Thursday, 3 February 2011

My baby's getting big!

My naughty kitty Marley.

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Monday, 31 January 2011

My new shop!

After many hours of creating designs, a bit of trial and error, searching for bags, I finally set up my online shop. I have uploaded 3 items so far and will be working on a few more soon. I am quite happy with my new shop and have been tracking my traffic. I have to stop myself from constantly checking how many views my items have got and how many followers i have!

Here are some images of my products








Come visit me at www.folksy.com/shops/DutchCourageCrafts

      

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Monday, 10 January 2011

2011 - What is instore?

2011 - I'm looking forward to an exciting and eventful year ahead. One of my goals is to complete my book-keeping course, hopefully by April. This should improve my job prospects and better my income.

I also have plans to work on my creative side, i've been designing a few prints which i plan to put on bags, aprons and tea towels. Once I have a few ready made i want to open an online shop and sell my products. I'm not sure how to advertise my shop so that people can find it easily, otherwise it could be months before someone were to stumble upon it and if i'm lucky make a purchase. I need to do a little research on this, although from what i've read so far, a blog is a good place to start. I've already designed my logo so that is a start. I do have a slight worry about putting my work on a blog, how to you ensure your work isn't copied, is there such a thing as a copyright on a blog?

My other plans for this year include saving - i wasn't really able to do that much last year with having to buy furniture and odds and ends for the house, so this year should hopefully be a little easier.
I was fortunate enough to get a nice cheque in the post last week, a tax rebate - yippee! This will go towards my 'new' car, and i will be able to buy something a little better than i originally thought.
CJ and i are hoping to have a holiday in Canada in April, his sister is pregnant and the baby will be about a month old by then. Hopefully we can do a bit of ski-ing! Exciting!!
Depending on our money situation, we would like to get married this year. We've been engaged for over a year now and it seems like the time.

So, i'm feeling quite positive about the year ahead and hope to make some positive changes in my life, starting with a fitness regime. At the end of the month i am joining the gym. I've cancelled my swimming membership as i only tend to go once a week as it's quite far to get to. This new gym is on my way home from work which is good because it will make me feel quilty driving past it on my way home if i skip a session. Also, even if i'm not really in the mood i can do half an hour exercise as it's not out of my way, and any exercise is better than none. The plan was to get CJ to join with me, i do hope he's not going to back out.....

Monday, 29 November 2010

Roundup

It's been a while since i last blogged. Life has been plodding along, my birthday came and went - not that i really feel much older. Our landlord finally sorted out the heating which is a lot better and quite good since it's suddenly got really cold, snow is expected tomorrow, although i hear some people have been snowed in up North. I'm praying for a snow day so i don't have to go into work! I'm not really enjoying my job at the moment, i'm really bored and feel there are so many other things i could rather be doing with my time. Although since i've not got a lot of work to do i have been doing other things!

I've decided to try and see if i can make some money selling my crafty things. I've created a few designs which i want to put on bags and t-shirts and see if they will sell. I've shown a few designs to my family and friends and have gotten quite positive feedback. My mum was really excited with my ideas, i had to tell her i'd not actually printed my designs yet, that she had to wait to see if anyone would actually buy them! Sweet though and nice to have the support. I will upload some pics when i have printed a few designs and created a folksy account. I am very greatful for the internet otherwise i don't think any of this would be possible. So watch this space because i should have a few items to sell shortly!

Back the the design drawing board.....