Sew Crafty Online Is Open!

The (LONG) wait is now over you can now shop online at my little shop Sew Crafty!

We have a great selection of Haberdashery and fabrics which will only grow as time goes on. We are hoping to upload new products every week and we have many products which are exclusive to our online shop. You can also sign up for our newsletter (at the foot of the home page) for exclusive discounts and offers direct to your inbox.

Our aim with the site from the start has been to make our photography and descriptions as helpful as possible for our online customers, as if you were coming in to visit us and ask for advice in person. We have tried to make the descriptions detailed and the pictures as clear and colour matched as we possibly can to make the shopping experience a good one.

The other great thing about us opening our store online is that now when we create a tutorial here on Live it. Love it. Make it. we have the perfect place to send you to get all the supplies you need all in one place. Soon we will also be creating kits of some of our favourite tutorials which you will be able to buy through Sew Crafty as well. Keep an eye out for a post on that later this month.

If you are in the UK shipping is free if you spend over £25 (£2.95 on orders under £25). We are also offering international delivery at a fixed rate of £15.

I do hope that you will head over and take a look at our new online shop and maybe find some things that you like?

Let me know what you think of the site too, the only way we can make it better is if we have some feedback and if there are any products you would like to see (they may be on their way) send your thoughts to sam@sewcraftyonline.co.uk and we will consider them.

Sammy xxx



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Live it. Sew Crafty's New Chapter

If you know me or if you have been a reader for a while you may have noticed I have been a little quiet when it comes to talking about my shop lately. If you are new here you may not even realise that my day job is running our family business, a little sewing shop in my home town of Maidenhead called Sew Crafty. Well today I am letting you in on a not so secret, secret. We are opening an online store!

It is a project that has been over a year in the making, you may remember a post from last year where I hinted at making some big decisions 'Never Making Mistakes is a Mistake' and the day is almost here that I can direct you all, our lovely readers from all over the globe, to shop at my little home away from home on the interwebs. To be honest I am still finding this thought very overwhelming.

I have spoken before about how our family business came to be, how I have always been a person who wants to work for myself and how much I love what I do. But I am not going to lie to you the last year has been one of the hardest times in my life.

Sew Crafty, like many shops on our British High Streets, has been struggling to break even (to make enough money to pay our bills). Despite filling our shop, floor to ceiling, with beautiful things and sewing essentials to supply our lovely little towns every sewing whim, it has just not been enough. We are just not reaching enough people, so last year we made the decision to invest some of our family savings in setting up Sew Crafty Online.

It has been a year of lots of stress and tears, mixed with excitement and anticipation but it is almost time to reveal all our hard work to the world. I wanted to take the chance to share some advice for any of you who are at the beginning of a journey like mine. (by which I mean' things I wish I had done sooner')

• Plan, LOTS. But be prepared to alter your path. Don't be too fixated on your ideas of how you think things should be. You may find better ways of doing things, you just haven't thought of it yet. 
• Don't be afraid to ask for help. Think hard about your friend's talents and skills, they are your friends and they want to help you and see you succeed.  Find ways they can help you.  Most importantly talk to them about it because they are on your side, and if they can help they will.  
• Do your research.  Find out what people expect from what you are hoping to do. Think about what you expect, what do you like and not like about existing businesses like yours.
• Work with people you trust.  Make sure the people who are helping you, are people that will help you to achieve your goals.
• If you are working with a designer/supplier/estate agent or other professional, don't be afraid to ask them as many questions as you need to.  Don't feel like they are going to think that you are stupid, it is their job to answer those questions for you.
• Don't be afraid to nag those professionals to do their job if you feel you are being ignored, or don't have the information you need, but do be kind and appreciate them when they go the extra mile. 
• Aim high.  Make whatever you do, be the best it can be. 

I really hope that this may have helped some of you who are thinking of embarking on a new project or business, if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments or find me on twitter @sammytvr. 

If you want to find out more about my little shop head over to our website or check out some of the posts in our archives, Sammy's home away from home, Sew Crafty...We are TEN, Live it. Sammy's Day Job and look out for the launch announcement very soon. Or sign up to our Sew Crafty Newsletter (bottom of our web page) to be the first to know!

Sammy xxx

 Live, Love, Make, Like, Share, Follow, Tweet, Pin, Add, Enjoy. 

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Makers Month: Folksy Finds

Cuppa Tote bag by Hello Dodo / Hedgehog earrings by Ginger Pickle / Custard Cream Brooch by Laura Lane / Waistcoat baby grow by This is Lullaby / Flying ducks by Prince Design UK / Best of British print by We Laugh Indoors / Union Jack Pillbox hat by Maynard Millinery

I think Folksy gets the raw end of the stick sometimes when comparing it to other sites of it's kind. I am going to confess that in the past I have not been a frequent visitor to (or even a fan of) the British handmade market place Folksy.com, always heading for Etsy or Not on the High Street as my 'go to' for all things designer/maker. I feel I and many others have been doing the site an injustice.

I have in the past felt that it was a bit 'village craft fair' or 'Homemade' as opposed to 'Handmade' (there is a difference).  However I have been scouring the site lately for home grown UK talent and have been very pleasantly surprised!

I was always under the impression that the site was full of 'Folk' style crafts, but knowing that some of my favourite makers have recently opened shops on Folksy made me take a closer look. They are in very good company, there are some absolutely beautiful hand-crafted items available.

I have spoken about presentation before in my 'What Will it Take to Make Crafting Cool' post earlier this year and I still feel that poor photography lets a lot of Brits down when it comes to showing off their products on many of these sites.  However I have discovered some really great new makers to add to my ever growing Wishlist.

Do you sell on Folksy or Etsy or NOTHS? I would love to know your thoughts on why you like where you sell, Why you chose that platform etc. Let me know in the comments below.

