Tuesday 20 March 2012

On to a winner...

So I knew I was going to be terrible at remembering/ making time to blog but i am delighted to find that I won a spring giveaway on Oooh Betty's blog and it has prompted me to try this again. Before moving on to my own musings can I just point any readers toward Oooh Betty's blog. She's lovely & is a committed blogger, unlike me! I am really excited about getting my prize and already have big plans for it. When I've made something lovely with certain bits of it I will write a little post and add the pictures - if I can work out how to even do that!! In the last 24 hours I've gone from self doubt to throwing sewing projects across the room to quitting this business before its really begun, to waking up this morning renewed and refreshed, ready to make this into something I can be proud of. I'm sure my husband is going as crazy as I am, just listening to me! But as I'm only at the beginning of this process I don't think it's too unusual to be filled with worry and excitement in equal amounts. This is why I'm glad that two exciting things came today, when I needed a little boost to put me back on track. The Springy giveaway win is the first, and the second is as follows: A good friend who bought my little stuffed elephant a few months ago was in a nice homeware shop last week, she happens to work in marketing and is clearly very good at her job because she managed to get the owner interested in my products! Having swapped details on my behalf she passed on the news to me. Obviously it would be amazing to have even just one of my items in a proper shop, but I delayed emailing the lady because of self doubt! Suddenly faced with a real prospect made me seriously look at my range and consider if anyone really really wants to buy my things? What if all my sales so far have been out of pity? Yes I know, my prices are far too high for that to be the case! So Ive realised I was just being stupid and have emailed the lady. She emailed back very promptly- I like people who check their emails out of office times! Anyway I am going to send her some pictures of my things, and I'll pop down to the shop sometime soon to see if my things would fit in with her range. I am really excited about it, and I feel determined to make something of this opportunity, so I'm going to put together some photos which best portray what I do, I'll post them on here & would welcome any feedback, then We'll have to wait and see what happens. Gets me thinking about my brand image... But that's for another night now. Thanks for reading Good night Henny x

2 comments:

  1. Hi Henny - it's Jenny Arnott from Twitter - I hope I have the right 'Handmade by Henny' here. Anyway, if it is you, I'm sorry I have been rubbish at getting back to you about the button query - has been a tough and busy week. I thought I'd reply here though as I can fit on more than 140 characters!

    Anyway I'm not sure though it is something that I could realistically do for you though because I'm extremely busy at the moment. Also, for the time it would take me to make them all, I would have to charge probably more than the buttons are worth to you - because buttons, especially embroidered ones, are quite labour intensive to make, and also the buttons themselves are very pricey (30-80p each depending on size) to start with.

    Have you thought about trying to make them yourself? You can buy self cover buttons easy enough (you don't need a proper press either) and if you already have a sewing machine, it may be worth experimenting yourself and seeing if you can come up with the design - it will certainly be cheaper for you. xxx

    P.s good luck with the shop - hope it works out for you! x

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  2. Hi Jenny,
    Thanks so much for getting back to me. I had a feeling that might be the case, they look pretty intensive, I appreciate your honesty.
    I have had a look at a couple of online tutorials for making them myself and I might have a crack at it. Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated!
    HbH

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