angle grinders

I had a busy box-making morning yesterday...followed by a phone call from John to say he was on his way to A & E because the blade on his angle grinder had snapped and cut his arm...I quickly did all my parcels and dropped them to the post office on the way to the hospital (luckily they are both within easy walking distance!) and sat with him whilst he waited....he's OK, quite a few steri-strips are holding him together underneath a BIG bandage, and there will be a scar...he's just happy that he didn't have the tattoo that he'd planned to have years ago because the cut would have ruined it!

my very own post office!

when I was little I loved playing shopsand today I had my very own Post Office delivered to me in a box!Over the past few weeks I have been setting up an account with Royal Mail which means I can deliver my parcels to the Sorting Office in mail bags and never queue at the Post Office again!!

hurrah!

I have all manner of new stationery and labels at my disposal and later on I shall be talked through it all (over the phone) and if it all goes to plan I'll be dropping off my parcels later on today!

getting ready for tomorrow

Thank you all for your good wishes and kind thoughts for me and my family. Nan's funeral took place yesterday in Plymouth & it was as good as it could have been...my Mum and Dad planned a lovely service and my Great Uncle Malcolm (nan's youngest brother) did a fantastic reading and spoke about Nan with so much love. Afterwards there was a banquet of a buffet laid on at Mum & Dad's house, with lots of scrummy homemade baking and Nan's favourite Pasties delivered to the door for us all to enjoy ... lots of memories about Nan came spilling out of everyone, and there was a lot of smiling and laughter too (which has helped balance all the crying).

****************************************************Today I had a late start and a very quiet day in the workshop, I've caught up on all my computer work and lost a few hours to accounts and receipt filing...I've re-opened my Etsy shop :: and my eBay shop :: I've also removed the 'I'm not posting' message from my website and reduced the waiting times back to normal on NotOnTheHighStreet... so I think Ive slowly got myself ready for business as usual tomorrow.

saturday sewing

Today I needed to finish 2 orders from NotOnTheHighStreet (one set says LIVY and the other ROSIE) I was up at 6am this morning doing the hand sewing part (I couldn't sleep), then I went to the workshop to do the machine sewing/finishing off and I managed to get them all sewn and packed and to the Post Office before 11am!
Later on I'm going to pick up the flowers for Nan's funeral...I've asked for happy, bright flowers and I hope they look like I imagine!
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I caused confusion with my last post....I've been running paper-and-string for 5 1/2 years ... for the first 4 1/2 years I was doing it part-time, whilst managing a shop for my day job, but last year I handed in my notice and 1st September was the year's anniversary for running paper-and-string full time...hope that makes sense!!

i.o.u. a freebie

today it's been exactly a whole year since I gave up the day job
and it is also freebie day
I had planned an extra special freebie to celebrate ... but I'm not in the mood to celebrate really...so, next month I.O.U. an extra special freebie!

buttons

after more counting and bagging the buttons are back!...it's been quite a relaxing day today, I packed orders, had a little tidy up, counted and bagged buttons, updated the website and cut out some sewing......I'm still just plodding through everything, one job at at time (which is unusual for me, normally I have 20+ jobs on the go at any one time!)...the next job is to get the John Lewis delivery down the stairs, on the pallets and into the truckQuick Links :: 2 hole buttons :: 4 hole buttons :: teeny tiny buttons :: flower buttons

plodding

I've been slowly plodding my way through the past few days ... my shops have kept me nicely busy (which has helped) I've kept etsy & ebay shut, and plan to keep it that way until next week... Nan's funeral is being held on Monday 5th September.I've spent hours sorting buttons on the sofa...and John helped me put the finishing touches to the next John Lewis delivery, which leaves here this Wednesday, thank goodness most of it was done already...(sorry about the photo!)today I spent all day packing orders......all orders are done and will be posted today, and I've listed new posting days on the website for customers who order so they know what's going on.
Thank you for all your kind, supportive and understanding comments ... I can't reply to them at the moment because I get so sad...but I have read them all (so have my Mum & Dad) and they have helped, so again...thank you all.

Nanny.

On Monday about 5.30pm my Mum & Dad called me from my sister's house (they were 2 days into a week long stay) to tell me my Nan was in hospital and we needed to go to her. She'd had a fall and her brother had found her and called an ambulance.

My parents and my Nan all live in Plymouth, just round the corner from each other, but my sister lives near Kingston and I live in Worthing .. so we were all about 200 miles away!

We all chucked things in bags and I quickly shut my shops as best as I could and left a message on here. Luckily John drove me, I'm so glad he could come with me.

We arrived at the Hospital about 11.30pm and Nan was in isolation in ICU. She was very poorly indeed but they had stabilised her and were planning more treatment throughout the night. We spent time with her and I am sure she knew we were all there. We all went to Mum & Dad's house and fell into bed , none of us slept much and on Tuesday morning (only yesterday) we were all in the kitchen thinking about breakfast and cups of tea and coffee when the phone rang at 7.30am

I think my stomach touched the floor.

