It's nice to be back...

I know I said I was taking some time off, but truth be told, that lasted all of five minutes! I had so many ideas for new products for Little Puddles, I couldn't wait to get started!

And here they are, my gorgeous new Oof-Oof's! Made for originally for Emily Mae (who love running around yelling 'oof!' when she hears our neighbour's dog), I loved making these so much, I decided to welcome them to Little Puddles.

I  have also been having loads of fun handstitching baby blankets. I love quilting and am slowly working my way through the famous Tail Feathers quilt...a present for myself that will take many many months to complete, but I will enjoy every stitch! Photos of baby blankets will be coming soon.

Stay tuned to my facebook page in the coming weeks for a special Christmas sale, and more details of my new products available for purchase. My website is also under construction at the moment to update it with my new stock, please contact me directly at nat@littlepuddles.com.au for any enquiries.

{ANNOUNCEMENT} Time for change

I feel like I say the same thing in every blog post, few and far between they may be, but it's true...it's been really really busy here at Little Puddles HQ. So much so, that I've decided it's time for change.

I work part-time, I am a 'yummy mummy' (I wish!) to Emily Mae, and I am a small business owner. I always knew at some point, I wouldn't be able to 'do it all', hard as I tried.

So I'm taking a break / sabbatical / holiday. As of 1 August, I am not scheduled to do any markets until November, and I'll be keeping it that way. I will be doing a final update to my website, then will let it quietly run in the background. I may do a Facebook sale once or twice, but mostly, I'll be staying quiet and away from my Facebook page.

I'm looking forward to some time off. I'm going to sew a quilt, design some new products, and really evaluate where I want to take Little Puddles in 2012. I've always wanted to learn to sew children's clothes, so I may even take a course. And of course, I'm going to spend some wonderful quality time with my gorgeous girl and gorgeous husband.

Thank you all so much for your support over the last year, it's been wonderful to grow Little Puddles into what it is today...who would have thought 600+ people would 'like' my little business! I appreciate your support during my break and look forward to being back online in November.

In the meantime, come visit me at the gorgeous Sugar & Spice Market at St Alipius Hall, Ballarat on the 31st of July. It's my last market for a little while so drop by and say hello, I'd love to see you.

With thanks,
Nat xx

Time to get organised...

You may have noticed I've been slightly tardy with my blog posts these last few months...time has been getting away from me! As such, I have decided to get organised. On my To-Do list was to post the following on my business page on Facebook:

* * * * * * * * *

I currently work part-time (Mon/Tue/Thur) and as such, can only respond to customer enquiries on certain days. Please see below:
* Postage - occurs every Friday, unless the purchase is required urgently
* Email enquiries - responded to every Wednesday and Friday
* Crafting - on Saturdays and Sundays!
As some of you may already know, I have a beautiful 1 year old baby girl, Emily Mae, so I'm sure you understand why I must structure my week in order to juggle work, spend quality time with Emily Mae, and keep my house in order...with a bit of crafting thrown in on the side! Thank you for your understanding, and as mentioned above, if purchases are required urgently, or if you do have an enquiry that needs to be attended to urgently, please let me know and I will do my best to accomodate you.

* * * * * * * * *

I am also going to be taking down this blog, and finding a more user friendly version to use...Blogger is just not working for me. I can't post more than one photo at a time, I can't change fonts, it crashes on me all of the time...frustrating! So if any of you lovely people out there have any hints or tips for me, I would really appreciate it!

Hopefully, once I have sorted out the blog situation, and organised my time a bit better, I can spend some time doing what I really love...loads of super awesome fun time with Emily Mae, and CRAFTING!!! I have so many new ideas...stay tuned!

Thanks for reading,

Nat xx

Temptations

I must admit to you, I'm struggling with my self-imposed shopping ban! I've been
really good and haven't bought any fabrics, or clothes, or knick knacks - and
there is so much I'd love to buy. I see gorgeous new fabric for sale on Facebook and Etsy, and I envisage hand embroidered bunting, fabric hairclip boards, and maybe some super cute cushions
for my house.

There's nothing like some fabric or new supplies to get my creativity flowing, which has been severely lacking lately as I've had to put Little Puddles to the bottom of the priority list for a little while. My T0-Do List is turning into a To-Do Novel at the moment! The month of May will be a busy one at Little Puddles HQ with my first Mother's Day, Emily's first birthday, and my 30th...lots of celebrations coming up, which means a lot of party planning for me!

Until then, I will stick to my shopping ban and maybe, just maybe, I will find time to create at least one or two of the new creations I have floating around in my head at the moment, with the supplies
that I have in stock.

