Latest News from BGPayne

Just to let you know what's going on behind the scenes at BGPayne Crafts.

I think this has been the busiest three weeks of my life!

I've got moved into the new premises and unpacked the kettle. That's about as far as I've got with my domestic situation, there's far too much to do in the new shop and workroom to be worrying about the rest.

My Dad has been an absolute superstar dismantling the old butcher's industrial fridge's and counters for me. Unfortunately one of these fridge's has rotted the floor boards and beams underneath it. So (as my Parcel Force driver puts it) it looks like I'm building a good sized swimming pool in my work room! But the new beams have finally arrived and the insulation and damp proofing spray should be here early next week. There's just the electrics to finish off and then the new beams and floor boards can go down. I'm not a bad plasterer so I'll be having a bash at re-plastering the walls myself. With a little help from my wonderful Dad I should be able to manage it. Then there's the decorating to do, new skirting boards too. I'm hoping to move my office into the new workroom by the end of July.

Then there's the shop to renovate. Fortunately that shouldn't be as much work as the workroom. There's a few rotten floorboards a lot of painting and then the shop fitting. And new flooring, a super hard wearing carpet will do the trick. I'm hoping to have this done by the 27th September. Assuming it's all done in time there will be a big launch party on the 27th with all the day's takings being donated to Jane's Appeal. I've got a great PR lady helping me with the promotion. She's going to get it in all the local papers and maybe on the radio too! She's come up with the great idea of sending out handmade invitations to all my existing customers in the area. I hope I get time to do that. The local children have asked me to run a card making competition which should be good fun. There'll be tea, cakes and I'll be rustling up some non-alcoholic cocktails. It'll be a very busy day but I'm very much looking forward to it.

You might have noticed the literally tens of thousands of new products on the website! There's thousands of new decoupage sheets, peel offs and a great range of needle craft supplies. I'm just about managing to get all the order's packed as quickly as they come in. I'm rapidly running out of space for all the knitting wool and decoupage sheets that are arriving almost every day! I'm exhausted but it feels great to be so busy and to see that you're loving the new ranges.

24/05/08

I've had another hunt for a better search facility for the website. Google have started offering one that's perfect. It's all up and running now. You should be familiar with the way the results are displayed and the way the search works as it's identical to Google.

04/05/08

After much last minute negotiating the contracts have finally been exchanged! I will be moving premises on the 30th May. I'm busy making all the necessary arrangements, it looks like I'll be having a 6Mb broadband connection and the ISP I've chosen say they can have the connection active within a day or two after I move in.

Most of the new products are ready to be added to the website. There's some gorgeous yarns and all the Jane Grennhowe knitting books. I've just got the peel offs and a few other bits and bats to add. I seem to have a touch of crafter's block this weekend so making a dent in that can be tomorrows job.

25/04/08

A little job that I've been meaning to get round to for ages - the priority service has now been resumed. I've made a slight improvement to the service too, if your order value is below £20 and you want priority shipping I'll be waiving the usual postage charge.

24/04/08

I've finally heard from my solicitor, the seller has signed his half of the documents so I need to go up to Lancashire to sign my end of the paper work. Then we're all set to exchange next Wednesday. Hopefully the seller will be ready to compete on the 30th of May. I've been ringing round insurance companies to get the usual buildings insurance sorted before the exchange date.

I will be out of the office on Tuesday the 29th April to sign to contracts and get all the paperwork tied up. I will be seeing to it that no orders are delayed by this. I won't be here to answer the phone on Tuesday and replies to email queries may be delayed.

15/04/08

My new laptop has arrived! One day early and exactly what I ordered. I'm really impressed with HP, not only have they done exactly what they said they would do one day quicker than they said they would, they have also done loads of little extras to make setting up the new laptop quicker for me. It only arrived a few hours ago and I'm all ready to transfer all my data to the new laptop and start using it.

I've also heard from my solicitor this afternoon. Apparently the draft contract is in the post. My solicitor seems to be taking this with a pinch of salt but it's still a good sign that things are finally starting to move.

My landlord and ex bloke has just got home from work early. Today's work being at the Cadbury's factory. He's brought me a carrier bag full of chocolate! Easter eggs and seconds of course but it all tastes the same. So that has put me in a very good mood.

I'm making progress with the new Studio Light decoupage sheets. I had hoped to find professional images on the web that I could use but I haven't managed to find any. So I've scanned the catalogue itself and I'm pleased to say that the images are quite acceptable. I'll be working on adding them to the website this evening but they won't be available until just before the move, which should hopefully be in six to eight weeks.

I spent last night doing the very boring job of archiving my accounts but I'm quite pleased to have one less lever arch file of paperwork I'll probably never need. I'll aim to keep on top of it but that's never going to happen! I will always have a huge stack of files stashed on a high shelf or in the loft!

