A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

~ inspired by SouleMama

~ Outside today

It's the last day of my little "let's get down to business" week on the blog, and I wanted to share with you some awesome creative business folk. These are people whose footsteps we would like to follow, well I certainly would! 

~ Gabrielle from The Green Gables

Gabrielle creates beautiful decorations, stationery & gifts that are completely eco-friendly. And all of them are made in the UK - isn't that awesome? She exhibited at Top Drawer in January, her products are featured in tons of lovely magazines, she is a huge inspiration, and I'm sure her business is going to be huge in the next few years. And she's absolutely lovely. Today on her blog are some gorgeous free twitter backgrounds that she designed. 

~ Becky from Dots and Spots

Becky has built her amazing stationery and gift business so quickly, and seems to be growing more successful by the day. She is like the Cath Kidston of stationery! I am truly in awe of Dots & Spots and how they have developed. Becky also writes a great blog and their progress is lovely to read about. She's lovely too, and so generous in her help & advice to others. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Dots & Spots shops start popping up around Britain over the next few years. 

~ Inside today

~ Sarah from Sarah Jane Studios

Sarah illustrates books, designs fabric, and has created her own very successful lifestyle brand. I am in awe of Sarah - everything she creates is beautiful and seemingly incredibly successful. And she has three small children. It has been amazing to watch her journey from a small etsy shop to launching her second huge range of fabric & publishing picture books. I can only dream of doing even a quarter as well as Sarah.

~ Mandy from Belle and Boo

Mandy is another superhero in the illustration world. The range of Belle and Boo products is just outstanding, and like Cupcakes for Clara the brand is based around two characters. Picture books, clothes, stationery, and party goods are just a few of the products Mandy & her team design. And they have just won Junior Magazine's Best Online Toy/Gift Retailer for 2012. How amazing is that? 

~ Lauren Child

I couldn't mention people whose footsteps I would like to follow without adding Lauren Child, the creator of Charlie & Lola to the list! She is just amazing!

I hope some of these lovely folk might inspire you in the way they inspire me. And to inspire you even further, next week I am starting a series of illustrator interviews. I have some AMAZING illustrators dropping by on the blog over the next few weeks - it's very exciting! 

Going out on a hunt for holly felt pretty strange today in the lovely 24ºC sunshiney weather. And as strange as it sounds, I needed holly for my Christmas photoshoot. In May. Yep, that's right!

But I promise there was a good reason. Christmas magazines start putting their features and gift guides together in the next few weeks. And I am determined to be brave and send press packs to lots of lovely magazines this year. 

Of course I'm not sure exactly what to put in a press pack to pitch my products to magazines. I've had some great advice from a couple of lovely people who are experts at sending out their work, but any advice would be most appreciated. 

My lovely Dad also lent a hand at the weekend, photographing a range of my products against white backgrounds. Using his fancy cubes the photos are now perfect for cutting out ready for magazines/wholesalers/features. I put this little sheet together just for fun, and to see how well the cut outs worked - pretty well I think. I can really picture them on magazine product pages grouped with other awesome stationery, can you?I have been thinking a lot this week about the right market for my products, so alongside a press pack I will be putting together wholesale information to send out to potential retailers. If you know of any particular shops where you would love to see Cupcakes for Clara products available, definitely let me know!

P.S. Inbetween taking Christmassy photos today, I was interviewed by the absolutely lovely April from Blacksburg Belle. How exciting is that?! I was super nervous because I have admired April for ages, and she is somehwhat of a business hero to me. But she soon put me at ease, and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with her. Hopefully I didn't sound too much like a bumbling English girl talking nonsense about her "make it up as I go along" business!! 

So on day two of my "getting down to business week" I thought I would share some of the businessy type books from my bookshelf that I love and find really inspirational. 

~ The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin is a fantastic guide to getting started with your own handmade business. It goes into selling online, at craft shows, and wholesale. A good all rounder.

~ A Book About Innocent by Innocent is an incredibly inspirational book all about how three guys followed their dream to produce smoothies without using concentrated juices. I promise you'll love it.

~ Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos by Heidi Adnumbook is a great little photography book focusing specifically on taking pictures of your products for online selling.

