craft burn out

For the past little while I have felt a little bit over-stretched, I had to-do lists coming out of my ears and was getting to the stage where I needed to write a list to remember to write a list!

Lots of people often tell me they are amazed at the amount of things I get done and I never really thought so before...but I do now!

So after my cupcake marathon and the new website work I gave myself some time off :-)

This weekend was dedicated to John and I. Friday evening we had a lovely meal (at home) and spent time together doing nothing, which is a rare sight in this house! On Saturday I still had to go to work, but that's really all I did !

John had organised a car rally on Sunday, ordinarily I wouldn't have gone because I'd have been too busy sewing etc but I did go and we had a great day :-)

The rally started in London and ended up in Brighton, with a wonderful drive through pretty country villages in between...it was lovely to relax and just enjoy the day.

I did spend yesterday evening packing up orders, but I can't complain about that, that's one of my favourite 'chores' wrapping and packing and making things look pretty :-)

I think I learned a valuable lesson about balance and about how many hours there are in the day...so hopefully they'll be a lot more creativity around here and a few less HUGE projects!

...my email inbox has nearly exploded with unanswered messages and general loveliness from blog readers, etsy viewers, flickr watchers and the like, so if you are waiting for a reply I'll get to you really soon....and you know why? because it's the only thing on my to-do list !!

One thing at a time, eh?

PS you all may need to remind me of this message if I ever get a big order or when I have my next *grand* idea ;-)

Thanks for sticking with me and reading this far....it'll be much more fun tomorrow :-)

square eyes and a numb bum !

8 hours and 3 panicky phone calls to that expensive helpline and the website is finished!
HOORAY!
I'm sure it will always be a work in progress but in terms of adding all the newness, it's complete :-)
I'm not equipped for hours spent on a computer...my head hurts, my eyes are aching, my brain is spinning AND my bum is numb (and I have an extra cushion!)

I'm off to wander along the beach for half an hour, I'm sure it'll blow away the computer-y cobwebs and it'll sure make me stretch my poor unused legs!
So whilst I'm out enjoying this little patch of sunshine and blue sky please pop over to my little shop and take a peek at what I've been doing :-)

website building

Lots going on......but nothing finished yet.....I gave up trying to fix things on my own and phoned the Mr.Site helpline (50p a minute, I talked very fast!) and HOORAY the fault is theirs NOT mine and they shall sort it soon, plus they gave me a short term fix...so all is well on the website front...I just need to finish it now!

So some ribbon eye candy, just for fun ::

I love the UPS man

Today the UPS man came to visit, and after a cheque was written I took delivery of a great big box of loveliness.

From American Crafts.

OH....MY....GOODNESS

and because it was too dark for that photo really, I added a flash ::

RIBBONS!

They shall be on my website soon (if I can figure out how to work it now I've upgraded!)

Definitely by the end of Thursday anyway!!

WOO-HOO !!

twit twoo-oooo-oooooo

Guess what I did today?

I made a parliament of owls !! I had to look up what a group of owls was called and I quite like that it's a parliament of owls! John hoped it would be called a hoot of owls, which would have been good too ;-)

I've also been fiddling with my website again, it's all hidden at the moment because it's not finished but it's nearly done! I have created all the new pages I need and a whole load of spaces for my new products...which should be arriving tomorrow ! yippee!!

Sunday Shout About :: Moo

I'm sure most people have heard of Moo. but this post is for all the people who ask me where I get my business cards (and stickers) from.
I first learnt about Moo via the wonderful world of blogs but it still took me a few months to order my first set of Moo cards.





If you haven't yet ordered some Moo cards then don't delay, once you have some you'll wonder how you got by without them !!

These are my newest Moos:




Moo is based in the UK (fab!) but they do post worldwide too :-)


They also make other amazing things like stickers, postcards and greetings cards...and if your own photos aren't quite what you are looking for they even let you pick the pictures for your cards from a whole host of fab designers.

oh, and for all those wondering, no I'm not getting paid to write this...I just love Moo !!!

new things on the horizon

I'm still ploughing through my piles of wip's ...in one way it's nice to have a pile of half finished items to complete because when I do complete them it makes me feel like I have finished loads of things in one day, but on the other hand it seems a shame to have so much sewing time tied up in a box, waiting to be completed....I am going to try my hardest to put a stop to wip's from now on, it will be hard I'm sure, but it needs to be done!

