Fe-line Paws of Approval – July

As we are now Team Fe-line, WHOOP, we thought it would be fun to every once in a while each nominate something that we have seen that we think is awesome and won the Fe-line Paw of Approval.

Jo

My Fe-line Paw of Approval has to go to Gala Darling and her Radical Self Love Salons. As we know Fe-liners it isn’t always easy to be kind and encouraging to ourselves but Gala has this magical way of making women see how amazing they are. I met her when I did The Blogcademy and she has this amazing aura about her, she’s very genuine and easy to talk to and I can only imagine how much this course helps people. I unfortunately found out about the Salon too late to go to the London date but I am booking myself in to the next one this side of the pond for sure.

Rosie

My favourite find this month was Gabby Young and Other Animals at Cornbury Festival.  Gabby shone out from the line up with her awesome red locks and quirky style, including an amazing dress from Collectif that I have had my eye on! The band bring together sweet pop melodies with an eccentric circus swing twist. Gabby hails from Wiltshire and her boundless creativity doesn’t just stop at music, she also has a great love for gardening and making lots of fabulous pieces. She even promotes UK designers and has a little online shop with pieces she loves. This girl combines a gorgeous sense of style with great music and oodles of fun besides.

Debs

This month, I’d like to award my Paw of Approval to an incredibly simple, but oh-so-very useful app.

I came across a recommendation for 30/30 on The Dexterous Diva’s blog and it has revolutionised my working day. It’s a pretty simple concept, you create tasks for yourself and give each one a time limit – a typical task list for me would include items such as checking in with my journal, working on my next Fe-line post, loading the dishwasher, and breaking for an all-important cup of tea. The beauty of scheduling like this is that you can see that there’s time to fit it all in; task #4 may well be the most important, but you don’t need to panic and start on it straight away as there is time to comfortably fit in tasks 1-3 first (on my list these are usually 1 exercising, 2 showering, and 3 getting dressed – leads to some awkward conversations with house callers if I skip them). The other benefit of having an electronic schedule is that it’s completely editable so if you find that your current task needs a bit longer and you want to stick with it or if you need to move up your tea break, you can switch things around without having to start again. I also love that, if time’s up on a task and you’ve yet to mark it complete, 30/30 will automatically move it to the end of the list so you can come back to it later rather than struggling through when the momentum’s clearly gone.

Anaïs

I’d like to give Giffords Circus my Fe-line Paw of Approval this month. Giffords Circus tour around the Cotswolds every summer bringing their unique form of circus to village greens and parks across Oxfordshire and further afield. They travel and live in wooden wagons and perform a distinctive kind of cosy, traditional circus show. You get to see a mix of stand out clowning from regular Tweedy Clown, juggling, acrobatics, contortionism, equestrian vaulting, brilliant live music and more, all presented under a different theme each year with hand made costumes and loads of make up. Nell started up Giffords Circus with her husband Toti in 2000 and over the last 14 years it has become staple summer entertainment for many, thanks to its vintage character, awesome physical exploits and great sense of playfulness. You can find out more by reading Nell’s book The First Ten Years and I would definitely recommend their current show, The Thunders, touring until late September!

Festival Trading – My Top Tips

In May I wrote a piece about some of the exciting festivals going on in Oxfordshire this summer. There are some great events going on across the county and I have been lucky enough to be selected to do a number of them this year. I am super excited about setting up Kinship of Oxford at events including Cornbury, Truck and Wilderness. It should be a great opportunity to promote the business and reach new customers. However it is not as simple as just rocking up the day before with a selection of goods and a gazebo. I put a lot of thought and consideration into each Pop Up Shop, and festival pitches are no different. There are a lot more considerations such as a bigger stall size, stock holding and not to mention, the weather!

So where to start? Well here are my top tips to help you enjoy and succeed at festival trading:

• Stocking Up

When you get booked onto a festival, the first thing is to check your stock levels and put a plan together of what you would like to take and how many of each line you will need. To do this, I normally work out how much I need to take to cover the pitch plus any extra expenses such as food, equipment and of course to make a profit. Once you have come to a figure, think about the type of festival you are going to and the type of people that might attend it. I find that putting together a playlist helps with this. For example at Wood Festival in May, I put together a big display of my Beefayre range as I knew that many of the festival goers would be passionate about the environment and Beefayre use recycled packaging, natural ingredients and give 3% of their profits to Bee Conservation.
It’s good to do this well in advance so that you can reorder any lines that you think will sell well or gives you time to make new designs or products. Use your top line figure to work out how many of each item you need to take to achieve your turnover goal. Remember that as you’re outside its good to leave behind any products that might get ruined by the elements! I tend not to bring any paper products or higher priced jewellery and accessories.

• Dress To Impress

As with all events it is important to plan you display. The Kinship stall for festivals is generally twice as big as events such as craft fairs so I plan how the tables will be arranged and what products go where, in advance of the festival. I also take a ‘Mary Poppins bag’ of useful things like bluetac, tape, scissors, pegs, ribbon, pens, safety pins and drawing pins so I can tie tablecloths and display pieces down. I also find a bag of pebbles (or other heavy items!) prove invaluable if the wind picks up!
Also, even though you’ve probably already spent a night in a tent, it’s important to look the part when you’re trading. Plan your outfits in advance so that you don’t let your stall down by looking a bit unkept.

• Check, Check, Check It Out

Remember to check that all the equipment you need is fully functional before the day of the festival, turning up with a broken gazebo is not what you need. Make a check list of everything from your tent and gazebo to wet wipes and dry shampoo.

• Self-Preservation

While you want your stall to be a success, you also want to enjoy your time and have some fun! I learnt this the hard way at Truck Festival last year. It was absolutely boiling on the Friday and I didn’t drink enough water or have a break which meant I had heat stroke by the evening, not fun! So make sure you plan what food you are going to take or buy there, and take lots of water with you so you have some to hand. I now make sure I drink about 1litre an hour if it’s really hot, even if it does mean using the festival toilets more! Also make sure there are at least two of you on your stall so that you can at least have a lunch break.

• Safe & Sound

Security is key at festivals. Make sure that your cash box is in a secure location and preferably padlocked to something immoveable, or keep your money belt on you at all times. I also pack all my stock away at night and don’t take anything expensive (including personal items); items priced between £5-£20 tend to sell the best anyway.

I hope these are some useful points if you’re thinking of taking your business or craft on the road this summer or next!

Last but not least this is my list of must have festival items:

• Battery charger (especially if you take card payments via your phone)
• Wet wipes
• Dry Shampoo
• Wellies
• Fan
• Camping chairs
• Cool box (for water and maybe a couple ciders!)
• Inflatable mattress & pump
• Torch
• Waterproof
• Hand sanitizer
• Tent
• Sun cream
• Ear plugs
• Stove & pan

Have fun!

Love