Dizzy Izzy

Signing off (for now)

2010-11-26T21:58:00.000Z

Hey ho ... I have so little free time at the moment, and whatever I do have is taken up with selling my wares on that there internet and elsewhere. So for the time being I'm signing off from this blog.

I will continue to blog, when I get the chance, over here >> www.dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk

And hopefully I'll get back here at some point in the future!

A new addition, and a little bit of sewing fun

2010-10-17T21:57:00.000+01:00

It had been an awfully long time since I blogged!!

I always seem to be saying I've been too busy to blog ... I just wish there were a few more hours in the day!

We have a new addition to our family ...

This is Oscar, our new and unexpected Springer Spaniel! He came to us from a friend who could no longer keep him. On the Monday we had no intention of getting another dog, by the Wednesday we had another dog!

There has been some teething problems ... I had a couple of nights sleeping on the sofa with Oscar on the floor next to me to prevent him howling. Dougal, the existing doggy, was a big bully to begin with. He ate Oscar's bed, and he ate Oscar's collar ...

... these were the remains. We have no idea how he got it off him!

Here's Doug, having a breather from his Spaniel Bashing!

Fortunately, nearly 3 weeks in, they now seem to be getting on. Oscar has even started ignoring his own (new) bed, and is snuggling in with Dougal in his. Not sure the house will ever be calm again ... but we at least seem to have two happy doggies.

In the midst of all the chaos there has been some sewing going on. I've had a commission for a pair of curtains, matching cushions and a draft excluder from a work colleague, which are almost done. I've also been sewing horses to a duvet cover, and making rosettes and bunting for my neice, who is having her bedroom redecorated in a horsey theme.

These are the rosettes, they have pins on the back and will be attached to the top of the curtains.

The final thing which has been keeping me busy is my new Ebay shop ... I started just listing a few things on there which I have in my other supplies shops, and it has suddenly begun to take off. So I've been spending most evenings packing orders, and every lunch break queuing at the post office!

It's here if you'd like to take a look ... http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Dizzy-Izzy-Craft-Supplies

Stumbling Around

2010-09-21T08:00:00.002+01:00

I've recently been stumbling around StumbleUpon.

If you haven't seen this site before, and you've got a few minutes to spare, it's a great way to browse the internet. Tell it what you are interested in and click on stumble. The more sites you tell it you 'like' the more it will come up with to suit your interests. It's really very clever!

.... if you're not careful though, you may find that a few hours have vanished without you noticing!

I'm here >> http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/dizzyizzyhndmde/ if you'd like to see what I've been stumbling across.

First Day At School

2010-09-06T10:28:00.001+01:00

Little Mac is off out in to the big wide world today ... It's her first day at school!

Things to do on a rainy bank holiday weekend

2010-08-29T17:43:00.000+01:00

Make some pom poms

Do some sewing

Cutting & Sticking

Open a wendy-house based pet grooming parlour

Sewing Machine Failure!!

2010-08-23T22:34:00.000+01:00

Oh dear ... my sewing machine broke at the weekend. It wasn't the best sewing machine in the first place, and has seen plenty of use. On Saturday morning it stopped sewing and started eating fabric instead.

So me, being me, took it apart. Not just a bit apart, but completely apart. Poked around inside it, blew every last bit of fluff out of it, and oiled the bits the manual said might need some oil. Then (with a bit of help from a mechanically minded Mr Mac) got it all back together again. And .... it made no difference whatsover.

As I have a slight sewing machine dependency problem, and couldn't possibly be without one, I had to go and buy another ....

It is a Brother XL 3600, and it is fantastic. Quiet, smooth and really light (compared to the old one!), and very easy to use ... it's made me realise just how rubbish my old one was.

And look what I've made with it ...

A day off from the day job

2010-08-18T16:36:00.000+01:00

Today I've been enjoying a much needed, if rather brief, break from the day job.

I could have done with rather more than a day though ... I think I over estimated how much I could do in a day!

I've been out visiting, I've been adding stock to my shop, (have you seen my giveaway? over £20 worth of ribbon up for grabs!), I've walked the dog, I've started to prepare a kids knitting tutorial, and I've also done a few boring household jobs.

But what I'm most excited about is getting my mits on this yarn ... love the colours!!

(it's really for my shop, but I've pinched some for myself ... shhh!)

Don't know what I'm going to do with it yet ... maybe something stripy?

A Lovely if Slightly Exhausting Weekend!

2010-08-15T22:31:00.000+01:00

On Saturday we went to a wedding ... and a jolly nice day was had by all!

Here's Little Mac planning her confetti strategy!

I've got a day off work this week, and as Little Mac will be away with Grandma, I will have a whole day's peace and quiet to do sewing *rubbing hands together in delight*

On my to do list are more Christmas baubles, some bunting, and possibly a few purses. I can't wait! Roll on Wednesday!!

*****

And on an entirely different subject ... pop over here if you fancy winning a big stash of ribbon!!

Have a lovely week.

Who's Up for a Little Bit of Christmas!

2010-08-12T23:26:00.000+01:00

Yep, I know, it's August.

Doesn't mean I can't start thinking about Christmas though, does it?

I've been making baubles!!

They're for my new shop. (v. excited about my new shop!!)

You can read about it here

And visit it at thedizzyizzyshop.com

I'd love to know what you think.

Happy Christmas ;o)

100th post, some bunting, and a little bit of mystery!!

2010-08-08T22:14:00.000+01:00

This is my 100th blog post. It never occurred to me, when I started this off last year, that I'd reach 100 posts. But I have .. tee hee! Quite proud of myself for my sticking power ;o)

Here is a piccy of some pretty pink bunting I've made for my mum. She's hosting a posh garden party with a rose wine theme ... hence the pink-ness of the bunting. Do you like?

I my last few posts I've been grumbling about there not being enough hours in the day ... well part of the reason is that I have been planning and preparing something new. It's exciting times at Dizzy Izzy.

Here's Little Mac hindering my preparations!

ooooh the hair is awful ... growing out fringe ... refusing to keep clips in :o(

All will be revealed on my 'shop' blog :: www.dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk :: So if you want to find out more pop on over there and become a follower, and if all goes to plan, you'll find out what has been taking up all my spare time recently!

Have a lovely week!

Fingers Crossed

2010-08-06T22:37:00.000+01:00

For a bit of sunshine this weekend. Because I've done a bit of making and I want to take some photos of my makes to show them off. And also I quite fancy a bit of sitting in the garden ... its been a long week!

On a completely different subject, one of my Dizzy Bags has been featured on The Crafty Bride's Folksy Friday blog post today ...

How lovely :o) Thank you Crafty Bride!!

Busy busy ...

2010-08-04T22:46:00.000+01:00

Wouldn't it be great if there were a few more hours in each day .. or even a whole extra day each week. I think even then I wouldn't have time to do everything I need to do.

I've now been working 37 hours a week, rather than the very nice 25 hours I used to do, for 6-and-a-bit weeks. Workwise it's fine ... its so much easier to do a full time job in full time hours, than a full time job in part time hours! And the extra money certainly isn't going amiss. But ugh ... how did I used to find the time to do all the other outside-work things like housework, cooking, making etc when I was last working full time (barely a year ago). Hopefully I'll work it out again soon!

