Spring blossom all booked up!

 I am really happy and excited that the first edition of the new season is all booked up. Infact overbooked. But this time I'm taking it slow. The last time when during the exhibition days it was just like work work work! Get up, work, eat, work, sleep......no sleep, WORK!

However now I am taking things at my own pace. Doing a limited amount of Kolhapuris and jewelry pieces a week, according to the slots I've allotted them in my notebook. I've been through the rush of getting everything done at one time, conquering it all, being good at everything or atleast trying to, and through it all I've noticed that at the end of the day what matters is not the earning, its the feelings! The amazing high you get when you make a new piece, the high you get when people love your work, and the amazing high you get when you see the blog stats and see people from all around the globe visit your blog and you actually get emails from them of appreciation! I've learn't that its not about how much I get back from my effort, its about what I feel at the end of the day.

I am truely blessed! Alhamdulillah and MashAllah for all this love I've gotten from people. I now know that a few orders and a few new things every week is the way to go. Its the peace of mind, the sweet fuzzy feeling inside, that so many people out there love what I do! Smiles and love to all our readers. 

Spring cleaning my room.......

I finally gave my room a spring clean! Yay! I am happy because it so needed this cleaning up, my room was a drab since our exhibition. Beads, threads, KOLHAPURIS everywhere! I just couldn't find time to clean up things and set them up. Artists are generally messy people, but thats just cause we poor things are so engrossed in our work everything else becomes secondary. 

Hence the past two days, completing 3 orders, my fastest time so far, I also took time out to clean up my room, afterall no wonder its called Spring cleaning. With this new season of accessories I want to make my room new as well. I've been thinking up of colours to paint one of my walls. Its purple at the moment, where as the rest of the 3 are white. However I am so over purple now as its been this way ever since we moved here.

Yellow is one of the colours that keeps popping into my head for some odd reason whenever I look at this wall and imagine the colour that I should choose. Yellow! Its like this teeny weeny voice in the back of my mind. I personally think yellow is sucha happy colour!

Workwise things are going at the speed of light with the new Spring blossom in the list, I am so loving the pretty little thing. MashAllah! I am humbled and totally down on the floor flat and I can't thank the people enough for their love!

How to order "handmade.fabulous.fancified" goodies?

This is a "frequently asked questions" post that we are writing for all the people who want to know the process of how to get products from "handmade.fabulous.fancified.". Basically we do not have an outlet and currently we are just operating through online orders so here is the entire process:

Firstly if you have come to our page on Facebook or Offstreet or dropped by here at the blog then the first thing you need to do is to select the items you want from us and save those pictures in a folder. Once you have saved the pictures then its time to send us an email at handmade.fabulous.fancified@gmail.com (our brand email id) and in the email you need to attach the pictures that you have saved of the things you want. Also write to us your shoe size if you are ordering Kolhapuris and leave a contact number if possible so we can get in touch with you to confirm the order as alot of people do not follow up to their emails so then the orders remain pending and if we do not have a number to confirm your order then we will have to keep your order in the pending list which means it will not reach to step 2, that is making the items you have ordered. So step 1 is complete!

Once we receive your email we will reply asap and send you a text for confirming your order and also let you know which of the items can be made depending on our stocks, and we will then start working on your order. Step 2 is us working on your order (the exciting part for you and us) =)

Now comes the last step which is when your order is complete we will ask you to collect it from us or it will be sent to you by courier if you are not living in Karachi. Karachites can pick up their order from the address provided to them and pay in cash on the collection of their order. Meanwhile if you are not in Karachi even then, no worries, as when we contact you that your order is complete you can simply transfer the money in our account or you can send a money order. Both ways are possible and as soon as we receive your payment we will courier the items. However for courier services add an additional Rs. 150- (or more depending on the amount of things you order) to your grand total and that will be a part of the payment you make to us.

Hope the instructions are simple and easy to follow for all our lovely fans! We love handmade things and we want you to love them too! Order one and you'll see how much you love it!

The earrings collection as yet for Spring 2011...

I'll make this a quick post because since I mentioned "earrings" in my last post so I thought all my blog friends and people who stop by should be updated. So here are just some of the pictures of the earrings that have been uploaded so far and lots more are still waiting for their snaps to be taken. 

I'll be doing an update as the rest of them get clicked. Till then take good care of yourselves and keep accessorizing!

It was a crazy Spring shoot!

 

It had been so long since I had made a new Kolhapuri. Not that I wasn't making Kolhapuris, I was at them the whole day. However that was the completing the orders phase. Now that we are done with that phase it was time to bring in Spring 2011. So here comes the first of the lot......the "Spring Blossom."

It had been so long since we had actually gone out and shot in daylight so this time since F had dropped by and I was just about done with this piece so we though why not! So we got up and got out and got clicking!

However the best part of the photo shoot was that we didn't know what we were clicking. Trust me cause our eyes were so blinded by the sun all we were doing was clicking randomly and laughing our lungs out because we didn't know WHAT we were doing. We would click a picture, look at it, and say NICEEE and then we would just laugh because we didn't know what the picture looked like in all that sun!

Overall a fun shoot and a good start to the Spring collection. Oh and there are lots of new earrings in the house! So all those earring fans, or all those people who like earrings in general......do checkout our Facebook space. 

The best feeling is when I paint......

 
  To me painting has always been a ticket to a place which is so free, so pure and so lively. Its a place where there are no wrongs or rights, no limits or boundaries and a world where I can soar as high as I want to. After my exhibition I had absolutely no time to paint at all. Its weird that its been almost a year since I had painted. However now that I'm a little less busy I thought its time to dig up the sketchbook and take out the magic box filled with happy colours and fly!

