New Year at Wood and Willow

Evening everyone, well it's been a while since I last had the time to sit down and focus on my blog! The weeks leading up to Christmas were absolutely manic for me..as I am sure they were for all of you too?
I never expected to be so busy so soon after re-launching the business as Wood and Willow. Stock was flying off our branches, which was great but left no time for much else except wrapping and packing and order paperwork!
On the family front, we had a lovely Christmas, all of our 6 children were here Christmas Eve which was chaotic but really really lovely. Although we came to the conclusion on Christmas Morning that we need a bigger living room to cope with presents for 6 children!
My eldest daughter works part time in a local Restaurant whilst doing the second year of A Levels so she was working Christmas Day but that was her choice and she loved it! So 10 out of 10 for her work ethic (or was it the double time and extra tips that swayed her....)
My middle daughter has her Birthday on 28th Dec so as soon as Boxing Day is over I am already thinking of her day.She had a fab day and in the eveni9ng we all went out for Dinner along with her Dad and partner (blended families eh...how very modern lol)
Unfortunately, I came down with proper full blown Flu the next day. You know the kind of flu where you think you will never feel well enough to get up again? Anyhow, I laid in bed feeling terrible and there I stayed for around 5 days! So New Year came and went without me taking much notice or really caring, my poor Hubby spent his New Year's Eve passing me tissues, warming up wheatbags then opening all the windows when it was "Like a blooming oven in this house"!
So that was the Wood and Willow family Christmas. I hope you also had a fab time and a better New Year than me!
I have been lucky enough to find a great couple Charlotte and Stu behind Edge Inspired who have designed and produced all our new product tags, they really suit my Wood and Willow vision and have been very helpful and extremely professional to work with..so thanks guys!
Which brings us to 2012. I have so many goals and ambitions for this year, the 1st being a lesson I should of learnt from last year...
KEEP UP TO DATE WITH MY ACCOUNTS DAILY! As for the last two years January has become a month where a very big dark shadow (image a Dementor all you Harry Potter fans) sucks the very heart and soul from my body...Too dramatic? No sadly not.
The 2nd being I am trying my hardest to source new stock from UK small businesses. I have made a great start to this, with 3 new suppliers who all deserve a mention.
Zoey Corney has a business making ceramics and Textiles http://www.zoecorney.com/ and I am proud to say I am now a Stockist of some of her gorgeous range, from Cushions to Easter Gifts. I can't wait to receive my first order and get the items on to http://www.woodandwillow.co.uk/
Helen Newman is the name behind http://www.barnstudiosigns.co.uk/ another wonderful UK business, based in North Yorkshire. Helen makes lovely handcrafted bespoke wooden signs. I ordered a sign for the business and as soon as I received it, I just knew I wanted to start stocking her signs! So my first order has been placed and again I am eagerly awaiting their delivery. Titles include Mum's B&B, Be Mine, Love, Best Mum and Mr & Mrs.
Thirdly but by no means lastly, Georgia Brown @GeorgiaBrown_90 is an incredibly talented young artist and she has designed and produced a range of 3 different hand painted watercolour Valentine Cards. Georgia is in her final year at Birmingham Uni studying Illustrationa and I am thrilled that Wood and Willow will be the very first store to promote and sell her gorgeous cards. She is at present working on a Mother's Day card range too!
So those are my first 2 goals for 2012, my 3rd goal is quite simply to grow the business. I have had such a positive response to our products that it has encouraged me to take a few risks and really take every opportunity that is thrown at me.
We have new Easter inspired stock coming very soon, along with a fab Mothers Day gift and card range...
As you may be aware, I am a recent convert to Twitter and I can honestly say I haven't looked back since joining the tweeting world. I have met some really lovely tweeps with fab businesses, many like me paddling furiously underwater to keep up with all a new business brings.
It is also a marvellous marketing tool which I am still learning about. It gives us small businesses a platform to be heard, and to reach audiences that just would not be possible without paying huge amounts in advertising!
A lovely Lady who is also a Twitter convert (my fault apparantly!) is Alison from @LullabyBabyGifts She, like me is doing everything she possibly can to make her business work and broaden her customer base. I felt I had to mention her for 3 reasons, 1. she is a really lovely lady who is also a great tweep and goes out of her way to help other fledgling businesses on Twitter 2. We went to Secondary School together (although we were not in the same "circle") and 3. she has given me a fab idea which I am currently working on! So if you have a new arrival to buy for or you are organising a baby shower, please make sure you visit http://www.lullabybabygifts.co.uk/ It really is the place to go for gorgeous gifts!
So watch this space for news of Alison's idea as it comes to fruition.
Hope I haven't rambled too long, actually I have but there was just so much to say! If you like my musings, please follow and share my blog...every little helps! Also I do read all comments if you care to leave your thoughts!