Hello , is anybody there?

You would be forgiven for thinking that I had vanished into thin air, but having been inspired by some truly wonderful blogs over the last few months, I've decided to get myself organised and restart mine. Now I'm not promising daily updates, but I will 'do my best', as my son Jamie recently promised when he became a Beaver.

I had a little op last week, which has allowed me some time to reflect on my first year of my online existance, what I've achieved, the effect it has had on my family and thinking about what I would like to do in the future. So here we go...

I celebrated by 40th Birthday last week as a happy wife, loving mother and self employed crafts woman

I listed my first item online on the 2nd January 2010, the first on Etsy on the 7th January 2010, with the hope that I would sell 1 item per week. By the 31st December 2010 I had made 104 sales on Etsy alone, thank you to all that entrusted me with their orders.

My items have made the front page of Etsy twice in 2010 and I am very chuffed to have been included in lots and lots of Treasuries, thank you so much!

Whilst there have been successes, there have also been some casualties, Little Kitten Fairies is no more. Whilst a thoroughly enjoyable past time, painting peg dolls is to be confined to a crafting activity I undertake with music playing in the background when I fancy a change from sewing.

On a personal note, running a sewing business has enabled me to spend many a happy hour surfing the web searching for gorgeous fabric. Along the way, I have met some lovely people and made new friends.

I've also discovered the Macro button on my camera, how to edit photo's, open a website, use my scanner, fill in my first tax return, to name just a few techie things.

On the homefront, we survived 4 months of my darling husband being away on detachment. I must confess however, my parents had to lay down in a very dark room for quite a few days when he returned. My son Jamie is turning into a gorgeous young man who now holds very grown up discussions, can read a book and is a loving helpful little chap. My baby Poppy, (now 3) started Pre-school, takes a 'pack up' 2 days a week, loves to sing, skip and jump! Andy continues to be my rock and is now in charge of the family every Saturday to enable me to sew. He now cooks at least twice a week and thankfully he discovered that he actually enjoys it.

So what now............. well apart from blogging, I intend to focus my attentions on my Etsy shop, it has always been my favourite site and it is my intention to have my own website shop up and running before the year is out.

I've also recently rediscovered how much I enjoy embroidery and I'm currently working on a new exciting project (more about that another day) I shall also be doing some patchwork, I'll keep you updated with how I get on............and finally, I really am going to try and keep Sundays as family day (ok I know I've not achieved that today) but I am going to try.

Until next time

Here come the girls

Say hello to my girls, my newest and possibly the most addictive creative thing I have ever done, Clothespin Dolls!

It started when I discovered them on Etsy and I knew I just HAD to make one.........and ta da, I now have a cake topper for my daughters birthday cake. (YES I know I'm planning in advance, and her birthday isn't until December, but my husband is going away again in 3 weeks for 2 months, so I need get ahead........ ooo and I promise, I will bake a fresh cake!)

No celebration of mine could possibly be without bunting, so I made some, this time from card, which I could then add text of my choice, in this case Happy Birthday

and then it all began, say hello to Lucy ( listed tonight here )

Alice

and Rosie

oh and there are more to follow.

Enjoy

Red Dots & Spots Treasury

I'm in LOVE with this Treasury by PoppySparkles

Thank you Viv, for including my Tea Party Bunting!

There is nothing that I do not like included within this treasury, but I'm particularly drawn to the red papers, by LilyBimble, which would be perfect for a new little project I'm working on and the Beach Hut cushion, by Mojosewsew's which would look great in the revamp of my kitchen that I'm planning for next spring.

Stop and smell the flowers Treasury

A very pretty treasury by Hilarysarobot, thank you for including my Liberty Bunting.

Harvest Treasury

This is a gorgeous treasury, the colours just make you think of the soon to be on us, Autumn months. Thank you to Giggles for including my Autumn Bunting.

Shake the 'hood Treasury

The first of 4 treasuries I've been deatured in this week, I love all the items in this one, especially the Little City Hoop by Little Pink House. Thank you to DotStitch for including my Flutterby Pillow.

To see more photo's of my my pillows, see here

Customer Photo's - Kirsty's Tea Party

A little while ago, I made some bunting in my British Cream Tea fabrics, for a lovely customer on Etsy called Kirsty. Kirsty was planning a very special Tea Party for her daughters. This week I had a lovely surprise, when she very kindly sent me some pictures.