As an artist I sort of became a bit tired of what I was doing, day after day, repeating the same stuff, it was financially great but the creative aspect of it was not that good. I felt as if I was losing myself in the cycle of completing orders because I wasn't letting my mind think up of new ideas. I was limiting myself.

Hence I picked up the paint brush and then it occurred to me that if I can fancify people by giving them all those lovely accessories then I can fancify their homes by giving them my art pieces as well.

Home decor is something I am crazy about so this mini series of paintings is dedicated to all the people out there who love to give a personality to their home. Home is a place where your heart is, there is never ever a place like home, so why not make is pretty.

Sunday......

 

Its Sunday!!! Not that I get any Sunday's off! But still its a happy feeling to say this line because I know how important weekends are to people who work like hell throughout the week. Its a blessing! 

Okay we are officially at the end of our list of orders from our Launch, where we had categorized the easiest orders to be made first and then the sort of not so easier ones and then the ultimate time taking ones in the end. Like the one above. All this beading takes time but its still worth it when I see it in the pictures!

I remember when we ended the Launch exhibition after 2 days of displaying the samples we had created, me and F, we looked at our notebook and I screamed!! "WE HAVE MORE ORDERS THAN THE AMOUNT OF SAMPLES WE MADE AND IT TOOK US 2 MONTHS TO MAKE JUST THESE SAMPLES!!"

Okay so now post the exhibition and the day and night work involved in making these orders about 2 months later, we've completed mostly all of the orders except maybe 2 or 3 more Kolhapuri's left. Impressive Hera K! *I can pat myself on the back* 

A huge sorry to all the people who had to wait a bit for their orders because at times things dont go according to our lists and plans. Someone always wants their Kolhapuri urgently due to a wedding coming up or due to going out of town so they are catered to first at times and then also the earring orders which keep on coming by the day. But trust me Kolhapuri buyers there hasn't been a day where we haven't worked on an order. 

I have realized that if my day is in slots it works better. I have my Kolhapuri time and then I have my earring time and then I have my doing nothing time because I love not having anything to do or at least thinking that I don't have anything to do. I love putting blinders to my eyes and thinking that I am as free as I was a year ago at this time. However I don't complain because with all this hard work has come alot of love from people all over the world! I love you guys!!!

P.S my friend S who had left to study abroad is back for a bit so we're all meeting up this noon for lunch. I'm excited to meet the gang after a somewhat 5 month break. Want to share all the happenings and laugh about nothing over lunch!

What handmade.fabulous.fancified has taught me.......

 

There are a lot of things I have learn t in the past few months. As it is they say that the first year in any business that you do is pure learning and that's the only profit you should expect in the first year. However profits aside, I have learn t alot about the dos and donts of designing, publicity, dealing with clients and over all running a brand even if it is just a toddler at the moment.

Last year when I used to make things for cousins and close family and friends, things were alot different. I was more exclusive in the sense that very less people knew about my work and what I do. However it has been my choice and I am happy I chose to take this a step forward and turn my artsy work into a full fledged brand.

So from the point that I took things to a more public level, like creating the blog, then the Facebook group and the Offstreet store and then the Launch exhibition and now to doing preps for another exhibition there are so many things that I've learn't.

I have seen I produce the bestest of work when I am not thinking about numbers, as in profits and loss and everything bad that goes with it. I produce the bestest work when I let go of everything in this world and just think of my Kolhapuri as a canvas that needs colour.

I have seen that things will never go as you plan. All the people who have been following us dearly know that we are a classic example of how at the right time, everything can go wrong.

I have seen that you can make the bestest of friends through a business quite contrary to what I thought when I first entered this business. Right from my first call to an unknown person who liked my work on Offstreet to the people who I have been in touch with from this blog and to the people who have stumbled upon our Facebook group. Such lovely people have been a part of our journey and have become the bestest of friends with me that it makes me feel a fuzzy warmth that our brand is not all business. Its friendship and love!

<3 <3 <3

P.S lately alot of people have made me realize that I am pretty good with photographs. I can choose product photography as an alternate career if ever accessories fail to make me happy.

The first step into 2011.......

   

  Its been days that I have actually sat down and posted anything about us, our brand or what we've been up to work-wise. We've been busy but its still not a reason enough for not blogging and connecting with the people who drop by at our blog.

  So 2011 begins. I hope its better than 2010 but above everything else I hope its better in every single way for my country. I love this place to bits because everything I am today is because of this place. Its home and it can never be replaced. So our best wishes are with our home, our country for 2011. InshAllah things wont be as bad as they were in 2010. *fingers crossed*

 Last night me and cousins bid farewell to 2010 our way! Yup we are a crazy bunch. So with my first step into 2011 I would like to mention them all.....F S M and myself H.......! I know this a work blog but without these people I would never be as creative as I am today. The last decade has been a decade of craziness but if we think back there has hardly been a week in which we've all never met. Unless someone is outta town, we knew we'll end up meeting on our own or due to family functions. There hasn't been a single dull moment and all thanks to my girls. I love you to all bits! Through a decade of fights, misunderstandings, people coming in between, incidents coming in between and all the rest that goes with friendship, we've been the bestest of friends! InshAllah I hope 2011 is one of the happiest years for all 3 of my K gang.

Another great moment in our little crazy farewell was when I logged onto my Facebook and saw that a fellow blogger mentioned me in her blog. I was so thrilled. My blog got its first award. Thank you Maryam! Loads of love and a big shout out to all the people who want to drop by at a blog which screams FUN! Check out her blog. Its adorable! http://www.maryamreza.blogspot.com/

Workwise things are slow for now but they wont be this way for long. Its the silence before the storm kinda thing. No I'm just kidding. We just don't want to rush too much. Handmade.fabulous.fancified, I wish you luck for 2011 and I wanna tell you. I love you as much as I love chocolate! ;)