Sing little Birdie, Sing

I've had an idea for a while and drew out a pattern a few weeks ago, but as with alot of my ideas it got put on my to do list and I haven't got around to making it a reality. This changed today as I finally had a reason to make it. As part of my 20 followers giveaway I decided (on Twitter) to give an extra something to numbers 15 and 16, well they were Oddsox and Kate. Kate please can you contact me as I would love to send you a little something. Having been in contact with Oddsox I found out she had seen some of my goodies here so I asked what had caught her eye and the reply was that she has a soft spot for birdies. Well that was easy she will be getting one of the little birdie lavender pouches but thats not all, as I said I finally got a reason to make this.....

So as an extra Thank you for giving me the reason to try this out I'm sending it to you Oddsox, I really hope you like it. They are made using a big paperclip type bookmark and some thick handmade felt, both were bought here, although the felt was given to me as a little bag of scraps! And I think I will be making a few more to add to my shops as I think they are kinda cute, let me know what you think.

xxx

surprise little somethings

Would followers Kate and Oddsox please contact me by email as you are numbers 15 and 16 followers and as I twittered earlier today will be recieving an extra little something along with being entered into my 20 followers giveaway and my Xmas giveaway. I also want to say a big Thank you to Kate for making my day your comment about being sparkly. Only another 4 followers needed before I will be drawing names out of the hat for the giveaway!

xxx

Witches, Lavender and Wrist Warmers

So this week has been a little busier with the sewing and other things. The kiddies got dressed up as a Witch and a Fairy just because they wanted to.

I went to Banbury shopping and bought myself some very yummy wrist warmers which have worked wonders when I'm riding my bike!

And to top it all off I managed to finish my snowmen which are now on folksy and will be on my website soon.

But I also made one of my many ideas come into reality. It needs a little more work but I know what I need to improve and then it will be in my shops. I have filled mine with wheat and lavender and it smells gorgeous, but I think my next one I will mix the wheat and lavender with polyfill to reduce the weight and to help keep the shape a bit more, other than that I LOVE IT!!!! Please let me know what you think.

Hopefully now I'm in the zone I will continue to make more this week ready for the Christmas Fairs coming up.

Don't forget to be one of the first 20 to follow me here to be in for a chance to win a little something. Also if you buy something from me before 12th December you will be in for a chance to win a special Christmas Present.

xxx

Lost my Sparkle?!

So today I went to The Heart of the Shires, a lovely place to visit just north of Weedon (Northants), mainly to pick up my wheat that I ordered for some crafty bits waiting to be transformed from my dreams into beautiful textile gifts but I also visited a shop with some of my Christmas decorations. After having loads of positive feedback I took a deep breath and decided to see the owner of one of the shops. They have some decorations already on a Christmassy branch tree thingy but they didn't seem very Christmassy to me, cupcakes and hearts, nothing too exciting as I can't remember what there was! I thought they might like some of my yummy felty Christmas goodies especially as I was offering them on a sale or return so if none sold they wouldn't have been out of pocket. So imagine my surprise when they said they weren't sparkly enough! If they had just said that they don't sell felt items I could have understood but to say they weren't sparkly enough! Anyway, thought you might like to tell me what you think! Ok, so you can't really see the sparkle within the felt on the pictures but trust me some are made with sparkly felt.

I have also added a couple of my favorites which are now for sale on etsy and folksy.





xxx

Follower Giveaway

As I write I have 10 fantastic followers, its great to feel like there are people out there reading my witterings and coming back for more. And all this has happened in the past couple of weeks. To celebrate my followers I have decided to hold a little giveaway, as soon as I reach 20 followers I will put you all in a hat and pick out a lucky winner. So come on everyone start following and be in for a chance to win a little something special! Oh and don't forget that if you leave a comment or buy something from me you will also get a chance to win the Christmas Giveaway !

xxx

How can they sleep?

So today it is raining, cold and miserable. And Rob had the car so I had to get Gracie to and from school in the bike and trailer. Getting there wasn't too bad but coming home it was miserable and I got quite wet and my legs were definately burning at the end. Anyway I thought you might like to see what I looked like at the end of my journey, I'm sure I felt worse than the photo suggests!!!

So when I got home I thought it was quiet in the back and when I opened up the front this is what I was faced with.

YES THEY ARE BOTH ASLEEP!!!!!

Am hoping to get some sewing done tonight so maybe one or more of my ideas will come to life tonight, had a few more whilst waiting for Grace to come out of nursery so the list is getting longer.

xxx

Pumpkin T-Shirt

Can't believe it, I've just managed to sew up a pumpkin t-shirt. I had to come up with a design, cut out the felt and sew it on to the t-shirt and I managed to do it all since Rob got home (an hour ago). Anyway it will be going into a shop, just not sure which am thinking I might put it onto etsy as something different. It will be £8 with £1.50 p&p and is a size 18-24 months. My kiddies love these t-shirts and so do all my nephews and nieces. If this one doesn't take your fancy have a look on my website as I have plenty of other designs and can also make things to order. Sorry the photo is a bit dark but I couldn't wait till tomorrow to take it.

Hopefully now I have my childminding a bit more organised I will be able to find some more time for sewing so keep coming back to see what I've come up with as I have a lot of ideas just waiting to come to life!


xxx

* I've now put it in my etsy shop so please go and look, fingers crossed it sells*

Brackley Craft Market

So yesterday I did my first fair since the beginning of the Summer and I didn't do too badly. I had a few big sales and alot of lovely comments, which I managed to get some written in my Comments Book and I will get put onto my website when I can work out how! Just hoping that it will continue to get better and we will have a good run up to Christmas. I might even get myself organised and add some bits to my etsy, misi and folksy shops. I got to meet up some some of my lovely crafting friends (you know who you are!) have a quick chat, have a few hours away from my (wonderful) family to just be me. Anyway I thought you might like to see my stall.