13/04/08

I actually have some news on the sale of the new shop! Not good news I'm afraid. The property has never been registered with the land registry so it's going to mean a big delay while the sellers solicitors get that sorted. And to add to that the seller wants a four week delay between exchange and completion so he can wind down his business. I'm apsolutley fuming with him! There's not much that I can do to make things go any quicker. My solicitor is being wonderful chasing things for me.

It seems like the last twelve months have seen every valuable piece of equipment I own break in some way! This month it's my laptop. The power socket is broken and the internal workings are worn out. I've had a nightmare of a time trying to get it fixed and then another nightmare trying to get a replacement. Laptop engineers seem to be like gold dust! And when I did find one who could fix it they mis-diagnosed the problem. I had to get yet another engineer out to look at it and he managed to get it working again - for now. I ordered a replacement which didn't arrive, then eventually arrived without the upgrade I ordered! I've gone direct to the manufacturer and they say my new laptop will be here by Wednesday set up exactly as I need it to be. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm re-assuring myself with the thought that if all my equipment has been replaced in the last year I can expect to have a fair while before anything else goes wrong! And I've certainly had more than my fair share of bad luck these last few months. It's got to be time for some good luck to be coming my way!

As usual I've been furiously adding new products to the website. Not much that will be going on sale until I move I'm afraid. But a few days before I go you will find the entire range of Search Press books and almost every single Le Suh decoupage sheet! I'm working on the Studio Light decoupage sheets at the moment but I'm struggling to find pictures of the sheets.

I'm alternating that with designing new card making kits. I've finished the new 3D Peel Off kits so they just need instructions writing up. That's today's job, along with the few Le Suh one's I got in. I've got a few different techniques designed too. Tea Bag Folding cards and a quilling card that Penny has kindly allowed me to show you. All the new parchment cards are done so just instructions for them to write up. Hopefully most of the new cards will be in the free projects section tonight. But I'm not promising anything! My web design software isn't working properly. I think it's got more to do with my laptop not working properly. So it should be sorted after the new one arrives. But I'll try and get this week's free project email sent out on time. If I can't I'm afraid we'll have to skip a week.

31/03/08

Nothing's happening! It's so frustrating waiting for solicitors to draw up the paper work. This house sale seems to be taking forever.

Everything I own is packed away into boxes and I'm living out of a virtual suitcase, meaning one drawer of clothes and a wash bag. Even my crockery is packed!

I keep adding to the clearance section every now and then. I'll be getting stricter and stricter with my clearing out as the moving date gets closer. You're all being a huge help taking advantage of those discounts and clearing out my excess stock.

I don't seem to be getting anywhere with clearing out though. With all my stitching projects packed away I've been spending a lot of time adding new products to the website. And not surprisingly you keep buying them. A lot of the time, to get just one decoupage sheet, for example, I have to buy ten, so when someone orders one I get nine left over to add to my stock.

Ah well, at least it gives me an excuse to use one of those sheets to design a new kit out of. I can just about cope with my stitching packed but I'll go completely nuts if I didn't have any crafting at all.

I have managed to get caught up on my scrapbooking. For the first time in my life it's right up to date, with the last album all filled. I got bored so I started scrapbooking all my old photos from before I started scrapping. The last two weekends I seem to have got the scrapping bug. I started in the early afternoon after catching up all the work I didn't get to in the week. Next thing I know it's nearly midnight and I have a head full of the next three layouts! Yesterday I couldn't get past my desk when I got up, I just had to stop and do that little bit. Two hours later I was still in my pyjamas!

I've finished designing the last of the 3D peel off card kits. Cats on dogs on the last two sets. I'm pretty pleased with them, even if I did completely cheat and use the same layout on both kits. I cheated in the same way with the new Le Suh kits. The layout I came up with looked great so I just used it again and again. I'm quite cuffed with those cards too.

I do have a new type of kit in the pipeline. I've always admired parchment craft and I know I'm not the only one. But I'm put off by the sheer amount of time involved and the techniques seem so complicated and all that equipment before you can even do a single card! Penny has taught me some of the basic techniques like how to colour properly and how to emboss on parchment. I restricted myself to the bare basic materials that most crafters have and with Penny's help came up with a way of using the basic parchment craft techniques to make a card that can be completed by a beginner in just one evening. Oh and it had to cost no more than three quid for three cards.

Weeks of experimenting and I've finally cracked it! Forget outlining, so you can forget about investing in outlining ink and that special fine nibbed ink pen, just use a peel off. Trial and error has taught me that silver peel offs work best, other colours are just too heavy.