I have managed to do a bit of crocheting ... I'm making a blanket for the new little baby boy of a friend. It's very slow going but I need to get it done soon before he grows too big for it! And I have a set of pink bunting to make for a garden party my mum is hosting ... cutting out done, and I'll be dusting off the sewing machine at the weekend.

I'll post some pics of these when it stops raining for long enough to get some decent photos.

I've also said I'll mend a couple of dresses for a work colleague ... another job for the weekend.

I said I'd do a weigh in on Tuesday. I did weigh myself, just didn't find the time to post it. But tonight I can confirm that I'm heading in the right direction. 1lb less that when I last weighed in. I've decided I'm not bothering with giving myself targets and setting myself up for failure. Instead as long as my weight is going downwards more often than not, I will be happy :o)

Crikey ... it's been a while!

2010-07-30T21:07:00.000+01:00

I haven't blogged for ages!! I went on my hols, came back from my hols, and have been busy doing home stuff and work stuff and absolutely no Dizzy Izzy stuff!

I've just re-opened my Folksy shop, and if I can manage to kick myself into gear there should be some new arrivals in there over the next week or so.

The whole fat-fighting thing hasn't been going terrible well either. I was back to where I started when I got back from holiday, and at the last count was still there. I am, however, trying harder now and will weigh in on Tuesday.

For your viewing pleasure here are a couple of pics from our holiday (up a French Pyreneean Mountain)

Fat Fighters Update ....

2010-06-15T18:47:00.000+01:00

The first weigh in was today. I've been pretty good food-wise during the week, with 3 trips to the gym and I've lost a whole pound! Was hoping for a bit more than this, but at least its a pound in the right direction!

Today I was a bit naughty and munched my way through a big piece of carrot cake ... but surely that counts as one of my 'five a day', doesn't it?!

I'll be good again from tomorrow ;o)

Folksy Friday :: Football Fever

2010-06-10T21:43:00.000+01:00

Just in case you hadn't realised (as if!) we have 4 weeks of football madness ahead of us. So I thought I have a little hunt for footie-related things on Folksy. Take a peek at what I found ...

Beenbags

NiftyKnits

*could this be a premonition of an England v Brazil World Cup Final?!*

FairlyGirly

Tangled Knots

*****

Have you done a Folksy Friday blog post this week? Add your link to the Folksy Friday Blog Hop!

There's a tutorial here if you need a hand.

Fat Fighters!

2010-06-08T23:59:00.000+01:00

In the back of my mind for years has been a vague thought that I should be eating better and exercising more, but because I'm a lazy old so-and-so I never really do anything about it. But now I am.

As I said in my last post I have joined a gym (last Thursday) and have so far have been 3 times, resulting in lots of sweat, heart rate probably on the verge of heart attack, bits that shouldn't really wobble wobbling lots, and all sorts of aching muscles ... but despite all that I have really enjoyed it. So far so good!

And today the competitive idiot in me has agreed to a weight loss challenge with a work colleague. 2 stones to magically vanish by mid August! That's 2 and a bit pounds a week. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Methinks I will struggle, but there's nothing like a bit of competition to keep me focused. I don't like to lose!

My reason for boring you with all this is that I will most definitely need some chivvying along. If I don't mention how well I'm doing for a while it probably means I've reverted to my usual 'see food, eat food' mentality and have been busy scoffing biscuits and cakes. Please keep pestering me to make sure I'm being good and staying motivated. And if you are trying to shrink yourself like me, or just get a bit fitter ... let me know how well you are doing and put me to shame :oP

I'm pinching an idea from Annie @ the Felt Fairy of fabby giveaway fame, who has been extremely brave and proactive and has put her weight loss monitoring on the sidebar of her blog ... I am going to do the same. The weigh in at work is every Tuesday so I'll update my weight on here every Tuesday evening. If it gets to a Wednesday and I haven't done it, please could someone tell me off!

And after all this effort, when I am a new skinny me and all my clothes are far too big, we can all go on a virtual shopping spree - yay!

* I should mention now that I am giving myself special dispensation to pig out for one week at the end of this month when we go on our hols to France ... I will be drinking copious amounts of red wine, eating baguette and smelly cheese ... I will probably be back to square one, but I don't care! *

It's been a while ...

2010-06-07T00:09:00.000+01:00

It's been a long time since I've done a blog post which wasn't a Folksy Friday related post!

There's been quite a bit going on here, so I'll try to update you ... apologies if it's all a bit random and disjointed!!

The main reason there's been a significant lack of blogging (and tweeting ... !) is that I have started working full time again. I have very much enjoyed working part-time for the last 8 months or so, but the bank balance has been looking a bit the worse for wear, and saving up for our holiday has been hard going, so when the opportunity presented itself I took it. It is a relief not to have to worry quite so much about money, but I will definitely miss my short days, and Tuesdays off. Not sure yet if it's a :o) or a :o( !!

I've been doing a bit of crocheting over the last week or so. Little Mac has decided that she 'needs' a poncho! So I'm crocheting her one from lots of granny squares. I think I've done a bit more than half the squares, but I haven't worked out the joining them together bit yet ... I haven't been crocheting long, and haven't ever attempted joining things up ... can't be that hard, can it?!?

The squares look like this ...

I have been developing my other blog, to promote whats new in my Folksy shop.

I have been WiNnInG things!! I won 5 pieces of felt from the lovely Annie the Felt Fairy. She has a lovely blog, and a host a monthly give away for her followers ... so no excuse for you not to pop over there really!

Here's my felt ...

I've chosen a few Christamassy colours ... never too early to start thinking about Christmas :o)

Another thing taking up a lot of time, I've joined a gym! I seem to be stuck in a never ending fight against my weight, so I'm trying to go as often as I can. All my muscles ache, so it must be going some good! They also have a great kids pool so Little Mac is enjoying going too.

At the moment I'm motivated ... we'll see how long it takes until the novelty wears off!

And finally I've had a couple of new additions to the home in the form of a cabinet and a cake stand. Both very lovely ... I'll take some pics to show you when I get a chance.

Folksy Friday :: Knit-Wit!

2010-06-03T20:20:00.004+01:00

I have been enjoying the lovely weather we've had for the last few days, but British Summer being what it is you never quite know when you might need something warm and woolly ....

Folksy Friday :: Fabby Felt

2010-05-27T19:53:00.000+01:00

I love working with felt ... so, it would seem, do a lot of other Folksy Folk. So my theme for this weeks Folksy Friday is felt. The more colourful the better!

*****

Have you done a Folksy Friday blog post this week? Add your link to the Folksy Friday Blog Hop!

There's a tutorial here if you need a hand.

How to join the Folksy Friday Blog Hop

2010-05-20T22:50:00.001+01:00

If you need a hand joining the Folksy Friday blog hop, read on ....

(if the screen pics are a bit small, click on them to view a bigger version)

First of all you need to write and publish your Folksy Friday blog post.

