The Times They Are A Changing...

Hello everyone...

Just a quick post to say that we will no longer be using this blog, if you want to keep up with us then you can find us over here: 

Whilst you're at it you should probably have a read of this post 

See you on the flip side!

xxx

By The Yard's Website.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

It's official...

The By The Yards (our wonderful little bricks and mortar shop) website went live today.

It's like we're grown ups or something!

Take a peek if you like?

Huge thanks to the team at Coderra for putting up with us during its making!

xx

Tumbleweed

Hello!!

We are alive. 

We probably won't be on this page/blog all that much. But we will be on this one a fair bit more.

There are also frequent facebook updates here.

Adios Amigos!

Shop Shop Shop Shop!

 Just stopping by real quick to show you some pictures of what's been going on at By The Yard...mainly a lot of rather boring but important prep work...like wall papering up lots of lining paper and poly filling up lots of holes...

These are the colors which we will use here and there on the furniture...my favorite one is coral colored type one...but only because its called Bongo Jazz.

This is the terribly exciting white color we've chosen for the walls...it's called Clouded Pearl 3.

Here's El (she's the other, quieter half of StuffedNonsense) writing on our door in chalk pen...she's sitting on steps because she's having a baby in July...we mentioned it on Instagram but I don't think we mentioned it here...so there you go...that's another epic piece of news for you.

And here's our flyer....El made it...she's clever.

Right...that's all for now...we're putting lots and lots of facebook status up on By The Yards Facebook page...soo if you're interested why not pop over there??

Quite Possibly The Biggest News Ever...

We've not been here much at all have we?

We're sorry...but we do have a rather incredible excuse for our extended absence.

We're opening a shop.

A real one.

Made from bricks and mortar.

With a door.

And it's own entrance.

We're a little bit excited about it...Can you tell?

Excited and terrified. 

For those of you that don't know the full StuffedNonsense story, we used to have a small studio shop in Cheltenham which we closed a few years back because it wasn't quite right.

We took a step back we licked our wounds, we learnt some pretty big life lessons and we got good at aspects of running a business that we weren't good at before, we took a deep breath and decided to try again.

Which brings us back to here...the 3rd of May...the day we announced to the world that we were trying again.

It's going to be called By The Yard, it is on St James Street, Cheltenham.

It will be full to the brim with handmade hand designed items and will also host many exciting crafty workshops.

We're hoping to open mid June (fingers crossed).

Soo...take our hands and join us for the next step on our journey.

Here's some pictures of what we've gotten ourselves into to...

It's Hard Sometimes...

It should be a big idyllic dream shouldn't it?

This whole running your own business and working for your self malarkey.

I mean if you write it down on paper it sounds like the bees knees:

1. You work your own hours, hours that you set

2. You spend your time designing items you want to see for sale.

3. You dream your dreams and make steps towards creating them.

It's not an exhaustive list but i think that those three points form the foundations (for me anyway). Except I've been finding it a little difficult of late...and it seems that those three little points up there spend the majority of their time morphing into these three (not so little to me) points...

1. You sit in your work room for hours procrastinating about everything...or you go for a coffee that takes up three hours of your day...or you come up with any excuse to not be at home alone sewing stock.

2. You spend hours of your time doubting the designs you have made...wondering whats the point in making 5cm sized plush toy, that they are rubbish anyway, no matter how long your stare at them. You think about it soo much that your head buzzes and feels like it is going to explode.

3.  You take steps that you are terrified will lead you to fall, steps that will fail and leave you with nothing apart from a train wreck of broken hopes.

I'll admit it...it sounds like im being dramatic, and that i should suck it up and get on with it, That everyone feels like this, and that it is the way that you deal with these pesky things that will lead you to triumph, but its hard when your at home sat at your work table with just a lap top and ten half finished wooden spoons (that's right...wooden spoons.)

Stuffednonsense is facing some insanely big changes at the moment...all of them have the potential to be truly incredible...all of them are terrifying, and in due course you will be told about them but not right now, now is the time for a pathetic 'i feel sorry for myself' post. 

I suppose we're just going to have to hold on tight and go with it...like when your on a roller coaster and its half way up the super big dip and the tracks are doing that 'clack clack clack' sound that they do that makes you sooo terrified, and you realise that your stuck on the ride until the end, and that to get to the end you have to do the scary bits with all the loop the loops and massive dips and huge stomach churning drops; and then you figure out that you might as well roll with it seeing as your stuck on it and you let go of the hand rail and put your hands up in the air and try your hardest to enjoy it...even though your bloody terrified.

That's it, i have no pictures to show you, and i apologize for a thoroughly depressing read, but sometimes you just have to put it out there.

xxx

Crafty Fox!

