a life of felt

I’ve just come across this blog which I thought I’d share with you. There are tons of ideas for creating your own wrapping and packaging. Not only does it explain branding but there are loads of links to other sites with tutorials on making your own tags and padded bags being but two.

Worth a read I thought and now I have to go away and think how to be more creative with my own packaging. I’ve been considering whether to add gift wrapping as a separate paid for service to my shop. Any views on this and packaging in general? How would you like your goods to be packaged?

I’ve just come across this website and thought I’d share it with you. As a Yorkshire lass the blogs on using up scraps really appeal to me. I can never throw anything away and now there are more ideas for me to use bits up.

I’ve been very busy this last week and not just with felt. My daughter and I decided to make some crocheted ruffle scarves as Christmas presents and once I start one I tend to find that I become obsessed. It’s so hard to put it down until it’s actually finished. I’ve done these as spirals before but the addition of extra stitches turns them into ruffles and I think they’re gorgeous and fun. With the fancy edge this one reminds me of a caterpillar.

Last year when I was running an after school textile club for kids I made (with help) shopping bags using the sewing machines. I thought it’d be fun, environmentally friendly and teach them to use sewing machines. I liked them so much I made three for myself and have been asked to make more as friends want to buy them as Christmas gifts. Whilst doing this I came across a remnant of fabric with handles already made from a long abandoned project. Here’s what I’ve done with it.

I’m really pleased with it. The decorations are pre-felts from another long abandoned project so, I’m chuffed that I’ve managed to turn two abandoned bits into something useful and very striking. I intend to use it tomorrow when I go shopping. Isn’t it great to finish things!

I’ve had a shop on Folksy for quite some time but as I’m paying for my website to advertise myself and my workshops I thought I may as well try and run a shop. It seems to have taken a long time since I asked my husband to build me a database for the shop. Simon rose to the challenge and was quite quick in completing his portion of the work, even taking lots of photos and writing a batch process in Photoshop to resize them. I know we’re married but he really has been brilliant.

The biggest problem has been writing the item descriptions for, as each time I wrote one, I found another thing that needed changing. Simon has been very patient with requests for change and has been equally diligent in ensuring that it has been built the right way.

On Friday I finally managed to find a chunk of time to put the last details in and lo and behold it was less of a task than I expected. I wonder why it took me so long? After testing the shop doors are now open and I’m waiting to see if anyone visits and more tantalisingly, if anyone buys. Wish me luck.

My husband Simon builds websites. Obviously he’s built mine but also www.adelaidewalker.co.uk and www.simonbattersby.com. He regularly helps out with enquiries in online forums from other developers too.

I’m hoping to put a new online shop live on my site soon which means that Simon has finished the development work for my site and is now looking for another challenge. I can state from personal experience that he loves to do a good job. He likes to ensure that not only does the site look good but that it’s usable and can viewed properly whether someone is viewing it in Internet Explorer or another less popular browser.

So if you’re looking for a new website or an upgrade / refresh for an existing one why not contact him for a quote simon@simonbattersby.com he’s probably cheaper than other web developers too.