Paper Work

Lots of my tasks this week have involved paper.

I've been drawing, making pattern pieces, writing notes, processing orders, ticking things off to do lists... and sorting receipts & printing out lots of spreadsheets for my accounts ready for filing my tax return (yawn).

I've also been doing some cutting and sticking, which is always fun (and rather relaxing, too).

Whenever I design something new I do a lot of brainstorming and doodling of random ideas until I settle on one that I want to develop, so I've built up quite a stash of doodled-on scraps of paper over the years. Looking through them can be great for sparking new ideas, and often a drawing that wasn't quite right for one project becomes the seed for something completely different months or even years later.

But my stash of scribbled-on paper scraps was starting to get out of hand, so I thought I'd tidy up a bit by cutting out all the "useful" doodles and sticking them in a blank notebook. So eventually (when I've finished all this cutting and sticking) I'll have a sort of ideas scrapbook that I can  flick through next time I need a bit of crafty inspiration.
 

Pie Charts

'Tis the season for doing my accounts. Yawn.

As you can see, I've been cheering myself up by making some colourful pie charts :)

I keep accounts for my business (obviously) but I also keep a record of my personal spending as I find it helps me budget, etc. Being self-employed, my income can really fluctuate month to month depending on the time of year and how much writing/design work I've had lately... so I find it very helpful to keep an eye on where my pennies are going!

Tax Time

This week has mostly been filled with spreadsheets as I've been finishing my accounts. So boring!

My brain feels a little broken now, but normal crafty service should be resumed shortly :)

In the meantime, here's a quick snap of my assistant "helping" me print out some paperwork...

Bits and bobs

This week I have been...

... sorting out receipts for my tax return, and swearing that this year I won't just stick them all in a box and forget about them, but will do my best to organise them each month. Ditto doing my accounts at the end of each month instead of once a year. (Chances of this actually happening: slim to none).


... sewing some more lavender sachets, this time from an old blue & white striped pillowcase. Love those stripes.


... preparing for, hosting, and then tidying up after an "open house" we had for friends & neighbours to celebrate the launch of my book, Super-Cute Felt. It was a very lovely evening!

I didn't take many photos but I did get a couple of snaps of the pretty napkins (teacups, yum) and a rather blurry shot of a stack of copies of my book.


I've also nearly finished my giant granny square blanket - hurrah!

I took a break from crocheting the blanket over the warmer summer months as it was too hot to sit with it over my knees as I worked on it. I've just got the last few rounds left now, and then I'll sew in all the ends, and take some pictures of it to share with you all.

Because of the irregular pattern I was using for the blanket, I've used up almost all the yarn I bought in some of the colours, and much less of others. I've added the leftover yarn to my stash of random colours to be knitted into blanket squares.


My evenings this autumn will be filled with yarn!

Felt Trim Winner

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! We had a nice quiet few days with some good food, and I've spent several evenings curled up on the sofa watching murder mystery adaptations. I wasn't at all impressed by the M.R. James adaptation and thought the new episode Poirot was a bit dull but I've been rather loving the new Marples... and I've nearly finished sewing together that big blanket, hurrah.

Although I'm taking a proper break from my shops for a few weeks, it's back to work for me now... I'm currently surrounded by a big pile of paperwork as I'm tackling my tax return and getting my accounts up to date so I can start the year feeling all organised and efficient. This is all very dull but on the upside, there are lots of nice coloured pens involved :D


Down to business: the winner of the yellow felt trim is... twigletqueen!

Lots of people asked if I could share the source of this trim, but unfortunately I bought it from a wholesaler who now no longer sells it. If they ever have more, I'll try and get some to add to my shop :)

Number Crunching

I've been busy working on my accounts today. YAWN.

Day-to-day I write everything in my accounts book by hand and then I'm supposed to type it all up at the end of each month in a nice neat spreadsheet, print it out and file it neatly with that month's receipts ready to do my tax return. If I actually got round to doing this every month it would be a perfect system!

In reality, I end up having a massive paperwork blitz this time each year to catch up on all the months I've missed. It's very dull, but it's quite nice looking back over the past year and getting an "overview" of all my business ups and downs.

Along with my accounts I've got a few other admin tasks on my to do list at the moment - including sorting through all the photos on my computer (oh my goodness what a mess those are in!) and gradually re-taking photos of my older designs, like the sunflower brooches above.

I'm hoping to get as much admin as possible out of the way before the warmer summer weather arrives and I start wanting to go on picnics and to spend my afternoons reading PG Wodehouse novels in the sunshine instead of stuck at a computer...