View your post, and copy its URL from the address bar at the top of the screen.

You can join the blog hop from any participating blog which has posted the links already. Click here to join on my 21st May 2010 post.

Click on 'Click here to enter' and the following page will open.

In the Link Title box enter the text that people will see on the list of links, for example the name of your blog and/or name of your Folksy Friday post.

In the link box, paste the URL of your post which you copied earlier.

Then click 'Enter your link' and you will see this page.

If you then click to return to the blog hosting the list you will be able to check that your link has worked.

You should now be able to spot your link on the list ... to double check it works, just click on it.

(have you spotted that the blog hop can't count? - lol!)

If you've had quite enough techy stuff for one day, you might want to stop there - you're on the list!

However, if you fancy it you can also add the link list to your own blog, meaning people can visit the links, and join the blog hop from your blog too. To get started click 'Get the code here...'. The following screen will appear.

Copy the code in the box near the top of the screen. You now need to go back to your Folksy Friday blog post and edit it. If you view your post in Blogger (make sure you are logged in), you will see a little brown pencil icon at the bottom of the post. Click on this to open the Edit post screen.

Click on the 'Edit HTML' tab, scroll right to the bottom and paste in the linky code, then click 'Publish Post'.

When you view your blog you will see that the links now appear on your post too.

Easy peasy?

Folksy Friday :: Paper

2010-05-20T19:58:00.001+01:00

I'm continuing with a materials theme which I seem to have started by accident over the last few weeks. This week it's paper.

Don't forget to join the Folksy Friday Blog Hop >>>>>

Click here for a quick tutorial on how to join.

Folksy Friday :: Plastic Fantastic

2010-05-13T20:04:00.001+01:00

Who would have thought some bits of plastic could look so good?!

*****

And here we go again with the Folksy Friday Blog Hop ... join in here >>>>

Folksy Friday :: Ceramics

2010-05-06T21:25:00.005+01:00

I've picked some fabby ceramics this week.

And right at the bottom of this post is a Blog Hop linky thing ... I'll explain when you get there!

Julia Smith Ceramics

Charlotte Hupfield Ceramics

Jude Allman

picciolo

*****

Join the Folksy Friday Blog Hop.

From now until Midnight on Friday 7th, you can add your Folksy Friday post to the link list below. Also if you paste the code onto the end of your blog post (you'll have to do this in Edit HTML mode) the link list will appear on your blog too, and others will be able to join from there.

Hopefully it will help get our Folksy Friday posts, and Folksy itself a little bit more exposure.

If it works out ok I'll do the same each week.

Father Christmas List

2010-04-30T19:29:00.000+01:00

Today has been an utterly rubbish day workwise ... but won't I won't bore you with the details!

I was cheered up immensely though, by Little Mac deciding now (end of April?!) was the right time to write her "Father Christmas List". Nothing wrong with a bit of advance planning.

This is the list .. in her words:

1) A trampoline

2) A big girl computer

3) School shoes for school

4) Pink socks

5) A toy train which is pink

6) A nice big pencil

7) A big pink crown

8) One little star book

9) A new jewellery box with eyelash things

10) A microphone

Not sure Santa is a regularly visitor to my blog, but if you happen to see him anytime soon, can you pass the list on. Thanks!

Folksy Friday :: Biscuits

2010-04-29T23:40:00.001+01:00

Where would we be without biscuits?

British Cream Tea

*Jo-Bangles Jingles and Jangles*

Treaclezoo

Cherry Blossom Candles

Giveaway!

2010-04-27T16:20:00.000+01:00

To celebrate my new Facebook Page I'm having another giveaway!

One lucky person will win these:

A Dizzy Bag and a Lovely Pear brooch .. both made using a pretty pink flower print fabric.

All you need to do is visit my Facebook page, 'Like' it, and leave a comment on the Giveaway thread on the discussion board.

Click here to go to Facebook

The winner will be randomly picked at 8pm on Saturday 1 May.

Good Luck!!

Tea for Two

2010-04-24T15:28:00.000+01:00

A little tea party has just taken place in our back garden (please excuse the slightly disheveled looking child - gardening, painting and bike riding had taken place prior to photos being taken!)

5:30am YAWN!!

2010-04-23T08:31:00.000+01:00

I'm not good with mornings. I drag myself out of bed at 7:30 most mornings out of necessity. Given the choice I'd carry on sleeping.

This morning however ... thanks to a fidgety 4 year old who had a soggy accident in her bed, and was consequently fast asleep in our bed, snoring and flailing her arms and legs about ... I gave up trying to sleep at 5:30 and got up.

I'm coming to the conclusion that getting up at that time does appear to have more pros than cons ....

It is 8:25am as I'm typing this and so far I have done the following:

1. My Folksy Friday blog post including messaging the people I've featured to let them know

2. About an hours work on the 'day' job via the wonders of the internet

3. Two loads of washing washed and on the line, with a third in the machine

4. Listed this on Folksy:

5. Last night's washing up (probably should have done that last night .. I know!!)

6. Made breakfast and packed lunches

7. Confused Little Mac completely by not being in a hurry to leave the house!

The only downside to this getting up early business is that I'll probably be asleep at my desk by lunchtime!

Needless to say I'll be back to my normal laziness tomorrow morning, assuming Little Mac stays in her own bed.

Ooh and number 8 to add to the list. My second blog post of the day!

Folksy Friday :: Listing Club Picks

2010-04-22T21:28:00.001+01:00

It's Friday!! A great excuse to show you more picks from the April Listing Club.

GlitterRT

Made With Love X

jcu designs

Dolly Doo

Folksy April Listing Club ... Having so much fun!

2010-04-20T22:49:00.000+01:00

It is now 20th April, and I've made it to Day 20 of the listing club which a group of people (nutters?!?) are taking part in on Folksy. 20 items listed, 10 to go.

My reason for joining was to test out the theory that the more frequently you list the more views you get and then, hopefully, the more sales you get. I'm really enjoying the challenge.

I can confidently say that it works - hurrah! According to Google Analytics my visits are up by 251% (yep ... 2 5 1!!), and I've more than doubled the number of sales I've had. I'm going to have to try to keep this up in future - maybe not every day but at least 3 or 4 times a week.

Would you like to see some of the things I've sold?

I'll be doing another Listing Club related Folksy Friday this week.

Dizzy Izzy's On Facebook

2010-04-20T08:46:00.001+01:00

Late last night, in a fit of enthusiasm for all things interweb, I set up a Facebook Fan Page ... I think I will be using it to update those who are interested about new things in my shops, special offers and anything else I can think of.

All I need now are fans ...

Dizzy Izzy Handmade

Promote your Page too

I've also been exploring other people's fan pages ... its a whole new world to lose hours of my life in!!

Folksy Friday :: Listing Club Picks

2010-04-16T20:10:00.000+01:00

I haven't posted about the Folksy Listing Club for a while so I'm here's my second Folksy Friday post of the day, picked from today's listings.

Gimme That Thing

Made with Love X

Beady Pool

Steampunk Storm

There are loads of other wonderful things being listed everyday this month ... everyone has done so well to pass the halfway point. We're on the home stretch now - kind of!!

