new save your pennies packs

One of my main aims with pur-ple is to provide great crafts supplies and other goodies at great prices.

I ♥love♥ photography and take all photographs myself apart from my suppliers 'stock' photos, but one of my pet hates is when you visit a gorgeous website with gorgeous photos only to find a gorgeous product but at a not so gorgeous price!... and this too applies to bricks and mortar shops too. Many, many times over the years I have peeped through windows, squinted through doors at delightful goodies only upon entering the shop to find the goodies to be rather overpriced (& usually accompanied by an overkeen shop assistant too!) Hence, a rather hurried excuse (I find something to do with the children, is a good one, like "did you say you needed the loo?") and a rushed exit!

I really, really ♥love♥ a bargain too, but I am also more than happy to pay for nice goodies as long as  they are not overpriced!

Well, you should soon start to see my prices at pur-ple actually go down (yes, down!) I hear you say! as I stock more and more items and get closer to opening my bricks and mortar shop too. (My bricks and mortar shop is a little off yet. I have walls to re-point and a floor to lay, electrics & lot's of decorating... but I'm getting there slowly and enjoying the process too)

So, to start with I have created a 'save your pennies packs' category on my website and the very first item to be added are these extremely popular tiny red 9mm buttons in a great value pack of 500. They are not quite bulk or wholesale, just great value. If you are a business customer or avid crafter then I can also offer a really good discount off of all my items at pur-ple... please contact me if you are interested for more info.

... so, save your pennies with pur-ple! (do you like it it's my new saying!)

teal, peach and raspberry divine twine

These new gorgeous colours of Divine Twine are now available at pur-ple - soft teal, soft peach and raspberry / fuchsia...

... arn't they just divine!

If you would like me to stock the new delicious solid colours of Divine Twine for you then please ask.

jingle bells, holiday divine twine and buttons

I have these very lovely Father Christmas / Santa bells in stock at pur-ple & they have the most delightful jingle!

I also have these very popular red bells available too...

... which are just great for trimming your Christmas makes, be it bunting, festive garlands, decorations or stockings they are a rather sweet addition! (You could even use them for little jingly jewellery too!)

I think its OK to mention Christmas now, isn't it? I'm usually in denial until the end of October, but it just feels soooo wintery at the moment.

I've just stocked up with some festive looking candy stripe bags, packing bags and Japanese tape for wrapping & packing your orders in... watch out for some different coloured parcels sliding through your letterboxes and dropping onto your doormats!

Have you seen this very pretty Limited Edition Holiday Divine Twine that I have in stock (please note the word 'limited'... I really don't have that much left now) it is Oh so pretty... and most definately my new favourite.

At the moment I have two small looking parcels full of stock to unpack, one is full of haberdashery delights including lots of Bondaweb... Yay! (It's back in stock - I really watch my stock levels very, very carefully, but this slipped through my safety net!)


... my other small box is rather deceiving & rather heavy too as its full of over 100,000 buttons! Yes, you read that right and it wasn't a typing error. I have over 100,000 buttons to check, sort and put away.... whatever do you do with them all?

I have heard from some of you that you use them for making jewellery, button art and embellishing your stitched creations... and I am sure that there are many that have been bought to put into pretty jars to enjoy looking at and using for that special project.

polka bias binding & PayPal Access Card

So heres my lovely new polka dot bias binding in 18 different colours. Its very bright and cheerful isn't it? Do you see how I tried to stack the colours in the left hand stack in order of the colours of the rainbow? (Which did involve me and my children all trying to remember the correct order and then resorting to googling it!)

I waited until it was a really bright and sunny day and then grabbed my my daughters camera quick as I could'nt find my battery charger anywhere! Why is it that you can never find the charger when you need it in a hurry! I kept getting shadows though so I had a hunt through all the settings on the camera and found a very useful backlight setting. Which helped me achieve the photo (that I had in head) appear on the screen!

Anyway... your perhaps wondering why the title of this post mentions a PayPal Access Card? Then again, you may just be thinking... ohhh, pretty polka bias binding. What project can I use that on? If you are then you can find it here. I spent ages naming all the lovely colours. My favourites are lichen and peony.

