Time to move on

On The Rebound are on the move. I've just taken some studio space (ooh, get me!) in central Nottingham, ready for when we move house later on this Summer. I've never really done anything like that before - when I've worked for myself previously it's always been on the basis of working in someone else's office. Although OTR Towers, as it has so grandly been titled, is a small but perfectly formed space, there's enough room for my guillotine, a work bench and my stacks of books and craft paper and tools. I've got some new ideas for gorgeous photo albums/boasting books that will be uploaded to the site as soon as I move, so that's exciting (for me anyway!) I've also got a whole learning curve to get through as I find my way around Nottingham, and work out where I can get some space to carry out workshops for people who want to make funky little books.

In the meantime, life goes on - academic diaries are proving very popular at the moment with people whose relatives are off the uni this September - and a couple of orders for Chocolate Jotters as wedding favours have been most welcome. I'm probably the only person hoping for cool days at the relevant weddings, but don't tell the brides that will you.....

Where's the year going?

It seems a bit strange to me that it was such a hard, long winter and suddenly it's the end of April and the lighter days and the slight improvement in temperature make it seem to me like March. I am not quite sure what happened to March or February or January to be honest and it's a bit of shock to the system to be sitting here tearing my hair out at exam/final essay time again. Thoughts of book rebinding have been quite a long way from my mind to be honest, but I've just ordered some new paper and I've been reading 'Bookbinder' magazine and my essay typing fingers are now itching to start fondling my stash again.

I had intended to get some workshops going this Summer. for people to make their own notebooks out of recycled stuff, retro with a tongue in cheek cheeky grin if you like. I'll be investigating doing this, but I think it'll be later in the year as I've got quite a lot on between now and the Summer. I reckon it would be great fun to make Christmas presents and tags and stuff in a happy crowd on a cold Saturday, so I'll be getting my planning hat on once exams and stuff are over.

Something in the air

Well, since blogging briefly on Tuesday, it's all gone mental here! Firstly I had a great time at BBC Radio Lincolnshire on the breakfast show as the sofa guest. As things transpired, I got to talk more about my writing work than OTR, but Rod and the ladies on the team fondled my books and I gave them a Chocolate Jotter each so hopefully they'll spread the word.

I've been getting some excellent new customers who love the books, and I've got a busy week ahead making some bespoke books which is lovely and may lead to renewed levels of craft mojo (which have been sadly missing lately...) I've also been listed on a new site called Little Luxuries and I'm hoping to promote my seedies as wedding favours.

On a grim note, I'm completely fed up with Royal Mail - or should I say Royal Fail. How much more mail do they have to lose? And why is it always my stuff? I'm so angry I could stamp my feet. In fact I just have done.

I've been fascinated by my friend Sam's stuff that she is making at Bobcats Creations and I'm sitting on my hands stopping myself buying all of her necklaces! She's a busy woman, and she's really determined to make a success of her new business. Good luck Sam!

I'm also wondering who I can tell about my arty friend Lizzy's new business as well. Lizzy is a practising commercial artist who also provides hands on art workshops and children's art parties. You can find her here

Well, despite the weather, things are still moving on at a pace - I've got some other ventures underway, and I'm also conscious that the garden is calling. I hate there not being enough hours in the day, so I'd best get on! I'm sorting out a venue for my recycled notebook workshop at the moment - as soon as it's confirmed I'll be advertising them here and on the website and I hope they'll be dead popular!

Have a great weekend and try and stay dry!

February with a hint of December

Winter saw me hibernating, huddled around the pc and not being terribly creative. I had the odd spurt of orders around Christmas mainly from some colleagues in my business networking group 4Networking but it was quieter than I expected. However it's given me loads of food for thought. I've got new and really exciting stuff on the go - there'll be a demo video on YouTube shortly, a collaboration between me and two great people, Jen and James, who own Speak Out Media which is a fabby media company who do all sorts of clever stuff with video, PR and so on. The key message I learned this Christmas (and bear with me cos it was my first festive season!) was that I need way way way more exposure to up my sales. So the work starts now.


New stuff happening

I'm intending to start some occasional workshops this summer offering visitors the chance to make a jotter out of recycled materials - hopefully with some fancy bits as well.

I'm also starting to promote the seedies as wedding favours - a long lasting 'gift' to say thank you to wedding guests. I will have some samples on the website shortly and I will be doing some fairly extensive marketing to get these on the wedding circuit radar.

I've got a plan to produce some birthday books as well. Watch this space.

I've made this a short post because I wanted to re start my blogging habit. Next one will have much more substance and loads of pics.