zakka inspirations

I do admit i have an unhealthy obsession with japanese stuff. Before Pinterest I used to save photos or bookmark pages for inspirations. Going through my old files, here are just some of the ones that caught my eye and gave me an idea or two.

Fabric covered spool bobbins

Handmade Owl Buntings

Rubber Stamped business cards

kawaii stationery

Owl friends

cardstock love...

I made handmade tags today.

midi reinforced tags

... I used my vintage guillotine. It was a flea market find. I loved it for its vintage-y style and i thought I will find a use for it one day. Curiously enough, after looking for nice packaging and bits for the shop, I decided to make my own business cards and now tags. I love working with paper and card stock. I used to love making paper flowers for Christmas and card making. Its the intricate work with your fingers and the material, the tangible process of making something delicate and colourful and useful.

handmade luggage tags

recycled poo business cards

 I still make things although my guillotine has seen better days and now has to be retired permanently. I now use a more streamlined swordfish cutter - it does the work but not as romantic and quaint as my old cutter... 

first order on our new website

After the long process of moving my website from the Flash Version to HTML5, and having a soft launch, things are looking on the up and up. I just received my very first order from the new site from The Netherlands. We seem to be receiving equal amounts if not more orders from European customers as compared to local ones. Kawaii and Zakka is popular in the continent and still have a growing following, and surprisingly, recent trends have shown that this is growing ever more popular locally as well. All the better because we are now just expanding our stock lines and introducing a lot more new items. 

Choo Choo Cat Postcards

Bentoy Multi Purpose Plants Cards

Romantic Vanilla Deco Stickers

Romantic Vanilla Deco Stickers

Monopoly Cartoon Luggage Name Tags

Vintage Style Wooden Pocket Rulers

Mustache Deco Cut Outs

bricks & mortar shop

I’ve had so many inquiries if I had a proper ‘bricks & mortar’ shop / storefront and not long ago I have had an opportunity to open a shop fronting the marina. The shop location was frequented by tourists and the lease was quite reasonable for the location. So I did a feasibility test if I will decide to go ahead and lease the shop. After a few weeks, the deciding question went down to who’s going to be in the shop? I currently have a self contained office & combined storage area and most of MY time is spent there. If I did make a commitment to a shop it means halving the time I spend in the office to spend the entire day in the shop. This also meant a commute to the city during rush hour, the experience of which is very similar to a toothache. So the decision was so obvious and crystal clear – doing things in my own time is the main priority. I wasn’t ready to give up my lazy quiet mornings answering emails or the home cooked lunches or the all nighters where you stumble to bed like a zombie. I’m not saying I am never going to go for a shop one day, but for now, I am in a happy place.

new e-commerce site

After toying with the idea for some time and doing some numbers on the viability of launching an e-commerce website, i’ve decided to take the plunge.  I have tried Moonfruit, Wix and Wordpress and so far, the site most user friendly to me is Wix. The only downside with Wix and it’s a big downside is having no local site search capability. It seems a bit duh, that a team of web techies haven’t written the code yet to enable search on websites developed with their site builder. I’ve started with the HTML coded website but halfway through developing the site, Wix launched the HTML5 builder. After a bit more reading and research, I decided it’s more logical to go with the HTML5, but and it’s still a big BUT, no site search. There is actually a long support discussion thread going on for years (I think) dedicated to Wix’s growing clientele demanding the site search coding. Anyway, I have looked and tried the recommended search apps, but they are all not just suitable. For one thing, after a few searched, the app deactivates and you can only use it if you have a paid subscription which is a bit sneaky I would say since I think a search app should be free for paying website subscription holders. Anyway, all in all the builder I am currently using is really easy to use so I still stuck with them. You can check out the site and the cute goodies I add nearly everyday on this link. I’ve added categories on the header menu and sub categories on the pages for easier navigation, and hopefully soon we will see the elusive site search tool.

the right fit

Not so long ago an acquaintance asked me for some advice about stocking their own haberdashery, then not long after that someone complimented us about having an eye for things. So I think this answers the first question. I replied with – “Trust your instincts. The shop reflects your personality. You have to appreciate what you sell, so you can show people what you can see”. I suppose it takes some feel when you decide which things to go for. So far the feeling has been good and everything fits right.

