Those of you who know me, will already know that I’m not a fan of the cold hard faceless sell but am a huge fan of the personal touch! And that’s partly why The Supermums Craft Fair works so well because when you buy something from a stall, you’re not buying from a large corporation, you’re buying from a small business who cares! Behind every stall is a person and I have always encouraged them to come out and say hello in their descriptions and now I have taken it that one step further with this fabulous feature so you can get to know them even better!
Each week a stall holder from the super duper website will be chosen to become…yes you guessed it… Stall Holder Of The Week! This award is given to someone who has been seen out and about networking their stall and generally being an absolute star! And this week the award goes to…. drum roll please…
The lovely Suzanne from Flutterlily Crafts! Congratulations on being the latest stall holder of the week Suzanne! So let’s start off with the most important thing of all… Let’s talk about you! Thank you, I am soooooo pleased! I never thought it would be me, there are so many wonderful stalls and lovely ladies on this site. I am over the moon about being chosen! Right then, a bit about me. I am 31 years old (but feel ancient), I have the most precious, adorable, cheeky, funny little boy called Alfie who will be 2 next month. I am so proud of him, he was born 7 weeks early and has done amazingly well! I married my lovely husband last August and we have lived in Harrogate for 5 years. We relocated from from Essex for my husband’s job, and love living ‘oop north’. I used to be a HR Manager before I had Alfie, a job I enjoyed but didn’t want to return to after I had my little boy. I wanted to be able to work from home, do whatever hours I wanted to do and do something that I loved. I like being creative, so I went out and bought a lot of crafting magazines. Sewing scares me, but I find papercraft much less daunting! I bought a few items, put those together with the wonderful free gifts that I received with the magazines and started to make cards. They weren’t exactly brilliant at first, but I gradually improved learning new techniques etc. I managed to get a local shop to stock my cards, gift tags and activity books and made cards for friends and family. Then I purchased a super duper cutting machine and there was no stopping me!
As well as being a crafter, you have also recently ventured out into the world of selling craft supplies… so tell us, how did this come about? I really enjoy making cards etc, and it isn’t something I would want to give up completely. But, I had taken on some big orders and it ended up taking up so much time, and as other card makers will know you don’t really earn a lot from it in comparison to the time it takes. There was a point where I was going to give up completely on crafting, but decided to take my business in a different direction. So I changed the name from Flutterlily Cards & Gifts to Flutterlily Crafts and decided to sell craft supplies. I understand how little the profit margins are in the handmade industry, so I thought it would be great if I could source supplies and be able to sell them to fellow crafters for low prices. And, my husband will agree with me on this one, I really am a shopaholic and spend far too much money. I thought that if I sell supplies then it would satisfy my shopping needs! I still have regular customers who order bespoke cards from me which I love doing. I have some very strange requests for cards sometimes, but so far I have managed to fulfil every request. I don’t advertise my cards as much on my stall because the majority of them are bespoke and one offs. I normally post pictures of them on my FB page.
I think we already know the answer to this next one, but tell us anyway …just how much fun is it shopping for crafting supplies to sell! I love shopping for craft supplies! I went to an event in London recently and there were so many gorgeous things there! I also buy a lot of supplies online, and it is like Christmas when my parcels arrive. I get so excited! As you all know I had some gorgeous buttons arrive recently. I love sorting through all of the goodies. A perk of the job is that I do keep some for myself! A customer sent me a photo this week of a cute little vest that she had knitted for her son’s teddy bear, and she had sewn on some of the blue flower shaped buttons that I have on my stall. It’s lovely to see what customers are making with my supplies. I think I might start asking people to send me their photos and I will add them all to an album on my page, and pick my favourite each month.
Do you have any top tips for successfully managing your home and working life? I am not sure that I do manage it, I am sitting next to a rather large pile of ironing at the moment! I try to allocate time sensibly, my little boy goes to a childminder (who also happens to be a good friend of mine) two mornings a week so I use that time to make cards etc. Alfie loves going to the post office so we normally go there every other day to post out orders. I can sort out buttons etc whilst Alfie watches Mr Tumble (he has a big obsession with him and gets annoyed if I distract him whilst this is on TV!). After Alfie has gone to bed I network on Twitter and Facebook. You can schedule posts on Facebook which is great! Housework is normally done at a super speedy pace at the weekend, and then I always make sure that Alfie has one to one play time every day without any phone distractions etc. I do end up going to bed at silly o’clock, but fortunately Alfie likes to have a lie in (10am the other day!). I am very very lucky as I am a stay at home mum and my ‘day job’ is Flutterlily Crafts. I really don’t know how other mums have a 9-5 job, children, and have a craft business. They are most definitely Supermums!