Folksy Friday :: Bags!

2010-04-15T21:19:00.001+01:00

I'm going to do 2 Folksy Friday posts today ... just cos I can!

The theme for the first is bags. You can never have too many bags, can you?

Ingenue

Pidgeonstitch

Lynn Fisher

The Cotton Station

Back later on with a Folksy Listing Club Folksy Friday post ....

Tutorial - Toadstool Brooch

2010-04-13T15:09:00.000+01:00

Would you like to make one of these? You would? Read on then .... *it's dead easy*

Here is the pattern ... if you copy and paste it into Word, or something similar you will be able to enlarge or shrink it to make the brooch any size you like.

The one I made measured about 7cm tall by 3cm wide ... you probably won't want it too much smaller than that or it will be too fiddly to cut out and sew. But if you fancy a huuuuuuge toadstool, there's nothing stopping you!

You will need some felt, a needle & thread, a few pins, and a brooch pin.

Cut from the felt 2 of the whole toadstool shape, this will be the background and will stop the brooch flopping. Keep a small piece of the background colour felt to cover the brooch back. Then cut one of each of the smaller pieces.

Start off by stitching the toadstool stem to one of the larger background pieces (any stitch will do!)

Then do the same with the toadstool top.

The next step is to sew the second background piece to the back of the first. This adds a bit of extra strength and covers up the stitches on the back of the brooch. I used blanket stitch for this as it holds the separate pieces together around the edge.

We're nearly there ... are you keeping up?

Next sew the brooch pin to the back.

And the final bit is to sew the little bit of background felt you saved over the bar of the brooch to tidy it up a bit.

et voila! You have a brooch.

Now I have a little secret to share with you ... you'll particularly like it if you're feeling a wee bit lazy and can't be bothered with printing the pattern, cutting it out, pinning it to some felt, cutting it out, finding a spare brooch pin etc etc ...

I have a new blog shop. There's not a lot in it yet (bear with me ... I'm still working on it!) but there is a little Sew Your Own Toadstool Brooch kit for sale. All the bits you need cut and and ready to sew!

Pop and have a look and let me know what you think.

It's here.

A Milestone and Some Stitchery

2010-04-12T21:58:00.000+01:00

Today I logged onto Blogger to find that my little blog had reached 100 whole followers!! 100!! Bloomin' amazing! Thank you so much to all of you - it's put a huge silly grin on my face!

I spent a large part of my weekend sewing so I have enough things to keep me going for a while in the Folksy Listing Club. I managed to get 22 felt brooches completed ... very productive for me!

What do you think?

more hearts ... some already for sale in my new Misi shop

Two daisies already listed on Folksy, and more to come!

I also made a few more 'Lovely Pears'

It's my day off work tomorrow and I have some new toadstool brooches cut out and ready to sew. I'm really enjoying making these brooches - hopefully people will buy them otherwise I'll soon be buried in them!!

Henry!

2010-04-10T08:17:00.000+01:00

Meet Henry.

Henry is a doorstop cat and was made as a custom order for Accidental Vix. He is now in residence propping open Vix's kitchen door!

Little Mac quite liked Henry, though she thought he looked more like a 'Doris'!

Folksy Friday :: Loving the Cath!

2010-04-09T07:24:00.000+01:00

I do like Cath Kidston designs .. I really can't resist them.

So my Folksy Friday this week has a CK theme.

Woolly Duck

Curly Top

Midsummer Stitches

The Old Lamp Shed

Folksy April Listing Club part 3!

2010-04-08T19:39:00.000+01:00

Woo Hoo!!! I've made it as far as day 8!

This is what I've listed since I posted about the listing club a few days ago.

4th April - Dizzy Bag!

5th April - Dizzy Purse!

6th April - Spotty Bunting

7th April - Another Dizzy Bag!

8th April - Dotty Bunting

And here are a few of my favourites from others who are taking part ....

Eidelweiss

pantsandpaper

by Emma Cressey

Accidental Vix

Beadypool

Ribbons, ribbons and more ribbons!

2010-04-07T23:22:00.000+01:00

*So much to blog about, so little time*

I have enough blog posts bobbling around in my head to last for weeks ... there's been an awful lot going on in Dizzy Izzy land!

One of the many things I've been up to over the last week or so is revamping my Folksy supplies shop. I've delisted all the buttons I had for sale (mainly because I was using more than I was selling!) and have decided to concentrate just on ribbon for now ... hence the title of this post.

10mm wide grosgrain ribbon

All items now have postage and packaging included in the price, and there are big discounts for bulk buying.

3mm wide double sided satin ribbon

Buy 6 or more metres and receive 10% discount or buy 10 or more metres and receive 20% discount.

10mm wide red gingham ribbon

I looking forward to building up a good selection of colours and styles.

15mm wide orange micro dot ribbon

Here's hoping the sales fairy pops by sometime soon. (She's visited Dizzy Izzy Handmade on Folksy in the last few days ... more about that in another post!)

See my range of ribbons at Dizzy Izzy Craft

Folksy April Listing Club part 2!

2010-04-03T21:40:00.000+01:00

So many people have been listing lovely things on Folksy over the last few days as part of the Listing Club. Here are a few of my favourites from the first 3 days. Clicking on the pic will take you straight to the shop.

Kitty Noir

Steampunkstorm

Fairly Girly

Gimme That Thing

Birgitta Designs

Folksy April Listing Club

2010-04-03T13:55:00.001+01:00

What on earth have I let myself in for!!

As I mentioned yesterday I have joined in the Folksy April Listing Club - started off by Red Bird Jewellery, and so have committed myself to listing one item a day on Folksy for all of April! Will I manage it? From my making spree last weekend I have enough to keep me going for a week or so, but it's going to be hard work!!

These are the items I have listed so far (click on the pic to go to the shop listing):

1st April

2nd April

3rd April

People have been listing so many lovely things ... I'll do a post of my favourites later on this evening.

SALE!!

2010-04-02T15:54:00.000+01:00

There's a sale on in my Folksy Shop at the moment!

I decided there were a few things which needed to go to clear the way for my latest makes.

I've joined in the Folksy Listing Club, being organised by Red Bird Jewellery. The challenge is to list an item a day for the whole of April. Quite a daunting task! I've managed the first two days, and I'll do a post tomorrow to show you how I'm getting on!

Meanwhile here is a small selection of the fabulous bargains to be had in the Big Dizzy Sale. Click on a pic to take you straight to the shop.

My remaining Stuffie cats are reduced from £8 to £6: Here's Agatha still looking for a new home.

Twit-Twoo Felt Brooches reduced from £3 to £2: There are 3 different styles of these.

Lavender scented felt hearts reduced from £3.50 to £2.

Felt flower brooches reduced from £3.50 to £2: Available in a variety of colours.

This link will take you straight to the rest of the sale items.

Happy shopping!!

Folksy Friday :: Pink & Green

2010-04-02T07:55:00.000+01:00

My Folksy Friday theme this week was going to be just 'pink & green' ... but I soon discovered there were far too many lovely pink & green things on Folksy so I had to narrow it down a bit ...

