Meet The Maker - Stockroom

Now this sounds exciting doesn't it?! 😂

It's more interesting than it sounds, I promise! Well, I think so anyway...

So, a lot of people see you on Instagram (what they want you to see anyway) their house looks spotless, beautiful, so many pretty things, they've got their life together, etc. We tend to forget we're only seeing the Best Life. 

And a lot of people assume that us Makers, Sellers or what have you will have this amazing pretty office that we work from. One that's spotless, full of pretty products, stock, merch, etc. That's not always the case! Some people work from their kitchen table, their garage, living room...

When I lived at home I did have the spare room as my office. And yes, it was pretty. Tidy? Most definitely not. And I most certainly didn't have pretty products just on display, they'd have been sold forever ago. The only products I'd have in my office are ones that I'm working on, didn't work or were thrown somewhere in a strop.

I moved in with my boyfriend last year, it's a 2 bedroom apartment until we get the house. And seeing as I've taken over literally every room so that it's over flowing with Disney merch he's allowed to keep his Man Cave, his Games Room or Bedroom No 2, whatever you want to call it. 

Where does that leave me to create? I have a desk in the corner of the living room, next to our rat cage. So at least I always have company. Working from home can be quite lonely at times!

My main point of this post, (after going quite off track!) is that if you want to start your own biz and feel you need to have The Office to look the part, you really don't. I'm currently writing this on my bed, on top of a large Stitch plush and watching Judge Judy.(The living room TV decided to break!) I created over 1500 ears in 2019, without even a real office. So I don't want to hear any excuses of why you can't go for it yourself.

Okay I get it, I tend to babble... But I wanted to give a bit of background so you can see what I'm working with!

So, I have a desk in the corner of the living room where I make and usually have my laptop. I pack up orders on the coffee table in the living room. So where the heck do I store my stock? 

See, I got there eventually.

Well, you do need a fair few bits in stock to create your orders. I need ears, flowers, sequins, crystals, fabrics, ribbons, you name it.. and if all I have as an office is a desk in the corner of my living room?

Let's go and have a look in the stock room, shall we?

Who needs Harry's Cupboard Under The Stairs when you can have Lola's Cupboard Down The Hall?

This my friends is my magical stockroom that I have to unload everyday so I can get to everything, and then pack it all away at the end of the day. Fun times!

Want to take a look inside?

1. Behind the door are some bags of merch or 'props' as I like to call them. Then I'm buying for work. And totally not for me..
2. Holds a bag of RTS ears, scrunchies, other headbands.
3. This good old faithful Harry Potter bag is full of fabric flowers. There's some absolute beauties in there that I've not even used yet. Definitely my favourite bag of pretties in here.
4. This pink storage box is full of paper flowers for my Rapunzel ears. It's a pretty big box that carries on behind the door. (I can't open that door fully because that could possibly unleash a fall of Disney merch that I'd be swallowed under. Dangerous Stuff.)
5. Is a big box of ready made ears in the prettier colours, lilacs, golds, blues, etc.
6. Spare postage boxes. I tend to keep them in a big draw in the coffee table but the overflow stay in here. 
7. This pretty bag is full of pins, prints and pin mailbags. It's a good bag of fun.
8. Mail bags! This is where I shove (I mean store, obviously) Royal Mail bags that I pop all my parcels in before taking them down the road to the Post Office. Thankfully I use Drop&Go, gone are the days of Death Glares from other people wanting to post.
9. A pink box full of ribbons, literally every colour we have is in the box. A good sturdy box for the bottom. 
10. This pink box is full of various bows and other add ons for ears such as patches, other fabric flowers, felts and crystals. 
11. This box is full of foam roses, marabou trims for fluffy ears, scrunchies and stuffing.
12. This Boring Box is full of standard coloured ears. So your silver and blacks.
13. This bag is full of soft black ears and standard Mickey ears. It never seems to go down!
14. These are my Christmas trees. I had to go through my cupboard just after Christmas so I could make sure they'd fit back in the corner.
15. A biiiiig bag of Christmas decorations and props.
16. This is a big bag of Christmas themed add ons for ears, not to be touched for a few months now and fingers crossed it hasn't fallen on top of me...

So there we go! A little insight on Behind The Scenes at L&L and how you don't need all the space in the world to create thousands of designs!