A special gift from me to you!

Hi Lovely! How are you? I hope you're having a great day and looking forward to the weekend and the forthcoming bank holidays to take some time out to relax and enjoy yourself! 

With Spring fast approaching I'm finding many people just like you are thinking longingly ahead to longer (and warmer!) days, getting out and about more, feasting eyes on all the sights and sounds of Mother Nature, foreign holidays & relaxing stay-cations, BBQ's, outdoor entertaining and social and sporting events - and, of course, wanting to feel your best (how does fabulous, fun loving and free sound?!!) to make the most of these special months ahead is critical! 

So, as you're special to me, I wanted you to be the first to receive a free copy of my latest guide - a 10 day life transformation guide which includes free tips, tools and techniques on how to start to create the life you desire, dream of & deserve, love to live & wake up to each morning!

It's packed full of free tips & tools that you can easily put into action straight away & see results so I'm sure you're going to love it so without further ado simply click here to get your guide!

And if you like what you read and you'd like even more tips, tools & techniques on how to create the life you desire, dream of, deserve & love to live and wake up to each morning you can access more by clicking and signing up here or simply hitting reply to this email and I'll get straight on the case to send you more! 

Enjoy your weekend!

Quick survey to help me to help you more!

Dear friends, can you help me please, it would be very much appreciated!

I'm thinking about the content and services I offer you and want to really be able to bring you the guidance, information, tips and ideas that you will find really useful and empowering in helping and supporting you in transforming your life to a life you desire & love.

I've put together a quick 2 minute survey comprising 10 easy questions that will REALLY help to give me ideas about what you want and how I can support you more :)

Here's the survey link! https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/X2L9HHG

Thank you so much for making my day and taking the time to help! Your ideas and feedback are so valuable to me!

How to encourage customers to buy from you

Often before someone will buy from you, they need some reassurance that they are making the right decision for them, doing the right thing investing their money, time and attention with you.

How can you help them with that?

Think about it. When you make a purchase, you 'sample' the goods by going into the shop, feeling the atmosphere, taking in the shop appearance, talking to a well informed, cheerful (or not!) sales person who can confim or shatter your illusions of the product, see the product first hand in all its glory (or not which will tarnish it in your mind forever more), see the reactions of others that you resonate with making similair purchase decisions, even the ease of the transaction payment and the packaging makes a statement that you do or do not resonate with. All of these interactions happen in a space of a few minutes and eitherr reassure you that your purchase is right for you or not.

Free samples, free consultations, free seminars and free demonstrations, free brochures, free newsletters and anything else you can think of that will help a potential customer experience you/your creations before purchase.

All of these help a potential buyer understand what it will feel like when they do actually purchase from you and whether it feels good to them and serves how they wish to see themselves.

Provide them with enough information and experience as you possibly can so that the next logical step for them is to make theirr purchasing decisions as justified, looked forward to and as easy as possible.

What can you provide today to encourage customers?

FREE 15 minute sales advice session to boost handmade craft sales!

Are you feeling disheartened, frustrated and disappointed with your current creative business success & want to know how to make more sales, how to effectively market your creations on a shoestring budget with limited time, how to turn your time, money & efforts invested in your business into profits & happy customers and to generally feel more empowered, inspired and raring to go in your creative business?

Then why not consider my current FREE offer to work 1-2-1 with me onboosting your business?

I'm offering 10 creative business owners the opportunity for a FREE15 minute mini marketing & sales advice session where we'll look at where you currently are in your business & what you'd like to achieve. You'll get some immediately actionable marketing & sales tips & ideas to help kickstart your business & enable you to move forward with it!

Find out more here! For testimonials see here!

I can help you make money doing what you love!

I offer creative, craft & handmade business owners a range of marketing & sales advice options. My aim is to work with those who are disheartened, frustrated and disappointed with their current business success & equip them with marketing & sales skills, knowledge and techniques. As a result of working with me I aim to transform them into feeling in control, empowered, inspired, rejuvenated and ready to make a go of their creative business.  

