Weekly catch up and random ramblings

Hi Tribe,
We ventured into the studio yesterday, mainly to catch up on maintenance and get this kit idea off to a start. 

I set Steve to work on rubbing down the paintwork on this dilapidated cottage that I fondly refer to as my second home. But first.... he needed to trim back the bush as he couldn't get near the windows!

 During this lockdown I've noticed how blue the sky is. Something I haven't seen since I was a kid! I doubt anyone believed it when I used to reminisce how blue the skies used to be, but thankfully they've now seen it for themselves. 
In a selfish twist, I'm glad the plane companies are going out of business. Not only for the environment but the economy too. If more people spent their money here we would be more financially stable as a country and don't even get me started on the carbon footprint all these travelling planes cause. 

I have to admit, it was a hot day... perhaps too hot (Did I really say THAT?). It was so hot Steve went on a mercy mission to get the last remaining ice cream lollies out of the home fridge. 

I finally put all doubts and worries aside and the work on the new Charity Kits has started! As I said in a previous post it's really bothered me that the smaller charities are down on their vital fundraising. Their shops are closed and the events that they rely on so heavily cancelled. So, I'm making it a priority. 

Oh the irony of paying a small fortune for a diary this year! I bought this and remember almost fainting at the price.... but it went with my branding so I clenched my teeth and bit the bullet!

Now it looks like it's going to end up being a notebook, what with all weddings cancelled and such like.

Perhaps I'll buy a cheap one next year!

I'm thinking of launching the Charity Kits on the first Friday of every month.
This will give me enough time to make the kits, write the instructions and get the blog post written.

I've designed the cards already. I just have to decide on how many to make available and what charities to support.

Steve managed to get the paintwork rubbed down, but the more he sanded the more wood fell out. The heat was unbelievably hot and too hot to paint. So we ended the day on a high, but knew when to stop. at least.

Yesterday seemed much more optimistic. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it was when the government announced that we can meet in groups of up to 6 people? And while I have no intention of leaving my little town at least for the time being, it does mean we can see the grandkids, which is brilliant news.

Regarding opening the work/shop. While I'm happy(er) to be in there I am not happy to be open to the public anytime soon. Even though I have all the measures in place that I physically can, it all seems too soon and way out of my comfort zone right now.

The numbers may be dropping as a national average, I know fine well that they are NOT dropping here and while R number is nearer 1 than 0, I won't be opening to the public.

I have a website and I'm happy to do messenger video calls, so the only advantage of opening is that the public can see and touch things. Touching things is not permitted under the government regs even with hand washing.

Whether this is a good idea or bad, I have no intention of putting my life or the lives of my family at risk... it's as simple and clear cut as that.

We drink very little and haven't had a drink all lockdown, but last night it seemed right to crack open the Pimms that has been in the cupboard for at least 2 years and have a celebratory drink.

I'll leave you with my only lockdown ' non-essential' purchase.....my beautiful, solar, moon-gazing hare and the beautiful blackbird friend that serenades me first thing ona morning and last thing at night.

If you read my blog posts all the way through, please can you leave me a comment, a message or simply a quick hello? It will be nice to have something more than a thumbs up that we usually get on FB.

With love and bright blessings, Sue xox.

From books to charity kits

Hi Tribe,

After losing my centre vision the thing I miss most is the ability to read. I loved reading. Then someone pointed me in the direction of Audible and quite frankly it changed my world. 

At first, I absorbed myself in marketing books, but there's only so many 'I became a millionaire overnight' success stories you can listen to and all of them were a far cry from the little business I had built up. Talks about social media calendars and planning went right over my head. I don't do strategy and funnels.... it's just not my way.

I was about to give up and delete my subscription when Milly Johnson popped up on the best sellers list. I listened to the brief audible snip, oh how I laughed! I realised she was not only a very clever writer but hilariously funny and an amazing storyteller. Added to that she came from my neck of the woods and wrote about brides (The White Wedding) .... a territory I was familiar with.  Over the next few months, I went through every book listed on Amazon and couldn't wait for the next one to be released.  I followed her on all social media... (Do you ever feel like a stalker?) I was desperate not to miss her updates.
If you are going to start listening or reading her novels I suggest you start with The Yorkshire Pudding Club. 

