Sourcing.

Well Happy Monday!!

I'd actually written a post on sourcing, but in my wakeless hours last night, due to another crazy thunder + lightening storm (tis the season i suppose)....i wanted to tell you about something a little bit different!

 

Sourcing the good stuff!

 

For the last while, i have been thinking of how to make Sparky Jones bigger + better - which is why this whole adventure started right,  so i've been trying to find materials that will make a real impression, so i've been searching high + low,emailing, calling, back + forth we go.  Its quite the process let me tell you, especially when you want your business to be of an ethical nature.

 

I think i've finally found some materials that will fit, just waiting for some more swatches - i'm so ecstatic to be using something that is a bit foreign to me...one must always be learning, otherwise life becomes boring!

 

I've found a few places on Etsy to get my hardware; such as earring supplies, magnetic snaps etc, and from me to you....'always have a back up plan + a helmet' as my friend always says.  As just when you are out of something, the business you usually shop with, doesn't stock it anymore, and you need them for a Show you are doing...that actually happened :: hello stress!!

 

Locals are pretty fantabulous too.  Most of the businessing locals i use are great people, happy to help, give advice, offer a deal -  which is the nice thing about supporting your own town

 

I've been trying to think a bit more outside the box too, i think we all get a lil stuck at times, so to make things more fun + to be creativity inventive for me is key.  I'll be doing a DIY next month, which is something i'll be using in my businessing, but something you could use for gifts too.

 

And lastly....my secret weapon :: just ask.  There has been a couple of times, when i just had no idea where to look. Luckily over that last few years,  i have met quite a few crafty folk, who all seem to know something a bit different for moi ~ so they can head you in the right direction + are usually happy to help a friend in need! (Actually i'm thinking i might set up a focus group soon, for those who are in need of a businessing information, help + encouragement :: let me know if you'd be interested!)

Well this is just really dusting on sourcing the goods, BUT i have decided to change October's topic from Photography to Marketing ( as marketing is a BIG one + does kinda include photography!), so i'll be covering a lot of splendiferous tidbits there!

The Pricing Dilemma.

And what a dilemma it is! How to price your goods is such a hard task ~ i mean you love what you do, you want other peeps to love what you do, you want to be nice....but you need feed yourself, pay your bills + keep your sanity.... all, whilst looking gorgeous ::giggle! 

So i'll share a lil something with you that i found very very interesting!

About a year ago, i stumbled upon the wonderful world of Etsy Online Labs ~ and they are an absolute wealth of information + inspirations for any peeps in business, especially the crafty types.
Anyways, the one  Etsy Lab that really stuck out for moi was ....

.Pricing for Profit by Tara Gentile + Megan Auman. 

 

I had a lot of 'light bulb' moments, a lot of 'oh...now i get it, that totally makes sense!'... and made me laugh about a situation that happened when i first opened up my etsy shop ::

 

A lovely young lady in romantic Paris, contacted me and wanted to know if i would like to wholesale to her exciting new boutique.  It sounded so dreamy, so informed her what my wholesale price would be - which kinda seemed really low...but hey who cared, my stuff would be in Paris right! Anyways it never eventuated thanks goodness, as that number i gave her ~ did not include:

- labour costs

- money to put into growing my business

- or any profit ~ which means i would be eating rice + water for the next month! Yikes!

 

 'work out a number so that you are profitable at the wholesale point!' is just one of the valuable quotes from Ms Auman  ~ infact there is so much good stuff, you really need to watch it!

 

So if you are a bit short on time (like myself), just put it on + have a listen whilst you are cooking supper, sewing, creating etc.  Hope you find it as helpful as I did!! oh and there is also a downloadable worksheet provided...might fill mine out this week!

Yurting

Well the Mr found a crazy good deal for staying in an a)beach Resort, b)in a Yurt..c)in our own town. So we thought :: why not! Neither of us had stayed in a Yurt before, so it was a pretty splendiferous idea for a mini vacation, very very close to home :giggle! So we packed up shop for a few days, took a 4 minute drive and we were instantly relaxed.

