silliness

*hahahahahaha*

how cute is this?

This picture is from one of my absolutely-have-to-look-at-every-day blogs
Cute Overload.

Only go and look if you think you can handle a LOT of cute !!

the start of a new week

Grandad's funeral took place on Friday, 26th October.

Friend's and family all gathered together and celebrated his life and I was told all sorts of stories about things he had done. As you can imagine a lot of tears were shed and a lot of hugs were shared.


I've still been bumbling away in the background, spending 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there and actually I have got quite a bit done! It didn't feel like I was achieving anything much but when I took the photos this morning I was pleasantly surprised!!

First up, a photo that's been on the camera for a while ::

my Nan started to knit these little hats for Innocent whilst she was sitting in hospital and Grandad was sleeping and WOW did she do a lot!! She's keen to get started for next year too so if any one else knows if it is going to happen again next year, or if there are any other knitting projects she could join in I'd love it if you would let me know :-)

I printed and made more stationery ::

address labels ::

and the new swatch cards ::

and the pile of happy tree decorations is nearing completion ::

This evening I got home, packaged up some orders, visited the post office and went food shopping and now I'm cooking a roast for our dinner :-) and if I read that on another blog I would think 'she's super woman' but I'm not, I'm just filling up my time and working my way through it all :-)
Thanks for being the best blog reader's EVER xxx

keeping myself busy

I have spent a great deal of energy over the past few days concentrating on keeping myself busy.

I have spent time with family, in person and on the telephone, talked and hugged and got drunk with friends, cried until it hurt, gone down memory lane quite a few times, slept at weird times of the day, eaten when I've remembered to, picked packed and posted orders and of course sewing and crafting.

All of the above have helped as did all of your comments. I was so touched that people took time to leave me a comment and to send me kind thoughts and wishes. Thank you so much to every one who sent a comment or email. My Mum & Dad (Grandad was Mum's Father) sat and read them too and were equally touched. So a BIG thank you from us all :-)

I'm afraid that the photos I have just taken are all a bit dark and blurry but I have uploaded them anyway!!

The monkeys were half made sometime last week and I finished them off recently, as were the happy trees (still not completely finished) The brooch pins I ordered a while ago and spent time bagging them and doing the packaging (that got me through a good 2-3 hours)

And I have a lot more planned to keep me even busier :-)

Thanks for being there, it really has meant a lot :-)
xxx

Grandad

I've been putting a brave face on things for a while, Grandad has been poorly and was diagnosed with Lung Cancer on my birthday. He was due to return home yesterday, all the special things he needed had been organised and delivered and my sister, neice and John & I planned to drive to Devon today so we could spend some time with him, but sadly Grandad didn't make it home. My wonderful Grandad passed away yesterday, aged 79.

Rest in Peace Grandad, I love you very much xxx

It's only taken 7 hours

I think my eyes have turned square! I have been updating my website for around 7 hours and it's exhausting, I've just finished and after I've written this I think the computer will be turned off for a little while :-)

There is an extended Kawaii section ::

and I've added the new felt too, much easier to have everything for sale under one roof, so to speak!

I have 45 colours now, and my fingers are itching to cut them up and start sewing.

If you take a peek and spot any mistakes please let me know :-)

A minute to catch my breath

Everything is happening very fast around here.
:: Orders are piling up ::
:: my website is becoming very empty ::
:: the new felt has arrived ::
:: the new cram cream order has arrived ::
:: my craft fair is in exactly 1 months time ::

And you know what? I LOVE it !! I am having so much fun in this crafty little world, I just wish I was brave/mad enough to do this full time!

Maybe next year, eh?

It's a bit dark and dingy here to take photos but expect some colourful goodness tomorrow....

my postman is back :-)

Hooray for postmen!!

Yesterday my postman bought me a lovely parcel from Japan, from everyone's favourite japanese fabric shop Nuno.

I have a couple of really big deliveries due next week, hopefully they will come by courier and not be late !!

If you are waiting for a delivery from me please be assured that I am posting as normal and they are getting to their destinations, it's just taking a little longer than I would like!

organised crafting

Today I have had a day of sorting out and organising. I have turned my little writing bureau into my packing area. It is everything I need right where I need it! Pens, scissors, tape, deco tape, moo cards, order forms, gift tags, swatch cards, ribbon and stuff! Such a novelty to have it all together, rather than spread all over the living room!! The best bit? I used it today and there was plenty of room and it still looks tidy :-)Next job on the list was to make some swatch cards. I bought these divided trays at hobbycraft and they are perfect for storing the swatch card colours.Finally, I printed and cut and assembled some new packaging labels. I made 20 so that should keep me going for a little while.

