Off up North

Just a last minute post before I pack for the weekend. Off to stay at my Mam's, so no sewing for me this weekend. I have however been working on some kind of packaging for my brooches, all will be revealed next week.

Since I am off to join the Geordie Brigade for a few days I thought I'd give you all a taste off the 'toon'!!

The 'Swing' and 'Tyne' Bridge

Newcastle United Football Club.....of course!!!

The Millennium Bridge and the Quay Side


Newcastle Brown Ale 'A bottl' a broon' :)

Thanks again to all those who took part in my give away this month, prizes will be put into the post tomorrow, so keep an eye out for them!!

A Great big **HUG**........

...to all of you that left me a comment taking part in my 2nd Give away. I wanted to give you all a big blogging hug to say thanks. It was great to read what you all thought of my site and definitely gave me food for thought.

Anyway before I start rambling I'm sure you'd all rather find out who won???

OK in reverse order:

3rd Prize: Rachel who wins my felt flower brooch.

2nd Prize: Lyn (I don't currently have a contact for you Lyn so please can you get in touch) who wins my medium Bejou cosmetic pouch.

and finally.......

1st Prize: Pretty Fun who wins my large Linnie cosmetic pouch, little giraffe note book and pen, roller stamper, rabbit punch and jungle stickers.

I will email you all to get an address to mail them out to you.

Congratulations to you I hope you are pleased with my creations :)

OK so going back to all those fab comments, since you were all so kind to take the time I thought it would only be right if I spent the time answering some of them. Thanks for all who said they thought it was great, its nice to know my hard and tiring ;) work paid off in the end.

Many thanks to Jenn for spotting an awful mistake in my shop, I think by this time my eyes were like squares and everything looked the same. You we so right Jenn and when I looked back at it, it did make me chuckle to myself as I thought 'how on earth did I not spot that.' But as you can see all has been corrected (unless anyone else can spot any I've missed?). Also Jenn my 'one off' remark on the website is maybe a British thing, we say it with regards to being original hope that didn't throw any body off too much.

Also many thanks to Marie who commented on moving my blog details to contact rather than the first page, although I do love my blog to bits the point of the Website is not to go wandering off to my blog it is to shop :) Good comment!!

Other comments that were a trend:

You are unable to click on the Polaroids to take you somewhere.......I was faced with a dilemma on this one as with the restrictions of the package I used I could either have just used pictures in square boxes that you could click on or go the route that I chose which was to incorporate all the pictures in one big back drop and make it look a little more showy. I must admit my flair got the better of me and I opted for the fancy pictures....however I am looking into if I can put some kind of coding in so that you are able to click. If anyone has any tips please let me know.

Writing on the Polaroids being too small or not readable......unfortunately due to the package again it is how the images are downloaded from their server as to what the dpi will be. (One handy tip I found out from a friend though is that if you hold the Ctrl button down and press the + key it will zoom into the screen for you and you can see that the image is very clear.) Definitely something I am working on improving.

And last but not least.....and I am not a 'workman' for 'blaming his/her tools' but some one commented on the length of time it took for the images to load up. Again I have tried to reduce them as much as possible but it will depend on the server the images are being downloaded from and of course the speed of your computer.

I love critiques and I have well and truly loved all your comments and suggestions....I would recommend anyone doing it. Its always good to have fresh eyes on a project.

I hope you all enjoyed looking round my site and that hopefully you will think of me when you are planning your Christmas shopping list!!!!

GIVE AWAY!!! No.2

Ok here it is:
To celebrate the launch of bagladee.com I am having another give away, this time the prizes are from my collection.

------------------------------

1st PRIZE:

Large Linnie cosmetic pouch: 25cm (W) x 16cm (H)

and then for fun I've included, a little giraffe note book and pen, roller stamper, rabbit punch and jungle stickers.

2nd PRIZE:

Medium Bejou cosmetic pouch: 18cm (W) x 13cm (H)

3rd PRIZE:

Mini flower felt brooch (a one off adaptation of my flower brooches sold on bagladee.com & Etsy)

---------------------------------

How to enter:
1. Easy just click here, this will take you to my new website.

2. Have a look round......

3. Come back here and post a comment telling me what you think, what you like, what you don't like, what you think about my range......anything you like.

4. All names will be put into my felt bucket and winners will be drawn on Monday 25th August.

So go on then what are you waiting for get yourself over and have a look. Don't forget to pass it on!!