Here's another little picture grid, the full pictures will be on flickr ::

...the eagle eyed amongst you will spy a couple of new designs, they were fun to make, and I'm sure there will be more of them soon :-)

what to do next.....

I am loving this little mini holiday. I am back to work tomorrow, just for a little while, then it's back to holidaying again!

Of course, when I say holiday, it is a working break....sewing, photo taking, website fiddling etc etc, but for me it's heaven :-)

...now what shall I sew next?......

cuteness

Remember I learned to knit?
and remember I was knitting squares?
well look what they got turned into today ::
hahahahahahaha I LOVE him, he makes me laugh!! He wasn't supposed to, but I think he looks like a tree....well, a tree with arms !! LOL

Mr Tree+arms was having a great day, he watched me tidy my craft stuff (long overdue), he listened to me curse at the computer (I do that a lot) and then the postman came and he bought Mr Tree+arms a new friend ::

(Is it just me or does his smile look even bigger in this shot?)
Mr Tree+arms has named his friend Squashitty ::

Squashitty is made by Sara and I won him in a giveaway on her blog....isn't he great?
He even came with kisses, specially for Easter....I've had a LOT of kisses today, but no snogs Kitty ;-)
Thank you Sara, he is awesome :-)
Sara's shop will open on April 1st so be patient and you can have a Squashitty all of your own :-)

I made something that isn't a cupcake!

These are going to three different people.....it was so much fun to do them :-)

I have tomorrow and Friday off work AND Sunday and Monday!
Hooray! Loads of time to make things :-)

I spent a little bit of time last night trying to add to my website BUT I have used up all the web space I was allocated so this morning I phoned Mr.Site and the very helpful guy on the phone suggested a few different options but I think I have decided to bite the bullet and upgrade to Mr. Site Pro .... has anyone else done this yet???

thank you cards

John and I popped to the pub last night, just for a quick drink before wandering into town and having dinner....BUT we forgot it was St Patrick's day and the pub was really lively with some FANTASTIC singers and musicians doing their thing, so we stayed and had our dinner there instead! It was great, not so great today mind you as I still have a slight headache...ouch !

I wrote a great big list yesterday of all the things I need to do because I put everything on hold for the cupcakes and it appears that I seem to have run out of a lot of things :: moo cards, packaging, address labels, swatch cards, thank you cards etcetcetc

So this morning I ordered some moo cards, and some stickers .... they weren't on the list but it's saving time ordering both at once isn't it????

and the pictures? these are thank you cards that I put in with the parcels I send out. I chopped up lots of card into 6x4" pieces (don't they fit nicely into the fabric box I made ages ago? if only I'd planned it I'd be a genius....) and the paper flowers are from my friend Nia and they get stuck on the front, after I've written a nice message on the card.

The plan is to have a whole load of nice goodies to stick on these cards....it's on the list!!

I'm Finally Finished!!

Hooray the cupcakes are all done !!

I sewed and sewed Friday and Saturday evenings and woke on Sunday with 200 ribbons still to sew on.

I prepared my area ::

armchair turned to face the TV, pouffe to rest my feet on, remote control and cupakes, ribbon, thread and scissors within easy reach!

I started at 10am, I had got half way through by the end of Columbo and I FINALLY finished about 6:30pm

I was exhausted !!

but just look at all the cupcake-y-ness ::

It's very hard to photograph 340 cupcakes in just 20 minutes (couldn't be late for work), I tried laying them out, all nice and neat ::

but I ran out of room and still had this many left to lay out ::

So I filled in all the spaces I could see with cupcakes ::

...it came out slightly blurry but I was stood on a slightly wobbly stool !!!

The lady who ordered them should be here any minute (she was due at 4pm but got stuck behind a nasty accident on the M3) and then I shall be cupcake-less :-)

I'm taking John out for dinner tonight to say thank-you for putting up with me and my cupcakes :-) But from tomorrow I shall be back to normal around here....see you later...

I'm going AWOL

The last of my cupcake order is due on Monday. I fear I am rather behind schedule so I shall be staying away from the computer and the tempting world of blogs until they are all done.

This pile is all done except for the ribbons ::

and this pile needs the icing sewing on AND the ribbons too ::

They were all ordered by a small chain of clothing shops to be used as decorations in their Easter Windows. The lady who ordered them all said she would send me a picture of them in one of the windows so when I get it I'll show you :-)

Wish me luck, I'll be at work tomorrow so I think I may be sewing into the night......

shopping is fun!