... to Pink & Green Bracelets!

Noodlefish Crafts

Kitschen Sink

Oddgirl Creates

Blue Forest Jewellery

Flower Swap

2010-04-01T21:37:00.000+01:00

Look what the postman brought me today ...

My flower swap parcel from Liz at Lulu Liz In Lalaland has arrived.

You'll have to accept my word that it was all beautifully wrapped in tissue, with ribbon and handmade tags ... Little Mac got her hands on the box before I had a chance to grab the camera and started unwrapping with lots of oohs and aahs!

There were some beautiful handmade gift tags and soap.

A lovely embroidered lavender bag.

A pack of sweet pea seeds which I will attempt to grow!!

A little pile of flowery goodies: a keyring, a lily pad for the bath (trying that one out tonight!!), a scented candle and some paper napkins.

And some fabulous flowery materials ... Liz suggested I could use the smaller pieces at the top as wings for my lavender birds. What a great idea, I can't wait to get sewing!

I've left things absolutely to the last minute as usual and only posted my parcel today. And in my rush to get everything wrapped and off to the post office I completely forgot to take any photos. My brain is officially a sieve!

Thank you Liz for all these fantastic goodies, and thank you Louise at Sew Scrumptious for organising the swap!

Success!

2010-03-30T09:42:00.001+01:00

I had a great night at the Hook Norton Brewery Ladies Night!

I met lots of lovely people, handed out quite a few business cards, and most importantly sold some stuff too! Yay!

My new pricing seemed to do the trick, so I've updated them at dizzy izzy handmade and will be updating my Folksy shop later today.

I now need to find some light on this dismal grey day to get some decent photos of everything that's left, so I can list them.

A Fairly Full Weekend

2010-03-28T22:34:00.003+01:00

I've had a jolly good, if rather busy weekend.

On Saturday I was husband and child free as they had gone to visit Granny & Grandad for the day.

I spent most of the morning in the hairdressers (the few grey hairs which have recently started appearing are now covered up again!); then had a little pootle around the shops looking for a 'non-winter' jacket. I found exactly what I was after, in the colour I wanted ... but not in my size :o( That's always the way! There was too big a queue on Saturday, so I'm going to pop back in my lunch break tomorrow to see if I can order the right size. This is it, from Debenhams. Do you like?

I took the dog for a lovely walk in the sunshine, and for the first time for a very long time I didn't need a jumper or coat! Fab :oD

And then ... and this was by far the best bit of Saturday ... I spent the rest of the afternoon (and early evening!!) in the PUB!!! I can't remember the last time I spent an afternoon in the pub. It was BrIlLiAnT! I was with a few friends, we had a few drinks, and decided to play darts. Some of us were better than others ... but no-one was particularly good. But it was hilarious ... I was laughing so hard I almost forgot to breath at one point!

Needless to say I was tucked up in bed quite early last night!

... Which was just as well because I had to be up early this for the F1 Grand Prix this morning. With the clocks changing too it made it extra early. Very good race though, well worth getting up for!

After that I spend the rest of the day sewing. On Thursday I posted about not getting anything finished ... Today I finished stuff ... about time! I now have lots of bags, purses, brooches, and bunting ready to sell tomorrow night.

*we won't mention the lavender bags and painted pegs*

Everything for my stall tomorrow evening is packed up and waiting to be loaded into the car when I get home from work. I'm going to try out some slightly revised (downwards!) prices tomorrow night. My prices on my online shops were worked out (quite methodically!) when it used to take me ages to make anything. I've now, thanks to finally getting to grips with my sewing machine (after about 3 yrs!), sped up quite a lot so I reckon I can get away with pricing a bit lower. If it works out ok my shops will be updated with the new prices during this week.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow ... I haven't done many sales, and the few I have done have been about 50:50 ... I either do better than I expected or sell nothing! Maybe if I expect nothing, I'll do ok! Fingers crossed!

My Moo Cards will get their first outing too!

Lastly but not leastly have you noticed what happens when you hover over a link on my blog these days? It gets bigger!! Quite pointless really, but I like it! I found out how on Friday evening, and so had to do it ... I can't not tinker! When I get a chance later in the week I'll do a quick tutorial on how to do it.

I have a whole weekend worth of blog posts to read now ... can you all just slow down a bit, please, while I catch up!

Folksy Friday :: Chick-Chick-Chick-Chick-Chicken

2010-03-26T07:25:00.000Z

It's only flippin' Friday again .. how did that happen?

My Folksy Friday theme this week is Easter Chicks.

Disorganised? ... moi?!

2010-03-25T22:01:00.002Z

hmm yes, moi :o(

I have been spending virtually all my spare time over the last couple of weeks cutting out and sewing ... but somehow managing to get very little finished!

I seem to have completely lost the ability to focus on one thing for long enough to get it done.

My dining room table is covered in piles of triangles which will one day become bunting.

On top of my ironing board is a little pile of purses with the zips sewn in, but all flappy and open round the edges.

On my office desk are some pegs which are half painted pink ... once they are fully painted they will be used to peg up the bunting (which may or may not be complete!)

Spread out on the spare bed are bag pieces awaiting the sewing machine's attention, and random fabric scraps which are intended to become patchy lavender bags.

On the sofa next to me ... in a big dish more usually used for serving up vegetables when we have guests round to eat(!) ... is a pile of felt shapes in various stages between just being pieces of felt, and being felt brooches.

I somehow need to get all these things finished over the weekend because on Monday evening I have a stall at a charity do, and I need some stuff to sell!

Rather that show you photos of all my unfinished mess these photos are of the few things which are complete!

8 little bags! If nothing else it proves I can still finish things if I really put my mind to it.

So now I must stop starting and start finishing.

A Day Out

2010-03-21T21:38:00.000Z

Today myself, Little Mac (and Grandma) have had a day out in London.

Little Mac was up at 6am and very excited. It was her first time on a train (and underground train!), first time in London, and most importantly Uncle Stuart (my brother) and Emily (his girlfriend) were going to take her to see the QUEEN!

We had to prepare her for the fact that Queenie might be out, so she wasn't too disappointed not to be invited in for a cup of tea and cucumber sandwiches. (Cos that's all you eat if you're the Queen, obviously!)

She was mightly impressed by "Bucklingham Paris" ... It is "Hooooooooooge"! And her description of the changing of the guards ... (as you read you need to imagine the sentence getting more and more high pitched) "Some of the soldiers had fluffy big hats and some had shiny small hats and some were on horses and they marched up and down and there was a band and then they went back into the Queen's house!"

