Five

Starting a business from scratch is hard, Jayne and her Foreverbunnies is no exception, this is a little of Jayne's story minus all the hard work, frustration and blisters gathered along the way and which continues to this day. I keep Foreverbunny away from my blog posts as I know you don't want blatant advertising stuffed down your necks, I only post it as today's blog entry as I'm astounded at just quite what she has achieved in five months after standing with her yesterday at the latest Foreverbunny event.

OCTOBER

At the beginning of October Jayne was sat behind me in the studio with a set of paints, some wood, pens, glue and a whole head full of inspiration to try and make all the bunny related things she couldn't find in the shops but really, really wanted. It wasn't an easy task, Jayne had not done any of this before so everything was trial and error but eventually after a few weeks she had managed to come up with the basics of what she  imagined in her head. It took her until the start of November before she was happy that she had created something special, the first true Foreverbunny.

NOVEMBER

We worked together like this for many weeks, me painting Impossimals, Jayne sawing, painting and designing until she had her first range of wooden Foreverbunnies created from old disused pallets, string and left over paint. They looked great, the Foreverbunny idea had been burning away for years, finally it was beginning to take shape. Next it needed a little push in the right direction with a website and maybe a craft fair to see if  anybody was really interested in Foreverbunny or if Jayne was just being a silly bunny lady.

The first website, an off the peg site, went live in the middle of November. It contained information but no online shop facilities which was frustrating and very little else apart from an events guide. Around the same time Jayne started testing the water with craft and gift fairs.

These proved to be a tough testing ground, not only do they require a lot of work beforehand but on the day you are open to the vagaries of the weather, the event organisation and of course random visitors. Hand made items sometimes sit uncomfortably next to commercially bought items and Foreverbunny was no exception. Their handmade nature makes them naturally more expensive than mass produced but also brings along a little bit of charm with it. As Jayne attended the events so did the Foreverbunnies reach further afield.

DECEMBER
With the last of the events out of the way it was a return to the studio to take on board everything she had learned. The range had to be bigger with more varied products, single bunnies were fine but as mostly families attended the events the range opened up to include a few new additions.

The first Foreverbunny family was created and was swiftly followed by several more variations, decorated hearts and an idea to go even further. They were renamed the core Classic Foreverbunny range, immediately colour and style identifiable Foreverbunny had a brand in the making. Foreverbunnies had made the jump from impulse items to consideration items as the price structure expanded out of the £10-20 range and into the £10-80, the idea of affordable Forevebunny luxury was one step closer.

JANUARY

January was a big turning point for Foreverbunny, after only three months it had grown to take up most of Jayne's time. From sourcing wood, paint and additional equipment such as band and power saws Jayne had also entered into the world of fabrics, a complimentary range requiring different skills to expand the Foreverbunny collection. What was needed was a shop front to showcase it all...

The Foreverbunny website may look swish but the website and shop cost time and very little money to arrange, all it needed was a digital camera for product shots, text and a few little tweaks and it was away. Combining this with a selection of Facebook promotion posts launched the whole thing mid-January. Domain, hosting, website, online shop and promotion all for the princely sum of, wait for it, £50, bargain! Foreverbunny Online at last.

FEBRUARY
Thoughts had started to turn to Spring as the nights started to get lighter, with it an addition to the Foreverbunny stable, the Garden range. Taking colours from a very Spring like palette Jayne created the Garden range to look completely different from the Scandinavian feel of the Classic Foreverbunny.

Silver plated springs added a more decadent look to the latest creations and switching the hearts to flowers completed the Garden feel.

So after five months of hard work Jayne attended a craft event yesterday to promote Foreverbunny and sold two cards in six hours such is the unpredictability of organised events. You know it didn't really matter, what really mattered was that she had done it all from scratch and that sense of achievement is difficult to knock and the reason I'm so proud at everything she does.

Yay Foreverbunny!

As a special thank you to everyone who has supported Foreverbunny over the last five months Jayne has given out a 5% discount code on her Facebook and Twitter pages, both of which can be found here :
Foreverbunny Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/foreverbunnyhome
Foreverbunny Twitter - https://twitter.com/ForeverbunnyUK

Randomness is just around the corner, Monday it's back and I'm off my rocker.