counting & bagging

This morning bagged up teeny tiny buttons were running low

 but after a few hours of counting and sorting....

 ....they're back!

Something New

Since Christmas 2011 customers from NotOnTheHighStreet have been asking for personalised decorations but I didn't have any, and my embroidery skills are very basic so adding names to existing decorations just would not be good enough.....fast forward 9 months to today and ta-dah!

Let me introduce you to Monkey, Koala and Owl....customers can choose which animal they'd like, which item they'd like them to be holding (present, heart or bunting) and then add a name!

The discovery of these cute alphabet beads was the break through I needed!....I have a lot more animals sketched out waiting to be made, but if I had waited for them all to be finished I think it would be Christmas 2013!!
They are now available through my Not On The High Street shop....it's a quiet time of year on there right now, but hopefully you'll see me making lots of these cuties over the next few weeks, fingers crossed!

Christmas!!!

please avert your eyes if Christmas in August is too crazy for you (but you will miss out on a super duper bargain!)  So what was in those boxes yesterday?....

Versatile Wooden Christmas Trees

 Ready to hang Wooden Baubles

 Teeny Tiny Christmas lights (not actual lights, now that would be even more a.m.a.z.i.n.g!) I want to make a Christmas Tree Garland with teeny tiny lights!

 AND amazingly cute Gnome Christmas Fabric

 Look, can you see the Gnome cutting out paper snowmen?

and these cute mini gnomes too!
I am feeling very festive today!

Did you know there are 140 crafting days until Christmas...so I am offering you a Crazy Christmas bargain!  for 24 hours (2.30pm August 7th - 2.30pm August 8th 2012) you can get 14% off every single thing in my shop by entering the code ChristmasCraziness at the checkout!
Quick links:
Website...click here
Christmas Section...click here
14% discount code...ChristmasCraziness
DISCOUNT ENDS AT 2.30pm TOMORROW, so be quick!
You MUST enter the code to get the discount, I can't apply it afterwards, sorry!
Limited to One order per customer.

It's Official. Christmas Crafting is almost upon us!

I know!

It's the middle of Summer and I'm talking about Christmas!!...those two boxes contain some forward-ordered product that is Christmas with a capital C...I haven't had time yet to photograph and list them but they will be in the shops soon...so be warned, Christmas Crafting is almost here!

rolling rolling rolling

No two days are ever the same around here, and today was certainly a surprise...I had a rush on felt mini rolls and spent hours measuring, cutting and rolling ... heaven!

Brand New Mini Kits!!!

Hooray!  Today is the day I can finally show some of my new kits...This year I have designed a new sized kit too, it's called a Mini Kit...and each kit makes one cute item.

The Flower Kits can be made into a brooch or a key ring, the choice is yours, and the Decoration Kits each make one decoration....all for the bargain price of just £5 a kit!

Decoration Kits are available in Cat, Dog, Donkey and Owl designs.

Each kit comes in a small storage box and contains: Felt, Buttons, Ribbon, Brads, Fabric, Bondaweb & Stuffing as required....you will need to have your own basic sewing kit: needle, thread, pins & scissors.

I hope you like them!

Quick Links:

new Mini Kits on my website here

some new Mini Kits available at John Lewis here

why did I start this?

 In the early days of running paper-and-string all my felt off cuts* were ironed and stored in my personal stash and used for making things, even the most teeny tiny pieces were turned into something else...but now there aren't enough sewing hours in a whole year to use up all my off cuts!

Instead I now have a cardboard box to pop them in, and every time a new off-cut is delicately placed on top (so the whole pile doesn't fall over) I think 'I really must sort that out' and today was the day to sort it out!  I have measured and cut and sorted and now have nice neat piles of off cuts...and plans for what some of them will be turned into!

*off cuts = end of rolls, non-square pre-cut squares, wonky cutting by moi, dirty bits and pieces with holes in.

teeny tiny sneaky peeks

 new kits are coming....

 .....on Wednesday 1st August!

 I am unbelievably excited!!!

 and wanted to share a few sneaky peaks with you!!

early morning stitching

At 6am I was sitting on the sofa hand sewing*, it's amazing how much work you can get done whilst you should be asleep!

I managed to finish: the last two of these 12 flower drawing pins

the hand sewn parts of these 6 boxes and a heart and a flower brooch! 
ooohhh and seagull update:  the cheeky little thing can fly! I've seen him coming and going the past two days...but he does seem to live on the flat roof, and he still likes sitting in, and drinking from, the make-do bird bath!  I think now I have started putting water out I will continue to do it :-)
* only because it was too hot to sleep, not because I'm addicted to sewing or anything (which I am of course, but I do like sleeping too!)

photo day

today I set up a mini studio for taking some photos...it's not very high tech but it worked really well!!

I can't show you what I was taking photos of yet...but I will soon, I promise!

hot feet

The back of my workshop overlooks a BIG flat roof.  Sometimes I sit out there and have lunch, but mostly it's my quick route down the fire escape to the big bin.  This is the view out the back door...

