Yoo-Hoo .... I'm Back !

Hi there !

I hope you all had a lovely Easter - I certainly did ! We were very lucky to be able to visit my parents' home in Florida over the Easter holidays so had lots of warmth, sun, rest and relaxation.
We swam


Saw the Space Shuttle Discovery launch

Had a fab time at the Aquatica water park

Were amazed at the Lego Indianna Jones

Saw our favourite cartoon character, Curious George

Shook our tail feathers with The Blues Brothers

Saw some very scary men with very long legs

Played golf

Laughed uncontrollably at my beauuuuuuutiful children until I had tears rolling down my face and most of the customers in the shop were laughing with me (or maybe at me !)

and just generally had a lovely time.

But now it's back to real life and after managing to oversleep big time this morning which resulted in Grace not getting to nursery until 11am (yes, 11am !) when she should have been there at 9am, I am slowly getting back to normal with general day to day life and, of course, Blooming Felt.

Whilst I was away lots of lovely felt deliveries arrived so I'm now fully stocked on the plain and beaded felt ball grab bags, as well as the grab bags of hearts, stars and pebbles. The mini felt stacks are back on the website, and the 1.5mm thick felt sheets are here, but just need to be cut to size.

2 wonderful new children's craft kits have been added to the website - Canvas kits featuring either a dinosaur

or a fairy.

These kits are suitable for children aged 3+ and make wonderful gifts. Do please take a look.

Now, Tutorials. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get the March tutorial on the website as one of the main components was out of stock and it would have been a bit silly of me to publish a tutorial if you couldn't buy all of the "ingredients" you needed ! But, that particular ingredient is now back in stock and so I've published March's tutorial in April. It's over there on the right-hand side and is a very lovely mobile ! Thank you to Mrs J for her wonderful work on this particular tutorial which I am absolutely thrilled with.

Oh, and one last thing. If you've got a few buttons that you don't know what to do with ... sew 'em on yer flip-flops (please excuse my chipped nail polish) !

See you next time!

xx

Nearly there !

I've been working like mad trying to get the studio properly organised and also getting completely up to date on all of the orders that everyone has been placing this last week. I think that once people realised that yesterday was the last posting date for Easter, some people went into panic buying mode and tried (but fortunately failed) to completely clear me out of stock !!

However, I am now up to date on all of my orders and have also managed to get myself more organised in the studio.

The electrician came and installed the storage heater so I'm nice and toasty down there now and the carpenter came and made me the most fantastic workbench.

Most of my supplies are now on the shelves and are organised (sort of!), but .... and I knew this would happen - I've run out of space !! Arghhhhhhh. Well, when I say I've run out of space, I mean I've filled up all of the original storage that I bought and still have rather a lot of stock that won't fit on the shelves so is still living in boxes on the floor. Grrrrrrrr. So, I feel another trip to Ikea coming on to buy yet more storage so that everything will have a home and I won't be hunting through boxes for certain things.

All of my jars of felt balls are organised (they do need filling up though)

All of the felt sheets are colour co-ordinated

The ribbons, yoyo makers, crochet flowers and flat pad findings have a home (although I am planning on having a couple of wooden rails installed that will house all of the ribbons so that I can just pull them off the reel when I need to cut them, rather than unstack them all first before having to cut them) - that should hopefully free up another couple of shelves.

The wool roving, needle felting supplies and books are all organised and the buttons .... well, that's a bit of a sore point at the moment because they're not very organised.

I won't show you the other side of the studio because that's where the extra boxes are still sitting on the floor awaiting new homes and that would just spoil everything !!

I haven't had a chance to pretty the studio up yet - I've got lots of lovely pictures that I want to put up, my Blooming Felt sign (which I'm still waiting for my Dad to make !) and the wonderful pictures that I WON - yes, I can't believe it - I actually won a giveaway from the wonderful Julia Crossland's blog - you really must pay her a visit and admire her beautiful artwork. Thanks Julia - can't wait to receive the goodies !! And I've also got a number of other "projects" that I and Mrs J (my tutorial lady) have made up, all of which need to be shown off in the studio.

Actually, talking of Mrs J - she is busy working away on some new tutorials. I know I've been a bit slow in getting this month's tutorial onto the website, but that's purely because one of the main components has been out of stock. However, it finally arrived today and so I will try my very hardest to get the Tutorial on the website this week - if not, it will become the April tutorial !!