If your still wondering about the PayPal thing, then I will tell you...

A little while ago I was given the option to have a free PayPal Access Card. And it's fantastic. I use it quite a bit now. Basicially, I have a PayPal Business Account, my lovely customers buy some goodies from me (for example polka bias binding), the money goes into my PayPal account (that bits obvious) I then either transfer my money into my bank account as and when I want or use my balance online to pay for things or if no balance or not enough balance it defaults to the credit card of my choice)

But now, if I want to buy something, say Large Letter 2nd Class stamps (which I buy alot of) at my local Post Office (for example), or perhaps to post just a single order for say £1.10, or buy a ream of A4 copier paper which is so much easier to buy locally as every time I have ordered online the corners get dented which is really frustrating! I can use my card. By the time I have got home or have mobile phone signal an email will ping through confirming my transaction. Simple, quick & easy but most of all FREE!

I find that it also saves me paperwork as it then shows up on my KashFlow accounts and I don't have to keep using petty cash and causing myself more work or having to enter my debit card payment manually to KashFlow.

You can also use it over the phone too, just like any other card.

Oh, and the best bit (which resorted in my jumping up and down in delight at my Post Office Counter - you don't have to do that bit by the way!) is that it has one of those wavy lines on the end of it. Yes, it's contactless, so you can just hold it against the matching wavy lines on the screen at your post office without even entering your pin for small transactions! A quick beep, grab your receipt and your done. It did take me a minute or two to work that out and lots of waving the card around at the screen, and looking a little silly, but it was worth it!

folding scissors & ebay nectar points

I've just added these really cute little folding scissors to my website & my ebay shop pur-ple.
They are exclusive to pur-ple & are currently available with a very dear reindeer charm or a snowflake charm... I think they would make great little stocking fillers or Secret Santa gifts at just £2.75 each.
I shall be adding some more designs soon... including a rather sweet little owl.

They are great for your craft bags for crafting on the go!

Oh, by the way... did you know that you can now link your ebay account directly with your Nectar points account?

I only just realised this when I logged into my ebay seller account... so I quickly linked them up by adding my Nectar card number. It was really easy to do. Now whenever I buy items on ebay I receive Nectar points too. Yay!

Diamond Jubilee

So this afternoon whilst my youngest was having his afternoon nap & my middle daughter was out helping her Daddy. Me & my eldest daughter made a celebration Diamond Jubilee cake for everyone for tea!

Now, I enjoy baking... but am far, far from perfect so when my daughter suggested a red, white & blue cake I thought, OK, why not have a go!







So after a quick rummage in the back of the cupboard for some food colouring, lots of giggling & a cup of tea each... heres our finished handmade with love, cake! Ta da!!!




... I am now waiting for my red, white & blue (ok, slightly green!) jellies (yes, I know I got slightly carried away!) to set & have just put the bunting up over the table ready for tea! Happy Jubilee everyone!

Louise
*pur-ple

a little sewing time

I had a tiny bit of spare time today (about an hour!) & I have been desperate to get my sewing machine out and practise my sewing & cutting techniques. This is what I quickly made...


a felt 'cushion' to put inside my car boot sale bargain 'pot', so that I could keep my beloved scissors & punch 'safely' inside! Yes, I know (my husband rolled his eyes when I showed him it!)


a little felt & fabric needlecase/pincase for myself as I wanted to practise my stitches.








I think my stitches are a little wonky and I should have ironed my needle cases before photographing. Plus, I should have really used Bondaweb for my applique and my cutting out & lining up is a bit iffy in places but I really enjoyed practising & think my results are quite sweet!


My youngest Daughter begged me to make a little needlecase for her too! I quickly, cut & stitched it while she was getting ready for bed as a surprise!

Louise
*pur-ple

embroidered ribbon

So... I'm really, really excited about this! I now have this amazing embroidered ribbon in stock at pur-ple.

