My poor bank account

Well, following on from this morning's post, I duly took my daughter to a shop recommended by a work colleague as being one of the less expensive places to buy a prom dress.

Elz was convinced she wanted a blue dress and we duly wandered round the shop picking out all the ones she liked and putting them on a rail for her to try on. Eight dresses later and she found one she really liked but the shop assistant thought it may be worth her trying it on in one size bigger to see whether she felt more comfortable (a size 8 instead of a 6).

She had exactly the same dress in a size 8 but in a very pale lemon instead of the original blue the size 6 one was in. Well, she tried in on and we both fell in love with it instantly. It looked like it had been made especially for her. It really is the most gorgeous dress ever.

While we were on a roll, we also got the shoes and a tiara. It then suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't asked any prices! Are you sitting down cos I certainly had to when the woman announced she had chosen the most expensive dress in the shop - eekk!!!

So, deposit put down and payment in installments from now on. I know what you are saying - I should have said no, but ultimately its only actually £20 more expensive than both the elder daughters' dresses and what you do for one you have to do for the others.

The prom isn't actually until June time so I'm afraid you will have to wait for then to see the photos but now I need your help - if you or anyone you knows needs a gift for a newborn or a baby shower please please get in contact as it looks like I need all the money I can get!

Shopping

Well, today I am off out shopping for a prom dress. Youngest daughter wants to get out and about before everybody else so she gets the pick of the dresses and I can't say I blame her. They didn't do proms in my day but I still have a yearning to buy a dress with a huge skirt and float about in it - sad or what!

OH has strategically announced he is going to be very busy today - doing what I'm not quite sure - so its just me and Elz. We're going to venture slightly further afield to a shop somebody at work has recommended and secretly I'm quite looking forward to it although not so looking forward to parting with the money involved!

I am going to have to sell a lot more nappy cakes and things from my website to pay for all this you know so please please help me out by forwarding and recommending my link to anyone you think could use it or needs a gift for a newborn baby - just think of it as aiding and abetting a mother of 3 daughters who are steadily draining her bank account! :0)

I'm also holding out for the postman as I'm still waiting for some deliveries of new items I want to put on my website - its a bit like watching a kettle boil - nothing ever arrives when you're waiting for it. All I ever seem to get in the post is bills and more bills.

So, apart from the things I want to add to the collection, I also have some other plans afoot but I'm going to save those and tell you about them when I've got them straight in my mind and they have (hopefully) moved on a bit.

Keep reading to find out more.

Friday at last

Okay, I've only been at work at my full-time job for the last two days but it already feels like a lifetime!

Its frantically busy but I do sometimes feel its all a bit deja vu if you know what I mean? You end up doing the same things over and over again - there just doesn't seem to be any end to it.

Still, I've got the weekend to recover from the shock of being back to the grindstone. I'm off to look at prom dresses with my youngest daughter tomorrow. The prom isn't actually until June but apparently if you don't get in nice and early all the good stuff gets snapped up and nobody wants to be seen in the same dress as anybody else do they!

It hasn't been a bad week for nappy cakes. I had one website sale and 3 phone calls for various shapes and sizes. I haven't heard from the hospital shops yet - I must do that after I've finished here.

I'm also waiting for some stock so I can add some things to my website - its really coming together quite nicely but it never hurts to keep re-arranging and updating to keep it fresh - nobody wants to sit and look at the same old things each time they check it out.

If you have any suggestions or even want to buy a nappy cake - give me a call and mention my blog and I will make sure I do you a very good deal.

Have a good Friday evening.

URGHHHHHH!

The title of this blog is due to the fact that I had to go back to full-time work today - boring, boring, boring. Not only did I go back to 190 emails but the whole of our office had to leave and go to a director's presentation (yawn) just after lunch.

Honestly, we are up to our eyes in it and they want us to down tools and listen to them drone on about facts and figures!

Anyway, on the plus side, I got two more orders today for nappy cakes. I just need to figure out how to get loads more orders a week and then I can give up the job I dislike and start concentrating on what I love - nappy cakes!

The presentation didn't finish until much later than they originally told us so I have had to rush home and make one nappy cake for the courier to pick up tomorrow, answer several answerphone messages, emails and texts from customers and find time to have something to eat and get myself organised for another day in the office tomorrow. I just need more hours in my day (about another 4 or 5 would do!).

Still, I have promised myself I am going to be more optimistic and realise my glass is actually more than half full most of the time. I might make myself a poster and stick it up somewhere prominent to remind me.

Hope your day was better than mine. See you tomorrow.

Oh no - back to work!

