A blog hotpot

As is customary for my weekly day off I have updated the shop with lots and lots of goodies. The picture below is the tip of the iceberg.......my flu has gone and I'm working full steam again! I was reading the paper and saw an advert for a sofa....I normally hate these mass produced sofas and really love slightly old slightly tired but cherished pieces of furniture BUT now I want a brand new sofa. No one would be allowed to sit on it mind you, or cut out fabric whilst sitting on it or use the arm as a pin cushion, anything really, but look at it it's gorgeous.
If you want one too it's from Sofa Workshop and it's called Miss Sew n sew. Check out www.sofaworkshop.com to see better photos


February Freebies went very well and I would recommend it to all crafters out there. It was so much fun I am really looking forward to the next one!! My friend Nia is so lovely, she sent me this:

...so that I would receive a February freebie too !! How lovely is that? My thoughtful friend :-)

and with my heart came this card which I had to share because it is so cute. It's business card size and it is now at home propped up in my pincushion :-)

I've had a pottering day really that seems to be going past very quickly. I have replied to all emails and comments (i hope) if i missed you please forgive me! I've sorted out the shop, been to the post office, made some things, oh, and I've been shopping!!

All sorts of goodies are hopefully on their way here, I've ordered ribbon, buttons, paper, lots of felt, fabric, ric rac and some knitted fabric too. I will of course share pictures with you when it all gets here !!

There is a new range a foot, of larger soft toys, made with fabric and a bit of felt (I cant not use felt!) but I still need a bit more time to finalise the patterns and make the first ones.......

Fantastic February

A quick note to say the freebies are gone. Thank you to everyone for their wonderfully kind words of praise and thanks! I am behind on replying to comments but will definately catch up tomorrow!! Hooray it's my day off tomorrow!!

AND did you see the new button in my side bar ? I have been accepted onto delightful blogs !!
It's official: paper-and-string is delightful !!! yippee!

take a peek at the site, there are some good blogs to be found.....allow yourself some time though, I went browsing and quick as a flash two hours had gone!! don't you just love the time-warp factor that computers have??

freebies update

well that was quick !
All 6 of the freebies via the blog are now gone.
There are two ebay freebies left.

Everyone should have received an email asking for their address and they shall leave here Monday morning and be with you all very soon.

Sorry if you missed out, check back to see details of the next freebie extravaganza !!

february, flu and freebies.

Happy first of the month.
The flu is still with me and progress on sewing is slow!

BUT now for the good news.......
I have decided to introduce a monthly giveaway. The first Thursday of every month will be paper-and-string free stuff day. Some months will be first come first served, who ever comments first will receive the goodies, some months will be for everyone who comments and some will be a lucky dip draw!

February giveaway is for 6 lucky blog readers. The first six to comment AND INCLUDE THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS, will receive a confirmation email as a winner and a request for their postal address. Simple. Goodies will be won then posted then enjoyed!

Because February is the first one of the give away madness extravaganzas the first 6 people who purchase something from the paper-and-string shop, during February, will also receive a free gift!

So what is up for grabs ? well, February is Valentine's month so it had to be a heart ! along with some grosgrain ribbon. Use your hearts on a loves ones card or hang on a door knob, over the bed, on a plant or make it into a keyring.

everything is packaged and ready to be posted so what are you waiting for ?

Comment and truly get something for nothing !

We are sick.

It's official. Big J and I have flu. I don't like being sick, well, who does! It started slowly on Saturday and I went to work and felt ok-ish and then Sunday I took it easy and felt ok-ish then back to work Monday and today and now I feel awful-ish !

So tomorrow I am going to work for 1 hour and then plan to be on the sofa with a blanket and some cheesy films on the tv! I kinda have to go to work because we normally all start at 10am but tomorrow the gas man is coming to check some gas man stuff (I wasn't really listening!) and as usual the time they will come is between 9am and 1pm !! How unhelpful !! So, I am going to work at 9am and will be leaving at 10am when the others get there. Oh the joys of being a boss, I bet the gas man gets there about 11am........I would scream with rage but I have almost completely lost my voice!! Big J loves it, every time I talk he says 'you should be resting your voice, ssssshhhhhh' aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh

So even though I'm ill I think I can still do a bit of sewing in between my napping and coughing....I think I'm going to come up with some Febuary Freebies........

check back soon for details
xxx

ebay shop update

Some gorgeous colours available this week.....different shades of browns and pinks with some gorgeous vintage buttons. I had to force myself to actually use the buttons rather than keep them forever....believe me they are nice ones!!