~ Open Studios with Lotta Jansdotter by Lotta Jansdotter isn't strictly a business book, but it does contain lots of gorgeous office/studio spaces which is a necessary part of business right?!

~ Sweet Dreams: The Story of Green & Blacks by Craig Sams & Josephine Fairley is the story of how Green & Blacks got started. I bought this after my mentoring session with Jo and hearing a little bit about how they began. Very inspirational too.

~ Blogging for Bliss by Tara Frey is a very pretty book providing lots of useful information if you plan on blogging as part of your business. Lots of lovely blogs to check out too.

~ A Space of My Own by Caroline Clifton-Mogg is another "not really a business" book but awesome non the less. 

As I am *hoping* to branch into picture books, these three books are an invaluable addition to my bookshelf.

~ The Writers' & Artists' Yearbook is awesome. The best guide ever. I have the 2011 version but will be updating to the 2013 version when it's released on July 5th. I also have the Children's edition. 

~ Illustrating Children's Picture Books by Steven Withrow

~ Illustrating Children's Books: Creating Pictures for Publication by Martin Salisbury

I would love to know some of your favourite business books, or non-business books that you find particularly inspirational/helpful for your ventures. Please do share in the comments. Next on my list to purchase is The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Book - it looks great!

My mind is a whir of inspiration right now. Last week I started sketching book spreads and it seemed to get the wheels of creativity turning. It is very exciting!

Then on Saturday I met up with the incredibly lovely Gabrielle of Green Gables fame. It was so lovely to meet her in "real life" as opposed to the online land of twitter & email. We chatted for a couple of hours about so many businessy things. And seriously my brain hasn't stopped for a moment since! 

I'm thinking trade fairs, new product designs, new book ideas, wholesale catalogues, press releases. You name it & it's probably whizzing around my little mind at this very moment! 

So this week all of my blog posts will be themed around "getting down to business." I'm in need of opinions, have inspirations to share with you, and hope that by the end of this week I might be a teeny tiny step closer to achieving my dreams, and have helped you get a little bit closer to yours too.

First up... trade fairs.

Inspired by my chat with Gabrielle, I *may* have completely designed my first trade fair booth. Of course I haven't actually got a fair booked but I am dreaming that it will happen one day. And after last weeks craft fair saga, I'm thinking that trade fairs might be the step forward that I need to take. 

I roughly sketched my design out, mainly so that I don't forget, but I can picture it perfectly in my head. And I'm hoping with all my might that it will become a reality within the next couple of years. I've also started a pinterest board of some amazing booths to see how the pro's do it. You're welcome to take a peek.

So what I'm wondering is, who has done a trade fair. Who has visited one? Which one would you recommend to debut at? Top Drawer? Harrogate? The Spring/Autumn Fair at the NEC? I want to go and visit a few this year to get a feel for them. But obviously these things take a lot of planning, and are expensive, so any opinions are most welcome. Please do share your thoughts in the comments. 

And today I managed to sneak in a little sketching whilst Theo slept & Matilda sat beside me painting. I was planning new products mainly, with a little bit of the book thrown in, and of course dreaming of my "one day it might happen" trade fair booth!

Oh yes, these photos are very early sneak peeks of possible products of the future! 

P.S. A range of Cupcakes for Clara products are now available at the lovely online store Card Couture. How exciting is that?!

A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

~ inspired by SouleMama

Today has been all about sketching. And more excitingly, all about sketching pages for the second Clara & Macy picture book.

Of course it's no secret that I'm *hoping with all my might* that Clara & Macy will one day grace the pages of their very own picture books. (And maybe even an animation series!) So I really need to get into gear with the dummy books & finished sample spreads so that I can pitch them to an agent, and then a publisher.

But I have been slightly putting it off. I'm not sure why - I think I'm nervous of making too many mistakes. Silly right? So today I got myself a cup of tea, laid out the storyboards that Tom & I have been working on (yes, my awesome author husband is working on the books with me - it's SO much fun), got my pencils out, put my mind into bravery mode, and started sketching.

And I had a blast!

