Giveaway! Happy 2012!

Giveaway Closed!




Hello awesome readers! 

 I have decided to have a giveaway on my blog to celebrate this exciting new year! 

I have had some lovely feedback from readers on how they enjoy my blog and have found certain posts inspiring and useful. I had an extremely busy and difficult year last year, so I was unable to put a give away together. This year I plan to be a lot more active on my blog and will be doing tutorials, giveaways and lot of other interesting posts. 

Thank you for reading! x

The Giveaway

Turquoise Feather Corsage Headband  

Pink Button Corsage Earrings

Two Anchor Button Hair slides

How to enter

Simply leave a comment below 

Extra entries

1) Follow me on Twitter

2) Follow my blog through Google Friend Connect, RSS or BlogLovin

3) Share this giveaway via Facebook, Twitter or your blog

4) Like me on Facebook

Please make sure you leave an extra comment for all these extra entries. 

The deadline date for this giveaway is the 14th February 2012! The giveaway is open worldwide! Hooray! I will choose the winner at random and I will anounce the winner right here on my blog! I will contact the winner if I can or please check back here on the 14th to see if you have won! 

Good luck! X

Printing Tutorial!

Hello!

I decided to upload an audio tutorial I recorded. I wrestled with this decision because I mumble, a problem my loved ones are pretty familiar with.. HA! If you think I am drunk, I don't drink and if you think I am weird, I probably am. Anyway, here it is! Feel free to comment below on what you think.

Materials

Waterbased block printing ink

Nice paper or card

 Printing rollers

Biro or compass

Blunt pencil

Tracing paper

Flat easy clean surface (explained in tutorial)

Poly block foam sheets

Step One

Get your design ready as instructed in the tutorial using your tracing paper, poly block foam and a Biro or compass. 

Step Two

Prepare the surface you are using for the ink and get inks ready. Choose the papers you want to use and lay them out ready for your block.

Step Three

Roll out your ink as intructed in the audio tutorial. Roll the ink on to your block and print. Repeat as many times as you want and keep rolling more ink when it drys out. Try printing using fabric paint on to fabric or paint on to canvas.

I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial and please feel free to leave any feedback below. 

Abbey x

January Is Almost Over!

Well, January is almost over and lots of exciting things have happened! I have a stall on the 27th at Revolt, a metal night that I will also be DJing at. I am pretty scared that something will go wrong, unfortunately I am not the most confident person in the world, however I see this as an opportunity to prove a point to myself.

I have been working hard on new things this month and shared a little teaser of my new work with you over the weekend. It is only Tuesday but I have made lots of new bits to sell online and at Revolt.  Here are some larger photos of my new work...

New Work

January! 

 A little photo teaser of what I have been working on! 

Earrings! Corsages! Cushions! 

January Update

Wow! January is flying by and lots of things have been happening in Doll Doll Dolly world! I had great response to my craft Q&A, for which I am extremely grateful . If you missed the post then you can still send your answers over as they will be helpful. The reason for the post was to get to know your craft needs and how you like to work. I have an idea of what I want to do, but I am not sure exactly how it will be received by the craft community. I needed to get some feedback to make some tweaks to my idea and then submit it into my business plan. I want to thank all of you who took part and I will keep you all updated with my business progress. 

I will be putting a giveaway together shortly, it will be a trio of goodies including a 20% off voucher for my shop! The giveaway will begin the first week of February, so please keep an eye out for a chance to win some Doll Doll Dolly makes! 

January is also a month to make new things. I have been working on new accessories for my shop, they will debuted right here on my blog before being uploaded to my shop in time for Valentines day. 

Market Research Volunteers Wanted!

I am looking for volunteers to answer the Q&A below. I am currently working on the market research section of my business plan. I won't go into much detail on what my actual plan is, but it will benefit so many craft enthusiasts. 

Firstly, thank you for volunteering. I am attempting to start my own business and I thought a Q&A would be a great way to get to know my target market. Putting a business plan together is a long and difficult journey. I want to create the best business I can. I really need you help to get to know what your craft needs are. Please give as much information as you can because it will enter into my business plan. 

I have composed a list of  questions, however if you have any extra information or advice for me, please feel free to write it underneath all of your answers. If you would rather send your answer privately my email address is mail@dolldolldolly.com

• Do you or have you ever struggled with finding space to work on large projects? 
• Would you like to meet fellow craft enthusiasts and learn new skills from others?
• Are you struggling with craft costs? Do you own your own sewing machine or overlocker? 
• What crafts would you like to have a go at? What has prevented you taking these crafts up? Are they messy? Expensive? Take up to much room? 
• Do you find it hard to exhibit your work? Confidence? Are you finding it hard to enter into the craft fair circuit? 
• Would you spend money to invest in your craft environment? 
• Do you enjoy the social aspect of crafting or do you like to work alone?  

Thank you

Abbey x

What's New 2012!

 Happy New Year 

Firstly, I want to wish you all a belated happy new year! I have been taking a break from blogging for the Christmas period to spend time with my loved ones and begin looking for a new home. I have been looking forward to the new year, a fresh start and an opportunity to make some of my small dreams come true. I have big plans for this year and I will be sharing my journey right here on my blog for you all to read.

I don't believe in making new years resolutions because you never keep them, however this year I have made myself promise to achieve my craft goals. I plan on spending this year gaining new skills, improving the ones that I have and starting the business that I am currently planning. 

New Crafts

I have spoken about lacking confidence in a previous blog post craft with confidence and I am determined to put my demons to rest! I should be proud of all that I am currently achieving, but I should never forget to strive for more and work hard on improving my skills. I have been making lots of new things, things I've not done since I was at art school. This week I made my own pattern for a waistcoat and I actually made the waistcoat itself! I really surprised myself- It fits perfectly! I am absolutely chuffed to bits, I mean it has been a while since I have used these skills and I managed to pull it off. 

 

Craft Events

I want to attend and be a part of more craft related events this year. I want have more stalls at crafts fairs to sell my wares and hopefully get commission pieces, which I really enjoy doing. I have expressed an interest in starting my own craft club which gathers quarterly to discuss different crafts, share ideas and do live tutorials. I want to meet fellow craft enthusiasts, to learn from each each other and make new friends. I have attended classes in the past to learn how to recycle fashion, felt making and pattern cutting. I want to carry on with dressmaking and make my own clothes in the future. 

Tutorials

I will be adding tutorials to my blog. I want to share the things that I have learnt in my craft journey so you don't make the same mistakes I have in the past. I will be doing video blogging via YouTube, you will be able to follow me step-by-step and pause me when you need to concentrate on your crafting. I have shared many of my makes on my blog and I will go back to the popular posts and create a simplified tutorial for you all to have a go at.  

2012-2013

So, those are my goals for 2012, they weren't created on a whim. but carefully thought out one rainy afternoon. I hope I manage to achieve everything that I aspire to be and fingers crossed, one day, I will become a self employed creative business owner. I hope 2012 is a successful and fun year for you all! 

Lets make it happen!