What a pain !

Hiya

I've had a bit of a disaster !!

I was doing the sample "Name in a Frame" for Yum Yum Jelly nd decided to do one for Grace (so that it could be reused afterwards). Unfortunately it looked a bit bland, so I decided to embroider a couple of butterflies on the diagonal corners. So far, so good. I got out my water soluble pen and drew the butterflies on and embroidered over the top of them. Still fine. Then, I wet the cotton bud and dabbed it on the pen marks that were still visible and watched with horror as the ink bled into the fabric !!! Arghhhhhh. I can't believe it - I've used that pen loads of times on that particular fabric and I've never had a problem with it before. So why now ?? Why me ?? As if I haven't got enough to do !!! Looks like it's back to the drawing board on that one.

On the plus side, I've managed to do some black and white felt bead bracelets and these will be for sale in my shop soon, along with some black & white loopy corsages. I've also completed a felted pencil case, purse and bucket bag. I'd love to hear your comments on these as it's the first time I've done these and they'll be going to Yum Yum Jelly, but I'm also planning on putting some of these into my shop too.





I'm thinking of adding some beads to them as well, but am concerned about the extra time and cost. What would you lovely lot be prepared to pay for each of these if you were to come across them in a shop?

Also, if you fancy embellishing your own bags or purses, I've got everything you need in the Blooming Felt Supplies section of my shop. It's really easy to do and great fun.

This afternoon was Sam's graduation from nursery. He was so excited as Paul and I were going along to watch him wear his mortar board and receive his certificate. When we got there, there were loads of other parents all milling about and the nursery staff had put a huge board up with loads of pictures of all the children growing up through the nursery. Well, that was it .... I just stood there looking at all the pictures of my little baby with tears rolling down my cheeks. I'm such a wimp .. honestly !! What will I be like when he starts school in September? Me thinks the oversized sunglasses will be out for that one !!

And now I suppose I'd better get back to my replacement "Name in a Frame".

Until next week ...... x

Embarrassment !

Yes .... that's what I was to my hubby on Friday night !! In the words of the Madness song - "You're an Embarrassment".

We were at the Madness gig at Newmarket races for a client entertainment day through his Company and I was perfectly well behaved all afternoon, very restrained at the racing (no jumping up and down when my horse either won - not very often, or lost - more often !!), but when Madness came on, I'm ashamed to say I lost the plot completely and turned into a complete maniac leaping about all over the place !! I think the only reason Paul was so embarrassed is because he is an Actuary, and if you know anything about Actuaries, then you will know that they are a very calm (some would say boring) breed of person (although Paul is by no means boring, but calm and quiet probably describes him quite well). So I can only imagine his horror when I started screaming out the words "Don't watch that, watch this. This is the heavy heavy monster sound. The nuttiest sound around. So if you've just come in off the street, and you're beginning to feel the heat, then listen Buster, you'd better start to move your feet to the rockinest, rock steady beat of Madness. ONE STEP BEYOND" Da da daaaaaa, da da da da daaaaa. In front of all of his clients !!! However, they obviously enjoyed it because they started to join in too, and soon we were all leaping about to Baggy Trousers, House of Fun, Wings of a Dove etc etc etc. I think a good time was had by all (probably not so good a time was had by Paul, but never mind - he did laugh .... eventually !!!)

So I spent all of Saturday nursing a very sore throat and a virtually non-existent voice and this is what I came up with

I was going to say it was a work in progress, but since then I've turned them all into beaded bracelets, some as stock for my little old shop and some as stock for Yum Yum Jelly.

I also managed to felt and bead a number of heart and star keyrings, again some for my own website and some for Yum Yum Jelly. I just need to frame the "Name in a Frame" I did for them as a display piece and then make up some more loopy corsages, decorate a couple of purses and I'm actually going to do some calico bags for them as well. These are something completely new for me and they will also be for sale in my shop (hopefully next week). I'll let you know.

Once that little lot is done I can take it all in to them and hopefully watch it all start selling. I'm really hoping that they will put all of my goodies on their central table as a "new designer" display. If they do, I'll take a couple of pics to show you.