Sammy x

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Love it: Brush up those Blogging Skills

I am a person that really enjoys learning at my own speed and from the comfort of my own home so I am a big fan of e-courses. I have taken a few in my time online and I plan on taking many many more in the future. I am going on a road trip to Austria with Steve in a week or so and we have a few day trips to go on when we get there but we also have a lot of driving to do and a couple of chill out days and so I thought I would take the opportunity to brush up my blogging know how whilst we are away.

Today I thought I would let you know some of my favourite places to find useful e-courses on the net. 

The first is a course that everyone needs to take by the gorgeous Ann-Marie of annmarieloves.com.  Make it happen: A guide to getting it done and feeling good about it Who doesn't need to learn how to do this better right? Get your butt over to Ann-Marie's shop and get learning!

The girls at A Beautiful Mess have just re-launched their epic 'Blog Life' and 'Blog Design Love' courses in their shiny new online store. Despite having taken both these courses in the past I have signed up for both the new versions already. I love the way these girls teach and they now have a bunch of crash courses available too, Macaroons 101 anyone?
Check out Blog Life here.

This offering is one class in particular, but a site that has changed the way I learn. Skillshare is a site chocca-block with creative e-courses, with everything from Photoshop to Calligraphy.  If there is something you want to learn about then there will no doubt be a course here for you. The one that I have loved the most, was by one of my favourite bloggers Brittany Mehlhoff of Paper & Stitch. This course 'The How to on How tos' teaches you how to create tutorials for your own blog. Check it out, it has some great photography tips in there too.

Make Your Day is a download from Lovely Indeed's Chelsea and The Paper Mama's Chelsea. It is more of a e-book but a great read none the less, a great DIY master-class with tips, tricks and projects to keep you DIY-ing all day long.

This Photography e-course from the brains behind Blogtacular, Kat Molesworth and Kat Goldin, is a great alternative to heading to your local evening class to brush up on your DSLR skills. Manual Overdrive (awesome name) is designed to take your photography to the next level and you know from the Kat's blogs, Housewife Confidential and Slugs on the Refrigerator that they know what they are talking about. Sign up soon though as these amazing ladies are heading on to bigger and better things, but the instant access courses will only be available until the end of the year.

Blogshop is THE Photoshop boot-camp. Run by the amazing Bri ( DesignLoveFest) and Angela (Angela and Ithyle) it is famous for its photography styling sessions and EPIC goodies bags. The best news is that it is now available as an online course. It is also open to us PC users as well as apple lovelies. Seriously best news ever!! 

The epitome of blogging workshops is surely Rock and Roll Bride's 'The Blogcademy' H and I have been saving up to both go to this since we started blogging so we were super excited that the girls have now released online video sessions ( some free and some for a small fee) so we can watch them whilst we carry on saving. I love that they have split them up so you can pick and choose which modules you work on first. Awesome!

I hope this has inspired you to learn something new this summer. Have you ever taken an e-course before and did you enjoy it? Do let us know we are always on the look out for new things to learn. 

Sammy xxx

 Live, Love, Make, Like, Share, Follow, Tweet, Pin, Add, Enjoy. 

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Who's who: The Compartment Store

We first saw these guys when we went to Renegade Craft Fair last year and we just loved their paper goodness and the trunk they use - wow, just so cute.  We pinned them down before they wheeled away and had a quick chat for you to find out a bit more.

Who are you?

We are The Compartment Store, a mini department store on wheels! We are a collaborative shopping experience founded by Kitty Farrow, a specialist bookbinder and box maker, and gift-wrap enthusiast Victoria Jane of Gift Wrap HQ.

What do you do?

The Products - We make paper products and stationery. We have created an inventory that celebrates paper paraphernalia from the past and we have something for every occasion. We like to work with offcuts, saving all wastage where we can. It allows us to make an interesting collection of products that you won’t find in your average card shop. We particularly love the postcard, and have given it a little makeover. We have created our own version by incorporating our favourite technique, gold foil blocking. All our products are made by hand in London on vintage machines and using traditional techniques. You will find us folding, creasing, cutting, blocking whenever we can.

The Store - We sell our handmade paper goods from our travelling trunk, The Compartment Store. Our travelling trunk is reminiscent of that of a travelling sales man. We absolutely love the fact that we can open shop pretty much anywhere. The trunk gives us flexibility to move around and we can adapt it to a number of situations and spaces. We also like to move the compartments around and re-merchandise our shop as often as possible as we like to keep the customers happy and excited to discover what we have for sale in our Compartment Store, creating a mini shopping experience.

How did you start?

Friendship first then business! Originally we bonded over a love of letter writing and used to write long elaborate letters to each other for fun. It was in these letters that we dreamt up our idea for having our own department store, where we could separate our creations into their own sections or compartments. With a large ambition and no square footage quite in our price range we decided to go small and invented The Compartment Store, our very own mini department store on wheels! With lots of compartments to fill we began making.

What’s next?

We have our own online store, thecompartmentstore.co.uk, which is very exciting. So we are working on refining that and teaching ourselves the ways of online shopping. We are also trying to do more fairs and finding out where our market is and what our customers respond to. We are also working on a few commissions.

What advise would you give yourself , if you could go back to the beginning?

We are just starting out so we are at the beginning, any advise for us would be gladly taken! We would love to do more events and bespoke work for parties. We also love working in collections and themes so we will hopefully get to work on some more special ranges for summer, maybe a summer holiday compartment!

How can you resist all this gorgeousness!?!  We both love stationary and paper goodies and so combining that with having a shop you can take wherever you want is amazing!  I'm sure it won't be long before these girls have their own place though and are taking over the world, one postcard at a time!

H & Sammy, xxx