So, that's enough jabbering from me for the time being. I'm having a bit of a rest now and will be back on the 14th April, raring to go (and with lots more new stock hopefully!). The website will remain open and taking orders, but nothing will be processed until 14th April. Once again, apologies for any inconvenience this might cause.

See you soon

Love one happy lady xx

Lots of lovely new stuff !

In between sorting the new studio out, I've been trying to get some of the lovely new stock onto the website.

It's a slow old process photographing everything, then measuring it all so that I can get the correct details in the website description which seems to take me forever to think about what to write, and then uploading it all to the website, making sure it's all in the right categories etc. But I think I'm nearly there with it all. I won't go into a huge amount of detail here because my poor brain is getting a bit tired, so I'll just show you the photos which you can click on to be magically transported to that particular item on the website. OK, here goes :

New button mixes

Blushing Mushroom (what a fantastic name !!)

and Wuthering Heights

Shell Buttons available in 4 colourways

JUMBO Ric Rac in 5 colourways (with another 2 still to come - my supplier is out of stock at the moment !)

GIANT spotty buttons in 2 new colourways - pink

and teale

A new colour in wool roving - turquoise (code C2)

There are more new products still to come but I'll tell you about these when they get here.

The HUGE felt delivery arrived yesterday and I'm in the processing of updating the website with quantities of 4mm thick felt sheets, felt string/cord, felt balls, pebbles, stars, hearts and wool. All being well I should also be receiving another delivery next week which will contain grab bags and mini felt stacks and as soon as they get here, I'll update the website again with the restock.

Which reminds me .... the LAST POSTING DATE FOR EASTER IS TUESDAY 23RD MARCH. After that, the website will still be taking orders, but nothing will be processed until WEDNESDAY 14TH APRIL. I will be having a bit of a rest so apologise for any inconvenience that the delay will cause.

Things are happening in the studio - the outside step has been built and the carpenter is on the case with the workbench. Paul has put all of the Ikea units together and the electrician is due this week to fit the storage heater and then hopefully, by Saturday, I will have MOVED IN !!

I've started to put a few bits and pieces in there, but I wish I hadn't because now I'm working from 2 rooms again and it's a bit of a long walk down the garden every time I need some felt sheets or some wool ! Never mind ... not long now

More studio photos to follow next time .......

Sarah xx

Ahhh - thanks guys !!

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments and "shed envy" !!

I found out that I was featured on a website called http://www.shedworking.co.uk/ the other day and from that, was contacted by http://www.readersheds.co.uk/ and asked to submit photos to their site for inclusion in their "shed of the year" award which is apparently judged by Sarah Beeney (of Property Ladder fame). How exciting !! I have to admit now that I have become slightly obsessed with "shedworking" and may even admit to being a "sheddie". In my extensive (!) research of shedworking I came across this lady - can you believe she covered her shed in fabric ?? Probably not very practical, but what a cool idea. I don't think my new shedquarters (as Minky Magic commented in the last post) will get to be covered in fabric, but things are certainly starting to come together.

Sunday afternoon saw me (and what seemed like a million other people) traipsing around Ikea. After one of the ever so helpful Ikea staff informed me that I couldn't actually order all the stuff I wanted and told me that I would have to load it all onto my trolley (I'm on my own), pay for it at the checkout and then take it all to customer services and pay £85 for it to be delivered (I live about 15 miles from Ikea), I gave that up as a bad job and came home empty handed.

However, once I got home I decided to start painting the inside of the studio. I was in there until 10.30pm white "washing" the walls (as Ana suggested last time). So the grain of the wood still shows through and you still get that shabby chic log cabin look, but without all the natural pine colour. ( I know Richard - I'm sorry, but I didn't think I'd be able to live with all that wood.) I really can't face doing the mezzanines or ceiling though, so they will stay as they are.

I managed to get the whole of the back wall done on Sunday and then spent Tuesday doing some more - that strange man is my Dad very kindly painting the window frames for me - thanks Dad! That strange child is my daughter showing me her ballet and that strange lady is me, showing off how lovely bright colours look against a white background. You see, I can't even have a plain black jacket - it had to be lime green !!

