Sunday, 30 November 2008

Blurgggh!

As you may have noticed (please let someone have noticed!) I have been absent for the past few days. Lets just say it boils down to a nasty stomach virus (I won't go into details) but needless to say I am feeling a bit better today. I'm actually sitting up and not lying on the sofa! I will hopefully get back to regular blogging soon and I'm catching up on the blogs I read so you might spot me commenting. :)

Wednesday, 26 November 2008

New things on Etsy..

A break from bathroom posts today :) Here are some new things that I have posted on Etsy recently.

A new green stripy chicken doorstop - he enjoyed his photoshoot in the sunshine :)

And this pink pegbag is part of a new range of recycled goodies. This one is 98% recycled - only the thread is new!

I'll be back with more bathroom pics tomorrow x

Cuteable is down

Cuteable is down at the minute so apologies if you are trying to get to it - we think it is the hosting site! I will let you know when it is back up and running :)

Tuesday, 25 November 2008

Urrggghhh

Turns out that the people who lived here in 1974 (we have newspaper stuffed into cracks to prove it!) thought that blocking up an old doorway with marine plywood and tiling on top of it would be a good idea. They also though that leaving bloody great big gaping holes in the wall behind said tiles would be good. We knew the house was bodged in lots of places but stuffing newspaper into cracks in the brick work instead of doing it properly is a step too far. Turns out the wall between the bathroom and the hallway has to come down as it is only supported by the framework for the old door and the one that was blocked up. It seemed a bit dangerous when the plumber lent on it and it moved!!!!!

Bugger :(

Bathroom progress

This was the bathroom before - I hasten to add that we didn't do it and it was like this when we moved in 6 years ago. They had children and I honestly don't know why they though wood cladding was preferable to tiles or even why they had a huge gap round the bath that is perfect for pouring water into and therefore the floor as that's where it leads too!! Needless to say it is going to be fixed!



And here is the bathroom at the end of day 1.

The shelf space under the window frame has had the front removed as you can see from the photo below.

The shelf/windowsill bit was built because the waste was at a funny angle and they wanted to hide it - we are re-routing the waste so that it goes straight out through the wall and then we can claim that space back.

The nasty wood cladding has gone from all the walls apart from this little bit left behind the toilet.

The bath ended up in the shower last night as only the plumbers assistant was here and couldn't carry it downstairs by himself!

And this is where the bath and sink were :)

They are banging away up there so hopefully I will have more photographs to show you tomorrow :)

Sunday, 23 November 2008

Really quick post!

As I have guests staying from tomorrow until Weds (thank goodness it's only my mum and sister and they don't expect the house to be tidy!) and the plumber is also coming to rip out my entire bathroom this week! I obviously forgot that Mum and Sarah were coming when we booked the plumber but luckily they aren't adverse to a stand up wash :) So this is my list for the rest of the night.

Clear out the dining room so that the plumber has somewhere to put the new bathroom suite

Move the clothes horse upstairs so I have somewhere to put the washing out (it's normally in the dining room) and actually find room in our bedroom to put it

Put the washing out on the afore mentioned clothes horse.

Put all the things away from my lovely shopping spree with my lovely mum :)

Tidy the stairs to the study and craft room so that mum and Sarah can physically get up them tomorrow! Although this one can wait until tomorrow.

Not a long list but I have also cleared out the bathroom tonight and stacked all of that in our bedroom too along with two sets of shelves from there.

Anyway I will be busy for the next few days so I might not be blogging too much but if I get chance I will take photographs and give you a photo of the day or something like that. That's if I remember of course :)

Back soon xx

Saturday, 22 November 2008

Whoooooooo hooooooooo!

500 hearts in my Etsy shop!! Yeah!! It's here if you fancy going to add to it :)


Thanks to everyone who has hearted my shop :)

Friday, 21 November 2008

New treasury and goodies!!

My lovely Beatrix Potter gift tags have been featured in a treasury by Kitty Kent - thanks!

If you fancy clicking and looking then you can do so here!

I also got a wonderful parcel from the lovely Sharon of Iris and Lily. I won the giveaway on her blog and got some really nice goodies :) First up look at the wonderful packaging.

And then when I opened it I found this wonderful sight!

Again beautiful packaging - and look at that spoon on the screenprinted tea towel.

I pinched the full tea towel picture from Sharon because mine didn't come out - I'm sure she won't mind!

And how fab is this spirograph printed bag?? I loved spirograph when I was younger so this is ideal for me! And look at the inside - squeal!!

I am really pleased so thank you Sharon :)

Thursday, 20 November 2008

Quickest sale ever!