1. You can trial me out by taking up my offer of a free mini consultation (simply enter your email into the box below. You can also email me at lisa (dot) barton@hotmail (dot) co (dot) uk for an informal, no obligation to proceed chat about your biggest marketing and sales challenges, frustrations & concerns in your business & if I can I'll suggest a few free pointers to help you on your way (sometimes it just takes a few tweaks to get you going!).

2. If you're really serious about boosting you're business success let's work on creating your unique, personalised marketing & sales plan which comes with 1-2-1 advice sessions. This method enables me to be totally focused on understanding you, your strengths & weaknesses, vision & dreams and identifying the best way forward action-wise for you to reach your goals. 

See what others have to say about the advice they've received on my testimonials page. 

You'll tell me all about your goals, successes, restraints, blocks & actions to date and in return I'll devise you a personalised action plan with a ton of simple, plain English, non tech, inexpensive, no nonsense, immediately actionable ideas, actions, inspiration and advice to kick start your sales and marketing efforts. 

At £199 this is by far my most popular & effective service. I've helped hundreds of creatives over the years & the return you'll get on your investment can be many times more!  

It doesn't matter what type of creative business you are or where in the world you are - your structured plan of action will give you a purposeful & enlightened feeling that once again you're in control of your creative destiny and you know what you're doing & where to focus your time and efforts.

Marketing & sales practice evolves, changes and advances constantly and it can be time consuming, expensive & overwhelming to keep yourself abreast of all the changes. Working in partnership with me means you can stay updated, fresh, innovative & focused on your creative personal & business development & growth. 

You'll receive inspiration, motivation, ideas and professional, qualified and experienced advice to support you achieving the life & business you desire. When you consider how often you've paid a similar price to attend an event or run an advertisement that's brought you absolutely nothing in return, I'm sure you'll appreciate the value of the information you'll receive and how it can transform your business.

If you'd like more detailed infomation on my 1-2-1 marketing & sales coaching offer please email me at lisa (dot) barton @ hotmail (dot) co (dot) uk

3. I've written a super simple, quick & inexpensive e-guide to 'Marketing Creatively: 50 marketing ideas for creative growth & success' - you can purchase your copy from Amazon here. I promise there will be ideas in there you can action today! 

In addition ... 

4. I publish new marketing & sales ideas here on the blog  - my advice is super simple, quick to action, inexpensive, up to date and professional - keep checking back for updates!

5. If you're on Facebook (and if you're in business with your creativity then you should be!) then head over to my Marketing Creatively Facebook page  for daily updates including information, advice, ideas, support, inspiration & discussions - don't forget to like & follow the page to keep it in your news feed!

6. I host the Creative Craft Entrepreneurs facegroup forum group which gives you another great free opportunity to exchange views & experiences, network and discuss with other creatives on a similar journey - we've 1200 + members now so we're a lively, engaging & interactive fun bunch to hang out with! 

Make more sales & boost business success with my new Amazon e-book

STOP PRESS! 

My new creative business boosting e-book is now available on Amazon! 

Get you copy here! http://amzn.to/1vwi7uW

Never confuse your creative self worth with your social media numbers!

How to create the sales you deserve - new online course to boost creative, craft & handmade business success!

**Coming Soon!**

Registration for the next round of my popular online e-course 'Marketing made simple for creative, craft & handmade business success' is opening soon!

If you'd like advance notification of it's availability, content, price & purpose simply sign up to receive updates below!

A fresh start for 2015!

Hello creatives - although a tad late I still wish you a Happy New Year & hope that you can make all your creative dreams come true in 2015!

Hitting the ground runing in 2015, I've made some tweaks to the way I work around here. You may have seen some changes on the blog over the last few days - up until now I have been running seperate blogs for my creative work (Vintage Celebrations) and my scrapbooking industry updates -and with divine guidance I thought the time had come to house them all under one roof so you have access to craft tutorials, handmade business marketing & sales ideas, industry updates and other (hopefully) inspiring information all in one place!

So now i aim to bring you a mixed bag each week of creativity, business acumen & experience & other things I think may entertain and delight you along my creative journey. So here's toa  fresh start in 2015 - cheers!

Merry Christmas to all crafters, creatives and handmakers from the Vintage Celebrations angels!

