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.