Friday 9 November 2012

Hobbycraft & Christmas Gift Show!

Hi all!
Well the day has finally arrived and I'm just about to pick up Laura, my eldest daughter, to go to the NEC, Birmingham for the Hobbycraft and Christmas Gift Show! Can't wait to get there! And are we excited or what!? Like two kids in a sweet shop! Will let you know how it goes later!
Jane x

Friday 2 November 2012

Update on magazine stash

Hi there,
Well, have made a start on going through my old cross stitch magazines and removing the original charts I want to keep. Not as many complete magazines to sell on at this stage although I have decided to keep many more charts than I originally thought I would!!!! However, enjoying doing this much needed task and actually finding it really rewarding! Shame I don't feel the same about housework! Lol! Still got a lot to do as not even a quarter of the way through the stash yet but that will then result in lots of singles charts to sell as well, as the magazines get newer. Have decided to offer all the cut up magazines free to anyone who wants them locally (in return for their collection) as there are still loads and loads of charts in them which whilst obviously not my choice, could definitely be someone else's! So hope this exercise will not only benefit me in several ways but also another stitcher in my area, too! :o)
Anyway, back to the mountain of magazines for the next 'ascent'! Lol!
Jane x

Thursday 1 November 2012

My magazine stash!

Hi Everyone!
Hope you are all ok and that none of you or your families are affected by the terrible hurricane 'Sandy' in the US.
This is a bit of a long blog but please bear with me and I'd love to know your opinion.
So here's my dilemma. What do I do with all my cross stitch magazines? Over the years I have collected hundreds, literally and recently decided I needed to do something with them but what?
I know lots of people sell them on Ebay. In fact, that's where quite a few of mine have come from and I thought this is a good way to recycle them, to make a little bit of 'pin' money to go towards future cross stitch supplies, charts etc, free up some valuable cupboard space and to make them accessible to someone else who wants them when I don't need them anymore. But first I need to go through them all and put them into two piles, ones which don't have any charts in I want and those which do. Personally I don't think it would be fair to cut out the charts I want and then sell on the magazine, so that left photocopying them which would then leave the magazine totally in tack. But with some having as many as four or five charts in each that I would need to copy by at least two hundred magazines that would just be 'mission impossible' and my printer would never cope with the stress!! I did try it for the first few issues but the copies are never as good as the originals and will fade over time, so that doesn't seem to be a solution. There was also the problem that some of the magazines went from A4 size to bigger and a double page spead would just not fit onto an A3 sheet easily and would also require trimming down to go into the A4 punched pockets I'd planned to keep them in.
So it looks like my only option for the magazines with charts in that I do want, is to cut them out and keep them and then salvage any other remaining charts to sell as single charts at the same time I sell the fully 'intact' magazines.At least I know the single charts will sell as I buy loads of them on Ebay myself, rather than a whole magazine!
I think this whole process will have to be in two parts. Number one is the above, number two will be selling all the remaining charts and magazines on Ebay. The hardest bit of my plan though, is going to be finding the time to do parts one and two around full time work and precious family and stitching time!! Would be so much more convenient if I didn't have to work! Lol!
Also, whilst I'm an expert at buying cross stitch stuff off Ebay (aren't we all? As my lack of bank balance will testify!!) when it comes to selling I've always been to scared to even try! But hey, not so long ago I was scared to try to set up a blog but that wasn't as painful to master as I thought so maybe Ebay selling won't be so bad either! Maybe I should just start small but think BIG! In fact it doesn't seem quite such a daunting task now I have actually put it down in writing! :O)
So Just need to start putting my plan in action!
I'd be very interested to hear what everyone else does with their magazines.
Happy stitching!
Jane x