It's the most magical night of the year and all of us here at Vintage Celebrations would like to wish our readers past, present and future a very Merry crafting Christmas and healthy, happy handmade 2015. 

Let the fun & festivities commence!

In case you're wondering our darling angel is made from muslin bags, vellum card, lashes of glitter, leaf punches, bakers twine, tea doilies and some glitter feathers from my stash. 

I'll be back in the New Year with more interior decoration & styling ideas!

Handmade Christmas burlap & rolled ribbon flower evergreen bird napkin rings craft tutorial

Dress your table in a handmade style this Christmas with these gorgeous burlap & rolled ribbon napkin rings!

In just a few days time we will be tucking into Christmas lunch, all the preparations, planning & panicking well and truly behind us for another year ;) 

My Christmas table this year will be predominately white with mercury glass pots, plain glass accessories, candles, silverware & dominated by our mini Christmas tree in a gorgeous pained french style white urn I picked up from West Barn Country interiors a few weeks ago.

These napkin rings were really easy to make (everything I make is!!) - I simply took a piece of florists wire and covered it with frayed burlap trim for a rustic look then fashioned into a circle.

The rolled ribbon flowers were made from neutral and dark red seam binding - see my tutorial how to make them here and then I added evergreen leaves & ickle dove birds were punched using a bird punch.

The tags were cut from natural card papers, tied with festive bakers twine and the the table guests initials were die cut using with alphabet dies which I rarely ever put away as they are so vital for most personalised projects!

Have a look at my other handmade Christmas table decoration ideas by clicking the links below!

• Simply stars Christmas garland
• Autumn inspired place cards
• Handmade crackers

Happy decorating!

Mini handmade Christmas treat gift baskets craft tutorial

These little Christmas Treat Baskets are just perfect for holding a handful of yummy sweets for a little gift for friends, family, neighbours, teachers, employees, postman, hairdresser etc etc - most people I know would be happy to receive one! Good job they are quick & simple to make!

I found the tutorial on Vicky Hayes blog  - her baskets were made for Easter so I've given thema  seasonal twist!

In real life the baskets measure around 3" x 2" so only little presents need apply to be wrapped in them - although some of my most coveted and treasured presents have been the ones in the smallest packages (pale blue boxes with white satin ribbons are always the best boxes!

Our tree and decorations will be going up this weekend and I will spend hours lovingly and carefully unwrapping my collection of vintage glass ornaments - my tree is my pride and joy each year and at 7.5ft tall commands a lot of attention! Have you done yours yet?

Handmade paper pine cone ornament Christmas decoration tutorial

Aren't these paper pinecone ornaments just darling? Want to make one of your own? I used some left over Christmas themed paper which is full of great patterns in my favourite winter pale blue, silver & white colours and I followed this fabulous paper pine cone ornament tutorial found here.

The pine cones are super easy to make, just a little repetitive with the folding but I did mine watching the latest episode of Downton Abbey - can't wait for the Christmas episode! The leaves were cut usinga leaf punch and then slavered in silver glass glitter for extra sparkle.

You can just see the little pins holding the layers in place - at least they're silver and coordinate too!

If you're looking for more handmade Christmas craft decoration ideas then take a look at ...

• Simple Silver Star Christmas hanging garland banner
• My Christmas craft pinterest board

Handmade silver stars Christmas garland decoration

A simple star handmade sparkly Christmas garland .... super quick, super shiny & super inexpensive!

 I used star stamps of varying sizes and patterns stamped in silver metallic ink, some silver glitter which could be sprinkled on or embossed with a heat tool and then strung with linen thread to hang it from. 

Happy stamping!

December Daily art journalling 2014 days 1-5

Here are the first few pages of my December Daily art journalling project for 2014. I've used a wide variety of materials from Studio Calico, Pretty Little Studio, Pink Paislee, Teresa Collins and a huge bundle of Christmas emphemera from Julie Kirk at Notes on Paper, one of my favourite journalling artists.

This years December journalling prompts that I created to were:

1. The meaning of Christmas for me

2. Plans for December

3. Best gift memories

4. All about Christmas Cards

I'll be sharing more next week (yes I have created more than 4 pages seen as it is the 10th December!)

How's your December Daily coming together?