Instead of all those expensive inks and pens use pencil crayons. You do need good quality pencils but not ridiculous ones, mine are WHSmith's own brand blendable pencils and they work a treat. I've seen Crayola ones used to great effect too, by a complete beginner.

Then comes the embossing, the most difficult part of parchment craft in my opinion. Penny taught me to use a huge embossing tool to start with. I know not many crafters have one of these, but most of us have a bone folder. It works even better than the parchment craft tools made for the job! It basically stretches and lightens the parchment paper slightly. Then you go in with a bog standard embossing tool. Forget needing a dozen different sizes, one or two is plenty. Once I got the hang of it I didn't even bother with the finer end of mine. This bit does take practice, but on your first card, who cares if the sails of your boat are all the same shade of white?

Penny had another little trick up her sleeve, white sprit acts as a solvent dissolving the pencil colour and blending the colours beautifully. I had a chat with technically minded other half and we figured that perfume will do the job too as will fragranced essential oils. I happened to have a drop of lavender oil left so my office stank of it for a week!

I made up the first two kits this weekend and I'm really pleased with them. They aren't as stunning as "real" parchment cards but they did take a fraction of the time and money. And they still look fantastic! Even if I do say so myself.

The results will be in the free projects section before I move but the kits won't be on sale until afterwards. Oh, one thing, if you're eager to give this a go before I get round to writing up the instructions, make sure you go for the 150mic parchment paper. The thin stuff just won't stand up to being embossed like this.

08/03/08

I've found an efficient looking solicitor and confirmed my instructions to him in writing. We're waiting for the seller to instruct his solicitor then we should start to see things happening. My wonderfully efficient solicitor is getting on with all the necessary searches while that's happening. I'm cuffed to see him applying such common sense to the proceedings, getting on with something else while he's waiting on someone else. I hope that this is the shape of things to come.

There's been another big change behind the scenes this week. The hosting transfer has finally been completed. I'm sorry if the website was a little "dicky" on Wednesday. Apparently it takes the servers a while to be pointing in the right direction. Over my head, but that's why I have a good web designer to take care of it for me. It's all up and running perfectly now and I haven't had a single bounced email since the transfer. I've just got their bill and it's less than they said it would be so I'm a happy bunny. There's a web designer working on getting the html pages to automatically transfer you to the new php pages. Technical jargon I know, it'll get rid of those pesky error pages I know you must be coming across occasionally.

I've still be keeping busy adding thousands of new products to the website. A huge range of Anchor cross stitch and needlework kits this week. Plus loads of haberdashery stuff that's making me miss my packed sewing machine terribly. There's a brilliant range of tapestry stands too, I'm gutted I paid full retail for one of the posilock stands for my bloke's mum's retirement present. I shopped around for it but I still didn't get it as cheap as you can now!

A great disaster struck on Monday evening. While I was unpacking my car after my craft class with Penny, my trolley fell over in the road with my paper trimmer underneath it! The blade casing snapped clean off. I was straight on the phone to Focus Craft, my new wholesaler first thing Tuesday morning. They aren't getting them in until the end of this week so my replacement won't be here until early next week. I'm apsolutley lost without it!

On the bright side, I ordered a load more Betsy Lurvink decoupage sheets while I was at it. All the one's I didn't order when I first got them in and all the ones that have sold out in the meantime. I've also got a few of the most popular Le Suh decoupage sheets coming. I'd much rather spend money on stock and have the hassle of moving it than spend money on postage, I'm tight fisted like that. So you'll have more sheets to choose from and I will have some more decoupage kits to design before I move. I was getting a little restless as I've cut all the ones I planned to.

This weeks downer is that I have to fill in my first VAT return. You might have noticed the VAT number appearing at the bottom of the pages. My turnover has hit a level that the VAT man wants his cut. Ug, another dent in my wages. But it is nice to know that the business has hit that level. That legal minefield is this weekend's job so wish me luck!

01/03/08

No posts for a while because nothing seems to be happening!

My offer on the shop has been accepted. That took a fortnight! The survey should have just been completed and the results should be in the post - in theory.

The bank have agreed to lend me enough money to buy the shop, on condition that I take out life insurance. Seems daft to me, if I pop my clogs they get the house. But hey, borrowers can't be choosers.

I've been keeping busy adding lots of new products to the website from my existing suppliers. There's loads of new embellishments, stickers, scrapping papers and a shed load of curtain making stuff. I know it won't sell too well but I'll be wanting some for the curtains I'll be making for my new flat. I'm sure I'm not the only crafter who makes their own curtains and needs supplies. There's some rather gorgeous hold backs too, I think I'll be having a few pairs of those. I couldn't believe how cheap they are! Even the poshest ones are only a couple of quid!

