Christmas puddings.

Next on my list to make, is Christmas puddings! After I finished the last of my Christmas tree's last night I cut out the Christmas pudding shapes ready to be sewn together tonight! I also added on the embellishments so that it would save me time when I went to finish them tonight; some little miniature star buttons in Christmas colours of red and green, and red thin silk polka dot ribbon to hang them from, a ribbon I feel has a certain Christmas feel about it!

I am about to start sewing them together now!

First day of Etsy ads.

So the day is almost over and Etsy ads have been open and running since 1pm. What do I think to them so far? Not much. I am paying a maximum of $5 for 5,000 impressions. So far I have spent $0.27, made 268 impressions and not had one single viewing.

Now, I know its early days. The ads only started today and I suspect that at least half of the Etsy sellers population is giving it a go. But I would have thought some views would have least been made? Hopefully this will pick up. I like the idea of ads helping sellers and hence why I am taking part myself. But we shall have to see. I will update each day for this weeks trail of ads I have signed up for, to see whether this improves. It would be quite awful if I made 5,000 impressions but didn't get a single view from them...

More Christmas tress.

And so I have finally listed the last of my Christmas tree's! There are two sets, one with 4 decorated Christmas tree's.

One of these has also been listed individually! And then there is also a set of three!

One of these has also been listed individually!

All four listings can be found in my shop and also keep checking back because I have lots of Christmas themed stuffs to add over the next couple of weeks!



Etsy ads, are they worth it?

So today is the launch of Etsy ads, a new phenomenun only brought to our attention just a week ago. I'll give you a brief description of them for anyone who hasn't heard about them yet! Etsy ads are meant to help boost sales and customers to our shops, through paying to have our items seen in a top banner when searching the Etsy site. The ads work on impressions though, so not actual clicks to your shop or sales. But the ad stats are seperated from your normal shop stats which allows you to see just how exactly they are working! They are $5 for 5,000 impressions and then the price of the ads rises which how many impressions you would like to go for! So that works out at just £3.21 (with the current conversion rate) which isn't that much really, so I thought why not, I'll give it a go!

The ads are due to go live at 1pm UK time (we think) So I will keep you all updated on what I see in the way of ad stats and whether it was a beneficial gamble for me, something to keep using or something to forget about, never to be brought up again...

Facebook.

A quick reminder that I also have a Facebook page for my handmade creations, Tea Lady Designs Facebook . I only recently started it, and with 18 likes on the page I would love to have some more! I also have plans for once I reach 50 likes I would like to do a giveaway competition!

So please if you have the time, head over and like my Facebook page and feel free to pass on the link to your friends! :)

Glorious crowns.

Whilst browsing Etsy a few weeks back I came across a seller who sold felt cut outs. Now, everything I have made so far as been cut by hand to the desired shape. But I saw these and thought to myself, 'I could use them for so many things!' So I bought three packs of 10 (at only 80p a pack) of these bright, cheerful and colourful crowns.

But now I have them, it seems I have no idea what to do with them...

So I guess this post is a cry for help!

Help!
Help!

I need suggestions!

If you can suggest any ways to put these bright and cheerful crowns to use then please comment below and let me know! Because I am currently baffalled!



Christmas is coming.

Over the past few days I have been working on getting some Christmas stock into my shop. So of course, the first stage was buying Christmas themed materials!

I raided Cal's stock and got some pretty ribbons, Christmas colour themed buttons, metallic bells and also some more felt some of which I cut into Christmas shapes ready to be turned into decorated Christmas tree's to be used as tree decorations or general Christmas ornaments.

I decided to decorate each tree differently. A set of five is decorated with sequins, ribbon and a metallic bell.

I have decorated these with peacock coloured sequins, another set of three Christmas tree's is decorated similar but with lilac sequins and a set of 4 is currently being worked on and decorated with the red and green buttons.

I am enjoying making these Christmas decorations and have a few more Christmas themed ideas in the pipelines, so keep checking back here and also my Etsy shop to see what I make next!

I will also post photos here of the other sets of Christmas trees once I have taken them and listed them in my Etsy shop!



More scattered button felt brooches.

Over the weekend I made three more scattered button felt brooches. For a more detailed post about how I make these scattered button brooches you can look at my previous post here

I made them in the same way I made my other scattered button felt brooches. I selected three shades of felt per theme in select colours. This time we have blues, yellows and reds. The buttons were all then picked to fit each colour theme!

Just as with the other scattered button brooches, I really enjoyed making these. They are fun to make; deciding which coloured felts best suit, which colours go together, which buttons would look right and fit. 

I think this red one is my favourite of the three new ones. I have a real thing for autumn colours at the moment, it makes me excited for autumn nights, Bonfire night, Halloween, so I love the warm colours of the felt and buttons!

All three of these scattered button brooches are now available in my Etsy shop to buy : www.etsy.com/shops/tealadydesigns

As well as the other colour themed scattered button brooches I made last week!

