Neglected Shop

This is the problem with inertia. Once I stopped making things, I stopped paying attention to my shop, and I (pretty much) stopped selling things.

Now my shop just looks a bit neglected...ok, a lot neglected.

Trying to combine a full-time job (and one with very long hours) with running a craft business is difficult and really requires far better organisation skills than I, with my amazing ability to procrastinate, currently have.

But I'm working on it and my shop is already looking a little better, I've sorted out the lack of featured items for a start.

I'm working primarily on listing or re-listing something each day - mainly re-lisiting as I need to make a lot more new things something I haven't done in far too long.

This has meant the first thing I've been doing has been trying to sort out my stock, which has just left me massively confused.

Mainly the problem I'm having is tallying up the hundreds of pictures on my computer with what I've got, what's sold and which of items made from the same material are listed/have been listed and which haven't.

So I either need a much better organisational system or I just need to gather all the photos together and work out where exactly the item they relate to is.

On the plus side I appear to have solved all my technology problems, and have a new camera battery, laptop cable and the internet is (fingers crossed) running smoothly.

Technology

I'm being thwarted by technology at the moment. I seem to be a target for faulty electrical goods or something.

Firstly, I'm currently trying very hard not to jiggle my laptop too much (kind of defeating the point of a laptop here) as I am once again suffering a dodgy Dell power cable.

Every laptop I have, I go through quite a few power cables and adapters and they always start to get loose connections on the end which is connected to the computer so the power cuts out when you knock it, which isn't fun.

Trying to solve it, I've managed to buy (off eBay, obviously) a generic adapter with a plug that doesn't fit UK sockets properly, so now need to sort that out as well.

To be fair it might be me, I had problems with a Compaq tablet laptop (cool idea, took a while to get used to but I kinda miss it). I think I just overwork computers.

My digital camera battery has also decided to die on me. It's refusing to recharge, so no pictures (and I was totally going to work on my Etsy shop this weekend and everything).

Googling both these problems, looks like they're not uncommon.

Hopefully, the internet problem is fixed. It's been cutting out every night between 10pm and 2am and then it doesn't come back on until 11am the next, which is incredibly annoying. Landlords came round this morning with a new modem, which hopefully will solve it. If it doesn't there's a new router we can try.

If that doesn't fix it then at least we've established that it's Virgin Media being useless.

Plans

I need to plan more because I get nothing done (witness slightly neglected etsy shop)

(SALE - Pinstripe 2009 A5 Diary)

I'm being slightly thwarted by extremely flaky internet at the moment, it keeps going down for hours on end, making getting any etsy/online stuff much harder work than usual.

The general plan, or things that need doing soon,

• Ending the never-ending January sale (before March at least).
• Actually listing some new items (I'm on a rolling renew things as they expire kick sat the moment, which is theoretically possible once you reach a certain number of listings and never sell anything)
• Promote (but I probably always say that)
• Do something, anything with my even more neglected website

Obviously the chances of me getting this done are slim but I'm kind of motivated (which is so much better than not at all motivated).

This week...

...has been long and confusing, I can't believe I still have to get through Friday.

I think it's the snow it's confusing me.

Snow!

Perfect fluffy deep snow!

My garden this evening (we really should have taken the airer down, as it obviously isn't been used during the winter), we've had about three or four inches.

I've been walking about in wellies today kicking through snow, which has been a lot of fun. Also had a snowball fight in the near empty car park at work (it's up/and on a steep hill so people weren't using it today).

I've also managed to slip over twice (which hurts) and ended up having to go to head office to work because there were no trains or buses going north (hopefully this won't be the situation tomorrow but it looks like it will be).

But snow! Snow is good! (Also really glad nothing was planted in those pots).

I blame Twiggy!

I got inspired watching Twiggy's Frock Exchange this evening and gave an old pair of cropped trousers a bit of a make-over during Jamie's Ministry of Food.


From this:

Nothing very complicated (hence, it only took about an hour), I hacked them off a bit shorter and then re-hemed them as shorts.


To this (sorry, dreadful picture):

I think I also just about mastered turn-ups as well.

New things!

New items are back at Pink Flamingo Swizzle Stick from this week and from now on up and till Christmas.

Like this Pretty New iPod Cover.

As are blog posts, oh poor neglected blog.