I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and just had to stock it! They are really rather special, and would look gorgeous on so many things, from bag handles, to wrapping around a precious gift, embellishing a handmade card, trimming a cushion, adding to childrens clothing (they are great to cover marks or stains!) to using your last scrap as a pull handle on a zipped bag.

Isn't it just gorgeous!

I also have four other equally delightful designs also in stock at pur-ple available by the meter and I also now offer a small swatch service at just 10p per swatch - to help with your decision making... or you could just have them all!

swatch / samples

I hope you are all enjoying your Easter breaks...

I am currently working on designing a lovely tri-fold printable wool felt swatch chart... which will be available to download from pur-ple soon.

In the mean time I have just added a new page to pur-ple where you can now order a small sample of bakers twine or wool felt to help with your colour decisions. I will add extra samples soon which will also include polka bias binding and my gorgeous new embroidered ribbon!

I really wanted to add this to pur-ple for you, as I know how hard it can be to find the right colour/texture for your project - and this means hopefully it may help to save you a few pennies too!

You can find my new sample / swatch page here

celebrate

To celebrate the launch of my new re-designed website www.pur-ple.co.uk I am giving 10% off all purchase with discount code PUR-PLE10 until the end of this month. Yay!


Louise
*pur-ple

website launch

So I woke up this morning and thought... that's it I'm going to launch my re-designed website TODAY! It's such a gorgeous, sunny day here in Devon, it just seemed perfect!

So many of you have been asking when I am going to launch and I keep saying... when I have a few spare minutes to finish it. Well I found those few spare minutes this morning (actually I haven't stopped yet!)

And, I did promise a HUGE discount code which is TWITTER25 It is a huge 25% off discount code valid for today only. And it is valid on everything at www.pur-ple.co.uk

Yay!

i love shopping

I love shopping for myself but I adore finding special goodies for my own shop even more.

I have gorgeous little felt tape measures in at pur-ple.

My favourite has to be this dear little owl... just gently pull his wing and out pops a tape measure. There is a little button on the back for quick winding ups!

... and watch out for my new polka dot bias binding arriving soon in 18 different colours, along with Hi-Tack fast drying glue, and some new spotty buttons : D

The delivery of my new stock is due to arrive in tomorrow. I have nearly finished entering the bias binding on my website, I just have to photograph all the rolls. It is so exciting opening the boxes of new goodies!

shop fittings

I have been squirreling away shop fittings for months now! So that they will be all ready and waiting to go straight in after my shop roof is done and the inside refurbished...


These are my most recent fab finds... lots and lots of slatwall fittings to go on my oak slatwall and grid wall for my craft supplies.

I also have some oak shelves too. These will also fit on the slatwall along with some clear acrylic card tiers for my card wall (which I have yet to buy)

I must admit that slatwall is not my favourite / ideal choice for my little shop but I think with a bit of care and imagination it should fit in nicely with my vintage / pre-loved pieces... and it is rather handy when you have very uneven walls and you want to move shelves around!

Louise
*pur-ple

how to simply change the word comment

I tend to tweak things quite often... and perhaps 9pm at night is not quite the right time to be fiddling with the html on my blog... but a certain colour was beginning to annoy me.

Now, that was a simple edit and I quickly remembered where to tweak it!

But, with slightly tired eyes and with my face getting nearer and nearer the screen I decided now would be a great time to change the word "comments" on my blog to something a little sweeter!

You know the bit I mean, don't you? You know when you post a comment on a blog or publish a comment that has been left on your own blog that it then says "4 comments" for example.

Well, I wanted this to read 4 fab comments. Could I find where to write this in the html anywhere! No, chance.

Then I worked it out (after quite a bit of hunting around) that it was actually me being a bit tired and that it was actually quite easy. To change it you just simply:

1. Go to Dashboard

2. Click on the word Edit in the bottom right hand corner of the Blog Posts box.

3. Change the word comments to whatever you like. ie fab comments, super comments, kind words etc.

4. Click SAVE at the bottom of the page.

... hope this may help some of you to personalise your blog!