 Yesterday a baby seagull (who is rather big) found his way from the roof of my workshop on to the flat roof, and the silly thing can't fly back up again!  His seagull mum & dad are still bringing food and flying at anyone who dares to walk on the roof (that'd be me) but I got a little worried that there was no water for him.   Normally there is a large puddle on the roof where that washing up bowl is, but the heat from the sun has got rid of that!

If you peer closely you can see the parent seagull sitting in the shadow and on the little wall on the left is the big baby....they spend most of the day down there sleeping, as far away from my door as they can get, but the Big Baby must have hot feet because I spied him out the window sitting in his drink!

 Hopefully he'll be able to fly soon, but in the meantime I'll be chief seagull water provider!  I'd like to get the make-shift bath down to the sleeping quarters but so far I haven't dared get that close!

RSPB kit

The big reveal has started...lots of work has been happening behind the scenes here in my workshop and *finally* I can start to spill the beans!
I started working with the RSPB back in January when they contacted me asking about the possibility of me supplying them with my kits for Christmas 2012.  After some sample sewing and idea swapping with their buying team an exclusive paper-and-string sewing kit has been developed....and today it has been launched on their website, hoorah!

Let me introduce you to my Garden Friends Sewing Kit:

Everything you need to make a snail, mouse, robin, wren and blue tit.  They are also stocking my Woodland Friends kit too:

I love the photographs they have taken, especially the new kit which has even made it to the front page of the website!

I feel very proud that my kits are for sale for such a good cause.  The Garden Friends kit is exclusively for sale with the RSPB, here are some shopping links for you :
RSPB shop click here
Garden Friends Kit click here
Woodland Friends Kit click here

I Love Mondays

When I had a day job Monday's were my least favourite day, but now they are definitely my favourite!
It's the day that I have the most orders to dispatch and the only whole day of the week that I dedicate to the task...all the other jobs just have to wait until Tuesday!

Today was no exception ~  many busy hours have been spent cutting and folding and rolling and counting and measuring, not to mention the wrapping and packing and writing of address labels.

And sunny Mondays always end in the same way, with a drink in the sun at our local pub, then home for hand sewing ~ FanTasTic!

making rainbows

Today has definitely been a rainbow day...lots of felt rainbows have been cut, stacked and tied...lots of swatches have been printed, cut and stuck AND if you peer into the background you can see that my felt stock has been filled up too!
Tooth Update:
Root Canal isn't that bad
- The (very slow) injection of pain relief wasn't nice, but didn't last long!
- The filing (that's filing, not filling) of the holes was weird, but again, it didn't hurt
- Having to open my mouth for 1.5 hours (' a little bit wider please Sarah') was the hardest bit...my face was so numbed I couldn't really tell how open or closed my mouth was!
- There was no dribbling - a miracle!

Today it's a little tender, but that makes sense because it took a pummelling yesterday!
I have a routine check up next week, but for now my dentist saga is over.

just a quickie!

I have about 6 minutes to do this post...then I have to dash to the post office and then trudge to the dentist!  Yes today is: Root Canal Day....I'm not feeling too worried because the temporary filling has stopped all the pain so the hardest thing will be the trying-not-to-dribble-whilst-mouth-is-open-for-90-minutes thing!

This morning has been fun, I've packed orders in super quick time, received a delivery of my new postcards (which show all my new kits so you can't see them yet!  (sisterini if you are reading this before I speak to you, they look FAB!)) AND I had delivery of 2 more bolts of fabric!!

phew-ee! 
i'm *nearly* looking forward to having to sit down for 90 minutes!!
New Fabric can be found by clicking here

blah blah VAT blah

Today I put the finishing touches to my VAT return. 
It's not so bad really....except it's really REALLY boring ... and at the end of the really REALLY boring task you get rewarded with a bill to pay!
Pah!

On the upside, I did get to chop loads of felt....I always pre-cut it from the roll so it's ready to cut into boxes when they are ordered, which seems really organised - except I never seem to have every colour I need!

Not On The High Street

The Summer Sale started today on NotOnTheHighStreet and I have included some of my products at 25% off ::

Button Boxes were £6 now £4.50

Ribbon Spools were £12 now £9

Velvet Scallop ribbon spools were £8 now £6

Owl Kits were £6 now £4.50 (each kit makes one owl)
Click here to go to my NotOnTheHighStreet shop and grab a bargain or two!

and the winner is...

comment number 80....
daisy daydreams said...
Please count me in for the giveaway. Mmmm I have lots of ideas for the fabric. Amanda....x
a******kir**10@bti*****net.com

Congratulations Amanda, I shall email you to find out your address.
I'm sorry that you can't all win but I do have lots more freebies already planned ... all of which are tip top secret and really very exciting, so make sure you keep popping back for those!