I'm Back !

Hiya

Well, I made it back from Florida in one piece. As much as I loved being there and spending time with my Mum & Dad, it was so lovely to come home to Paul and the children. I missed them all desperately, especially when I found out that Sam had performed in a Harvest Festival assembly at school and I missed it !! Anyone who has children will know how bad I felt at missing his first ever performance and I cried when Paul told me.

But, I have to say that the break really did me good and I'm now back and raring to go again.

I found some absolutely beautiful and brilliant crafty places on this trip. We visited the new little town that my parents are moving to. It's called Leesburg and is a typical small American town and no sign of Mickey Mouse to be found anywhere ! They have a weekly Saturday morning market and lots of the locals have stands there selling their home grown produce, jams, pickles etc and of course, crafts. You don't have to be a regular seller and I'm seriously thinking of taking a stand there next October (as I very much doubt I'll be going again before then). There was no-one selling anything like my goodies, so I think selling something different (and British) would do well.

We also visited another small town called Mount Dora and that is one of the most beautiful little towns I've been to. If I was to move to Florida that is where I would live for sure. They have lots of lovely little antique and craft shops and the most fantastic British tea room which is owned and run by a lady from Hatfield Peverel (which is a small village about 5 miles from where I live here in the UK !) They serve genuine Yorkshire Tea (the best tea in my opinion), out of a bone china tea pot into lovely bone china cups and saucers, along with homemade scones (which were massive) and clotted cream and jam. Yum !! Well worth a visit if you're ever in that part of the world.

Anyway - back to the crafts ! Mount Dora had a store called Crafty Corner (I think!) and it was basically the ground floor of a house that had been converted into a craft store. There were 27 "rooms" of crafts and it would appear that each crafter rented one of the rooms to display and sell their crafts. And what beautiful items there were - all manner of different crafts and each one completely different. Unfortunately I can't show you any pictures because you weren't allowed to take photos (as I had pointed out to me!) But take my word for it, they were beautiful.

(apologies for the photo - it's not one of mine, just one I found on a photo sharing site)

I also came across a stamping store which was jam packed with all sorts of scrapbooking, stamping and crafting goodies. I managed to spend rather a lot of money in that shop and the lady that owned it was so friendly and knowledgeable - I'll definitely be visiting there again.

Below are a few pictures of some of the goodies that I bought - unfortunately I can't show you photos of everything because we would be here all day ... literally !

I should definitely go away more often though because I've received so many orders and enquiries whilst I've been away, it's amazing ! My interview with Crafts Beautiful was published here and appears to have been read by quite a few people, resulting in 4 different enquiries from craft shops and galleries around the UK wishing to stock my goodies. I also received a telephone call from BA - yes, that would be British Airways - enquiring about stocking some of my items in their online store. Now, if anything comes of that I will be SO chuffed !! I'll keep you updated though.

I was also working on some new designs whilst I was away and will show you pics in my next post - they just need to be finished off properly !

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings - it's great to be back !

Sarah x

A little rest

Hiya

Well, today is Sam's 5th birthday ! I know, I know - he had his party 3 weeks ago, but it was a joint party with his best friend so we had to choose a date in between the 2 birthdays. Consequently, we seem to have been in a constant state of party ever since, what with Grace's 2nd birthday on Wednesday as well. Hopefully this evening will see the end of it all and we can try and get back to some sort of normality. The house is a mess because we've been having our windows replaced for what seems like an eternity and the lounge has turned into a toy and card shop !! Added to that the fact that our boiler seems to have packed up and we have no hot water or central heating and I have a house full of wet clothes which I don't know what to do with because it's chucking it down outside !!! Arghhhhhhhh

Still, I will soon be having a little rest and Sarah time (she says) as on Thursday I am off to sunny (hopefully) Florida for a week. My parents are moving house and I'm off to help them pack up. Unfortunately I am leaving Paul, Sam & Grace at home because of school and work and know I shall miss them desperately, but I can hopefully recharge my batteries a little and come back raring to go on the run up to Christmas !!!

