Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Spring Koffermarkts in Thalwil and Schaffhausen


My "Koffer" filled with lots of paper products and cute Easter goodie bags


Lots of goodies for Easter baskets :-)

Sorry for the lack of posting recently... It's been busy, busy, busy around here with the new shop, The Creative Café, and preparing for two upcoming Spring Koffermarkts. For those of you who do not know what a Koffermarkt is, it is a special market where handmade products are sold and displayed in suitcases or old trunks. So if you are looking for unique, handmade gifts in an unusual and artsy setting, a Koffermarkt is the place to go!

I will be participating in the following Koffermarkts over the next two weekends:

Handgemachte Unikate aus dem Koffer - Koffermarkt Thalwil
Date: Saturday, 21 March 2015
Time: 11-17
Place: Schützenhalle, Dorfstrasse 65, Thalwil (parking lot across the street)
Link: http://kreatives-koefferchen.jimdo.com/frühlings-koffermarkt-thalwil-21-03-2015/

4th Annual Schaffhauser Koffermärt
Date: Saturday, 28 March 2015
Time: 10-17
Place: Schaffhausen Hotel Kronenhof, on the Kirchhofplatz in the old town part of Schaffhausen*
Link: http://koffermaert.blogspot.ch/p/offnungszeitenpreise.html
* Parking is limited in the old town, so public transportation is the best way to get there.

The pictures above show my Koffer and I'm still busy making a few more goodies!

Hope to see you there!
J x


Tuesday, February 17, 2015

The Creative Café Grand Opening


Mark your calendars for March 3rd and stop by to say hello, have a drink with friends and browse through our collection of unique, handmade products, furniture and stamping & scrapbooking supplies! We will also be having demonstrations of some of the products for you to try out.

Looking forward to welcoming you in a few weeks! 3 weeks and counting down...!!!

J xx


Friday, January 30, 2015

Coming soon....



J Blume Bags, Tags & More will be opening a shop in Thalwil, Switzerland starting in March!!!!!!

It has always been a dream of mine to have my own shop and this year my dream will come true! It all came about just before Christmas when I was going for a walk in the town I live in and walked past a cute little shop that I've always liked because it had a variety of refinished furniture in the windows. The only problem was, this shop always seemed to be closed or by appointment only... Well, this time there was a sign in the window saying that they were looking for people interested in joining them - so, after a couple days of building up my courage, I called! And once I met the amazing woman responsible for the gorgeous furniture in the windows, I got more excited about the prospect of actually fulfilling my dream.

Our shop will be a collaboration of creative women sharing the space and the days, giving us all the perfect opportunity to "test the waters" with a retail shop, without having the full responsibility of having to man the shop every day of the week. Starting in March, Rachel, from Seize the Stamp, and I will be working together to have the shop open two days a week (Tuesday/Thursday), and will have various events, including workshops and pop up sales, that will take place either on those days or other days of the week depending on the event.

All the furniture you see in the picture above is from Jamais Vu and will be for sale in the shop, as well as used to display our products, including cards, stamping and scrapbooking supplies, bags, gift sets and much more.

More info on our grand opening will be coming soon!

I will also be participating in the following Spring markets in March:

Saturday, 21 March 2015: Spring Koffermarkt in Thalwil (Link to page)

Saturday, 28 March 2015: Spring Koffermarkt in Shaffhausen (Link to page)

I'll post pictures of the trunk I am refurbishing for the koffermarkts once I get a bit further on it.

Lots of exciting stuff going on (hence the radio silence this month)!!!

Have a great weekend!

J x

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

2015 is here!


I have loved the above quote/image for several years. I found cards with it and have one hanging just over my desk to remind me of all the things that I should be striving for. In looking back over the past few years, I feel pretty good in what I have accomplished, including several of the items listed above:

- quitting a stressful and emotional job to focus more on doing what I love,
- not watching as much TV
- seizing opportunities when they come up
- and, meeting new people who are also excited about what they do.