While all this excitement was going on me and Grandma had a quick whizz around the Ideal Home Show (with free tickets from the mag!)

photo from www.idealhomeshow.co.uk

Found it a bit disappointing really. I'm sure last time I went there (quite a few years ago!) there were more show rooms made up, and more stuff to look at. But today it just seemed to be too much of the hard sell ... and the so called "Ideal Shopping" area was mostly full of complete tat :o(

Having said that there were some highlights ... The front of Earls Court looked quite fab, and I loved the huge lamps on the forecourt and just inside ... you can see them in the photo above and the one below. If I could have carried one I'd have pinched one for my garden!!

photo from www.idealhomeshow.co.uk

The "Ideal Food" area was great. Lots of lovely things on offer, and plenty of free samples. And we bought a fantastic new toy for Little Mac:

Wedgits

They are square shaped plastic blocks which fit together in more ways than you can possibly imagine! Grandma (a retired primary school teacher, and VERY selective over children's toys and books) was impressed so they must be good.

After a couple of hours there we met the others in St James' Park, where Little Mac had been having a great time on the swings and in the sandpit. We then walked to Whitehall and caught a bus to Hamleys.

By this time Little Mac was starting to flag. She has been planning all week to buy a yoyo in Hamleys (she has a bit of thing for yoyos, even though she can only do the down bit and the up bit eludes her entirely!) But the combination of tiredness and all those toys under one roof totally overwhelmed her and she forgot about the yoyo. She wandered round in a complete daze and came to a halt in front of the Littlest Pet Shop display. She already has quite a few of these toys and I think she just latched on to what she recognised ... she grabbed the nearest toy and asked if she could buy it (she had a little bit of spending money in her purse).

Once it was paid for she asked to go home. Poor little thing was sooooo shattered I had to carry her most of the way back to the train station (including up and down tube escalators). She stared into space most of the train ride home and finally dropped off to sleep within a few minutes of getting into the car for the last leg of the journey home.

She woke up enough when we got home to announce that she'd had a "very fun day". I think we all did, despite the minor disappointment of the Ideal Home Show.

I'm off for a hot bath now to soak the muscles that I know will ache tomorrow thanks to carrying her so far. Back to work tomorrow after a very nice week off :o(

How to add a link to a group of posts to your link bar

2010-03-19T13:08:00.003Z

I was asked this morning how I did the Folksy Friday link on my link bar. It's a nice tidy way to link back to a group of previous posts, and is so easy to do.

You need to do 2 things first before you start:

1) If you don't have one already, get a link bar.

I used the Haptree's wonderful instructions on Craft Blog UK

2) All the posts you want to link together need to have the same label attached to them.

My Folksy Friday posts are imaginatively labelled 'Folksy Friday'!

The next bit is mentioned in Haptree's post too but for some reason to begin with I just didn't get it ... don't know why, I'd done the complicated bit by adding the link bar! Probably just being a bit thick.

So the people who don't have cotton wool for brains will manage perfectly well just reading on through Haptree's post.

For my fellow thickies ... here are a few pics to help!

Once your posts are labelled, and link bar working just click on the label you want to link.

All the posts with that label will appear, and they will have their very own URL:

Copy the URL then go to your blog Layout page, and click to Edit the Link Bar.

Paste the URL in to the New Site URL box, give it a name, then save it quick before anything has a chance to go wrong!

And that's it ... if you click View Blog you should see the new link on your link bar.

Folksy Friday :: Inspect-a-gadget

2010-03-19T10:21:00.000Z

I reeeaalllly neeeeeed an iphone so I can justify buying on of these lovely cases.

***

AND ... drum roll please ... my Lovely Pear brooch has been featured in a Folksy Friday post today. Yay! Pop over to Marice's World for a look.

ooh new moo :oD

2010-03-17T12:52:00.000Z

I've been trying to spend my week off work sewing ... which I've done quite a bit of ... but I keep getting distracted.

Some distractions are more worthy than others. This one, which was delivered by our lovely postie this morning was (still is!!) a very worthy distraction.

I've got some Moo business cards and stickers!!

And from another angle ::

Isn't the packaging great ... I love the "Ooh, sticky!" on the corner of the sticker book.

Here are my mini cards ::

They're about half the size of a normal business card, an awful lot cheaper than standard Moo business cards, and just a little bit different!

There's a photo of one of my makes on the front and on the back ::

I've got one set to hand out to unsuspecting potential customers, and a second set to say 'Thanks' to people who buy from me.

And then there's the stickers ... ooh, sticky! ::

FAO Little Mac: These are Grown-up stickers, for Grown-ups, absolutely NOT for little people to stick all over the house, garden, dog etc. Got it? Now go and find your own stickers!!

That's enough distraction for now ... back to my sewing.

Ooh, nearly forgot ... Etsy and Moo have a promotion on at the moment for a pack of free business cards ... I think you only pay p&p. Here's the link.

The Experiment :: Ning!

2010-03-15T23:22:00.000Z

A couple of weeks ago I had no idea a 'Ning' existed, let alone what one should do with it!

Now I know ... and I like!

A Ning Network is basically a mini social networking site for people with similar interests. Using the main Ning site you can discover Nings you might be interested in. Once you've found one you like the look of just sign up and start mingling (or maybe ningling?!)

I've joined two so far: UK Handmade and British Mummy Bloggers.

For all you crafty folk, I'd definitely recommend joining UK Handmade. As with all the Nings (that I've come across at least!) you get to set up your own page on which you can post pictures and links to your blog or shop. Others can comment on your page, and you can post Twitter-like updates. There is a forum which seems to be getting busier by the day, a whole host of groups to join and much more.

British Mummy Bloggers is much the same but for parents who blog!

I spent quite a while on both Nings setting up my page ... they are both similarly structured. I started with my UK Handmade page. It looked horribly messy to begin with but once I worked out how to shuffle the various sections around I eventually got it to look reasonable! I then did more or less the same on BMB.

I've been popping back to each every day or so to visit the forums, update my status and comment on other people's fabulous pages and pics. From both Nings I have come across some great new (to me) blogs to follow too.

In the couple of weeks I've been Ning-ing I have seen traffic from both Nings to my blog and dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk. In fact, over the last 2 weeks UK Handmade has been 4th on the list of referring sites to this blog. This is with very little effort put in on my part, apart from the inital set up.

I plan on continuing using both of these as they are not only useful in driving traffic to my sites, but also very interesting, and full of lovely new people to chatter with!

I would definitely recommend joining one or both or these Nings and any others which take your fancy!

If you know of / come across any other good Nings please share. And if you need a hand setting up your page I'd be happy to share what I learnt ... no point us all sitting scratching our heads over it! Just leave a comment.

Visit British Mummy Bloggers

Visit UK Handmade

Look!!!

2010-03-15T11:40:00.000Z

As Little Mac said this morning "Look ... the flower's getting more flowery!"

I know I shouldn't be quite so exicted, but I am!

From

(yes I know you've just seen it ... but I am so proud of my little Hyacinth, I had to show you again!)

All this in less than a week :o)

Thank you to the lovely ladies at Lulibags; Elizabeth's Attic; and averilpam for your advice.

Next time I need a hand with my gardening I'll know where to come ;o)

The Experiment :: Promotion

2010-03-12T22:55:00.000Z

I've spent an EXCESSIVE amount of time over the last few evenings checking out sites which might help me promote my shops and blog.

Below is a list of places I've registered at and am delving into further ... it's as much a checklist for me than anything else! I intend to do a separate post about each one as and when I work out what to do with them, and whether they are showing any signs of benefiting me.

