Last Chance: Felt Bundles!

When I began selling craft supplies again last year (PIVOTING my business like so many others in 2020!) I bought a whole range of different things to try and sell... and have been gradually restocking stuff that sells well, and quietly letting less popular items (or ones which turned out to be a headache to source or store or ship) sell out then vanish from my shops. 

My journey back into craft supply selling began with the decision to start selling felt squares, which I felt sure (no pun intended!) would be a nice steady seller like they had been last time I'd sold them. 

Unfortunately though it seems that wholesale costs for the felt I sell have gone up a lot in recent years while retail prices have remained pretty static so profit margins are much tighter. And you've gotta hold a LOT of stock in order to be able to have the full range of colours available, even before you start thinking about letting people choose their own colours. And then even ready-picked colour bundles take a long time to assemble!

Basically, compared to other areas of my business the effort/hassle to income ratio is not great for me selling felt squares right now so I'm going to stop doing that and focus on other things instead.

Several of my felt bundles sold out before Christmas, but I've got a few still in stock. Grab them now before they vanish!

Bargain Imperfect 3 inch Embroidery Hoops

I've mostly sold out of embroidery hoops at the moment (you guys are clearly planning lots of stitchy projects!) but I've just added some bargain batches of little 3 inch embroidery hoops to my shop.

 

 

I check all the wooden hoops I sell very carefully and any I'm not 100% happy with (because of marks or other small flaws) get set aside... and now I'm selling off some batches of the imperfect hoops at a bargain price!

These embroidery hoops might not be perfect but they're still nice little hoops and would be great for making Christmas ornaments or for other small projects. 

Click here to find them in my shop, and here to browse all the other stuff that's new - I've added lots of crafty supplies and vintage finds and other fun stuff recently!

New in My Shop: Wooden Snowflakes, Toadstools, and More!

Things have been a bit quiet on my blog recently but I've been busy working on lots of new projects and adding lots of new things to my shop.

I was particularly delighted to receive a batch of new wooden bits and bobs from one of my suppliers recently: there are so many crafty possibilities in these lovelies!

There's a box of 45 little wooden snowflakes...

... big plywood buttons...

 ... a trio of toadstools...

 ... and a set of Christmas / fir trees, too! (How fab would those look decorated with paint and glitter??!?)

I just ordered a few sets of each to try them out, so my stock levels are a little low right now (in fact the Christmas trees sold out already!) but I'm hoping to order lots more in October. 

 

Click here to visit my shop and see everything that's new! 

My listings are set up with UK & European shipping but I'm happy to chat about and quote for worldwide shipping, too, just send me a message.

Lots of Fabulous Felt Bundles!

One of my big projects this week has been turning a pile of wool blend felt squares into some lovely colour-themed felt packs.

The felt delivery arrived on Monday, I sorted them into colour order on Tuesday, wrapped them all up neatly with ribbon on Thursday, then got them photographed and in my shop yesterday - hurrah!

The Soft Pastels pack includes 12 pretty pale and pastel shades:

Then there's Pinks & Purples...

... Blues & Greens...

... and Fire Tones (thus named because Reds, Oranges, Yellows, & Peach/Coral Pinks was just too much of a mouthful!).

If you want a wider mix of colours, you can choose from the Bright Rainbow...

... and the Bold Rainbow, which has much deeper, richer tones though I'm not sure I've fully captured the difference between these packs in these photos! I think I may need to take a photo of the two rainbow packs together for really clear comparison. *Adds that to the To Do list*

I've also put together a pack of squares inspired by the British coast, which I'm calling Coastal Walk:

Then the last pack is Useful Neutrals, which is currently only 10 squares (unlike the other packs which all have 12) because my stockist is out of stock of white and ivory felt and I'm planning on adding those to this bundle as soon as I can get hold of some.

As well as the felt bundles, I've also added a few new crafty supplies to the shop this week. It's been a fun challenge working out the best ways to photograph everything!

There are lots of different buttons...

 

 

... some lovely metallic pencils...

... and vanishing fabric marker pens. I use one of these pens regularly in my projects, especially when I'm working with felt and want a guide line for something like a cute smiley face. If I mention an "air-erasable pen" in a tutorial, this is the kind of pen I mean! Some pens in this style only write well on fabric but this felt-tip-style pen is great for fabric and felt, I highly recommend it.

I've also added some gorgeous 15mm wide rainbow ribbon to the shop - the 6mm ribbon was proving so popular I thought I'd get some of this in, too. I'm now selling both ribbons by the metre or in 10 metre reels.

Finally, one of the other tasks I ticked off this week was buying some packaging to use when posting my shop orders. I bought envelopes, etc, of course, but I also stocked up on pretty stripey paper bags. They're so lovely I've popped some in the shop. They're available in blue or sunny yellow, and I'm selling them in bundles ranging from 10 to 100 bags.