The clearance section is all up and running. You're quite nicely taking advantage of the discounts and helping me to clear out all my excess stock.

There's regular sales in my EBay store too. All the Christmas kits and slow sellers are all reduced to half price. Ebay has some funny rules about sales. I can't run a sale continuously, only for a fortnight. And I can't start another one until a while after the last one has finished. Seems daft to me. I should imagine most retailers have Christmas stock that they want to clear, surely it's quite legitimate to whack the price down and leave it on sale until it's gone. But hey, I've just got to make the best of it.

I've been designing lots of new card making kits. I'm cuffed to bits with the Dufex cards I've made. And the 3D peel off ones. They all went into the free projects section last night. There's still the Betsy Lurvink Fantasy Fairies to do, but I've run out of stardeam card and paper! The pearlescent papers I usually like to use just don't do these images justice. It's too bright, these sheets need a very subtle backing paper and the stardream and hi-five pearl ranges are just the ticket.

All my pictures and decorative items are packed. Even all those kitchen utensils we hardly use are all packed and ready to go. I know I will get round to using my grandmothers old bread maker one day! Even my books and stitching stuff is all boxed up. The house feels empty and unloved. I'm itching to get my sleeves rolled up and start making this run down little flat into a home for myself.

08/02/08

I've decided to do what I can today but when the other half get's in from work I will be quitting for the weekend. So I've been furiously trying to get as many iris folding apertures cut this afternoon as possible. Then I hear a loud crack from my Sizzix! I've taken it apart and it's a large bolt that's snapped clean off. Arrgghhh! The timing couldn't be worse!

Now I have a real quandary. I've been wanting to starting stocking a die cutter for ages. I have an application form for a distributor of ProvoCraft on my pin board but I have a sneaking suspicion that they will refuse to give me an account as I work from home. But not for much longer so I was leaving it until after the move. But I'm not even sure that Provcraft distribute the Sizzix brand, I know they are closely affiliated with Ellison, one of them bought out the other a couple of years ago.

Right, lets look at this logically, I need to replace the Sizzix ASAP. The replacement needs to take Sizzix dies. I want to replace it with a die cutter I can stock and I might as well upgrade while I'm at it. I certainly use the Sizzix enough for it to be worth it and there's much more choice available now.

One of these new fangled digital die cutters could give me an unlimited scope for new aperture designs. They look like it might work with a paper feeder like a printer does. Oh if I could set it to do a few hundred apertures and leave it be for a few hours my life would be sooooo much easier! I don't want to be shelling out for new cartridges and portability doesn't bother me. I hear that the Craft Robo is the best apart from it's complexity and lack of portability. Perfect for me but not so perfect for my customers and I can't find a wholesaler! The other problem is that I would have to copy the Sizzix shapes I already stock to keep offering the designs I do now. I think that might be an infringement of copyright. So the Craft Robo looks like it's the long term solution, but it isn't going to get these apertures cut ready for dispatch early next week.

I should be able to get the Cuttlebug in from Bramwell Crafts and they should be fine giving me an account once the shop is open. My current Sizzix supplier should be able to get one to me on Tuesday. I've just done a hunt for reviews and everyone seems to be raving about it. Apparently it cuts chipboard so that's a winner for me.

The Cuttlebug will get this problem sorted quickly. And it will be nice to have one in the shop for customers to play with before they part with their hard earned cash for one of their own. I will probably get the RoboCraft at some point but at £700 for the pro version it will defiantly have to wait!

The Cuttlebug's on it's way and I've sent an email begging my supplier to get it to me as soon as they possibly can.

I'll sort the cash flow analysis while my other half is at football - he manages a local under 13s team. So I can get the major stuff done and still spend the weekend chilling out with him. I think a pizza is on the cards tonight - there's no way I'm cooking after the week I've had!

07/02/08

I thought that getting a domestic mortgage was complicated! A commercial one is a whole other story! The mortgage advisor didn't show up on Thursday. I couldn't get hold of him until Friday afternoon only to be told it wasn't him I needed to see. I had to drive from Coventry to Preston to see a commercial mortgage advisor. Presumably we don't have commercial mortgage advisors in Coventry!

I had arranged to take Wednesday off work to view properties thinking I would have an agreement in principle from the bank in plenty of time. I ended up having to do both in one day. Fortunately, when I actually got to speak to a person who was prepared to treat me like a human being and not an income, the bank were happy to lend me what I need. Subject to a cash flow analysis which I now need to write up.

A property that looks perfect was on my list to view. It's in Nelson near Burnley, or for those of you from further afield ten minutes drive off the end of the M65. It's a butcher's shop at the moment so there's a lot of old equipment to rip out and carpets to fit etc etc. The flat upstairs is very run down, there's wall paper hanging off the walls and either no carpet or a threadbare one. But there is a bathroom suite and a very old basic kitchen. I could move in and do it up as I go along.

