Four Amazing Years to Celebrate!

It probably sounds a little cliché with the idea that when I began my work, I never intended it to grow this much nor did I see it being what it is now. The truth, however is... that it's a fact! Firefly was a very whimsy attempt during a spring break in my 3rd year at Indus and I don't think I've really looked back since then. My vision for Firefly has grown. It's definitely broadened, and for a fact we've achieved several milestones. All I can say is, ALHAMDULILLAH! Isn't He Awesome?!

Every Year Allah Kareem grants me a few gifts to celebrate Firefly's birthday in March.
Here's what we've done this year...

-Managed Giveaways for PepsiCo for Pakistan Idol
-Produced handmade flowers and marble magnets for Daaman's Press and Media Kits for Fashion Pakistan Week 2014
-I, the Firefly Girl was awarded with Young Entrepreneur in the Spotlight at the 6th Annual Ladiesfund Women's Awards (that, too on 1st March!)
-We're at 18,000+ fans on Facebook
-We have 500+ loves following us on Instagram



That's probably the most remarkable bit to my journey. The unknown is beautiful... and the surprises are always breathtaking. Alhamdulillah! :)

I've been a bit of headless chicken.. my attention's been all over the place.. and it's been a lot of work trying to ground myself to life and routine here. Slow and steady wins the race, no? :)

I request each of you to make dua for me, and those of you that pray for me, I appreciate it and cannot thank you enough.

The Give Away!




Without further delay, I want to celebrate 4 years of my precious Firefly. I've been writing in it often, will think about sharing some of my writings with you all :) To party it up with our confetti, I'm rolling out the Giveaway. Given it's Crafts Month, let's celebrate by gifting one lucky crafter these gorgeous gifts to help them kickstart their crafting and inspire them to create <3

 

What's Included?

-12x12 Café Mediterranean Stack by Die Cuts With a View

-Tim Holtz Ideology Trinket Pins

- K&Co Birthday embellishment stickers

- Making Memories ornate frames

- Prima Mulberry Blooms

- TPC Studios Calendar Stamp Set

- My Mind's Eye Kate & Co Stamp set

- Acrylic Block

- Fiskers flower punch

- 4 solid color washis

- 3 patterned washis

- 1 set of bottle caps (metallic)

- 1 set of hand dyed mini pegs

- Perfect Pearls

- 4 packs of Basic Grey embellishments, canvas tags, pieces, etc

- 2 packs of Journaling cards/Pocket Pages made easy (chalkboard style)

- My Mind's Eye Collectible Wooden buttons

- mini vial packed with diamond dust

- mini vial packed with shaved ice

 

These items are all valued at over Rs 10,000!

 

How do you take part?
1- Go over to the Firefly Page on facebook. (Fb.com/whimsical.firefly)

2- Visit our product archives and go through the photos. Pick out ONE Handmade project done by me that you love.

3- Share that photo and write what you love about it, and what makes it stand out for you on your Profile Page (make it public)

4- Leave a comment here on this post once you do with your Facebook Profile Link :)

5- You can share multiple projects you admire, but do write constructively in your feedback.

6- Last date to share is the 30th of this month (March)

7- Winners get announced here on the blog on the 31st! InshaAllah.

8- All participants must have a Pakistan based postal address to ship the goodies to!

WINNER SELECTED! :D

I wanted to take out a moment to say thank you to everyone that took part in this giveaway. Reading through some of these posts and shares, I could see some very genuine feedback and appreciation, and it means a lot to me to have you share those thoughts out loud.

Out of all the entries, I fed a count into random.org's generator... we have Zain  Saleem as the lucky winner of our Craft Month and Birthday give away! :D Congrats love! inbox me your postal address so I can mail out your crafty treats!

From the shares, it's quite evident everyone loves the Romance Novel mini albums I did! :D

I have compiled the entries I had visible access to. :) It is always a blessing to be able to inspire and help others grow... and encourage them to learn. Thank you everyone for giving me that opportunity :) xx

 

Upcoming Upcoming!

MashaAllah!

Things for us are shaping really well in terms of crafting and scrapbooking. Back in March, I jokingly told my parents that within 6 months I would like to conduct workshops in other cities... I realized it the other night that it really shaped out that way. I am inshaAllah traveling to the cities of Lahore and Islamabad for the Ultimate Crafter's Workshops there. I'm VERY excited about it. Alhamdulillah.

Many of you may have noticed the hype about the Crafter's Expo as well... It's something VERY spontaneous I thought about on my way from Nani's the other night. I came home and put it up on Facebook and within 24 hours the inbox was flooded with queries. MashaAllah! It's an effort altogether to bring all crafters together as a community and to give young people a REAL opportunity for exposure. I have been in situations myself where I paid over Rs 3000 for a stall and did not even make a sale worth Rs 700... ouch that does bite. Especially when your overall investment is way more than Rs 3000... and more like 10k! There are plenty of means of promoting one's work and business, but this expo is to hang out, have fun, exhibit, share, and celebrate the passion behind crafting that's within every one of us Alhamdulillah! I feel the expo is shaping out well, and I am really glad we are not limiting the craft booths to the the whole 'end of workshop 20 minutes' thing. This allows more visitors, more time, and of course more exposure.