Clicking on the links will take you to my profile page on each site if I have one yet, or the home page if I don't. Please join in with any/all if you get the urge to do so!!

Here we go then ... in the order they appear in my bookmark list (!)

Stumbleupon You can submit this post to Stumbeupon by clicking on the button below.

Digg You can Digg this post by clicking on the Digg button next to the Stumbleupon one! (I need to start Digging people other than myself before I begin to appear entirely self centered!)

MyBlogLog

Technorati

British Mummy Bloggers

As I sign up with more I'll come back and update this list.

There's a much bigger list of sites to help you promote at CraftBlogUK.

Folksy Friday :: Daffodils

2010-03-12T20:38:00.000Z

Everywhere I've been for the last few days I've been seeing the first signs of the daffodils beginning to poke their way up out of the grass and soil ... They're already flowering on Folksy!

The Experiment :: A Teeny Little Bit of Success :o)

2010-03-11T20:28:00.000Z

No, I still haven't sold anything!

But I may do shortly ...

A very nice lady organising a 'ladies night' charity event in a nearby brewery (of all places ?!?) found my shop via Google. (yippee - adwords doing its job!) She liked what she saw so emailed me and offered me a stand at the event. All I have to do is make a donation to their charity, leukemia research, and then sell sell sell (or at least try to).

It's on 29th March ... not long ... better get sewing!

eeeeeeeekkkkk!

BWPU82TGNRTF

I am really trying ...

2010-03-09T13:50:00.000Z

... eXtRa-sPeCiAlLy hard ...

not to kill my lovely little hyacinth before it flowers.

I am a complete numptie when it comes to *not killing your houseplants*.

I do keep trying though ... one day I'll crack it!

If you have any helpful *how to make a hyacinth not die* tips, they would be gratefully received :o)

The Experiment :: Let's Compare

2010-03-07T22:51:00.000Z

It's been a few days since I last posted about my Experiment.

I've been waiting for a bit of data to build up in Analytics before I could start properly comparing my two shops.

For those who have no idea what Analytics is I'll try to explain ...

It's a tool provided by Google, which can connect up to your website and count the people who go there. If all you want to know is how many people visit your site, then that's as far into as you need to go. However if you are like me, you get drawn in further. It doesn't just count people, it will tell you how they got there, how long they stayed, what they looked at, where they live (not precisely of course, but to the nearest town or city!), whether they were a new customer, or a returning customer ....

All of the above is quite interesting and potentially useful. But can anyone tell me why I need to know whether my visitors are using Windows or a Mac; Internet Explorer or Firefox?? I can even tell that the majority of my visitors have a screen resolution of 1280x800 or 1024x768?!

Anyway back to my point ... there is a ton of information there, and you can use as little or as much as you like. It looks quite scary ... but not so bad once you get to know it.

So on with the comparison:

Visits (daily since 24 Feb)

dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk / Dizzy Izzy on Folksy

24 Feb: 36 / 21

25 Feb: 12 / 5

26 Feb: 12 / 12

27 Feb: 11 / 10

28 Feb: 21 / 13

1 Mar: 8 / 11

2 Mar: 12 / 12

3 Mar: 8 / 6

4 Mar: 7 / 5

5 Mar: 11 / 9

6 Mar: 20 / 10

Top 3 traffic sources for my shops

* for hits to my Folksy shop Analytics picks up the route into Folksy rather than directly to my shop

dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk / Dizzy Izzy on Folksy

Google / Google

Amazon / Direct to Folksy

This Blog / Twitter

Top 3 keywords people used to find my shops

dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk / Dizzy Izzy on Folksy

Folksy / Folksy

party bags / picture holders

mother's day / fabric

Most viewed items

dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk / Dizzy Izzy on Folksy

The amount of visits to my shops is definitely linked to me doing promotion. However without the use of Adwords I don't think I'd be getting any visits at all to dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk on days I didn't do any promotion. Whereas with Folksy the numbers keep ticking over because people specifically visit Folksy.

I think that is my first big thumbs up for Folksy ... You can be really lazy, and people will still find your shop!

No real surprises about traffic sources ... Google being top. I'm assuming my hits via Amazon are because my Google ad is appearing there (don't know for sure, but can't think of another reason!)

Keywords are mystifying me a bit at the moment ... how are people finding my shop using Folksy as a keyword? Maybe finding me on Folksy, then finding my blog, then going to dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk ??

The most viewed items on Folksy make sense ... they have all had some promotion one way or another. The dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk ones are another mystery ... the things I have promoted on there aren't up in the top 3.

As far as sales go ... still none. But that's not unusual ... apart from the run up to Christmas I've sold only a couple of items a month. And if I'm perfectly honest I've been far to engrossed blogging, tweeting, and hunting out more ways of promoting, that I haven't done much making at all .. not for selling at least. Maybe if I actually make more stuff to list I will sell something ... can't do any harm!!

Thank you to all who have commented on previous 'Experiment' posts ... I do hope you are finding this vaguely interesting, if not entirely helpful! I'm enjoying myself, anyway, so you'll have to put up with me waffling about it for a while yet ... if my followers start dropping away I'll know I've gone on too long!

My next 'Experiment' post will be about the promotion I've been doing, and whether it appears to be doing much good.

What a lovely pear!

2010-03-07T15:04:00.000Z

I've just added a couple of new items to dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk

My lovely pear!

I managed to get a better photo than the one on last night's post once the sun came out this morning!

And some bunting

The bunting is made from pretty floral and striped fabrics. There is 12 pennants in all and it is about 2.5m in length.

I'm also offering this bunting as a 'make to order' in whatever length anyone might want! I aim to please.

Clicking on any of the pictures will take you straight to the shop.

HaRd WoRk

2010-03-06T23:13:00.000Z

Today was supposed to be 'Spring Clean Day' in House Mac.

It started off ok, me and Little Mac armed with dusters, Windolene and a large can of Mr Sheen, Mr Mac following along behind with the Dyson ... until we got to the spare bedroom which also attempts to double as an office.

We couldn't actually get in there ... it was full of cardboard boxes, which were in turn full of clothes, toys, books, games, and weirdly a whole load of cables belonging to who knows what!!

I had been vaguely aware that this room was full of junk ... I had just been conveniently ignoring it for a very long time!!

So motivated by the fact that it was 'Spring Clean Day' and that it has actually been feeling quite Spring-like for the last few days I nobly announced "I'll sort it all out!"

Little Mac & Mr Mac took this to mean that they could slink off to the living room to play / watch repeats of Top Gear on Dave.

So with them out the way I got stuck in ... and this is the result

I can get to the desk ... though the shelves are still slightly chaotic, it is organised chaos .. I know where stuff is!

Look ... just there, to the left. I unburied the bed! And up the corner to the right (after a quick trip to Argos and a bit of screwdriver wrangling) there's a new bookcase to house all the books and CDs which have been in boxes since we moved in (2 and a half years ago - eek!).

I've brought in a tatty but very comfy old chair, which had previously been sitting in our bedroom not being used. I've put a spare bedspread over it for now to cover the tattyness, but I think I might embark on a crochet blanket/throw for it. Might be done in a year or two!!

