Summer already, how did that happen?!

I was never the best blogger in the world was I? Now it's summer, let's have a catch-up. I've had some family illness to deal with, so wasn't particularly in the mood for blogging, but things are improving so I'm in a happier frame of mind.

Anyway, what's been going on with Pirate Treasures? 
I've made some more elaborate pirate necklaces for the website having sold the last of my previous ones to a lovely customer in the States. Here are a couple of them; I also made ones in a red and gold combination, and bronze and black.

 I made some Sugar Skull beads (that seems ages ago now!) out of polymer clay and made a couple of Day of the Dead bracelets, I added them to both the website and Etsy shop.

Last month I had my usual stall at Keston Primary School Summer Fair. Luckily it was a nice sunny day with very little wind compared to the few weeks preceding it. I had, however, devised ways of keeping my displays from being blown over in the wind. I bought a recipe book stand for my large hinged display board, and used letter racks for two of my other displays. I have been wanting to move away from the black velvet look for a while, but wasn't sure how to go about it without spending too much money. In the end I decided to keep the black velvet table cover (at least for now) as it's so easy to store and doesn't crease. Instead, I painted the display boards and stands which had previously been black. I did them a cream colour, and along with the little baskets my flower rings are displayed in and my cake stand, it gave it a slightly more vintage inspired shabby chic look which brightened up the whole display. I'm not sure what I can do with the bracelet trays, I might be able to take them apart and re-cover the velvet with something else - any ideas?

I attended an event last week, run by Market for Mums where I helped children make their own coil wrap bracelets. I went primarily to advertise my children's jewellery making parties (which you can read more about at www.treasuresjewelleryparties.webs.com ). I've only done a few but am looking forward to more! The market was only on for two hours and I had a steady stream of girls and boys making bracelets with me. Some made carefully planned patterns and others a mishmash of coloured beads. I forgot to take some photos of them, so hope there will be another event soon!

I think that's all I have to say for now, but I'll be back in the summer holidays...

~Jane

Summer Fair season - Challenge 52 weeks 11-13

Phew! I've just done the last of my three Summer fetes. It was a mixed season...

The first fete I do is at my local Primary School where I also work at lunchtimes. I think this helps as the children know me and as I've been doing the Summer fete and the Christmas Fair too they know I'll be there! As mentioned in my previous post, I always have plenty of children's jewellery and reasonably priced items. We sold a staggering 140+ of the little seed bead bracelets and 5 of those hair clip bead strands - Rebecca was a bit disappinted we didn't sell more of them as she thought they'd be snapped up. Over all, we did really well here and also got a booking for a 'girls night in' jewellery shop at home party.

The next day we were at the Friends of Caterham Dene Hospital fete, which is only a couple of miles away. There were quite a lot of stalls there this year, mostly charity ones as that's the kind of fete it is. Unfortunately the four jewellery sellers were placed in very close proximity to each other! Mind you, I don't think it made much difference as no one seemed to be buying - or even looking - we watched so many people walk down the aisle of stalls without even glancing either way. I know we're in a recession, but to not even look at what stalls there were seemed a bit strange to me. With people like that it wasn't surprising we only sold 5 things the whole time we were there and made a loss as the stall was pretty expensive - ah well, at least it was for charity and we know now to visit it as customers next year! Look at our happy smiling faces - this was before the fete started!

Yesterday we were at a Girls' secondary school nearby. By Friday I had almost decided not to go as the rain had been so torrential all week and the fair was on the school field. However, the weather forecast looked pretty good so I thought we might as well give it a go as girls=jewellery! Or so I thought...
Again, it wasn't great. The pupils of the school were all there, but seemed to be working on their own class stalls so there weren't that many of them wandering around. Our stall was on the far side of the field in the corner, so we got the most of the wind, which resulted in some of the displays falling over on a regular basis! We put the side up of the gazebo which helped a bit. In the end we made a very small profit, but if you factor in the time we spent there and the time it takes to make the jewellery, plus the £10 I gave to my glamourous assistant then it was actually a loss! 

So guess what fete we'll be doing again next year and which ones we won't! I don't think I'll bother trying to find any alternatives to do, I'll just use that time to make more website stock. In the warm and dry and non-windy house!

Challenge 52 - week 10 - fete preparation (part two)

I'm getting there!
I've made four new flowery bracelets, which are always popular.
Over the last few days I've been making lots of strands of hair beads. I was given a bag of (unworn) glittery hair clips by a friend and had wondered what to do with them, whether to just sell them individually as a 'cheaper option' for the usual children with 20p in pennies clutched in their hand...but then had the idea of hair braid style strands.
A few years ago at the local school fete a hairdresser mum used to do coloured hair strands which she melted onto your hair with her straighteners (I used to go for blue or purple!) - this was really popular and she used to have a queue for most of the afternoon.
So I thought I would attach a strand of beads to the clips with a charm at the end to finish it off. I've made 15 so far and have more clips to use, so guess what I'll be doing in a minute?!

I've no idea how I'm going to display them, maybe just lay them out on the table. Unfortunately I don't have a TARDIS for a stall, I've got far too much stock for one table! Hopefully if the weather is dry and we don't have to put the sides on the gazebo, I'll bring the old pasting table with me too and put it on one side of our space at right-angles to the main table. My daughter Rebecca helps me on my stall and usually does the children's end, so she could have a table to herself. Hmm, better get some more cloth then - another thing to add to the "to do" list!

