Shop Days: What's New?

A new series on here will be coming to you every Thursday. I will be showcasing something new in my online shop or possibly talking about an aspect of the business of selling my own creations. 

This week I'll be sharing some of the items I have for sale and sharing a bit about my creative process when it comes to designing children's clothing.

My shop can be found at Doodlebug Designs. I really like felt.co.nz because it has a really simple process set up for creating listings and has a flat fee for listing items. It's a pretty website too and I like that it's a community of creative people in New Zealand. 

Apples and Pears 

embroidery highlighted

 When I first started making children's clothes, I always felt that I needed to add a little something extra. I thought about it a bit and decided to give embroidery a go. This pair of hearts is machine stitched on with my standard sewing machine.

 I am a big fan of vintage fashion and love the simplicity of children's clothes from days gone by. I tend to mix fabrics and patterns when I make clothes and I have a pretty big collection of vintage fabrics to work into my designs.

 I currently exclusively use buttons as closures for my clothes, but I am going to experiment with snaps and master that technique for more options.

Bears and Daisies

 This one is just a big reminder to me of autumn. The colors and pattern lends itself to a little girl with a bright personality.

It's a little hard to see here, but this dress has the double hearts embroidered on it in a rainbow thread. That reminds me, I need to find some more of this awesome thread. 

I like clothes to be simple and cotton fabrics have always been a go-to of mine. I also don't usually buy fabric with an idea of what I'm going to make. So I have a collection of fabrics just waiting to find a purpose. What will I come up with next? Tune in next week to find out.

Creating for Christmas

With this business starting up for myself, I wanted to be able to take some time and create items for Christmas. Christmas is my favorite holiday and I feel that since I live in a summery place, I have to work twice as hard to make it really feel like Christmas. So I definitely do more than just put up a tree. This year I've got some great ideas I want to work on. But I had an idea to make stockings, so that's what I did for a little while today.

Roughly I sketched out the shape I needed and then used my rotary cutter.

The back was felt and the front was my nutcracker cotton print.

all the parts waiting to be assembled.

done and done!

I finished the first so quickly, I thought I could get another one done

now I have two!

I'm really glad I finally sat down and did these. It was so quick! There are a lot more I can make with my fabric stash here. And not all straight up Christmas fabric either. I'm probably going to sell these two, but I know I'm going to make stockings for Jeff and I this year. The ones I have aren't doing so well. Tai got ahold of one the first year I had them and it's not really recovered from being used as a chew toy. I reckon the cotton front and the felt back will make this stronger than the ones that are all the soft, fluffy material. More to come later!

ps- I may have a slight nutcracker addiction. Of my Christmas fabric collection, half of it is nutcracker prints. Plus I have a large collection of nutcrackers...I'm sensing a pattern here. :)

Building a Brand

I finally did it. I have been sitting on my butt for years about seriously crafting to sell, but I've had enough of my procrastination. When we got back from our trip to the USA at the end of August, I decided that enough was enough. So I got to work on some projects, cleaned everything up and opened an online shop on Felt.co.nz. It's been a month now since I started this little venture and while I haven't yet sold anything, I am hopeful. I know it takes a lot of work and time to build a brand, so I'm starting now.

There are a few steps I have taken so far and a few more left to go to really establish myself. But I wanted to share the steps I have listed for myself and you can let me know if you think I'm forgetting something.

1-- Decide what to focus on. I did some research online and found that while there is a plethora of little girls' clothes, boys are decidedly lacking. Now I love making girls' clothes (who doesn't love ruffles and ribbons?) but I have to admit that my designs aren't going to stand out enough in an online search to garner a purchase. With boys I have a better chance of it because there isn't a lot of competition.

First set of overalls I made. 

Re-designed short overalls.

The same as the blue pinstripes, but a close-up on the
pockets made from old denim jeans.

2-- Figure out your mission statement. When I was a communication major at college (and then with the education masters program I did) I had to learn how to write a mission statement to summarize who I was and my beliefs. This skill translates into almost any venture, business or otherwise. There needs to be a succinct way to describe what your brand is without rambling on.

