what katie did next...

How to send Mirrors in the post? good question

I received an order from Twitter yesterday; it was for one of the mirrors I posted about a few weeks ago, someone wanted to buy one for her friend.  Due to the fact I hadn't taken the mirrors anywhere to sell, I hadn't really thought about how I would send them. So, last night I was pondering how to send them out so that a) they are safe in transit and b) they look well packaged and have 'branding' on.

I came up with this idea...

A little felt 'envelope', with one of my labels stitched on to it.

The mirror fits nice and snuggly in the case, and I think it makes it a bit more of a gift!

And of course, I polished it up!

Hope you all have a great day - despite the weather! I'm off for a night out in London with my lovely husband!

To have and to hold - customer feedback

I received an email last night that made me feel extremely good!

Remember the 'To have and to hold' piece? It was the first piece I sold online as 'What Katie did next...'   Here's a little reminder

Well, I had this email Sunday (bearing in mind they were married on Saturday!)

"Dear Katie,

This weekend myself and my partner got married. Our dear friend Victoria gave us one of your amazing and wonderful frames "to have and to hold from this day forward"! and we wanted to express how much we LOVE your work. We liked it so much that on entering the house and unpacking the hire van, I got my tool box out and hammered a nail into the wall to hang it up....It takes pride of place in the main hallway for all to see.

 

We wanted to ask you if you would consider a commission? "

 

The email then specified the requirements for the commission, which all sound lovely and right up my street! As it is to be a first Anniversary gift I wrote back to suggest the use of paper, as this is the traditional gift for a first Anniversary.

 

"Thanks a million and thanks for your beautiful work..."

 

Wow!

 

I promise I won't do a post like this everytime I get some feedback, but as it was the first, and it was so lovely, I just wanted to share it.

 

Wishing you all a very happy day

 

Katie

 

I'm forever making badges, pretty badges everywhere...

So, I've been adding to the designs.  It seems there is no point making just one badge at a time, you need to make a few.  So each time I select the fabrics, thread the machine up, decide what to applique, trim them and then make them into badges, I have a group of them.

I love seeing them like this, I think they look really cute.  They measure 25mm (about an inch), so they are very small in real life.

I need to thin k about how I'm going to present them for sale;

I shall have some cards printed for them to go on, once my Logo has been decided upon, which should be the end of this coming week.  The card needs to be able to be displayed clearly within a shop, perhaps they will 'hang'?

For a badge this small, the designs need to be very simple, due to the nature of applique.  I have got some larger sizes, so I can make more complicated designs on those.  I can't wait to try!

Have a great weekend, the weather looks excellent! 

The Lovebirds

As I was reading a book about birds to my son the other day, we came across a picture of a couple of lovebirds.  I hadn't realised how tactile they are with each other, the way they lean in for a cuddle.  So I decided to use them as inspiration for one of my pictures.

It was really difficult to photograph this one as the sun has been so bright today, and the light was flooding into our house from all directions.

 
I love the colours, they make me feel really summery!

I deliberately placed the emphasis on the left, leaving enough space on the right if someone wanted to put names or dates...  perhaps for a very personal Engagement / Wedding / Anniversary gift?   

Young at Heart - fabric applique button badges

My new badge making machine is my new best friend! I love it!

It's taken a while to get the hang of making them because they are really fiddly when using fabric, especially because they are only 2.5cm in diameter. 

 
I know hearts are obvious, but I wanted to start with something that would be relatively simple to sew, and I think they look quite cute!

I thought these would be great if you were getting married, but didn't want to get dressed up for your Hen night.  All of the Hen's could wear a badge, and they would get to keep it as a keepsake.

This is a great way of recycling fabrics that would otherwise be thrown away because they are too small.  I've bought a badge-making machine that makes various sizes, so I will be trialling a range of things over the forthcoming weeks.