Selling in Shops Nationwide

It's funny how businesses change over time. When I was doing Nice day Designs full time I felt torn about selling to shops, it seemed like so much money to hand over in commission. The truth is I wasn't that realistic about the amount of hours I was spending out in the cold trying to sell my work at markets. I wasn't paying myself for that time, and I think looking back I was too exhausted to make smart decisions about my business.

Now that I've scaled things back a lot I can make the work that I enjoy making and pass on the chore of selling onto someone else. A few months ago when I went through a period of unemployment I put aside some time to make tonnes of handmade cards to send to various shops around the country. It was a lot of work doing so much all at once. I think the concentrated working time had a two fold effect, it honed my card making skills really establishing an aesthetic. As well as that it gave me a clearer idea of the true cost of in labour and materials of the cards, without a sustained run at any craft it is sometimes hard to  calculate these things.

I'm happy to say that I'm now selling in several locations throughout Ireland, and still looking for more venues, so if you are a craft shop owner please get in touch. Thanks to all of those who have already agreed to sell my work, you guys allow me to focus my energy on what I really love doing-making stuff!

List of suppliers;
Chez Le Fab-Limerick

Lucky Lane-Limerick

Sheelagh Na Gig-Cloughjordan

Baobab Cafe-Celbridge,Co.Kildare

Coffee Time-Co.Donegal

The Ennis Bookshop-Ennis

New Steampunk Inspired Cards

I'm having a card making week this week. After the Christmas I've been pretty much left with nothing and it's time to restock. There is nothing like new supplies to get the creative juices flowing, so I ordered a bunch of paper from Cork Art Supplies. I found myself drawn to  all their antique and Steampunk style paper, I got this beautiful library themed pad, this old letters one, and vintage emphemera one too.

I make all my cards as 5" x 7", I used to make other sizes but I found that people got a bit ratty about the prces being the same, so I thought it wasn't worth the hassle of weekly pointless arguments, it also makes things easier for me. Now When I get my pads of paper I guillotine them all into strips that are 5" wide, I get two of these per sheet with a little left over.

I then cover all of my blank cards with double sided tape. For about a year the €2 shop was selling this really cheap but a couple of months ago they stopped stocking it so I may need to readjust this part of my ssystem, as tape from the normal craft shop is prohibitively expensive. This is a pretty time consuming boring part of the process but it saves me loads of time down the line.

I then use one of each of the strips(there are two of each pattern) to cover my blank cards. If I was to choose each sheet individually when making every card I would spend loads of time faffing about. Since they will all get used eventually anyway this system just makes it easier and saves time. I trim off the excess with a scalpel. This means I am left with a 5" x 5" cut off, and the second strip of 5" x 12", plus the 2" x 12" left over cut off. I use all of these pieces to decorate and layer my cards, because they are all pre-cut to 5" wide it makes the whole process much faster. This may seem like a bit of a souless way to make something creative but I look at it as my prepping stage. From this point onwards is the fun bit when I get to play with ribbon, paper punches, ink, stamps and stickers.

Here are a few I've made from this paper already, I better get back into the studio and make some more for the weekend at the market!

Ps: Funnily enough my friend Dave sent me this article on how Steampunk is set to be the big trend, just a few days after I made these cards. I had noticed this on Pinterest about 6 months ago and it appealed to my inner teenage goth. Then just yesterday I met a friend for tea who showed me a load of really beautiful new Steampunk jewellery that he had made. You can say you heard it here first, Steampunk is gonna be huge!

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Saturday Market

It's been a good week for this little 'nice day' girl. After recovering from the aforementioned wedding, and the nasty cold that followed it, I had a pretty productive week. I made 4 jackets, and eventually organised my display for my handmade broaches. The best piece of news is that I have at long last gotten a stall at the Saurday market. For those of you who don't live in Limerick I'll explain. The Saturday market is seen as the real market, everyone goes to it, and it's thronged with people over the Christmas season. I was told that there is a waiting list of 120 people to get a full sized pitch there, and people wait years for it. So since I don't have a car, I got a half size plot where I'll be selling my handmade cards, broaches and other little bits and bobs. It looks like I'm going to have to turn into a crazy little worker bee for the next 2 months. Between the 3 days in the restaurant, 2 days of markets and somewhere in there I've to make all of my stock. Well it's better to be too busy rather than looking for work. I can't wait to get started, this week will be my first time selling there. Fingers crossed I make some cash.

The broaches are 15 euro each or a bargain at 3 for 30 euro!

Back to Life,Back to Reality

I just want to let you know that I haven't choked and died in my sickbed. I'm well on the way to recovery but I'm still prone to a cough that makes me sound like a fourty a day kinda gal. I went back to work, and back to the market this week. A strange and welcome feeling being outdoors,I was kind of getting used to my tv fuelled hermit life. I was going to have photos of the clothes that i made last week but yey for me I sold them on Sunday! I good sales day is always good for the soul, it makes me feel more like a business person and less like a crazy lady with an obsessive sewing habit.
I will be posting a write up on the Sunday market inclusive of picks and links to lovely things to purchase, in the meantime here are some photos of the recycled cards I've been making lately.