The babe slept like a dream in her new port-a-cot(we finally had to graduate from our retro pram base basinette unfortunately!) which we managed to squeeze in the kitchenette, so we could take full advantage of a supa dupa vacation treat ~a massive screen T.V. We don't actually own a T.V, so when we have the chance to watch complete + utter crap....we love every minute of it.

The place was amazing, well thought out, completely simple yet beautiful(totally loved the natural wood flooring ~ sigh) and pretty nice view when you got into bed. Although I have to say, one night there was the most craziest storm ever, which had me hiding under the covers from the swaying trees, lightening + rain.

 So thank you Barefoot Beach Resort, we had a fantabulous few days of spoiling ourselves in our own lovely town!

ps :: I am now dreaming of a Sparky studio...yurt style ;)

Making

This week, Mumma W (my mumma) + I have been quite busy in the Sparky sweatshop, snipping, stitching up + buttoning!  We've nearly finished up a small batch of goodies ~ which i'm pretty smitten with...chartreuse tweed, vintage seafoam buttons are just small taster of what we've been working with, and me tell you,....its feeling so so so fantabulous to be back in the creative saddle.!

 

Next week, I will be catching up on blog posts, as my little family will be heading back to south of the equator(I have a feeling its going to be awfully quiet around here!) - where their days will becoming warmer, longer + summery, and we will be heading into the perfect season for sewing madness...fall + winter!

Creatin' the good stuff

I LOVE, love love CREATING!! Give me a coffee, a bit of quiet time + some scrumptious supplies...and i'm the happiest girl around. This month is all about the products, so i wanted to spend time really fine tuning, as over the last... well year, i've been mentally working on my products. Now that I have done most of the things that I used to dread(yippy) like organization + numbers...its 'treat yourself time'...yep, some well earned creative time!!

 

So one of the things on my 'get creating' list was to catch up with Darlene of 'Button Crazy', to get some top notch notions for my secret new products.   I had met her through the Fabulous Finds Shows (which I just received news that the Sparky Jones application as a stall holder...was accepted! ~ happily freaking out now!), anyways I knew that she was pretty stocked up with important things I needed..... so I packed up the whole family (Mumma, Pappa, the Mr and the babe) and we took a mini road trip to Vernon to get some much needed gorgeous supplies!  Luckily I have my new businessing lil traveller report card to jot down how much road we travelled :: wink wink!

 

I was definitely not disappointed, she had walls of vintage goodness(in the most fantabulous lil boxes that I really wanted to keep), cabinents of all sorts of wonderfully colourful notions, Mumma and I were definitely drooling with excitment and wanting.....everything! 

I'm really hoping to post some snippets of what I have been working on soon !

 

September Overview

September is all about the good stuff :: the Products! This is the topic that makes me the happiest, so hopefully I will cover some exciting stuff for others too.  Creating, pricing, sourcing, Sparky's 2nd Indie-Preneur interview + some other inspirational goodies..

Encouragement Monday

Well my folks arrived from the Southern Hemisphere last week...and boy have we been busy! Lots of talking, endless coffee + eating eating eating ~ so yes, I have been taking a wee break from the ol' blogging.  Anyways amongst these last few days - I realized how hard it is to keep yourself motivated at times (no matter how fun your task is!)...so this is a lil note of encouragment for you + me.

Think I might have to leave some of these around the house as the next couple o months are going to get a touch nutso, things are starting to heat up around here...just received some splendiferous news.... which i'll be able to share in the next week!!

Free Printable for the lil Traveller.

Well, this is something I was in need of for ages (i'm a big fan of writing everything down on scraps of paper or backs of envelopes + happily yet accidently putting it in the paper recycling...oppsie doopsie) ~  So i thought well i'd better make a cute Sparky-fied vehicle log book/worksheet, that would look absolutely fantabulous in a clipboard, and would therefore require me to be gorgeously organized!! (And keep the car a touch more tidy!).  So I set my mind to creating a free printable that others can use too ~ what a perfect-a-mondo idea!!

I just signed up with Dropbox - a secure online file sharing + storage cloud. Hopefully I did everything correctly(fingers x'd) so that you can  download the lil traveller report card and use it for your lovely self.  enjoy!