Coffee and Chat 5

This week we are going to meet mother and daughter Etsy shop owners, Suzanne and Jenny.  They run daisyfleur, a fabulous shop full of clothing and accessories for little girls from babies to the under 5’s.  They specialise in vintage style pinafore dressed (or jumpers for the US clients!) and pretty dresses made from Liberty cotton lawn for special occasions such as parties or weddings. 

• When did you start crafting?

My mum, Suzanne, started sewing a long time ago and made many of her own clothes in the 1960’s and many of my clothes when I was a child in the 70’s.  She always encouraged my creative side from a young age and we spent many happy hours togther sewing, knitting, scrap booking, making collages, baking and making cards. My mum was a primary school teaches and we always had fun trying out ideas for crafts for her pupils to make.

• In your fabulous shop you have so many lovely things.  Do you both make everything or do you have specialist areas?

Suzanne specialises in the liberty dresses and I make the pinafore dressed, but we both make all our own designs.  We both enjoy making the accessories such as the bags, purses and hats as well.

• Which are you favourite items?

We both adore out matching sets made from luxurious Liberty lawn fabric and we’re very enthusiastic about our new sunhat range.

• Where do you get your inspiration from?

We get inspiration for new items from new fabrics, pictures we see in books, new dress patterns, items we see in magazines and each other! Often the style and texture of the fabric will determine the kind of item we make on that particular day.

• How do juggle family/work commitments with running a craft business?

Fortunately there are two of us so we are able to share the running of daisyfleur.  We both sew but share out the other sides to the business.  Suzanne is retired so has a little more time then I do – I have a full-time job.  Suzanne uploads all of our items to our Etsy shop and runs the stall at our craft fair.  We are members of a craft group in Lincolnshire and have a stall at most of their events (http://www.tempopromotes.co.uk/).  I take care of our marketing and look after the blog and twitter pages.

• Where do you see your business in a years time?

We have only been trading for just over a year and we are very pleased to be in profit and to have achieved success both online and at craft fairs.  We hope to continue to increase our sales and to make more of our popular items, as well as extend out range to include the many new ideas we have!

• What avice would you give to someon starting a career in crafting?

I think we have been very lucky to be able to start our craft business together and it is great to have the support and to be able to share the burden of the less interesting side of the business – admin for example!  If you do have a friend or a family member you can link up with, we would really recommend working together as you also work together creatively and spark ideas off each toehr. 

 My second piece of advice is to be patient.  It does take time to grow a business and there will be times when you feel you aren’t making any preogress, but time will tell if you are going to be successful or not, so do give it a fair chance. 

And finally, learn from your mistakes and monitor which items sell and which don’t.  There is no point in spending hours on a design you love if it doesn’t sell.  React to your sales and be flexible.

I hope you have enjoyed meeting Suzanne and Jenny and make sure you check out their fabulous Etsy shop daisyfleur.

House or a Home?

Around Christmas time I posted a blog about quilts and how they have an emotional significance attached to when you make them.  The quilt I am working on is my divorce quilt.  A bit strange I know but, it will always be a quilt of freedom from a troubled man. 

Since Christmas my life has been on one long roller coaster ride and the quilt has not been finished as I feel that it needs to be completed once everything has been resolved.  I don’t expect a full resolution, but just to settle into a calmer state would be nice!

One of the major things that has happened has involved our formal martial home.  This was a house we choose in the lovely town of Tetbury and was perfect for our family.  I loved the house and the location immediately.  It fitted us like a glove.  The house was nothing special, but it was our home that we had picked as a family.

2 weeks ago the courts ordered that the house be repossessed by the mortgage company. Fortunately I had moved us out of there last March because I simply could not pay the mortgage.  My ex-husband moved in and lived there until January, when he then decided to abandon it.

It has been a long waiting game to have the house repossessed and now it has finally happened I feel a sense of lose again for all the hopes and dreams I had whilst married.  It is the final thing holding us together financially and closes the last chapter on our marriage.  So in my usual way of dealing with things I have turned to sewing to help cope with the changes.  Here is a lovely bag I made at the weekend with our old house on as last good bye:

As you can see it is a happy bag, that will remind of the happy times we had together in the house.

Don’t worry, once I have mastered maching embroidering no 15 I will be making a bright a colourful bag with a bungalow on for our new home!

Coffee and Chat 3

I think that some Sundays are made for lying around the house not doing much!  Especially when the sun is shining so bright! 

So I thought we would have another coffee and chat to meet a fabulous crafter who has been very inspiring to me: Sara Webster.  When I was first considering a business in the craft industry I googled blogs about craft and Sara’s website, ‘from the hands of kitty eden’, was one of the first ones that I fell in love with.  

I love her use of fabrics to make gorgeous accessories.  I have been fortunate enough to see her work up close in Lexi Loves in Cirencester and her badges are simply fabulous!  How on earth Sara fits in time to create such wonderful things when she has 5 children aged 8 to 23 I will never know!

I hope you enjoy meeting the fabulous Sara Webster and exploring her wonderful work:

All love making all the items on my website some more than others but I think the one I love the most is the flower brooch followed closely by the pink bunny badge! I also love making clothes which I think will feature a lot in my work in the future!

As I live on the edge of the Peak National Park in the Derbyshire countryside my inspiration comes from anything and everything, sometimes I have to escape to the city just to soak up the sights and the sounds but I am happiest sat in my garden doodling new ideas.
I am always taking inspiration from my children too they have such amazing ideas , my youngest girl loves to draw me little pictures which I love to use in my work .

