Two C Words

They would be chocolate…

and Christmas (sorry I KNOW it’s still October!)

You know I make chocolates and sell them online as well as sew don’t you? Well I’ve opened the trufflepiglet Christmas order book this week because last year was horrendous and whilst I got everything done for the orders I had, the Christmas gift baskets and the fair I did in December, it was a nightmare. The chocolates needed to go out as late as possible for freshness and I didn’t want to make too much of certain flavours as they would just end up in the bin, but the orders kept coming in (a great problem to have don’t get me wrong!) but I was down to the last collection and packaging up stuff in my lunch break at work just to get it all done. And this year I have wedding favours to be collected on Christmas Eve too to top it off.

So this year I am limiting my orders to 50 (of any size) for Christmas delivery on a first come first served basis. If you want trufflepiglet chocolates for Christmas, please don’t leave it late. And don’t forget to put in the order comments that it is for Christmas or you will end up getting them a lot earlier than planned!

Within the next fortnight the Amaretto and Christmas pudding chocolates and a bigger box will be out too!

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Help me out and win your own pet quilt

I have absolutely no idea if this will work or how much people will get behind me, but I’m asking you to help me out, and I’ll give you something in return 🙂

I confess, I have a weighty credit card bill that is on my shoulders every month and has been for years. Even though it’s on 0% interest right now, the minimum payment is still around £200 ($315) a month. I want rid of it. SO what have I decided to do?

Well I’m asking you to help me. For every £1 you donate to the cause on THIS SITE (and this site only!) you will get an entry into my raffle draw for your own custom, turned edge applique, lap size pet quilt wallhanging of your dog, cat, goldfish, snake, whatever! I will draw the winner when target is reached, so it’s in your best interests to spread the word 😉

For donations of £5 or more (and £5 is the minimum annoyingly, I was hoping it would be £1!), not only do you get 5 entries but I give you this quilt pattern which comes with a table runner variation included…

And for donations of £10 or more you get ten draw entries, the Wallander quilt pattern AND a box of 6 trufflepiglet chocolates (UK only)… assuming you reply to my email with your postal address of course (make sure you check your spam folder just in case).

If you’re not in the UK and you want the chocolates, the donation amount is £15 because of the extortionate postage costs- sorry about that.

So yes, I would be enormously grateful if you donated, or even just shared the link to my GoFundMe page with your friends or Twitter followers. I’ve even made a button you may use wherever if you really want to get behind me.

Please link the button to this link: http://www.gofundme.com/creditquilt

And I will be posting little target posts every now and again to remind you 😀

Thanks everyone!

Trufflepiglet necklace

I’ve been playing around with some Sculpey recently, and decided to make almost all my chocolates in miniature form and make a necklace for craft fairs. It’s not the most excellent polymer clay work you will have ever seen but I think it fits the bill 🙂

Trade titles

There are loads of magazines out there, but sometimes it’s nice to get a different perspective and to read the more serious trade titles. For example whilst I worked on the magazine I used to get Craft Focus and Craft Business through the door. These magazines show you new products and have discussions on trends so you can stay ahead in your crafting and you know what to get excited about! They are really good if you sell craft supplies, as this is why they exist- for suppliers and retailers. Usually you have to prove you’re in one of these categories to get your issues in the post, but I am happy to say that a lot of trade titles can be viewed online for free and it saves paper too!

Here’s the latest issue of Craft Focus…

The reason I decided to mention how useful trade titles can be in your particular fields of interest (they have them for all sorts of obscure areas- remember the trade title feature on Have I Got News For You?!) is because I have been asked to write for the 2011 Confectionary supplement for Speciality Food Magazine. It so happens that Louise the editor found me- and trufflepiglet- on Twitter and would like me to write a piece about novelty chocolates, which is great because only that day had I read the 2010 supplement and was interested in getting involved anyway. As I see it, it will be a great opportunity to get the trufflepiglet brand out there in front of buyers for gift shops, garden centres and delis, so who knows what it could bring! So this weekend I’m getting writing (and chocolate making- I have a fair the following weekend)- so excited!

