goal achieved!

 all 45 of my felt colours have been reproduced in button form in an exclusive range of buttons - only available on my website!

don't they look scrummy in my sweet-shop-esque display??

 John Dymo labelled and filled them all for me (isn't he ACE?)

 whilst I played with buttons took hundreds of photos for the website

 and spent a while drooling over their loveliness ;-)

 the single colours are available in bags of 100g (just £2.50 a bag)

 or you can create your very own custom mix - the possibilities are endless!! (from £1.50 per 50g)

 or if you prefer your buttons tidied away in neat little trays (like me) you can choose to buy a filled tray (you choose which 15 colours you want) for just £25 (and I'll post the buttons in 15 separate bags so they don't get all mixed up in the mail)

a little blast down memory lane now - these 2 photos are of my Worthing workshop in May 2011 when I had just dyed my very own range of buttons, in a saucepan on my hotplate (the workshop didn't have a very big kitchen) dreaming of when I would be able to have all 45 colours *yippee* I got them in the end, and they're even better than I dreamt of :-)

buttons are on the website HERE

we're back!

We came back to work yesterday after a few days off - and we're all caught up with the backlog of orders .... thanks, as always, for keeping us so busy :-)

Whilst we were away I did do a little ordering *ahem* in fact, I spent the best part of two days checking stock and placing orders....so please expect quite a few of these picture collages from me over the next few days!
The top picture shows a lot of new fabric - with a selection from Tilda, and my fav, Michael Miller, just look at those Santas.  Cute!

 Ribbons have been restocked and a few newbies have snuck in - I LOVE the Christmas coloured pom pom  trims, and I think everyone who likes Frozen will snap up the snowflake ribbon!

I've managed to get my hands on some tiny poms poms, boy are they hard to find now!!  I've added some cute felt stickers to my stock AND bought in bulk so you can buy 3" hoops at a much better price (which I hope you all do because I now have hundreds of them!!)

I have remembered that there are more seasons in the year than just Christmas and have come over all autumnal with these Natural ribbons - printed with Foxes, Hedgehogs & Squirrels....and some linen ric rac printed with roses.
to keep upto date with all the new goodies which are arriving keep your eye on the 'what's new' section of the website :: click here to see it

holiday notice

me, olivia & dr who

 

Monday morning, in the car park outside our house...look who was walking past, on their way to filmimg on the beach.  

Flippin' fantastic :-)

just one sprout please

I never liked sprouts when I was little, but now I'm a grown up I think they are OK. 
Still not my favourite thing to eat, but I don't pull faces anymore when I eat them (well, not when anyone is looking!)
BUT this is a sprout I will love forever:

my very own Lola the Sheep Sprout, made for me as an extra nice surprise by Laura @ gifts by indigo
isn't it fab?
Thanks Laura :-)
gifts by indigo's website is here
and their facebook page is here

Clare made me cry today

 I was busy unpacking all the parcels for the swap (see previous post) when I found this sparkly package  in with some swap decorations......this is the note ::

 ....and a history of all the stitching Clare has organised over the past school year

 (if you click the pictures they should get bigger so you can read them)

 and just look what they made for me!

 it must have taken them AGES...so many pretty stitched and they chose such lovely colours

It's a joy for me to be in the postion where I can help - but really Clare is amazing, she spends so much time doing this...they are lucky children, that's for sure ... thanks Clare - this made my week!
you can follow Clare on her blog here

Swap Update

 swap items are arriving thick and fast

all swap details are on my website : http://paper-and-string.co.uk/page/633245-swap-2014.aspx
or in the swap album on facebook : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.783165831727709.1073741830.573466359364325&type=3

sparkly & a ta dah!

I restocked the glitter buttons today...hearts and flowers in silver, fuchsia and also now in red (that's a new colour)

I love the clash of red and pink ... even more so when it's sparkly ;-)

and the other day I add this lovely new lace to the website, but I think I forgot to tell you!  I popped some in with my auction lot (auction for Coco, the dog in spain, the auction is over now) so you may have spied it on that post...but it didn't have it's ta-dah moment until now ... ta-dah - we have lovely new lace :-)
glitter heart buttons are here
glitter flower buttons are here
new lace spools are here

a whole new section

I have spent *hours* on the website getting my new section ready for you - listing new items is always a slow process, but these listings were complicated so it took me aaaages !!  so what are these things?? they are all die cut shapes - made with my sizzix machine - I have lots of shapes to choose from and even more colours ....and it's the billions of combinations of shapes & colours which gave me a website headache!!
BUT it was all worth it because I received an order for them before I even launched them - so it seems the new website listing work *phew*

see the whole section by clicking here

facebook auction

over on Facebook I (and a lot of other crafty people) have donated items to a charity auction - it's organised by Jade - and every penny raised is going to Animal SOS, which is a charity in Spain who look after uncared for dogs...Coco is the dog which caught my attention and pulled at my heart strings!
you can read all about the charity and Coco's story here and it's also where you will find the auction.

My two donated items are: A mini Dog Kit (of course!)  and one of my new Christmas Craft Boxes....the Craft Boxes normally retail for £25 so to entice higher bids I said I would add to the box if the bids reach £25...and now they have (yay!) and here's what else I have added ::

a premium felt 4" rainbow (worth £5)
a rainbow pack of embroidery threads (worth £6)
AND five spools of lace (just arrived and will be added to my website today) (worth £12.50)
So now the box and the extras come to a value of £48.50....if we get passed that amount I'll add even more!!!
happy bidding, and remember - it's a win win...you get to help the dogs AND you get goodies in the post :-)

filling the shelves

It's a very good job that our barn has a lot of shelves...

 ...because I keep buying new things and need somewhere to put them all...

 ...and it 's a very good job indeed ....

 ...that I have room for more shelves, should I run out of space!

today's new goodies include ::
felt stickers (found here)
advent calendar kit (found here)
pre-made bunting (found here)
paper bags (found here)

postman excitement!

the very first parcels arrived for the swap today!

 two very talented stitchers have sent in their decorations

 aren't they FAB??

all swap details are here

ooohhh new loveliness

we've had a flurry of deliveries over the past few days - which can mean only one thing...and that is a flurry of new goodies on the website!! 
...we have two different sizes of mini toadstools (SO cute!)....

The Tilda Ribbon Racks have been re-stocked (again!)...

Our range of blackboard signs has been increased to now include blackboards on sticks...

...and Rustic hanging hearts too...

AND our button drawers are now full of 9 very pretty different floral & patterned buttons....

...I'm not really a floral fan but I love these!

...they are very Laura Ashley/Cath Kidston me thinks:-)

oh! and of course, I got some new Christmas buttons too ...

....and there will be more new goodies listed in the next few days!!
quick links :: all new products can be found in the 'what's new' section of my website (just click here)