NEC: What a great day!

Well, I've done it!  I taught a workshop at the NEC on creating beaded jewellery using the two needle method.  I think it went very well, largely thanks to the organisation and to the lovely ladies who took the workshop.  Very impressed to say that almost all of them completed the bracelet in the time (it was something that I'd been worrying about beforehand - was it too ambitious? not ambitious enough?)  Some of them were even kind enough to buy my next kit: to be available on Etsy by the end of the week when I've sorted the photos!  Meanwhile, here's a picture:

I will also be selling it as a made item, again by the end of the week.  Everything has been delayed slightly because of my lovely cat, Winston.  He decided that 6:30 a m on Saturday was the perfect time to get me out of bed for some food.  Unfortunately, my brain did not agree, and I managed to fall down the stairs, at which point the little ingrate legged it through the cat flap.  I won't bore anyone with the details, but I haven't been able to sit down since!

These are as far as I've got with things festive at the moment (see above)
Hopefully I'll be a bit more organised next week - I'm planning a trip to my favourite bead shop on Monday (could be expensive).

 

Finally, the kit is online!

Well, the title pretty much says it all this time.  The kit that I've been working on for what seems like forever is finally on line and available to purchase.  I'm actually pretty excited about it, because so much work has gone into making is as perfect as I can, especially as I'm giving a workshop making exactly this item on Friday.  At the NEC, no less!  I have spent the morning counting out beads into little plastic packets (sounds easy, but you try counting 16 lots of 120 beads with any degree of accuracy - it's not the most boring thing I've ever done, but it's definitely on the shortlist).  I managed to get half way through the task of packing up all the materials, only to realise that I'd left out my business cards.  Back to square one.  Opening up gripseal bags which you've carefully closed so that none of the packets of beads can get mixed up is way more difficult to do than it has any right to be!  

Incidentally, I hope you spot the way I've used the word "kit" 3 times in big red letters on the photo - maybe I am being a bit over-cautious here, but you can never tell!  The kit is available on my Etsy shop, in gorgeous festive colours of either red and gold or green and gold for a mere £6 plus postage.  Buy more than one kit (maybe 1 in each colour? and there's no extra postage charge).  If you really want to push the boat out, contact me through Etsy or this blog and do a deal for larger numbers of kits!

To buy through Etsy, click here

Roofers 1, Cats 1

Last year, just before Christmas, part of our roof decided to go for a little trip into our garden.  When the man came round to repair it, the news was not good.  Along the lines of "Well, it's hardly surprising, the roof's worn out".  (He may have used slightly stronger language).  Obviously we needed a new roof.  For various reasons we didn't have it done over the summer (I had an operation, we spent a lot of time not knowing what our children were going to be doing and where) and we generally perfected the art of procrastination.

Eventually, it hit the stage where we realised that we had to get a move on, or we'd end up with the whole roof in the garden in the next high wind.  So this week the roofers are in.  And it's raining.  However, they seem to be a cheerful bunch and not overly deterred by the inclement weather.  The cats, on the other hand, are not at all happy.  Winston (serial killer, but scaredy cat) legged it across the back wall within ten minutes of their arrival today. Sammy (big and ginger) has decided to stick it out, but keeps looking round at every crash and bang.  He has now retreated to the safety of my gym bag.  We will see whether he stays in for the whole day, and how long it takes Winston to decide that it's safe to come home.

The minutiae of running a business...

You know when you start running a business that there will be things that you have to do that are mind numbingly boring, but necessary.  Well, I seem to have had a weekend of those.  Ordering business cards (can't believe how hard it is to choose a design), working out an exact cost for the kits (making sure to include all the latest prices), trying to change the banner for my shop (that was the worst of all: started with GIMP, ended up with Paint because I could not get GIMP to work).  I've been through about five attempts today, still not entirely happy, but at least it doesn't have part of the name missing and it's not too pixellated! 

On a positive note: I had my first international sale (woo-hoo).  And I finally found out why my new phone makes weird noises - apparently the Etsy sales app is trying to let me know that someone has favourited an item.  If only it hadn't been at 4 am that I discovered this!

The wire wrapping is coming along nicely - I listed my first pair of wire wrapped earrings today:

Buy them here

More designs coming this week, plus the kits will be online by Friday.  Everything is ready, apart from the packaging, which is due tomorrow.  It looks like being another busy week.

Rhiannon Rose at the NEC!

I am really pleased to be able to let you all in on something that has been being planned for a while - I'm going to be teaching a workshop at the NEC Birmingham as part of Prima magazine's Make and Take Theatre!  We will be making the festive bracelet that I wrote about a while back, just in time for Christmas.  If you come along, you will get the full kit, with a choice of bead colours and I will guide you through the whole process.

These are two of the colours that will be available on the day, there will also be an option for a glass pearl bracelet, made to the same pattern, but which looks very different.



The Christmas Craft fair runs from Thursday, 6 November 2014 at 10:00 - Sunday, 9 November 2014 at 16:00, with a full programme of workshops, which may be booked in advance.
My workshop is on Friday 7th November, from 10:00 to 11:00.  Tickets cost £10, plus booking fee.  They are limited, but you can book in advance through this link:

Book Workshop

It should be a fantastic day, as there are lots of great workshops lined up, plus the rest of the Christmas Crafts fair to enjoy.  I look forward to seeing you there!

U day - 1

Tomorrow is the day.  My youngest child and only daughter is off to Uni.  We are surrounded by boxes, packing materials and lists.  Apparently she has done one-third of today's list.  We have sorted out what time we all need to get up tomorrow.  I am cooking her favourite meal tonight in a sort of "condemned man's last meal" kind of a way.  Now there is nothing much left for me to do except think about how strange it will be without her.  We will still have the two cats, of course, who will no doubt be confused.  Sammy has clearly spotted that something is going on, as he's been sleeping in her room (mostly on the most uncomfortable box of packed things that he can find) for the past few nights.  He has now disappeared, so we don't know if this is in disgust, or if he will be back in the middle of the night to check if she's gone yet.  Meanwhile, the washing machine is in constant use ("it will cost me £4 a load at Uni") and we are in danger of running out of newspaper.  Oh, if anyone wants to know the best way to pack cacti, you need a mug, newspaper, a yogurt pot and lots of packing tape.  I am not looking forward to tomorrow.

Christmas is coming!

I've been working on some new ideas today.  I'm creating a kit (possibly more than one) for Christmas jewellery making.  Today it got one step closer - my daughter followed the instructions and made a bracelet!  She found 2 mistakes for me (which was the whole idea) and the only thing I had to help her with was threading the needles at the start.  Next week: my mum and some of her friends are going to give it a try. 

This is the bracelet:

Then all I have to do is source the right size plastic bags, get lots of copies of the instructions printed, price it up (it will be less than £12 as that's what the completed article goes for), and start counting beads into little packages.  Makes me quite exhausted just thinking about it!









I've also been practicing wire wrapping - something that I've only ever done on a very small scale with earrings - because I have some amazing pieces of druzy that are just crying out to be wire wrapped.  I want to be able to do them justice, but I think I'm going to have to use some quite heavy duty wire to get the look I want.