make a pouch for the netbook, leaving some excess so I could cut it to size later. Then I sewed the raccoon pieces to each other and then down onto the brown cover.

Here it is ready for the opening to be cut to size. After I'd cut the edges to fit the netbook, I sewed the green inner lining to the brown outer lining so that they'd stay together, and added a velcro strap that stretched around the back of the case for extra security.

Here it is finished!

I even scanned in the image to create a matching desktop wallpaper for the customer to use on her netbook!

I'm pretty pleased with the result, since it's probably my biggest project to date. I'm planning on making a whole range of netbook and maybe even laptop covers, as they're a lot more interesting than those boring black ones you can buy in PC World! I've even been on a special visit to the big Abakhan in Wales to stock up on huge rolls of felt, so watch this space for some new designs very soon...