will you join in?

I am organising a Hand Stitched Christmas Decoration Swap! 
The basic idea is simple - you make a Christmas Decoration, send it to me and I will send a different decoration made by someone else back to you ... sounds good doesn't it?
I'll give you a quick breakdown on how it all works below....(double click to see this larger)

1. Make your decoration
2. Print out a special tag, fill it in and attach to your decoration
3. Print out the special blank address label and add your name and address
4. Put your decoration (with tag) and your address label in a parcel
5. Print the special paper-and-string address label and attach to your parcel - don't forget a stamp - pop it in the post.
6. Wait a little while....
7. The postman will bring you a parcel with the address label you filled in on the front
8. Open it - and see which decoration you received in return!

There are more details in the FAQ's below (double click to see this larger) ::

I'd love as many people as possible to join in so if there's anything else you need to know - just ask :-)
the special tags and address labels and all the info you need is on my website HERE

they're back!

for all of you who missed out last time - I have more ribbon racks in stock on the website

.... they are £15 each...

 ....and are on the website (click here)

what's in those boxes??

I've been being very secretive recently.  Very secretive and very busy, beavering away on two new projects....and I am Super Excited to show you the first....our *new* Christmas Craft Boxes!

 There are 6 colour themed boxes to choose from and each and every one is jam packed full of gorgeous paper-and-string supplies....

...everything comes packed into one of our Large (A4) plastic storage boxes ....and you get tonnes of goodies inside...

 

 ...and they are great value too...just £25 a box!

Please go and take a peep at them on the website (click here) ....I'd love to know which is your favourite colour theme....Icy Pastel, Gingerbread, Jolly & Bright, Traditional, Scandinavian or Frost?

as for the second part of my secret project...
well, that's not finished yet...
it is very Christmassy
it isn't something else being added to the shop
and it is something free for everyone to enjoy....i'll spill the beans on that very soon indeed :-)

tidy your ribbons!

I've been working on a couple of BIG new ideas - I'm not ready to reveal all just yet, but I can show you these new Ribbon Racks....

...they are made by Tilda and are really rather lovely.  They also make Big Spools to go on the racks ...

...or if you don't have space for a rack they made cute Ribbon Hangers..

...they don't normally come with a wooden spool but the spools I normally sell fit perfectly so I'm sending them out as a pair :-)
If you do have room for a rack check out this special offer ::

ONE ribbon rack
SIXTY FOUR rolls of trim/ribbon (2m per spool)
In a choice of TWO designs ::teeny tiny pom pom trim OR pretty rose spools
usual retail price £127 .... all for the bargain price of £100!
I don't have many of each - you have been warned!!

quick links ::
all ribbon racks and special offer bundels can be found on my website HERE

*such* hard work ;-)

 In between my normal, daily job of picking and packing orders I have done tonnes of little jobs today too - I paid some invoices, did some paperwork, bought some new jars for button storage, finished off the pom pom scarves for the cut out snowmen I showed you the other day AND played with made a display with with the finished snowmen and took a load of photos....I *love* my job!

Pom Pom Snowmen (and a lot of other Christmas cuties too) which are all handmade by me are available on my website here 
it seems the Christmas rush has already started so get your orders in whilst it's not quite so manic!
If you fancy making your own decorations this year you can with one of my kits....which are on the website here

pom pom time!

 Christmas in July fever has certainly started effecting what I am making at the moment...today I have cut out 12 pom pom snowmen who will all be sewn and posted out in the next few days....you can find them (and all my other Christmas cuties) on my web site's handmade page

Ribbon Remnants

You (my lovely customers!) buy a lot of ribbon.  I sell it in all sorts of ways - by the roll, in a pack or cut to order just for you - and selling cut to order just for you can lead to a lot of extra lengths of ribbon in my 'leftover ribbon basket'- it mostly comes from ends of rolls or when I cut around a mid-roll join .... and I have just finished colour co-ordinating, measuring and bagging to bring you :: Ribbon Remnant Packs!
there's a Christmas selection ::

 a Muted selection ::

 a pastel selection ::

 and a Bright selection ::

 they are all bagged up & listed on the website - and once they've gone they've gone!

15 metres - £5 each  - ribbon remnant packs - click HERE

a whole box of useful

last week I ordered tonnes of disappearing ink pens - and today they arrived BUT most of them have been put on back order due to the supplier being out of stock.  poop.  but I have managed to get my hands on some...and this time round I got some purple ones too - so for all of you that mostly cut and sew pink colour fabrics & felt I have a pen for you too !!
I also got some more gizmos ... this time for making yo yos ...I have 5 sizes of yo yo makers in stock now :-)
pens are here
yo yo makers are here

new trousers = sewing for me!

 I'm 5 foot 5and a half inches tall...not super short, but not tall at all...which means every single pair of trousers I buy is too long...even if I put on my heeled boots I still stand on the hems so summer sandals mean they need to go even shorter!  Today I squeezed in a bit of sewing time for me, and chopped 2" off my these new trousers (they are from Seasalt and I love them-my new very favourite trousers!) .... then I turned them up another 2 inches to make a nice heavy hem...I've pressed the hems but the rest will be ironed once they have been taken home and I can hang them up.

 First though, I have some buttons to count :-)

back to basics

we've had a whole lot of *new* around these parts lately but today it's been all about the basics

lots of rolls of sewing thread

many pairs of my favourite orange scissors

 piles of wooden hoops & flexi hoops in mini sizes

and everyone's favourite - good old Felt Glue - all unpacked, counted, listed on the website and put away neat and tidy.
quick links ::
thread is here
scissors are here
hoops are here
glue is here

say hello to Percival...

 This is Percival - my new Classic Car :-)

John has quite a few classic cars and we have been on the look out for one for me ... I really really wanted a Toyota Starlet from the 1970's (I had one as my first car....I've not had many cars, this new one is my fourth and I have been driving and running a car none stop for 20 years!!) but Toyota Starlets from the 70's are hard to find...and then we saw this little Volvo/Daf 66 and I fell in love with it.

We only had to go to Axminster to get him (only about 15-20 miles away) which means he is my 3rd car from Devon :-)

John's done quite a bit of research and there are only 7 of these left on the roads...he's a Variomatic, which is a quirky kind of Automatic car....great fun to drive and previously owned by a super-fan of these cars (he had 12!) so he has been very well looked after mechanically.  He comes in various shades of 70's brown and has furry seat covers!!  He is ACE :-)

Vanilla has arrived

The Vanilla felt is now on the website :-) 
It's in a section called: EXTRA felt colours...
it's not in the rainbow packs or any of our mixed colour packs - nor is it in the swatch set...
so i've popped it on it's own for now... and doing it that way makes it super easy for me to add more new colours should I wish to :-)

VANILLA  felt can be found by clicking HERE