So with a bit of hard graft, and a new bookshelf, we've managed to go from a spare bedroom/office which we couldn't use, to a spare bedroom/office/comfy cozy reading room, which though quite cluttered still is really rather nice!

I'm sitting here now, on that tatty-but-comfy chair ... did you spot my glass of wine on the table in the second pic? I think it needs topping up. I deserve it after all that work, don't I?

After all that only upstairs got it's spring clean. I need to work up the motivation to tackle downstairs!

*****

Earlier on this week I spent a few evenings making some new brooches for my shops.

Not the best of photos as I was busy cleaning, tidying and de-cluttering during all available daylight hours today! They'll be appearing on my Folksy shop and at dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk once I've got some better photos.

I have big ideas for these little pears ... I'm convinced they can do much more than be just brooches. But more about that another time.

There's more fruit and veg in the pipeline too!

*****

Thursday 4th March was World Book Day, and Little Mac had to go to nursery dressed as a character from a book.

She picked the Tiger from:

I love this book, I remember reading it when I was little. I think it's fantastic that it's stood the test of time!

So here's Little Mac as a Tiger

The face paint is courtesy of her childminder, who she visits each day before nursery.

Folksy Friday :: Hint Hint ...

2010-03-05T21:37:00.000Z

Mother's Day? ... Next weekend? ... Really? ... What gift would I like? ... Well I haven't really thought about it ;o)

Sunshine Award Again

2010-03-04T00:50:00.000Z

Yet again I'm blogging when I really should be sleeping!

But there is good reason ... I have been nominated for the Sunshine Blog Award again ... a few times! Ooh, it makes me so smiley to know people are reading (and maybe even enjoying - eek!) my waffle :o)

So one must do the honours and accept the award and pass it on.

Thank you so much to PepperPi, Violetstone, Pussygalore, Oddsox and Birgitta

I'm not entirely sure whether it is proper bloggy etiquette to accept the award from 5 different people in one post with just one set of 12 blogs to pass the award onto ... but I'm going to anyway. If I am breaking the rules please accept my apologies, but there just aren't enough hours in the day to read 5 x 12 blogs (err, can you pass the calculator ... 60?!? blogs!!).

So here are the official rules of the award ...

The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity & creativity inspires others in the blog world.

The rules for accepting the Sunshine award are:

Put the logo on your blog or within your post
Pass the award onto 12 bloggers
Link the nominees within your post

Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

And here are my nominees ...

23 Beech Hill
Will Sketch For Cake
A Simple Melody
AliBaliJewellery
Wendy House
Tickled Baby
Teasmade
Beastieville
Cassia
Dottie Designs
Ellie's Treasures
Mollycupcakes

Hope you like them!

The Experiment :: Bizarre Keywords

2010-03-02T01:13:00.000Z

I should really be fast asleep in bed by now, but have found myself drawn into the information overload that is Google Analytics.

My day job is a performance analyst. I spend my days delving into the department's data and trying work out what it all means ... I love data ... give me a few spreadsheets and a database and I'll be happy as a pig in the proverbial!

But Analytics is something else ... it tells me everything I could possibly ever think I wanted to know about visits to my various shops and blog. So much information ... where to start?!?!

Keywords!

As I am using Adwords it will be useful for me to get to grips with the keywords people are using to get to my shop. If I can make sure the right keywords are attached to my ads, then in theory the right people will be getting to my shop.

However, judging by Analytics I don't think I've got it quite right at the mo ...

'black odd shaped handbags' ... err nope, none of those!

'handbag shop mayfair' ... I wish!!

'plant feed chemicals' ... ???

'job vacancies florist' ... nooooooo

'floral gel' ... don't know what that is?!?

'disposible pipiung bags' ... eh? (yes, it was spelt like that)

hmmmmm $o(

I fear ...

2010-03-01T23:36:00.000Z

... that my daughter may be psychic!!

Here she is, modelling her fancy new dungaree thingies and pink stripy t-shirt, with a slight hint of baked bean juice around her chops, and looking rather stern.

So why do I think Little Mac is slightly psychic?

She keeps chuffin' beating me at Guess Who!!!

The shame of it ... being beaten by a 4yr old :-(

She has an uncanny knack of getting down to 3 or 4 people, then completely randomly guessing the right one!! She beat me 3 times on the trot yesterday. I'm pretty sure she isn't cheating ... I'll have to watch her more closely!

In other news ... I've been tinkering with my blog, using a great deal of the helpful guidance at Craft Blog UK. I'm much happier with it now. What do you think?

Today's makes

2010-02-28T21:41:00.000Z

Today I have been making more lavender birdies

and some bunting ....

The bunting is now in my Folksy shop as is one of the Lavender Birdies. And there are more Lavender Birdies at www.dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk

I struggled to get enough light for the photos, so will have to re-do them when the sun comes out (soon please ... it is March tomorrow!!).

The Experiment :: Not much progress!!

2010-02-28T19:35:00.000Z

Oops!! Since my last post on my ExPeRiMeNt (which I started by proudly saying I had been a Busy Bee) I can safely say I have been very un-busy-bee-like! Without going into the boring detail the 'day job' has been slightly manic all week and by the time I got home each day my poor little brain wasn't up to anything more than sewing felt vegetables ... yes vegetables ... more about that another time maybe!

I have set up Google Analytics so I can monitor visits to both my Folksy shop and dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk, and I've set up an Adwords ad to promote dizzyizzyhandmade. I haven't done any other promotion to speak of, and haven't listed anything new in either shop. Needless to say, I haven't sold anything!

I started off with Adwords set to a daily budget of £5. This has driven almost exactly the same amount of traffic to dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk as found it's way to my Folksy shop (give or take a hit). From this I've drawn the conclusion that I'm wasting £5 a day! So I've reduced it down to £2 per day and will watch how it goes ... This is still going to add up pretty quickly, but while I'm within the £100 credit I've got, I'm not too worried!

I've tweaked the keywords a bit, though not very scientifically! One of my aims for the next week or so is to get to grips with what Analytics is telling me about how people are finding me to try to improve my keywords a bit.

I'll be doing a little bit more promotion later on: A blog post about what I've made and listed today; tweeting about the same and maybe a little wander into the Folksy Forum.

I also want to sort out my blog a bit ... I don't like the way it looks at the moment so I want to have a play around with it, and make dizzyizzyhandmade.co.uk a bit more prominent on here too.

My next steps will be to look into other ways of promoting both shops ... if anyone has any suggestions or experiences (successful or otherwise!) please join in and leave a comment.

Folksy Friday :: Flutter-bys

2010-02-26T21:00:00.000Z

Friday again, and another excuse (as if we need one!) to have a good wander around Folksy ... Look at the fabulous bits and bobs I've found this week.

By MrsB

By Kettle of Fish, but being sold in aid of Cancer Research UK

By Crafted

By CraftyLittleMia

By Miles From Home

Lovely pretty things :o)

I'll be back tomorrow evening for an update on my Selling Experiment. See you then!