Hope you like them as much as I do...

Getting the word out

Today I am mainly concentrating on promoting my handmade creations!

I am using more teams on the Etsy website. I started two teams myself:

http://www.etsy.com/teams/10317/student-sellers 
Student sellers which is a team for anyone selling, making and crafting who is also a student, whether it be School, College or University! No matter where in the World you are from!

http://www.etsy.com/teams/10420/uk-felt-obsessors
A team for people in the UK who love and use felt! This seems to be a slow starter but I will spend some time on it today. I hope more people join, it would be mad to know more people in the UK who like working with felt as much as I do!

I also use the following teams:

http://www.etsy.com/teams/7428/uk-cake-eaters-and-chat-team
This is the team I most often chat on!
http://www.etsy.com/teams/10356/shop-help
http://www.etsy.com/teams/5127/european-street-team-est
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7332/etsys-uk-ireland-seller-support-team
http://www.etsy.com/teams/9551/promote-your-shop-on-the-steady-hand
http://www.etsy.com/teams/8815/pretty-midlands
http://www.etsy.com/teams/10274/tea-and-sympathy
http://www.etsy.com/teams/8148/who-loves-felt

Today I have also made a Facebook page for my handmade creations!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tea-Lady-Designs/271549469529930

I will also be spending some time on Twitter today
@tealadydesigns

The Steady Hand

Yesterday I was featured on a blog : http://thesteadyhandblog.com/feature-friday-tea-lady-designs/

I am really very happy with it. Give it a read if you have a spare minute or two, and be sure to let me know what you think!

Scattered button brooches

This week I have made three new items for my Etsy shop : www.etsy.com/people/tealadydesigns

Three brooches in different colour themes using buttons scattered over the felt to make an eye catching, unique brooch.

I started off by selecting three different shades of felt for each brooch. Each brooch has a colour theme. There is pinks which uses three different shades of pink felt, blues with a dark pink to spice it up and browns with a rustic feel. I then selected an array of different colour buttons along the same colour themes to be added in a scatter affect on each brooch.

I then cut the felt to shape by hand in three different sizes of the same shape for each brooch so that the felt would be layered when sewn together. I started off by taking the top layer of felt and using an embroidery thread in the colour theme of that brooch, sewing on each button with no particular pattern, just scattering them on to create the desired effect.

Once the buttons were sewn on I attached the brooch back pin to the back of the last layer of felt, through to the second to ensure it was tightly secured. This was attached using black cotton thread. Once this was done I could start to attach the different layers together. I used embroidery threads in colours around each colour theme, using a running stitch to attach each layer of felt to the other.

I really enjoyed making these brooches and I am looking forward to making more in various colour themes and different shapes. I get to use two of my favourite materials, felt and buttons, in one go to create a cute, unique and eye catching brooch.



Brighter things

I have decided I shall be re-photographing all my items, on a much lighter setting. I want to capture truer, more eye-catching and stand out photographs to showcase my items in the best possible way!

Scattered buttons

Tonight I have been making felt brooches scattered with buttons. I have tried to stick to colour themes, so I have one which is browns, one which is blues and one which is pinks. I am very happy with them and excited to photograph and list them tomorrow.

I have also been asked by an expecting friend to make her a baby mobile, which is very exciting. She wants to wait until she knows the sex of the baby before we pick a theme and colours. I have been considering baby mobiles recently due to a suggestion from a friend and the arrival of my new baby nephew, so it will be good to test my ideas out.

Folky

I have opened a shop on Folky after hearing good reviews of it from friends; tealadydesigns on Folksy

So far I have just listed my sets of lavender bags, which I made last week. I really enjoyed making them, they were fab and fun to do and I loved working with the lavender too!

All of the lavender bags were made using felt cut to size by me, before I choose an embellishment to give them an eye catching look. I then sewed them together using black embroidery thread, adding a generous amount of fresh dried lavender to each one before finishing it off.

They are also available in my Etsy shop: tealadydesigns Etsy

I also made myself a set, using some fabric opposed to felt. I love the sensual, aromatic lavender smell each time I open my drawers!

A little hello..

Hello there, my name is Sophia or as my friends like to call me, Tea Lady. I am 23 years old and study Psychology at Middlesex University, London, but I commute from my home and favourite City, Nottingham.

I am fairly new to crafting, I fell in love with buttons, felt, ribbons and other pretty crafting materials when helping my friend Cal sort through and photograph her stock. At first I made a couple of felt brooches for some friends, played around with making a few things I found interesting and a get well present for a friend who had a kidney transplant. Since this summer my crafting has become more frequent, trying out new materials, ideas and eventually opening my own Etsy shop ; tealadydesigns 

Its here in myt shop that I sell my crafty creations! I love working with felt and use it to make many of my items, but I also love buttons and try and incorporate them into my creations too! I try to work on a new idea for my shop every week and I am also happy to do custom orders, so if you have anything in mind you would like, please do get in touch.