Just as I had ran out of Milly's books to read she recommended Carole Matthews
and one of her books  Paper Hearts & Summer Kisses, a story about a paper crafter, stood out. I loved the story and could really identify with so much of Christie Chapmans life.... as a paper crafter with a passion but also the drama and shock of been given bad news and taking comfort and solace to get you through the bad times.  Then somehow and I can't remember how I found that Christie was a real person and the news of her young sons brain tumour and the book was based on her. So I followed her on Facebook . 'Hope & Chances Creativity'.
I'm not a srtalker honest... I just love following the people I love.

Now then, you are probably wondering what all this has to do with anything much... but there's a wonderful sense of synchronicity going on here...so bear with me....

For the next week or so I am mulling over what I can do to keep the business afloat. I'm doubting that I will have an weddings to make invitations and stationery to make for the rest of this year. If you read the last post you'll realise I have more paper, card and envelopes than UI can shake a stick at and I also had that nagging thing at the back of my mind that I should be doing something to help not only myself but I realised that small charities with their fundraisers gone and the shops closed and that they too would be struggling.

After a lot of thinking, I was pretty set on making subscription boxes. With more and more people finding comfort and joy in being creative, I had everything I needed to get started. the more I thought of the generous task ahead the more I put it off. Afterall if I started this, how would I keep it going when the couples returned and the quiet season became my busy season once again?

Then a really weird thing happened. A link popped up on my Facebook feed. Christine was offering Charity Kits for sale to support the NHS I followed the link and found her blog Hope & Chances. On reading further I saw that this was not a new idea of hers.... she's been doing it for a long time..... since June 2013 in fact! What an absolutely brilliant idea! And something I could manage on a monthly basis. Not too taxing or time-consuming if this got crazy busy in the wedding world! I ordered a kit in support of her idea and to get some idea of what was involved. The May Charity Kit arrived!

WOW! Stunning!  I haven't that many dies and was thinking of something simpler, that perhaps would suit kiddies more. Then the Rainbow kit was released. Not one but 2 smaller cards RAINBOW CARDS can be seen HERE Perfect! I'm looking forward to handing these over to my paper mad 10-year-old granddaughter Daisy to make!

YES! YES! YES! This would be perfect... but I didn't want to roll this out without checking with Christine first. So I contacted her and she very kindly agreed it wasn't a problem AMAZING LADY!  Please do pop over and read her blog HERE and help her charity card fundraising by buying her kits. They are awesome little gems and great fun. All you need is glue and some gems if you want to embellish your cards.

Now, I'm in the process of putting together my first kit designs. The board backed postal envelopes have just this minute arrived and all being well, I'll be ready to rock and roll by the end of next week!

I think this will give me a great focus and get my backside moving back into the studio. It's been a very strange time of ups and downs both emotionally and mentally and I know I'm not alone.

The one thing that has kept me going through the dramas of my life is taking a simple piece of paper or card and making it into something incredible,

Crafting is good for the heart and soul, of that there is no doubt. Paper crafting especially gives great pleasure. it's readily available and affordable. What's not to like?

Please find Christine and Hope and Chances

Blog here: http://hope-chances.blogspot.com/

 On Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/HopeandChances/

& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hopeandchances/

With love and bright blessings, Sue xox.

How did it get to this?

Hi Tribe,
On the 26th February, we finally got round to changing the window and adding a beautiful rose and leaf screen at the back, This was so overdue it was embarrassing, but when you are busy with orders these things seem to get put on the backburner.

Not only did it look pretty, but it also made the window

 far more accessible from the other sie. 

We also covered the shelf with stunning glitter vinyl 

which would enhance any of our invitations and stationery. 

Little did we know that less than a month later we'd be closing the doors and not knowing when or even IF we'd be opening again.

