computer repairs....a novel twist on the norm

A big thank you to every one who commented and emailed about our laptop.
Lots of suggestions were made but unfortunately it is dead.
The jack in the back of the laptop which the power lead plugged into snapped off. This meant that a vital powering piece was inside the plug on the end of the lead instead of inside the computer.
This happened 14 months ago, the day after boxing day 2005. I think the timing of that can be described as sod's law !! So, ever resourceful, big J had a go at fixing it and he did very well (although I wouldn't recommend his method to ANYONE !! ) The lead was 'embellished' with a nail (pushed into place in the end of the lead with a hammer) and then put into the laptop and hey presto it worked !!!!
It worked like this, complete with danger-live-nail, for the 14 months. Some days it was temperamental, other days it worked like a dream.....until the other day when it went kaput (sparks were present) (i was accused of being a drama queen, but warranted I say !! ) and the laptop was declared dead.....surprisingly the experts at the computer fair agreed with us !!
To fix it would mean a new jack plug inserted at a cost of £100, a new power lead purchased at a cost of £80 and also a new battery (ours was fried) which would cost £100. We decided to bite the bullet and buy a new one. I think you can understand why.
Before we learnt about the hard drive reader gizmo there was talk of buying a universal laptop power lead, embellishing with a nail and using that to power up so we could copy everything onto CD......thank goodness we didn't need to go down that route !!!!

Oh and did I mention that this time round we bought a P.C. instead of a laptop......less breakable I hope !!

Parcels of freebiness are on the way !

Thank you to every one for re-sending their addresses to the new, shiny computer.
All of the envelopes are addressed, half are in the post box right now and half will be tomorrow. They all would have been posted today except I forgot to tell the computer to send both my email addresses' emails to my inbox. whoops. I sometimes wonder how I manage to do anything on this marvellous machine !!
I just hope you all think it is worth the wait :-)


Tomorrow I am off to work very early indeed. 8.30am. I normally arrive at 9.40am and open the shop at 10am but tomorrow I will have email at work (hopefully) our computer expert has tried three times previously to install (it's the wires and drilling holes in walls causing trouble, the computer side was done at attempt one) so that means I can have about an hour of his time, which I plan to use wisely, I'm thinking questions about hard drive copying/saving will be top of my list ;-)

I have just reread the last paragraph and think I'd best explain that I normally get out of bed about 7amish have a coffee shower, dry hair, dress etc etc then about 830am I turn the computer on and get my morning fix of blog reading (and parcel up eBay sold items) or do some sewing. I have a lovely relaxed breakfast every morning and then stroll to work. My job is full time / part time ! It suits me perfectly, I work 5 days a week (so full time) but only 6.5 hours a day (part time) It's great for me !! I can work here before I go to work and I can do shopping/laundry/housework/post office-ing etc etc once I have left work and still have a full evening to do sewing or blogging or relaxing.....I have the perfect job for me and I really do feel lucky that I found it :- )

I promise photos of something soon !!
I have a saga of softie making to share. I have decided it will be therapeutic to share the mistakes and blips and it will be much better for me to do that than stamp my feet and say bad words to the sewing machine. Hopefully it will give me the shove I need to unpick and redo.....but I won't ruin it for you . I promise to leave all mistakes intact until I can take photos !!

Disaster day

I have a broken laptop. The power no longer charges and as a result we can no longer turn it on. It died on Saturday morning. Big J and I went to a computer fair today (soooooooo dull) and got advice from a variety of experts then spent a good few hours in PC world and Curry's and tra lalalalalalallalalla we have a new computer!!!!!!
So the new computer is marvellous BUT the old computer has so much stuff on it that I need/want. Apparently we can buy some great gadget that will get the stuff off our old hard drive and give access to it on our new computer..........I have no idea how this will happen but I'm sure we will figure our way through it!


SO all my old email is on the dead laptop. I need everyone to please re-email me their addresses so I can send their freebie parcels! I know who has won what and everything is packaged...except there are no addresses on the envelopes!!! aaaaahhhhhhhh
Sorry to be a pain but I have no idea where to send them !!!!!

But now we are back online and hopefully tomorrow we can reinstall the camera software and the scanner and the printer and everything will be back to normal (except the bank balance, but hey, I need a computer!)

The Winners ......

I promised this post at 5pm today and I have just started it at 4.50pm.....I am typing quickly but I am sorry if it is a bit late !!

All of the people who commented were put into the draw (not a hat to put them in I'm afraid, but the plate is nice!!)

drum roll please......the winner of the luxury flower box
is ...................

well done Ali !!!!

the next five names drawn each will receive a flower brooch making kit and they are:

moosh, simone whipp, jennifer, sarah and nia

well done everyone. Please email me your addresses as soon as possible, thanks for taking part :-)

Now to today. I have been a busy bee filling up my ebay shop with all my new things......take a look:

SO much sewing......I'm still listing (I started at 1pm!!) so take a peep in my shop and have a browse around ;-)

I've still got two days of my week off left and have more items ready to finish so more and more new things are on their way

week off: day four: FREEBIE DAY !