Before I even begin this blog post, I just want to say thank you so much for your amazing, wonderful, and lovely comments on my last blog post. It seems as though I am most definitely not alone in the slightly less than positive craft fair experience. Which makes me sad for you guys who have had those days too, but glad to not be alone. 

I was really quite overwhelmed with the response, and you all made me feel extremely loved. Thank you xx

So on Monday afternoon Matilda decided that we had to have a cosy reading corner in our front room. And we had to have it right then. 

We set to work packing away old toys, moving books around, and straightening shelves. Cleaning the dolls house, sweeping the floor, getting out the bean bag, and generally clearing the clutter. 

This was the result. And we're all pretty pleased - especially Matilda. 

Instead of piles of toys heaped in front of crammed bookcase, everything is that little bit more accessible for tiny hands. Easy to get out & easy to put away. 

It's not completely ideal, after all we only live in a small rented house, but it does the job. And already this week some lovely hours have been spent curled up in the corner reading favourite books.

I think the dolls are pretty pleased with their new location too!

Also on Monday, as you may have seen me post on twitter/facebook, Cupcakes for Clara had it's second newspaper feature in two weeks! Last week a double page spread in Business Week, this week a full page in the Manchester Evening News. They've posted the article online too, which you can read here. 

Things seem to be happening in twos this week - I also had two new wholesale orders from two lovely new stockists. Squeal! 

After every cloud...

Well, it was certainly an interesting weekend! On Saturday Tom & I left the little ones having a sleepover at Grandma & Grandpa's house whilst we went to watch Jerry Seinfeld do stand up at the Manchester Arena. It was amazing. I don't think I have laughed so much ever. There were moments when I thought I might fall off my chair, stop breathing, or truly collapse in a heap of giggles. A fantastic night out. 

And on Sunday, I had a stall at a local craft fair. Where I learnt a couple of important lessons.

I wish I could say it was a huge success and that I loved every minute of it. But it wasn't, and I didn't. The fair itself was lovely, the ladies who organised it did a fantastic job. Lots of lovely stalls, vintage & craft, tea & cakes, and a wonderful singer providing entertainment. 

I loved my new display stands, and I think my stall looked quite pretty. I sold an average amount of products, not spectacular but not terrible. I had lots of lovely comments, but unfortunately some not so lovely ones too.

~ Lesson number one... you can't please all of the people all of the time.

As sweet as most people at the fair were, a few made comments that surprised me & made me feel a little sad. For example, I overheard a couple of children asking their mum if they could have a paper doll each. Their mum said "no, they are a complete waste of money, you will play with it for an hour or so & then throw it in the bin." The little girls were really disappointed. 

It wasn't so much that they were told no, more that the mum told her daughters right in front of me that my own products were a complete waste of money. Not so fun to hear. She wasn't the only parent with that view either.

~ Lesson number two... not every market place is the right one for you. 

It seems that paper products are not in fashion in this particular location, rather jewellery & accessories are the more popular choices. At first I felt as though I was in the wrong, maybe my products weren't good enough, varied enough or generally lovely enough. But today I realise that it's not my products. It just wasn't quite the right marketplace for me. 

~ Lesson number three... an activity zone at one end of the table is space very well used. 

I set up a little area with free colouring sheets, crayons, larger display versions of the Clara paper doll for playing with, and a bowl of business cards. It seemed to go down well, and children bored of trailing around after their parents hung out at the end of my table colouring & playing. It was really nice to see. Shame their parents weren't so enthusiastic.

~ Lesson number four... don't dwell on the negatives.

Admittedly this is pretty difficult to do when you are surrounded by so many lovely people on and off line. I felt terribly disheartened yesterday, and I let the negative seep in far more than I should have. I fretted about numerous things, thinking that I would never be successful at a fair again. Wondering if I should ever bother doing a more high profile trade fair & pitch to retailers rather than customers. Thinking that if people at a local fair weren't too interested surely it would only be worse at a big trade fair. And really wondering if my products are, in fact, any good after all.

But today I came to my senses. Today I can see it for the experience it was - a really lovely craft fair that wasn't quite the right market for me. And remembering the truth - you really can't please all of the people all of the time. And I guess you shouldn't try to.

Oh, and remembering that I like my products, which is what really counts right?!

A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

~ inspired by SouleMama