april freebie 2010

this months freebie is so close to Easter (and a nice long weekend with plenty of time for sewing!) that I thought I'd combine a freebie prize draw with a free tutorial for everyone....

I have made 2 sets of Egg Cosies...Ribbon Eggs and....

....plain eggs.

There's a pattern below (right click the picture, save it to your computer and then print it out)


plain eggs are probably easier for beginners...you can use straight stitch, blanket stitch or whip stitch...which ever you prefer!

ribbon eggs are a bit more fiddly and would be better suited to sewers with a little more experience (cutting the egg outline is the hardest bit!)

I hope you would like to make your own egg cosies, it's great fun!

Now for the freebie part...

There are 2 prizes...one set of ribbon egg cosies ::

and one set of plain egg cosies ::

If you'd like to be entered into the freebie draw simply leave a comment on this blog post and I will draw 2 winners next Wednesday (7th April)

Rules & Things

1. only one comment per person please

2. I must be able to contact you via your comment

3. I will post worldwide

GOOD LUCK & HAPPY SEWING!

time well spent

making 9" rainbows ::

and tying them up with ribbons ::

*finally* unpacking my threads ::

making a start on my Photograph Table ::

Soon there will be a curtain over the window instead of the two pin boards and I'm hoping this little area will be good for taking my product photos...time will tell.

my haircut went well (thanks for the good wishes!) but it dried fluffy rather than curly so it needs to be washed again before I let anyone see it...

*advance warning*

tomorrow is Freebie day and there will be a tutorial/freebie pattern for which you will need :: felt, ribbon & a button or two

a hairy hurrah!

after a VERY busy 2 days at the day job I am Officially on holiday...I have to work on Saturday but I'm not back properly until next Thursday...woo-hoo! loads of days off but only 2 days of holiday used up.

Tomorrow morning I have a haircut booked at Toni & Guy ... curly hair is great at being ignored but right now mine is desperate for a cut...I love getting a new cut when it's long overdue, it feels so swishy and new...so much so I went to Boots and bought some lovely new products to look after the new 'do' (good timing because toni & guy is 3 for £10 and Umberto Giannini is 2 for £7 at the moment)

...I'll be taking some photos of Kate Humble with me as a guide ::

and hopefully it'll look just like that, but a little longer, and I'm more dark brown than blonde....but you get the idea!

...3 hours...

before ::

during ::

after ::

up close ::

a very ribbon-y post

all my boxes are unpacked and the shelves have been re-arranged to hold a mammoth delivery of ribbon ::

I was running low on some designs so contacted my supplier but lots of my favourite ribbon has been discontinued and only 'large volume' customers were able to purchase from their 'large volume' list ...

... so I did a deal (which was kinda scary and involved a ridiculously big $ number) and managed to buy a BIG bulk order (normally my orders are seen as small fry to these big suppliers)

I have bought LOTS of big reels of my favourite ribbons and that means I can offer bulk discounts to my customers ... it's all still available by the metre and the price has held at 85p a metre OR now I am able to offer 10m bundles for just £6.50, a BIG saving of £2

(it's always nice to get a bargain!)

I also stocked up on plain grosgrains which will be invaluable for packing (they will be listed on my website soon)

and I got a discount on 3 yard spools which means they are still only £2 each (even though the exchange rate is dreadful)

these are the new designs ::

I've also got a lot more velvet scallop ribbon (including a new colour!) still just £1.70 a metre OR 5m bundles for £6.50

if you're tempted or just want to take a peek most of it is on the website right now!

flowers

I'm not deliberately being a box unpacking tease...but I have no photos for you!

I spent all last night sorting through all the boxes and checking off the delivery note....and after work today John and I moved all the boxes to the workshop and I found homes for all the lovely new items...I will try *very* hard to take photos before work tomorrow, hopefully the sun will be out!
In the mean time here's a photo of some cutting out that I finished this morning ::

the men in brown (and beige!)

Mr UPS came today....

and dropped off 8 boxes full of lovely new stock! John's out all day and evening so I've left them at home so I can unpack and sort through them all in the lounge!

****************************************************

Columbo yesterday was brilliant!

Face was a great Columbo, just like the original but with a little something extra....I'd highly recommend it if it tours around near you!

7.30pm

because this is a craft blog I should really show a crafty picture, right?

so there we are, some lovely bright felt flowers that were finished late last night.

But actually there is something MUCH more exciting going on round here today ::

we're going to see COLUMBO in the theatre....and Face (A-Team) is playing Columbo!

I can't wait :-)

what to do first?

this weekend was very busy, I worked the day job on Saturday and had loads of paper-and-string things to do too!...I had a felt delivery with all the ingredients for felt rainbows and all my make-your-own kits ::

....I printed & cut 100's of pieces for the kits ::

....and I had a HUGE delivery of deco tape to sort through, photograph, tidy away and list on the website!

phew! I need another weekend to recover!

swing tags

as you know I like making my own stationery and here's the latest addition to my packing ::

swing tags ::

to attach to my handmade items.

more...

when I photographed my apples the other day I forgot to take photos of these ::

3 new apple-y needle cases

I really love the repetitive blanket stitching...it's so relaxing to do

and my new labels look neat (even if I do say so myself!)

I'm still trying to get used to the light in my workshop....there's too much electric light and not enough sunlight, but I'm sure a few more photo sessions will help me find the perfect place to take photos!

cupcakes

Today I caught up on a lot of admin work. I updated my website, did the last few weeks accounts & paperwork, and basically spent a long time on the computer!

In between all that I packed orders & visited the Post Office...

... photographed my finished cupcakes...

...and visited the local fabric shop, they finally had some bondaweb in stock so I was a happy shopper!

sharing

one of my favourite things about the crafty-blog world is the openness. The atmosphere is such that people feel comfortable enough to ask questions which help them find new methods and supplies to work with on their projects....

...not a day goes by without a new email in my inbox asking something craft related....

....sometimes I can't answer them but I do try to help find out the answers...sometimes I refuse to answer (in a nice way I hope!) because sometimes spilling the beans would potentially harm my business .... I've been asked for names, addresses and product codes so others could order from my suppliers...I've even been asked how many orders and how much money I take every week!

Today I'd like to answer a question I've been asked quite a few times since this post about apples

where I gave a sneak preview of my new labels.

I used a new-to-me printer paper...it's amazing!...you can print fabric on your printer! AND you can feel the backing off and iron it into position!

The paper came from craftycomputerpaper and the one I used is the iron and wash cotton, but there are loads to choose from.