It's ten minutes walk from a local beauty spot which is well sign posted so you should find it easy to get to. It's perfect for walking my dog too. The area is clean and tidy with a delightful cobbled street which is sure to destroy my car's suspension!

Obviously this is a huge decision and I will be taking the weekend to think it over. I also want to scour the internet to make sure it is the best one available within my budget. And I need to get this cash flow analysis sorted for the bank. I'm hoping to put an offer in early next week.

There's been a development on the personal front too. When my boyfriend started to see my pictures and decorative items getting packed up it hit home and he began to regret his decision. We haven't had much chance to talk things through as he's been working away this week. But we did meet up on Wednesday evening and decided that we both want to stay together just not to live together for the time being. So he get's his space and I get my shop.

I do believe that compromise is the key to making a relationship work and so I've shown willing and offered to spend the whole of this weekend with him. My work-aholic tenancies are one of his bug bares.

After such a busy day on Wednesday, especially with getting lost on the way home, I was exhausted and went straight to bed. I worked as hard as I could to catch up with everything on Thursday but by 7pm I was so tired I was starting to make silly mistakes. I got myself a pile of decoupage and a movie for the evening. This whole scenario has obviously been extremely stressful and very hard work. I need to take a decent break or I'll make myself ill.

28/01/08

I have some pretty big news. To be perfectly honest my boyfriend and I broke up on Friday night. He owns the house I live and work in so I'm going to have to move. I've been wanting to get back on the property ladder for years and I've been thinking about getting a shop for over six months now. It's seems like the perfect time to turn a cloud into a silver lining and get both.

I've got an appointment with a mortgage advisor on Thursday so we'll have to see what he says. But I'm pretty sure they will offer me just enough for a little shop with a flat above it somewhere around Burnley, Lancashire.

I'll be out of the office on Wednesday the 6th February to view the properties.

In the meantime I'm working hard to clear as much stock as possible, moving's always easier and cheaper if you've got less stuff to move! I also need to get as much money in the bank as possible, I remember how quickly solicitor's fees mount up when buying a house! To move things along there will be a clearance section added to the website with some great bargains!

I'm afraid all these new suppliers will have to go on a back burner for now. I need to concentrate on shifting what I've already got in stock, not buying in new stock. I'll finish designing all the new card making kits I've planned and they can then go off for the RSPCA - one less box to move. But they won't be on sale until I've settled into the new shop.

It's going to be hectic for a few months but it will all be worth it in the end.

23/01/08

A delightfully easy day today - comparatively speaking!

No deliveries so I've got caught up on manufacturing. Ah b^&$^$£er I knew there was something I missed! I've finished turning some of the gorgeous Basic Grey papers into iris folding papers. But I've forgotten to put them on the website for you! I'll get it sorted soon.

I have put the new papers that arrived this week on the website and those Betsy Lurvink sheets I promised you! They're fantastic! I don't think the RSPCA will be getting the cards I make from these sheets!

Only one Paper Nation sheet I'm afraid, the Anniversary Couple, a nice one for Valentines. The whole range will be on the website soon, but I need to give you enough to choose from so that between you all you'll be ordering at least £100 worth of all the new goodies. That's how much I need to spend to place an order with my new supplier. So you won't be seeing much changing on the website after tonight, I'll be paddling like mad beneath the surface though!

I'm actually going to take the evening off. Have a good evening everyone!

22/01/08

UPS arrived! They brought my usual wholesaler's order and a delivery from Focus Craft my new wholesaler. They've sent me a load of the Betsy Lurvink Decoupage Fairies and a few Paper Nation Sheets. I'll be getting them on the website ASAP. I do have this craft club tonight and my other half's dad staying over tomorrow night and I promised other half I'd spend Thursday night with him . . . I will get to it - Promise!

I had a chat with them on the phone and they can do everything I need. The Anchor kits might take a little longer to be delivered as they are often out of stock but by a little longer they mean up to a week. One of my other suppliers deliverers within a week so it won't cause any delays outside of my normal dispatch time scales which are 8 days.

So there'll be loads of lovely new goodies on the website over the next couple of months!

21/01/08

My second card making class with Penny was great. I got the oval from the new beginners iris folding kit made, a large design this time, I thought some of you might prefer larger designs. And if the response from the other students was anything to go by you will! They all loved the larger iris folding designs and almost cleared me out of iris strips.

Penny has asked me to come along to a craft club tomorrow night. I'm not sure where it is and my sense of direction is appalling so I've offered Penny a lift asking her to navigate for me!