UPDATE: My sunflower design is now available as a sewing pattern! Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns

Admin Season

After the madness of the months up to Christmas, spring is the season to gradually re-establish some order out of the chaos: restocking, reorganising, tidying, planning, filing and doing lots and lots of paperwork.It can get a bit dull, but I do my best not to attempt any on days when I'm feeling creative and itching to sew stuff. Admin might be at the top of my to do list at this time of year (and I do love to be organised) but making stuff always takes priority.

Sunday Projects

Today I have...

... gone a bit cross-eyed whilst reducing all my Etsy prices: bargains galore thanks to the weak pound!

... measured for curtains to hide my messy workspace. I'm planning on using this vintage floral-print bedsheet, it will look awesome hung up under the blue and white breakfast bar where I stash lots of my boxes:
... started a new accounts book (pictured above with the eerily matching fabric), which is always fun from a stationery-nerd point of view :)

... looked for a place to hang up the cute mobile made for me as a thankyou gift:(how darling is that teacup? I especially love the steam!)

... and I've even managed to squeeze in a bit of sewing as well: photos coming soon.

Finished! (C365/346)

I have finished my accounts! Hurrah hurrah hurrah *happy dance*

I've still got the actual tax return to do, and a few bits of printing and filing to sort out but spreadsheets have been completed, calculations have been made, all bar one receipt has been found and neatly filed. Success!

Also satisfying but in a totally different way, I finished these last night:
Rather embarrasingly you can see them in my work in progress pile way back on day 51!

Tax Time

I am currently attending to my accounts in preparation for filling out my tax return, covering half the house in paperwork in the process. After a long day staring at numbers yesterday I was a bit too spaced out to sew anything, so I treated myself to some yummy chocolate biscuits and curled up to read a bit of "Penguin by Design" - a gorgeous book, with lots of lovely pictures to soothe my frazzled brain!

365 / 81 - Brr! and also Yawn!

Brr! because it is still COLD here thanks to our lack of heating (I am now a walking bundle of wool and have made a treasury to celebrate the fact) and Yawn! because I did very little crafting yesterday as my accounts needed doing...

Here is my snazzy accounts book, along with the teeny bit of creative stuff I managed - sketching out possible shapes for a forthcoming conker (horse chestnut) brooch (having made one with a little acorn I just have to try to make a conker!) :
I was very bad and impatient yesterday and instead of waiting and spreading out all my new listings, I went and listed them all at once, including all three sizes of poppy. I will be donating £1 to the poppy appeal for every poppy brooch purchased from my shop this November.

I was also most delighted to get an email from the lovely charlottenarunsky letting me know that one of my mobiles was on the Etsy front page as part of a "picks for baby" treasury.

Crafting 365 / 54 - a new mobile

Yesterday I made a start on the custom mobile I mentioned... I made a big mess of the kitchen table, spreading out the chosen pastel felt colours and cutting them all into pieces. The discs for this mobile are to be one-sided only (it will be flat on a wall, not hanging centrally and spinning) and it was interesting to break from my normal process of cutting two of every piece. It's also very interesting making something to someone else's colours and seeing how different the pieces look in this softer palette.
I managed to sew a few of the discs together before I went to bed, but there are still lots to do! I also managed to get a small batch of cloud brooches finished and relisted, though I wasn't totally awake and managed to sew one of the clouds on the wrong way round! Very annoying. I shall probably list it as a slightly discounted oops or something, there's nothing technically wrong with it... it just doesn't look quite right to me & it certainly looks different to the photos in my listing! Ah well. Must pay more attention next time! Here are the clouds nestling amongst the pastel discs - I think the grey looks quite nice next to the pastel colours...
I also did a little bit of dull work on my accounts last night, which is why my crafting 365 photo contains a calculator (resting on my snazzy accounts book - it's only snazzy on the outside, believe me!). Nothing too interesting/important, just adding up a few expenses from last month in an attempt to keep up with my paperwork!

Crafting 365 - day twelve - more accounts, more moustaches

Here are the moustaches I made last night ... some moustache disguises and some moustaches soon-to-be-stuck-on-cards:
The flocked wonder they have been photographed on is my accounts book. Accounts may be dull but my accounts book itself is a thing of beauty (on the outside at least!). I used to spend far too much money in Paperchase but boy was it worth it :)

My mother-in-law came round for lunch today. I was making moustaches. She now thinks me even more crazy than she did before, but she bought some of my recycled envelopes so I guess I can forgive her. Yet more moustaches this evening as I shall be zoning out in front of a Hercule Poirot mystery or two and unable to begin exciting new things. Zzzz...