I'm not sure the penny had dropped for most people but I actually shut shop almost a week before lockdown.... I just got the most horrible feeling and just HAD to do it.

All businesses were instructed to stop what they were doing and STAY AT HOME! I'm sure people didn't realise the implications of this and with hotels, pubs and venues shutting shop, weddings were postponed and overnight the customers who I had relied on to keep my shop open disappeared, with no real understanding of when they will reopen.

I worried for them I contacted all 15 couples who had weddings booked so far and who had already had stationery from me and told them I would do their change of date cards free..... but as yet I'm holding off printing them as some couples postponed till August but even then they seem unlikely to be going ahead. I'm afraid it's a waiting game.


Anyway..... before lockdown I placed a last-minute order for card and envelopes.... listen if I was going to be closed for any length of time I wanted to make sure I a) Had enough crafting supplies to get through and b) make sure I had the stock for when I reopened as there's going to be delays in supplies when we do open.

Thankfully the order came the day we shut shop! 

O.k. I really do have enough paper, card and envelopes to last me a lifetime.... but I wasn't quite thinking straight. I didn't worry about not having a haircut for 6 months, but card and envelopes? NOPE! And then I ran off to buy white gloss and emulsion.... just to keep Steve busy decorating you understand! (Slight giggle here!)

The first 3 weeks were spent with Steve working from home and me generally cleaning all those places that get missed when you work 6 days a week. At last, I could once again see out of my windows, the corners of the room got hoovered and even the skirting boards looked at me surprised when I offered them a damp cloth!  Once Steve was furloughed the ceilings got painted and the doors and those still in shock skirting boards got a new lease of life.  The garden had an early spring makeover, the grass was but and then..... it all sort of went downhill after then.

The novelty of a stay at home person soon wore off. It wasn't a holiday as no-one could go out.  Daily updates became almost an obsession and the statistics became horrifying. But the good thing to come out of all this is the change ALL  business owners have had to STOP, re-evaluate and rethink their businesses and where they are going. It's been a time of majors.... Major ups and Major downs, but the one good thing small independent businesses have over large national ones is that we can pivot and swivel at the drop of a hat. We are more flexible and adaptable. Here-in lies our strength.

I've seen the most awesome things happening in the small business world. Clothes manufacturers have been making gowns, Gin makers have been making hand sanitizer and restaurants have been making and delivering means for those self-isolating or shielding. 

STOP - PIVOT - SWIVEL 

I'm going to put this on a t-shirt!

I love designing and making wedding invitations and stationery, but there are times in the year when there simply is no business and with the current covid19 issues it seems very unlikely to me that there will be any weddings at all this year and I certainly don't think that couples who haven't already booked will go rushing out to book this year at least. 

Late Autumn into Winter is not many people favourite time to get married so it's generally quiet for me. Last Winter I offered Personalised baubles, LED bottles and other small personalised gifts which certainly helped keep me solvent through the lean times. 

As well as the wedding stationery I already make and offer cake toppers, t-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies along with making small business stationery for fellow crafters... again all these help to keep the wolves from the door, but not enough to do full time. 

So, with all hands on deck and me feeling pretty useless I was sort of transported back to when Inspired by Script was born. As many of you know I started life as a calligrapher and lettering artist. My work involved commercial work and commissions but I also created pieces for sale, generally working with positive, inspirational and motivational quotations that I either wrote on canvas or made into little books.  I got to thinking what do people need right now? How can I help? What can I do? And then BOOM! Affirmation cards! Something from the past that helped me so much when times were really low! 

Of course, I found an old set and realised that after putting them to bed almost 10 years ago I needed to revamp and almost reinvent them! 

Before I knew it the boxes were being replaced with tin ones and my finger had clicked the buy now button on the packaging website!

A new up to date instruction card

 replaced the small booklet.

And the tins made them more durable.

The cards were made larger and the font more modern

I listed them on my website and sold 7 straight away!

