The Crafty Network would like to introduce to you ~ For You, With Love.
For You, With Love
Q1. What is your Business Name, your name and where are you based?
A1. My business is called ‘For You, With Love’ and I am Helen based in West Yorkshire.
Q2. How did you come up with your business name and when did you set it up and why?
A1. I wanted something personal and non-commercial as a gift for my friend’s new 
baby, so I decided to design and make my first new baby keepsake. I wrote ‘For you, With Love Helen x’ on the card. The friend who received that keepsake then liked them so much that she ordered them for all her friends who had new babies and so the business began! I decided that as the products are all handmade and sewn, there’s clearly a lot of time and love that goes into each piece to ensure it is special for the recipient and so ‘For You, With Love’ seemed the perfect name.
Q3 What do you make and why?
A3. I started by making new baby keepsakes and Christmas decorations. The business has then expanded as people have asked me to make certain products, 
such as the Christening and wedding keepsakes, and as I have added new ideas to the range. My mum taught me to cross stitch when I was young and I’ve kept it up, I find sewing quite relaxing (when my thread’s not in a taffle!). I started making things for For You, With Love in January 2010 and so it will soon be a year old! I also wanted to raise some money for two important charities that are close to my heart Cancer Research UK and AFASIC West Yorkshire, so I donate 10% of all sales to them. So far I have raised £75 for the charities.
Q4. Tell us a bit about yourself and your business?
A4. I am 26 years old and I am a full time teacher, which is obviously a very full on job, so I do bits of sewing at weekends but try to build up as much stock as possible during the school holidays. I use one of the bedrooms to store my stock and get cosy on the sofa to sew my current piece of work. There’s usually something on the arm of the settee that I’m working on!
Q5. Where do you sell your items?
A5. I sell my items on www.facebook.com/ForYouWithLove or on www.foryouwithlove.weebly.com which is my website that is work in progress. I also go to a few craft fairs,but as a business trying to raise money for charity, I tend 
to just choose smaller craft fairs. The Facebook site is where I sell most of my items through. The biggest success I’ve had is Colne Valley Garden Centre, Huddersfield, stocking my Christmas decorations this year, which I am very excited about. The worst place had to be at a craft fair in June, where there were lots of events on around the place, but no signs into the room where the craft fair was! It was my first fair so I was slightly disheartened, but met lots of lovely crafters who shared lots of advice with me.
Q6. What are your 3 favourite items that you are selling at the moment?
A6. My three favourite items at the moment are these Christmas puddings which 
are £2.50 each, because they are very cute!!
My second favourite are the gorgeous Baby’s First Christmas decorations which are £3.00 and can be personalised with the baby’s name for 50p extra (available in pink or blue), as they are popular and a great gift.
My third favourite is the New Baby keepsake which is £10 and available in pink or 
blue (although other colour can be used). This keepsake was the reason For You, With Love became a business and helped to raise lots of money to charity.
Q7. Where do you get your creative inspiration from?
A7. Sometimes people ask me to make things for them, which I then continue to make and add to my lines, such as the tooth fairy pouches or First Birthday bag ready to fill with goodies. Sometimes I just play about with ideas until I find something I like, or occasionally a material will inspire me to make some decorations out of it.
Q8. What is your best/favourite tool and why?
A8. I think it has to be my needle, without it I’d be pretty scuppered!!
Q9. Do you want to learn anything new or are you learning anything at the moment, what are your plans for the future?
A9. ??
Q10. When you first started if you could have been given one piece of advice what would it have been and lastly, what piece of advice would you like to pass on to anybody starting out?
A10. I think that as I hadn’t originally planned for my hobby to become a business, it kind of took me by surprise and I have had to learn about different means out there to support me and the business. www.stallfinder.com is a great site to find craft fairs nearby, vitally important to get chatting to other stall holders as nearly all of them I’ve met have been so helpful, sharing their thoughts and advice. Get a Facebook page, there’s always customers asking for things to be made and lots of ways of promoting your business on there through networking pages. You have to work hard to promote your business and sometimes it can feel like hard work and slow starting, but keep persisting and it will pay off.
Thank you Helen, it was lovely to hear how you started and how your business has developed and progressed. TCN xx
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