3-- Design a logo/brand image. This is pretty easy actually. I used Powerpoint to merge the elements together and saved it as a jpeg. My brand name comes from a nickname from my Dad when I was in school. My mom painted it on a present to me at my high school graduation (I think it was high school) and it's always been my brand name.

4-- Create an account with an online shopping website. I chose to go with Felt because it is based in New Zealand where I live. A lot of people here in NZ use this website to sell their handmade products and I feel like it's a good place to start. I do have an Etsy account, but I'm not putting up listings there until I have my brand more established and want to expand my shipping to overseas.

5-- Get the word out. This is probably the hardest part of building a brand, I reckon. I'm signed up for a free webinar about selling crafts this weekend, so I'm looking to get some tips on marketing and using my blog to share my brand and expand who I reach. A subset of this is getting business cards made. I notice that a lot of people locally get their products picked up by shops and can always find their business cards. I think having these would help me share my name and contact information with shops and people. Of course, I don't have them yet, but it's because I don't have the money for it right now. Soon though.

6-- An ongoing part of building (and maintaining) a brand is continual research and design innovations. I'm not going to limit myself to just a few things that I master, because there is always going to be a need for children's clothes and a lot of parents who will want to have unique clothes for their little ones.

What are the reasons for this sudden jump into crafting as a business?

I turned 30 this year and am now married. I do want to have a family and when that does happen, I will be staying home for the years until everyone is in school and I can start work again. Since we have decided to go along this path, I want to still contribute to the income in whatever way I can. This is the way I can do this while staying home in the future. So I needed to get serious about this and start it now while I am working part-time so I can get established. Fingers crossed and lots of hard work may lie ahead of me, but I know I can do this.

So what have I forgotten? Any other suggestions to expand my brand and reach more people here and abroad online?

Upcoming on Debbie's Doings:

Wednesday- Creating for Christmas
Thursday- Shop Days
Saturday- Building a Happy Home
Monday- Cooking to a Healthy Home

Where's the Time?

Phew...I finally have a break and can take a few minutes to sit and write as the rice cooks (brown rice takes FOREVER to cook). Remember how I was going to post pictures of a project two weeks ago? Remember how I had decided to get back into blogging and explore some options with that?

Chirp, chirp, chirp... image via: Crickets

Yeah, I feel like I'm a lot of hot air sometimes. But it's been insanely busy around here. Spring has sprung and J and I decided to get serious about a time schedule around the house in the evenings. I finished planting out onions today, the second bag of potatoes has been planted and I've been slowly tackling the last flower bed that has run wild. Oh yeah, and working more hours than previous, exercising daily (this takes out of my much-loved TV viewing time) and hustling on making kids clothes and starting Christmas projects for sale purposes.

See? I've been busy.

But seriously, I do want to do this. I just can't seem to find extra time. So it looks like I have to make this a designated thing as well.

One project I do want to share right now is a whimsical one I did a couple days ago (ignoring the laundry, dishes and sewing I should have been doing).

Oh, look at the fairy cottage!

I've been wanting to make some fun sections of my garden for awhile now. I've got enough garden, I should be allowed to do something completely impractical and frivolous in part of it. So I took an old wheelbarrow (minus the wheels) and got it sorted in a corner of my garden.

I dug up the ferns I had planted in this area and put them in the barrow that J filled with compost for me. Once that was settled I got to business with organizing my fairy house, pathway and ladder (not all fairies have wings, you know).

My supplies for the house. Hot glue gun not pictured.

I glued it all together and found a nice piece to make a door.

Rocks from J's collection jar worked nicely as an accent.

Twigs make the windows and the round piece? Front door step.

A ladder to help the fairies get up.

Nestled in the ferns, just waiting to be discovered. 

This cost me nearly nothing. The hot glue I had, but I did have to use 4 sticks to get this done. We'll see how it holds up in the weather and maybe we'll have to get some different glue and re-do it later. The rock path is made from glow-in-the-dark plastic stones I got from The Warehouse last year and hadn't used yet. Everything else came from my garden and the junk pile outside J's work shed. Win!

