First Class

A while a go I decided that I wanted to actually make something for me. I found a fantastic fabric that I fell head over heals in love with, isn't it just gorgeous!

I have a bad back - I believe the technical term these days is mechanical failure. Anyway for me its a chronic condition which I manage with physio and medication. I also get sciatica and often use a microwave heat bag to help relieve the symptoms when I am in a flare.

Now my normal sofa cushions (as in square) just weren't cutting it, I found a bedroom pillow a better shape but a bit too big. Queue a trip to Ikea as I knew they do lumbar support cushions to compliment their Ektorp sofa range - which is handy as yes we have an Ektorp sofa. But I also knew that they sold cushion pads in that sort of shape.

So this is what I came up with:

Its vital statistics are 24" x 16" and has a simple envelope opening. After posting pictures over on my Facebook page this fabric and the cushions themselves caused a little bit of a stir and a few commissions later more fabric had to be ordered :)

If you would like your own lumbar cushion I have lots of different fabrics and I can always source more to suit your requirements, please contact me to discuss your requirements (I can be contacted via my Facebook page)

Now I ordered a little extra fabric so I could create these:

I am currently getting these listed over in my Folksy and Etsy shops.

Sparkly New Things

So a while ago I posted a question - folksy-vs-etsy-what-do-you-think I got some interesting comments and kept swinging between the decision to close my Folksy shop, or keep on at it.

Well I have decided that I will work at it to give it a proper try. I know that some people can be put of by Etsy as it is an international site. I feel that some people might prefer to know that they can shop on a friendly UK site. So we shall see how it goes.

To kick start I have been listing my new greeting cards that I have had printed by those wonderful people at Moo. I choose Moo because they print in the UK use FSC credited paper stock and their quality is just lush (also love the name). I discovered Moo a few years ago when I was researching for my Wedding (Mr Mouse stupidly thinks he found them, just because he got business cards with them first. Well No I pointed him in the right direction - hehe now thats Mr Mouse put firmly in his place).

So starting with Mr Mouses favourite - Meet Leonard the Lion. He wondered onto the pages of my sketch book one day and straight into my heart.

Add caption

Leonard is available on both Etsy here and Folksy here

Bartholomew Rex
(I have a little soft spot for Bartholomew, he was a little ticklish and kept wiggling as I was painting him. He asked to wear a bow tie as well bow ties are cool)

Bartholomew is available on both Etsy here and Folksy here

Daffodil Fairy Card

Available on Etsy and Folksy

Rose Fairy

Available on Etsy and Folksy

Dancing Fuchsia Fairy
She is a Prima Ballerina who came twirling onto my sketch book one day

Available on Etsy and Folksy

Balloons Birthday Card
These little cuties all came ballooning down onto my sketch book

Available on Etsy and Folksy

Wise Old Owl

Available on Etsy and Folksy

Love Birds
These little birds are spreading love and happiness

Available on Etsy and Folksy

Little Bird of Happiness

Available of Etsy and Folksy

Love Peacock

Available on Etsy and Folksy

Folksy Vs Etsy - What do you think?

When I originally set up my shop I used Etsy - why? Well I was already a member and had brought things from the site. I like that its a global market place.


I had heard of Folksy and registered as a member and had a bit of a nose about and there is some inspiring stuff but it never grabbed me like Etsy. Around the time that I was considering setting up my shop was when the whole "assembled" alienation began - because apparently there is less creativity/skill I don't know what. There were lots of grumbles on twitter and I was put off.


Recently I wondered if maybe I am losing out on potential sales as some people maybe put off of Etsy and the USD. Now I have set my shop up using good old British Pounds Sterling, but as new visitor/user to Etsy I believe it defaults to displaying USD until you have fiddled with your account settings and said hello I am English pretty please can I see the prices in GBP (I still remember my early days on Etsy when you needed to have a currency converter open in another tab on your browser).


Well this is how my Etsy store looks like:

and you will notice that here on my blog there is a lovely little plug in page displaying my shop and I also have a lovely little plug in over on my Facebook its all so lovely when things play together with minimal effort. 


Recently I decided to open a Folksy shop. 
This is it

Now I do like the fresh modern feel of Folksy but so far I don't know if its working for me. I know, I know there are only three items in my shop. There is a reason for this I find the whole listing procedure clunky. It simply takes too long - not so bad if you only use one photo per listing but me no I like to ensure people get to see as much of an item as they can so I max out the picture limit per listing.


Now I have had a sale on Folksy but again this was all too annoying for me - disjointed - the item in question (a card) had a choice of badges, but when the order came through no note to tell me of the selection so delay as I contacted the customer. Then when it came to packing up the order - ummm where do I get the nice invoice (like in Etsy)? Oh there doesn't seem to be one (maybe there is and I haven't found it). Oh well paypal to the rescue (but a bit of faff).


But that got me to thinking - was there a comment box during checkout, did they miss it. What is it actually like to buy something on Folksy. So I hunted for some supplies (again I want to note that there are loads of lovely sellers I found lots of nice things).


Now searching seemed well a little bit clunky - I wanted to be able to break it down more and to change the view - for me I don't really like list view I prefer a nice grid (Etsy lets me choose depending on my mood) - maybe there is a setting somewhere and I havent found it yet. Anyway I found something that I wanted and Oh look I need to let the seller know my preference. Excellent a test.


Buy.


Check out - erm where do I let the seller know my preference? Couldn't find an option anywhere during checkout. So I had to contact the seller as a separate action to the check out procedure - madness.


Seller lovely, items arrived nicely package etc the little extra mile that keeps us all going back to independents. 


But the Folksy interface - clunky.


I also like that Etsy gives me stats, without me needing to sign up for something else, attempt to get it to work, get grumpy with it and annoyed that I have to go to another site.


So do I invest more time in it or close the Folksy shop?


If you sell/buy on Folksy how do you find the experience? Would you always check Folksy first because you know its a British selling platform? Or are you not bothered Etsy/Folksy doesnt matter its all down to the products!


Please let me know your views.