Soooooo busy !

Hellooo !!

I'm so sorry I've been away for so long !! I've been trying to get this blog post done for almost 2 weeks, but it has been very busy here at BF these last couple of weeks. Half term got in the way a little bit (I'm not complaining, but when you've got orders coming out of your ears and 2 children wanting lots of attention it's not easy). I was also horribly sick last Monday with "the winter vomitting bug" - erghh, and we also laid my lovely Grandad to rest on Friday - thank goodness the sun came out and cheered us all up !

So, when none of the above were being dealt with, I was receiving lots of lovely deliveries, doing lots of website updating and chatting rather a lot on the phone and emailing backwards and forwards to a particular company. I don't want to tell you name of the company at the moment (it's not a very revealing name), but then you might go and Google them and find out why I have been speaking to them ! So, for the time being, my lips are sealed (probably for another couple of blog posts, but then all will be revealed in glorious technicolour (I hope !)

So, - first up are the deliveries:

3 fantastic new books !

The first is a lovely new book by Danish author Anne Cool. Entitled "Falling for Felt", this book features a whole host of felt projects, complete with beautiful step by step colour photos. Available exclusively at Blooming Felt !

Next is a just released book entitled "Button and Stitch". If you love your buttons (and let's face it, who doesn't ?!) but are bored with keeping them in their button stash tin looking pretty, then this book is for you. Lots of lovely projects to use your buttons on

And finally a new needle felting book featuring lots of great projects from bracelets and cards to figures and even a cup and saucer !

Next up are some tools ! If you liked the heart and flower shaped yo-yo makers, then you'll love the butterfly shaped yo-yo makers that are now available (available in 2 sizes).

Also, pom-pom makers. I've gone pom pom mad since I got these tools - save yourself the job of cutting out cardboard rings all the time and use these plastic templates, specifically designed to be reused over and over again to produce perfect pom-poms ! And finally on the tools front, I've added some rose molds to help you make perfect needle felted roses.

A couple of items for Easter now - polystyrene / styrofoam eggs available in 2 sizes. Perfect for needle felting directly on to so that you can make the most beautiful decorated eggs for your Easter tree. And also available are polystyrene / styrofoam wreaths - great for covering in ribbons, felt balls, paint, buttons, wool .... the list goes on. Send me your photos so that I can add them to my customer's gallery.

And finally, some new children's sewing kits. Produced by Stitch Club, these lovely kits will introduce children to sewing (suitable from age 7) and feature 2 projects - Cute Cupcakes and Love Hearts.

All of the new items above can be found in the "Just Arrived" section and also their own particular sections.

Remember me telling you about the new "Tutorials" section last time ? Well, it's up and running - the very first Blooming Felt tutorial is now available for you to print off ! We're aiming to add a new tutorial every month and the next one is already done, so keep an eye out in March for another lovely project. Photos of new tutorials will appear in the Tutorials section over on the right of this page.

Whilst you're checking out the new items, you might notice my all new singing and dancing website ! I'd love to know what you think !!

Last Sunday I braved the snow and did a quick (!) trip up to Birmingham for the annual craft trade fair that I always attend. I have to say that I didn't think it was quite as good (or as big) as in previous years, but that certainly didn't stop me finding 2 fantastic new suppliers - more news about them next time ! I also visited a few of my regular suppliers and checked out their new ranges .... oh wow - you are SO going to love the new stuff.

That's it for now - I'll be back next week with more exciting news (hopefully !)

Sarah xx

A Little Bit of R&R

In an effort to celebrate my birthday which was on Friday (I've sadly got to the age where I've started lying about my age !!), and to try and cheer ourselves up after the sad news earlier in the week, my fantastic Hubby took me away to Southwold in Suffolk for the weekend.

Mum & Dad had kindly agreed to have the children for the weekend and I think everyone was looking forward to doing something slightly different and keeping busy !!

So, we stayed here

Saw lots of these

Ate lots of this

Wandered along here

Saw this

Went to a Vintage sale and bought some of these

And then went to the bookshop and bought a copy of this

So that I can hopefully make plenty of these (I can knit .... sort of, but wanted some really easy projects to work on !)

And we generally had a lovely, relaxing weekend. Unfortunately I don't think the same can be said for my poor parents who were run ragged by Sam & Grace - but I think they did have a lovely weekend all the same.

I managed to spend rather a lot of money on my latest project .... details of which will be revealed soon. Not good when I'm saving for a spotty aga, but I think my latest project is extremely exciting and I think you might be as excited as I am when you hear about it / see it !!

Tomorrow is a SUE day and I am also expecting a lovely delivery of feltiness (which I have been waiting for since last Wednesday !) Sue's job tomorrow, should she accept the challenge, will be to unpack the enormous boxes that I am expecting and get it all updated on the website and put into some sort of order in the workroom. If you're waiting for any of the following, then fingers crossed it will be delivered tomorrow and should be back on the website later in the week :

4mm thick felt sheets

1.5mm thick felt sheets

felt string / cord

felt stacks

grab bags of felt balls

felt flowers (sets of 6)

Button sensation buttons

Yo Yo Makers

I am also expecting some fantastic Pom Pom makers and also some needle felting moulds to make beautiful felted roses. I also took delivery of a couple of other brilliant new additions to the website (especially in time for Easter), but will leave you in suspense about those for the moment - I need to get some photos taken.

Thank you to everyone who left lovely comments on my last blog post. I hope my sadness didn't rub off on to you, but if it did, I apologise and hope that this blog post cheered you up (as it did me !!)

Sarah x