Lurkers wanted....

Hi all.
Today is my day off from the day job. ( for regular readers, yes it is normally Thursday but this week, and this week only, day off day is Friday) and I challenge everyone to use the word day more times than me in one sentence!!
So what did I do with my morning off ??? well, I got delivered a cup of coffee by big J just before he left for work, stayed in bed and drank it and decided i needed a hair cut. So I cut it. My hair is big and very curly and about shoulder length.....now it is the same but shorter!! I keep wandering past the mirror to check it hasn't gone wrong but so far so good.....anyone else want a free haircut??? it must be easier to do on other people when you can actually see the back of their head!!

After the haircut I thought i'd check out the blogs on my favourite list. A quick half hour catch up and then on with the sewing....as you can tell I am still on the computer and it is past noon!!

BUT it's not my fault!! A lot of the great blogs I read were talking about lurkers. I didn't know what they were talking about so I had to read on and and OH NO I am a lurker!! That is: one who reads and visits blogs often but without comment so that blogworld do not know of their existence. So i have come clean and admitted my lurker-ness.

So now I challenge you all out there to come clean. If you are a lurker, make a comment and introduce yourself and your blog ( if you have one ) and then I can have a list in my sidebar of the people who read my blog's blogs!!

I can't wait to meet you.... xxx

ooohhhh I found a new button on picassa !

My eBay pics are now always going to be done on the scanner....how much better they are than by camera!! but i have run out of time and the shop update will be tomorrow....but you can see what is going to be there with the above pics. Happy Sunday evening to you all.....i'm off to bathe with a book and a wine........................

A Glimpse of New Things

Ha ha ha ha I tried to be clever and take two photos of my work tray but they don't quite line up !!! These are a few works in progress (they are finished but need tweaking).......more to come in my ebay shop today.

My friend's new etsy shop

Check out my friend's new etsy shop....she makes lovely things and they arrive so quickly and are always packed so nicely.....it's like a surprise extra birthday when something comes from the postman from this crafty lady!!
www.niajane.etsy.com

What lucky Girls Get For Christmas

My wonderful sisterini gave me these see through drawers for Christmas and looky how gorgeous my ribbon looks!! She also gave me some of the ribbon and some funky threads and buttons!! How lucky am I ??

Gorgeous Big J got me a sewing box, which I just love. This is a bad photo of it but you can get the idea, it has a lift up lid with loads of room inside for all sorts of gorgeous things and underneath is a drawer which i put scissors and useful things in. The ugly yellow baskets will be replaced with another couple of quilted fabric boxes when i have the time !

This was also from my Big J and I've never been so excited!! I have wanted this book for years but for some reason it is very hard to find and when it is found, very expensive. I wont ruin the story but I will say that the little girl gets to talk to her guinea pig, I wish I could have talked to my guinea pigs!! it is just wonderful!!

This shiny cupcake is from my niece, inside is a pad of paper and a pink pencil......does any one get the idea that I love cupcakes???

Also from my sister is this lovely make up bag ... how cool are the animals!!!

I am using it for craft instead of makeup because then I get to see it more often everyday!!

At the mo it has things I have made for ebay in it and some more things i will blog about another day!

So all in all I was very lucky at Christmas, don't you agree ??

ooohhhh fancy new look blog

well blogger invited me to change to new beta blog and I did and, even though I have no clue whatsoever, it worked a treat!
I love it that there are clever computer people out there who make these things straight forward for me!
As you can see they have made it super easy to change the colours and fonts etc etc so what did I do? that's right I changed everything that I could get my hands on !!
Hope you like the new look......there may be more to come!!

a belated merry christmas and a happy new year !!

I don't know where the time has gone, Christmas seems like it was ages ago and it's all just gone by in a blur !!
Big J and I had three Christmasses in 4 days and drove miles and miles and miles.....exhausting but good fun !!
The shop where I work is busy busy busy and the staff are keeping me on my toes.....I dont know how people can be so lazy.........ok rant over.


FUN STUFF
I received lots of goodies for Christmas which I will be showing here sometime Sunday and one of my presents from my sisterini was a ticket to go to a craft show . That was yesterday and I did some good shopping!! Pics on Sunday!!