Talking of Christmas (sorry!) I have been starting to get some stock together and last night finished this. It'smade up of felt with button portholes and a button at the top of the mast and lovely blue rick-rack at the waves

I will be taking it to the Charity Christmas shopping event I'm doing at the beginning of November and I'm hoping it will sell. Of course, if anyone else would like one, I would happily do one for them as well - just contact me sarah @ pictureitinstitches.co.uk (just remove the spaces) - price £7 each with free postage.

I am also working on lots of yoyo hair bands for Sam's School Christmas Fair - the girls have to have their hair tied back and so I did a couple of these for one of his little friends and so many people have asked where they can buy them, that I've decided to do a whole load to sell at the Christmas fair. Pocket money priced at £2.00 each, I'm hoping lots of the little girls will want to buy them for their friends.

I just had an email from Crafts Beautiful magazine regarding their website and a new feature called "Crafty Corner News". They want to feature me and are sending me a whole load of questions for me to answer !! Hooray - more free publicity !! I'll let you know when it's published / live and you can all have a nosy ! ******UPDATE ~ the article will go live on Friday 5th October and be up on the website all weekend - www.craftsbeautiful.com ~ half way down the front page is the "Crafty Corner News" feature ******

I'll be back on the 13th October so all orders and enquiries placed through my website or this blog will be answered as soon as I get back.

See you soon

Sarah x

Felt, Buttons and Etsy

Hiya

Still busy here in Essex ! It's Grace's 2nd birthday tomorrow and I've been wrapping up all of her lovely pressies (tea sets, toasters, ironing boards, irons etc - not that we're stereo-typing her of course!). Our poor postman has been staggering up to the front door this past week bringing lots of these goodies, and today he also bought me another fabulous shipment of ceramic buttons (which are now for sale in my shop) and some felt samples. Now, I'm not trying to do my friend Sarah over at paper-and-string out of any felt sales, but I found a great company that does a wonderful range of adhesive backed felt. Me thinks a little order could be placed this week.

I finished this picture over the weekend which will be framed in a white square box frame and put for sale on my own website or maybe added to my etsy shop (minus the frame). Yes, I took the plunge and opened an etsy shop in the hope that I might be able to sell some of my goodies worldwide. Take a look over on the right hand side of the page and you can see some of the items I have for sale in my shop.

Sarah x

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hiya

So sorry I have been a bit slow on the blogging front lately. I've been fulfilling a number of orders that have been placed - why do they always seem to come at once??

NOTHS is finally picking up for me (about time too !) and I've also had a couple of orders from Tuggle. The new ceramic buttons I've started stocking on my site are proving popular and I've been trying to come up with a nice way of packaging. At the moment I've been sewing them onto coloured card which has Picture it in Stitches / Blooming Felt printed on it, but if anyone has any novel ideas which wouldn't take too much time, I'd love to hear them.

I've also created a new felt and button picture which is available for sale through my shop (scroll down to the bottom of the page) - it retails at £10 with Free Delivery. I am working on a blue circle picture along the same lines too.

Now that I'm ramping up for the Christmas fairs I've been looking into stocking a number of craft kits specifically for children. I spied these the other day and have placed an order for a number of the peg doll kits - they're absolutely fantastic (well, I think so anyway) and are suitable for ages 4 and up. Once they arrive I'll be putting some in my shop and will let you know in case you might be interested. They will be retailing at £10 each with free postage !!

And now I must go and sort out the mess that is our house - we're having all of the windows replaced and the dust is absolutely unbelievable.

Sarah x

Parties

It's Sunday evening and I am sitting in the lounge, watching Corrie and generally chilling out because I am absolutely shattered ! Anyone who read my last post will know that I've had a very busy few days with a Card & Craft Party on Friday evening and my son's 5th birthday party yesterday afternoon.

