SBS Winner

Every week for about the last 3-4months I have been 'pitching' my little business to the one and only Theo Paphitis through Twitter. Every week I'd think of something new to write about bagladee and every week I would constantly refresh my BB to see if I had been retweeted.

For those of you not familiar with SBS (Small Business Sunday) Theo opens his Twitter name to a constant flow of 'pitching' tweets from hopeful business peeps 5-7:30pm every Sunday night. Then whilst Dragons Den is airing he chooses 6 of 'the best' and retweets their tweet.

For some weird reason this week I thought I'd not check because it wouldn't be me. Dragons Den had finished and me and C were watching Match of the Day. One email came through my BB, then 2, then 3.....until there were so many emails and mentions on Twitter my phone completely froze!!! Yep froze!! Jumping up and down and squealing "Its me, he picked me!!" whilst C was shushing me because I was interrupting the football. Once I had calmed down enough to explain he was thrilled I had been picked (first too). I'm still on cloud 9 and still cant believe it. Orders are coming in, my email is jam packed with enquires and I have gained about 300 new followers on Twitter.

Now I know Theo is never going to read this but if he were:

Dear Mr Paphitis, I really cant thank you enough for picking me this Sunday for SBS I am truly over the moon. It means more than you can imagine and gives me the encouragement to push myself that little bit further. You really made my forever. I have placed my badge proudly on the front page of my website (made by the lovely Tia of Whoatemycrayons) and will be forever grateful.

Many many thanks

Me xx

Riot Raffle



This week I donated a prize to the Riot Raffle.

I have huge admiration for the very lovely Zoe Grant who is the organiser behind it all. Zoe has brought together the creative community to support the independant businesses who suffered at the mindless violence and vandalism of the riots in London earlier this month.

Karmen Shopper (filled with more goodies) donated to Riot Raffle

Over 80 independant businesses have stepped forward to help those who need it get back up on their feet again. And I have to say the prizes are fantastic. It really is heart warming to think that at the worst of times there are always people who are there to help and support others and if I were ever in their shoes someone would be there to help me.

Raffle tickets can be bought in multiples of £1 and all the monies donated will go to Retail Trust who are helping the retailers and their families affected through this difficult time.

Right I will stop waffling on and give you the specifics, if you would like to read more about Riot Raffle click here. If you want to learn more about Retail Trust and what they do click here. If you would like to buy a ticket and be in with a chance to win a fab prize click here.

Progress

Today I've had a lovely afternoon making some clutch bags for a special order. The fabrics that I had chosen for this order (including the one above) are different to what I would normally buy to add to the website but more 'me' fabrics. And whilst I was sewing it felt like the 'old me'.

There are lots of other things going on too (no surprise to you who know what I'm like for doing a hundred things at once), a secret, another secret, some 'C' prep (Christmas for those who don't mind me saying it), a custom order, another gallery order, Oh yes and I haven't forgotten about your request for a clutch Mama its cut out waiting to be sewn.

I'm really enjoying being part time at the day job for the first time since I transferred contracts, I feel like I'm finally in a 'routine'. Well as much of a routine as there can be, it just means that I have managed to organise myself enough to start growing my own veg, help C out with the final renovations of the house and sew sew sew til my hearts content.

Life feels good! :)

Zesty

Perfect for a sunny day, this gorgeous lemon slice fabric is cut up and ready to be sewn into a clutch bag for a special order. There has been a lot of cutting and chopping yesterday and today, which means I have lots to sew at the weekend. We have a garage to empty too that we have been putting off until we have no choice other than to just get on with it now :( My veggies are now big enough to transfer into bigger trays and if time allows I might even make a batch of cupcakes :)

Sponsor Ads???

Following on from my question in yesterdays post I was wondering if we could have a little chat about sponsor ads?

It looks like I will be giving the AdSense a miss, I don't think it would work for me. Judging from other peoples comments about it it will only earn me a few pence if I'm lucky. So I'm thinking about introducing sponsor ads to my side bar. I haven't quite figured out the ins and outs as yet but I just wanted to put the feelers out to see if anyone would be interested. I do get quite a lot of traffic to my blog and with major news in the next couple of months there will be substantially more in future months.

What will I be offering in exchange for sponsor ads??? Well I will be posting more tutorials, more giveaways and those advertising will get a special discount code for my website.

So let me know your thoughts, would you consider taking out ad space on a blog?

Ack!!!

Well I did have an afternoon or should I say 'crafternoon' (my new buzz word cleverly created by the lovely Sarah of Blooming Felt) planned but this was scuppered by the pesky day job :( So by the time I did the food shopping the afternoon was over. Booooo!!!