If you're in the area and fancy coming along, my fetes are
25th June - Keston Primary School, Keston Avenue, Old Coulsdon, Surrey
26th June - Caterham Dene Hospital, Caterham Hill (opposite Queen's Park)
9th July - Wallington High School for Girls, Wallington, Surrey

Right, I'm off to vaccuum the floor and make some more of those bead strands....
~Jane

Challenge 52 - week 9 - Fete preparation (part one)

Over the last week I have started preparing for the three Summer fetes I have coming up. I have my boxes of stock for stalls and jewellery parties separate from online stock, so got them all out to do a stocktake. I should probably make tidy lists in Word and keep them on the computer so I can delete things as they sell, but I haven't got round to this so far and every year do a big long list on lined A4 paper. I do have a huge amount of things to sell!

I want to cater for all tastes and all ages, so make a lot of childrens' jewellery at as low a price as I can, as there are always little girls coming up to my stall looking longingly at the pretty vast array and then saying "what can I get for 50p?"...well I'm afraid I don't really have anything that cheap, but I've made a bunch of necklaces I sell for £1.00, which are a silver acrylic heart charm on a length of ribbon which is tied to just slip over their heads. I still get some children who try to haggle with me over prices, but I just smile back and say "no, the price on the label is the price I'm selling it for" and point them in the direction of the cheaper items!

I have so far listed all the necklaces I'm taking (though I'll be making a few more, better to have too many than too few!). I even have a bag of "spares" to replenish my revolving stand of childrens/teens type necklaces - plenty of skull & crossbones, Hello Kitty, plastic stars, silver hearts etc. Last night made 16 pairs of clip on earrings as I realised I only had a couple of pairs left and neither were very 'little girly'. I wonder how they'll do this year, there were quite a few girls without pierced ears who bought them last Summer.
It's funny, each year there's something different which is the 'best seller'. A couple of years ago I sold loads of little seed bead bracelets...oh I forgot I do have something for under 50p, I bought these in (I gave up making them as the knotting drives me mad!) and sell them for 20p each...so bought in another lot and last year hardly sold any, hmm, I must remember to get them out of the loft and see how it goes this year!

Next job is to stock take the bracelets....

First fete of the year!

Well we got the first fete over with last Bank Holiday Monday - what a lovely day it was too! No, not really, hailstones as we started to load the car, followed by heavy showers on and off for the rest of the afternoon - and it was freezing cold too! Well that's May for you, completely unpredictable! Anyhow, it meant we (myself and daughter) got to test out the capabilities of the new gazebo. It was thankfully waterproof and didn't blow away! I weighted the corners with some weightlifting weights, (which haven't been used for muscle-building for a very long time, they are most commonly used in the process of my husband's guitar-building) and the other good tip I got from Moonbeam Angel via craftsforum was to fill milk bottles with water - I bought some little bungee cord things with hooks (there's probably a proper name for them!) for about £2 in B&Q to secure them to the gazebo legs. I didn't need my own new table or the sack barrow/trolley thing I'd just bought as I was able to unload from the car on the green before parking it and though they said there were no tables, there was one for me in the end. Never mind, they'll be used elsewhere this summer and now I know everything can fit in the car!

A banner is next on my list of things to buy!

We didn't do too badly sales-wise despite it being fairly dreadful weather. The sun came out towards the end,  but we were in a corner between the barbecue (which kept billowing smoke) and some kind of football shooting game (a bit of a concern with a table full of jewellery!) and didn't get any sunshine. My profits covered the cost of the table (the one I bought, not the one provided) and the trolley, so next time we need to make £80 to cover the cost of the gazebo and then we're in profit! Oh, except for the banner and business cards I need to buy next... still, they'll all be used again over the next however many years!

So I haven't been keeping track of the One a Day figures, I must go through my desk diary and get back on track with the numbers. The week before the fete was a rush at making more stock - better to have too much than too little!

I made a whole load of children's necklaces. Well, technically I didn't make the pendants, but cutting lengths of cotton cord and adding folding crimps and clasps takes an annoying amount of time when I only sell them for £2.50! I made Hello Kittys, Gloomy Bears, rabbits, little deer, Jack Skellingtons, skull & crossbones, pirate heads etc.

The past week I've been working on commissions I've had via my website http://www.pirate-treasures.com/ .

I still haven't put all my display stuff back in the loft and we're tripping over the gazebo in the conservatory, so I'd better get the chicken in the oven and tidy up...

~Jane

Better late than never!

Well it's all gone very very behind schedule here at Pirate Treasures Towers - the making is as usual up to date, but the blogging is sadly lacking!


Firstly I was spending time caring for little Leo the gerbil (as mentioned in a previous post), he sadly died on 17th April and for his last couple of days needed help feeding and generally cuddling to keep warm. He was nearly 3 years old so an elderly gentleman in gerbil terms, he's gone to play with his brother Squizzle wherever gerbils go!

I've been busy booking a few Summer fetes to attend and have the first on Monday at Woodmansterne in Surrey - hopefully it will stay dry! I bought a pop-up waterproof gazebo and new (supposedly) 'lightweight' table, but they both weigh a tonne (well maybe not literally) and I didn't consider how far we might have to park the car and carry them from, so I think I'll have to go to B&Q to buy a trolley type thing later... that's all costing a fortune so I'd better sell loads!

I've had a few commissions to make, which I've sold/will be selling/have added similar desings on my website www.pirate-treasures.com  I was asked to make some dangly pirate earrings with cameos and a bracelet for a bride with a pirate theme!
 

I've also been making lots of new things for the upcoming fetes...

Memory wire coiled bracelets always look nice & sparkly and the single coil ones are popular with little girls! When I checked through  my box of  'stall jewellery', which I hadn't opened since the Christmas Fair, I realised I only had a few charm bracelets left, so I made one with white glass pearls and acrylic silver hearts and one of my frosty flowers ones which always sell well.

I have a bunch of other stuff made, but I need to take some photos and anyway it would be a giant post if I posted it all at once! So I will definitely blog again before Monday, and then afterwards to say how the fete went...