We got to the hospital in super-quick time and Nanny looked more peaceful than she had the night before. The doctors and nurses told us that Nanny was deteriorating rapidly. They were reacting with medicine and trying so hard for her but she was shutting down, every time they got her stable again she just got worse and worse...we all stayed round her bed and talked to her for hours and we told her why we loved her so much and then they came and said that they didn't think we should give her the medicine anymore and let her pass away quietly, not to prolong it for her. I am in shock really....writing it all here has cleared my head a bit (and made me cry a lot more)I'm glad she is with my Grandad again because they belong together but I am so so sad that we have lost her.

Thank you for your messages from the last post...I feel propped up by them, if that makes sense...I need to keep busy and I will be in my workshop but I have decided to keep my shops closed for a few days...thank you for those that ordered over the past day or so, it's so good to have something to focus on

temporarily closed

due to a very sudden illness in my family I am temporarily closing my shops...I posted parcels as normal today but if you have ordered this evening I will email you in the morning (or as soon as I can) so you know what's going on....I have access to emails etc so can keep in touch with everything as and when I need to.... I hope to be back as soon as I can.....

spotted!

My sister lives near Kingston John Lewis and yesterday she paid a visit and took some photos for me!

eeekkk!!

it's so exciting to see them on the shop floor!

out to dry

This morning I dyed some more 2 hole & 4 hole buttons, I do it on a Saturday because the only space I have for drying is on my packing table & I don't pack parcels on the weekend ... I just hope they are dry by Monday morning, officially the busiest packing day of the week!...once they have dried I just have to sort them into sizes and bag them up and *hurrah* the buttons will be back in stock!

turquoise & red

look at these lovely new buttons!

polka dot buttons in Turquoise & Red! I've added them to the pick-your-own selection (where each and every button is available individually) so you can pick the exact number of buttons you need for a project...and who doesn't need polka dot buttons?

iron on flowers

I cut (by hand with my scissors) lots of flowers yesterday evening...54 to be exact!

they are all neatly packed into packs of threeand have been listed in the shop......click here to take a peep!

decisions decisions

my flower Iron On's have nearly all sold out so today I spent a lovely couple of hours picking fabrics and preparing them ... tomorrow the Iron On shop will be full again!

it was a successful evening!

yesterday evening, a cup of coffee & a couple of hours saw some of the contents of the boxes you saw yesterday sorted into piles
4 colours, 2 of each colour...all ready and waiting to be put in these boxes ....once I've stuck all the stickers on!

this is evening I have a date with....

...some felt squares!!

are they coming to a store near you ?

Lots of you have asked which John Lewis stores my kits will be in and I finally have an answer for you!

Currently they are in Oxford Street *yay!* and they will soon be in the following stores:

Stratford London (opens in September), Cardiff, Peter Jones, Kingston, Reading, Milton Keynes, Blue Water, Southampton, Welwyn, Watford, Peterborough, Cribs, High Wycombe, Solihull, Cheadle, Trafford, Cambridge, Leicester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield, Nottingham, Aberdeen, Liverpool, Norwich, Knight & Lee (Hampshire).....phew! what a long list!

it's a good job I'm working hard on the next batch ;-)

it's finally free

this elusive box has been stuck in customs but today, finally, it has arrived!

inside is my latest supplies order from America..lots of gorgeous ribbon spools (and the mini brads I forgot to photo!) are now back in stock and can be found in the shop

the story of the kits ... continued

I started designing my new kits back in January...I did lots of sketching, pattern drafting and sample making which carried on for about 2 months and finally I had designs that made me smile, and I hope, will make you smile too!

The first completed sample was my hedgehog ::

and pretty quickly he had 3 friends ::

During this time I was under a bit of pressure to price up and package the kits, so they would look good in a BIG shop...John Lewis liked my existing kit's packaging but wanted something in a box so they could stack it....easy right?

well...after a lot of phoning and quoting and guess work on my behalf it became obvious that printed cardboard boxes were expensive & such a waste as they are destined to be thrown in the bin...so I did more researching, phoning and hunting and found my plastic boxes....perfect!

I love that the box can be kept forever....I love that they are made in England ... and mostly I love that they can be used as little trays whilst the kits are being made ::

Today I have asked John Lewis which shops the kits are in/going to be in and once I have found out I will let you know! I am also selling them in my shop, for the same price as John Lewis are selling them at (£15)

winners announced

wowee!
274 comments this time round....

as always I have called the random number machine into action and it has chose the 2 winners ::

number 1 :: Michelle

and number 188 :: Isobel

WELL DONE ladies, I'll email you both shortly
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