Creating !

FINALLY - with it being the school holidays and not being tied to the same everyday routine, I have been able to spend some quality time with the children making .........

Button Bouquets !

What's the point of having thousands (literally) of buttons and never being able to play with them? I must admit that one of my favourite Blooming Felt things to do is count out buttons, but being able to play with them and make things out of them is extra special to me .

This is a first attempt at the button stems and lots of the button combinations were put together by Sam & Grace (probably not what I would have chosen - but hey - they're pretty good !). These particular stems will form part of my stand display at the Knitting & Stitching Show at Ally Pally in October and I think I need to make lots more to ensure that they have the desired impact. Oh well, only another 6 weeks of school holidays left so plenty of time to make more button bouquets me thinks.

Mr Postman has been very busy delivering lots of lovely new stock to me - under wraps for the moment until I manage to get it all loaded onto the website - but I really hope you won't be disappointed. I certainly wasn't when I opened up all the boxes - can't wait to show you all and hear what you think ! Fingers crossed I'll be able to unveil it all on my next blog post.

Oooooh - something else I must just tell you - my little man lost his first tooth yesterday ! So now, my beautiful boy is a bit gappy, although his big teeth appear to be coming up behind his baby teeth before the baby teeth have fallen out ! Maybe he's really a shark !! Don't they have 2 rows of teeth ??!!

xx

I'm Back !

Yooo hoooo - I'm back !!!

Yes, we finally made it back from a very wet and windy Cornwall. It's such a shame when the weather on your holiday is absolute pants !! Sadly, we only had one day when it didn't rain at all and on that particular day we decided to do the Camel Trail - or Lama Track as Sam likes to call it.

For those of you not in the know - the Camel Trail is an old disused railway track that runs from Camelford to Padstow (I think). It's around 17 miles in length end to end and is used by cyclists, walkers and joggers as it's safe and runs along the most beautiful route - alongside the estuary.

We decided to do the Wadebridge to Padstow and back again stretch - 10 miles in total. There was Sam on his Power Rangers bike, Paul on his mega-expensive mountain bike (a replacement since the original one was stolen from his workplace !) with Gracie on the piggyback bike attached to his and then me on my Mother-in-Law's bike (very wobbly as I haven't been on a bike in about 5 years ). Off we all peddled with numerous other people all the way to Padstow where we stopped for a lovely lunch, then did a bit of shopping and then peddled all the way back again - LOVELY !! I have to say I really really enjoyed it and just wish we had more cycle routes locally that we could all cycle along as a family. I might even get myself a bike now !

And then, when we got back to Wadebridge, Paul wanted to go and see an old school friend who runs a boutique in the town and we spent ages talking to her and I found out that she actually knows Andrew Ridgeley from WHAM ! I can't believe it - how lucky is she ?? Apparently he lives very close to Wadebridge and can found in the coffee shop opposite her shop on a Thursday lunchtime pretty much every week - and would Paul let me go to that coffee shop the following day to sit in the corner and gawp at him ? NO HE WOULDN'T !! Hmmmm, jealous me thinks. I bet if it had been Catherine Zeta-Jones we'd have had to camp out there !

Anyways, enough rambling from me. Just one little question : What do you do when you're on the beach and it starts pouring with rain?

RUN !!!!

Next time I will have definitely have lots goodies to share with you. Ooooh - while I remember, 2 new button bags on the website - coffee & cream and orange juice. Check 'em out !!

Just a quickie

OK - a real quickie before I stop for the hols.

I took delivery of these funky felt hearts yesterday (along with a number of other fab new bits and pieces, but they will have to wait until next time)

Beautiful wet felted / sculpted hearts - available in 5 different colours individually or in a set of 5 (1 of each colour).

Many apologies if you're wanting to order stuff and need it delivering quickly - I won't be processing any orders received between now and 20th July until 21st July - sorry !

Byeee xx

Bliss !

Lazy

Sunny

Afternoon

I didn't need to collect my little man from school this afternoon so Gracie and I had the most lovely lazy afternoon at home.

