Summer :)

I finished this name banner for a customer this morning, the name 'Summer' with some cute little sunshiney faces :) It's a far cry from the weather outside, it's sooo cold today!!

On a brighter note...

Thought I'd come back and make a happy post after yesterday's rant LOL. I finished off a pretty name banner in gorgeous colours last night, but I can't post pictures of it yet as the customer is giving it as a gift. So for now, here's a quote that I found on Pinterest...

Hope you all have a fab Monday

 xxx

Hmmm...

Apologies in advance for this, as I have a feeling it may turn into a bit of a rant. I usually stay quiet about things like this because there's nothing that can be done about it, but it does get to me sometimes. Anyway...

I've been doing what I do for 7 years, since my eldest son was a baby. I made him a name banner from felt and hung it on his wall. It was rubbish, the stitching was wonky and the letters weren't perfect. But I made it with my own two hands and I was actually quite proud of it.

Since then I've made things with felt, on and off, but it was only last year that I started sharing my creations online and eventually started my little business. After searching around a bit I saw that a few people had made similar things, and obviously there was always going to be someone out there who had the same idea, but our designs had their differences, so that was fine.

This is where the rant may come in LOL, I'll try and word it appropriately... I appreciate that in the craft world, people see the work of others and take inspiration from it, and put their own spin on it. But I'm becoming increasingly aware of people copying things they've seen and NOT changing a thing. Just copying it completely and making it identical. And then the worst thing is, they say they've come up with the idea themselves. In my eyes, that is just plain wrong.

Each time I log onto Facebook and see that people have started making the same things as me, it's like a kick in the teeth. I know that I'm not the only one in the world to have the idea of making stuffed felt name banners, I'm not that naive. But for people to copy and not even mention where they got their inspiration... well, it bothers me a bit.

I'm not just referring to things of mine that have been copied. A lady on Facebook has recently had an idea for a new design, and she pointed out that she'd never seen anything like it before, anywhere on the internet.

Then I was browsing on Pinterest, as you do, and came across some photos from a very nice craft blog, where this lady's 'new' idea had originated. Then I noticed that this lady was also a follower of the said blog. Coincidence? Hmm...

As I said before, this is just one of things that happens when you put your work out there for the whole world to see. So I think for now, myself and all of the other people who have been on the receiving end of this, will just have to grin and bear it, and be safe in the knowledge that we are capable of having some originality :)

And the winner is...

I've just announced the winner of my first ever giveaway over on Facebook!

This was a list of entries...

And the winner was number 25 :) A lovely liker of mine named Julia Beagan!

I loved the excitement of having a competition and giving something back to my fans, but it was so hard having only one winner! I've offered all of those who missed out 10% off any order placed today or tomorrow. And I think I'll definitely be having more giveaways in the future :)

Pinterest!!

Oh wow... I've heard so much about Pinterest over the past few months and I finally got an invite a few weeks ago. The first time I went on I found it all a bit confusing and didn't really get it, but tonight I spent a bit of time browsing and adding my own photos (sorry, 'pins' LOL) and before I knew it I'd spent a good few hours on there! Ahh I love it :))) Click on the picture below to go to my Pinterest page!

GIVEAWAY on my Facebook page!! :)

Just wanted to let you all know that I'm having a giveaway on my Facebook page where you can win a name banner of your choice, absolutely free :) Click on the picture below to go and take a look! Closing time is 1.00pm (UK time) on Saturday 28th January and a winner will be chosen at random. Good luck!! :)

Busy, busy, busy!

Been super busy with orders, as usual... late nights to get everything done are becoming a regular occurrence now LOL :)

I also stocked up on felt last week...

It's sitting there ready to turn into more lovely things :)

So... I love being busy but it's looking more and more like I won't have time to make any Valentines products :( I've got a LOT of orders for name banners and they'll probably take up all of my time for the next 3-4 weeks. I've got an order for two MR & MRS heart banners, they're for a wedding I think, so at least I get to do something with hearts LOL!

I've also made a couple of these little hanging decorations...

I'll be making these in lots of different colours, with and without wings, and possibly scented too :)

Hearts & stars & other pretty things :)

Hope everyone had a good weekend! I'm still busy with orders for name banners, here are a few that I finished last week...

I've also been working on another banner that I LOVE! A customer asked me to make a MRS & MRS heart shaped banner in pink, red & white so I came up with this...

The red and white felt is glittery, although you can't really see it in the photo. But I love the effect :) It's not the type of glitter that comes off and gets all over the place either LOL, so I'm really happy with how it turned out and I think the customer is too :)

The postman brought me some goodies on Saturday, lots of football badges and buttons to use on boys' name banners...

Over the weekend I asked my other half to help me with the design of a new product that I've had in mind, and he ended up sitting there for over an hour coming up with new ideas and sketching them out for me. He's got some really good ideas actually and I'll definitely be trying them :)

Hope it isn't too cold where you are - it's FREEZING here!! Roll on summer!

Colourful Tuesday :)

In case you're wondering how it's been colourful, I've been taking some photos of colour suggestions for name banners. I plan on taking more of these because sometimes when I'm sorting out all my felt (usually several times a day because it all seems to get thrown back onto my shelves carelessly everytime I pull a piece out LOL), I see two colours together that I never would have thought would go well, and they look lovely.

