Welcome to Emma Dickie Design!

I’ve finally taken  the plunge after over a year of deliberation!  The Candy Tree will always have a special place in my heart but it is time to move on to the next chapter in my crafty life.

Emma Dickie Design sums up everything about my jewellery, knitwear and cross stitch pieces.  It’s more professional and unique to me.

The Candy Tree came about from my college days – I had painted a tree with a lollipop head and the name seemed to fit with my vibrant beaded jewellery.  However that was before I was aware of how important Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) was to an online business.  Google searches for my business name brought up results for party planning companies and product photos of actual candy trees.  I hadn’t heard of these before but they are centerpieces often made from sweets.  Also, ‘TheCandyTree’ wasn’t actually available as an Etsy shop name so I went with ‘TheCandyTree125’ and I’ve always hated having this extra number after my name.

Now I am EmmaDickieDesign – no numbers!  Plus when you Google my name you will be sure to find me smack bang at the top of the page!

I’m very excited about this new step.  I already have my new branding printed on business cards and earring cards so I’m raring to go.

As a way of introducing my customers to my new shop name I would like to offer a coupon code.  Simply use coupon code EMMADICKIEDESIGN for 15% off everything in my Etsy shop!

It’s an exciting time as I also intend to streamline my range of products.  Please keep checking back in my Etsy shop to see how things progress!

Postage Woes

It’s that time of year again – but this year the Royal Mail have not only upped their prices, they’ve once again changed the way I can send my parcels.

For the past year or two I have been able to send my lightweight international packages at the airmail letter rate as opposed to small packet.  This was because the Royal Mail made a slight boo boo in their pricing structure (they hadn’t included a maximum thickness in their letter rate guidelines).  To cut a long story short, I was able to send packages that weighed no more than 100g using the letter rate as long as I included a piece of personal correspondence (which helpfully could be a thank you note).

Now that the new prices have been published, the Royal Mail have been able to fix their mistake and all packages that are more than 5mm thick must be sent at the small package rate.

Use Coupon Code RMSUCK for 15% off these Pink Daisy Cross Stitch Earrings!

Yes this makes sense – sending an item of jewellery at the letter rate sounds odd but it was within the old guidelines and I knew that this would be updated when the new prices were released.  It’s just so frustrating.  A pair of earrings weighing no more than 50g now costs almost half of the item price to send overseas.  It just seems unreasonable to expect my customers to pay £3 more for postage than they had to a couple of weeks ago.

So what to do?  Unfortunately this is the only reasonable method of posting my items abroad so I just have to hope that my customers will be understanding enough to fork out the extra postage costs.

As a thank you to my lovely customers I am offering a coupon code until the end of April for 15% off everything in my Etsy shop.  Simply use coupon code RMSUCK at checkout.  Yes it’s an immature code, but use it and enjoy!

 

Craft Fair Survival

I survived my first craft fair!

It was actually disappointingly quiet but that’s the risk you take with these one off events.  Despite the lack of patrons I learned a lot about not only selling in public but also about my business.

The great thing about selling online is that I can try out a couple of new products and post them in my shop for minimal cost.  As long as my photography is in keeping with the rest of the shop then things don’t look out of place.  What I discovered when I started to set up my table is that I have a lot of different products.  My scarves are made from a variety of different materials, in different patterns and at different price points.  This made my display look pretty disjointed.  It was the same with my range of jewellery and beanie hats.

I now have a plan to create a much more streamlined looking range of products.  I’m first going to implement this with my beanie hat range with the help of my latest wool order.  I really love the slouchy pom pom hat pattern that I’ve created so I’m going to knit a wide range of these in loud, funky colours.

I’m then going to apply the same strategy to my scarves – choosing one or two patterns that I enjoy to knit the most and then create a whole range of these scarves in different colours.  This will allow me to produce a series of scarves at the same price point and in the same good quality material.  I’ll still of course be open to custom orders if anyone had a specific style or pattern in mind.