And GOOD LUCK!!!

If only everyday were like today.....

Screen shot from my website.....

I was just going to pop in a blog a little note of what I've been doing today when I realised that this will be post number 52!

52 posts, I can hardly believe it. Some people say that I talk too much sometimes but at least on here its mostly craft related. I wonder if people think I talk less or more since I started blogging? I would say more, as I read more (other people's blogs etc) therefore there are more interesting things to talk about.......look there I go again!!!

Anyway getting back to the point of the post......I do wish everyday were like today. No work (boring day job, on holiday this week!) Yippee! So I spent the day, first checking my emails and replying, browsing through Etsy wondering whether or not to reduce the amount of items I have for sale in there now that the website is finished (http://www.bagladee.com/), and just generally having a bit browse.

We (me and Chris) decided that we would have a trip to IKEA to see if they had any bargains or anything that was useful to put into our extension we are building. We had a spot of lunch, then had a stroll round the shop......got some great ideas for building a bespoke cupboard to house all those cleaning products etc that you would rather not see. Chris is good with DIY well that's what you get from having a background in product design.

Then on the way back we popped into Brookefields, a local gardening centre and went for a look in the, what we call 'crap corner' that's all the plants they are selling off because they all look a bit sad and decrepid.....bless them. We ended up with a huge box full of plants for £10 (approx $20) and some fertilizer as my rose tree is looking a bit sad and forlorn and not bearing any flowers this year :(

So this afternoon was spent in the garden planting all my fab cheap plants.....and I have to say after a bit of water and a couple of hours settling in they are looking great. Even though it started raining every 10minutes! I will take a picture tomorrow if the weather is a bit nicer.

I am now finishing off tweaking the photos of the last few items to put into my web shop (oooohhhh I love how that sounds, my very own shop, on my very own website!!), well to be truthful its not the last as I have a load of new brooches to list but I'm going to have a break for a week. Off to make a cuppa and carry on photoshopping!

***Oh and don't forget to come back tomorrow for my give away, there are 3 prizes this time and include items from my range so be sure not to miss out!!!!***

P.S. I have just looked back to see how much I have wrote, see what I mean!!!! :)

www.bagladee.com is now LIVE!!!

Wooooopppppeeeeeee!!!!! I feel like running round my garden shouting, "MY WEBSITE IS FINISHED!!!!" but then my neighbours will think that I've finally lost it! ;)

Anyone out there who have had Internet/website issues (Sarah!!) will know exactly how I feel. Seriously I feel like I could float away on a could of completed website bliss.

Now this is my first attempt at website creating, although I have had the help of:

Hosting: mrsite

Photo tweaking and arranging: Chris (my lovely other half).

Advice & moral support: Sarah :)

So thank you to you all, especially Chris he's been such a support through this and he has had to put up with me acting like a crazy woman at times. But now I can say it was worth it all......to be able to type in http://www.bagladee.com/ and see it all there is just awesome!!!

I hope you all enjoy browsing round it.......to celebrate the launch I will be having a fab give away with lots of prizes so don't forget to check back on Wednesday 20th August to take part.

I am now off to have a well deserved celebratory large glass of wine! Go on, get yourself over there to check it out http://www.bagladee.com/

Cheers!

Quick break...

Since there has been an immense lack of visual stimulation on my blog lately ;) I thought while I was taking a break from finishing the website I would give you a sneak peak at what I've been doing :)

Photos uploaded into my shop, hope you like? I'm off to do some more.................

Are we nearly there yet?

OK this is one hurdle over come.....I am back online!! The new router turned up in the post today, after about 30 minutes of following instructions.....TA DA!!!

Worked perfectly, such a relief. It is so much smaller that the other router we had but I suppose that technological advances for you. So now I must press on with the website.

The plan is to grab some lunch after work tomorrow as I finish at 1pm on a Friday (that's the upside of working in the manufacturing industry) and get stuck in. Although I am now a week behind schedule I do plan to get things in motion on Saturday.

I am starting to think that maybe August was turning out to be an unlucky month as my friend Sarah is also having website issues. The Internet is a wonderful place but I cant help thinking that good old pen and paper was efficient without all the glitches. :)

Isn't Technology Wonderful!!!!!!!! :(

For all you out there waiting with baited breath on the launch of bagladee.com sincere apologies for this not happening on Saturday.