Yesterday Paul worked from home so we borrowed a van and quickly went to Ikea (again) and this time, had a far more successful trip.

So far, the Expedit has been constructed and manouvered into place (boy - that thing's heavy !!)
and the 3 Lack bookcases, 2 Lack bookshelves, 1 x desk lamp, 2 x chairs (which will duly be painted - 1 pink and 1 blue), 1 x stepstool (so that I can reach the sweetie jars on the top shelves), 1 x filing cabinet (to keep all my packing supplies in) and 3 floating shelves (just because I've always wanted some of them and they don't "go" in our 250 year old farmhouse !) are all waiting patiently in their boxes for their turn to be put together.

Hopefully, the carpenter is coming tomorrow to make the decking step into the studio because at the moment there is a huge drop down onto the grass and I can't be doing with that ! And I'm hoping that he will also bring the samples for my workbench so that I can decide for sure which one I want. The electrician is on the case with a storage heater because it's a bit nippy down there at the moment and I'm hoping that both the workbench and heater will be done next week and then ...................................................... I CAN MOVE IN !!!

I'm getting butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it . Sadly, I found out today that my huge felt supplies delivery is sitting at Stansted Airport waiting to be released by customs. Apparently my supplier forgot to include the "Certificate of Origin" with the boxes and our lovely customs people won't, therefore, release the boxes until they receive the original certificate (that means they won't accept a faxed or emailed copy). So all of my lovely shelves are likely to stay a little bit empty until my delivery arrives - I am VERY CROSS !

But that's enough from me for the moment. I've had loads of deliveries of new stock, but with all the excitement of the studio, haven't been able to tell you about them. But if you click here, you'll see them at the top of the "Just Arrived" section. There's some photos of some of the new stock over there ... on the left of the page. More new stock is waiting to be photographed and I will try and show you photos next time. And to just totally fill what little space I have left in my brain, whilst I was painting the studio I had rather a lot of ideas popping into my head for new Blooming Felt kits, so I'm hoping they will come to fruition soon as well.

Until next time xx

Ta Daaaaaa !!!

At last ... my long awaited project is almost complete !

Just a trip to Ikea tomorrow to purchase lots of lovely bookcases and storage units, a visit by the carpenter to fit my beautiful workbench (I know, so workbenches shouldn't really be beautiful - more practical really), but it's made from lovely white gloss laminate so that it will reflect the light and brighten up the inside, and then I can move in to my new studio !!!

(The outside and windows / doors will be painted in the summer.

I have yet to decide on a colour but it will be something that will blend in with the garden)

I'm soooo excited. I have been working out of the spare room for almost a year now and things are getting quite ridiculous. I'm having to clamber over boxes and move stuff all the time so that I can reach whatever it is that I happen to need. And having 2 people working in the spare room at the same time just isn't possible. So, the time came to build a purpose-built studio ..... in the garden !

Regular readers of this little old blog will know that we are very fortunate to have a large garden, so building a studio in it seemed the obvious solution to my workspace problem. It also means that I can still work from home and keep an eye on the children, which would have been impossible if I'd had to rent somewhere.

So, at last, Blooming Felt will have a home of its very own - a fantastic studio with 2 mezzanines so that I can store extra supplies and all the kit I use at shows up, out of the way, and enough space left over to run workshops should I so wish, in the future. Finally, our house can now return to being a house, and not have masses of boxes stacked up in every (yes, every) room !

My only dilemma is should I whitewash the walls? I was really keen to have a completely white space so that it would show off all of my colourful felty goodies beautifully, but do I have the time or inclination to do it ?

If you're interested in doing something similar in your garden, I can highly recommend the company I used. Aarco are a wonderful family run company in Chester who will design and make studios / garden rooms etc to your exact specifications and then come and install it all for you. They've been here all week and as well as building my studio from scratch, had to first dismantle, move and reassemble our shed before work on the studio could begin. They managed everything in just 5 days and I couldn't have asked for a better company to come and do the work. Thank you Noella, Richard, Martin (and Vic the carpenter), without whom my fantastic new studio wouldn't exist !!

OK - I'm off to measure (yet again) the space in my studio and then look (yet again) at the Ikea website !!!

See you soon xxx

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