trial & error

as i started making handmade items, i was plagued with a multitude of ideas and inspirations but was strapped for time, since i was still working full time during this time. holding a day job and setting up a business was a juggling act and most times it was the business that suffered. even so, i was able to try out and make different patterns and designs and found out by trial and error the designs that sold and the ones that lingered. i started listing my products on eBay and by happen stance discovered Etsy, an American based market, similar to eBay but they concentrate only on handmade goods and craft supplies. finding this site was fantastic, mostly as members are in the same crafty mind frame that i was in. Etsy has a lot of resources and articles that are really helpful if you are starting your own home business and specially if you are considering quitting your day job to go full time on your craft.

below are some of the first projects i made.

the right stuff

so in the beginning of my small business i went back to my first love which is crafting and particularly sewing. in a way its like going back to my roots since my father was a tailor and his mother before him was a dress maker. even 3 of my father's sibling were also in the trade, 2 aunts being seamstresses / dressmakers and an uncle was a tailor and is now working for a really famous sports clothing brand. anyway, i selected several projects that interested me and i got started crafting.

along the way i discovered that i needed supplies for branding and packaging my little projects but there was hardly anything close that was out there in the online market close to what i had in mind. at first i made do with what i can get my hands on by buying odds and ends from different online sellers. then i thought i see this gap in the market and i am sure i am not the only crafter looking for certain supplies. so after a year and a half of sewing and crafting, i went back to research and started compiling promising leads for suitable supplies. not long after i made a small order from several suppliers and i started developing products that fit the homespun look. i also slowly added stationery and lifestyle items to my inventory and in about a year i have come from research stage to concept to selling online.

i decided to sell on Ebay for starters as its the easiest platform to sell in. you can start selling privately and register as a business once you get busier. however, there is a lot of competition on Ebay and sometimes some customers can be difficult and unfortunately buyers always have the upper hand. but if your customer service level is above average to excellent then this shouldn't be a problem. i get to test run products and see how the market responds before i go all out and stock in bulk. some items i stock and develop take off just like that, but then some competitors come in and copy what we sell so then the profit margins go down. so to keep the business fresh and turning, i always leave time to research new products to sell. the trick is to get new items before anyone else and get a foot hold before the market gets saturated with everyone else getting on the bandwagon and when that happens, if you have a wide range of products, you wont feel the loss much should you decide to discontinue a product line. it also doesn't hurt to attend trade fairs at least once or twice a year to see how the market is trending and to just pick up ideas and contacts. sometimes its takes a while to find the right stuff, but once you do grab and run with it.

beginnings

i moved to the UK in the fall of 2004. the decision was not easy since i have gotten used to the slow pace of life, however job prospects were not as rewarding and are even less fulfilling in Manila. as much as i hated it i had to take on very long hours in the distribution sector just north of Manchester. i was just lucky i got work immediately then circumstances changed and i got full time office job and a part time job with a drinks retail chain. the wine stores company then started an NVQ program for employees run by Preston College but was done on premises, so i was able to get extra retail training during work which was great. not long after though the company was dissolved and i had more time on my hands than i was normally used to. i then started rethinking of the stuff i always wanted to do and maybe i can make something out of it. so i started doing a lot of research. it took me months and months but i gleaned a lot of information and resources but it was time well spent. i decided to devote time into setting up a small business and i soon started collating project ideas. i also made an investment with getting my very own embroidery sewing machine.

and so it began...

bienvenue

welcome to my blog!

i have been thinking for a long time on how to catalogue the random thoughts and ideas that pop into my brain. i have this idea of a cohesive and coherent journal and undoubtedly the end result will be slightly off center and would have probably gone around the houses quite a few times.

this blog has been populated with articles previously that were relevant to me personally but since turning a new leaf and having an online business, my thoughts focus on reincarnating this blog to catalogue the adventures i encounter along the way of this venture. i will be writing mostly about lifestyle, craft products and activities but i will still also be sharing some life milestones, more than a few opinions and anything i can think of.

thanks for dropping by and i will share more in my next post.