Juggling children/ home life and work is always a struggle but I do try to go with the flow and try not to stress too much.  I couldn’t do any of this without my very long suffering  partner he understands that my work is really important to me.  Being able to be at home with my children is one of the perks of this job …. most of the time

I am looking forward to really moving the business up a step this next year maybe a trade show or some large fairs … somewhere like the Country living fair would be fab .

I think it took me a long time to learn I can only do the best I can, I have very high standards and sometimes can be slightly obsessive about things .

Be proud of what you do … love your work !

I hope you have enjoyed meeting Sara and seeing some of her fabulous work.

Monday Mosaic

Following on from the theme of squares last week I thought I would get a collection together of some triangles on Etsy.  Triangles are another quilters favourite and are really versatile in patchwork, but as you can see in the mosaic they are also gorgeous in other crafts!

1 SparklePeach

2 BrightMoonDesigns

3 neptunium79

4 LaBellaVitaBoutique

5 panopoly

6 paintedturtlewt

7 bedickens

8 HomeOfficeDeco

9 jestersbaubles

I hope you have enjoyed out shopping trip this week!

See you next week with another shape!

Monday Mosaic

It has been a while since I put together a Monday Mosaic so I thought I would put one together on shapes this week.  As a patchwork and quilter, I love squares. There are so many designs you can get out of a simple square shape. So I have searched Etsy and found some lovely square themed items for the mosaic.  I hope you like them!

1 colorsbyliza

2 dawily

3 PiecesOfPine

4 HMCreativeSupplies

5 WickedlyGoodWares

6 metalmorphoz

7 StuckTogether

8 yLook

9 majkatree

I hope you enjoy my little peek at the squares on Etsy!

See you next week

Pretty in Pink

Last week I received an order all the way from Australia! Way back in March I made a little tote and matching purse for a customer in Australia, but it needed to be delivered to a special birthday girl here in the UK.

Now the same wonderful customer wants a bag and purse for her little girl.  So I worked hard this weekend so I can get the present to Australia in time for her birthday in just under 2 weeks. 

The lovely Amy Butler Mint fabric goes so well with the pale pink lining.

I added a felt flower to the bag and purse to finish them off.

I hope she likes them! 

They will start their long  journey this morning – fingers crossed she will like them!

If you would like a similar set for the little girl in your life feel free to email me using the address on my contact page!

Bags of Diaper Fun!

When my youngest monster’s key worker at nursery said she was pregnant I was really pleased for her, but also a little bit sad for us – well actually very sad!  The monster adores her and talks about her at home all the time!  I wanted to make her something to say thank-you for the wonderful job she has done with my youngest and middle monsters, so when she said she hadn’t found a diaper bag she liked I jumped right in there and said I would make one for her!

She picked the new Amy Butler Love Range for the bag, which is such a lovely bright and summery range.  After 3 weeks of thinking and jotting down ideas I finally started work on it this week.  Here are some pics of the bag that I dropped off for her today:

It is a big bag with a waterproof  lined pouch that she put used baby wipes into.

Years of experience as a mother and childminder has taught me that there is never a bin nearby when the monster spills half a ton of gunk over themselves!

The inside has 2 pockets for baby wipes and nappies, as well as a zippered pocket to keep her keys and purse safe. I also included a pouch for  a bottle and key fob for attaching the pouch or dummy:

There is plenty of room for a change of clothes and even Wilson the dog!

I had put on shoulder straps but she also wanted a longer strap as well.

I have to wait for the swivel clips to arrive, but I also wanted to try buggy straps with elstic so she can suspend the bag from her buggy without a longer strap dangling everywhere.  I also added a base from U-Handbag to give the bag some stability:

I am really pleased with how the bag turned out and I hope she loves using it as much as I loved making it!

Even had a few people asking if I will make them one without the baby additions so watch the space for some new bags!

If you would like to a diaper bag please contact me:

anna@funkydivadesigns.com

On with the next adventure!

Monday Mosaic

Today we are going a little bit closer to home – a short hop across the Channel to France! We all know France is the original home of all that is fashion and chic, and the shops on Etsy are no exception!

I have found some really lovely items from some fabulous shops, and I hope you enjoy exploring them as much as I have!

1 MyPrecious

2 malam

3 VerteAdelie

4 BlueTerracotta

5 lillalotta

6 FrenchGirlOrganics

7 SlyvChezPlum

8 tialys

9 TheNebulousKingdom

I hope you enjoy our trip to France!

Already planning our next outing…..

Pretty in Pink!

It is Monday Mosaic time again!  This week the colour from the Etsy sellers is pink because it is nearly Valentines Day.

I hope you like the selection this week.  There are so many lovely things to choose from so it has once again turned in 12 gorgeous items!

1 SusanGreenBooks

2 especially4ubyEandT

3 deancustomdesigns

4 silverunicorns

5 flauntdesignsjewelry

6 EclecticaByJan

7 beadoutlet

8 SixSkeins

9 rulatwal

10 modestambition

11 Durhamhinny

12 likealilyamongthorns

Wednesday Bloggers!

Wednesday Bloggers is my new weekly feature of blogs from the lovely bloggers who entered my January giveaway.

This week the featured blogger is:

www.lisbonsky.com

The blog is a peek into the world of LisbonSky and showcases her lovely jewellery.  In her own words:

‘LisbonSky was created on July 2009 – specializing in handmade eclectic and quirky jewelry and accessories. I use a variety of quality materials ranging from semi precious gemstones, silver plated metals, gold plated metals, swarovski crystals, crystal briolettes, antique brass, wood, fabric, resin and glass beads.’

Based in Australia, LisbonSky sells absolutely gorgeous jewellery on Etsy.  Here are some of my favourite pieces:

This locket is so delicate and pretty. 

I love red and this bracelet is so funky!

Another great piece!

You can see all of these gorgeous pieces in LisbonSky Etsy shop