Sunday 1 December 2013

Handmade Monday 145

Hello and welcome to another Handmade Monday!

Well, we're into December now and the frantic race to get all handmade-to-order clocks, plaques and money boxes out in time for customers to wrap them up as gifts is well under way.  My 1st Unique Gifts online shop definitely takes over my life at this time of year - I'm sure it's the same for some of you, too.

one of my hand painted Christmas plaques

I did take a day off this week though, to travel down to Birmingham with Anita - the second meet-up of the winners of Theo Paphitis' #SBS on Twitter took place and it was well worth taking the time out, even though I'm now playing catch up!  The day was amazing and there's lots more to come, the most exciting announcement of the day being a Dragons' Den style investment opportunity coming up for one or two lucky small businesses.  The investors this time will be one of the winners from Dragons' Den, which shows you how far they've come from their small beginnings (they're putting up £50,000!).

If you run a small business in the UK and want to get involved, there's some info on the #SBS website, including some tips on how to get noticed!  It's not just the benefits of getting retweeted on Twitter (although that in itself is huge) it's all the exciting things that are now being rolled out as part of this #SBS "family" - and will continue to be as #SBS grows.


I have only one photo from the event - if I had more, this one probably wouldn't have seen the light of day (I apologise to the man in front for displaying his baldness to the world)!  I took this one photo then my camera died.  It seems like the lens mechanism just stopped working and the lens is stuck in the "out" position, which has somehow stopped the camera from taking photos.  I did try a couple with my phone, but it seems either the camera on my phone is rubbish or I'm rubbish at operating it.  I think it's mainly the latter.

I'm gutted about my camera, but I think it's given Santa an idea of what to leave in my stocking for Christmas.

It's over to you now - what's been happening in your world?

13 comments:

Christmas Pie Crafts said...

Now that's a photograph that's looking for a funny caption. Glad you had a great day, the Dragons Den style event sounds really good. Hope you have a good week - roll on taking a day off on Christmas Day.

Patchwork Fairy said...

Sounds really interesting that Wendy - hope you are going to go for it!

Free Spirit Designs said...

Sounds like it was well worth taking a day out for the SBS event, its not something i know much about but anything that supports small craft businesses gets my vote :)

Best of luck with your catch up... i can imagine how busy you must be at this time of year! x

Unknown said...

Sounds like you got some value from the event. Good luck catching up

Jan said...

Sometimes it's good to take a little time out. Shame about your camera, it's horrid when it happens when your out and about, it somehow doesn't seem so bad if you were at home. it sounds like you had a great day anyhow.

Jan x

Unknown said...

Totally get where you're coming from with phone photos! I don't think it's just you! All the best for the big push until Christmas. x

Justjennywren said...

that event sounds fun- shame about your camera! sounds like you had a busy week!

testing said...

Sounds like you had a really good day, very informative and what a wonderful opportunity!

itsamistry said...

I had a wonderful day and it went without a hitch. It was lovely to catch up with Wendy in real life as we don't see each other - other than via the social media. I also enjoyed the SBS event and meeting some of the other members who are on twitter and facebook and hadn't met in person.

Thank you for inviting me Wendy and I'm glad I didn't have to be Dave for the day :)

Ginx Craft said...

Shame about your camera. I know someone who won the Theo Paphitis thing, and says it made a big difference to her business.

EleanorLucy Millinery said...

Haha! That sign has my name written all over it ;) The #SBS event sounds fab, although sorry to hear about your camera! Hopefully Father Christmas has read this week's blog too ;) Good luck with all your orders! x

Studio Kaufmann said...

You got a lot of exciting info from the event! That's the main thing. Linking up for Handmade Monday and trying to get everything ready for Christmas and running around like a headless chicken.

Lucy Blossom said...

Sounds like you're having a busy but exciting time.