Thanks to everyone who took part in my little giveaway & sorry for the delay in the draw...oops!
Nina - if you could let me know your colour choice, I'll stitch you up your very own Teapot Brooch when I'm back from my romantic weekend away in gay Paris! :)
...we have blast off, my fledgling has taken it's first flight - www.ditsybird.com is GO!!!
Yay! My new website is up and running!
This is me, taking a virtual magnum of champagne & cracking it on the site's mythical bow - oh happy maiden voyage day.
Now, I was going to wait until I re-photographed & listed everything that I've made & have boxed up in my studio - but that would have taken yonks & I'm too impatient. So...I've gone with my 'new for 2011' idea of just do it, and I have just done it! Whilst you may not find all of my existing designs & creations in the shop at the mo, (they will be added as time allows) there are new items, such as...
To celebrate, I am offering a week long discount of 20% off everything on the site, with the use of WEAREGO! discount code at checkout.
In conjunction with the launch, I'm also doing a giveaway here on my lovely blog!
One of my teeny teapot brooches could be yours - and there are a number of ways of doing this...
• tweet (with my @ditsybirddesign twitter moniker in the tweet so I can keep a tally) • or do a post/mention about my launch on your blog • or Facebook post/mention about my launch • follow my blog • follow me on twitter • like my Facebook page
When you've chosen and executed your method of entry, if you could post a comment below, saying which of these lovely things you've done (with a link to it where poss) that would be utterly marvellous! ~It's so much easier for my addled brain to keep a track & a tally if it's all in one nice neat corner of the web for me to monitor~
The discount and the giveaway will run until midnight on Saturday 12 March so that I can announce the winner of the giveaway on Sunday 13th March - my 40th birthday!!!!
So please, grab a cuppa & bob along to my new nest of handmade delights & peruse the virtual aisles.
If you spot any typos or errors/problems (I'm bound to have missed something!) do please let me know :)
This is Amelie - Amelie is the daughter of my friend Lois
and they need our help!
Yorkshire's Children's Heart Surgery
Unit, based at Leeds General Infirmary, is under threat
of being closed because of a NHS review of such services, across the country. The
unit covers a regional population of 5.5 million people with 10,000 children
passing through it every year. Amelie is one of those children.
In Lois' own words...
"...it is hard enough living a 'normal' life with
a child with a Congenital Heart Defect without the added worry of will she make
it the distance to the hospital, nevermind survive the surgery...
Leeds Paediatric Cardiac Surgery closing is unthinkable but apparently this
review thinks it to be an option and most likely the final decision."
If the unit closes, the closest alternative options are Liverpool
and Newscastle...many hours drive over &
above the already nerve-racking drive to Leeds for
seriously ill children. They need your signatures on the petition that could
potentially save the unit, aswell as the lives of many, many children.
if you are in any doubt about signing this petition, watch this video -
Back to Lois "I know that this issue may never or has never affected
you but please sign this online petition to save Leeds Children's Heart Surgery.
Amelie would have died... twice if it wasn't
for Leeds and has had three lots of emergency open heart
surgery and needs more and will need care for the rest of her life...
please, please sign this petition!"
"unthinkable" is the word I take from this - let's help make it so that parent's with so much else to worry about, need not have the closure of their life-line to think about.
...that's the conclusion that my long hard think has brought me to!
Basically, I've been undervaluing some of my work (mostly my smaller canvases and my handmade cards) and selling them for less than I should...once I take into account my labour in the creation of these items, they seemed disctinctly underpriced.
As a result, the receipt of the 'whoop! you've sold something' email from Etsy/Folksy left me feeling a little underwhelmed & distinctly less than gleeful - this in not how it should be, oh no!
And it all boiled down to the fact that...the time I would put into creating the item or replacing the item for resale, made me feel like I was working for pennies. And there's no joy to be had in that. Nope, nope, nope. And I do like to be a happy creator :)
It's a fine line though, don't you find? -
Making it worth your whilemaking it an appealing
as the designer/creator Vpurchase for the buyer
Anyhoo, 'tis done and hopefully I won't cheese off any existing clients* and won't put off any potential clients. In fact (!), hopefully my new prices will reflect my new found self-respect which perhaps will garner appreciation for my work, from others. You never know *(I did do some canvasing (hehe) before making my decision)