I have also been busy doing new designs and prototypes for the shop......hopefully I will be updating the shop on Sunday too (I wish Sunday had 50 hours in the day!!)

Before I go here is a quick picture of the monkey I made for my neice for Christmas....Thanks Dad for the pictures :-)




As only a four year old could his name is...

Cocoa Cocoa Coconut !!

Such a cool neice, I may ask her to name everything I make!!

Huge shop update in progress

it's another of my favourite collage pictures !!

I've had a few emails recently wondering what has happened to my eBay shop....It has been getting emptier and emptier with no sign of an update.....But it was meant to happen !! Whilst I was sewing my large order together I was sitting and thinking about my eBay shop and, as you do when you have a billion things to do, decided it needed a revamp !!

I have been sewing some new items this week and the pic above is a taster of what's in store (well, they will be soon)

I have just removed the last few items from the shop and there is absolutely nothing in it !!

hahaha (that's a slightly manic laugh)

eBay needs me to wait awhile to do something computery (I'm sure it's incredibly important) and while I'm waiting I'm here blogging!

But as soon as I'm allowed I will be slowly and surely listing everything.

For those of you who know my shop well there are a few changes a foot, with new designs and bulk buys being added.

I just hope you all like it !

Cheerio for now

xxx

My big order is now complete.....

Wow, it feels like I have been gone from blogland for ages and ages!

I have had a big order to complete, which I posted today.

Take a look at the pictures and you'll see why I've been gone so long!

Pussy cats

Lions

Rabbits

and their tails!

Dogs

An overly large Christmas Pudding

Trillions of cupcakes

My favourite, the monkeys :-)

Button shopping and birthday gifts

My brilliant sister knows how much I love paper and buttons and for my birthday she got me 25 sheets of paper!! Aren't they gorgeous? She also got me a box of buttons. 800 buttons all for me :-)

I have put them all in my button store

This is my button store. A really boring A5 box file.
That holds all these buttons!!
I made all the compartments from black felt and joined them all together and placed card in the bottom of each section to keep it flat. There is also card in between each layer.
Billions of baby buttons all for me................ :-)
This is an extension to my button store! This is the box the buttons from my sister came in and I have put all the buttons that I have handpicked from my local charity shop in it.

I always buy my old buttons from this charity shop, it has an amazing selection and I'm never disappointed. It's funny too because I always go on a Thursday (my day off) so I always see the same selection of volunteers and the lady behind the till always groans when she sees me because she knows she will have to count a lot of buttons!! She thinks I am a slightly mad button lady!! She is one of those people who seems really interested in what I do with the buttons and when I start to explain she glazes over and wonders who on earth would buy the things I make!! Don't you just love it!

Whilst at the said charity shop I saw a big basket of odd buttons on the floor and just had to have it (lady behind the till got very excited because with all these buttons in my hands I wouldn't have to go back for weeks!!) As you can see I haven't sorted it out yet but there are some lovely things in here!!

Part three.......a birthday party

Sunday just gone was my niece's 4th birthday party. I made the cake and then took it to her house and we all iced it together!! Yum pink icing and chocolate cake is so great!!

We had pass the parcel, musical statues, pin the tail on the donkey, sleeping lions and musical bumps. My sister is a great birthday party organiser!! We actually had so many games to play that we ran out of time rather than things to do!!

I did make a cool birthday card but being the forgetful person that I am I didn't take a photo of it, but take my word for it it was cool!!

Part two ......Gorgeous gifts

I am so lucky! I have a lovely friend who every so often sends me surprise packages in the post. They always are beautifully wrapped and full of lovely things.....

The pic above shows some gorgeous dotty ribbon with a pretty cupcake card (look at the cherry stickers on the envelope.....soooooo cute!)Now I knew the above parcel was on it's way.....Described as ballerina monkey fabric and I have to say my imagination didn't do it justice......How cool is this!! I really love the monkey stamp too!! It's brushed cotton fabric and is destined to be a cushion (one for me and one for my niece) she was going to have one for her birthday but that has happened already so I'm thinking Christmas...

part one......it must be Christmas.....

Here are a few pictures of Christmas Puddings and Christmas trees that are part of the large order I am making.....there are 60 trees and 60 puddings!!


I forgot to take a picture of all my lovey new red buttons but you can see them here if you look closely!!