It's freebie day! The sun is shining, Spring is on it's way and there are goodies up for grabs, who could ask for more?

Spring is the inspiration so the theme for this March freebie day is: Flowers.

Here are the goodies you could win:

This is a week off for me so this month the freebie day is slightly different. Instead of being the first 6 to comment (I am always too slow for that myself!) this freebie day is going to be more like a raffle. Every one's names will be put in a hat and then 6 will be picked at random to win.

How to enter:
*leave a comment on this blog anytime between now and midnight.
*include your email address with your comment (if you don't want to do that you can email your email address separately to paperandstring@btinternet.com but I must have that to put you into the draw)
*revisit this blog on Friday 2nd March at 5pm (UK time) to see the list of winners

if you are a winner I will need you to then send me your postal address



First Person Drawn from the hat will win one of my many new lines. I have designed a luxury felt flower box. 15 gorgeous hand cut and hand embroidered felt flowers in 3 different sizes, in a selection of pinks and browns, all contained in a cute box with a lid. A luxury flower for every occasion!




The next five names drawn will also be the first to receive another new line:

Paper-and-Strings' Make-your-own flower brooch kits !!

I am so excited about these! They are available in five different colourways and one of each is up for grabs !
Each kit contains: 2 large flowers, 3 medium flowers and 5 brooch pins along with all you need to decorate them: buttons in a range of colour, seed beads in a mix of pinks and felt circles. Complete with instructions too !

So what are you waiting for? Leave a comment and find something fun to do until

5pm tomorrow !!

PS: This freebie offer is open to everyone from everywhere, if you have won before, try again you may be lucky, or if you are new here then what have you to loose? Don't be polite and English, comment and see if you are a winner !!!

week off: day three, break time

I am having a 20minute sewing break and was reading through some blogs when I came across this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5_fzOI16qw on a blog I always read, http://mylittlemochi.typepad.com/
You need to watch this !

week off: day two

A very busy craft day here. Some email sending and then light hand sewing to start the morning off and then it was time to crank up a gear. The overlocker was dusted off, the ironing board put up and the sewing machine set up on my temporary desk. A fully fledged sewing studio, and it makes a difference, Look at the pile of 'secret new things' I got finished....imagine what I could do if I had a real room to turn into a studio, instead of a lounge in disguise!!

Sometimes my dream of doing this for real seems like it could work !!

PS to all you readers who asked about my labels, they came from a local school uniform shop. www.jjcash.co.uk may be able to help you, or go and visit your own local small shops...you never know what you are going to find !!

week off: day one

My week off work started very strangely with an hour at work !
Unfortunately my assistant manager has been ill and I hadn't seen him for a few days so I needed to go into the shop to 'handover' to him. It took longer than it should, but it's done and I am officially on Holiday!!
It's a holiday from one job to give me more time for my other job: craft!

My lounge is now my craft studio:

Big J came home for lunch and this is his chair, oops ! Doesn't it look nice though?? Piles and piles of felt, waiting to be chopped and sewn.

I have been gearing up for this week for a while now and have great things planned for Thursday (the day I launch all my new goodies) and I have a lot of half done wip's waiting for me to finish them off.
I have set up a temporary table and stool in the middle of the lounge and this afternoon it looked like a factory....everything ready to be picked and packed !!

I'm trying to save everything as a surprise for Thursday but I'm bursting with excitement about these: paper-and-string, make-your-own flower brooch kits.


Enough of that, This is a box I covered with goodies from my stash. I did it in a hurry because I have just received a package of buttons I ordered (a closing down sale bargain, sorry!) and I needed somewhere to put them. This took about an hour and a half (that time includes ooohhh ing and aaahhhing over the buttons!!)

And the inside shot:

There are about 300 buttons in each section, i know it doesn't look like it. How lucky am I ???

And this big cupcake is my new pincushion. You know when you have a huge list of things to do and a very near self-imposed deadline?? what do you do?? well, obviously you need to take a couple of precious hours and use them un-wisely and make yourself a new giant cupcake pincushion!!
See you all tomorrow.......

I'm feeling clever !

I have just added a Reader's Gallery link in the sidebar. Not bad for a computer novice!
Send me your photos via email if you want to be added!

organised chaos

Look at my list !! It is huge.....so much to do, so much fun to be had :-)



I made the pictures small so you can't really read them, they aren't private but I'm sure no one would want to read them, except me.......is it normal to enjoy lists this much???

Pages and pages of things for me to sew / think about. I really can't recommend list making enough. I find it clears my head for more thinking and more designs and ideas. If i don't have to try and remember everything I am free to day dream and imagine, as long as I write them down as I go that is !

Look what the postman bought me yesterday.... 144 labels with paper-and-string on them, now I can attack the list which starts: sew labels on.....

