Oooo I've been neglectful!!

Just realised it's been ages since I posted a blog (mind you I said at the beginning that I struggled to keep a diary...), whoops!

So the story so far, well we did the big show in Cardiff City Stadium in May.  It was a bit of a mixed bag really, the first event of this kind run at the venue so there were some teething problems, usual thing of too many jewellery stalls, resellers sneaking in etc but we made our fees back so I think we'll probably do it again.  We've done a couple of smaller fayres, but to be honest I think we'll knock them on the head, unless you're selling stuff for under a fiver they don't tend to go very well, more's the pity.  It's prompted us to have a bit of a rethink about our business venture and some big decisions have been made.

Essentially we've decided that we've been trying to do too much, as in too much variation in the things that we make, which is leading our stalls to look far too cluttered and jumbled up.  So what we've decided to do is to still keep 2 Crafty Birds as one over-arching business but with separate brands on separate sites, so we'll end up with the LindiBears brand (mums mohair artist bears) with their own exclusive website and I'm going to ditch the fashion jewellery and concentrate on more of a niche product line, primarily bead weaving and bead embroidery.

If we do any fayres, then we are more likely to just stick to the fabric crafts for those, smaller ticket items such as needle felted tote bags, handbags, aprons and the dreaded bunting (sorry but I loathe and detest the stuff!!!)  So with all that in mind, I'm busy sorting through my bead stash and listing it on Folksy http://folksy.com/shops/2CraftyBirds?shop_section=beads_destash - currently got some miracle beads, copper coloured beads and some beautiful shell pendants listed on there at far lower prices than some of the stuff you can get on Ebay and if you combine an order you only get charged an extra 20p postage!

So that's it work wise at the moment, oh apart from a small business course that we're on next week, which I'm looking forward to but my mother is dreading lol - keep telling her she can't just do the fun bits lol

In my other life, the kids have finished their first year in college, have signed up for year 2 (that was a relief I can tell you), Hamish McBeth (aka scruffy spaniel) has managed to steal 2 balls of felting wool, whilst Harri Mac (aka kleptomaniac spaniel) has just about stolen everything else, including a felting needle which I found him carrying around in his mouth earlier on.  Normal service resumed then!

Whoops!

I am a very bad birdie!  I kept meaning to update the blog all last week but have discovered that I actually have a natural ability to procrastinate!  My big event is coming up in just over two weeks and true to form instead of actually knuckling down I decided to hop from idea to idea, whilst actually accomplishing very little!  Still, we've got the etsy shop up and running properly now http://www.etsy.com/shop/CraftyLittleBirds and have paid for a little advertising on there, fingers crossed someone actually buys something before my mum hits the mohair shopping again (seriously, she's obsessed!)  Had a great impromptu party with a good friend of mine on the weekend, which led to me actually taking a day off, which I have to say has probably done me the world of good and made me refocus.  The house is a tip, the dogs are behaving like toddlers with ADHD after being fed a box of skittles and the teenage sons are killing each other on a regular basis - hey ho, normality reigns!

If it was Monday, it'd be Manic Monday!

Well this is my first attempt at blogging, but given that I was no good at keeping a diary, there's no guarantee I'll be any better at this!  So for now I'll just introduce myself and 2 Crafty Birds in general.

So, 2 Crafty Birds are essentially a mother and daughter collaboration, one of whom has been sewing and crafting for a long time and one who's relatively new to it.  I started doing strung jewellery about 16 months ago and discovered I had a bit of a flair for it.  I've now moved away from stringing so much and now turn my hand to seed bead weaving, the smaller the bead the better!  I've also just started sewing, making luscious home furnishings and handbags (this from the girl who swore she'd never touch a sewing machine!).  My mum is a self-confessed teddy bear addict and so she provides the handmade, one of a kind teddy bears that you can find in our folksy shop http://folksy.com/shops/2CraftyBirds - I introduced her recently to the joys of polymer clay and she's now busy making one of a kind bear figurines as well - I get the wonderful job of photographing them all!

Not sure where this blog will take us, I suspect it will be a mix of the crafting we do, coupled with anecdotes about the utterly insane springer spaniels I live with, one of whom has a nasty habit of hoovering up any dropped beads including Swarovski Crystals!!

So that's it for today, hopefully I'll remember to post again tomorrow, but let me ease in gently folks lol

Ta-ta for now!

Crafty Bird No. 1