We are having someone who's been crafting for over a decade now, and she's coming from out of town, JUST for this! We have friends in Lahore and Islamabad sending their work over to use so we can exhibit for them this time around. Working on an info booth for all merchants and services who may not be 'crafty' completely, but can contribute none the less. We have supplies for scrapbook fans as well as bake-a-holics. We have NGO's and we have our traditional handicrafts. MashaAllah again, this is one of the greatest favors of Allah Kareem upon me and I cannot even begin to describe this feeling. He is the master planner and I am utterly grateful to Him, for giving me the hidaya and the strength to take this on :)

Collaboration

Life.Twinkles by Hera Khoso and Glitter & Swirls by Erum Tasneem are my two biggest support systems for the workshops and now the expo. They are so so talented and at the same time so very cooperative and lively to work with. It's great having friends you haven't really interacted with outside the virtual world become such an integral part of what you do. Erum is working with me for the layout kits and mini album adventure. And Hera is working every day to come up with new ways for crafters to utilize her lovely products. :) Keep it up ladies, and thank you for being with me. It means heaps and I am hoping this turns out to be one of the sweetest collabs and experiences ever inshaAllah :)

More news! More news! Graphic 45.

I'm sure the paper crafters are familiar with Graphic 45. We were authorized in March to be their retailers here, and Alhamdulillah! They're even supporting us on this Crafter's Expo. :) I got in touch with them on Thursday, and today, Sunday, their donation/sponsorship is on its way to Pakistan for the expo! This is how things actually function abroad. I hop around my time between the U.S... and it's home to expos and retreats of these sorts. I felt so bummed not attending them in January. I traveled to New York instead for the Textile Trade Shows. In any case. The email reads On the Boardwalk, 12x12 Paper. And yall know me, I have to give some away! :D When you attend the expo, I'll be crafting with this beautiful paper stack, with a demo every hour. I'll be gifting away ONE, via Facebook, ONE at the Expo, and TWO at the upcoming Lahore and Islamabad workshops. The great thing about these paper pads is they're on cardstock, and come with die cut shapes and borders. So it's like a kit ready to use :) Their retail is often 19.99.. but of course if we ship them here, they'd cost about 27-30 US. Dollars.

I'm waiting til Tuesday, as it's labor day weekend abroad to hear back from others I have been in touch with before :) Let's see if we get more brands on board. DCVW is interested as well.

Upcoming Goodies for Purchases

These are some of the items I am ordering this week for our November trip. inshaAllah :) every time I've tried there's been an on off hikmat in my savings being put to use elsewhere. But all is great when Allah Kareem writes the Masterplan :)

I am starting off with Prima, as their stuff has been getting sold out really quickly. A lot of the flowers are gorgeous, but because they're costly, I'm going with things we don't really find here... ie the paper! From their collections, I did like Ruby Violet and Doodle Deux, but I feel they don't sell as well as the other vintage/pretty collections. Basic Grey and Graphic 45 are next. Bo Bunny I'm actually debating on at this time. :) Let's make dua all shapes well. I have spoken to some shops in Karachi if they would be interested in stocking, they'd like to see samples of the products, so let's seeeee. Pakistan is slowly going towards a change, and Alhamdulillah to that! :)

Anyhow, these are the items in my cart at the moment at Prima.
The 6x6 Paper Stacks are 48 pages and after shipping, and what not will be Rs 1500.
I'm sorry to those who were expecting less :( these are bulky when bought in multiples.
The 12x12 papers are cardstock, double sided. Rs 150 each.
The trinkets/flowers and things will be between Rs 500 and Rs 700.

At the end of the day I believe these are pretty neat prices given all this stuff is from abroad and getting it here to be available locally has some costs involved.

I hope you all enjoy these and take your work and your passion to a new level :) <3

These are cute right?

Gorgeous prints... would be a lot of fun for cardmaking!

These below are from the Fairy Belle collection, the blog features this collection, too! :)

Lovely cling stamps to use with the Fairy Belle Collection :)

Notecards to coordinate :)

3D Embellisments

There are some flowers and trinkets I am ordering as well :) Hope you guys like these! 

Crafter's Guild and Membership!Developing the Crafter's Guild, the Expo is part of it :)
You are invited to sign up and become a member for some of these yummy reasons:
-you are going to be issued the official Crafter’s Guild Card.
-10% off on your classes with Firefly *not entitled to the September/October Sessions*
-10% discounts on your Craft Bin Purchases.
-Free sittings at crafting seminars and talks *in your city*
-No expiration

Why would you want one?

• This is the only 'crafter's club/membership' of its kind in Pakistan!

• We like to travel, and when we do, we love sharing what we get to know or see through our workshops/classes abroad.

• We would like to invite other crafty folk to share what they know as well at our meet and greets. :)

• Firefly is also the only brand in Pakistan affiliated with manufacturers abroad for direct distribution/retail of their products. Which means, we get them from them directly, rather than from crafting stores.

• Have a new technique you want to learn? Maybe need some inspiration? We're going to get together and do that! Members only events.

• Either in person, or on Ustream.

• We're rounding up our favorite projects, our favorite products, upcoming releases and what not!

• We hope to send sampler crafting supplies in the mail to some of you as often as we get hold of them. :)

• Crafter's Guild Members also get sneak peaks on items we're ordering before we launch them unto the page, so if you want to save a few pieces of the upcoming craft bin, you can! :)

• We'll be circulating fun 'crafty' updates, with a tips and tricks panel every month in the form of an E-Newsletter.

The Crafter’s Guild is also working towards the annual Crafter’s Expo, the first one starting in Karachi at the end of September to bring together crafters of all kinds on one platform to inspire, exhibit, share and create as a community


Okay, that's a lot of crafty fun! Alhamdulillah. :) Thanks for being with Firefly and me. It means heaps.
Love. Smile Sunshine!