As I've mentioned before, my shop is currently set up just to accept orders within the UK because of the effect COVID-19 is having on the post. However, if you're based elsewhere and are happy to wait for your order to arrive, please do get in touch and I can give you a quote for postage and sort the payment out via Paypal.

New Craft Supplies in My Shop!

As I mentioned last week, I've re-opened my craft supplies shop and am busy stocking it with lots of colourful, crafty goodness.

I've been busy photographing, measuring, and listing a whole bunch of lovely new things. Wanna see?

There are felt rainbows (and pick-you-own-colour felt squares), rainbow ribbons, pretty rainbows of pins, and bargain rainbow embroidery thread bundles. So much lovely colour!

I've also got some fab ribbon that's printed to look like a measuring tape, some black elastic for mask-making, cover buttons and a super-useful button covering tool (perfect for making felt buttons), and some GORGEOUS shimmery two-tone buttons.

Then there's embroidery scissors (so useful for cutting out small felt pieces!), lovely wooden cotton reels, big card bobbins for organising your yarns and ribbons, and some white elastic.

I've also bought some cute and colourful stickers. These are great for crafty projects, gift wrapping, journalling and scrapbooking, and for sticking on your snail mail.

There are cute woodland animal stickers (I've been sticking these on my shop parcels lately, I love them!), rainbow star, dot, and heart sticker sheets, and lots of colourful dots. I think the dots would be wonderful for creating bullet-pointed lists in your journal or diary!

I've also got colourful retro vinyl stickers featuring rainbows and unicorns and other fun stuff, and I've got some bargain books of mini stickers: cute kitties and happy stars.

Pen-wise, I've listed some fun colour-changing pens and a pair of metallic markers (I love a good metallic marker!). Then I've got giant wooden pegs (because why not? Oversized stuff is so joyful!) and packs of gorgeous glitter card (sooooooo shiny).

If you'd rather have tiny pegs than giant ones, don't worry - I've got you covered. I'm also selling a fab pack of luggage tags (I just adore those bright colours), a useful pack of coloured card, and some flower press kits.

I'm particularly excited to be stocking the flower presses as I feel like they're just the kind of relaxing, nature-loving craft we all need right now! I've got three sizes in stock, ranging from a mini press to the biggest flower press I have ever seen in my LIFE (seriously, it is HUGE). The boards are blank for you to decorate with paint, decoupage, stickers, etc, so one of these kits is basically two crafty projects in one. 

Click here to visit my shop and see everything that's in stock!

A New (Old) Direction: Wool Blend Felt Squares + Craft Supplies

Hey, guess what?

I've decided to start selling felt squares again! Yay!

I'm selling the same brand of lovely 30% wool felt I used to sell many years ago - it's gorgeous and soft and comes in so many great colours. I use it A LOT in my own crafting, I love it and I hope you guys will too.

I've re-opened my Big Cartel shop to have my own little corner of the internet to sell stuff - click here to visit and see what's for sale!

As well as felt, I'm also going to be selling other colourful and useful crafty supplies: lots of stuff for sewing, of course, but also some paper crafting supplies, stationery, and other crafty goodness. I've added a few bits and bobs already and there's more coming soon. You can also buy my PDF patterns (these will be emailed to you within 24 hours as I sadly can't do automatic downloads via my shop).

Oh, and I've added my recent vintage and second-hand finds to the shop, as well. There's crafty stuff like second hand books and vintage fabric, as well as lovely stuff like vintage book pages and gorgeous plates. 

I'll be adding some of my felt and craft supplies over in my Etsy shop as soon as I have time, but my full range will be stocked in my main shop. This is partly to save time (duplicating all those listings and managing stock levels in multiple places is a lot of work!) but mostly to save money, as some items just won't make financial sense to sell via Etsy due to their listing and sales fees.

Please note: at the moment my shop is just set up to ship to addresses in the UK. I know there are a lot of delays with the international mail at the moment and don't want customers buying from me then getting upset when their order doesn't arrive quickly! If you live outside of the UK and want to place an order and are happy to wait several weeks for your parcel please do get in touch.

I'm a bit nervous about dipping my toes into this new (old) venture, but excited about it too! Wish me luck, and go have a browse of all that crafty goodness...

New Paper Packs: Vintage Goodness for Paper Crafting

I've put together some more paper packs from a whole bunch of vintage books, maps, magazines and other bits and bobs!

 

I may add these items to my Etsy shop later this month but for now I'm sending invoices via Paypal. This is a very secure way to pay, Paypal handles all your payment info and will do any currency conversions, too. Because selling directly saves me money (not having to pay Etsy sales and listing fees) you save money too - I'm only charging exact postage costs and not building the fees or cost of packaging into my pricing.

I'm posting things safely via my local parcel postbox, and managed to get hold of some customs labels so I can post internationally, too. Hurrah! There will likely be delays due to COVID-19 disruption, but if you're happy to wait I'm happy to post stuff.

