Busy Days

Busy days and nights here at Kay Dees Crafts. I always knew running your own business was hard as I watched my dad as I was growing up - I didn't realise quite how hard though!

The shop design has changed yet again! I met a lovely lady, Tanya, through Freecycle. I had a big bag of ribbon cut offs that were of no use to me, not long enough to sell but plenty long enough for canny crafters. Tanya answered our Freecycle post and came to collect her bundle. As we were chatting about the business and what our plans were, Tanya said she would cast an eye over the website and pass us back some feedback. As some of our readers and buyers will know, we are always keen to get feedback regarding our business.

As it turns out Tanya is a very talented designer! We have had some fantastic constructive advice and we are busy trying to implement some of her suggestions. Thank you Tanya! I am struggling with some of our graphics, but my main concern is to have a functioning website....at the moment some of the fonts are so tiny you would need a magnifying glass to read them! So back to hours of reformatting but I do think the end results will be worth it.

We now have a range of cardmaking tags and banners available, soon to be listed (hopefully this evening). One of my buyers makes Wedding cards and stationery and requested some Order of Service banners. Of course whilst I was shopping for her request I could not ignore the many different tags I found LOL

I had a lazy day last Sunday as I really needed a break from the shop. I decided I wanted to visit the seaside and of course we had to introduce Ghyll to the sea. I literally stuck a pin in the map and we headed down to Seaford and walked part of the South Downs Way. I have yet to download the photographs of our day but a fantastic time was had by all....and despite it being a Bank Holiday weekend, the weather was glorious.

No time to 'chat', things to do, websites to stock and sales to pack.

Happy Crafting!

Thank goodness for that!

It is finally over - stocktake that is :-)

What a nightmare. My husband, who has the patience of a saint, spent most of the weekend helping me count, stay sane and organise our stock for the end of the financial year. Tough task at the best of times but add that, a busy weekend of sales and a lass with fibromyalgia and you have a mountainous task. Dean kept me focused, calmed my fears of 'I have lost a box full of xxx', reassured me I was not going mad when I simply could not add up and kept me in take away food!

I have a lot of stock that I want rid of to free my 'shelves' up for some fantastic new ranges I have seen over in USA and I have promised myself that I will not buy until some of it has gone. So I have had a mad price blitz on some basic crafting items:

8g ultrafine glitter pots now £1.49

Handmade paper packs from £2.99

Embossed button tops 99p!

Indian handcrafted glass beads now £1.99!

Just a sample of stock now reduced in price to make way for new, exciting ranges.

Phew!

Well now that is finished I need to start thinkng about my tax return........hmmmm there is always tomorrow for that!!

Happy Crafting!

Fun with Stencils!

Our Dover Little Activity Books are finally listed! I always feel such a sense of achievement when I finish listing a block of products.

These sturdy little books each have 6 precut stencils. No scissors required; just detach plates and away you go. The durable paper bound stencil designs will also add charming accents to windows, walls, furniture, fabrics and a host of other flat surfaces. Ideal for children but equally useful for all you canny adult crafters out there.

Perfect to while away a few hours during the upcoming Easter break :)

Happy Crafting!

Brad Buddies

The latest innovation in Brads from Hot off the Press!

These seriously cute brad embellishments have not yet caught on that much in the UK with cardmakers and scrapbookers. This month at Kay Dees Crafts we have them on Special Offer for only £2.99 per pack to try and change that.

Brad Buddies™ make perfect borders for scrapbooks; they are also great for embellishing a photo, a tag or your journalling.

Cardmakers can add these embellishments to the front of a card as a focal point or as a surprise on the inside of the card.

Each package contains 2 each of 3 styles of jumbo embossed lightweight metal shapes, plus designer brads to attach them.

If there are any cardmakers or scrapbookers that have already used these fantastic embellishments let us know! We want to show off your work :)

Happy Crafting!

Life at Kay Dees Crafts this week

What a week!

I am paying the price for my mad frenzy last week. Fibromyalgia is not a forgiving illness when you overdo it. I was actually quite frightened for a couple of days, especially over the weekend, as I seemed to lose the ability to grip things....I have broken a few mugs and glasses :( I am now just getting past the pins and needles stage in my hands but it still hurts like a hurting thing on a hurting day. Fellow fibro sufferers will also know that with the pain comes problems sleeping, with the lack of sleep comes more pain and you end up on the fibro merry go round. Well it can stop now please as I want to get off!

I have taken some time out and rather than try to list 100+ things a day on the website, manage Ebay sales, clean house, cook dinner, wash clothes etc etc I have been taking the evenings off and watching some DVDs. Although I am only running at about 75% I am in a better place than I was pain wise. I have set a daily target for 20 listings on the website and managing Ebay sales. Husband and son are now doing the cooking, cleaning and washing - whether they like it or not :)

It is all well and good thinking you are Superwoman, but reality is a b*tch!

Website is coming on slowly but surely, lots of feedback from my lovely buyers which is always welcomed. My embellishment tins are now all listed and they have proved to be really popular.

Laura Ashley embellishment tins are full of designer accessories including over 130 double sided chipboards, a selection of unique fibres and 8 pots of glass beads, all based around the Connemara colours and themes.The chipboards include images taken from the Connemara theme, plus alphabet tokens too, colour co-ordinated to match the rest of the designer range.

All contained within a stylish printed storage tin with handle.

The ever popular Retro Floral range has a matching embellishment tin too. I am running this, the Masculine and also the Glamour tins on special offer at the moment. Although these tins only contain the chipboards and not the beads and fibres, they are still fantastic value for money at £3.99.

I have just started listing my new delivery of mini craft buttons. The majority of our micro buttons are 6mm..yesterday we had some arrive that are 4mm!! They are TINY:

Anyway this is not me listing some buttons is it? Hubby is working this evening, son has just informed me he is cooking dinner for us both :) I am a seriously lucky woman despite my little whinge about the physical (and mental!) limits I now face.

Take care of yourselves and Happy Crafting!