We're going to be at this ridiculously wonderful craft fair on Sunday the 24th of March...you should all go to it and purchase wonders from the incredible range of stall holders that will be there. We promise you won't be disappointed.

Be there or be square...(sometimes we are too 'hip' for our own good.

xxx

Brighton Times Ahead.

We're going to be at this wonderful event on both days (2nd and 3rd of March) how exciting! We've had our beady eyes on this one for a while and finally took the plunge and applied...and got accepted! Lets hope its a tip top event full of people hungry to buy hand made wonders.

See you there?

Dans Le Etsy Shop.

 We're thinking that frequent and brief blog posts are the way forward, so with that in mind, just stopping by to point out some new bits in the sale section of our Etsy Shop, there's also loads of new stock up there too.

Was £6 now £2.50

Was £8 now £4

Was £10 now £5

Was £10 now £5

 Also...we have a cheeky request...we're really close to hitting five hundred followers on our facebook page...would any of you mind awfully heading over and giving us a like??...and perhaps telling your buddies to? (link above) Once we get to big five double o we're going to have a rather epic giveaway.

Thanks Ever So!

A Roaring Success

The first Craft Night In happened last night.... OH BOY!

It went wonderfully! It was sooo busy we ran out of seats. The event had such a lovely buzz to it. Bring on the next one!

(which is on the 13th.of February if you're wondering.

January Update!

 Hello Internet friends. Just a quick drop in to let you all know (hold onto something...this might come as a shock) that we've just done a small update on the etsy shop. 

We've tried to take better pictures this time around (its something we ALWAYS struggle with), We think they look lots better!

Human Bean Couples...if this pair sells i think I'll cry...I'm a little bit in love with them.

Mighty Oak Acorn Plush...We worked quite hard on the pattern for these so we're pleased to have finally got there!

We're not huge fans of Valentines Day but thought we'd try, so we've made some Valentine themed Human Beans... They are themed in the sense that they are pink and all things to do with Valentines Day are pink (see! not Valentines fans.)

To celebrate the fact that we seemed to have done something proactive on Etsy we're offering 30% off all orders for the next week, just use the coupon code januarydiscount1.
Hopefully there will me more of the favorites listed tomorrow...the studio is getting taken over by Weirdy Beardys!

Craft Night In

After yet another conversation that started with 'wouldn't it be amazing if this existed' we decided to get up off of our crafty bums and make a day dream of ours come to life. may we present to you...

Calling all stitchers, knitters, doodlers, drawers, writers,

painters and anything else in between.

On the second and last Wednesday of every month, starting form the 30th of January, Stuffednonsense in association with Cafe Moochoo (High Street, Cheltenham) will open in the evening 6-9pm for you to bring along whatever project your working on, drink coffee, eat cake and talk crafty arty things.

Fingers crossed we hope to make the cafe a creative hub on Wednesday nights. Somewhere where you can turn up soak up the creative juices as well as a coffee and possibly some cake.

 (The sign in the making...a rather effective bodge job if you ask me)

hopefully this jolly little display will entice people to come in and ask for more info.

There's a facebook page and event here if your interested...fingers crossed some people will be!

Happy New Year.

So....

September came and went,

October came and went,

November came and went,

& December came and went...

All without a word from us. 

2012 was a new kind of crazy. It was sometimes fantastic and sometimes horrible, but we're here on the other side, ready to dip our toes into the creative adventures that 2013 will bring. 

We're going to try to sort this blogging business out but we imagine that in reality we will fall a little short of regular posts...but we will try.

Soooooo...

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL, 

 in the words of Bex's Nan

 'Wishing you health, wealth and happiness for the coming year'

Here's a few sneaky Instagram peeks of new things we're working on...

We find it a lot easier to be on Instagram more at the moment so you can keep up to tip top date with us over there if you want...our name is stuffednonsense.

Comings and Goings...

hello everybody,

Just stopping buy to let you know how it is in the StuffedNonsense studio.Everything is ticking along well...fabulously well in fact. We're gearing up for, what looks to be, our busiest Christmas yet. We've got 5, possibly 7 new stockists, a stall at this years Crafty Fox Christmas Market, a stall at the Christmas MadeProject Fair, as well as our Etsy shop. Sooo, we're pretty busy. We're trying to be super organised and get the Etsy shop full to the brim by the end of this month...so that we can, in theory, concentrate on making stock for the new stockists and craft fairs. It does mean that we wont be able to pop by here so often...although we're popping pictures up regularly on Instagram so you can keep up with us there...our name is StuffedNonsense if you want to follow us...

And in keeping with our stocking up of the Etsy shop plans, I've just finished listing our Christmas Decorations (well almost, we're just waiting on some small embroidery hoops but don't worry the snow flake hoop decorations will be up soon)

Human Bean Decorations...find them here.