Here’s the 2010 issue of the Confectionery supplement (also free!) for those interested, I think it makes good reading but then it’s something I enthuse about. I hope you get Googling your hobbies and interests to see what other great titles are out there!

Ch- ch- changes!

I am drastically cutting down the pieces of jewellery I am now selling. I’ve started by giving the Etsy and Folksy shops a good weeding and this will follow onto the main PennyDog site.

Why?

Well it is silly me offering more and more made to order items that I don’t have time to replenish. I really don’t want everything to be made to order. So I have been taking stuff off, even popular items. Then I will list them as I make them…. if I do choose to make them again! It makes life a lot easier, but this doesn’t mean I won’t list new things as I have a few things slowly being made.

The resin supplies section is totally unaffected, and in fact it is growing, along with my Folksy supplies shop! I am also quite happy to do wholesale and custom orders like the doggy necklace above!

The reason I now don’t have very much time is because I am trufflepigletting away in the kitchen as the launch of the site seemed pretty successful! So this is where my energies are focused at the minute and it feels good to be doing something totally different, I’d like to be more relaxed with the resin side of things rather than running around in a manic panic as I have been recently.

Ohh and if you are chocolatey minded, please come and visit my sister blog for the trufflepiglet venture, it’s nothing at the minute but I have plans to make it more interesting, so if you have a blog reader, I’d recommend adding me 😉

trufflepiglet is now open!

Trufflepiglet is now ready to take orders! Boxed chocoaltes and other goods will come later and gradually within the next two weeks as I am waiting for photographs and packaghing, but loose chocolates can now be ordered! I have a discount code for you until the end of March that allows you 15% off all orders of £5 and above: BLOGFAN

www.trufflepiglet.com

My first proper order :)

The website is coming along now for trufflepiglet and it will be launched on 28th Feb- now less than 3 weeks! I only hope my boxes come soon otherwise I will be selling loose only for the time being.

I was asked by @bootiesbydannie on Twitter to make some chocs for her friend yesterday. We settled on coffee cups and they were set on their way this morning! I packaged them as best I could with my limited resources, I really hope the postie doesn’t shake the box.

Special offer moulds

 

I have put a new section on the supplies side of the website listing resin moulds that I have limited quantities of and won’t be restocking, so this is a great chance to grab yourself a bargain and more unusual moulds!

You can find this new section here! It will be updated regularly until my big box of moulds has gone!

I’ve also been doing yet more kitchenry, making Pimms truffles, gingerbread truffles and these little trufflepiglets!

I also discovered a great way of using leftover meat from our pressure cooker (best invention ever) that doesn’t involve feeding the dog. I put the pork (beef would be better) into a pie with dumplings and a smidge of gravy, which then expanded to make a big lump of mega-stodge, but man, it was good!

More chocs

I’ve made some more chocolates today- sorry this is seemingly turning into a food blog!

Non-alcoholic Cherry Brandy Swirls, blimming sugar diamonds have clouded up though, maybe from being in the fridge briefly?

Jelly cakes- these are my new favourites! Milk chocolate cups with white chocolate tops and strawberry jelly inside!

And some more Turkish Delight, this time covered in white chocolate!

 

Shop restock and Chocs Away!

Sorry I have been away so long. This time of year I get very busy, and as a result a lot of my shop has been marked made to order. However I have this morning restocked the site (and also Etsy and Folksy where applicable) and I now have the following available for immediate delivery (there are other immediate delivery items on the site, so feel free to have a click through!): 

 

 

In other news, I am going on my food safety course on Tuesday, taking me a step closer to opening my chocolate business! The web designer thinks we will be live by 15th January, but I reckon it will be the end of Jan by the time I have had my kitchen assessment, etc. Here’s what I was up to last night…

(Bailey truffle centres- my own recipe 😉 )

(Oozy praline centres)

(Dark chocolate truffle centres- everyone’s favourites!)