The rest of the weekend was spent gardening (whilst dodging the rain). My hydrangeas are doing very well, and I think I'll get them out of the pots and into the borders for next year.

I also came across this beautiful rose - I haven't noticed it before, and I've no idea the name of it, but it's beautiful.

Oh, while I think of it, a number of people have asked me about needle-felting and whether there are any needle felting kits available. The answer is yes, there are kits available ... through my shop. I have three different kits - a purse kit, a heart mobile kit and a hair scrunchie/accessory kit. All are suitable from age 8 upwards, contain everything you need to complete the project, and are a bargain at £9.99 each including postage. What are you waiting for ?? Go buy !!!

Until next time ..... xxxx

FINISHED !!

At last ... I've finally finished the order for the shop in St Ives. This little lot will be on its way tomorrow

Unfortunately the ceramic buttons I was hoping to use for the heart brooches weren't going to be here for 3-4 weeks and I couldn't wait that long, so had to use plain, boring buttons. Never mind.

Now it's on to the Yum Yum Jelly stock and also new stock for my own website

I have found the most fantastic website. Last weekend I was reading an article in one of the Sunday papers about a website called Freecyle. This great site allows you to list or request any items you want to either dispose of or acquire. You don't have to pay to list on the site, or pay for the items you require, it's just a great way of recycling !! There are sites for virtually every town in the UK and many across the world also - you just sign up to whichever site you want to and then keep an eye out for any items you would like, list any you want to dispose of or put out a "wanted" request. I'm amazed how quickly the items get snapped up though - there was a giant roll of bubble-wrap listed on my local site and within 10 minutes of it being listed it had been taken !!


I've posted a request for any old wool jumpers etc - I'm really hoping that I get a good response because I want to turn to them all into felt and then into corsages to sell at the Charity Event I'm doing in November. Actually, could I put out a little request to all of you lovely people ?? If you have any old wool jumpers, cardigans, blankets, scarves etc (in any condition) that want to dispose of - I would be very willing to take them off your hands for recycling. All I would ask is that they contain at least 80% wool. Please email me sarah @ pictureitinstitches.co.uk (remove the spaces though) if you can help.


Sarah x

How Strange !

This last week or so I have received a huge amount of hits on my little old blog. I normally get around 20-30 hits a day, but it has suddenly jumped to 70-80 a day. According to Google Analytics, I'm getting a large amount of these hits via blogger.com so I'm wondering who these people are and how they came across me. If you're one of these people who happens to have stumbled across my blog, I'd love to know how you found me ;o) In fact, if you're a new visitor to my blog at all, I would love to hear from you.

The last week has been spent trying to complete a wholesale order. I'm almost there and as soon as I am, will post a pic of it all. It's taken me a lot longer than I anticipated and I'm going slightly loopy with sewing up loopy corsages !

I also managed to finish my christmas tree decoration samples. These have been sent off to a retailer who requested details of them, so I'll hopefully hear back sometime this week as to whether they are interested in placing an order.

Last night we went to a BBQ at a friends' house - she is a Phoenix Card agent and holds regular events at her house when the new catalogues come out. She very kindly asked me if I would be interested in going along to her new catalgoue preview with some of my goodies as she will have a captive audience. Of course, I said yes, so need to start getting myself a bit organised for September. I'm also taking a table at her son's school Christmas Fayre in November - so those 2 events along with the Charity Shopping event and my son's school Christmas Fayre mean I'm now pretty much booked for Christmas. Fingers crossed I can get enough stock together in time for them all !!

At the moment I'm reading "The Crafter's Companion" by Anna Torborg.

If you're a crafty type you really should read this book if you haven't already. It's full of "interviews" with crafters and gives details of their workspace, inspiration, things they like to create, as well a details of how to create one of their projects. I'm on about the 4th or 5th interview at the moment and the thing that strikes me the most is the fact that I could quite easily be reading about myself ! It's amazing how much I have in common with these ladies, from what they like to create, how and why they became crafters, their inspiration etc. The book also gives details of each contributor's blog - some of them are very well known in the crafty blog world and appear on numerous "favourite" blog lists, others are not so well known but are just as interesting. So, if you haven't already read this book - go get it. You'll enjoy reading it ... I promise !