Hope you're enjoying the weather as much as we are !!

Sarah x

AWOL

Sorry, sorry, sorry - I have been AWOL for far too long !

The lovely weather, sports day, my little man starting Beavers, my parents being away on holiday and me having to cover a part-time job for a few weeks whilst keeping up to date with my website, has meant that I just haven't had a chance to keep up to date with my little old blog - so many apologies.

OK, my big news that I was negotiating last time .... I HAVE A STAND AT THE KNITTING & SITCHING SHOW AT ALEXANDRA PALACE, LONDON, IN OCTOBER - ARGHHHHHHH !!!! I am very very excited, very very nervous and I'm starting to think I'm going a little mad !

Loyal Blooming Felt blog readers will know that I took my first step into the world of large retail shows last September, when I decided at the last minute to take a stand at the Stitch & Creative Crafts show at Sandown Racecourse. I had little over a month to get myself organised for that one, and managed to pull it off quite successfully (I like to think so, anyway), so having just over 4 months to get organised for the Knitting & Stitching Show seems like a luxury. However, I think that having less time is probably better because I thrive under pressure and I'm scared that I will just let time lapse and end up in a last minute panic this time. Fingers crossed though I know what I'm going into this time so can learn from the mistakes I made last time and cruise through this one (yeah right !). Further details about this event will follow in the next couple of months.

Back to website issues now - no new stock at the moment BUT I'm working on a new section for the website and hope to be able to share it with you soon (keeping it under wraps for the time being).

I haven't got a huge amount of other news and no photos of my own to show you, so thought I would share with you some of the photos that Blooming Felt customers have been emailing to me, showing off their wonderful creations made with their Blooming Felt purchases. As soon as I get a spare 5 minutes, the Customer's Gallery section of the website will be updated to show off these lovely items, along with links to the relevant artists / creators.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to send me their photos - I really do appreciate it and love to see the fantastic items you all make.

Right - I'm off to start making lists for that show !

A spangly new look website

Yes folks, due to the number of you that completed my mailing list survey and requested that the front page of my website contain details of new products, special offers etc., your wish is my command !!

Check out my spangly new look website !! I'd love to hear your comments as I'm sure not all of the readers of my blog subscribe to my website mailing list. I am also working on getting a proper credit card payment processing company sorted out so if you're not keen on using either Google Checkout or Paypal (which seems to be causing a few problems at the moment), then you can pay like on most sites, with your credit or debit card. Your payment will be securely processed through one of the major payment processors and is 100% secure. Once this is set up, I will also be able to take payment over the phone - YAY !! That will save a LOT of hassle. Quite a few customers have called and wanted to place orders over the phone recently, which is fine, but they then have to send me a cheque as payment because I didn't have a virtual terminal (technical terms I know!) which then slowed down the dispatch of their orders. So, if you're wanting to pay this way instead ... you can !!

Right - I've had these fab little kits sitting around upstairs for absolutely yonks and had been unable to get a decent photo of the box until now. Finally, I have been able to add them to the website. Button Jewellery Kits by one of my most favourite kit suppliers.

These lovely kits are suitable from age 5 upwards and at just £8 each, are great to get your little ones crafting.

Now, what else? Oh yes, I am discussing with one of the big events organisers the possibility of getting a stand at one of their shows later this year. We're in the final stages of discussions and I am quite hopeful that it will all come off (childcare arrangements permitting of course). So watch this space for an update.

OK, that's it for now. I've got another delivery of stock coming in on Monday which will mean that I am fully stocked on spotty & spiral felt balls, and also the orange felt balls and yellow felt balls, which are completely out of stock at the moment.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend !!

Seeing spots, stars, stripes ....

The new additions to my ever-growing button range

Spotty Heart Buttons


Spotty Star Buttons

Striped Buttons

Bigger Polka Dot / Spotty Buttons

I do still have a number of the pale lilac and sage green striped buttons that I started stocking long before I added the above to my range. They've all been organised into spotted, striped and checked buttons on the website here and are ready and waiting for you to buy and love !!