I'm really really excited !! I spent last night and some of today (you know, those minutes when you aren't sewing cupcakes!) placing a GINORMOUS order for a new range of stock for my little corner of the world of web shops.

I'm trying my hardest to keep it as a surprise....the parcel is being sent out on Monday (if all goes to plan) and should be here 5-7 days after that...the only annoying thing is there are a couple of bank holidays in between...

Rest assured you shall be the first to see it when it gets here!!

thank you's all round

look what Kitty did.....

she awarded me a 'you make my day award'

THANK YOU Kitty ...... I have a big grin on my face :-)

I was also in an etsy treasury the other day ::

thank you Hippyofdoom :-)

and another BIG thank you to Working Mom Knits because look what she has sent me ::

I signed up a little while ago to a PIF and this was my gift....lucky for me that I had moaned the lack of Moda fabrics round these parts because all these lovely colours are from Moda!!

So it's a BIG thank you all round !!

sewing

I'm losing all track of time doing my big cupcake order. I'm on the second batch and so far I have cut them all out, put all the brads on and sewn all the buttons in place.

...I'm about half way through I think!

I also made these ::

....for a website order. It's nice to have a cute break!!

i'm a busy little sewing bee

I've had fun for the past few days working on an order form my website, but Blogger is behaving strangely and won't let me add photos!
I shall pop them on flickr instead :-)

March Freebie winners announced

A great BIG thank you to every one who entered my freebie draw :-)

As always I have used the services of a handy number generator to produce the winners and they are ::

Which means the apple purse will go to Number 8 which is ::

Queen Bee who said...
Those purses are lovely! The apple one is really really cute :)www.craftsbygemma.typepad.co.uk

and the stripey purse to number 47 which is :: Katy who said...
I love em. But I win things too often, so don't include me - let some other person experience the wonder of paper and string :)

What are the chances of that happening???

Katy really has got a lucky streak!!! (either that or she sweet talks number generators!)

Back to the number generator ...........this time it's number 28 which is ::

sally who said...
I would love to see a big group photo of the cupcakes before you mail them. There could be some fun photos with them.

Hooray for Queen Bee and Sally :-)

Please email your addresses to me sarah {at} paper-and-string {dot} co {dot} uk

PS Katy, please can you buy me a lottery ticket???

freebie day, hooray!

Freebie day already?

This year is flying by so far!

Before the freebie news I want to show you this ::

...another green fan placed an order :-)

Today was a work day because I had Monday off to finish the cupcake order, so this morning I got up at 6.30am to put the finishing touches* to the freebies.

It was nice to think about something new and a little different for me ..... so today the freebie prizes are.....

Two felt purses :-)

One is stripey ::

and the other has a pretty apple ::

as usual all you need to do is leave a comment on this post and I shall enter your name into the random draw.

PLEASE make sure there is a way to contact you or remember to check back on Sunday 9th March (in the evening) to see if you've won :-)

*for finishing touches read 'make them' ;-)

RULES :: anyone can enter, even if you've won before and the prize will be posted free of charge worldwide so don't let geography stop you :-)

Good Luck!

I love green

Green is my favourite colour.

It used to be red, then blue ... I stuck with orange for a LONG time, I've flirted with pink being my favourite but my heart was never in it. But now, I love GREEN.

If you have a felt swatch card from me then LEAF is the colour of the moment.

...and I'm not the only one ::

All this green loveliness is on it's way to it's new home.

It's official :: Green makes me happy :-)

AND relax

Woo-Hoo!

340 cupcakes done and dusted!

I've another 340 to do but right now I'm not thinking about that!

This week I have a couple of website orders to make and will thoroughly enjoy making anything that isn't a cupcake!

It's really nice to see so many of my goodies all together....not so nice to think about doing it again mind you!

My lovely postman visited me and I got another parcel of supplies :: from here

Oh, and for all the people who asked, the buttons are from here.

sunday shout about :: UK flickr Favourites

Today's Shout About is celebrating the amazing collection of craft-y-ness that's to be found on Flickr.
I have narrowed down my selection to just 3 of my favourites, all of which are based in the UK.

:: SunsetGirl ::

can be found on Flickr , Etsy and her very own website

:: Marissa Bogg ::

found on Flickr , her blog and her etsy shop

:: FireHorse Textiles ::

can be found on Flickr and in her etsy shop

I hope you have fun following all the links and exploring some great photos.