Sarah x

I've been tagged !!

Yesterday I was tagged by Andrea at Country Elegance and so need to give you 8 random facts about myself. I apologise now for how boring I am !!

1. My favourite bands are Madness and The Style Council. I think my parents must have passed their "mod" genes on to me. I have "One Step Beyond" as the ringtone on my phone (sad I know) and we're off to Newmarket next Friday for a Corporate bash and guess who just happens to be on after the racing ?? MADNESS of course !! I'm SO excited.

2. I have been compared to Monica in Friends. I am slightly obsessed with having everything in exactly the right place and I KNOW when someone has moved something. This, of course, is a complete pain when you have children who are constantly making a mess.

3. Before I had children I used to be a Corporate Events organiser for a multinational company in the City of London and organised events at the Tower of London, the London Aquarium, and on the London Eye amongst others (Monica again !!). I had every intention of returning to work part-time after I had Sam because I absolutely adored my job, but sadly realised that it would be impossible to do on a part-time basis so decided to stay at home and look after my little family.

4. I hate swimming and yet live in a house with a swimming pool !

5. I hate unloading the dishwasher - what's the point ??!!

6. I had my tonsills out last September at the age of 37. I had never suffered with tonsillitis at all until I had Sam and then as my immune system was shot to pieces, I started to get it almost every other month. After 4 years of having tonsillitis on an almost constant basis, the Drs finally decided that I should have them removed. However, the pain afterwards was the worst pain I have ever experienced (I am a bit of a baby), and I actually said to Paul that I would rather give birth again without pain relief than have to experience the pain you experience after having your tonsills removed. Added to that I had a fat lip and a black eye (what did they do to me ??!!) You have been warned !!

7. I love reading, particularly autobiographies. When I was small my parents would get extremely annoyed with me because I always had my head in a book and flatly refused to play with my sister. Sadly I don't have as much time to read now as I would like and tend to just flick through magazines (Country Living is my fav). When we went on our honeymoon I layed on the beach and read 7 books over the 2 week period !!

8. I am an absolutely useless cook. When I was at school we had home economics (whatever happened to those lessons?) and had to make pastry. Because I was so useless this used to fill me with dread, especially as at the end of the lesson we all had to take our dishes to the teacher at the front of the class and they would have a tasting session and mark us out of 10. Anyway, after numerous lessons coming bottom of the class my Mum decided that I should take a packet of ready-made pastry with me and use this. I managed to get it out of the wrapper and rolled out without anyone seeing and made whatever it was we were supposed to be making - took my finished dish to the front of the class and got 10 out of 10 ! Everytime we had to make pastry after that I would take the packet stuff in and come top of the class !! Ha ha !!!

So there you have it - 8 boring facts about me. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I apologise for wasting your time ;o)

My next post will hopefully be slightly more interesting and contain some pics !!

Have a nice weekend ! xx

WOW !!

This evening I went out to water the plants at the front of the house and was confronted by this sight

It was amazing, the balloon went up from the field almost opposite our house and then gently floated over the top of us

there were about 20 people in the basket and they all waved as they went over - how jealous was I ??!!

We have FINALLY got the hole in our roof sorted out ! We had a leak and the rain came through, landed on top of our boiler (which is very stupidly in the loft) and completely broke it, so we've had no hot water (only on the immersion) or heating for the past 3 weeks. The scaffolding is still up so I was very brave (and nosy) and ventured onto the roof last night to inspect our 250 year old tiles and to see what the view was like from up there ...

Remember me telling you about the local shop I was going to visit? Well, I went in this morning and took these with me (as well as some of my textile pictures)

The owner really liked my stuff and is keen to have it in her shop (sadly only on a sale or return basis), but she's confident that it will sell (as am I), so I need to get to work putting a whole range of stuff together for her.