Get in touch if you'd like to make a purchase. First come first served :)

PAPER PACK A, £5 each + postage.

Includes clippings from bird & nature books, vintage craft books & magazines, maps and atlases, and a 1950s encyclopedia. Plus a piece of a tissue paper sewing pattern, a piece of faux woodgrain sticky back plastic, some shiny paper cake ribbon, and a strip of film negatives.

 
PHOTOS ARE A SAMPLE ONLY, EACH PACK DIFFERS! The largest piece of paper in this pack is approx 16 x 22 cm, each pack weighs approx 78g.
 

There are two sizes of paper packs available - standard ones for a fiver, and bumper ones for a tenner. The bumper packs contain a lot more paper with bigger pages and more full pages, too (vs the small packs which tend to be more clippings). The full pages are fab for cutting out images from, of course, but you can also use them to make homemade envelopes and wrap small gifts.

PAPER PACK B, bumper pack, £10 each + postage.

Includes pages and clippings from vintage craft books & magazines, a children's dictionary, bird books, houseplant and recipe books, maps & atlases, a 90s teen annual, & a 50s book about castles. Plus pieces of brown & metallic paper, a piece of faux woodgrain sticky back plastic, and half a gold doily. 

 
The largest page in this pack is approx 22 x 28.5cm and each pack weighs approx 180g. PHOTOS SHOW A SAMPLE PACK, EACH PACK WILL DIFFER.

These big bumper packs are so tricky to photograph to really show off all the contents, there's just so much paper and I have a limited amount of space on my desk!! For example, you can't really tell from the pics, but this next pack includes two very big pages from a wonderful vintage atlas (these are folded in half to fit in the pack nicely). 

PAPER PACK C, bumper pack, £10 each + postage.  

Includes pages & clippings from vintage children's books, maps & atlases, craft books, wildlife & nature books, and a 1950s encyclopedia. Plus 30 vintage stamps and a postcard featuring a vintage book cover. 

 
The largest page in this pack (excluding those big atlas pages) is approx 22.5 x 29.5 cm, each pack weighs approx 245g. THE PHOTOS SHOW A SAMPLE PACK, EACH PACK IS DIFFERENT.

Here's another of the standard sized packs! Each pack has a different mix of paper-y contents and I've made sure to include some fun extras in each as well, like the measuring tape and fabric scraps in this one. 

PAPER PACK D, £5 each + postage. 

Includes clippings from vintage maps & atlases, craft books, bird & nature books, children's books, a houseplant book, and a 1950s encyclopedia. Plus pieces of squared and floral paper, tiny Liberty fabric scraps, a piece of a measuring tape, a reproduction trading card featuring a train, half a pretty paper doily, and a postcard. 

THE PHOTOS SHOW A SAMPLE PACK, EACH PACK WILL DIFFER. The largest piece of paper in this pack is approx 16 x 22 cm, each pack weighs approx 86g. 

Aaaaand here's another big bumper pack, which also includes a couple of those huge atlas pages! 

PAPER PACK E, bumper pack, £10 each + postage. 

Includes pages & clippings from vintage bird & nature books, craft books & magazines, maps & atlases, children's books, and a 1950s encyclopedia. Plus a handmade wildflower envelope, and 30 vintage postage stamps. 

THE PHOTOS SHOW A SAMPLE PACK, EACH PACK WILL DIFFER. The largest page in this pack (excluding those big atlas pages) is approx 22.5 x 29.5cm, each pack weighs approx 230g.

As well as all these lovingly assembled paper packs, I've put together some bargain bundles of leftover book pages. 

First up: BARGAIN TEXT BUNDLES, £3 each, plus postage.  

Each of these big packs contain LOTS (100+) of text-filled clippings and pages. Introductions, indexes, charts, and more. These neutral pages are so great for origami, collages, etc! The packs in the photo are examples only, each pack differs. The largest page in each of these packs is approx 22 x 29 cm. Each pack weighs approx 455g. 

Then there's some ENCYCLOPEDIA PAGE BUNDLES, soooo many interesting images and bits of text to use in your crafty projects! £3 each + postage. 50 random pages from a lovely 1950s encyclopedia. All black and white (no colour images included). The pages are approx 17 x 25 cm. Each bundle weighs approx 200g.

Finally, I've got a few LUCKY DIP LEFTOVERS BUNDLES available. About as much papery goodness as in a bumper pack but for the price of the standard one because the contents are a magical mystery! 

£5 each + postage. A bargain bundle of assorted colourful clippings and pages left over from assembling all my paper packs. Lots of papery goodness! Photos are examples only, each pack will differ. The largest pages in these packs are approx 22 x 29 cm. Each pack weighs approx 240g. 

Send me a message if you'd like a make a purchase, want a quote for postage, or have any questions about the paper packs and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.