It has been a week since my new look website launch, and I can’t believe how that time has flown! I had intended to write this blog post a little sooner to coincide with the launch, but life happens and it kept getting pushed back. I’m in full-on market prep mode for our Etsy Made Local events here in Newcastle, but it has been in the back of my mind that I wanted to at least say hello again before then. So, hello! I’m back – yay!

I really hope that you love my new site as much as I do. I have to say that I’ve had some wonderful feedback about it over the last 7 days, so thanks to everyone who got in touch via social media! It has been a labour of love as I’ve been building it myself since the end of September. I’m not going to lie, fitting it around family life has been a bit tricky at times. But Tom has been amazing as ever, and we worked out days where I could have decent chunks of time to work on it. This has actually been a gamechanger to be honest, and we now try and work it out each week. I find that it’s a great way to avoid procrastination and I can approach the week much more positively when I know that there will be time to work on my business.

Crafty Commerce

I basically have no coding experience whatsoever, except for the odd occasion when I’ve managed to copy some code to sort out spacing (haha!). My friend Dan from Baltic Design (who has hosted my blog for years) and said he wanted to create a platform for creatives to build their website, and I have basically been testing this out for him. I am so thrilled with the results! It has all been done front-end and I have created something which is unique to me. I now have my own shop, where you can purchase my embroidered items, kits, workshops and more! My blog is much more appealing and I feel like I can actually share it with people again (it was a bit of a mess after I tried to change the theme – nightmare!). So yes, this platform is coming but it needs a bit more set-up before it’s widely available. If you’re interested, you can find out more about Crafty Commerce here.

In other news…

So there are a LOT of other things going on, some of which you’ll already know about if you follow me on Instagram. We are getting used to life with 2 children and our baby boy is just the sweetest. He is in love with his big sister, crawled at 6 months and his current favourite thing is waving. We can’t remember life without him now!

I also handed my notice in at the day job in September, so will be fully working on Hello! Hooray! from January! I am beyond excited about this – my book comes out next summer and it just felt like the right time to go for it. That and the fact that it has been making me feel like rubbish for longer than I should have let it. That’s all I’ll say about it for now – onwards and upwards!

These little rainbows are my current favourite make and they have been popular in the shop! Custom versions are available, and I’m working on getting more ready to ship hoops too. Once my markets are done at the end of the month, I’ll list any here so you can snap them up. I have too many ideas and not enough time right now, but I’m hoping to use some time in January to get some more things made.

I have embroidery workshops listed in my shop, and I’m delighted to be hosting some at For the Love of the North in the New Year. I’m a huge fan of Lucy and Paul and how they support North East creatives. They have just opened another shop at Spanish City in Whitley Bay, and we’ll be stitching there at my workshops. So excited!

YAY it’s good to be back!

Sign up to my newsletter (link in footer or sidebar) if you’d like to be kept up-to-date with more happenings, and find out first about new products and special offers. And look out for more blog posts coming soon…

Tell me what you’ve been up to – I’d love to know what you’ve been doing, seeing and making!