Just how gorgeous is this??

and what a lovely happy scene.

It is what very special memories are made of !


Thank you so much and also for allowing me to use the photo's. Please take a look at Kirsty's website, to see the Tea party in it's full glory and for more pictures taken by a truely talented photographer. If only I lived in
Abu Dhabi ......

So what have I been up to?

I've been making lots of new lovely things........ First these Little House Personalised Pillows

Available in three colour combinations British Cream Tea ( pink and blue ) Bed of Roses (green and pink) and Pretty Pinks. There are three designs Little Bird and Flutterby, which would be perfect as new baby or birthday gift and Love Birds, a great wedding, anniversary, new baby or christening gift......... what do you think?

The reverse of each pillow has another length of felt bunting and a little pocket, handy for a gift card, note of endearment or even the tooth fairy.

Each pillow combines hand and machine appliques

They are made in my favourite Cath Kidston prints and I used my soft wool blend felt for the appliques

I'm really happy with them and they are available now in my Fairies shop

I've also been making more Ready to ship bunting, from Liberty Blues

to a gorgeous orange bunting, which made me think of the soon to be upon us, Autumn months

and a new series of buntings call Fabulously Floral, which combine hand appliqued flowers and butterflies. This one is in Erin McMoriss's Weekends fabrics, which I just love

and of course Cath Kidston, this time in Rosie Reds. These are now in my shop and are ready to go

I hope you like

I'm back!

Well I'm back and ready to go, go go.

Having taken a couple of weeks off (however, I've still been sewing and I have lots of new exciting things to show) we got back today, having spent a week in my absolute favourite place, Norfolk.

We had a week of changing weather, we had sunny days at the pier.......

and VERY windy days at the beach

we walked to pebbly beaches

and spent hours at sandy beaches

and all in all had a LOVELY holiday!

And another

How lucky, and another. This time my green and blue liberty bunting was included in this 'Lets Decorate' treasury put together by
Kerrin, thanks so much.

Chicken Treasury

My Scandinavian bunting has found itself it this chicken themed treasury. Well worth a look, thank you to fellow brit Jon.

Wedding Guide

A little while back, UK Handmade asked for contributors to apply to be in the UK Handmade Wedding guide for 2010. I applied and out of many applicants, my 'Mr and Mrs' Bunting was chosen, YAY!

Take a peek, it's gorgeous and within it's covers ( well on page 25 to be exact!) you'll find me

Summer Party

Saturday was the day we had our summer party. Our friends and family joined us on thankfully a nice sunny day, with just a few showers, luckily before everyone arrived. I'm afraid I failed slightly on the photo front. I had grand plans to photo all the food, but unfortunately got caught up in the day......... oops!

We've got a lovely large conservatory, which is just perfect for gatherings and for hanging bunting!

I went for a faded floral theme and mixed bunting in pretty, pinks, blues, greens and yellows

The table was laid with the most gorgeous handmade tablecloth that I found in my local charity shop for £3, bargain.

These floral napkins fitted the theme perfectly and came from Tesco's of all places. For the food I roasted a chicken, a leg of pork and a beef joint of Friday, which definately took the pressure off things on Saturday morning. I served these with Coleslaw, Greek Salad, Hot Buttered New Potatoes, Festive Cous Cous, Jubilee Chicken ( a fabulous salad with chilli's, mango, salad leaves, lime and chicken ) and a tomato and basil salad. Yum!

And for pudding, we went Raspberry picking at our local fruit farm Friday afternoon, they were simply served in glass bowls with cream

For those with a slightly sweeter tooth a served vanilla ice cream with sprinkle, all displayed in my pink wire cake stand



The sprinkles looked very pretty in my vintage white coffee cups, and pistachio nuts, honeycomb and marshmallows were in my pink ramekins. I also made Hot Chocolate Sauce and Toffee sauce to drizzle over



All the food had pretty labels which I created from PDF label templates from fellow etsian Tracey's shop


After much Pimms, wine and beer and a big pot of Chilli with Jacket Potatoes, we all fell into bed, tired but happy. Next party on the agenda, my daughters Woodland themed Teddy Bears picnic in December, followed by a rather special 90th ( not what you may think!)