Made With Love By Penny: 2016-05-01

Welcome once again to

Today I would like to talk about a great place I was put onto through a Youtube video by the gorgeous and talented Holly Castro from Charm and Gumption.

First a little bit about how I got onto Holly's wonderful tutorials and then onto a brief chat about Canva.

When I decided to open a store, I did the usual thing, check to see what was available, how to use it, costs etc. Finally deciding upon Etsy, I then found myself going onto Youtube

Everybody has different reasons for browsing Youtube. Personally I like to browse tutorials on, yes you got it...crochet, knitting, false nails, nail art, make-up, home ideas, MS, Diabetes, Bipolar and now running your own business.

I suppose I chose Holly's channel to follow due to the fact that she is so infectious with her enthusiasm for what she makes. Her tute's are easy tfroundo understand PLUS Holly share's the most amazing links to what she is talking about.

One of these tutorials was about "Branding" and "Logo" making. Yes even as a small time, stay at home Mum type business, needs to have a "Logo" and defined ideas on "Branding". Basically this is so a person can recognize something as belonging to a certain business ie McDonalds with their golden arches on a red background is not only their logo but as soon as you see something with the red and gold arches, you automatically think of McDonalds.

So Holly suggested Canva for people who couldn't afford to get a professional to do a logo, to give Canva a go.

Now I have to admit I have tried quite a few different free programs and sites online and have not always been pleased with what I have seen and in some instances have found that unless you go for the paid version (normally at a high expense) then you don't have the chance to change much around. Just very, very basic details.

Over to Canva I headed and WOW I was impressed. Knock me off my feet impressed!

Simple to sign up to and yes there is a paid option for businesses but you don't need to pay if you don't want to.

Canva has an amazing array of different templates, fonts, pictures and so on. Some things you need to pay for as they are stock photos or templates that don't belong to Canva but they are like $1- 5US.

But seriously there is enough freebies to use that I think it would take you a decade to use them all.

The part I like the best is that you can upload your own images and so on and utilize them. If you are not sure about what you are doing, they have tutorials which explains EVERYTHING, again in nice simple. easy to follow instructions.

Their blog covers a lot of tips and tricks about how to maintain cohesiveness with your branding amongst other things.

I suggest that you check it out and give it a go. Like I said it is easy to use and if you read and watch their tute's first you will learn a lot of great things. Even if it is for something as simple as making a business card, which I understand a lot of parents are doing now to arrange playdates for their little ones.

Well that's it for me tonight.

Don't forget MAY 15TH 2016, MADE WITH LOVE BY PENNY WILL HAVE WORLD WIDE SHIPPING AVAILABLE.

Hello everyone,

I hope you have all had a wonderful week.

As you all may be aware I have changed my logo and layout of the blog as well as everything else. Would love to hear your comments on it, so please drop me a line and let me know your thoughts.

The weather has been from one extreme to the other, with today's being icy cold here. But that is why we have lovely throws, shawls, jumpers and wraps.

Speaking of wraps I finally finished the wrap I was making for my Mother in-law for Mother's Day (which is next week people).

I have to admit I think I did a fairly good job of it and I can only hope that MIL likes it. It isn't heavy but still very warm and that was what I was going for as well as a pretty lacy look.

The colour was picked by hubby who thought the variegation of reds and brown complimented his mum's skin tone.

Pattern can be found for FREE at Redheart.

Now if you have read last week's Wednesday WoW post, you would have seen me basically throwing a tantrum over not finding the pattern I was using for a pair of booties I was half way through.

GOOD NEWS! I FOUND IT

As per my intentions I have begun printing off the pattern's I have used which then brings me to the onerous task of doing links to the pattern designers (oh my brain is hurting now lol) but in all sincerity these wonderful ladies and gents put a lot of time and effort into creating the most amazing designs, some for FREE and some you need to pay for. Which when you think about it, is quite fair as they have to make a living too, even if it is something you love doing.

The current pair of booties I am working on are soooo cute. But I'm not going to tell you how they will end up looking as that will take the surprise away but I do have a photo of one half made and the beginning of its mate.

Anyway that is about it for this Sunday's post. Over the next 2 weeks I will be working on my store, getting everything ready for the 15th May. Can't wait!