Oh well, it had to end some time didn't it? My Xmas hols are officially over as over first thing tomorrow morning when I am due back at my full-time job :0(

Why does time go so much more quickly when you are enjoying things than it does when you are stuck doing something you really don't want to?!

On the plus side, I have decided to expand the website part of my business and am now going to start selling baby baskets. They are really sweet as the basket is lined with gingham in either pink, blue or lemon and the basket itself has two handles on. I'm going to be putting a bodysuit, romper, teddy and then a "baby's first shoes" box, photo album and birth certificate holder. I thought it would appeal to somebody who didn't fancy buying an actual nappy cake. We shall have to see how it plays out.

I am also going to be stocking cufflinks for new dads and maybe "new dad" t-shirts although I need to source a good wholesaler for these.

If anybody reading this can think of anything else that would help boost sales I am always up for suggestions.

See you tomorrow.

Rushing around as usual

Seeing as I'm due back at my fulltime job this coming Thursday, I thought today would be an ideal day to relax and finish up those little jobs I didn't get round to. No such luck!

I got a text from one of the hospital shops I supply asking me if I could bring in some new nappy cakes for them to put on the shelves, so I thought whilst I was making those I may as well make some for the other hospital shop and do a bit of stock swapping as I think it never hurts to change stock around a bit to keep people coming back and interested.

So, first things first and I went and got my hair cut this morning, then after a quick cup of coffee it was loading the car up ready to go. Now the unfortunate thing about one of the hospitals is that the shop is at the front entrance which is great I hear you say, but a couple of weeks ago work started on a huge extension which means they have blocked the entrance off and I now have to walk the length of the hospital to deliver the nappy cakes. I do have a trolley but am very self-conscious as the wheels squeak away as I'm walking along the corridors.

Mission accomplished there, it was then back in the car to deliver to the other hospital which is approximately 50 minutes in the opposite direction. A very long day by the time I got home but very satisfying to know that everybody has new stock and hopefully they will generate some more sales.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about some new ideas I have had for the website. Ta ta for now!

Getting Organised

As I explained in yesterday's blog, I am trying desperately to get myself more organised for 2011 than I ever was in 2010.

When I first started my nappy cake business my eldest daughter was out of the country for the summer so I utilised her bedroom, but then she came back and me and my nappy cakes were evicted as she, quite rightly, wanted her room back! Fortunately we have quite a largish living room so by moving the furniture around a bit and using a settee we managed to section off one end and I went out and bought a lot of plastic boxes to store everything in.

Then along came Christmas and if you have ever seen the film National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation well .... our Xmas tree pretty much resembled theirs! Why do they always look smaller when you pick one out in the lot than when they arrive back at your house?! Anyway, off we went again with the furniture moving and currently all my nappy cake stock (including the few prepared nappy cakes I always have lying around just in case of an order) is bundled on top of each other higgledy piggledy.

I know things will look better once the tree is gone and my room is back to normality, but after moaning on about the mess for the last few days my OH announced that when he gets back to work this week he will get someone on site to make me a unit where all my boxes etc can live tidily. YAY! Mind you, I can see me having to remind him a few times before it happens but if it does it will be fantastic.

I'll keep you updated on progress but in the meantime, if you are bored, take a look at my website and see the new ideas I'm trying out and let me know what you think (the link is on the right hand side of my blog).

2011 Plans

Okay, I'm the first to admit it - I have been useless at keeping this blog up to date. With everything that's been going on in 2010 - starting up the business, still working full-time, writing my weekly articles for an online magazine - this blog has been the main casualty.

Thanks to a thread posted on the craft forum I belong to, the challenge has been issued to try and write something on my blog every day. I have to be honest with you, I'm not sure I can manage every day but I'm going to try. However, please forgive me if I slip up but I promise to let you know more of what's going on more often that I did last year!

So, how was your Christmas? Even though its only 2nd January it seems like a bit of a distant memory. All the planning and rushing around for what is essentially two day - as lovely as they are.

The nappy cakes have taken a bit of a back seat for me over the festive period. The two hospitals I supply to have been very quiet and my website hasn't generated any sales but I imagine people have had to pay out enough during December without having to diminish their bank balance even further!

The good thing about having the time off from my full-time job though means I had sat down and had a bit of a think about how I am hoping 2011 will pan out. I've decided having a stall at shows every weekend is going to have to stop. I kept a detailed record of everything I sold at each show/event I attended and that has given me a good insight into which shows are worth attending this year.

So far, it looks like I'll be doing a show a month but March and August are looking like they could have two or three. My new 2011 filofax (Xmas gift!) is already filled in as are the booking forms and deposit cheques all sat ready in their envelopes to be posted out.

I've got lots more to tell you, but I think I may make you wait until tomorrow. Have a great evening.