I also want to concentrate on hammered jewellery and I’m going to be moving away from my beaded creations.

This is all going to take time but I just know it will be worth it.  I’m hoping that next year I will be ready to attend a proper full day craft fair with a very professional looking range of products.

I get the keys to my new house a week on Friday so I’m very excited but this probably means that my shop plans will take a little longer to implement!

Don’t forget that you can still get 15% off everything in my Etsy shop with Coupon Code MOVINGSALE!

My First Ever Craft Fair

Ok so it’s not a craft fair per se but I will be at my first event selling my goodies in public!

On 15th March a charity coffee morning will be held at Newhaven Church in Edinburgh to raise money for Whizz-Kidz which is a disabled children’s charity.  There will also be around 10 tables of crafty goodies for sale.  This is a great opportunity to help raise money for charity and pick up a unique gift – and just in time for Mother’s Day too!

I’m very excited and pretty nervous about it – I can be pretty shy!  Selling online has allowed me to market myself and my products from behind a computer screen but I can’t hide forever!  The event runs from 10am until 1pm so I’m sure I can but on a brave smiley face for three hours!

So if you’re in the area please come along to show your support and say hello!

That’s 10am to 1pm on 15th March at Newhaven Church in Edinburgh: 7 Craighall Crescent, Edinburgh, Midlothian EH6 4ND

I’ve just bought a house!

That’s right, after a pretty stressful couple of weeks we can finally relax and celebrate the fact that we are getting onto the property ladder!

This isn’t our house…

It all seemed to happen so quickly from realising that we had enough of a deposit to start looking, to finding a house we really liked.  It’s a two bedroomed house with a garage and box room that can be used for my crafting, and it’s near the train station so I can still commute to work easily enough.

We submitted our offer the morning after viewing the house (which sounds a bit mad but it ticked all the right boxes, so why hang around and potentially miss our chance?).  It was such an anxious wait and I couldn’t stop looking at my phone in case I missed the call from our solicitor but we heard back within a couple of hours.  It was such a lovely surprise to have our offer accepted without any negotiation involved (although in the back of my mind I’m now wondering if that meant we could have gone in at a lower price..!)

It was then a case of finding out if the bank would lend us the money we needed.  We didn’t get an appointment until a week later and I couldn’t stop thinking about it – I was starting to go slightly mad.  I wanted to celebrate the fact that our offer was accepted so badly but didn’t want to set myself up for a fall if the bank decided they wouldn’t approve a mortgage.  The appointment with our mortgage adviser finally happened and it seemed to go well.  We passed the all important credit check which was a huge relief, but after going through the rest of the paperwork our application was referred to the underwriters for approval.  I was back to the anxiety stage as we had to wait two more days to find out if we were going to get the funding for our house.

…and neither is this!

On the Saturday afternoon we got the phone call to say that our application had been approved by the underwriters, and exactly 10 minutes later Scotland scored the amazing dropkick that saw them win against Italy in the Six Nations, so it turned out to be a pretty good day in the end!

I’d already started to plan how I wanted to decorate our lounge/dining room so it was such a relief to know that this wasn’t in vain.

So now I’m thinking it would be a good idea to try to sell some stock before the big move!  We get our keys on 28 March so I’ll probably close shop for a couple of days seeing as things are going to be packed up in boxes.  Until then however I’m going to hold a 15% off sale!  Just use coupon code MOVINGSALE for 15% off everything in my Etsy shop!  Don’t forget that Mother’s Day is coming up too (30 March in the UK) so what a perfect opportunity to show how much you care with a handmade gift from The Candy Tree.

As we’re moving into a house that doesn’t seem to have been decorated for 20 years, I’m also planning on taking some before and after photos to show our progress in bringing it up to date – so stay tuned!

Friday Finds – With Love from the UK

‘With Love from the UK…’ by The Candy Tree

A selection of heart themed goodies from the UK – just in time for Valentine’s Day!

