wrapping

I cracked open my old college art box and got busy 'sawing' with my bread knife ::

found some pretty wrapping paper & double sided tape::

wrapped all the polystyrene blocks ::

positioned the drawing pins/thumb tacks/push pins ::

and finished with polka dot ribbon and a sticker ::

winners!

finally it's winner's time ::

all low numbers this time, but there's no second guessing how this random number generator's gonna pick 'em!
WINNERS ::
comment number 9 ::
Julie said...
These are soooooo cute - please count me into the giveaway.Thanks - Ju xx
comment number 39 ::
Jak said...
These are just lovely and so is your blog. I find you energy and enthusiasm very inspirational.Jak x
comment number 48 ::
Revathi said...
Lovely!! Your blog is so colourful & interesting! Regards, r***c**ta@yahoo.com
(I have disguised the email address!)

I'm going to email everyone in a mo, and then get the prizes all packaged up and photographed today :-)
Thanks for waiting...here's hoping next month's freebie isn't rudely interrupted by sickness, eh?

nearly back to normal!

I went back to work today, I had to go in really early to let in some BT men but that was great news because it meant I could leave early too....I went straight home for a quick lunch (more toast!) and a bit of computer time, then spent a couple of hours packing orders and visiting the Post Office.

I'm all caught up again, which feels good, and it means that tomorrow I will announce the freebie winners...so stay tuned folks!

PS :: thank you for all your get well messages, they really cheered me up yesterday :-)

i've been poorly

If anyone mentions NoroVirus to you I would recommend quickly running away from them!
John went down with it in the early hours of Thursday morning and it appeared to be my turn in the early hours of Saturday morning.
I spent 12 hours being sick on and off then all of Saturday and Sunday sleeping and feeling awful.
On Sunday I managed to eat 2 pieces of toast and half a bowl of soup...this morning I've eaten some more toast and am feeling slightly more alive...I'm off work today mainly to avoid spreading this around...it is truly a horrid bug and I'd hate to spread it to colleagues or customers!
I feel bored today which is definitely a sign that I'm getting better, fingers crossed I'll be back to normal soon :-)

march 2010 :: freebie day

For Christmas 2009 I made my sister & some friends a selection of pretty drawing pins (push pins)*

I really enjoyed making them ....fast forward to March 2010 and I've made dozens of them ::

in lots & lots of colours ::

every single one is hand cut & hand stitched and has a drawing pin firmly glued & sandwiched between the layers.

FREEBIE ::
3 winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on this post and each will win a box of flower drawing pins.

RULES & HOW TO ENTER ::

1. I must be able to contact you through your comment.

2. If a name is drawn and I cannot contact the winner another name will be drawn.

3. One comment per person please

4. I will ship internationally so all are welcome to join in

5. Leave a comment on this post to enter yourself into the draw

6. Winners will be announced on Sunday 7th March

Good Luck!

*it seems that drawing pin isn't a universal term...they are also known as Push Pins!

ready to sew

I know I'm not alone when I say that I've so many ideas, lists and sketches of things that I want to make, but not enough time in the day to do them.

I find they always go to the bottom of the to-do list but yesterday I decided it was time to try another idea.

It involves apples and key rings.

and apples and brooch bars.

bet you can't guess what I'm making!

a tuesday off

ordinarily Wednesday is my day off the day job but this week we had to shift the rota round so I had today off!

I ticked lots of things off the to-do list: accounts, paperwork, orders, post office....nothing I can really share photos of here!

I did finish off some sewing ::

and I did finish off this months freebie (it's freebie day this Thursday)

so all in all a really good day :-)

sunshine

this morning was beautiful here... lovely bright sunshine pouring through the windows and filling me with bright felty thoughts & new ideas.

It's been great fun reading your button-love comments from yesterday's post...it's great to know there are quite a few people out there as crazy-in-love-with-buttons as me :-)

the apples in the photos are now on the website

lovely new things

I've spent the day counting, packing, weighing & photographing lots of lovely new supplies for my shop...