Yesterday evening I did do some actual sewing, trying to sort out the robot's neck ::

see how it's all lumpy and weird ??

well my next bright idea made this ::

and the neck looks better ::

BUT now I have another problem...it's a new-ish disease for robots,

called floppy-metal-disease ::But he looks really cute looking at his robot-made cupcake ::which ever way you look at it the robots seem happy ::

I have another bright idea so maybe robot number 3 will have a perfect neck :-)

Order Completed

I finished my order at the end of last week, but I couldn't post about it because the freebie was running.


Please ignore the flash !!

If you find yourself smiling back at these happy trees you are not alone!

Yesterday I had a spring clean of my bloglines list (link on the right) and have put all 210 fav blogs into folders. I split them into countries of the writer, I wanted to spilt them into the crafts people did but that was too hard, everyone does more than one craft!

I miss having my blog-roll though so think I will re-instate it one day in the future.

I also added a map, it shows where people are when they look at my blog. It amazes me that people all over the world are popping in and looking at my felt goodies and listening to my ramblings!

I'm off to re-do the robot, his neck and chin are a bit weird so I'm going to sort it out !!

and the winners are...

I've spent the last few days reading this book ::

which I bought from here It is a fantastic book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in crafting for a living (or trying to,like me!) A couple of things which clicked with me were the need to keep a brand identity and having in place some help for when you need it most.

I think those topics were on my mind when this happy little fella started to spring to life
What a friendly looking robot...what's that you say? 'not just any old robot'

ta-da I'm a robot-cupcake-maker :-)

LOL

Now back to freebies :: my favourite random number machine has done it's stuff and the 3 numbers it produced are :: 26, 17 and 7

number 7 is::

Cathy said...
Congratulations!! Happy birthday and well done on your work in print - very exciting way to celebrate!Cathy X

number 17 is ::

nicola said...
hi saran,well done on the fame .your blog is fab to and so are the cupcakes to!!nicola x

and number 26 is ::

the vicious chicken said...
Wow, how exciting to be featured in a magazine! Congratulations :o)VCx

well done you lucky people. If you email me at mail at paper-and-string dot co dot uk I'll let you know how to claim your prizes.

and for those who weren't quite so lucky you can still join in the birthday fun and claim a 30% discount in my little felt shop simply email your orders and I'll work out the discounts and send you an invoice :-)

October freebie day

hi :-)

Thanks for all the lovely birthday messages, you guys are great !!

Do any of you get 'Lets make Cards' magazine? It looks like this ::

and if you flick through (and peer quite closely) you will see some of my cupcakes and flowers!!

hehehe I'm famous!!!

Isn't this pouch GORGEOUS ??? It is made by my sister who has just started her very own blog! welcome to blog world sisterini :-)

and now for ::

Birthday - Amazing - Giveaway - Arama !!

Yesterday I turned 30 so '30' is this month's freebie theme...

I have 3 prizes to be given away :: As usual everyone who leaves a comment on this blog between now and Sunday will have their name entered in the draw to win.

The first three names drawn will each win a £10 credit to be used in my website shop, so you can pick your own prizes !! woo-hoo!!

and because it is my birthday month there will be 30% off all felt purchases in my felt shop for all my blog readers :: this offer runs until Sunday 14th October, or until I run out of felt, LOL

Good luck everybody

happy birthday to meeeeeeeee

Today I turned 30 :: I was worried I would wake up and find I had grown-up but, nope! still as silly as normal *phew*

The lovelies at work yesterday surprised me with a balloon, a mug and a badge...all emblazoned with the magic 30 !



Just look at the lovely crafty things that came my way today.... Guinea Pig tape hand stamped by my fantastic sister
Not pretty but extremely useful...thanks John :-)

This box arrived with the postman this morning from my great friend Katy (her softies are famous, don't cha know!)

I wore my rosette with pride, well my bag did, but how cool is that!!!
not strictly a crafty present but *raaaahhhhh* scary monster!! LOL
and a firm favourite in these parts....chocolate cake, and decole chocolate cake at that !!

Katy, you are truly awesome :-)

Postie also delivered this beauty...I nearly didn't open it because it's so gorgeous, but that thought didn't last long!!!

If it's wrapped with jumbo ric rac then you know it's gonna be a FAB thing inside!!!

This is the card, so pretty, and such neat writing!!
And look what was inside that gorgeous wrapping!! Japanese Cute Heaven. The. Perfect. Birthday. Gift :-) Nia, I love it!! Thanks poppet :-)

John took me to hobbycraft this morning, it's an hour away from here and the shop is quite new so I'd never been before......look at what I got ::

Tomorrow I've booked the day off and plan to put in some serious sewing hours, in between organising the amazing birthday giveaway freebie thing of course!!