This next photo is supposed to be awful. It is an extreme close up of the March freebie, just to tease you, if you can work out what it is then you are very clever and deserve a prize. Come back Thursday 1st March to see if you guessed correctly !

Now I would like to introduce you to someone. She is http://www.pictureitinstitches.co.uk/ and she makes gorgeous fabric applique pictures. Go and look at the link please.
This clever lady is exhibiting at craft fairs at Jimmy's Farm in May and August( http://www.essexpigcompany.com/ )

These are the photos she sent me of the pictures she has made using some of my goodies......

....I'm always amazed by the ideas crafty people have, sometimes I think 'wow, why didn't I think of that' or 'blimey, I never could do that' and so the idea of the 'reader's gallery' was sown.

Bear with me while I sort out the computery side of it and then I would love to see how you use my creations in your creations.....I will shamelessly plug you and your wares so don't be shy, get your pictures ready and wait for the launch

Now go and write a list and see how much better you feel :-)

xxx

Where did Sunday go ?

Good Monday Morning !
Wowee where did yesterday go? I had such a great craft day, I went on the computer briefly but spent the majority of the day crafting.
I have discovered that I should embrace my love of lists. Saturday evening I wrote a list of all the things I wanted to achieve and Sunday I started it. No faffing, no wondering what to do, it was great, I got so much done!!
At work on Saturday I organised the new rota, which runs until 19th March and I decided to book a week off. Big J will still be going to work so I will have 8 days in a row to really craft craft craft!! I have booked next week so expect daily posts and pics of things I have done everyday!
(I need to add that to my list!) It also means I have a time target which I never normally do. If I am making new things I just make until they are done but I have given myself a target to introduce all my new items at once, it's exciting seeing my pile of new items grow and grow, and to not have to go on the computer to list them !
Yesterday I cut out the items for the March freebie....I think you will like this one but I will post more details next week.
I have had an enquiry from a fellow crafter to make a bulk order so I spent time yesterday pricing up and working out discounts etc. I will link you over to her either tonight or tomorrow because she makes some nice things using my little toppers!
It is so nice to see what people use my designs for...I may add a reader's gallery to my blog...now where is my list........

Today is a day

Obviously today is a day but what I mean is: that's it. It's neither a good day or a bad day. Just a day. It's my day off the day job and I had all sorts of wonderful things planned for today but nothing seems to have happened.

I went to the post office and posted some goodies to people and I ordered some cloth labels for the bigger things I plan to make...all good progress. Unfortunately the lady in the shop seemed to speak another language to me and thought I was weird....surely when you are ordering embroidered labels the font, the size, the colour of the stitching is all important? well lets just say that I thought so but the lady 'helping' me didn't !!

Then I came home, got the sewing machine out, set it up and nothing.....I lost my urge to sew !!!
I spent this afternoon playing around with some new ideas and colour combinations but didn't feel too inspired.
I am going to stop crafting and sit and doodle.

I have loads of things to photograph and share with you but that will have to wait until Sunday as the sunlight is going.

So for now I'm afraid the only pictures I can share are of things from my ideas folder. Whenever I am browsing the internet I save pictures I come across in a folder, named 'ideas folder' (original,huh?) and I just look at them all every so often. Some things I know I will make one day and others are for the colours or just because I like it.

I hope the owners of these pictures don't mind me using them. They are all from ebay, I searched Japanese Books in Craft and found these ideas! enjoy, get inspired and keep smiling :-)

oh deary deary me

Happy Valentines Day !!
May you all have a happy love filled day, whether it be with a special loved one or something that makes you happy.
Big J is still poorly. Our nasty flu/cold cleared up fine for me but Big J's turned into a chest infection. He has finished a course of strong antibiotics and it still didn't go and now he has more tablets and today had to have a chest x-ray! My poppet is poorly.
So our special day is: keeping warm, timing tablet taking and tapas for dinner!
Every year we go to a tapas restaurant for Valentine's so today Tapas comes here, Garlic Chicken, Chorizo Sausage, Spicy potatoes, Garlic Bread, Heaps of Salad and for pud? good old English Chocolate Steam Pudding with chocolate sauce.....yummmmm
I'm not sure master chef would think it's a good combination but oh well!
Take care and enjoy your day xxx

ribbon ribbon ribbon ribbon ribbon ribbon

I have discovered a new (to me) craft shop online. I found it via ebay a while ago and have kept going back and looking and wish-list shopping and finally I realised I was running out of ribbon and I needed to buy some more. I always like to get a bargain if there is one to be had and so I spent £25 (well, a tiny bit over) to receive free postage.
I placed the order online about 9.30 am on Thursday and at 8.30am Friday (the next day) the post man was knocking on my door, with my parcel of ribbon. How amazing is that????

Gorgeous products, excellent prices AND the best service ever, where is this shop? what is it called???? Perhaps I should keep it a secret......

....or perhaps you will click on www.sarahscardsltd.co.uk and not read anymore of this blog !

Good bye for now......happy shopping xxx