17/01/08

Dufex is here! Oh joy of joys a little box from Parcel Force full of die cut Dufex decoupage! It will be on the website by midnight.

16/01/08

I've just placed my first order with Focus Craft, the new wholesaler. The gorgeous Betsy Lurvink decoupage sheets should be here next week. The most popular Studio Light decoupage sheets too. And I've ordered a bunch of stuff that my current supplier is out of stock of right now. So if you're waiting for Dishcloth Cotton or Craft-Time products, they should (in theory) be here next week too.

Having not heard from my new web guy I've just emailed him to remind him that I'm back in the office and we need to get the website moved to his hosting ASAP. That should take 10 working days and making the changes I need to get rid of those pesky error pages should take him half an hour. After that I want him to get rid of that naff search facility. At the moment if you search for glitter beads as I know many of you have been, you get all the beads and all the glitter papers. I want to change it so that you will get glitter beads and only glitter beads! It shouldn't be a problem for a proper web designer but it's beyond my skill.

15/01/08

Happy Happy Joy Joy!!! I've just had the longest meeting ever! With a sales rep for lots of different craft companies.

Dufex first. I know you've been searching for Dufex and for Die Cut Decoupage on the website so they're on their way! Every single Dufex Die Cut Decoupage design, every single Step By Step Dufex Decoupage and a few other bits and bobs, a mixed kit type pack for those who want to know what this Dufex thing is all about and a few of the postcard sized prints to see if you like them. I'll be designing card making kits with the decoupage sheets as soon as I've finished the kits I've got planned at the moment. Oh, you'll want to know prices! How does £1.10 sound for the die cut sheets and 89p for the step by step! That's just a tad under the cheapest price I can find on EBay right now. The latest Freestyle Die Cut sheets are coming too, also at £1.10.

I can now get you the full range of Search Press craft books. Because it's just books that Search Press sell and I can't see you buying too many of them, they are great but it's not the sort of thing us crafters buy over and over, so I'm afraid the best price I can get you is the normal RRP. I figured it was worth offering you the books so that you can always get hold of the one you want. Search Press have one of those, the more you buy the lower the price gets things going. So as BGPayne Crafts expands I may be should be able to offer you better prices. I'll be placing a trial order with them before I get the books on the website, just to check that they will deliver when they say they will etc. I'm sure I'll want a new book as I'm learning parchment craft over the next could of months.

WS designs' price list and catalogue should be in the post tomorrow. I'm not too sure what they are but I've been asked for them so I'll certainly spend some time looking into it.

And best of all!!!! I've got a new wholesaler! It's difficult for me to buy from manufacturers as you don't order enough for me to meet their minimum order requirements often enough for me to keep to my 10 day delivery time scales. Wholesalers deal with loads of different manufacturers so between them I can generally order enough. These guys have loads!!!!

Le Suh decoupage sheets and peel offs. By the time I've finished adding all them to the website the decoupage sheets and peel off ranges will have doubled in size giving you twice as much choice! They'll be pretty much the same price, 49p each. There is a slight problem with these, I can't get any digital images of the sheets. I have a catalogue here and Le Suh's website is just a copy of that. There's no nice images that I can download. It will take a lot of time to scan the catalogue and the resulting images are not going to be great quality.

Heard of StudioLight? Me neither. What about Disney? Or Flower Fairies? That's Studio Light! All those Disney decoupage sheets, Beatrix Potter, Flower Fairies - Yippeeee. I know how much you love Disney and these flower fairies are gorgeous! I'm not too sure on the price yet, but this wholesaler's prices seem to be pretty reasonable so I should be able to offer you a great deal.

Paper Nation! I've been after an account with these guys for ages, like a lot of specialist companies I wouldn't be ordering enough to meet their minimum order requirements often enough to keep to my delivery time scales to you. But thanks to this wholesaler I can! So you'll be seeing all the Paper Nation backing papers and decoupage sheets, and tea bag papers appearing on the website over the next few weeks.

Oh they had so much I can't remember it all! Printed and foiled vellums, the full range of Fiskars paper trimmer's (my current supplier doesn't seem to stock them all), Ornae stencils - Oh I can't remember! All I can remember is spending the last hour gushing over their price list! The sales guy said my face was a picture.

Another one of their brands that got me really excited was Anchor. You will soon be able to get the full range of Anchor threads - Yippee I need 162 to finish my last cross stitch project! And the kits, what were they, oh I can't remember, but all those gorgeous Anchor Cross Stitch Kits I've been trying to get my paws on. And Rug making kits - the dolphin one for me! And loads of Aida and tapestry threads and canvas.

And just for the icing on the cake my current supplier has got the latest Dovecraft Designer Papers in! I know you've been waiting for them so I'll try my best to get them on the website ASAP.

