Our Week in Pictures

After doing a lot of travelling last week we really needed to stay close to home and chill on our days together this week. As it happens a blogging friend of mine the beautiful Polly was visiting and it gave us a nice excuse for lots of tea drinking (the real and the make believe kind like in the picture above) and a chance finally to meet in real life! Can you believe how cute all these kiddos are??

On Tuesday an old friend dropped by for a flying visit, we had dinner together (Wilf too) until Tom came and saved the day by taking a overtired toddler to his bed and allowed me a little more time to gossip. I'm working on her moving here so I'll keep you updated on that one.

I must admit being off work and sneaking emails here and there on our trips last week meant I am really quite behind on all my various projects. I spent most of my nursery day on Tuesday feeling like I was trudging through treacle trying to get anything done. It's not a feeling I enjoy, I envision a fair few evenings in front of the laptop other the next little while, still I know I am lucky to work for myself so I'll refrain from grumbling too much.

I'm not sure if it's Mars in retrograde (look it up, it makes sense) but I've been feeling a little frustrated lately for no one reason I can put my finger on. I feel at times that I am plateauing and being a 'do-er' sort of person its making me a little upset. On Tuesday I had a short cry about it, had a cup of tea, told myself off and put it in perspective.

Hoping for more productivity next week mixed with more chilled days like this. Also Polly please come and live in Bristol too please?

A little insight into running a business

I've been running my shop for 6 months now, which has gone surprisingly fast and is doing (in my opinion) surprisingly well! I'm not sure how success is measured really but between my blog and shop I am earning the same amount as returning to my old job (part time!) and this I feel is kind of the perfect scenario for me.

Of course, being the person I am,  I'm not really one for resting on my laurels so I'm always striving for more and reminding myself to not get complacent. With blogging and retail, these things are not certain, each month is different. These things are exciting but also nerve wracking, especially when you have nursery fees to pay!

If you remember I mentioned earlier last year I attended a Princes Trust enterprise course. I'm not sure I took a great amount of new skills away with me but what I did learn was that I knew more than I thought I did. That some areas I excel in and some..not so much, accounts are my weakness for sure, admin of most kind bores me to tears (how was I ever a P.A??) I much prefer the creative side of running a business. There are some areas of having a business I am constantly testing to find out what works best for me, these are mainly things like packaging suppliers, wholesalers and shipping.

I was offered some free credit on Parcel2Go's website and being that posting orders is something I do on a daily basis I was eager to test them out. The first thing I noticed once I'd created an account was that if you have an Amazon or Ebay business you can immediately link your accounts so that the information is already recorded ready for shipping. This also works with a Shopify shop if you happen to have one. My shop is actually a Big Cartel shop that I have customised so this didn't fit with mine but it also gives you the option to upload spreadsheets directly to the system if needs be.

I decided to use the service mainly for my larger orders as I don't really mind popping round the corner with my bag of small parcels but lugging around the bigger items is sometimes a bit of a pain. After you input the size and weight of your parcel it gives you a list of all the parcel companies quotes for different options (next day, 48 hours, insured etc) and you simply click on the best deal for you and your order is placed. It was a very simple process and cut out googling for cheap deals. You can ship internationally and there is also a tracking system to trace how your item is doing.

It's a simple enough site to use and good to know you are getting the best deal. You do have to weigh and measure your parcel of course (as with any courier system) and also have use of a printer but as long as that isn't an issue I would certainly recommend it.

Now I need someone to offer me a bulk loads of bubble wrap, tissue paper and jiffy bags ;)

we were given some credit to test the service but all words and thoughts are my own

Etsy mothers day wish list

1, Mustard yellow hand knitted bobbie hat from Bonnetsandbooties
2, Prends le temps embroidery hoop by Threeredapples
3, Grapefruit lemon and cederwood shampoo from consciousskincare

When it comes to gifts I always try and buy handmade. I'll admit I do love the high street for clothing (although I try when i can to buy ethically) but I can't remember a time I haven't turned to market stalls and Etsy to find something really unique when I'm present buying. It just makes it a bit more special doesn't it?

I thought it would be fun to show you can get at least three wonderful, unique items for a total price of £50 this mothers day and still shop handmade.

These are my top pics from Etsy UK. My mum would frown at the hat choice as she doesn't think they suit her but it would probably be one of those gifts I give and decide to keep for myself, anyone else do that?

And because I'm a mama too these would be my pics (take note Tom ;))

1, Binoculars wooden necklace by Kateslittlestore
2, Hand painted vintage purse by Lazydoll
3, Cat lady necklace by TTDER

This post is in association with Etsy

A little more of Manchester

A few more pictures from our break in Manchester.

My sister Serin travelled up with us to Manchester as she had been staying at ours for a few days previously, viewing a Uni close to us and hanging out with Wilf and I. It was super useful to have an extra pair of hands with our luggage and buggy and I kept thinking 'how do people travel with more than one child??' Immediately you are outnumbered (if only one parent is traveling) and if you have a toddler like mine that loves to run FAST then what would you do whilst looking after the other? Parents of more than one, hats off to you!

We stayed at the Youth Hostel, something my parents love to do. They are a lot more fancy now than the backpacker type image they had in previous years and Wilf and I got a family room for around £70 for two nights. We have a YH card that was on offer when I renewed our family rail card, something else I would totally recommend if traveling by train a fair bit. You can get a third of your ticket price which really does help and we travel by train a lot!

We didn't get to try out a tram whilst we were up there, I actually had never seen one before and my dad laughed at me when I told him I thought they were unable to stop (I figured they were just like scalextrics and had no break capacity..) but I think it would be quite a novelty if we visit again.

It's fun going on all these trips to places I might never have before on my sisters uni visits. I'm really eager to find out where she picks.

The pictures above are of my dad, younger brother and of course Wilf. My brother Madog and Wilf are only ten years apart in age, they could almost be brothers! My dad insisted on letting geese eat out of his hand, even when one bit him!