So a few more tags....

but some of these haven't got their strings on yet - but rest assured they will do soon!


The two above are for quite a specialist buyer - Egypt and railway equipment but you never know who your buyers will be!


I really like these bird ones and have more to list soon but my favourites are the ones below - some beautiful butterflies.

I'd better get off my bum and list some of them I suppose hadn't I? They will be in my Folksy, Dawanda and Etsy shops hopefully this evening.

UPDATE - All added to various shops now so go and have a look! ANOTHER UPDATE - the 3 I listed on Etsy have sold this morning. Those are the butterflies, railway equipment and the Egypt ones :) Better get some more photographs :)

Oh my goodness!

Do you realise how tricky it is finding uniform (particularly P.E. kit) for small children is in Burnley??? Remind me next year to go to Sainsbury's at the start - great selection in all sizes, fantastic staff and a very friendly and helpful woman at customer service who helped me when the stuff didn't come up at 3 for 2 at the till.

Oh and on a side note - my children are going to get me into trouble one of these days. Anya remarks as a man pulls into the parent and child space, incidently in a VERY loud voice 'Look Mummy, that man doesn't have any children. Why is he parking in a child space when he doesn't have a child with him? That man over there in the smart purple shirt and tie' Guess I shouldn't mutter to myself as much!

I'll be back later with some more gift tags :)

My new style tags and a resolution

So here is one set of my new range of gift tags - made using the cards you used to get in cigarette packets. They started out in 1875 and ran until the 1940s due to lack of available resources during WW2 (roughly as there are some small companies that still made them up until 2001 - see font of knowledge me!) Most of the hundreds I have are the vintage variety though. They are backed with white cardboard although the ones I make in the future will be backed with cardboard from clean recycled packaging - no surprise there then!



These are of garden flowers and I have another 19 sets upstairs waiting to have their photographs taken - see I was busy on holiday! I will show them to you when they are photographed and for sale. These flower ones are for sale in my Folksy shop if you fancy them ;)

And my resolution is not to buy any more craft stuff unless I have an actual need for it - I'm hyperventilating at the very thought!! I'd already resolved not to visit Sams (my fabulous local scrapstore) until October which should be fairly easy as my membership runs out next week but no actual browsing for stuff will be tricky. Although I am going to the fabric section of Oswaldtwistle Mills tomorrow to get some fabric for Tom's quilt which I was planning to make for his birthday last year (and then Christmas and then his birthday this year) so I thought I'd better get my finger out and get it made for Christmas this year! So that's an allowable trip out and I won't even be tempted by their craft section as it's so blinking expensive. So if anyone or anyone catches sight of me going near a craft shop/charity shop/car boot sale just for a look for supplies then you have my permission to sit on me so I can't go.

I'd love your feedback on the new gift tags please!

New items!

Now it wasn't all relaxing, swimming, sunbathing and bargain hunting while we were away - I did actually do some work too. I finished off 50 business cards I had sewn here but needed the ends tying off and snipping (although I forgot my pinking shears so the snipping was only done tonight!) However I am pleased to have a large stock of them ready although I will continue making several a week to keep the numbers up :)

I also came up with an idea to use up lots of my buttons in one go - large button brooches.


Now these babies are quite big for a brooch (8cm or 3 1/2in) and are a lot bigger than some of my other brooches. I have listed all 6 tonight but in 3 different places Etsy, Dawanda and in my new Folksy shop. I opened up the Folksy shop before we went away on holiday but I didn't get chance to put anything in it. I will be slowly making more things for it so keep checking back :)

I also made a new type of gift tag (hoping to get photo's tonight and some listed tomorrow) and had ideas for several other things which are all inside my trusty ideas book. When I'll get time to make any of these things is another thing! I'll be back tomorrow with some of the tags hopefully.

So I'm an orange!

Reading the description it's not difficult to see why!! Spotted on Ruths blog.

You Are an Orange

You have a zest for life, especially for anything colorful, wild, or dramatic. You have a unique take on the world, and you're not afraid to be a little funky. You are a bit reserved toward people who don't know you well. You have a thick skin, which can protect you from anything that goes wrong in your life. Once someone does get to know you, they totally get and appreciate you. Your friends see you as a bright person with a refreshing take on life.

What Type of Fruit Are You?

Back to the computer based world!

We are back from holiday and yes it was lovely and I feel very relaxed but it's back to the computer for me shortly. I had 200+ emails to read and my blog reader has about 4,000 new posts for me to read.

I'll be back soon!

Giveaway winner!

And the winner is.........................................


Jenny from Jennyflower! Well done Jenny. If you are cross that you didn't win then shout at the random number generator that picked number 4!

Well done Jenny :)

Can you believe..

... that my big girl is old enough to leave nursery now?? How did that happen so quickly? She'll be starting Reception in September and is very excited about it as long as she has a Charlie and Lola lunchbox! Anyway back to the saga of the teachers presents. The glue did indeed set but when I went to put them into the binding machine they wouldn't fit in it!! The one I made last week fit in but these ones wouldn't fit in at all - so after much cursing, I came up with another plan! And this is what I made for the teachers.

Each teacher got a card with a fantastic topper from Ruth of course and every teacher got a tin full of jellybeans which I covered with some jellybean paper. And the 3 special teachers got a magnetic shopping list to go onto their fridge. The one in the photo above is the one that actually fit into the binding machine and the others are below - I used a bulldog clip for those and I actually think I prefer them as it means the paper can be filled up again when it's run out.

And of course we had to say who has made them (with a little help from Mummy!)

I love that she has gotten her name backwards in the middle one - it always mystified me as a teacher when children did that but it's just a part of learning.

Here's a close up of the paper underneath the writing paper. You can see what I needed to rip all those bits of paper up for now can't you?



And here they are in their bags waiting to go up to nursery - with chicken tags naturally!

I haven't forgotten the giveaway so I will be back later to let you know who has won!

Eeeeeek!

Bloody stupid children's craft glue - it's rubbish! I mixed it last night with the same amount of water as I usually use with a different pva and happily made the things I was making. It came to this morning and I went to put them into the binding machine and half the bloody paper fell off! It wouldn't be a problem except that they are teachers presents and need to be given out tomorrow as it is Anya's last day at nursery - bugger! I've been scouring my Etsy shop just in case the new layer of pva doesn't work either. Luckily I have some things that will do as presents but I'm a little annoyed to say the least!

Anyway, hopefully I will be back tomorrow with a lovely post complete with pictures of the presents for Anya's teachers.

Meanwhile here's a picture of me for Clever Nettle and this post here.

Charity shop goodies!

I found a wonderful pair of curtains in Oxfam in the town where my mum lives - as soon as I spotted them I ran over and grabbed them! Aren't they gorgeous?



I'd like to hang these but they don't really match anything in the house - I think they are destined to become chickens instead!

I also got a fabulous book that tells you in great detail all the different embroidery stitches that you could possibly ever need - can you tell that I might be picking up a new craft soon!




The pictures are wonderful and I really want that apple pillow. I'll stick to learning how to sew straight though I think first!

I also got a couple of old sewing magazines that feature clothes that I would actually wear (I know that doesn't really suprise any of you!) and an applique quilting book which will come in handy for making Thomas's quilt - if I get round to it this year!

So bargains all round!