Helpful stuff for the crafty person!

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be picked for a Facebook giveaway by the lovely people at Persephone Moon, who wanted testers for their Crafters Bookkeeper range of Excel spreadsheets for the crafty maker/seller. I have to say that as a frequent Excel user in my day job - to balance the budget, track evaluation etc etc - I wasn't expecting to be terribly excited by this and certainly didn't expect to learn anything new.

However, I do admit to being a bit if a random pricer when it comes to my jewellery, occasionally thinking 'I can't charge that!' when I've used one pricing theory (and in consequence wiping out any profits....duh!) so I thought I'd give this a go. And I'm properly impressed! This is a really professional-looking, user-friendly document which comes with a flash tutorial explaining exactly how to use the sheet in layman's terms and with enough tips and assistance to help even the most beginning beginner. The spreadsheet offers two different methods of working out your prices (the hourly method and the times method) and even offers a calculation for wholesale suppliers. Both methods are explained, and there is the option to add photos to the sheet so that you can identify your own inventory products easily (along with random pricing, I'm a random namer...). I'm sure you could do this quite easily yourself if you were really, really comfortable with Excel and it's many amazing properties - but, honestly, at these prices (this sheet is sold on the Etsy site linked above for $5.00 - about £3.50 at today's exchange rate) why would you want to? Highly recommended!

Right, I'm off to put my prices up....only joking...

Mad March!

Spring is finally starting to spring here in sunny Epping - I'm loving looking at the daffodil spikes appearing along my route to the station, and Epping's many crocuses (croci?) are starting to bloom along the verges. Although I'm definitely an autumn girl I really love all the gorgeous yellows that seem to pop up about now - it's still cold but there is a feeling that winter might be on its way out. Something is getting me down, though - what is it about dog owners (in this town, at least) that makes them think it's ok to leave piles of crap all over the place? Who thinks 'oh look, there's a bed of daffodils, I'll let my dog foul it?' I'm a firm believer in personal freedom and object to the abuse of council spying powers generally, but if they want to use my council tax to catch the disgusting people who encourage this, then hey - I say yes!

On a crafty front....this time of year also makes the creative mind kick into high gear and so I have ideas for patchwork, the urge to stitch, the need to knit, as well as the beady head to contend with. Work really is the curse of the crafty classes...

I bought some fabulous charms from ebay recently, lucite ones from Hong Kong, and I've been waiting for the inspiration to make the most of them, and here's the end product.