London Calling

Sorry for not writing any posts for a week or so, but we've had a busy couple of weeks, ending with my out-laws (hubby's parents who I adore - thankfully ;-p) coming to stay for just over a week.

This month's most popular item has easily been the Poppy Brooch

Which is brilliant as everyone who's bought one has helped to raise money for The Royal British Legion for Remembrance Sunday.

And tonight I am off to London! (can you tell I'm excited and that I don't get out enough?!) as tomorrow I am attending a work shop about Social Media, run by a lovely lady, Sarah Duncan of Sleeping Lions. I'm really looking forward to the workshop and will be practicing all I learn using the Blog, the Grace's Favours Facebook Page, the Pinterest Boards and Twitter account - so keep your eyes peeled :-)

And the winner is.......

Drum roll please..... Comment number 7:

Claire from Aisling Designs, who said: "Already like you on FB. And will go off now and tweet and share on FB. Lovely giveaway, and I wish you every success this coming year."

Congratulations Claire :-) I will be in touch about what sort of design you would like.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered and especially those who shared away like crazy!! And as I'm in a fab mood I'm going to extend the 20% off everything in my shop until the end of the weekend!

Happy Birthday to Me.....!

Morning campers (have various old Hi-de-hi lines going through my head today for some reason!)

So, today is my 1 year anniversary of selling on Etsy! I've had an incredible year and it has been getting better and better!

Here are some pics of the last year in the Grace's Favours household:

1st item made & sold - thankfully my photography's improved a bit since then!

The 1st campervan - now our most popular item!

1st attempt at a fascinator

A handmade birthday present

Kids modelling their crowns for the Jubilee

Learning to make fascinators properly!

New bear is MINE!

The latest campervan

I am part of some wonderful teams on Etsy, which has meant I've met some wonderful people along the way, all of whom are really supportive and friendly, which is invaluable when you're working on your own.

There is one person I couldn't have done any of this without and that's my lovely husband Brian, who not only provides all technical and graphics advice & support, but who also has taken on a much greater role in looking after the house and children - thank you Gorgeous!!

To celebrate Grace's Favours being 1 year old not only am I giving away a gorgeous Christmas Wreath but I'm also offering 20% off any item in the shop today only... so any early Christmas shopping you wanted to get started on will save you money too!

1 Year Etsy Anniversary Giveaway!!!

It's been in my mind recently to hold a giveaway as a thank you to all my lovely customers and Blog, Facebook & Twitter followers and what better time than now, for the celebration of my Etsy Shop being 1 year old!

So the giveaway is running from today, for 1 week and I'll do the magic with the random number generator on Thursday 18th October (the date of my anniversary!)

Here's what you can win:

There are 4 ways in which you can enter and each will count as a separate entry, giving you more chances to win:

Required Entry:

Become a follower of this blog & leave a comment on this post saying you've done so (1 entry) 

Optional Extra Entries:

1. 'Like' our Facebook page and post a comment here to say you've done it (1 entry)

2. Share the competition picture on your personal Facebook page & leave a comment here to say you've done it (1 entry)

3. Tweet about the giveaway & leave us a comment here (1 entry)

4. Post a snippet on your blog about our giveaway and leave us a comment here with the link (1 entry)

The giveaway will close at midnight on Thursday October 18th 2012 (GMT) and the giveaway is open to all countries.

Please make sure I can contact you via your comment - leave an email address with your comment if it's not available through your profile. If I can't get in touch with you by the 22nd October 2012 I'll re-do the draw.

Good Luck!!

There will also be a special 20% off sale from 18th October for one week, all you need to do is use the code BIRTHDAY2012 when you checkout at the shop

Poppies for Remembrance Day

So last year I was thinking about making some poppy brooches to put into my Etsy shop around the time of Remebrance Day (11th of November for those from other countries where it's not a particular day of remembrance) but I ran out of time. So this year I have been really organised and have made not only some poppy brooches, but also poppy hairslides.

 

As these are in part for Remembrance Day (they can be worn at any time, so I will keep them in the shop all year round) I wanted to make sure some money went to charity, so during the months of October & November I am donating all the profit from the sale of any poppy item to the Royal British Legion.

All profit means I will take out the time & materials cost and donate the remainder to charity. So I will not be profiting from the sale of these items during these two months.

I'll be wearing my poppy with pride (as always) but this year, it will also be a handmade poppy.

Our 1st Product Review

Ohhhhhh I've had an exciting weekend (I know - it only takes the smallest of things!)

We had a BNR in one of my Etsy teams...  a BNR is a treasury which when you buy from one of the shops featured means one of your items replaces the item from the shop you just bought from. So in order to get featured, you have to buy something from one of the other shops feaured. Everybody wins because we all get more sales and more exposure. I bought in twice and was bought out again really quickly, which is very flattering.

So not only did I have a couple of sales from that, but I have also had my first ever product review!!

Here is the link to the article

I am over the moon as the recipient of the Campervan was really thrilled with it!