I think my 8 year old might be able to help me with that actually, he's got a really good eye for colour. I love how both my boys are creative like me. The only downside to that is the fact that I'm running out of space to put all their pictures. I literally have a pile of them at the moment and I keep promising I'll put them on the wall, but I don't know which wall... I can't bear to throw any away though, I always feel awful for doing that LOL.

Anyway here are the colours I've done so far...

I'm in love with the last one. I'm going to make myself something in those colours :)

I've got lots of name banners to work on this afternoon and lots of new orders being placed too so that'll keep me busy for the next few weeks.

Finally...

My new website and Facebook page are both live! I had to stay up until 3am sorting a few things out but it's done now :) And after all that I'm still not happy LOL. I've created my website with Moonfruit and I've been faffing about with it since before christmas, and then I discovered a few days ago that when you try and view it on a mobile device it doesn't display properly. I know that more and more people are accessing the internet from their mobile so to be honest it's a bit of a disappointment. I think I'll pay someone to make me a proper website, it'll be easier LOL :)

So anyway, now that all that's sorted out I can get on with some actual work! I've got about twenty name banners to do over the next few weeks and I've got some paperwork to catch up on too. Over christmas I was meant to be working on new products, but I haven't done a thing *ooops*!! I have plenty of ideas in mind but finding the time to actually try them out is a whole different story. There are never enough hours in the day, even when you stay up until 3am...

Weekend...

Ahh, I love the weekend :) No 7am start, no rushing around and no school run! I've spent the last few days cutting out letters for all of my new orders for name banners. People always ask me if I really cut out every single letter by hand, and the answer is yes I do! Even my Big Shot can't help me there, as the templates I use for the letters are my own, but it's still handy for cutting out shapes like hearts and stars :)

Anyway, after two days of cutting this is what I have...

There's one particular banner here that I'm really excited about doing as it's a little bit different, but I won't say anything more yet. I've also just recently finished doing a 'THANK YOU' banner for use at weddings by a photographer friend on Facebook. When I finished making it I wanted to take a photo of it myself but I couldn't get the lighting quite right and to be honest all the pictures I did manage to get were a bit rubbish LOL. So I sent it off and hopefully there'll be some proper photographs of it soon :)

I'm hoping to start work on some new products in the next few weeks too. I have lots of ideas in mind so fingers crossed it all goes to plan. I actually got my sewing machine out the other day... I've never used it properly before but I sat and practised for a while and I'm getting better LOL. Not an expert, by any means, but definitely better than I was before :)

Something else I'd love to do this year is sell at a craft fair. I've been to quite a few as a customer and always end up thinking, hmm I could do that. I think it's the preparation that worries me. It'll take a few months to get everything ready, and I spend most of time working on orders so I'm really not sure how I would find the time. Other people do though so I suppose it's possible. The other thing that worries me is whether people would actually buy anything. I'm not very confident about my work to begin with, so if it was a bad day and I didn't get many customers I think it would be soul destroying LOL. I'll never know if I don't try though.

Hope you all have a good weekend :) x

Hello :)

This is the brand new blog for Heartworks, where you can keep up to date with all of my latest creations and news! I create personalised gifts and accessories from felt and fabric, and I'm always thinking up new ideas. Over the next few weeks I'll be getting things up and running, but I've never actually had a blog before so be patient with me LOL. Here are a few things I've been working on over the last few months... mainly name banners but I'm hoping to get started on lots of new products soon!

If you're very observant (or just nosy like me LOL) you'll notice that the photos have different watermarks on them. Don't worry, the work is all my own... I've only just started working on my new Facebook page for Heartworks so it isn't live yet, I'm still using the old one so some of my pictures have the old watermark on them. I always feel the need to explain things like that LOL :)

Anyway, I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. We spent it at home with the kids and had a lovely time. The best thing for me was being able to have some time off, I'd actually started to forget what that felt like! It was so nice being able to sit down and play with the kids and do things for me without worrying about getting orders done on time and trying to keep on top of everything. I'm the first to admit that I'm a workaholic (although who can blame me when I have such an enjoyable job!) and working at home means I'm never really away from the 'office', so I tend to work more than I should. Having some time off has definitely made me realise that I need to forget all about work sometimes. I think we all need a break once in a while :)

I got some fab presents for Christmas, but by far my favourite was this...

A Big Shot die cutting machine off my other half! I literally haven't stopped playing with it since I got it. He also bought me the Sizzix Bigz Clear Die Heart, so for the first few days I sat there and cut out about 40 hearts from felt LOL. No idea what I'm gonna do with them yet but it's nearly Valentines Day so I'm sure I'll think of something. I also bought myself some extra dies in all sorts of shapes and can't wait to make new things with them!

Anyway, the kids have gone back to school today and the other half has gone back to work. I planned on starting work again tomorrow so that I can have a whole day to myself to do what I want :).I'm having a sale tomorrow where all of my name banners are reduced by 25% and I've already had loads of enquiries so I'm expecting a mad rush. I don't mind though, the busier the better!

For now though, I'm going to make a cup of tea and put my feet up :)