That doesn't sound a lot but when you haven't sold anything since the middle of March it becomes a big deal! 

So then my brain started to go into overdrive. What could I do to keep the business alive during what could possibly be the worst year ever and potentially see me shutting up shop forever? 

The recent week and extraordinary synchronicity that seems to thread through my life would give me the answer when I least expected it... but I'm going to leave that for another day. 

I hope if you have a small creative business you are seeing a way through what feels like dark wood. I hope you are finding new ways to pivot and market your business and most of all I hope you are reaching out to those around you and to others when you need them 

If you've found a way of adapting your business, I'd love to hear. 

Pop me a comment below, I promise to reply. 

with love and bright blessings, Sue xox

It's been a long time! Since I've seen you....move over darling!

Hi tribe! 
WOW! A whole 6 years and 5 months since my last blog post!..... really where does the time go? So much has changed and yet so much has stayed the same!

I've toyed with the idea of starting a new blog... many, many time, I dreamt up titles and started with good intentions, but somehow nothing seemed to fit! Nothing felt quite like the warm comfortable space that I created way back in September 2006

In those days blogging was still new and I created it as a sort of diary with photos recording my thought, my pets, my garden, my spiritual life, my passion for all things paper and my little business Inspired by Script. (Yes I'm still hanging on in there!) 21 years who would have ever believed that!?

Facebook was still relatively new and Instagram hadn't been invented!  the only way to get photos n your blog was to buy a digital camera and laboriously download them each night, save them to your hard drive and then upload from there. Now we have photos on our phones and can add them in an instant!

Through this blog, I made many friends also with the desire to share their lives with the outside world. Blogging wasn't the commercial venture it seems to have turned in to these days. It was simply a way to connect and share our passions and deepest thoughts. 

Since those early days... I've met my soul mate Steve, my son got married 11 years ago and I've become a grandma of 2 awesome kids Daisy who is now 10 and Mylo who is 8. My cat family has left and been replaced, but I still have Dodger (now 17 years old). 

So why restart this blog rather than leave the past behind and start something new and fresh? 

The whole COVID19 (Damn thing!) Made me do it! 

I'm not going to lie and tell you that everything in the garden is rosy. Like most people, this has been a very emotional time of ups and downs and whys, ifs and buts. I've spent hours trying to find the positives in this whole world-altering thing (and I have) but I've also spent hours in tears, mourning the loss of life but equally, kindness seems to set me off just as much. 

I've loved the fact that the earth has time to recover from the pollution which has ruined the eco-system, I love the laypeople are speaking to each other, caring for neighbours and stepping up to the mark and for once considering others before themselves. (That's how it used to be yanno!). I've loved how parents are finally interacting with their kids and also getting creative with them. Teaching them about nature. Speaking of nature I think i9t's truly awesome how people have had time to STOP and actually take note of the little things around them.  People who are lucky enough to have gardens are now appreciating them and seeing the benefits of being close to nature by just stepping outside. The small joys of life suddenly become a big deal during lockdown! 

Above my own little builtin sanctuary,

aptly called the Zen Den

And here's a non staged picture taken today.

Back to the blog!

I came to realise that no matter what titles I came up with, they didn't quite fit me like this old familiar glove. I toyed with the idea of deleting all the old posts and starting fresh. I looked over some posts and thought either OMG! 'What???? Did I really write THAT!' or simply cringed at others, however in my higher wisdom, I've decided to keep the posts and the blog and most of the elements on it. If you choose to read past posts that's fine, there are some hidden gems amongst them (I promise).
That was life then and this is me now. Not sure I am wiser, but I'm definitely older. 

This is me. I make no apologies for being me. 

Take me or leave me, I am what I am!

If you are new here.....welcome, This is just my on-line journal of life as a creative spirit. Homelife mixed with studio life. The ups and the downs.

Probably a mish-mash of all sorts of random shit mixed in.  

Please feel free to connect and leave a comment. It will be good to see how many people this reaches. 

with love and bright blessings, Sue xox