Quilled Valentine card with … PaperDaisyCard… $5.65	Red Heart Hand Embroidery Ho… mbSTITCH $13
Heart Shape Glasses Necklace… KitschBitchJew… $11.99	Bright Red Kitsch Acrylic He… SuzieStricklan… $7.95
1980s Plastic Earrings 1 Pai… FoundInTheGrou… $1.75	Pastel Felt Heart Garland – … Pelemele $7.9
Lemon yellow heart ceramic b… LauraPotterCer… $14	crochet heart necklace, chil… Giftsandbobs $8.5
Red Button Heart, handmade a… PatricksPieces $21.5	Small Red Felt Heart. Weddin… WhisperOfThePi… $1
Heart bobby pins 2 cute red … damsontreepott… $8	Valentines Card, Anniversary… RaspberryAndTh… $1.7
ONE PAIR fabric covered hear… Catinthecloset $5.5	Heart Stud Earrings, Heart I… LaurasJeweller… $5
Turquoise Heart Necklace, Tu… BeauHannah $18	Rainbow wedding/party topper… KoalitaParty $11.5

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New Arrivals

I’ve not been very good at blogging regularly recently but I have been a busy bee!

I had great fun at the weekend trying out my new anvil and hammers and I love the results.  Wire can be instantly transformed from a simple piece of jewellery into something beautifully textured and unique.

A lot of my latest designs seem to feature hearts but I’m a bit late for Valentine’s Day, however hearts make a wonderful gift for the one you love anytime of the year!

I’ve also been working on a side project for a friend of mine.  This uber geeky/fantabulous cross stitch features a scene from Monkey Island and is going to be turned into a cushion as a house warming gift.

The thread I’m using for the sky has been hand dyed by The Rainbow Girl – I absolutely love using her threads for their amazing blend of colours!

I’m off on Holiday!

I’m heading down towards York next week to stay in a lodge by a lake and I can’t wait!

I’ll be away from Monday 20 January until Friday 24 January. Any orders placed in my Etsy shop during this time will be processed from 25 January onwards.

Hello 2014!

I’m not sure it’s quite sunk in yet that we’re now into a new year!  I have big plans for the next 12 months, both in my personal and crafty life, so I might be more likely to stick to my plans if I document them right here!

Personal goals:

• To be healthier – what a cliche, but I want to make good use of the juicer we bought with Christmas money and do some exercise every now and again.
• Buy a house – I’m hoping to have enough of a deposit saved up to buy a house this year, and hopefully before the prices start to rise!

Crafty Goals

• To start creating metalwork jewellery (I was given an anvil for Christmas and can’t wait to use it!)
• I reached my goal of 100 Etsy sales last year (which took me a couple of years to reach).  This year I’m aiming for 180!
• I’m hoping to streamline my shop a little and concentrate on creating more complex knitwear and jewellery.
• I’ve been a bit lax with my blogging in the run up to Christmas so another goal is to try and be more regular with my bloggy updates!

The Week Ahead – Silver Wire Earrings

I’ve been trying to source some good quality sterling silver ear wires at an affordable price for quite some time – some of the cheaper options can be incredibly flimsy.   That’s when it occurred to me – why don’t I just make my own?

Through a little bit of online browsing I’ve managed to source eco-silver wire.  This wire is made from recycled sterling silver and has all of the same properties as sterling silver.  The wire is pliable but much weightier than the ear wires I’ve used in the past.  I just love the more organic nature of these handmade ear wires and I think they’ll become a part of my future jewellery designs.

It’s also been a while since I used my pegboard so I’ve used my new silver wire to create these swirling earring designs.

In the meantime I’m also knitting up another slouchy hat using my own pattern.  Once I get it the way I like it I’ll start to make a series of them in different fun colours.  What a great way to brighten up the apparent horrible winter that’s coming our way!