I also produced these the other day and they're both available for sale on my website if anyone's interested - the bracelet can be made in different sizes (toddler, child or adult), or even as a necklace - just let me know.

When we were down in Cornwall the other week I picked up a leafelt about the Knitting & Stitching Show that is on later in the year. I've decided to treat myself to a day out in London and have signed myself up on a Felt Flower making course, a Creative Embellishment course, a Rag-Rug course and also a business skills for textile artists workshop. I love to go to to things like that and am really looking forward to it. If anyone has been to this particular show before I'd love to hear what you thought about it.

I've also been working on some felted christmas decorations which I'm just putting the finishing touches to - I should hopefully be able to post pics on my next post.

And now I must go and make some more loopy corsages.

See you soon xx

Helloweeeee !!

Hiya !!

We've made it back from Cornwall, wet and bedraggled unfortunately, but we did have a good time :o)

I was rather brave whilst down there and visited a number of shops and galleries with some of my felt accessories. I just want to say a massive THANK YOU to Sara of all-about-eden who had very kindly done some groundwork for me the week before and checked out a number of places that were suitable and then sent me an envelope full of business cards and leaflets and suggested that I visit some of them. Sara - you're a star !! A little thank you will be winging its way to you very shortly.

As a result of visiting some of the places, I managed to secure quite a large order of my loopy felt brooches and also needle-felted brooches with Crafty's Country Store in St Ives. I also spoke to a lovely lady in the most fantastic litle bead shop in St Ives and she gave me a tip off about a few other places I could try and also a couple of websites that might be worth contacting. Of course, it would have been rude not to buy something from her shop after spending so long chatting to her, so I purchased these lovely little seed beads which will be used on my Christmas stock. They also have a website where you can buy beads online - so if any of you beaders out there are interested, the website is http://www.gjbeads.co.uk/

I also dropped leaflets and business cards off at a number of other places and spoke with a lady at the Duke Stret Gallery in Newlyn who also happened to own another gallery in St Ives and she is quite interested in some of my felt corsages. So ... a busy time all in all and added to that, I also received 3 orders through my website whilst I was away, so spent all of last night packaging orders up to be shipped off today.

I really should go away on holiday more often because when I got back I checked the answerphone and there was a message from a lady who is organising a charity christmas shopping event (for "ladies that lunch" !) and wondered whether I would be interested in taking a table. Of course, I said yes and she then gave me 2 fantastic contacts, both local to where I live, who she thought would be interested is stocking my felt accessories, so I shall be contacting them both tomorrow and will let you know how I get on.

Another thing that was REALLY exciting was the fact that I received a phone call (whilst I was sitting in the pouring rain on the little Lappa Valley Railway) from the features editor of Crafts Beautiful magazine. You may recall that last month I placed a joint advert with Sarah from paper-and-string in the magazine? Well, the features editor wants to do an article on me and my needle-felted accessories !!! YAY - fame at last ;0) She wants to me to send her some of my hair bobbles, fridge magnets and hairclips for them to feature and also a piece about how I got into felting and what I like about it. Fingers crossed it will kick start the felting supplies side of my website.

I've just realised that this post sounds a bit like a self-promotional article, which I really didn't intend it to be, but I was just so excited about all of the things that happened whilst I was away - I just had to tell you lovely like-minded crafty people. Apologies if it seems like I'm blowing my own trumpet - I'm really not.

Of course, going on holiday means spending money and I couldn't resist this lovely card for my hubby as it's our wedding anniversay on Sunday (although Paul will be on his way back from Snowden as he's taking part in the 3-Peaks 24 Hour Challenge this weekend). I shall be dismantling the card in the future though because I want to reuse that lovely ceramic button. You can buy the buttons from Stockwell Ceramics

We also splashed out on this beautiful print which will take pride of place in our hallway (apologies for the flash in the middle of the picture !). It's entitled "St Ives on a Foggy Day" and is a little reminder of Paul's roots back in Cornwall.

and these little coat pegs for Grace's room and towel clips for Sam & Grace's towels in the bathroom

And now, it's back down to earth with a bump - sorting the piles of washing and ironing out.

Sarah x