Some of the items are still a challenge for me, though..."stop over analysing"...that is a hard one to conquer as I am continually analysing what I should do rather than just taking the step to do it. I plan to work on this point this year and have already taken some "tip toe" steps to change up my business in the coming year. More to come on this point :-)!

To start 2015 with a clean slate, so to speak, I've been busy doing the following things to clear some of the clutter that was bogging me down:

1. E-mail cleanse - I had more than 1000 emails in my inbox that were driving me crazy. Now I have 4, all of which are pending an action. This one action has already made my month!

2. Organize files on my computer - are you the type to just save files to your desktop so they are easier to find? Well, that was me...especially since I got a new Macbook this past year and am still figuring out some of the basics of how to save the files where I really want them to go! I had LOTS of things on my desktop and have now managed to organise it to only have 3 folders for my business stuff, "Projects", "Blog pictures", "Business stuff". This makes it much easier for me to find the documents/files that I need.

3. Blog refresh - as you can see, I played around with my blog during the holidays and have added a few things and freshened it up a bit. What do you think?

4. My office - it is always a bit of a "work-in-progress" because I love stamping and sewing and, therefore, have DOUBLE the stuff... I can never seem to toss out that scrap of fabric OR scrap of paper. The goal this month is to sort through my entire office and (hopefully) get rid of things I haven't used for a few years or that are no longer my style. Maybe I'll have a big 'ole scrap party and invite all my friends to see how we can creatively use the scraps :-)!

5. Business admin stuff - this is the stuff most people hate to do. I was an auditor in my former life so one would think I would be better organised than others in this field...but, I still hate to do it and, therefore, put it off. Well, I read about an accounting program called "Wave" that helps you keep track of your income and expenses, has an invoicing program and even allows you to upload your bank and/or credit card statement to fill in your transactions (among other things). It's free to use and seems pretty simple to get everything organised. My favourite aspect of it so far is the Wave Receipts which allows you to download an App to your i-Phone or smartphone where you can take a picture of a receipt (say, for supplies you purchased) and it will automatically process it for you and record it in the accounting package. Can you say awesome?!?!

With the above completed (or almost complete), I can now focus on growing my business in new channels in 2015. This will include attending more markets, trying to get into a couple of shops in the area where I live and just seeing what else may come along. I'm a firm believer that things will come up along the way that are "meant to be"! I'll keep you posted on what new ventures I am up to!

HAPPY 2015 to you all and I hope this year is also full of "clearing your clutter" and taking "tip toe steps" to reach a new, exciting goal!

J x

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Market success!

The 2nd annual Christmas Market "Around the World" was a success yet again! We had 15 vendors selling a variety of products for customers to choose from. Here are a few pictures of the event!






Carla from Paper and Party Love

Luz Maestro baby gifts, children's clothes

Dennise Camara Jewelry

Rachel from Seize the Stamp

More photos can be seen at the Around the World blog here

Finally, here are a couple happy customers wearing their new aprons! They were so adorable running around in them :-)! 


Have a great week!
Jx

Friday, November 28, 2014

Wax Cloth Totes and Coordinating Zipper Pouches

I've been busy the past couple of weeks making some new bags for my upcoming Christmas Market and thought I would share my wax cloth collection with you as a little treat for the end of the week! I have totes that are lined in coordinating cotton fabrics with a side pocket and coordinating zipper pouches that are perfect to carry the essentials in.







The inside has two side pockets that are perfect for credit/business cards


Have a wonderful weekend!

J xx

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

2nd Annual Christmas Market "Around the World"


It's that time of year again!!! We are excited to hold our 2nd annual Christmas Market "Around the World" on 6 December (see details above).

We've set up a website this year to allow you get to know the artists that will be participating in the market.  Here's the link when you want to check it out! We will all be adding posts to it over the coming weeks to show you our products, so be sure to check it on a regular basis!

Looking forward to seeing you on 6 December :-)!

J x