Last night I popped these gift tags onto Etsy and then tweeted about them.

Imagine my surprise when they sold (along with another set!) 15 minutes later! I'd heard of things selling straight after being listed but it has never happened to me before. I was very pleased :)

I'll be testing my luck later and list some more tags on Etsy - here's a sneaky peek for you.

These are Beatrix Potter ones

And these are from a couple of fabulous 1970's books featuring a very cute baby - they were kindly donated by Daisie.

I'll be posting lots of new goodies (including more tags from the books above) over the next few weeks as I have lots of things I have made :)

*Update* Both sets of tags are now up in my Etsy shop.

Wednesday, 19 November 2008

On my desk....on a Wednesday

As ever my work today is not on my desk but was photographed on the kitchen floor this morning in the mad rush before the school run! And it's not typical work (sewing or papercrafts) but the more boring task of sorting and finding new homes for things in my bursting craft room! I've had a trip to Sams you see :) Sams is my local scrapstore and they offer everything from fabric to paper, plastic containers to mod rock with lots of other things besides. It's a wonderful tresure trove of bits and pieces and is wonderful for sparking off ideas. Because the stock changes so quickly (local businesses donate everything) you never know what you are going to get each time you go. I use that reason as an excuse to go as often as I can! Anyway enough waffling - here is what I bought.

A wallpaper sample book - the fabric has mainly been ripped out but the wallpaper is still intact. Here are some of the patterens below.

Some bubble mailers will be made from this paper and maybe some gift tags too. I also got some swatch cards with little fabric swatches in.

These are the perfect size for my business cards :) And gorgeous bright colours too!

I also found a little group of oddities that will come in useful somewhere - but not quite sure where yet!

I got a whole bag full of these horse cardboard pieces - they may be turned into gift tags if my punch will go through them!

These will be for mixed media work.

These are going to be decorated by the girls and have photographs put in them and magnetic strip (also from Sams) stuck on the back and will be Christmas presents :) And these glitter things below - no idea what I'm going to use them for but I couldn't leave glittery things behind could I?

I also got some yummy fabric - Sam's has fabulous fabric!

I also got 2 bags of this lovely ruffle stuff - badges and rosettes are calling me with this I think!

I also got some wadding for a quilt I'm making, some magnetic strip and other bits and bobs that aren't worth photographing. Oh and all of this little lot cost me the princely sum of £5 :) Happy Lynsey now :)

Tuesday, 18 November 2008

Two posts in one day!

But I couldn't resist! I've been outside for a spell this morning taking product photographs in the glorious sunshine we have had here today and I took some of our surroundings too.

This is our front garden - unfortunately it isn't all ours (only to the gate at the bottom of the steps) but it our local park - not a bad view though!

And this was the view looking up - not a sight you see that often in Burnley :)

And because I was outside taking product photos then Tara had to bring her camera outside too and take photo's with me - above she is standing on the bench and taking photo's of Daddy who was inside working.

And here she was taking photo's of the leaves and being cheeky! I'm sure over the next few days I will be boring you with lots of product shots!!

Treasury!

Yeah - I got the treasury I was trying to get on Thursday. So now I present A Riot Of Colour featuring members of the Crafting In Colour team on Etsy - which I am a member of of course!

Feel free to click on the items and give it some love for me :)

Monday, 17 November 2008

Poorly finger

I reached into the wash bag last night to zip it up and my finger had a little tussle with a razor that was sticking up - ouch! It's only a smallish cut but hurts a lot and happens to be the index finger on my right hand so I can't type using it. I'm currently typing using my middle finger and my arm is aching so no full post today I'm afraid! My Etsy shop is currently looking a little empty as I haven't sorted through exactly which tags, badges and mini envelopes I sold at the fair on Saturday! That is my job for the rest of the evening. Here are some new envelopes that will be going up into my shop(s) soon.

Saturday, 15 November 2008

What a Saturday!

I had a craft fair in Halifax today at Crossley Heath school and although I didn't make buckets of money I will definitely be back next year. It had a really good atmosphere and I had lots of browsers if not lots of sales and lots of positive comments. I also got to have a good chatter with Ruth! Here are some pictures of my stall :)

And when I got back from the craft fair I got another surprise - I was on the front page of Etsy!!

Yeah!!!! Me and stripy chicken :) Stripy chicken got 306 views in the hour he was up on the fp so that's pretty impressive! Thanks to I Sew Cute, Pennydog and Glamasaurus for letting me know and grabbing screenshots for me!

Well that's enough excitement for a Saturday - I'm off for a long relaxing bath now.