Hope you are all having a lovely, lazy Sunday xx

Shopping Ban ~ Week 2

So far I have managed to stick to my self-imposed shopping ban, and it hasn't been easy. There's always so many fantastic sales on Facebook and in the stores. So I've been keeping myself busy making new jewellery and accessories (as pictured).

These necklaces are handcrafted using upcycled quilting remnants, Swarovski crystals and metal pendants. They will be available at www.littlepuddles.com.au very soon.

I am also having a therapeutic cleanout and will be destashing some of my surplus craft supplies to sell at my new business venture, I Love Craft. My supplies are winging their way all over the world...8 wooden babushka pendants will be posted tomorrow to a lovely customer in Milano, Italy.

I will be continuing to promote products on my Facebook page that I would love to buy but will restrain myself from. If you have any suggestions, feel free to post below!

A Secret Confession

I have a secret confession... I fear I may have a slight addiction to shopping. So I've set myself a challenge - I'm not going to 'shop' for the next 3 months. And when I say 'shop', I mean things like clothes, magazines and especially no more crafting items!

So why am I telling you my shameful secret? Because I know the secret to my success is to tell everyone around me what I'm trying to do, and because you will all know about it, I will feel guilty if I shop! It's all a trick of the mind...

How am I going to do it?

I'm going to utilise my resources around me. I'm going to create new products by using everything I have in the home (my craft room is overflowing with supplies and fabric at the moment).

I'm also going to live vicariously through you! Everytime I find something I love and want to buy, I'm going to share it with you!

So stay tuned for more posts about my progress, and also for gorgeous goodies that I would love to buy for myself, but will instead share with you...and please, if you have any great tips or hints for me with saving some money, feel free to leave a comment below.

New Products at Little Puddles ~ Glass Tile Jewellery

I love it when I get a fresh idea for Little Puddles, but the credit for this range goes to my friend Amanda. I have been coveting the idea of handcrafting glass tile jewellery for quite some time, but never got around to investigating the idea further. Lucky for me, Amanda took matters into her own hands and gave me a glass tile jewellery making kit for Christmas - it consisted of 6 glass tiles, 6 bails, some scrapbooking paper and instructions.

I was sitting at the dining room table on Boxing Day surrounded by beads, fabric, scrapbooking paper and my glass tile kit. It took me 1 hour to choose which remnants and scrapbooking paper to use...there were so many possibilities but I wanted only the best for my first 6 pieces!

A few hours later, I was so happy to have 6 gorgeous new necklaces (one of which was very quickly snapped up by my mum!) and couldn't wait to make more! I immediately went online and ordered some supplies, and one week later my parcel arrived. I managed to contain myself and waited until Emily Mae went down for a nap...and then I was in the crafting zone!

I created earring studs, hanging earrings, pendant necklaces, beaded pendant necklaces and rings. You can see the entire range at www.littlepuddles.com.au ~ I have now uploaded all items available for purchase.

More products will be coming soon as I am so excited about this range and have so many more ideas (one of which was provided by my crafty mum!) ~ if you have any requests, let me know!

Nat xx

Happy New Year!

Wow! What a hectic couple of weeks! I always look forward to Christmas and New Year, and even more so this time around as we had Emily Mae's first Christmas ~ she, of course, was spoilt rotten! But I'm always happy when the celebrations are over and I can put my feet up and relax for a couple of days...

And of course, when I stop and relax, I am swamped with ideas for 2011 ~ and the resolutions have come flowing in thick and fast! I have all of the usual things on my list, such as being more health conscious, saving money, not sweating the small stuff, etc... But I'm not holding my breath on achieving all of those! Who can save money when there is so much fun to be had in crafting?!!! So I'm going to make a concerted effort to achieve those but focus my energy on other, more fun resolutions such as my plans for Little Puddles and developing my online craft supplies store, I Love Craft.

2011 holds a lot of change for me ~ I'm returning to work part time in February which I'm very much looking forward to, although I will miss hanging out with my little miss Emily Mae! I'm sure she will have loads of fun though as we have family members clamouring to look after her while I'm at work...We're so lucky to have so much support.

I will still be taking Little Puddles to the markets in 2011, but not as many as last year. 13 markets in just over 3 months was exciting, but a lot of work! However, all products are available at our website (www.littlepuddles.com.au) and I love custom order requests! I will be developing a new product range in the next couple of weeks...am soooooo excited about it and can't wait to share it with you all.

So January will be a month of relaxing with Emily Mae, organising my office after the craziness of Christmas, creating my new product ranges and preparing for my return to work (which basically means shopping for new clothes so I can return as a yummy mummy!). Yay!

I wish you all joy and happiness for 2011 and hope it brings all that you wish for.

Natalie xx