Ha! I can relate to that, when I look back I have no idea how I managed to do all that I do and hold down a full time job too! So Suzanne, you do various different crafts already but is there a type of craft that you would love to try…. I would love to try some needlework. I bought a sewing machine last summer, and it still hasn’t made it out of the box! I admire other stalls such as Masters & Matthews, White Stitch Lane and Lina Loves Bags. I would love to be able to make those gorgeous things! I just find sewing (especially with a machine) really daunting. I need someone to show me exactly how to use a sewing machine, maybe one day I will attend an evening class and finally use my sewing machine.
You really should try it out properly, you will love it! I was a bit scared of them at first but put your foot down and away you go! So, back to your stall, what is your favourite item on your there right now and why? My favourite item would have to be the wooden birdy buttons. I think they are so cute! I am going to use some for a framed picture. My niece wants to make a tree picture using buttons, and put some of the birdy buttons on the tree along with the apple shaped buttons. She is very good at crafty things. My mum bought her one of my keyring kits to make in the holidays, she did a fab job! I also made a card making kit for her younger sister, she did very well too, maybe she will follow in her aunt’s footsteps. I think that creativity and crafting runs in the family. My sister makes delicious cakes, and is also very good at making things.
Sorry, what were you saying, I got distracted by the word “cakes”…. But seriously, it does sound like creativity runs in the family, just you wait a few years, Alfie will be joining in the fun too! So tell us, what is the one bit of advice you wish someone had told you before you started your own business? I wish that someone had told me to keep receipts for everything and organise your invoices etc from the very beginning. I spent a whole day sorting out hundreds of invoices! Will definitely keep better records for this tax year. I also didn’t realise at the beginning how much networking you need to do in order to be seen and remembered. I have done a couple of craft fairs, which I sold a reasonable amount at but nothing too fantastic, but met a very lovely lady at one of them. We have kept in touch since and she now orders all of her cards from me. So, even if you don’t sell too much at events, it’s important to talk to people as much as you can and be friendly as you never know who will buy from you in the future. Crafting is a great way to make friends!
I couldn’t agree with you there, not only is it incredibly important to stay on top of your accounts but chatting to people is a must! I have made the most fabulous friends since being in the crafting world! Burning question and its one that every stall holder of the week must be asked… chocolate or wine… Chocolate, without a doubt! I do love a glass of rose (I am from Essex after all), but give me chocolate over wine any day! Cadburys, Lindt, white chocolate. The only chocolate I don’t like is dark chocolate. I don’t see the point in it, chocolate should be sweet!
Wine for me yet again then, hey ho! Next question….If you could only pick one stall to be your favourite on the website, which one would it be and why… Hmmmmmmm toughest question of them all. Why can’t I have a top 10 Sarah? I feel like a judge on the X Factor having to decide on a winner haha. Like on TV, I thought I would drag this one out a bit, and say how much I like the three stalls that I mentioned earlier (did you notice that I sneaked in a little mention for them?!). I have ordered a couple of things from Lina Loves Bags and they were gorgeous, I also ordered from Ria at Ooh Pretty recently and she made a wonderful place mat for my little boy. But then I also love the phone case by Dippydoodah Graphics (and loving the stall name). Gifts by Indigo make amazing family tree cushion covers. I have made my decision though (very Simon Cowell) and my favourite stall at the moment is Sarah’s Button Pictures. Her pictures are beautiful, and she uses such pretty buttons to make her pictures. The detail is fantastic. And she shares the same button obsession as me!
I should tell you off for picking so many, but I can’t… especially as you have made such fantastic choices! Well its been lovely chatting with you Suzanne, just time for one last question and that is…. What would you like the future to hold for Flutterlily Crafts… My dream is to have my own shop. I would have buttons in big sweetie jars, tons of ribbon, pretty papers, die cuts. It would need to be quite a big shop though, as I would also want a section selling lots of handmade goodies by other crafters and a workshop area for crafters to teach classes (maybe somebody could then teach me to sew!). I hope that one day this dream will become a reality!
As I’m sure you will agree, Suzanne was a great choice for the stall holder of the week award, and I have no doubt her dreams will become reality! Of course, there are so many other stalls who have been stars over the last week and they deserve a special mention too. Sadly I can’t pick all of them so each week I will pick just 4 and this week, in no particular order, special mentions are going out to….
Before you go…these are a few of my favourite things…. There are so many amazing and gorgeous products on the website, so many talented stall holders! Each week I will picking just a few of my favourites items to share with you and these are just some of them…. Why not take a little time and browse the site to find your own…
If you would like to meet some more stall holders then why not join the group Supermums Chatty Room on Facebook! Its a place for all stall holders to show off their stalls and get to know each other but everyone is welcome to come along and join in the fun. After all, what could be better than chatting and shopping with friends! And please do come back next week to see who has been chosen as the next… Stall Holder Of The Week…. xxx