Please bear with me, I was expecting to be quiet this month so I've planned all these visits from sales rep's and loads of new kits etc. But I'm just about managing to get all the parcels packed on time. I put an ad in PaperCrafts Essentials this month, not expecting much from it and it's been a massive success! I'm rushed off my feet when I was expecting to be bored! So I'm miles behind on manufacturing and I've run out of some key lines, like the pearlescent iris strips. The Iris Folding panels are all back in stock today - you didn't even notice they were out did you!?! There's no one's order been delayed by the strips being out of stock - yet but there will be if I don't get it sorted ASAP. Sorry, but confirmed orders always come before adding new products to the website. It's almost 9pm now but after a bite to eat (that'll be my belated lunch break!) I'll get back to manufacturing as much as possible before it gets stupidly late.

14/01/08

What a hectic day!

www.jonesnottm.co.uk have visited with all their fantastic goodies. Unfortunately their website is terrible and their price list is incomplete. I don't think there's enough products there to meet their £200 minimum order value often enough to offer you the standard 10 day delivery time scale. I'll be having a closer look at the info they left me with when I get chance to breathe!

I had a call from a card making teacher, Penny. Asking if I can sort her students out with the crafty goodies they need. I'd been planning on signing up for a class this year and the price was right so I spent the afternoon at her card making class. It was lovely to meet some crafters face to face for a change! I'm hoping to get some new ideas and learn some of the techniques I've never managed to get to grips with, like Parchment Craft and Tea Bag Folding. I'll be creating a Classes section of the website with all of the details for those of you who live locally.

After a huge delivery on Friday it took me all evening to finish packing all the parcels and get all the emails answered. It might be after midnight and I'm still in the office but it's finally done! Every parcel packed and every query dealt with . . until tomorrows delivery arrives! A night cap is defiantly deserved!

10/01/08

I've had a call from these guys today, http://www.3dphotopic.com. Photos turned into decoupage sheets! They look fabulous on the website and the price is looking at about 59p a sheet. I'm wondering if that's too high, but they certainly are different. I know I'm happy to pay a little more for something unique. And with a great range of animal and mechanical designs they'll fit the bill for those hard to find cards for men. The company are happy for me to package the sheets as kits, so hopefully they'll be ideal for beginners too. There's a sample sheet on it's way to me so I can check the quality's up to scratch and there's a few finer details to work out with regards to postage charges. But if everything meets with my approval you should be seeing these decoupage sheets on the website in time for Valentines Day.

09/01/08

There's some new card making kits on the horizon. The first batch of peel offs arrived today for the new 3D Peel Off kits. There's dolphins, a sweet baby clothes line, framed flowers (perfect for Mothers Day), some round landscape scenes (just like the very popular Christmas Scenes design, just without the Christmas bit), a beautiful Egypt design that I hope I can do justice to!, Boats and Cars for the men. The car designs should be this weekend's job as I've got a motoring gentleman's birthday coming up next week.

Christmas 2007

I'm a typical crafter who can't stand to be idle for long! So instead of having a "break" over Christmas I've been busy planning lots of new kits for the New Year.

There's about 25 new 3D peel off kits, 25 new decoupage card kits and a dozen new decoupage picture kits all planned out and on their way.

I've also got my eye on some new iris folding strips from Basic Grey papers, but they may take some time to organise.

The Christmas Waterfall kits sold well so I've got designs on another nine of those. I haven't planned these in detail yet as they don't use supplies from the supplier I need to be ordering more from.

I used to do some paper patchwork kits which I'm planning on revamping. It's like iris folding but not quite. I'll try and get Easter and Mothers Day designs out in time.

I've been trying to get hold of Sizzix to get a trade account with them so you can get the dies to make your own Iris Folding Panels. So far I've yet to hear back from them.

I hope I can get the range in, then I don't have to pay retail prices for my Sizzix dies! I've got a big list of dies for new aperture panels. But I'm reluctant to go to my usual supplier (http://www.cuttingedgecrafts.co.uk by the way - cheapest Sizzix supplies on the net, last time I checked) if there's a chance I can get them at wholesale prices. And plus, I'll get a good die cutting system in one way or another! Sizzix was the most easily available when I bought mine and therefore the best value, but there's a lot more available now. I should be able to offer you more choice than I had. And of course I want to be offering you the dies to make your own aperture panels so I'll be doing them with the same dies I stock if you get my drift. So expanding the range of aperture panels is on hold for now, while I find a good die cutting system to stock.