Jumbo Ric Rac ::

in 5 colours ::

lots and lots of polka dot & gingham buttons

2 new colours of bulk buttons, brights.....

and see-through buttons ::

AND......GIANT polka dot buttons!

they really are quite ginormous!

I've stitched each one onto a card that I made on the computer ::

lovely!

delivery!

this morning I found a delivery man on my doorstep with a very heavy box full of buttons!

I managed to get them to the workshop before work and snapped a couple of pictures, but it really was too dark!

tonight I'm counting and sorting and packaging so tomorrow I can take photos and get them on the website....I've got some new items that you are going to love!

pah! computers!

my website update yesterday morning turned into a bit of a disaster!

I somehow managed to change every single one of my picture links so when they were clicked they took viewers to the wrong pages!

it only(!) took an hour and a half to sort it out....at least I had Footloose on the TV to keep me company....and at least I was able to sort out the mess I'd made on my own....one day I'll get the hang of this website upkeep ;-)

The hexagon ornaments in the photos were ordered whilst I was moving workshops so have taken a little while longer than normal...I really enjoyed making them though and hope that their new owner likes them as much as I do.

website wizardry

John's getting up for work really early at the moment and this morning I too was wide awake at 6.10am! That gave me a good 3 hours to spend on my website....I've re-jigged a few pages and changed a few photos in the supplies section ::

...and I've added an extra page or two to the buttons section (I've been busy ordering quite a few more buttons!) ::

all I have to do now is keep my eyes peeled for the postman!

***edited to add***

oops! it seems I messed up all the links on my website and when you clicked on pictures they took you to the wrong pages...I think it's all fixed now (fingers crossed!) thanks Justine & Claire for taking the time to let me know :-)

lots of halfway there's

items waiting to be sewn ::

thank you cards waiting to be folded & chopped ::

packages with new stationery for labelling my made items ::

I'm also halfway through a special order which I forgot to photograph, but hopefully it'll be finished tomorrow

some sewing

this blog has been more about furniture than crafts recently.....so to even things up a bit here are some photos of orders that were finished this morning (before work at the day job) and have just been posted at the Post Office...

I made a bunch (haha) of fabric flowers and 18 owl ornaments

luckily I'd started some owls before the move (before I would even talk about the move in case I'd jinx it!) so it wasn't as big a task as it seems!

unpacking :: finished!

supplies ::

each drawer has just 2 or 3 colours of felt in it for easy access when I'm cutting out

fabric ::

all neatly folded again!

...and looking rather yummy

the other room

John surprised me today by re-making my table!

which means my sewing room is all ready to be moved into...the sewing machines are all in position ::

and my materials corner is ready to be filled ::

in between all the moving and carrying and pretty-fy-ing I've been sewing special orders and the first is complete ::

8 giant cupcakes, I had fun making these :-)

a half ta-dah!

today was started very slowly with aching muscles and a slightly twinge-y back (and a vow to never move again!) but after a good bath I was slightly springier and managed to get a lot done!

I'm back at the day job tomorrow so getting the Packing Room fully operational was at the top of the too do list, and you'll be glad to hear it's been busy and all orders have been wrapped, packed & posted.

the 6 Billy's are the legs for my packing table...we still need to iron the edging on the table top, but at least I have a table!

all the bigger shelves have items on them in some sort of order ::

and although it doesn't look quite finished it does mean I know where everything is again!

before the move I was running very low on felt and was itching to order, but I didn't want to move anything unnecessarily so I waited and the order arrived late yesterday ::

and a few hours later went from a pile on the desk....

into my new storage unit ::

The top three rows are 12" squares and the bottom two rows are 24" squares

I love how it looks!

which is more than can be said for the Making Room...all my vital supplies are at home in the lounge for evening sewing so it's not so urgent to get this room ready...

John has the task of re-making the giant table he made for me...and I have the task of unpacking the remaining 10 or so boxes!

still lots to do!