Pretty packaging and gift wrap ideas for home made jams, preserves, canned & chutneys mason jars

Something pretty for you if you're canning, jamming, preserving or baking this week - preserve gift wrap & packaging ideas! 

You can't beat home grown and home made gift giving and as usual I felt the  urge to pretty up the jar beforehand ;)

Using some old fabric I cut scallop edge circles and then tied these onto the jars with twine. Using a flower shape punch I made a layered flower out of scraps of paper which matched the colour scheme on the fabrics - can't beat a bit of colour coordinatio! 

A tea doily, a decorative label using sweetly framed and some hand cut banners and stamping and the jar was ready to gift!

Happy gifting!

7 ways to build customer sales in your craft, creative or handmade business

If you publish a blog, manage a facebook page, tweet, share on Google+, receive emails or participate in forums & meetings, one of the easiest and nicest ways to build a relationship with potential and actual customers is through simply talking & making a connection with them through leaving comments, profferring advice, asking questions, showing genuine interest and sharing your knowledge.

Whether you operate online or in person ....

• listening to others
• answering questions
• sharing highs and the lows
• encouraging & motivating
• providing expertise when appropriate
• sharing information and knowledge
• showing up where the action is 

will ensure you are well on the way to becoming memorable, valued and sought out by customers who will genuinely appreciate the value and wholeheartedness you bring to the table.

Make it your goal to engage daily even if just for 10 minutes and see how rewarding it can be in building a relationship with others. 

Vintage theme Christmas Vignette inspiration

Here's a sneak peek at this year's vintage theme Christmas vignette that graces the Vintage Celebrations fireplace, resplendant in shades of cream, natural, gold and silver sparkles. 

The decorations have been built up over the years - there are so many now I may have to buy a bigger fireplace ;) 

The wooden tree and mini wreath are from Hunt Bespoke Kitchens in Bloxham whilst the Believe angel, the glittered stags are from Wyevale Garden Nurseries in Bicester, the patinated glass is from Next & Dunelm Mill and the gorgeously fragranced candles are from White Mgick Alchemy in the USA and are magically named Yule Faerie Silver Forest & North Woods Winter White (I always have a totally spot on Old English Egg Nog with cream, rum, spiced sugar, bourbon & vanillascented candle which smells good enough to eat from them!). The large wall mirror is from Next, the tall pillar candles either side of the fireplace are from Next and the fire itself is from Dimplex - the Alameda Opti Mist. 

Happy December Decorating!

December Daily craft project 2014

Are you up for the December Daily creativity challenge? 

December Daily is a month long art, journalling, scrapbooking and paper crafting project showcasing the daily highlights of the Yule season. 

There are no rules, you don't have to consider yourself artistic or creative and you can use whichever medium you are most comfortable with - fabric, paper, paint, clay, yarn, metal or a mixture of all - the choices are endless!

This year, I'm using scrapbooking materials, magazine cutouts, project life paraphenalia and scraps of inspiration & creativity found from everyday life.

Follow my daily journey and prompts and join in the festive fun by sharing your December daily pages here too!

Join in the Christmas cheer and chat with me on Facebook on my Vintage Celebrations page! 

How & where to find new craft & creative business customers online

Hitting online Social Media big time and plunging straight into joining forums & groups, liking pages, commenting, sharing and engaging are all great marketing activities that we're all encouraged to do by the pros. 

c. SEO Planter

However we also may be making a huge marketing (and time and effort) mistake when we only hang out in the same places online as fellow creatives & crafters, complimenting each other on our creations, creativity & creativeness. Whilst mutual support is vital to our industry, it's not the best way to gain custom.

Remember, other creatives are not the most likely audience to funnel into being your customers - hey they have their own products to sell! Think of it like if you've ever been at an exhibition and spent your takings on everyone else's products & services ;) Not the best strategy to make money.

Instead, spend your time, energy, money & focus on getting yourself & your business being seen online where your potential customers are also most likely to be. 

So where's that you may be asking? 

Here are my top tips for finding, defining and marketing to your ideal customers to be.

Click here to claim your free '50 free marketing tips' e-book to 

save you time & money whilst increasing your business growth, success & visibility!