I've been in touch with Dufex decoupage. Yes, that's the Dufex die cut decoupage you've all been searching for! I was chatting with their sales guy and it turns out he's freelance for a lot of different crafting suppliers, too many to discus over the phone. So he's coming over on the 15th with all his catalogues! There may be an issue with Dufex imposing a minimum sale price which always puts me off a supplier. But they do seem open to negotiation, so we'll see how it goes.

I had a random call from these guys www.jonesnottm.co.uk. Their website is terrible! But they have got some great looking totes and I want their 12x12 storage case! At 3.5 inch deep it should hold my expanding scrapping stash. They've got some great beads and pendants and an excellent range of buttons for crafts and haberdashery. They say they've got a load of stuff that's not on their website as they're only just starting to expand into the craft market from haberdashery. They've been going a good while and I'm sure I've heard of them before, probably through my mum who spent time working in the wool industry. The lady is coming over on the 14th to have a chat some hopefully that should go well.

Bramwell Crafts (http://www.bramwellcrafts.co.uk) are a UK wholesaler for loads of lovely manufacturers. Such as Hero Arts, Inkadinkado, Paper Adventures, Provo Craft and Xyron to name but a few. Provo Craft are the distributors of the Rob and Bob range that I've been asked to get my paws on. I'm sure I've applied for a trade account with Bramwells before and been refused because I work from home (saves money and keeps the prices low) but they aren't stating that on their website any more. Hopefully they've realised that they've been missing a big gap in the market and will now accept my business. Always seems daft to me - turning away customers? Keep your fingers crossed on this one . . Oh wouldn't it be great! I could get circut machines in! And Xyron machines and sooo many new stamps and inks and and and . . . . . Papers and Albums and and and . . . . . . Enough gushing now.

I'm reliably informed that you want altered art stuff. After a chat with one of my customers I came away armed with a list of ranges I should be stocking. Every single one of them is in the US, so delivery time scales would be disgraceful! They might have UK distributors or wholesalers. So I've emailed them all to ask . . . . . Tim Holtz was the only one who got back to me. He was so lovely! But unfortunately he doesn't deal with that side of things, he usees distribution companies - Advantus and Ranger who I also contacted. When I get a spare half hour and can figure out the time difference I'll get on the blower to them and hopefully get somewhere!

And as if all that wasn't enough for a holiday, I've also planned a re-vamp of the office to create some desperately needed storage space. I happen to live 15 minutes away from the UK's first city centre IKEA which opened in December. So after the New Year sales rush I headed down there. Having spent the night before pouring over the catalogue and website, mentally spending thousands! They've had such a rush on since they opened they were sold out of the vast majority of the stuff I wanted! I love IKEA but I was so disappointed!

There'll be a storage bench to clear up the piles of boxes of card I have for making card kits and iris folding panels. That should get them nicely organised and I'll be able to dump my boxes of "stuff just in" on top instead of on the floor. The spare bed will be replaced with a chair futton (surprisingly comfortable) to clear up a load of extra storage space. Making room for a high storage unit for all my packing supplies. That will clear an extra shelf on my big shelving system to make room for four boxes of new kits, iris strips and iris folding apertures. The new shelves which I did manage to get, have cleared another shelf and with some re-organisation that's given me space for an another 4 boxes of goodies. The there's a rack for the wall to clear out the overflowing boxes of embellishments, brads and beads. It'll be much easier for visitors to the office to look at a rack than rummage through an overfill box!

After my supplier started selling their peel offs in packs of ten the amount I have in stock has exploded! It's lovely to have a good range to hand but keeping them in a pile just wasn't good enough anymore. I heard somewhere that standard A4 punched pockets can be sewn along the middle to make pockets for peel offs. It works a treat! So now visitors to the office can have a file to flick through instead of piles of peel offs slipping everywhere! And it makes packing parcels quicker for me too.

I converted the website from html to php a few months ago and it seems to have created as many problems as it's solved! When you come across an error page, nine times out of ten this is why. My old web designer was an undergraduate and a friend of mine who was happy to handle the bits I can't in his spare time. But he's now graduated and got himself a proper job so he's not around to help me when I need him. I spent weeks calling loads of different web designers looking for someone to help me get this problem sorted, I know what needs doing, I just can't do it. I couldn't even find someone who knew what I was talking about! When I eventually managed to find someone he knew exactly what I wanted and says it will take him less than half an hour. Great, but his employer will only let him do it if I transfer the website to their hosting. I wasn't happy with the lack of help my current hosting provider gave me and although, they're great for a small website I'm getting sick of paying out extra for more bandwidth (as more people visit the website I have to pay extra charges), so I was vaguely thinking about moving anyway. This new company can offer me a better deal and they've been recommended by the IT guy I hired to help me sort out the telephone system. So that's all in hand. We've put a holt on it over Christmas so that both me and the web designer are around to deal with any problems that might come up.