It's been a while!

Well folks it's been a while since I've managed to post here but there is a good reason I've been absent for so long.

Greetings and Gifts is now Greetings-and-Gifts Ltd. and on August 12th we opened a retail shop within walking distance of our house in Redcar.  Although we have been discussing the possibility since the beginning of the year, we never really believed we'd get to this point!

In the end we actually signed up for the property, got it refurbished, stocked and open in 10 days!  I still don't think we can quite believe we've managed to do it.

At the moment John is still teaching guitar and I'm still full time at the Council and we're working the shifts at the shop between us.  John doing days during the week then teaching late afternoon/evening and I'm working all week and doing the Saturday/Sunday shift in the shop.

Although we're both knackered, the shop has been received well and although it's quiet during the week at the moment, we had a good day on Saturday.

We're going to be open this Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday as well so are hoping for a good weekend trade wise.

We've expanded what we sell as well and have some great new wholesalers with brilliant merchandise.  I want it to be like a real Aladdin's cave so you notice something different every time you turn around.  We will get the new photo's up on the web-site eventually but obviously the shop is taking all of our time at the moment.

We've got a new range of Eco Friendly bags and backpacks as well and a range of Freedom Bags where some of the money goes back to the people in India and China who actually make them.  Nice stuff too!

We've got a great range in Hand dyed silk/velvet scarves made in Scotland which are absolutely gorgeous and a massive new range of gifts from trinket boxes/puzzle boxes to our expanding range of guitar products such as pens shaped like guitars and guitar key chains/pendants.  Well you can't be married to a guitarist without having some of these things ;-)

The winter hat/glove/scarf selection for men and women are already in as well and I must say I've done a cracking job of the shop window.  It looks great!

We can't thank our friends and family enough who have supported us and gotten us to this point.  We will remember you all when we make our first million!

Will update you all after the weekend and let you know how we get on.  Tomorrow is 2 weeks since we opened.  Long may it continue!

Here's the link to our spot on the local town web-site!  We're famous already :-)

http://www.greetingsgifts67025.redcar.towntalk.co.uk/

Successful impromptu evening!

Well who'd have thought?

 A good friend of mine asked if I'd like to do a stall at her local village hall for a ladies evening they were having. The evening consisted of a couple of fashion shows and numerous stalls selling a variety of products along with wine and food.

We got there about 6:00 last evening and set up quickly as the first ladies started arriving about 6:45pm!  At first I thought it may be quiet and that I wouldn't sell a lot but the people and the location were nice so that's half of the battle straight away.

Anyway, it turned out to be a lovely evening and an extremely profitable one in the end.  In 2 hours I sold more than I usually sell on an all day fair!  Everything was selling, especially the new products and I had numerous compliments on my range of stock.  I was really pleased they liked what they saw! I even had people saying, 'are you sure this price is right' LOL  Gotta love well priced wholesalers!

We were only asked for a £5 donation for the stall but at the end of the evening I had done so well I donated an extra £5 to the fund the evening was for.  The ladies seemed really pleased to receive the extra donation but I feel it's only fair on such a good night.  I hope to be invited to more like it!

I've also got a spot booked for a large Christmas fair locally and all in a good cause...a local baby's charity (Zoe's Place)  so will be looking to stock up with a new autumn/winter range of things soon.

Onwards and upwards...hopefully :-)  These were yesterday's top sellers!

New range of stock!

Well another new wholesaler and another completely new line of stock for Greetings and Gifts.  We now have funky handbag compact mirrors, a lovely range of mesh and enamel bracelets, heart shaped pendants on cords, leather plaited bracelets for both men and women and a great line of men's bracelets which are hematite and coco bead or rubber and stainless steel.  None of these products are selling for more than £6 so brilliant value as well.

There will shortly be a really nice line in children's jewellery also which will be perfect presents for birthday party goody bags and not too hard on mum's purse strings!

Here are my particular favourites.  I've already bagged myself a lilac one.  Well I have to advertise don't I?  :-)
Brilliant value at £5!

Hello all!

Well hello everyone,

My last craft fair went well and I actually sold out of the black and grey pendant scarves which is fantastic.  The pendant scarves went really well this time around and so did the cards so that's great news.

I've bought some of the Spanish scarves by the same manufacturer as the butterfly scarves as they have recently got new colours in.  Just be aware there is only one of each in this delivery so if you want one, you better decide soon. John will be putting them up on the web-site today and updating what is out of stock.  There's also a new batch of leather coin purses so you better get there quick as they sell out fast as well.

I'm contemplating another order of the double pendant scarves but am still trying to decide whether to go with the same as before or take a punt on slightly different ones.

Next craft fair is a different venue on Guisborough Town Fair Day and this will be mostly cards, bookmarks and coin purses as I wasn't selling the scarves when I booked the fair before Christmas. They already have 2 people selling something similar but I may just sneak the Spanish ones into my bag just in case I get there and can sell them. I know no one in the North has these particular ones!  Doesn't hurt to try LOL

Think that's about all for now!  The following is one of the new pendant scarves.  Gorgeous colour!

Haven't posted in a while

Have been neglecting my blog as of late so thought I'd best come and say hello.  I'm currently off work from my day job through sickness so if I'm not around much, that's why.

I'm still looking into potential venues for new Craft Fairs and have found a lovely one but I will need to hire the venue and do all the organising.  It's quite exciting but until I'm back to full fitness, it will have to wait a bit.  It's fairly available on weekends so even if it means waiting a few months I'm sure it will work as a future venue especially on the lead up to Christmas!

Web-site still doesn't appear to be taking off as I'd hoped but again that will take some time.  At least I'm well stocked up for the upcoming Craft Fairs and am looking forward to them.

Think that's about all for now so bye bye for now everyone.  Hope to have some more updates soon.

Well who'd have thought?

Well, today has been a good day for Greetings and Gifts!  I'd originally planned to have a 'home party' to show off the products from the web-site but a friend had managed to acquire one of the rooms in a local pub close to work so moved the sale to there! (Thanks Linda, you're a star)

Got to the pub about 4:30 with Linda and got everything set up ready.  A few of the girls from work came in as well as some of the regulars from the pub including the landlady and my good friend Rachel also popped in after work.

I don't think one person went away empty handed and it was a real success!  Still managed to be home about 7:30 so absolutely worth doing.  The landlord and landlady from the pub were happy as my customers were spending money at the bar so a win win situation for all of us really.  They are happy for me to do the same on a regular basis which is fantastic news!

Pat's lovely handpainted bookmarks were selling again, the bags, the butterfly scarves, the crystal heart scarves and the little leather coin purses all made their way to new homes as well as some of my cards and a couple of pairs of the music paper jewellery made by Rachel's friend Alix!

I'm really pleased that the whole range of products are selling.  It means I have the balance right of what I'm selling so I'm a very happy bunny today I must say.

Thanks to everyone who turned up and bought.  I'll need to restock some of the lines soon and watch out for the new range of Spanish pendant scarves and Leather/Suede handbags towards the end of the summer!  They are fantastic!!!!

Thanks again everyone!

Better day today at Sunnyfield House!

Back at my usual venue today for their monthly Craft Fair and although it started slow, it picked up as the day went on.

I disagree with closing up early at any fair as you never know who will come in during the last hour and that's what happened today resulting in a sale of one of the lovely butterfly scarves.

Cards were selling today as well which is nice since they're my baby and Pat's lovely bookmarks with the local scenes on them had a lot of interest and a couple of sales!

I also managed to sell one of  Tonya's (Hillbilly Handiworks) quilted picnic placemats which was nice since they only arrived yesterday.

All in all worth getting out of bed for!