Nearly weekend!

As I was leaving the gym last night, I looked up at the sky and saw these amazing pink colours. The photo i took with my phone doesn't capture how amazing it looked unfortunately.

Then I took a photo of my new car decoration, my patriotic mini boxing gloves!

I am hoping to finish my bags this weekend for the farm shop - a little late for mother's day possibly but you never know!

I may be starting to work at the pub again. New owners have taken over and are looking for staff. I could really do with the extra cash so am seriously thinking about it - as much as i enjoy having the extra free time :(

Are you original?

One of the blogs I enjoy looking at is 'Print and Pattern' which you can take a look at here. It has so many examples of different designs and prints, I find them really inspiring. A lot of the designs have similar themes, I've noticed owls are commonly used as well as fruit and veg. One designer that I do like who is often mentioned, is Orla Kiely. Her designs are quite bold and distinct. I've noticed a few of her designs in the shops lately on everyday products, such as water bottles. Every now and again I come across a design quite similar to hers, yet slightly different. It is really hard to be original.  How do you make sure your designs are your own and not something you've seen before but have adapted. Is it really your design in the end?

My first real folksy sale!

On Tuesday I was pleasantly surprised to receive an e-mail from folksy saying that one of my items had just been purchased! I have sold one item before but it was a commisioned piece for someone I know, so it feels more of a big deal. And so exciting! I just hope it is a taste for things to come.

Without a second income now, I have to be a little more careful with money. I am hesitant to look for another second job just yet because I really want to pursue my little shop and try to earn a bit of extra money from that. While I have a bit more free time I am working on new designs and getting some more items ready to sell. At the moment I have a folksy shop but am working towards opening an Etsy shop too. I don't know whether it means a greater potential for sales or not but I need to pursue all avenues. There are so many inovative shops on Etsy and Folksy I don't know how someone would decide to make a purchase from one shop and not another. I realise the key is getting yourself out there, promoting your shop and making sure it is seen. It takes quite a bit of time and effort, but I suppose if you really want to succeed that is what you need to do.

So my game plan for the next few weeks is to set up my Esty shop, add a few more products to my collection, and see if any local shops would be willing to put my items in their windows for a percentage.

Let's hope I will have something good to report in a couple of weeks!

Bird baby vest

On Saturday I bought some baby vests to paint my designs on for CJ's sister, who still has not yet had her baby! I have only done two designs so far, this one and a baby ellie. I am quite please with how they have come out. The vests are so tiny, making me a little broody!

My poor little boy is going to the vet on Friday to get snipped and a chipped. He went for a pre-op checkup this morning and apparently did not want to get into his cat box, am I going to have fun convincing him to get in again on Friday, oh dear!

I am hoping that once he is chipped we can use our cat flap properly. I got one that works with their chips ages ago for our other cat who is chipped, but then we got Marley and had to take the batteries out because he obviously wasn't chipped yet. We get ALL the neighbour's cats in our house, some even sleep on our couch while we're not there - cheeky buggers! And of course they eat all of our cat's food, not to mention terrorising them in their own house. I'm hoping the cat flap does work properly because it has given a few problems before and the batteries ran out really fast. I'm thinking of getting two sets of rechargeable ones. I just hope Marley doesn't hate me too much after Friday. At least it is weekend and I can keep an eye on him. Poor thing!

Fabulous Friday!

Don't you just love Fridays? It always puts me in a good mood dressing for work on Friday, knowing that i can wear whatever i like - to an extent of course! It also helps when the sun is shining and all the daffodils are starting to come out. I really love Spring in the UK, there are so many little colourful flowers around, it's so pretty! And you know that 'summer' is around the corner. I can't say i was too impressed with last year's summer, i don't remember too many warm days, but then i guess i can't compare it to Cape Town's weather.

I painted another bag last night, i think it would be more suited to kiddies. The colour of the bag reminds me of the bookbags we had at school. I took this picture with my phone so it's not great quality. The bag will be in my shop soon so you can get a better idea if you take a look there.

CJ's sister is expecting her baby very very soon. I'm going to print some designs on plain babygrows (onesies) and post them to her. We dont' know whether it'll be a boy or girl yet so they will have to be unisex. She has a woodland theme for the nursery so i might do something along those lines!

Have a great weekend!

Bright, cheery Monday

Monday, the sun is shining, it's got to be a good day! It's amazing how a bit of sun can improve everyones mood.

I had a pretty good weekend. I worked on another design and have added it to my folksy shop

I thought it would be a good design to use for the bags i plan to put in my friendsfarm stall. I may do some green apples as well as other types of fruit.

www.folksy.com/shops/dutchcouragecrafts

I video skyped my mum back home on Saturday afternoon, a 2.5 hour conversation! I love skype, it's amazing to think a few years ago i was spending silly amounts of money to have an overseas telephone conversation for only a few minutes.

CJ and i went to look at some houses they are putting up quite close to us. We saw a divine 3 bed place - obviously it looked really nice as it was a show house. I fell in love with the kitchen , it was huge and modern. Pity though that we can't afford it. I guess our first house will have to be a bit more modest unfortunately!

New design

I've just joined the gym with CJ - well i made him join with me really. He's been going 4 times a week lately whereas i've only been 3 times, of course he likes to rub it in that he goes more than i do! I went last night and did a circuit training class, I wasn't too stiff when i got up this morning but as the morning goes on i can feel my muscles starting to get sore. By the end of the day i wonder if i will even be able to walk!

I did manage to do some craftyness when i got home last night. Here is a sneak view of the new design i'm working on. I still need to add a few final touches. Please excuse the photo i took it with my phone so it's not the best quality.

I will hopefully have it in my folksy shop before the end of the week.
www.folksy.com/shops/dutchcouragecrafts