I have encountered quite a few problems this week.....ending in a finale of now having no Internet connection. Don't you just love technology and how great it is.

After spending a substantial amount of time on the phone to my Internet provider.....and getting very irate they have given in and are sending out a new router!!! Thank god.....but unfortunately this does mean that until this turns up I cant upload the last bits for the site.

To make up for this I will be having a super dooper give away (partially to celebrate actually getting there, and also to say thanks for being so patient).

I could really use some words of encouragement at the moment so if anyone is feeling kind please feel free to leave a comment to give me a boost :)

Stay tuned as they say for updates (which I am having to do in my lunch break at work) yippee :(

Late Night Blog.......ZZZzzzzzzz

Ok...I've spent all day adjusting an uploading photo's to my website and the fact that my eyes are not yet square is amazing!! ;)

Still so much to do....think I underestimated how much time this was going to take. Although I have listed every bag and some of the brooches, I still have the clutch bags, pouches, purses and the other brooches. Phew!!

My eyes will be square by the time Sunday is out.

Hope everyone is having a fab weekend. I'm off to get some rest so I can start bright and early tomorrow.

Sweet dreams :)

Back in the game!!!

Yey.......email is now all sorted and up and running!!! It took some work but I got there in the end late last night. So very tired this morning :(

Sarah, don't worry I did get your email. My new email (clever little thing it is) had retrieved it and a couple of other important ones from paypal (just as well too!!). So a reply will be winging its way to you once I have sorted the website.

I cant believe that after nearly 2 years I will finally have the website sorted, I am so excited I can barely contain myself! So many things have got in the way it has been unreal.....too much to explain, but it has nearly driven me insane on a few occasions. And that is putting it lightly.

Anyway no more looking to the past...as they say "When you make a mistake, don't look back at it long. Take the reason of the thing into your mind and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power." so its the future all the way for me. And I'm so looking forward as to what it has in store for me and my littl' ol' bags. :)

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift that's why they call it the present!"

Email out of Action!!!

Due to the exciting fact that I am adding my website to the universe of the Internet I temporarily have no email access for emma@bagladee.com

Hopefully this should be all sorted and back up tonight....so if any one has sent me an email from last night through today unfortunately this is lost in the post 'so to speak'. I have all previous emails backed up on a disc so I have not lost any of my precious emails from you all.

The exciting part of all this is that if you go to: http://www.bagladee.com/ you can see that my holding page has changed.....lots more to come. I am hoping that we will be live and ready to go on Saturday. Just squeezing in the last bits and bobs in between working to get it all on there.

I will be back on Friday to update you all on progress and then on Saturday for the big launch where I will be having a give away with plenty of prizes up for grabs so don't forget to check back and take part.

YEY, Weekends!!!!!!

I just love the weekends!! No work, so I treated myself to a good lie in bed with a cup of tea, then spent the day with nothing in particular planned just getting stuff done. Which was a nice change.

I was going to post this yesterday but seeing as I had another disaster of battery failure with my camera and to be honest the lighting wasn't that good on Thursday or Friday. But thanks to a good old thunder storm the skies were cleared and the sun was shining so I grabbed my camera to take these....

These are the cosmetic pouches and purses that I had started quite some time ago and only now have I managed to get them finished (you might remember me blogging about buying the fabric from Etsy?) I wont be listing these ones on Etsy though, I'm keeping them for the launch of my website....coming soon watch this space!!

I have used nice and colourful cotton inside each one to compliment the colourful zips.

And on the end of each zip is a cute little charm, on the oriental print pouches/purses a little flower.....

And on the cupcake pouches/purses a cute little heart.

Time for a group photo!!!

Keep your eyes on my blog in the next couple of weeks as I will be having another give away very soon, I have started collecting goodies already and this one will include one of my creations!!!

Last but certainly not least I just want to say hello to my Mam (Christine). She hasn't been very well lately and it has been a while since I visited home (I think my last proper visit was March?) I spoke to her on the phone today and she seemed really down. So Mam if you're reading this I will look at my diary tomorrow and arrange a weekend to come up and see you!! We'll go shopping or go somewhere nice for lunch....my treat :)

Ok I'm off to get sorted for bed now.......one more glorious day to myself before returning back to work on Monday. Roll on my week off :)