An Article From..... Chilli Papas

What is the name of your business?

Chilli Papas 

Where is your business based?

Dunfemline, Fife 

What does your business do, what products do you sell? 

We are a new-start company (9th February 2011) and hand blend fresh spices to produce ‘Oil Free’ curry mixes. They are 'Oil Free' because you place all the ingredients in at the beginning so there is enough liquid to cook the meat and spices! This negates the use of Oil! And if you cook with chicken breast or vegetables, four of our mixes can be cooked in around 20 minutes. Hence you get an authentic curry, a quick curry and a healthy curry. They are also great for those who have dietary requirements for weight loss, are Gluten Free and suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans. All of our mixes come with cooking instructions and a small shopping list and most of the ingredients will already be in your kitchen cupboards! Our range of mixes include the Mandalay (cooked with a tin of chopped tomatoes), the Yellow Curry (cooked with a tin of coconut milk), the 2in1 Tikka Mix which has recipes for a maranade and a Tikka Masala and finally our two Vindaloo's, one HOT and one Medium! Each Mix includes two sachets of blended spices enabling you to cook two meals and at a rrp of £1.99, we think it offers value for money as well. We are also looking to expand our range to include pickles, hampers and gifts so follow us on Facebook to keep upto date.

Where can your business be found? 

We can be found in a number of retailers in Fife and surrounding counties which can be found on our website www.chillipapas.com. Our online presence includes our website, Facebook and ebay. 

Please send us some pictures you would like to include Anything else you would like to include?

We are also looking for people to vote for us at http://www.enterprisenation.com/funding-applications/chillipapas/ as we look to qualify for a £500 grant to develop new products and packaging.

An Article From..... Caddo Cottage Creations

What is the name of your business? Hi! My name is Elizabeth Moore-White, the woman behind Caddo Cottage Creations. I'm not sure I would really classify my cottage industry as a business...it's more of a paying hobby. I enjoy doing all kinds of crafts, but beading is my passion. I am a confessed beadaholic. I can't get enough!
Up until a few months ago, I mostly sold to family and friends. And that was in an off & on pattern. I've had a fan page on facebook for about 2 years, but up until 2 months ago, I never really tried to grow it as a basis for increasing sales. But I began to notice more and more small businesses, many of them home-based, like me, were using social networking as a way to promote their business, increase their exposure (and sales!) so I decided to become more active with my fan page. In the past six weeks, I've begun networking and promoting my page on an almost daily basis, and have seen my fan numbers increase from around 70 to over 250...not many compared to a lot of other pages, but I'm thrilled. I've also seen a considerable increase in sales, enough that I can actually say I'm making a small profit. Of course, most of it is re-invested in supplies, after I pay my tithes to the church I attend. I'll probably never get rich with Cottage Cottage Creations, but I'm content to be able to support my addiction to beads and beading. LOL

Where is your business based? Caddo Cottage Creations is located in a very rural community called Caddo, located on the eastern edge of the region known as West Texas & the northern edge of what is known as the Hill Country. Caddo is small community, having a population of about 40 people and a tiny rural Post Office. The nearest town is 15 miles away, but my husband and I, along with our menagerie of 7 dogs, 14 goats, 4 geese, 5 ducks and 50 or so chickens, enjoy the peaceful, quiet, relaxed atmosphere of our little community. 
What does your business do, what products do you sell? At the moment my focus is on creating beautiful beaded jewelry, but I also offer Rustic Wire Wall Crosses & Christmas Ornaments. With my jewelry I create new items for my ready-to-sell inventory, plus I take custom orders. Both the Crosses & the Christmas Ornaments are done on a strictly made to order basis. I don't keep those as ready-to-sell items. If someone places an order for a cross or a set of ornaments, then I make them once payment is received. I ship cross town, cross state, out of town, out of state, out of country. I do not, however, offer free shipping at this time.

Where can your business be found?For those interested in seeing more of my work, Caddo Cottage Creations can be found on facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/caddocottagecreations
I do hope folks will "pop in" for a visit and browse my albums.