Inspiration Monday

With the weather changing and the days getting longer, I find inspiration all around me and pushing me to try different things. While I mostly limit the change to my crafts or my garden, I find the exercise in inspiration to be refreshing. So here's what is inspiring me today:

I have a collection of glass bottles I have saved from our wedding. I am thinking I need to paint them up, but first I need to buy glass paint.

 I decided, when I moved in with Jeff, that I really want a proper cottage garden. Did you know how much work it takes to make a cottage garden? Two years on and I'm still nowhere near it. But at least I get to order new flower seeds soon, right?

I recently did start my own fern/fairy garden out back. I used an old wheelbarrow (minus the wheels) to set up and plant in my ferns I got from the farm last year. Next up is using my glow in the dark rocks to make a pathway or patterns in the soil as I build up my own awesome fairy garden to amuse children someday. My own piece of whimsy.

With the fact that I have half days off work nearly every day, I am spending more time outside and am dedicating more time to craftiness and creativity. Tomorrow I'll get the pictures off my camera of what I've been working on. It involves a lot of glitter and glue.

Is it weird that I'm looking forward to Christmas already?

Winter Hiatus

Hello readers and random guests! I am sad to say that it's been nearly 3 months since I posted here. Yikes! I hope you have been busy and enjoying your lives while I've been away. So here's a brief catch-up on what's been happening since mid-June.

1- I turned 30 and celebrated with my lovely friends at home with a 50s inspired cocktail party.

2- I finished planning and went on our big trip to the USA with my husband.

3- I started a new class for my job.

4- I've just opening my new online shop for whimsical children's clothing and accessories.

My online shop is now up and running! Doodlebug Designs

5- We had insulation put in at our house and I did a lot of gardening to catch up before we went away.

But most of all, I've been fighting a serious bout of the winter blues. Everything was really overwhelming and stressful. Planning a major trip overseas was financially and emotionally difficult as it seemed like everyday something would pop up to try and wreck it for us. I was overwhelmed, exhausted and needed a serious break from the everyday business. Thankfully, our trip to the US was just that. It was a blessing for us to get away and see my family while showing my darling husband where I am from. It may not have been a traditional honeymoon, but it was exactly what we needed for us to rest, rejuvenate and refocus on what was important.

We've been home for a week now and have settled back into our home life. I have been gardening and getting out in the sunshine as much as possible, we've both gone back to work, I've started a new work venture and we are staying positive and working towards our goals again. I don't know how long it'll last, but I'm so glad right now that we had our trip to refocus and take a break from the daily grind. I am going to make it a priority for us to break up our week occasionally and get out and do things so we don't slip into the same rut of sameness. Fingers crossed on that!

My parents, my brother J and us.

Little sister T, us, Sister B and niece N along with Mom and bro M.

sunset in Illinois

The reason why my husband put on 6 kg. And also the reason
why I need to learn to make proper donuts.

what a happy camper

being silly in the city

our stop at Metropolis, IL

Jeff's new hobby...pond fishing with my brother

us in the corn

love this one

our friends' newest addition to their family. Lovely babies.Doodlebug Designs

Project 365 update

Yikes, I can't believe it's been a couple weeks since I posted...actually, I can believe it. I think I'm over my rut of winter blues and can finally start focusing on things again. Ugh, I hate that. It's so hard sometimes. I get overwhelmed more easily in the winter and with the passing of one of my patients at work, I have been especially susceptible to being sad and depressed. But, I'm moving on and hopefully doing better. Here are the photos I've taken since I last posted on here:

dinner one night

garden stakes- homemade of course

easy green

kindling

Jeff

flooding

matching hats, and good grief, I'm pale

bling

ready for summer

creme puffs part 1 

creme puffs part 2

little white flowers

So what have you been up to for the last two weeks? And is anyone wondering if I'm ever going to finish my wedding recaps? Have you ever gotten to the point in a recap process where you're just sick of it and don't want to finish? Yeah, that's where I am. Sorry!