First up the Card & Craft Party. Despite leaving absolutely everything to the last minute because I was so worried about getting everything organised for the birthday party, I am amazed that I actually managed to have enough stock, fliers, order forms etc for the craft party. But I did !! I also managed to set my table up in a record 15 minutes because I had been stuck in the worst traffic jam ever and what should have been a 10 minute journey took over half an hour. But, everything fell into place at the last minute and I'm pleased to say that I did a wonderful amount of sales, even though only half the amount of people turned up that said they would. My cotton Birdie bags went down a storm, as did my loopy corsages and the miniature stitchery kits and needle felting kits were very popular. By the way, all of these items are available for sale in my shop.

I also took along a couple of new textile pictures that I finished last week. Sadly, neither of these sold, but they are for sale if anyone's interested - just email me sarah[@]pictureitinstitches.co.uk and I can give you more details.

I also meant to say in my last post that the ceramic buttons are also for sale.

At the present time I only have a very limited stock, but if they prove popular (and I've already had a couple of enquiries) I will aim to stock much larger quantities. I'm in the process of ordering a wider range, but please bear with me because they are all handmade and hand painted and because of this, delivery to me can take up to 4 weeks. But once they're here, they're here and I can ship orders out within 24 hours. I would love to know if any of my blog readers are interested (thank you Alison !), so if you are, do please let me know by leaving a comment.

So, on to the Birthday Party. I think I can safely say it was a success !! We were blessed with the most fantastic weather, which meant that the children (all 42 of them) could play in the garden and even the party games we had planned didn't happen because everyone was so busy playing outside !

We decided at the last minute to order a bouncy slide which was a real hit, although I do wonder whether we should have had insurance because there were a bumps and grazes. The slide was VERY bouncy (I know, I tried it myself) and because the children were bouncing down it rather than sliding down it, we did have a few of them bouncing right off the slide ! But they absolutely loved it.

The face painter was also a hit (aren't they always) and it was really lovely to meet all of the other parents - over half of the children that came were Sam's new classmates so it was a bit of a "getting to know you" session as well. I am thrilled to say that all of the children were absolute angels and all of Sam's new school friends are really lovely. He seems to have made friends with another Samuel who is great and I can see the pair of them having a long friendship.

Unfortunately I am a bad mother and didn't take a single photo because I was too busy, but am hoping that someone did take a few pics and I might be able to post some here at a later date. By the way - it's not actually Sam's birthday until the 1st October, but we had a shared party with one of his best friends Chloe, and her birthday was last week, so we had to choose a date in between. No doubt, Sam will have another much smaller party for family on the actual day. Hopefully I won't have to go to as much effort with that one !!

Enjoy what's left of the weekend !

Sarah x

Felt and Stuff

Hiya


As promised in my previous post, this one will definitely be "crafty".


I've been a very busy bee getting ready for my friend's card & craft party on Friday evening. These are some of the things that I've created and will be taking along with me:

Felted and Beaded keyrings

Beaded felt circles which will be framed into a small picture

My funny long-legged birdie stitched onto the front of a calico tote bag

Loopy corsages waiting for some of these ....

.... lovely hand-painted ceramic buttons to be added to their centres !

And in between all this craftiness, I've also been attempting to organise Sam's 5th birthday party on Saturday for around 50 ... yes 50 ... children !

I'm off to stuff party bags

Byeeeeee xx

Mixed Emotions

We went to school today
My little boy and I
I worried all through breakfast
Afraid that he might cry
I watched him walk away with pride

And I was quite alone
The tears I thought would surely be his
Are indeed my very own

Yes, my little boy is now officially a big boy ! He absolutely loved his first day, but I am ashamed to say that I walked away from the classroom with tears streaming down my cheeks. Of course, I don't want to mother him for the rest of his life, but I can't help but feel that I lost a little bit of him today. He seemed so grown up when he came out of school and whilst he wasn't very forthcoming with information about what he'd got up to, I could tell he wanted school to be his domain and not something I need to know about.

So now I just have my little Gracie at home with me who is lost without her big brother and has taken to shouting out random words including oi, bogie, delicious ...... in that particular order. Now that is something I really should be worrying about !!!

My next post will be craft related ..... I PROMISE !!

Sarah xx