An Article From..... Wish Upon a Star

I moved to Holland from England back in 2008, together with my 8 year old daughter.  I imagined learning the language and going out to work as I had in England. However, fate took a hand and I fell pregnant with my second daughter. I gained a lot of weight and decided it was time to stop snacking in the evenings and needed something to keep my hands busy. This was the birth of my business... Wish Upon A Star. I saw a jar of origami stars at a friends' house and decided that this was something I would love to learn to make. I posted a photo of my first stars on facebook and another friend asked if I could make her some. It was then suggested that I start a page. I haven't stopped since. Due to the success of Wish Upon A Star from day one, I have been unable to make any stock. Therefore all my stars are made to order. The customer can choose the type of paper they would like, the colour and the wishes that are written inside each star. I also contribute a lot of stars to charity auctions. I also make baby stars for mini jars and mini jar key-rings. 

One of my most popular products have been the reward stars. This is a new take on the 'star chart'. Instead of getting stickers on a board, if the child has been good they get an actual star that they can open and their reward is written on the inside. Some customers have also ordered small stars that they give their child when they have been good and when they've collected, say 10 or so, they get a reward star. I also do adult reward stars which are a fun way to spice up your love life! 

With Christmas looming ahead I had to think of a way to make the stars Chrismassy, so I came up with the idea of filling clear plastic baubles with stars. 

I don't come up with all my ideas myself, customers make suggestions and I see if it's do-able. Recently I had a customer ask me if I can do zebra print stars, which I did. It seems there is no end to the possibilities!  

I love my work, although unfortunately sometimes my orders can be heart-breaking. For instance I get a lot of orders from parents who have lost children. They use the stars for their memory boxes. I have also had orders from people who cannot get pregnant with wishes for a baby. Everytime I fold a star I repeat the wish in my head over and over. I make every single star with love. 

Although I am based in Holland, 98% of my orders travel to the UK. I also have customers in the USA, Canada and Holland.  Wish Upon A Star can be found at www.facebook/WishUponAStarNL.

An Article From..... Kimbows

Next up is an article from Kimbows... let's read her story!

When leaving for university at the bright age of 18, I remember my passion always outweighed my fear, as much as I was scared to be leaving my home, family and friends I was still so driven with excitement and curiosity for life. To this day I will never regret my university days but I can't deny that the career outcome has not been quite what I had dreamt of at the ripe age of 18. It wasn't long after I had moved home after university that I started getting the itch to make and create to cut, sew and stitch again and it was from this craving that 'Kimbows' was born, I wanted something to fill my days and to keep my passion alive but also something small scale and realistic of the current economic climate we live in. Living in the south west in delightful Devon where i have been for the largest percentage of my life I am very much a country bumpkin which is undoubtedly to blame for my excessive use of floral printed cottons.

I always wanted 'Kimbows' to be something a bit different to your normal jewellery which is where the use of colours, materials and the old school sweet shop vibe really exerts itself to aim to achieve this. At present the 'Kimbows range consists of necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings and hair clips but i'm sure that knowing me it won't be long until another idea pops into my head. 'Kimbows' can be found on Facebook where you can 'Like' the 'Kimbows' page or you can follow me on twitter @_kimbows_ and 'Kimbows' are also available to be purchased on folksy - http://www.folksy.com/shops/Kimbows .... If you like it then you should have put a bow on it 

With Love

Kim of Kimbows xXx

An Article From..... Midnight Cards & Gifts

So, here we go on the first of our mini interview/promotion sessions. Starting with a lovely lady called Ana who I have become good friend with. She has a fabulous business so here's her mini interview....

We are Midnight Cards & Gifts, we are based in Mansfield, but post everywhere. Our aim is to spread the passion of handmade gifts, and let everybody share the love that goes into making our products. 

We currently sell Cards, Bags of Love, Magnets, & Cross stitch, although we are constantly finding ways to update our range. Currently we are looking into bottle cap necklaces. We can be found on facebook and blogspot, we are hoping to expand to made by mums auctions, etsy, folksy, etc. We hope you'll pop by and pay us a visit...

Christmas Payment Plans

We all know how expensive Christmas can be - so that's why at Junction Crafts we have come up with a Payment Plan to help you spread the cost.

So, here's how it works...

15% non refundable deposit required to secure your order.

You must then pay the remaining balance by the 7th December to guarantee posting in time for Christmas. You will have the option to pay weekly or monthly and you will receive full details of your payment plan.

If you have not completed payments by 7th December then Junction Crafts will keep 15% of what has been paid to date and then refund you the rest.

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog for Junction Crafts! Keep up to date on what is going on and new product ranges! Not to mention we will be posting about all things Christmassy and some articles from other crafty businesses.

So, we are a new business selling handmade items, decorative items as well as our most popular products oil burners & wax melts...

Which reminds me I need to post up a list of new scents coming in next week!

Junction Crafts x