Will catch up again soon with some new bits that I have been working on.

xxx

Twitter Friends

So recently I've started to Twitter and I've realised I'm not the only mad one out there!!! Its a great place to meet like minded people and I have met a fantastic lady. Its amazing we have only just met but its like we've know each other for years, anyway she is also called Sarah and has a son called Noah which is how we started talking. She also has 2 other babes, a hubby and she makes the most fantastic Itty Bitty Sock Kitties!!!! She has a fantastic blog, full of inspiration, recipes and family, plus she loves CAKE!!!! So please go take a look at her blog theothermousie, thanks Sarah for being such a lovely friend.

Plus don't forget any comment, sale either on my website or at any event means that you will get a chance to win a Christmas Present.

xxx

Saturdays Fair

Although I'm better (not being ill) I still don't feel great and definately don't have any motivation, so am struggling to make anything for the craft fair I have coming up on Saturday. Main problem is what to make. Loads of ideas going around in my head and on my list of things to make but I just can't quite decide what will sell well on Saturday. I have my usuals to take with me, although some of those are running low and I now have some Christmas decorations to take too (not all designs are made yet) but was thinking about some gifts for Christmas. Do I make teapot cosies, lavender pouches (my little plain pouches sell well but they are really cheap and I was thinking about making some really nice linen patterned ones), more hanging lavender ornaments (thinking birdies to add to the hearts), notebooks with material covers, more brooches, bags, pencil/makeup cases, keyfobs, oh the list is endless and starting to trouble me.

Another thing that is worrying me is my display as I have t-shirts and aprons I want to hang up and as you can see when I was outside during the Summer I was able to hang them on my gazebo but now its cold and I'm inside for most of my fairs I need to come up with a way to display everything. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them.

I have a couple of ideas for promotion at the fairs including my Christmas Giveaway (which I've decided to also include anyone that adds a comment on any post, and there will probably be more than 1 pressy too depending on numbers). But as I'm booked in for eleven between now and Christmas with the possibility of 2 more I really need to make more.

Right maybe if I go and sew some more buttons on to the trees that need to be finished some inspiration will come to me and if not then hopefully someone will comment with some suggestions.

xxx

A Gaggle of Giggling Angels

So the weekend wasn't good, all the family came down with a horrid tummy bug, won't go into much detail but will say that Noah started it off on Thursday afternoon and we ended up getting the doctor out on Saturday as he wasn't keeping anything, not even juice, down and if he hadn't just managed a wet nappy we would have all been on a trip to the hospital! We quarantined ourselves off until today when Rob has gone back to work, but Grace was unwell last night so I'm at home with the kiddies and my fingers crossed that we are now over it!

Good news is that I have finished my Angels, still not 100% sure about them but Grace seems to love them so that is a good thing. The Angels have free machine embroidered faces and white glitter wings. Anyway they are done so we shall see what happens.

I've also finished some of these buttony wreaths and Christmas trees, with the help of Grace who was picking out all her favorite buttons for me.

All of these will be added to my website as soon as I can get the software added back onto my computer (another problem we had at the weekend, having to reformat the harddrive on our laptop to enable our internet to be switched back on) hopefully before the weekend when I have a craft fair.

One last thing before I go, I just wanted to say a big hello and thank you to all my new friends on Twitter and to those that are now following me on here.

xxx

Autumn and Angels and Herons

Looked out of my window this morning to this.

Beautiful colours being made even better with a splash of sunshine! I love the colours of Autumn, they are so vibrant and warm. Whilst I was out and busying myself in the garden I took these. Another splash of colour, trailing geraniums, they have been flowering all Summer, not many flowers but just a little splash of colour next to my back door,

and now they have been joined on the other side of the door by these, Grace wanted some pretty purple flowers and chose these at the garden centre on Sunday when we were out purchasing bird seed.

Plus all over the back of our house we have these, lovely black (wine) grapes. These ones are hanging over the back door, so I took them looking out of the house.

Before I move on to talk about Angels, I just had to say OMG, got up to check on Grace, walked past patio doors and saw a heron sitting on our patio looking into our pond! He flew off before I could grab the camera but lets hope he returns so I can get a photo!

Right Angels, have been playing around with this idea for months now, trying to get it right for Christmas and I think I've been looking at them too long, so I need some advice, please. Have decided I like the shape and wings on the white and red spotty one but not sure about the face and do they need something else? Hands? Button? ribbon? ahhhhh, told you I need help! and I would very much like to have some to take to Brackley Craft Fair next weekend.

Thanks for all your help, pop back to see more of what I've been doing soon, and remember my Christmas present giveaway for all those purchases from my website and events!

xxx

** Thanks for the lovely comment Alex, I should have said that the Wings are white glittery felt, so have a really pretty sparkle to them which definately doesn't show up in the photos xxx **

Christmas Givaway

Ok, so I thought what is the best thing about Christmas...... Christmas trees, lights, baubles, Christmas dinner, Father Christmas, presents? Well I decided it was the act of giving a present. So from now till 12th December 2009 (my last event day) if you buy something from my website or from me at an event and leave your details I will put your name into a hat and pick out a lucky winner for a surprise present and I won't be revealing what it is until recieved and opened! (It won't be the cake pictured as I made it for Christmas 2004, I just thought it looked yummy!)

The rules are easy, one entry per purchase, so if you buy something from me at an event and then come back and buy some more from my website you will get 2 entries. Therefore the more times you come back and purchase the more chances of winning. (This doesn't mean an entry per item).

You must leave your details so that I can contact you.

Christmas Free Drawer will close on Saturday 12th December 2009 and the winner will be announced on this blog shortly after.

Good Luck/xxx