However C is out playing football so I get to have a crafty evening instead. Yeeaaahhhhh!!!

I'm feeling kinda dizzy high at the moment and no its not because I've been gluing purse/clutch frames :D Excited but not really knowing whether my feet are on the ground or not. Its like waiting for Christmas. Oooh speaking of which, sorry I can feel some of you virtually poking me in the eye right at this moment, but because of recent events I am having to ramp up the 'making' so I am currently surrounded by cute gingerbread men and some new cuties. I promise to show them to you as soon as they are finished, as long as you all promise not to hurl something at me for talking about the dreaded 'C' word.

Quick question: Do any of you use AdSense on your blog? Do you find it profitable? And do any of you reading blogs find them annoying? Just wondered if it would be worth me adding it, as extra funds at the mo would be a great help.

Just whizzing past

....as I have a super busy afternoon ahead. Purse to start and finish to post tomorrow, hand sewing of something new to finish (if you follow me on Twitter you might have seen these yesterday?), a mission to find some buttons, a 'mission statement' to write and a tidy up in what I think used to be my studio, it seems to be disguising itself as a rubbish dump :D

My sneaky order

My sneaky order arrived yesterday, C said there's a parcel for you. Now if I hadn't been so excited I should have said Oh right thanks and walked off into the studio with it. Oh but no, I came straight out with "Oh goody it must be my fabric" DOH!!!!!!

They are soooo pretty, some are for an exhibition order and the rest are for me to play with :)

Today I visited Strawberry Cupcakes, I only wish it was to do another course but this time I was just picking up some more sugar paste so I can make some more decorations for my yummy cupcakes. We then went to get some flowers for the garden which is looking pretty good now. Not quite there but will look lovely when we get the turf and decking down. This afternoon was spent putting them in the boarders and giving a second coat to my cold frame.

I have lots of secrets at the moment but I cant tell anyone yet, they are bagladee related.....lots of new projects....hopefully. Fingers crossed!!

Riots, Bamboo and a wedding

Time for an update....I have to say first and foremost that I've been consumed by the events of rioting and looting since Friday and have busied myself with tasks trying my hardest to not feel frightened, sad or let down by the thuggery that has taken hold of a vast majority of our cities here in the UK. It felt only right just to say a little something here. I have my own opinions and thought of the events but I wont voice them here. I don't wish to get into any political debate about it, I just hope its been brought to an end now.

Thursday we travelled up north to watch my nephew get married on Friday, which was a beautiful day. Saturday through to yesterday we were working in the garden, trying to get it to a 'tidy' stage and planted 6 huge bamboo trees in hope it will screen off the garden a little. So far its working a treat :) I have been doing a little sewing and patiently waiting for some fabric and purse frames to arrive (please Mr.Post Man deliver them tomorrow). After having been given a huge bag of red peppers we have been experimenting with different ways of fitting them into our meals. Our favourite so far being stuffed peppers with choriso :D yum!!

Speaking of vegetables.....I might just be turning into Margo from The Good Life. Last week I planted a whole load of seeds and they are just starting to pop up. Hopefully we will be having, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, parsnips, onions, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, courgettes and cabbage. Grow little seedlings grow!!

Gingers!!!

Do you remember these little fellas? My lovely little ginger bread men. I have been twoing and frowing for the last couple of weeks whether or not to start making some more in time for Christmas. Oh crap I've just gone and said the 'C' word, nope not that one, the other. Now I'm sure I've just heard lots of moans in the background that its months away. But last year I ran out of time to make as many as there were being demanded. Especially when people were ordering them in their dozens.

I am going to be prepared this year and yep I have already cut some out this morning.

I'm kinda using them as a 'get back into work' exercise. Now don't get me wrong I love to make bags, this is what I love to do. But late I have felt like I have been stuck in a rut. Ever since I was little I've loved to (as my Mam calls it) faff with bits and bobs, I love variety and I think this is why I have arrived in the no mans land of non craftiness. There hasn't been any variety! I've missed playing with felt and missed the general "Today I think I will make...". And the worst part of this is that I have more time to do these things than I've ever had!! So how come I have let it happen? Complacency? Who knows?

I have ordered some new purse frames so that means I get to construct some new patterns, that should fix the problem. I also have a list of tutorials I plan to make/write so this old blog of mine should be back to its interesting (well some may think it is) and not this drivel I have been writing about.

Right moan and boring bits over, hurray for Christmas decorations!!! Lol :D Oh yeah and today I've realised I could do with a peg bag so I'm going to be working on a funky modern pattern, watch this space.