Weirdy Beardy Decorations...find them here.

Moustache Decorations...find them here.

Right, that's it for now!

Hope your all fine and dandy

xxx

testing testing 1,2,3

hello dear followers,

just popping by to attempt a blog post via a swanky new phone. 

Also,we're now on Instagram our name is StuffedNonsense.

We'll be back soon!

A Down In The Dumps List.

Here is a list of thing that i should be doing...

• Working on a press release so we can approach new sellers for the festive season.
• Taking a deep breath and turning the Grizzly Geoff inside out so i can re-sew the hole i just poked into it with my chop stick.
• Cutting out Weirdy Beardy pieces for a new trade order from this lovely shop.
• Hoovering up the millions and millions of tiny little white dog hairs that have been deposited on our carpets and sofa thanks to the temporary resident that is known as percy.
• Ringing the tax people up to confirm that a problem which has gone on for sooo long is finally sorted.
• Making my two best friends birthday presents.
• Cleaning the bathroom.
• Working on a new design which has been floating around for a while.

Here is a list of things I have done instead of doing the list above:

• Wonder around feeling sorry for myself.
• Worry about a little dog with an upset stomach.
• Mope around and do nothing constructive with my day.
• Day dream about being a professional and quitting the day job (rather than a grade a procrastinator and day dreamer.)
• Sniff lots due to sneaky cold.
• Worry lots about an appointment to have a tooth taken out.
• Taken lots of deep breaths and looks around the studio and thought 'Right Bex...pull yourself out of it'...and then done nothing about it.
• Changed position at least a million times due to sore knees and hips.
• Worry that i'm turning into a boring person who moans and groans all of the time.
• Worry about a dear friends who have been given a rough deal of late.

So i figured if i wrote it all out here i might actually do something about it...maybe.

What about you guys? what do you do when the dreaded creative lull hits, because i i've been in this for over a month now and i'm worried my friends are going to give up on me!

Answers on a postcard please...or you can just pop them down there in the comment box...It's up to you.

xx

Bargain Beans!!

Just stopping by to let you guys know that I've just finished listing a shed load of Human Beans at super reduced prices. They're normally £7 but they're going for £2.50 over at our etsy shop! Grab 'em quick! once they're gone, they're gone.

Some rather cheap ladies...and I don't mean that in a hussy kind of way.

There's some really lovely ones in this batch.

Some rather dapper gents.

And a few more gents for the pot.

 The chat is not flowing too well at the moment, so my apologies for the lack of communication around these parts, normal service should eventually resume!

Celebratory Coupon Code!

In honor of little mention in Mollie Makes we've added on a coupon code for 25% off at our etsy shop! It's active from now and will run for 2 weeks! Sooo, head on over and grab yourself something nice!!

Like one of our new Happy Wooden Spoons....

Or perhaps one of the Grizzly Geoffs of Mollie Makes fame....

Or even one of our new Vintage Fabric Plush....

The choice is yours but either way you get 25% off with the code MOLLIEMAKES

Also here's a snap of my new studio companion, he's called Percy and he's keeping me company for the next month (he's Arthurs mum's Jack Russell Puppy)

This is him 'helping' me take pictures of stock.

A Little Mention In The Massive Mollie Makes

The eagled eyed Facebook people among you may have seen our rather excited status this morning...but just in case anyone missed it, there is a little quote from us all about the joys of selling in a temporium like Paper Scissors Stone (the shop we were selling in in Bristol).

There's also a rather neat picture of our Grizzly Geoffs! 

So a big thank you to Bryony (the brains behind Paper Scissors Stone) and the Mollie Makes crew for getting in touch. It really is quite lovely to see our creatures in the pages of such a  top notch publication.

It's spurred us on to pull our creative finger out and get on with this running of a business we supposedly do. Which means that fingers crossed there will be some new work and more posts coming this way soon. Watch this space... hopefully there will be something going on here...eventually!

Happy Spoon People.

Sometimes you see an object and you know instantly what you want to do with it...which was the case when I saw these sweet little wooden spoons at Utility in Brighton.

I saw them and instantly imagined a happy face on them...so I did a bit of internet searching and came across a tool called a 'pyrography pen'.

 The rest, as they say, is history...

A stubbly one.

A beardy one.

A 1920's moustached one.

A wavy haired one.

One with funny shaped 'blushes' on her face.

One with filled in hair.

I've hand painted the ends of them so they look a more finished.

The state of the work table whilst they are in production.

Each one is double sided, so you get a lady and a man on each spoon.

What do you think?...I'm worried its another case of me wondering off into my head and making something which no one else will ever get or understand? Do you prefer them with the filled in hair? or a mixture of both?

Thanks for your help!

xxx